Knicks! (and other NBA action)

[longislandcuse]

His first choice has worked out pretty well, to be fair.

So we all agree Calderon is toast right?

I think Kerr is a good coach but I'm pretty sure you or I could coach that team to the Finals.

Yes, we'd literally be better playing 4 on 5 than putting him out there. At least then we could game plan for constant defensive breakdowns by the opposing guards.

 

[Knicks411]

I think Kerr is a good coach but I'm pretty sure you or I could coach that team to the Finals.

Yes, we'd literally be better playing 4 on 5 than putting him out there. At least then we could game plan for constant defensive breakdowns by the opposing guards.

I was half joking on Kerr, but I'm not 100% sure I buy it. Mark jackson coached them to a first round loss the year prior. We all know agree the Warriors are awesome now, but at least some of that was stuff Kerr played a role in (opening up the offense, playing Green more minutes, etc)

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Carmelo's problem is that he absorbs a lot of contact in the post without reacting like he was whacked in the head with a two by four.

That's what I saw on the play where Leonard blocked him. Melo was fouled by Duncan before the block ever happened, but they don't call those on Duncan and it looked cool when Leonard was able to get the ball.

 

[OrangeFoo]

That's what I saw on the play where Leonard blocked him. Melo was fouled by Duncan before the block ever happened, but they don't call those on Duncan and it looked cool when Leonard was able to get the ball.

Thank you. This is the play I was talking about where Leonard "blocked" Melo.

 

[Melancer46]

Incoming: videos devoted to my love for Giannis:


Edit: By the way, if you guys don't follow Free Dawkins on YouTube, you're doing life wrong.

 

[Melancer46]

 

[Melancer46]

 

[OrangeFoo]

Great road victory for the Knicks last night. Got a little lucky with the refs blowing the out of bounds but there are so many iffy calls in a 48 minute basketball game I'm not to shook up about it. This team is a ton of fun to watch and I actually caved and got the league pass last night. It's a great deal only 120 bucks and you can watch every Knicks game that's not on tv on your ipad or laptop or even phone.

My two biggest concerns are Melo and how he fits in with the team and Fisher. Let's take Melo first... he needs to dominate the ball but the rest of the team is at its best when they are moving the ball and cutting and getting out on the break. Not sure if there is a great fit here. Also it looks like Melo has slowed down a TON on Defense and we don't have the big man to protect him anymore since we got rid of Chandler. When Melo came back in the game in the 4th he almost lost them the game because he took some really poor shots really early in the shot clock, had that one possession where he stepped out of bounds but wasn't called, etc... But in Melo's defense he scored a bunch of points in the first half to get them a 10 point lead at half. Melo is getting better at not playing hero ball but I suspect his skills would be better used somewhere else. I bet the Bulls would take him in a heartbeat as he could be the missing piece to get them past the Cavs. Also could see him fitting really nicely on the Wiz if they gave up Beal in return.

The other concern... Fisher. The man seems a bit in over his head and his sub patterns make no sense. But to his credit Thomas was huge last night in the 4th quarter and Calderon hit a huge shot and wasn't 100% bent over in the 4th quarter. I don't like Fisher as head coach... but again to his credit the team seems light years better than last year and I actually like the fact that kids are getting a shot.

BTW Another game, another monster putback by Porzingis... ho hum. He's still in a shooting slump and fouls way too much but the talent is real.

 

[Knicks411]

I hope this is more of a "melo hasn't gotten the lift back from the knee surgery yet" thing and not a "the lift isn't really coming back"

 

[longislandcuse]

Lance Thomas has really shut some people up. Dude is just all out heart.

Not sure why Seraphin keeps playing.

Not sure why Vujacic keeps playing.

Not sure why Calderon plays so much.

Really hoping Afflalo's return negates 2 out of 3 of my concerns.

 

[OrangeFoo]

I hope this is more of a "melo hasn't gotten the lift back from the knee surgery yet" thing and not a "the lift isn't really coming back"

I notice his lack of lift the most when he drives to the basket. He never had greats speed but his combo of lift + strength usually got him a bucket and 1. But that explosiveness is gone and the inside game is gone... the and ones are turning into wild shots that miss or melo getting packaged which never really happened before. Given his age I'm a bit concerned that the lift isn't coming back. The good news for Melo is he has an old man game and he doesn't really need lift but his D isn't going to get any better.

 

[shandeezy7]

Lance Thomas has really shut some people up. Dude is just all out heart.

Not sure why Seraphin keeps playing.

Not sure why Vujacic keeps playing.

Not sure why Calderon plays so much.

Really hoping Afflalo's return negates 2 out of 3 of my concerns.

Do you think Galloway should be starting? Or is he a better guy off the bench? Also, are there any worse passing big men in the league than Seraphin and O'Quinn? Actually, I think you'd have to actually pass the ball to be called a passer #blackholes

 

[Knicks411]

Do you think Galloway should be starting? Or is he a better guy off the bench? Also, are there any worse passing big men in the league than Seraphin and O'Quinn? Actually, I think you'd have to actually pass the ball to be called a passer #blackholes

O'Quinn is generally at least a pretty decent assist man for a big; Seraphin on the other hand...

Galloway has been clearly their best guard. He needs more than 28 minutes a game

 

[Melancer46]

Do you think Galloway should be starting? Or is he a better guy off the bench? Also, are there any worse passing big men in the league than Seraphin and O'Quinn? Actually, I think you'd have to actually pass the ball to be called a passer #blackholes

O'Quinn was actually seen as an attractive free agent option because of how good a passer he is for a big man lol

 

[OrangeFoo]

Lance Thomas has really shut some people up. Dude is just all out heart.

Not sure why Seraphin keeps playing.

Not sure why Vujacic keeps playing.

Not sure why Calderon plays so much.

Really hoping Afflalo's return negates 2 out of 3 of my concerns.

We'll find out tonight about Afflalo. I hate to say it but Calderon is going to have to play at the end of games. Grant is still a year out from being able to close games in my opinion. Vujacic should never see the light of day when afflolo comes back.

 

[Knicks411]

O'Quinn was actually seen as an attractive free agent option because of how good a passer he is for a big man lol

He's 18th out of 74 qualified PF in assist rate this year. Ahead of Blake Griffin so far, who is (rightfully) considered a really good passing big. O'Quinn is also 13th in rebound rate.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Rough loss for the Knicks last night. Melo is starting to pick it up though. The Knicks Free Throw Rate concerns me. They never get to the line.

 

[shandeezy7]

Rough loss for the Knicks last night. Melo is starting to pick it up though. The Knicks Free Throw Rate concerns me. They never get to the line.

I wish I could have seen a slow-mo high-res replay of that shot. They seemed to rule it no good awfully quickly for something that looked like it was so close.

On a side note, I'm not sure why Porzingis dipped down to the free throw lane and popped back out on that play. No one was covering at the top of the key at all to begin with, which I have no idea what the strategy was there on Charlotte's part. I'm guessing that was the play, as they were setting up a screen on Porzingis' man, but it wasn't needed and ultimately is why he didn't get the shot off in time, because he had to gather and turn. They should have just recognized that he was already open and passed the ball in quickly to him with him already set up to shoot.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Rough loss for the Knicks last night. Melo is starting to pick it up though. The Knicks Free Throw Rate concerns me. They never get to the line.

And they foul way too much... they don't play clean D. I wonder how much of this is because we start two statues on D in Melo and Calderon?

I missed most of the game, how did they give up a 10 point lead at half? Same thing happened against Toronto. Is the 2nd team just not functioning anymore?

Melo needs to get a better shot on that last possession where he hit the side of the backboard. I'm getting really concerned about him being our closer as he doesn't seem nearly as effective on isos as he used to be.

 

[shandeezy7]

And they foul way too much... they don't play clean D. I wonder how much of this is because we start two statues on D in Melo and Calderon?

I missed most of the game, how did they give up a 10 point lead at half? Same thing happened against Toronto. Is the 2nd team just not functioning anymore?

Melo needs to get a better shot on that last possession where he hit the side of the backboard. I'm getting really concerned about him being our closer as he doesn't seem nearly as effective on isos as he used to be.

I honestly think it has more to do with our defensive scheme against pick and roll than anything else. There's no rotation on screens. It's basically up to the two guys defending the pick and roll. Melo is a lot more active on D than people give him credit for. As for that last shot, we really just needed him to at least draw rim on it. That ball hits the rim and bounces up in the air and by the time it comes down, there's little to no time left for a last shot for Charlotte.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Yeah Melo's played pretty good D so far this year IMO. Porzingis fouls a lot, but thats a product of being inexpierienced. The defense against opposing PG's will probably be the Knicks biggest issue all year.

 

[OrangeFoo]

I honestly think it has more to do with our defensive scheme against pick and roll than anything else. There's no rotation on screens. It's basically up to the two guys defending the pick and roll. Melo is a lot more active on D than people give him credit for. As for that last shot, we really just needed him to at least draw rim on it. That ball hits the rim and bounces up in the air and by the time it comes down, there's little to no time left for a last shot for Charlotte.

100% agree on the pick and rolls. We don't do any switching on D and there seems to be no help or rotation. I think setting up the D to succeed is Fisher's most obvious weakness. Opposing guards get into the heart of the D time and time again. The Knicks aren't going to beat many teams if they can't stop anyone reliably and right now they really can't.

 

[Alsacs]

I got an NBA question for Knicks as I think he and Mike are the two biggest NBA fans on this board.

If you were a C's fan which of the 3 scenarios would you want.
1. Make the Eastern conference finals this year but the Nets pick ends up like 7th.
2. Just make the playoffs lose first round but the Nets pick is 1st overall.
3. Trade the Nets pick for Boogie Cousins and play for this year and future with him.

 

[Melancer46]

I got an NBA question for Knicks as I think he and Mike are the two biggest NBA fans on this board.

If you were a C's fan which of the 3 scenarios would you want.
1. Make the Eastern conference finals this year but the Nets pick ends up like 7th.
2. Just make the playoffs lose first round but the Nets pick is 1st overall.
3. Trade the Nets pick for Boogie Cousins and play for this year and future with him.

I'd vote for option B. Cousins will always be tempting, but I'll always be uncertain about building a team around him I think. Option A is borderline impossible for the Celtics this year and even if it were possible, coming up just short and getting a mid-lottery pick in a draft that probably isn't too strong won't help that much. I think the Celtics losing in the first round is about their best case scenario this year anyways, and getting the 1st pick (likely Ben Simmons) would be huge; Boston is a young team, but there's very few pieces that you can say are definitely core pieces. Simmons would be a huge get.

 

[Cusefan0307]

100% agree on the pick and rolls. We don't do any switching on D and there seems to be no help or rotation. I think setting up the D to succeed is Fisher's most obvious weakness. Opposing guards get into the heart of the D time and time again. The Knicks aren't going to beat many teams if they can't stop anyone reliably and right now they really can't.

Who can Jose Calderon guard in the NBA at the point guard position? That is the problem.