OT: Knicks four biggest problems (hint none of them are melo)

[OrangeFoo]

1. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers... I've never seen a team which places less value on the ball than this Knicks bunch. They are terrible, they throw the dumbest passes I have ever seen and are totally sloppy and lazy with the ball. Fab Melo would probably improve the turnover rate with this team. Melo is probably the best player on this team at not turning the ball over.

2. They switch every screen which has been absolutely killing the team in so many ways when they play a decent team. Good teams run the Knicks through a crapload of screens until they get a match up they can exploit. The Celtics did this basically the entire second half by isolating Pierce on a guard and it was game over. Last night the Bulls did this time and time again to free up Rose, not that he needs it. If you want an explanation for giving up like 15 offensive boards to Taj Gibson here is your answer, Lin would get picked by Gibson while guarding Rose and would switch to Gibson rather than fighting through the pick. Gibson immediately would crash to the basket and then whenever Rose shot it or passed it off to someone else for a shot Gibson would just outmuscle Lin for the ball on the rebound. This happened play after play after play in the second half last night. This alone should get Dantoni fired... if I can see it from my tv what the is he looking at.

3. Amare is totally lost on this team. He has no idea what to do on offense and he's is absolutely atrocious on D. On top of that he is a turnover machine and he has lost his explosion so he's gets packaged time after time. You can't have two ball stoppers like Melo and Amare on the same team. The Knicks should have amnestied Amare, not Billups last fall, then they would be in perfect position to get a power forward like Gibson who by the way would be perfect for the Knicks.

4. The refs are letting Lin get murdered out there. I've never seen a player get hit so hard on so many plays and never get a call for it. The result of this is that Lin basically can't get inside the paint where he does so much damage because he gets hammered resulting in an airball or a turnover rather than a foul. Lin is now basically a jumpshooter with an occasional drive. Not sure anything can be done about this other than play through it.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

They played with nice effort last night. Unfortunately, they just aren't going to be as good as CHI or MIA this season or next.

Melo just doesn't seem to jive with D'Antoni. Coach wants a catch and shoot 3...Melo will never be a catch and shoot player. He likes to hold the ball and probe for 10-12 seconds first.

 

[orangenauburn]

Or JEREMY LIN is vastly overrated -- dude has been a turnover machine, even during Lin-sanity ... and his D is suspect, and the league has figured him out.

 

[Knicks411]

I think Lin's TO were a little overrated, because he was making so many plays. His TO% was never ridiculously high; it was in the Nash/Rondo range. (I'm sure he was overrated though).

Melo shoots more than anyone else on the team (by far, really) and he's at 40%. I think that's a pretty big problem. Not one I expect to continue, but still a problem.

 

[orangenauburn]

but he is no where near as good as Rondo or Nash -- they would get 14 or 15 assists with 6 TO's ... while Lin was getting 8 or 9 assists with 8 or 9 TO

 

[Knicks411]

but he is no where near as good as Rondo or Nash -- they would get 14 or 15 assists with 6 TO's ... while Lin was getting 8 or 9 assists with 8 or 9 TO

The turnover % is % of the plays you use though; he was taking (and making, during his stretch) a lot more shots than those guys would.

Anyway, the point isn't that he is as good as those people, of course not, just that the more plays you make, the more likely you are to turn the ball over. During that crazy stretch, he was basically taking 20 shots per game, Rondo has done that 3 times all year. (Also, Lin had 4 games of 13 assists or more). For instance, one of the 8 TO game, h e had 27 points (on 20 shots, plus 11 more FT), and 11 assists. That's basically 44 plays during the game, 8 TO is high, but under those circumstances, it isn't ridiculous. As another example, Rondo had 6 TO last night, with 10 assists, 8 shots, and 4 FT. That's 26 plays, give or take, with 6 TO, which is a higher %.

This is all a long way of saying Lin and Rondo have nearly identical to% this year, 20.6% for Lin, 20.8% for Rondo.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

The other problem might be Melo turning into Glenn Robinson... at 40%... he certainly isn't part of the solution.

 

[Deano]

Mike D'Antoni = No Defense Coach. That was his downfall in Phoenix.

 

[Knicks411]

Mike D'Antoni = No Defense Coach. That was his downfall in Phoenix.

Knicks defense is 10th in the league in efficiency, the offense is 24th.

If you told me before the year we'd be 10th in defense, I'd think we'd have a really good record.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

Or JEREMY LIN is vastly overrated -- dude has been a turnover machine, even during Lin-sanity ... and his D is suspect, and the league has figured him out.

And all of us that said this during the height of Linsanity were just 'haters'.

 

[KevMonstah]

The biggest problem is the team is put together very poorly. Melo/Amare/Chandler/Lin/Landry Fields, which Steve Nowak, Baron Davis, JR Smith, and Mike Bibby on the bench. How is that lineup supposed to work? They're a mile over the salary cap with one guy who cares about rebounding/defense, three guys you could consider as reasonably capable down low, and four guys who'd be happy if they could take 30 shots a game EACH. What the team needs are guys who are the opposite of Davis or Smith, and guys who'd like to rebound. I don't see how you fix that team. Adding Chris Paul? Great, they'll be over the salary cap with three guys. Awesome.

Kevin

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Adding JR Smith was classic though. Who is making these decisions? "We need another guy who plays half hearted defense and likes to hoist shots."