I don't think there was ever any doubt about Melo's "talent". The problem has been his willingness to do what is needed to play winning BB and IMO he's only recently been doing that. This version of Melo we haven't seen until recently. He hasn't played like this his entire career. We all know he can score and make tough shots. What is different now is EVERYTHING ELSE. He's giving much more effort and is actually playing smarter and more in a team oriented fashion.
Early in the Bulls game we saw Melo actually executing catch and shoot within the flow of the offense. Most importantly is that he's defending for the entire games now and he was never doing that. There's no way on Earth that this team isn't in 1st place comfortably if he was playing this way all year. This has been the crux of the Anti Melo statements all year.
It seems that he was clearly not in Elite shape to start the year and his game was rusty, i'll give him that. Then he had some nagging injuries that may also have slowed him down. However, the thing that hurt his game the most was his mental attitude. He's played himself into game shape tho. he was clearly not in this kind of shape to play this hard on both ends. I think we've actually watched Melo grow during this season!!! I think he has learned some things about the game and himself this year.
Considering all we gave up for Melo this is welcome news! It totally changes the future prospects for this franchise with Melo playing winning BB and learning how to be a leader. He didn't accept it from MDA, but under Woody he's learning more about trusting his teammates and leading by example. He's learned that if he plays harder it will help his teammates follow his lead and play harder. He's learning how to be the REASON his team wins by his actions and attitude on the floor. It's no coincidence that since he's been giving a supreme effort the team as a whole has played harder. People wanna say it's Woody, but it started before Woody even had one practice. It's started in game one when Melo played harder than he's played all year. The coach can say it, but the teams best player has to make it happen on the floor and lead the way. That has helped Woody so that he can focus on the team rather than one player. Woody can succeed cuz he has the support of the teams best player. Everyone else will fall in line when that happens.
ChuckBuck wrote:Anji wrote:
Real Recognize Real!!!!!!!!!
Love it...Starks and LJ were going buckwild supporting the new Knicks. I truly hope we make the playoffs and make more noise like yesterday.
I think I saw LJ almost put up the L, he was feeling the good vibes again.
gunsnewing wrote:Nalod wrote:ChuckBuck wrote:gunsnewing wrote:KnicksFE wrote:gunsnewing wrote:he's the best player since Ewing. What exactly are our other options here? Stephon Marbury, Antonio Mcdyess, a broken down STAT, Eddy Curry, Steve Francis, Keith Van Horn?
Why did you leave out Allan Houston and Spree? They should be in the conversation, I believe.
i don't know know maybe because they played with Ewing and JVG when we had a good team. They didn't necessarily have a winning career after JVG left. In fact lottery years. They were not superstars only borderline allstars. Melo is a star and this Knick team would be the 1st or 2nd seed in the East if Woodson started the year
Loved Spree and Houston, but like Guns mentioned they were both a tier below Melo. Houston was a great shooter with the "Bounce that went in". Spree had that good playoff run in '99, but neither he or Houston were of the caliber of Anthony.
Melo has not done anything as a Knick.
His career has him at a higher tier than Spree and H20 but we have not won a playoff game with him yet. 90 games with him playing about .500 ball?
Not saying its his "Fault" but not ready to label him a "Knick Star".
If he goes in the Hall of fame tomorrow he goes in as a KNugg, not a KNick.
He had his first moment coming up big in a big moment in an important game for us.
Its a start!
Thats fair but in general you can't call H20 & Spree superstars because they accomplished nothing once Ewing & JVG left. Think they beat Toronto in the 1st round the first year lost in the 2nd. Then lost to Toronto in the 1st round. And that was the end of our playoff run for a lonnng while
Never said Spree or H20 are superstars. Neither is Melo.
Melo has the same playoff record as knick as Marbury.
Melo played a hell of a game yesterday.
Puts us two game over .500 this season!
Thats not hate, just plain reality.
Im happy, but not the villiage idiot.
Anji wrote:Real Recognize Real!!!!!!!!!
Man, ball players don't age too well. Starks looks like he's 65. But Ewing looks like he's 70, so I guess The Dunk's living better.
[
Don't have to go threw Haiku like post out Nalod about nothing of import, declaring this and that to declare it a week later differently like the great loser Russian owner and Dwight "now Waffles" Howard.
I get the jest of your post. Not exactly well crafted.
My official position: I am a knick fan, did not like the trade but not a big fan of Melo but like the kid and does think he is playing hard. Go back, thats my constant.
The Russian: Nets will win a title before the Knicks in my opinion. Although I am dumbfounded by the Nets last trade and the Depths of Dolans stupidity.
I root for the knicks.
IM transparent on my opinions and pretty consistant. I keep an open mind so I am willing to let Melo win me over.
Never doubted his talent or abilty to score, its his ability to make others around him better and blend into a winning chemestry.
That, he has yet to win me over.
jrodmc wrote:Anji wrote:Real Recognize Real!!!!!!!!!
Man, ball players don't age too well. Starks looks like he's 65. But Ewing looks like he's 70, so I guess The Dunk's living better.
Ewing the other nite looked really tired and old. I give him credit as he has really hung in there as an assistant coach and paying "the dues"!
I can't say if he has distinguished himself as an assistant but I hope he gets a head coach job.
Im sure he has a ton of money and does not need to work. He was famous for being tight with his money.
Nalod wrote:gunsnewing wrote:Nalod wrote:ChuckBuck wrote:gunsnewing wrote:KnicksFE wrote:gunsnewing wrote:he's the best player since Ewing. What exactly are our other options here? Stephon Marbury, Antonio Mcdyess, a broken down STAT, Eddy Curry, Steve Francis, Keith Van Horn?
Why did you leave out Allan Houston and Spree? They should be in the conversation, I believe.
i don't know know maybe because they played with Ewing and JVG when we had a good team. They didn't necessarily have a winning career after JVG left. In fact lottery years. They were not superstars only borderline allstars. Melo is a star and this Knick team would be the 1st or 2nd seed in the East if Woodson started the year
Loved Spree and Houston, but like Guns mentioned they were both a tier below Melo. Houston was a great shooter with the "Bounce that went in". Spree had that good playoff run in '99, but neither he or Houston were of the caliber of Anthony.
Melo has not done anything as a Knick.
His career has him at a higher tier than Spree and H20 but we have not won a playoff game with him yet. 90 games with him playing about .500 ball?
Not saying its his "Fault" but not ready to label him a "Knick Star".
If he goes in the Hall of fame tomorrow he goes in as a KNugg, not a KNick.
He had his first moment coming up big in a big moment in an important game for us.
Its a start!
Thats fair but in general you can't call H20 & Spree superstars because they accomplished nothing once Ewing & JVG left. Think they beat Toronto in the 1st round the first year lost in the 2nd. Then lost to Toronto in the 1st round. And that was the end of our playoff run for a lonnng while
Never said Spree or H20 are superstars. Neither is Melo.
Melo has the same playoff record as knick as Marbury.
Melo played a hell of a game yesterday.
Puts us two game over .500 this season!
Thats not hate, just plain reality.
Im happy, but not the villiage idiot.
Are you a village idiot if you don't know how to spell "village idiot"? 
Bonn1997 wrote:As a PF, Melo has played like a superstar. Tyson Chandler is the best Knick since Ewing though.
If you look at last year, Melo was putting up very similar stats as a SF next to Amar'e. I think more than SF/PF, it's just a case of him getting a higher usage rate again aka with Lin and Amar'e out, he needs to take more shots so he is.
I think Melo is a bit of a rhythm player. Meaning, I think he actually gets better if he keeps getting the ball in his spots and keeps getting shots. With Lin and Amar'e out, there's no question that Melo is able to get the ball in his spots as often as he needs or wants. Sometimes making your best scorer comfortable on offense can be a good thing, I guess. Go figure.
That said, I've been saying this for a while, but I think a big issue is Melo and Amar'e playing on the floor together. Melo does seem to do better with a spread floor. Having Landry playing SF instead of Amar'e playing PF allows the floor to be more open and less crowded on the wing or high post, where Melo does a lot of his damage. Tyson is still down there, but his man can't really leave him or he risks the havok that Tyson can cause on the offensive boards (as we saw yesterday when he had 10 offensive rebounds). Put Tyson and Amar'e down there together? The middle of the floor gets clogged really quickly.
And anyone saying that was Melo's first "moment" what about the Christmas game against Boston? What about the game winner against Indiana or Memphis? What about Game 2 against Boston? 42pts 17rebs 6ast with Amar'e and Chauncey out doesn't count as a moment? Ai yi yi.
crzymdups wrote:And anyone saying that was Melo's first "moment" what about the Christmas game against Boston? What about the game winner against Indiana or Memphis? What about Game 2 against Boston? 42pts 17rebs 6ast with Amar'e and Chauncey out doesn't count as a moment? Ai yi yi.
+1
No, it's a chip in seven games or less or he's just Marbles Part Deux.
Gallo man love. It's a terrible thing.
crzymdups wrote:And anyone saying that was Melo's first "moment" what about the Christmas game against Boston? What about the game winner against Indiana or Memphis? What about Game 2 against Boston? 42pts 17rebs 6ast with Amar'e and Chauncey out doesn't count as a moment? Ai yi yi.
Game 2. We win that game?
The "Moment" is game winners.
Thats what stands out. Not individual efforts. They are nice and fun to watch.
Remember DLees tip in with .8 on the clock to WIN against Philly? Id on't remember his line, but that was a winner.
Yesterday was a nice win against the 1st place Bulls and they were talking smack.
Great win!
The title states best player to wear a Knicks uniform since Ewing which not arguable. You compare Melo with any other player other then Ewing, player to player he beats them all out. He has to much talent, to versatile and still in his prime when he acquired him.
If the title stated greatest Knick then it becomes arguable as being the greatest Knick isn't only about talent.
newyorknewyork wrote:The title states best player to wear a Knicks uniform since Ewing which not arguable. You compare Melo with any other player other then Ewing, player to player he beats them all out. He has to much talent, to versatile and still in his prime when he acquired him. If the title stated greatest Knick then it becomes arguable as being the greatest Knick isn't only about talent.
That depends on what you mean by "best". Based on sheer ability? Possibly, but I don't think he's really been here long enough to warrant being second after Ewing. Let's see what he can do in helping the team get to and advance in the playoffs before we retire his jersey.
If melo played like thsi all year we would have been in the 3 spot at least
Carmelo Anthony is a better player than Mike D'antoni is a coach.
Time has given us the answer some of us already knew.
Is the real problem a perennial all star? Or a head coach who's system has never proved anything?
If it weren't for D'antoni, this team could've won the divison and been a sure fire 2nd round team.
Mike Woodson has done a terrific job.
JrZyHuStLa wrote:Carmelo Anthony is a better player than Mike D'antoni is a coach.
Yeah but is he a better player than Hillary Clinton is a Secretary of State?
JrZyHuStLa wrote:Carmelo Anthony is a better player than Mike D'antoni is a coach.Time has given us the answer some of us already knew.
Is the real problem a perennial all star? Or a head coach who's system has never proved anything?
If it weren't for D'antoni, this team could've won the divison and been a sure fire 2nd round team.
Mike Woodson has done a terrific job.
great. a thread about Melo and Ewing and players on Knicks teams and you compare Melo and MDA.
If you don't have anything to add, don't.
JrZyHuStLa wrote:Carmelo Anthony is a better player than Mike D'antoni is a coach.Time has given us the answer some of us already knew.
Is the real problem a perennial all star? Or a head coach who's system has never proved anything?
If it weren't for D'antoni, this team could've won the divison and been a sure fire 2nd round team.
Mike Woodson has done a terrific job.
It's not about MDA or Woody. This is about Melo pure and simple. No coach was making Melo miss shots and get his shot blocked for most of the year. No coach is making him make shots and finish strong now. This is all about Melo. Case in point, before his shot returned and he was still sucking it up offensively, the single biggest change was Melo's effort level in every other aspect of the game, but particularly on the defensive end. It was night and day different the DAY that MDA resigned. because Melo made up his mind to push himself, he actually played himself into Elite level conditioning.
Melo was visibly spent early on during the 1st few games after MDA resigned and he had started playing harder on both ends, but over time he's actually gotten in shape enough to play hard on both ends and still be a dominant offensive player. That's really all on Melo. He could always have been doing this. No excuses!!! This is about personal accountability for a player paid to be the leader of a franchise. The same as Durant or Lebron, Melo owes it to the franchise and the fans to be ready to play at an Elite level and to give max effort every single night. He's been doing that for a few games now which is great, but it's a shame he didn't always do this, cuz if he had this team would already be a top team in the League and not fighting for survival.
I grow tired of all the revisionist history now that Melo is playing like we expected him to when we traded for him. Let's not forget all the poor play and losing this team has done since he's come here just cuz he's had a good little run. He's got a lot more work to do. You compare this short period with that of what a DRose has done as an MVP level player and it's not even close. We're not talking stats. Just talking about doing what his team needs for an entire season and playoffs. Melo has yet to do that for this franchise.
DATE MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS
January 35.6 8.3-21.1 .393 1.4-4.4 .311 5.4-6.8 .789 6.7 4.6 0.4 1.3 2.4 3.4 23.3
February 31.5 6.1-15.4 .398 0.6-2.3 .278 3.6-4.4 .829 4.0 3.4 0.5 0.8 2.4 2.1 16.5
March 32.1 6.7-16.2 .415 0.9-3.3 .268 5.1-6.5 .782 6.3 3.0 0.5 1.3 3.0 2.3 19.4
April(3 gms) 38.3 13.0-26.0 .500 2.3-5.0 .467 5.3-7.0 .762 8.3 2.7 0.7 1.0 3.3 2.7 33.7
You can see that in April so far he's been putting up Superstar performances. The Totality of the other months tells the story about the rest of the year and his less than stellar performance. That's not about a coach! This is about Melo pure and simple. He had to be sucking pretty hard to have the shooting %'s he had this year. For a guy touted as the best pure scorer, you can't lay that on a coach or teammates. You either make the shots or you don't. The one thing that you should always expect is effort and that's been the biggest change for Melo.
