Knicks · Say "Good Morning" to: Ray Felton, Ronnie Brewer, Jason Kidd, James White, Kurt Thomas, Marcus Camby, and possibly The (page 1)

There is no way that the the dearly departed free agents can compare, skill set for skill set, with the new acquisitions on this revised roster.
The six holdovers (Carmelo, Amar'e, Chandler, Shumpert, Novak and JR Smith) loved playing for former Knicks player Mike Woodson and had his back as they went 18-6, a dramatic turnaround from Mike D'Antoni. You think they want to play for anyone else? Not really.

Carmelo and Tyson are bonding in London under the tutelage of the best basketball minds on the planet. What better way to stay in shape than to represent your beloved country in The Olympics? Patriotism anyone?

Ray Felton and Amar'e are texting each other in between Stoudemire's crash-tutorial with Hakeem Olajuwon. Ray is happy to be home and is driven to prove he is a winner. He and Amar'e were having big fun before "the trade." Jason Kidd, who played with both Novak and Chandler in Dallas, is replaying what he learned about Kurt Thomas and Marcus Camby over two decades of competition. Kurt and Marcus had excellent chemistry the first time around in NY. That is a good thing. Jr Smith accepted less money to come home and replay his days in Denver with Camby and Carmelo. Our new guys have history.

Iman Shumpert, the most athletic perimeter defender this side of Ronnie Brewer, is rehabbing with Baron Davis, who will make someone a decent assistant coach. Brewer is unselfish and motivated. James White, who will be nailed to the pine, would be wise to live in 5:30 AM spin classes.

Then it gets interesting:

“The way I play is great to have wonder players like them (around me), I like to play for my teammates, give the ball in the right moments and try to exploit their talents. That’s how I think as a point guard. I’m not looking to score 30 points. Some days you need me to score more, I score. I understand basketball is a team sport. I want to play for my teammates, penetrate, dish and get assists. The way I play it is great to have great scorers around me like I have on the (Argentinian) national team.”

Pablo Prigioni brings something tangible that any NBA roster covets. Experienced leadership. He is rugged and unselfish. He is totally unpredictable. He is creative and intuitive. He is also ours.

What a great "gettin' up morning" in the long history of our highly dramatized and always entertaining roller coaster of a hoops franchise.

Did I mention we still have Steve Novak?

Some cafe patron...since its "good morning" and all

It's nice that this round of turnover brought back Felton, Camby and Kurt, I guess. Felton should actually lend some consistency, though he's never played with Melo or Tyson... or anyone on the team other than Amar'e, despite leaving a season and a half ago.

And Brewer is a really good pickup, he should replace everything Fields brought and then some. (Except consistency and continuity, but hey, who's counting)

Raymond Felton also played with J.R. Smith and Marcus Camby btw.

Boston flipped their roster to get kg and Jesus.....

the nets traded for kidd and they went to the nva finals....

Barkley went to Phoenix and flipped the roster Alot and made it to the finals.

I'm just saying....teams can make major changes and catch lightning in a bottle

Knicks were 18-6 under Woodson....knicks got better they could possibly be a 50+ win team

crzymdups wrote:
The successful teams in this league rarely turn over half their roster in a single summer. The Knicks do it every summer. Look at the real contenders from the past few years - Oklahoma, Miami, Boston, Lakers, San Antonio, Chicago - all these teams are pretty consistent.

It's nice that this round of turnover brought back Felton, Camby and Kurt, I guess. Felton should actually lend some consistency, though he's never played with Melo or Tyson... or anyone on the team other than Amar'e, despite leaving a season and a half ago.

And Brewer is a really good pickup, he should replace everything Fields brought and then some. (Except consistency and continuity, but hey, who's counting)

Actually, the only team on your list that hasn't made a turnover is OKC.

The only constant on the Lakers is really Kobe, they actually traded Pau last year only for the league to deny the deal, and Hoaward would be a Laker already, since they have no issue moving Bynum.

Miami gutted their whole team to fit their three in.

The Spurs only have their three from the ship years, the Bulls were formed basically two years ago.

TheloniusMonk wrote:^^^^^Funny you say real contenders don't turn over half their roster in a single summer and then bring up the Miami Heat.....funny.

Raymond Felton also played with J.R. Smith and Marcus Camby btw.

The unique element that many paid writers have completely overlooked is the history of the "new" roster

If there are any omissions, please add yours:

Ray Felton - bonded with Amar'e, played with J.R. Smith , in Denver

Carmelo - played with JR Smith and Camby in Denver

Amar'e - played with Kurt Thomas in Phoenix

Chandler - played with Kidd and Novak in Dallas, (first Knicks player to win Defensive Player of The Year)

MIami Drafted Wade.

Lakers traded for the 13th pick that was Kobe and Kobe needed a few years to be Kobe (patience factor).

Celtics had Pierce in place via draft.

Most teams have in place a core group that was created via draft or development. No doubt using assets to land a star player to complete the roster can be very very effective.

Lets just say you need these things to win:

Draft picks, patience, good scouting and Luck. Draft picks can become trade assets that can land you players.

misterearl wrote:Nice Catch

TheloniusMonk wrote:^^^^^Funny you say real contenders don't turn over half their roster in a single summer and then bring up the Miami Heat.....funny.

Raymond Felton also played with J.R. Smith and Marcus Camby btw.

The unique element that many paid writers have completely overlooked is the history of the "new" roster

If there are any omissions, please add yours:

Ray Felton - bonded with Amar'e, played with J.R. Smith , in Denver

Carmelo - played with JR Smith and Camby in Denver

Amar'e - played with Kurt Thomas in Phoenix

Chandler - played with Kidd and Novak in Dallas, (first Knicks player to win Defensive Player of The Year)

Can't sleep on the fact that Camby, kurt and Felton have already played here with success.....kidd made a point to embarrass us everyone he played the knicks while in new Jersey......jr smith wanted to be here, A'mare wanted to be here, Carmelo wanted to be here, Brewer took less money....don't sleep because games white and copeland probably could have gotten more money over seas......Pablo was making good money over there too.

We riding on our enemies this year!!!!

"Luck is the residue of opportunity and design." - Branch Rickey, Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager

Nalod wrote:
Lets just say you need these things to win:

Draft picks, patience, good scouting and Luck. Draft picks can become trade assets that can land you players.

Nalod - draft picks, patience... and luck?... Way too simplistic and way too regimented. This ain't baseball cards.

These are people and personalities with fragile interactions.

Winning requires continuity. You need stability at the GM spot. Glen Grunwald has made the transition from Donnie Walsh nearly seamless. That is is something rare for a Knicks franchise where GM's and coaches feud as a matter of habit.

With continuity, the players names can change (see Boston Celtics history) but the playing personality stays intact. With the graceful transition to Mike Woodson over the last guy, the Knicks return to making defense more than a chant, it is a way of life.

After a firm personality comes trust. Trust is learned through shared experiences. The best way to build trust is to survive a 5 game west coast read swing with a losing record, without a loss of blood. This is why the shared history of the Knicks roster is vital. There is experience and wisdom... and there will be little panic when the fans are restless and the media wolves are barking at the locker room doors after a three game losing streak.

You need three things. (1) Continuity at GM, (2) a rock-solid playing personality and (3) trust.

The rest is easy.

EnySpree wrote:Detroit traded half their roster and made a in season trade to get Rasheed....

Boston flipped their roster to get kg and Jesus.....

the nets traded for kidd and they went to the nva finals....

Barkley went to Phoenix and flipped the roster Alot and made it to the finals.

I'm just saying....teams can make major changes and catch lightning in a bottle

Knicks were 18-6 under Woodson....knicks got better they could possibly be a 50+ win team

Luis Scola scored 32 points, Manu Ginobili had 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists a day after turning 35, and Argentina opened the Olympic men’s basketball tournament with a 102-79 victory on Sunday night.

It was an impressive start for the 2004 gold medalists, who have faced questions if the run is over for the “Golden Generation” that has been an international power for the last decade.

“We remembered the game in Turkey, quarterfinal in Turkey that day, first quarter they killed us,” said 35-year-old, New York Knicks-bound point guard Pablo Prigioni. “So we have that game in our head and we go on the court thinking that that cannot happen.”

Prigioni directed the floor, added 9 points (3-4 from three) and 6 assists (one turnover) and 2 steals.

“I think the message is that we are old but we can play, something like that,” said Scola.

misterearl wrote:we are old but we can play

Sig worthy.

jrodmc wrote:Sig worthy.

(cough)

An Argentina USA rematch could be veddy interesting

crzymdups wrote:
The successful teams in this league rarely turn over half their roster in a single summer. The Knicks do it every summer. Look at the real contenders from the past few years - Oklahoma, Miami, Boston, Lakers, San Antonio, Chicago - all these teams are pretty consistent.

It's nice that this round of turnover brought back Felton, Camby and Kurt, I guess. Felton should actually lend some consistency, though he's never played with Melo or Tyson... or anyone on the team other than Amar'e, despite leaving a season and a half ago.

And Brewer is a really good pickup, he should replace everything Fields brought and then some. (Except consistency and continuity, but hey, who's counting)

I agree....We turn over our players every summer....Coaching staff, every two - three years. That’s because with each passing year, Dolan is feeling more and more pressure to win now, and will try to buy his way to a championship, instead of building your talent within. The fans used to be the same way, but now I think they / we understand that you can also build a team through the draft and continue to be a contender like the Giants.....

But aside from all that, my response was really on chemistry, which has been our biggest hurdle every year. The reason is we usually turn our roster over with offensive players and role models with no offensive game. When you keep a core of offensive scorers and shooters, but add defensive vets like Kidd, Camby, Kurt and Brewer....You don't have to worry too much about chemistry.

Defense is defense, it doesn't matter on which scheme you are used to. If you can stop your man, and have the IQ to help your teammates, and have the vet leadership to hold each other accountable.....Chemistry will not be our biggest hurdle.

Our problem will be vet rotation. Sometimes when you go from having a limited # of players you trust, to now having 12-13 players you can count on in crunch time....it makes it difficult for Woodson, and most of the games we lose will fall hard on his shoulders. The older vets (speaking from experience unfortunately) will take longer to warm up during the game. But once they are warmed up, it's hard to just set down and come back in, warm again (u tighten up quick when sitting too long). Older guys would rather play longer minutes, because once you are warm, you don't feel any pain (for example, Kidd will be most affective playing long minutes in the 4th to close out the game. That’s why he made that statement about playing in the 4th quarter).....You only feel pain when you are pulled in and out of the game too many times. That’s going to be our problem. Some of our vets will have to play heavy minutes to impact the game....Others may have to sit or skip a few games to recover, and this could cause some controversy if we are losing.