I understand it is based on Stoudemire's rep as a star player, but this team is no longer built around Anthony and Stoudemire, it is built around Anthony and Chandler. Woodson has arguably the best offensive player in the game (alongside Durant and LeBron) and arguably the best defensive player in the game (alongside Dwight, LeBron, Garnett, and Ibaka maybe.) Stoudemire has a great opportunity to regain his star status as an elite offensive player, but in my eyes he is a very high quality role player who no longer needs to be a star. He is our modern day Larry Johnson. He will excel with leadership, improved effeciency, and improved defense as our second option on offensive, and 3rd overall most important piece to the championship quest. I just wish this team would stop being anaylzed based on whether or not the 2 can coexist. Yes they need to, but i'm more concerned with Anthony and Chandler because it is on our top 2 players to lead this team to a title. Are they good enough to lead this team? Stoudemire's responsbility is to just fit in. I believe it can be done and i am encouraged by having more talent than we have had in a long time, and watching this team develop around Anthony and Chandler.
A. because most writers are lazy
Ive always thought that the issue was tyson & stat. Tyson takes up the space where stat operates. When he played well durng his first yr...he played center
Chandler doesn't have an offensive game...The Knicks won't be able to compete against the Heat just featuring Anthony on the offensive end...The Heat now have 4 players that can score 20 points on any given night..We have 1...Do the math...Amare has to be Amare for the Knicks to compete...Lakers has 4 guys who can give you 20 points on any given night...OKC has three...Knick's 1...
Melo and Amare are our two highest paid players and our only two real offensive threats night in and night out. But, they've played together for a season and a half now and haven't really been able to get on the same page.
holfresh wrote:Chandler doesn't have an offensive game...The Knicks won't be able to compete against the Heat just featuring Anthony on the offensive end...The Heat now have 4 players that can score 20 points on any given night..We have 1...Do the math...Amare has to be Amare for the Knicks to compete...Lakers has 4 guys who can give you 20 points on any given night...OKC has three...Knick's 1...
Amare and Smith are both capable of 20+ on any given night. I consider us to have 3 of those players. I do agree that Amare has to be Amare and we need scoring from the PF position because of the lack of scoring from Chandler. In the future, if Amare doesn't work out then we just need to find a stretch-4 like Bargnani who can put of points but not clog the lane for Anthony and Chandler. Hopefully Amare can find a way to fit though.
VCoug wrote:Melo and Amare are our two highest paid players and our only two real offensive threats night in and night out. But, they've played together for a season and a half now and haven't really been able to get on the same page.
This will be the make-or-break year for the 2 of them together. If it works, great. If it doesn't work, they will do all they can to unload Amare who will only have 2 years left on his contract and replace him with a PF who can score but maybe stretch the floor a little more so he fits better with Melo and Chandler.
Focus is because:
They eat like 40mil in cap.
MSG starphuched so the expectations are high.
Tyson is part of the problem but Amare was getting his shots stuffed left and right at the beginning of the season.
Basically Amare played like complete trash for most of last season.
holfresh wrote:Chandler doesn't have an offensive game...The Knicks won't be able to compete against the Heat just featuring Anthony on the offensive end...The Heat now have 4 players that can score 20 points on any given night..We have 1...Do the math...Amare has to be Amare for the Knicks to compete...Lakers has 4 guys who can give you 20 points on any given night...OKC has three...Knick's 1...
YOU HAVE A point, but amare can and will never be the amare we remember playing with carmelo... that is the truth.. we have watched this unfold already.
Knixkik wrote:VCoug wrote:Melo and Amare are our two highest paid players and our only two real offensive threats night in and night out. But, they've played together for a season and a half now and haven't really been able to get on the same page.
This will be the make-or-break year for the 2 of them together. If it works, great. If it doesn't work, they will do all they can to unload Amare who will only have 2 years left on his contract and replace him with a PF who can score but maybe stretch the floor a little more so he fits better with Melo and Chandler.
We could do that this season with Novak but I have no faith that it will happen.
Man we're screwed without Lin...we should all just become Nets fans.
holfresh wrote:Chandler doesn't have an offensive game...The Knicks won't be able to compete against the Heat just featuring Anthony on the offensive end...The Heat now have 4 players that can score 20 points on any given night..We have 1...Do the math...Amare has to be Amare for the Knicks to compete...Lakers has 4 guys who can give you 20 points on any given night...OKC has three...Knick's 1...
This
Nalod wrote:Focus is because:They eat like 40mil in cap.
MSG starphuched so the expectations are high.
and this
Also, if they can get to a point where they're dropping a combined 50 ppg and playing solid D, that helps everyone else. Tyson has to learn how to play his game without it interrupting Stat's. Rodman was nearly useless offensively, but that futility didn't prevent his teammates from playing their games. I agree that Tyson is a huhge part of the equation, but he needs to accommodate Stat as opposed to Stat changing for Tyson (barring stepping it up on D...Amare play some damned defense).
I'm tired of fans underrating Amar'e. He's always been a more efficient player than Melo or just about anyone else. This is a guy who is on the top of the All Time NBA best in terms of efficiency. That is a fact that can't be denied. In fact if you took away the down years when he's been playing hurt or not at 100% you'd see that when healthy he's been an unreal offensive player in terms of efficiency. This team went away from making sure Amar'e was the focal point of the offense and really I think it's a mistake to think that we don't need Amar'e as a primary scorer. Amar'e has been a dominant player for much of his career and only recently has dropped down from that perch here in NY. We're talking about 1 half season of poor BB for Amar'e.
I think Woody is doing the right thing to look to re-establish Amar'e in the post a bit more and as a focal point in the offense overall. He and Melo do need to learn how to play off each other more. Hakeem is right and i'm sorry but the OP is wrong. I'll have to side with Woody and Hakeem over anyone here in regards to getting STAT and Melo to be more successful playing with each other.
Carmelo and Amar'e actually put up great numbers together when Billups ran the show
We sucked defensively though
Out Billups, In Chandler
Our team improved on D but sucked on O do you see the correlation
Enter Felton and Kidd
Felton will run the show, he's been watching tape from when Billups ran the show and got both STAT and Melo involved check the numbers they were both playing at high level offensively
Chandler just has to do something other than dunk, he hits his FT's maybe he can knock down that 15 footer ala KG, not as consistent but he should be able to hit it
Knixkik wrote:I understand it is based on Stoudemire's rep as a star player, but this team is no longer built around Anthony and Stoudemire, it is built around Anthony and Chandler. Woodson has arguably the best offensive player in the game (alongside Durant and LeBron) and arguably the best defensive player in the game (alongside Dwight, LeBron, Garnett, and Ibaka maybe.) Stoudemire has a great opportunity to regain his star status as an elite offensive player, but in my eyes he is a very high quality role player who no longer needs to be a star. He is our modern day Larry Johnson. He will excel with leadership, improved effeciency, and improved defense as our second option on offensive, and 3rd overall most important piece to the championship quest. I just wish this team would stop being anaylzed based on whether or not the 2 can coexist. Yes they need to, but i'm more concerned with Anthony and Chandler because it is on our top 2 players to lead this team to a title. Are they good enough to lead this team? Stoudemire's responsbility is to just fit in. I believe it can be done and i am encouraged by having more talent than we have had in a long time, and watching this team develop around Anthony and Chandler.
I had an elaborate response in my head but I have been drinking hard since the Yanks beat the A's. I think the simple answer is that its ny and its the Knicks.
holfresh wrote:Chandler doesn't have an offensive game...The Knicks won't be able to compete against the Heat just featuring Anthony on the offensive end...The Heat now have 4 players that can score 20 points on any given night..We have 1...Do the math...Amare has to be Amare for the Knicks to compete...Lakers has 4 guys who can give you 20 points on any given night...OKC has three...Knick's 1...
This sums it up best for me. Amare is the key if we are going to have a shot to be an elite team this year. Which means he and Melo must mesh. It is tough to be elite without a No. 2 scoring option who can consistently score 20 points. Sure, JR can go for 20 on any given night. But he won't do it on a nightly basis. Amare has to be that type of No. 2 option for us, because we don't have anyone else.
tkf wrote:holfresh wrote:Chandler doesn't have an offensive game...The Knicks won't be able to compete against the Heat just featuring Anthony on the offensive end...The Heat now have 4 players that can score 20 points on any given night..We have 1...Do the math...Amare has to be Amare for the Knicks to compete...Lakers has 4 guys who can give you 20 points on any given night...OKC has three...Knick's 1...
YOU HAVE A point, but amare can and will never be the amare we remember playing with carmelo... that is the truth.. we have watched this unfold already.
Amare and Melo can play together just fine, especially when Amare is playing center. When Chandler was injured and Stat moved to the 5, both Melo and Amare put p numbers. As someone already mentioned in this thread, its Amare and Chandler that get in each other way.
When Amare went on that tear, before we traded for Melo, Amare did most of his damage at the 5. He was able to blow by slower 5's or they were too afraid to leave the paint and he canned open jay's. At this point in his career, Stat, is probably better at the 5 similar to KG's revitalization at the 5 for the Celts.
callmened wrote:Ive always thought that the issue was tyson & stat. Tyson takes up the space where stat operates. When he played well durng his first yr...he played center
Agreed. I've said this numerous times. When Chandler went down for a few games, Stat put up very good numbers. The Milwaukee game stands out when he and Melo played well.
2 problems with the Chandler Stat combo. First, Chandler ate up most of the pick-n-roll plays last year, a play that Stat made his career off of. Second, when Stat played the 5 in his first year here, he was quicker than the opposition so he would either dribble by them, or knock down the jay because they were too scared to come out. When he went on that scoring run in his first year, most of it was at the 5.
The 4's are quick enough to stay with Stat, so his patented 'put my head down and rush to the basket' move wont work. Also, his jumper vacated him last year. In order for him to be successful this year, he needs some spot minutes at the 5 (probably not going to happen with Camby here) and he needs to be the feature guy in the pick-and roll game. If not, then hopefully, he has improved in the post with Hakeem's help.
