Knicks · Murry and Diogu earned the spots (page 1)

and its not close.

I would say final roster

C-Chandler Martin Tyler
F Amare Bargani Diogu
F Carmelo Artest JR Smith
G Shumpert Hardaway Murry
G Felton Udirih Prigioni

Udirih looked much much better tonight--lets face it--I think nthat he has more talent that Pablo and can also play 2 guard. The Knicks as a whole can play 3 guard sets

Murry is just the better talent to keep than C J Leslie--you keep the talent--he can play NBA basketball today and he can play well.

Definitely agree. Leslie was a bit of a disappointment for me but I do like Murry.

I agree wholeheartedly. I like those two and Jeremy Tyler for the final spots.

Did Leslie see the floor? Aldrich and Leslie are probably out

I completely agree! Murry looked good tonight again. And Udrih seems so composed and under control. Like a younger, more scoring kind of Prigo.

And I love the idea of running Shump and Murry together in the backcourt for defensive purposes. Offensively, they drop the ball off to Melo anyways.

I also want to point out that, even if there was a deal in place, there's just no way Chris Smith can make this team or any NBA team for that matter. He's just so awful.

Diogu gives us a guy who can score points from the 4--insurance for Amare. He also been tough getting rebounds which is a weak point for us.

Murry is just a talent keeper. I think he can be part of our teams longer range goals as well.

TeamBall wrote:I also want to point out that, even if there was a deal in place, there's just no way Chris Smith can make this team or any NBA team for that matter. He's just so awful.

Congressional Republicans have a higher approval rating right now than Chris Smith.

BRIGGS wrote:Diogu gives us a guy who can score points from the 4--insurance for Amare. He also been tough getting rebounds which is a weak point for us.

Murry is just a talent keeper. I think he can be part of our teams longer range goals as well.

Who's Amare?

Sounds like Bargs played well. No game thread tonight?

It would be a high crime for Murry not to make this team!!! We all saw this kid work hard in SL and now in Preseason he's shown he's earned a spot on this team. He plays like a Knick. Leslie just doesn't show me any NBA skills. Chris Smith is flat out AWFUL!!!

I'm really disappointed by Cole Aldrich. Just don't see enough energy from him. It looks to me like Woody is gonna play Bargnani at center a bit this year. I think Woody believes if he can keep working with AB he can get him to the point where he can play decent enough with the right players around him.

I have Settled on "Right Spot" Murry taking CJ's Spot and Ike winning 15th Man spot. I don't care how many PG's or Sg's we got you can't pass up on the talent that Murry has. We need to groom him ALL year because chances are Beno is gone next year. We can have him step right in with no problem after that. Plus our guards are injury prone. 2 of them got knocked out of commission today and JR is still injured. I love Powel's Blocking but Ike has showed me a lot with his rebounding and inside scoring. Once Tyler comes back we will be set from every position.

Didn't see the game tonight. Saw we won, Melo had 22...Gonna watch the replay in a little bit.

Just glanced at the box score -- disappointed to see that CDR didn't even play. WTF? A DNP?? Really Woody? Not even giving him a chance to compete for a spot. I think that's a mistake --- poor Shump hurt himself again tonight. Hope it's nothing serious but man, is this kid a little on the brittle side or what? Damn...Hope that's just a minor elbow sprain and nothing more. Hope to God he doesn't need Tommy John or something like that. The elbow's a funny thing... Then you got JR out rehabbing an injury and then the 5-game suspension...THJ's a rookie that can shoot -- but then he can also looks shaky at times, etc.. There's a spot for CDR on this team...For 2/3 depth, #1, and then secondly, he's a guy that can drop 30 in his sleep on any given night. I want him around as another offensive weapon on standby. Woody's nuts. Know your personnel coach -- This guy's a GOOD PLAYER. Go ask John Calipari about this guy if you have doubts...Give him a chance to win a spot. Come on -- Shump injuries himself and CDR still can't find any court time?? Crazy..

CrushAlot wrote:Sounds like Bargs played well. No game thread tonight?

He played fair--started off the game well but had a pirse poor third Q. He did have some blocked shots which showed that if he just stands his ground at 7 feet tall he can create problems with length in the box.

Heres my take so far on the Knicks over and tonights game.

We are one heckuva deep team--and that's important.
Our first unit defensively is not that good. I may suggest that they look at old Dalls clips from 2011 how they used their zone with the two big guys--Nowitski and Chandler and maybe w can start games out where we play some zone like that which takes advantage of playing 2 7 footers. You can see where match ups against athletic quick teams might give us fits. Will we have to adjust at some point--Im not sure--my hope is that we can kind of clone what Dallas was able to do. Carmelo is no Shawn Marion on the D but I think this team can be just as good as that Dallas team on the O. Were going to be better than almost any teams second unit-we will not have times where we lack scoring punch like we did last year. I do think that we should overlap Carmelo and Bargs---maybe play Bargs 6 minutes and then bring him back at start of 2nd Q--something like that.

Players
Chandler--so far hes looked a little out of it. This is just pre season for him. I expect that we will be able to cut down on his minutes --maybe back to 26 or so to keep him frsh. His J that he has been working on is robotic.

Carmelo-looks good in all ways--looks real good.

Felton--he looks very similar to last year

Bargs--so far just fair. He overuses that head fake ad nauseum plays slower than I remember and his body looks weak--like he needs a year in the weight room. That being said hes a 7 foot 255 pd skill player who creates a lot of contact and should be able to score 17-18 a night for us at a better % than he did for Toronto/ We have not really used him inside yet--far less than what i thought wed be able to do--we need him to get more touches in the post. He does not run the floor particularly hard.

Shumpert---looks fine a good player who needs to stay healthy

TJ Hardaway---a good draft pick who will help us materially right away. Other teams will see his weakness's--he has a poor in between game and his defense in not all the way there yet. But like they say--if youre really good at one skill--you haev a place in the nBA and this man can shoot and finish in traffic and on the break. Hes got the ability to lite it up from 3.

Udirih--this is the guy I thought we were getting--hes a good addition--hes a really nice player smart player who can shoot plays with his head up and lets his skills outweigh his athletic short comings

Murry--I really like Murry---what T Hardaway does not have--Murry does--the in between game while he is not a pure 1 hes got good ballhandling skills--he creates problems on the D and he can score the ball in several ways.

Diogu--he plays very hard and he can score in the post. I can see him getting PT right away and can play with either Bargani at C or Chandler--hes a good fit for us--hes likely a better version of what we wouldve got from Brand. hes 30 but hes a young 30 hes got fresh legs.

Prigs--same as last year

Not enough from Alrich or Powell to make this team Chris Smith leslie are just not guys who i think are in the plans in a season we must try to win it. Murry Shumpert Tyler and Hardaway give us a very solid young core going forward.

I agree 100% with BRIGGS assessment

Im not the biggest fan of undersized PFs (especially when we need defensive centers) but he has earned a spot on the team

Hardaway is even better than I thought and I was happy to draft him

this was my first look at bargnani. He had his moments but hes not being used correctly. Dont run the PNR with melo cuz he wont pass. I honestly forgot he was on the court at times

callmened wrote:I agree 100% with BRIGGS assessment

Im not the biggest fan of undersized PFs (especially when we need defensive centers) but he has earned a spot on the team

Hardaway is even better than I thought and I was happy to draft him

this was my first look at bargnani. He had his moments but hes not being used correctly. Dont run the PNR with melo cuz he wont pass. I honestly forgot he was on the court at times

I even wonder if we should incorporate Murry into the starting 10 to start the season. Hes a skilled energy guy who seems to be all over the place doing something good. Somehow work into a three guard set or something.

This is how I look at it right now.

To start the season Im eliminating Tyler Amare and JR Smith. That brings me down to 12. If we run 2 PGs Im going to sit Pablo unless FT to make it 11 and I think thats how we start our season.

To start season it may look like this

C-Chandler
F Bargani
F Carmelo
G Shumpert
PG Felton
C/F Martin/Diogu
F Artest
G Hardaway
G Murry
G Udirih

Bench
Prigs(remember hes 36 and hes a pure 1--hes not necessarily an asset we need to use right away hes an insurance policy. I like Udirih and Murry more so for other reasons Udirih as the back up PG and Murry because of his D and athleticism and overall energy game.

Id rather play prigs over murry since hes a pesty PG and lets face it...murry is still learning

The Knicks game is the ONLY game not working this morning on NBA TV of course !!!!

Can't watch the replay before work, woke up early for nothing ... SMFH !!!!

I like Powell, he does what K.Martin does on defense and he's younger. HE PLAYS DEFENSE, he erases guys easy layups and he isn't injury prone.

I agree with Briggs, murry, iDiogo...although powell has avg close to 2 blocks pg..still, not sure I would keep him on the strength of that alone..

knicks1248 wrote:I agree with Briggs, murry, iDiogo...although powell has avg close to 2 blocks pg..still, not sure I would keep him on the strength of that alone..

The way opposing teams can run layup drills with speedy pg's , I really like Murry I will take Powell over Ike Diogu too.

With this many offensive minded oneway players on our team, we need as many frontcourt-backcourt defenders we can find to protect our rim and perimiter. Diogu is is more of an offensive minded player and undersized at that.