Knicks · Who will be the X factor Next Season? (page 2)

TripleThreat wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:The reason woodson failed is because the buying in resulted in early losses, that resulted in to stop buying in. Then the line up changes come, with bad rotations, disgruntle players = selfish players.

IMHO, the reasons that Woodson failed is because

1) The talent simply isn't on the roster, not now and not last year, to really build a winner and contending team. Woodson has no control over what the front office does and whom they pick up and trade for, etc.

2) Woodson became the default coach left standing. Clearly Melo and CAA simply wanted Jeremy Lin out. And anyone associated with Lin, Linsanity and taking away the spotlight from Melo. It was a brutal culling. D'Antoni, whose system would favor Lin, Fields, Lin's closest friend on the team, Novak, Lin's go to gunner, Jeffries, Lin's veteran enforcer. An elite player can get a coach fired, however you can only do it so many times before you get called a coach killer ( Look at Deron Williams, look how people consider him a lazy broken down POS after he basically drove the beloved Jerry Sloan from the game)

3) Woodson gave Melo what he wanted, which was to play as much hero/iso ball as he wanted, and as little defense as he wanted.

You could cobble together a reincarnated John Wooden along with parts of Chuck Daly and they still couldn't win with last year's Knicks.

IMHO, the key player is Dalembert.

Your starting center sets the tone defensively for your team. Doesn't matter how much the Knicks score if they can't stop anyone on defense. Dalembert has to be the stalwart veteran with a cool head and anchor for that D. He's not getting help from STAT or Bargs, and it remains to be seen if Smith and Aldrich can really help.

Without Dalembert pushing hard and staying healthy, it's going to be a free layup line against the Knicks D all season.

Im not sure where you going with your Lin theory, but it has nothing to do with last yr when woodson truly lost control of his team, or just long stretches where he had know idea what buttons to press.

I'm sick and tired of people saying this team has no talent, when the core won 54 games and advanced to the 2nd round. Especially after hearing more than half the team wasn't buying into the switching and , the Iso's last season. If woodson had a strong leader on his roster, or in his locker room, we would have made the playoffs, and Fisher would have been woodsons assistant.

What some of you need to do is go back and pull up every single one of PHIL JACKSON championship rosters, and see how many stars were on it besides the obvious.

EVERYBODY KNEW THERE ROLE, you have to know how important that is. There is going to be a different role player every night that should have a huge impact. the rick fox's, the robert horry's, the bj amstrongs, the kerrs, the fishers, the longly's, this guy "Stanislav Medvedenko" what about mark madsen. On everyone of phil jacksons championship roster, no more than 3 players avg double figure's

The 2G and the SF in the triangle seems to have the most success, we already know about kobe, jordan, and pippen, but did you see THJ in summer league. If jr starts this season, and he's healthy, he will be an all star, I'm 110 % sure of that.

I agree. I've said before that we don't really know just how talented this team is cuz we haven't seen them properly coached. We haven't seen them in a real proven system. It just so happens the this system is very conducive to the best players we have. It should really maximize the talent we have.

i really think it's gonna squeeze every ounce out of the orange pulp, ^^^

players in contracts year will boost effect, look for bargnani to drop jumpers and focus on a role he can handle,

Derek Fisher, Kurt Rambis, our Assistiant/development coaches, along with Phil Jackson and Management

AND

DOLAN, to stay out of basketball decision and refocuses/utilize his network/business's to attract future stars/players and even role players/vet min deals to make up for our HIGH STATE INCOME TAX and LIVING EXPENSE in NYC/MANHATTAN

We are not playing for this season, we are playing for our next couple of seasons after, we have a lot of players playing for contracts and a system to install after not having one at all for 2 seasons +
Still, we need to show we are making progress, developing/improving, and doing what we can to attract future options/players/talents
Possibly pulling mid season trades as we can gain more asset's/improve player ratings/value's along with cutting future contracts, and getting back players we can use in trades that will be part of our future

After seeing Paul George/Derrick Rose/Brandon Roy and their injuries, it will remind players especially talents that have yet to recieve their 1st large contract that they it could be their last CHANCE to ever cash in as ANYTHING could happen

Looking back at the road of recovering for players like Grant Hill and Livingston, not every one is as fortunate
Hill could have been looked upon as ONE OF THE GREAT's/ELITE's along with Penny Hardaway if they had not suffered great injuries
Though they at the very least had a great financial career, though players like Iverson/Antoine Walker are struggling despite making 1,0000x more than the lifetime of an average family in a NBA careers

I was thinking about the whole X factor thing and in particular just thinking of the talent we have it's gonna be a really interesting thing to see how Melo, JR, THJ and Jose respond to this system. I think it provides a boatload of really great scoring opps for them. All of these guys are really good catch and shoot players. Just watching THJ in SL it was clear that he's made for this style of play. As long as the ball is moving and the players are hustling to get open, which I know they will be, this team is gonna be really tough to deal with on the perimeter and that's gonna open things up for STAT, Bargs etc on the inside. I'm really excited to see this start to come together.

In terms of exceeding expectations it will be Jason Smith he is the best candidate. In terms of pure X factor Jr Smith.

I fully understand the role a good defensive center can provide. Dalembert is a guy who at this stage was playing about 20 mpg. He's not going to solve the Knicks defense by himself and really it's more important that the team learn to defend as a unit as opposed to the over reliance on having a Tyson back there trying to cover for all the guards who got by our perimeter defense. Jason and Cole are also able to defend the paint and as I said if you mix the right players you can have a decent defensive unit.

The times when Bargs was at Center and the team managed to play good defense was due to the fact that Woody had KMart in there and Shump. It helps to have a few defenders with range, awareness and effort on the floor. The Knicks played some of their best defense and Bargs was on the court!!! That's a surprise I know but it did happen tho it wasn't sustained for long. With Bargs and KMart the defense allowed 80, 85, 92, 92, 96 and unfortunately KMart broke down and was lost for the season. It's my opinion that it is possible for the Knicks to play defense with the players we have. Dalembert, Aldrich, Jason Smith, Bargs and STAT should be able to make it work with the right pairings and a better defensive scheme. Fish seems to have a different scheme from Woody.

nixluva wrote:

TripleThreat wrote:IMHO, the reasons that Woodson failed is because

1) The talent simply isn't on the roster, not now and not last year, to really build a winner and contending team. Woodson has no control over what the front office does and whom they pick up and trade for, etc.

This really is a copout for what Dolan did to Woody and then Woody did with the Team. It wasn't a lack of talent. Not when it comes to at least making the playoffs last year. No one said they had the talent for a title, but they should've made the playoffs. Woody was so messed up by the things Dolan did he was all over the place. Woody had no support from Dolan and so when he went out there he just wasn't able to make the tough decisions. He saw what was going on and in the past he at least went back to what was working, but last year he kept forcing lineups that clearly did't work. He was freezing in critical decision making moments. How can you just ignore those extremely obvious events from last year? It was a tough situation but Woody proved he wasn't up to the challenge. He should've told Dolan to shove it when he saw he was left out hanging.

TripleThreat wrote:3) Woodson gave Melo what he wanted, which was to play as much hero/iso ball as he wanted, and as little defense as he wanted.

You could cobble together a reincarnated John Wooden along with parts of Chuck Daly and they still couldn't win with last year's Knicks.

The thing is that Woody didn't have to keep limiting what he was doing to ISO Melo. Late in the year Woody started to get a handle on things and the team started to function a lot better. Not great but much better than earlier. They closed the year 16-7 which shows that the team DID HAVE TALENT. They just weren't playing up to their capabilities for a number of reasons.

TripleThreat wrote:IMHO, the key player is Dalembert.

Your starting center sets the tone defensively for your team. Doesn't matter how much the Knicks score if they can't stop anyone on defense. Dalembert has to be the stalwart veteran with a cool head and anchor for that D. He's not getting help from STAT or Bargs, and it remains to be seen if Smith and Aldrich can really help.

Without Dalembert pushing hard and staying healthy, it's going to be a free layup line against the Knicks D all season.

I think you really are understating what the team should be able to do defensively. It's not just about a guy being able to block shots at the rim. They need to execute better team D and work together as a unit. They don't have a team full of defenders. In fact they have a bunch of poor defenders. Still they have enough to at least slow teams down if they give max effort.

I've posted this before but when Tyson was out for stretch and Bargs was playing Center the teams defense was actually good and they won games only giving up scores of 80, 85, 92, 92, 96 in consecutive games. That was a good defensive stretch against some good teams. They also beat the Spurs on the road tho they won that game 105-101 still the point is that they were in fact able to play defense with the very bigs you say they can't defend with, STAT and Bargs. The key was having KMart along side Bargs in the starting lineup in addition to Shump. There is a way to make it work. This year Jason will likely play the KMart role as will perhaps Acy in some situations. You just need an active defender to mix in.

Good Post, Nixluver, agreed + 1000

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/knicks/...

Which Knicks newcomer will be most vital to the team's success?

With training camp less than two months away, we’re examining the burning questions facing the New York Knicks.

Today’s question: Which newcomer is most vital to the Knicks’ success this season?

Jose Calderon: Calderon is widely recognized as the top shooting point guard in the NBA. He hit 45 percent of his 3s last season. In that respect, Calderon will be a big upgrade from the departed Raymond Felton, who knocked down just 31 percent from beyond the arc in 2013-14.

If the spacing and ball movement in the Knicks’ new triangle offense are present, Calderon should have plenty of opportunities to knock down shots from the perimeter.

So offense shouldn’t be an issue for the nine-year veteran.

Historically, however, Calderon has struggled defensively.

Last season, Calderon’s "defensive real plus-minus" was a minus-3.56, which was 72nd among point guards. Defensive real plus-minus measures a player's defensive contributions based on points allowed per 100 defensive possessions.

For comparison’s sake, Felton, who was widely criticized for his defensive issues last season, ranked 39th among point guards with a minus-1.24.

One thing worth watching here: Can Shane Larkin, who came over from Dallas with Calderon, help the Knicks defend point guards? He excited some people with his play in the Knicks’ summer league season.

Samuel Dalembert/Jason Smith: These two big men, along with Cole Aldrich, will be called upon to defend the rim and protect the paint for the Knicks this season. They are replacing Tyson Chandler, who was shipped to Dallas in the trade that sent Dalembert to the Knicks.

As we noted in our positional analysis on centers, neither Dalembert nor Smith made a huge impact on the defensive end last season based on on/off statistics.

The Mavs gave up 2.6 more points per 100 possessions with Dalembert on the floor; the Pelicans allowed 0.6 points more per 100 possessions with Smith on the court.

The Knicks will need Smith and Dalembert to protect the rim and rebound the ball effectively. Those were two things Chandler, when healthy, did well for the Knicks.

As noted in the positional analysis, Dalembert grabbed 42 percent of the contested rebounds available to him (30th among players who averaged at least five rebounds per game last season) and Smith pulled down 32.6 percent of the contested rebounds available to him (86th).

So it will be worth keeping an eye on these guys to see how they rebound and defend the paint throughout the season.

On offense, Smith, a PF/C, adds a dimension to the Knicks that Chandler did not possess: an outside shot.

Smith hit 47 percent of his attempts last season on shots more than 16 feet from the rim but inside the 3-point line. Seventy-four percent of his attempts last season came from between 10 and 22 feet.

Cleanthony Early/Travis Outlaw: These two players may be counted on to spell Carmelo Anthony throughout the season.

If numbers from last season are any indication, getting Anthony more rest throughout the game may help him in the fourth quarter.

Last season, Melo’s shooting percentage dipped significantly late in games. As noted in this story, Anthony shot 47.9 percent from the field in the first quarter, 49.3 percent in the second quarter and 45.2 percent in the third quarter. But in the fourth, Anthony shot just 38.0 percent from the field. In overtime, that number dipped to 30 percent.

He also played a career-high 38.7 minutes per game. If the Knicks and Anthony believe there was a correlation between all of the minutes played and his shooting percentage late in games, they’d be wise to reduce his minutes this season. That’s where Early and Outlaw, acquired in a trade with the Kings, come in.

Jason Smith

Sambakick wrote:Jason Smith

Possibly, considering Phil really wants to move Amar'e

Ian Begley is pretty pro Knicks and not too bad of a writer

I did pick up on the drop in his article comparing how bad

Calderon's defense was in comparison's to Felton's///////

Who we chalked up as maybe the worst in the league

This is why I feel Calderon's presence won't reach peak results here

He'll be what he is, nothing more and nothing less

F500ONE wrote:

Sambakick wrote:Jason Smith

Possibly, considering Phil really wants to move Amar'e

Ian Begley is pretty pro Knicks and not too bad of a writer

I did pick up on the drop in his article comparing how bad

Calderon's defense was in comparison's to Felton's///////

Who we chalked up as maybe the worst in the league

This is why I feel Calderon's presence won't reach peak results here

He'll be what he is, nothing more and nothing less

I like to look at what a player does on both ends and in comparing Jose and Felton for their careers I like to look at their Offensive Rating verses their Defensive Rating.

2013-14   Jose  Felton
Def Rtg   112   111
Off Rtg   120   103
+/- Diff  +8    -8

It's something that you can literally see but also just looking at the stats it's much clearer this way to see the difference between Felton and Jose.

Fisher is an x factor since he is an unknown quantity.

So far as the player who I think MUST excel it has to be Bargnani. He has been so bad and/or mis-utilized that much of the Knicks success will be based on how much he can turn his career around.

These are the numbers we need to see, assuming he starts:

58%TS or higher
3-4 assists per game
5 rebounds
a usage:assist rate ratio of 2:1 or lower

i don't think so much jason smith is the x factor as the one that will suprise us out the gates with his ability to hit the midrange jumper, he will replace all the "54 win season x factors" quickly.

He will also be the one that allows Melo and JR to operate more freely in the Triangle.

I agree, Fisher is the X-Factor, but if picking a player, i'd have to go with Amare.

dk7th wrote:Fisher is an x factor since he is an unknown quantity.

So far as the player who I think MUST excel it has to be Bargnani. He has been so bad and/or mis-utilized that much of the Knicks success will be based on how much he can turn his career around.

These are the numbers we need to see, assuming he starts:

58%TS or higher
3-4 assists per game
5 rebounds
a usage:assist rate ratio of 2:1 or lower

That's my pick in order for things to go extremely well for us

Phil Jackson said last week he thinks Bargnani will “surprise” some people this season. He also called the seven-footer “overlooked.”

“We think he's going to really do well in the kind of system we have,” Jackson said in an interview on MSG Network. “We've got a couple guards he likes to play with in Jose [Calderon] and Pablo [Prigioni] because he's played with them before in situations. I think he's going to be a surprise and I think he's going to be a pleasant one for our fans.”

Phil better be right.

Bargnani has been a career empty stat player, I don't see it changing this year

At the same time there has to be a player or players in this league who'll turn their game around.

He's as primed as anyone

F500ONE wrote:

dk7th wrote:Fisher is an x factor since he is an unknown quantity.

So far as the player who I think MUST excel it has to be Bargnani. He has been so bad and/or mis-utilized that much of the Knicks success will be based on how much he can turn his career around.

These are the numbers we need to see, assuming he starts:

58%TS or higher
3-4 assists per game
5 rebounds
a usage:assist rate ratio of 2:1 or lower

That's my pick in order for things to go extremely well for us

Phil Jackson said last week he thinks Bargnani will “surprise” some people this season. He also called the seven-footer “overlooked.”

“We think he's going to really do well in the kind of system we have,” Jackson said in an interview on MSG Network. “We've got a couple guards he likes to play with in Jose [Calderon] and Pablo [Prigioni] because he's played with them before in situations. I think he's going to be a surprise and I think he's going to be a pleasant one for our fans.”

Phil better be right.

Bargnani has been a career empty stat player, I don't see it changing this year

At the same time there has to be a player or players in this league who'll turn their game around.

He's as primed as anyone

ha ha philspeak "he's played with them before in situations." what does that even mean if it isn't redundant? but seriously if bargnani doesn't show something this season he should never make it onto another nba squad, or certainly not more than 3-5 million.

Bargs has to get it together defensively. He needs to learn how to play team defense and he needs to give more effort. He doesn't leave it all on the floor and that's all on him. IN terms of his offense He needs to be more efficient than he's every been. He needs to learn how to take and make more efficient shots. He'll likely be playing closer to the basket in the Triangle and so he needs to learn how to finish strong and not just throw the ball up wildly like he does when he's near the basket. He's never learned how to play like a 7'er. I don't know what the coaching staff told him to work on, but I would like to see him learn how to use his size better. Get in there, work that up and under and draw some fouls so he can get to the line more. We already know he can Pick n Pop, but it's the other parts of his game that need work. I'd love to know what Phil talked to him about in the exit interview.

dk7th wrote:

F500ONE wrote:

dk7th wrote:Fisher is an x factor since he is an unknown quantity.

So far as the player who I think MUST excel it has to be Bargnani. He has been so bad and/or mis-utilized that much of the Knicks success will be based on how much he can turn his career around.

These are the numbers we need to see, assuming he starts:

58%TS or higher
3-4 assists per game
5 rebounds
a usage:assist rate ratio of 2:1 or lower

That's my pick in order for things to go extremely well for us

Phil Jackson said last week he thinks Bargnani will “surprise” some people this season. He also called the seven-footer “overlooked.”

“We think he's going to really do well in the kind of system we have,” Jackson said in an interview on MSG Network. “We've got a couple guards he likes to play with in Jose [Calderon] and Pablo [Prigioni] because he's played with them before in situations. I think he's going to be a surprise and I think he's going to be a pleasant one for our fans.”

Phil better be right.

Bargnani has been a career empty stat player, I don't see it changing this year

At the same time there has to be a player or players in this league who'll turn their game around.

He's as primed as anyone

ha ha philspeak "he's played with them before in situations." what does that even mean if it isn't redundant? but seriously if bargnani doesn't show something this season he should never make it onto another nba squad, or certainly not more than 3-5 million.

Not sure

What has his previous experience playing with Pablo produced in the NBA

We know the result with Calderon in Toronto produced miserable ones

Larkinsanity!

jrodmc wrote:Larkinsanity!

Lol, then there will be a flood of Larkiniacs on this board defending him to their last breath.