We see clearly that at the end of the game Melo is an excuse for all Knicks players on the court and coaching stuff.
Give it to Melo and everybody are cool... if he won the game or if he lost the game...
The only man we have who is above it is KP and so he is going to be removed from the court... otherwise the Melo excuse is not there...
Now back to the hero. Can hero to be just a player again? Can he be a part of the solution and not the only solution himself?
Can Batman just became Robin? Not in the movie and not in NBA. The show will fail the fans and the show must go on.
We may have or we may not have got the best with melo but one thing's for sure melo is the best we have at the present moment. And it doesn't look like he's not trying, I think he's trying his best the way he knows and the way he sees it.
I think with melo, fish has to play the game of averages by setting up melo to do his magic surrounded by people he can pass too and make the open shot ex. gallo, AA, KP, Rolo.
Then fish has to be alert when melo starts to force the offense by himself by replacing him with a line up that can hold on the fort as melo tries to rest or recover his composure. So this line up would be more about ball rotation, quality shots and gritty defense. ex. Grant, KoQ (hopefully he recovers from his slump), Dwill, jose.
NYG wrote:We may have or we may not have got the best with melo but one thing's for sure melo is the best we have at the present moment. And it doesn't look like he's not trying, I think he's trying his best the way he knows and the way he sees it.I think with melo, fish has to play the game of averages by setting up melo to do his magic surrounded by people he can pass too and make the open shot ex. gallo, AA, KP, Rolo.
Then fish has to be alert when melo starts to force the offense by himself by replacing him with a line up that can hold on the fort as melo tries to rest or recover his composure. So this line up would be more about ball rotation, quality shots and gritty defense. ex. Grant, KoQ (hopefully he recovers from his slump), Dwill, jose.
This will be the best strategy but I cannot see Fish having enough authority to go there.
I like Fish as a leader but Melo is a bit too much for him.
This where Phil should get down to business... he was there with Mike and Kobe.
But I start questioning if Phil real intentions are to integrate Melo into Knicks future or rather get read of him.
Phil may still observing it and prob undecided himself. Only time will tell.
But for now this is sad reality and it is hard on the eye.
arkrud wrote:NYG wrote:We may have or we may not have got the best with melo but one thing's for sure melo is the best we have at the present moment. And it doesn't look like he's not trying, I think he's trying his best the way he knows and the way he sees it.I think with melo, fish has to play the game of averages by setting up melo to do his magic surrounded by people he can pass too and make the open shot ex. gallo, AA, KP, Rolo.
Then fish has to be alert when melo starts to force the offense by himself by replacing him with a line up that can hold on the fort as melo tries to rest or recover his composure. So this line up would be more about ball rotation, quality shots and gritty defense. ex. Grant, KoQ (hopefully he recovers from his slump), Dwill, jose.
This will be the best strategy but I cannot see Fish having enough authority to go there.
I like Fish as a leader but Melo is a bit too much for him.
This where Phil should get down to business... he was there with Mike and Kobe.
But I start questioning if Phil real intentions are to integrate Melo into Knicks future or rather get read of him.
Phil may still observing it and prob undecided himself. Only time will tell.
But for now this is sad reality and it is hard on the eye.
I think Porzingis and Melo really like playing with each other. I also think Phil has autonomy and chose to resign Melo and wants him on the Knicks. I could be wrong but then you have to remember that Phil gave Melo a no trade clause so Phil can't just get rid of Melo.
I can see fish slowly figuring things out with the team, but it could not be denied that he has problems establishing the identity of the second unit and so he is experimenting what fits what and this has resulted in unstable results the last couple of games.
I really wonder why he abandoned the set up he had in the pre-season with grant/gallo/early/Dwill/KoQ and now i think that with calderon regaining his shooting and AA's performance they will be adequate in the front court.
Also pre-season KoQ is probably just as effective as KP in the first unit so fischer can explore with set ups that put KP as one of the main options for offense in the second unit.
As for questions regarding what could have and could have been, i think it's kind of useless thinking about it now and I think Phil knows that. Phil can only do so much within his role. And So far the way I see it Phil has been doing the right things - drafting KP, and grant bringing in quality players in RoLo, afflalo, DWill (come on, he did show flashes of his ability) and KoQ ( I want good old rugged KoQ back 
).
Also I think Phil believes that melo still has the potential to make the knicks good again.
So it's really up to melo if he can transcend his limitations and do what it takes to win, that includes relearning and re inventing his game and promote the development of all potential of his team mates.
Melo 4th quarter scoring performance has been in the lower levels of scoring since Melo went to the WCF.
This season Melo 4th quarter performance has not won us any games.
Star players that want to shoot the ball on every offensive possession are the reason opponents take double diget leads on them when the star player miss 5 or more straight shots.
Hint: The Rockets Harden missed 13 straight shots and the Mavs took a 20 point lead, Felton scored 23 pts in the Mavs beating the Rockets.
Kemet wrote:Melo 4th quarter scoring performance has been in the lower levels of scoring since Melo went to the WCF.
This season Melo 4th quarter performance has not won us any games.
Star players that want to shoot the ball on every offensive possession are the reason opponents take double diget leads on them when the star player miss 5 or more straight shots.
Hint: The Rockets Harden missed 13 straight shots and the Mavs took a 20 point lead, Felton scored 23 pts in the Mavs beating the Rockets.
This is star syndrome I am talking about. The Disease. Especially is the star player is on decline.
There is no simple cure. So get used to it....
I think Melo's pressence has helped KP immeasurably. He takes a ton of attention off KP, particularly from fans who always need to blame someone for a loss. But also from NBA defenses.
crzymdups wrote:I think Melo's pressence has helped KP immeasurably. He takes a ton of attention off KP, particularly from fans who always need to blame someone for a loss. But also from NBA defenses.
Do you think KP is afraid of this pressure? I think he actually will embrace it.
Not all young and not so young players are mentally weak.
arkrud wrote:crzymdups wrote:I think Melo's pressence has helped KP immeasurably. He takes a ton of attention off KP, particularly from fans who always need to blame someone for a loss. But also from NBA defenses.
Do you think KP is afraid of this pressure? I think he actually will embrace it.
Not all young and not so young players are mentally weak.
He is not afraid of the pressure but it doesn't mean he wants all of it either, nor the constant focus on defenses that would come with it if Melo weren't around.
As for Fish, people have him all wrong. He was the one guy who WASN'T scared to say no to Kobe!!! He's not afraid of Melo. He's just a young coach trying to learn his team and decision making as a coach. It's so early that I think people are impatient with Fish. He just now got Afflalo back and before that all he had was Melo in terms of a player with any crunch time experience!!! Who else has been the MAN in a game closing situation?
martin wrote:arkrud wrote:crzymdups wrote:I think Melo's pressence has helped KP immeasurably. He takes a ton of attention off KP, particularly from fans who always need to blame someone for a loss. But also from NBA defenses.
Do you think KP is afraid of this pressure? I think he actually will embrace it.
Not all young and not so young players are mentally weak.
He is not afraid of the pressure but it doesn't mean he wants all of it either, nor the constant focus on defenses that would come with it if Melo weren't around.
some pressure comes when you feel you have to do it all by yourself, ego-induced pressure. but when you have someone to play with that pressure is lessened. that's why the two-man game of melo and kp should be developed big time, along the lines of pierce and garnett. they can be mutually beneficial to each other, especially during crunch time.
We saw in the first quarter what KP would look like without Melo today - forcing the issue and going 1-7fg. Melo had a great floor game today and took a lot of pressure off KP.
