I hear so much talk about KP, but lately I've been equally impressed by the way Melo has been playing. I mean, a lot of us on this board have wanted this version of Melo, someone who passes more and plays better defense. His offensive numbers aren't as good but you can tell he is exerting a lot more energy on defense and averaging the most assists of his career. If he keeps this up, then I've got nothing but love for Melo.
The crazy thing about this new Melo as some call him is that not only is he passing the ball but he's really good at it. He makes some great passes that you just wouldn't expect him to be able to make and the same with his defense, he's a pretty good defensive player, he's not great but he's good. All he needed besides Phil was players that he trusted to be able to make the shots. I can't wait until we actually get him another big name player or a couple of good players to see him take this team and himself to another level......you know, that level that Phil said he still had in him.
newyorker4ever wrote:The crazy thing about this new Melo as some call him is that not only is he passing the ball but he's really good at it. He makes some great passes that you just wouldn't expect him to be able to make and the same with his defense, he's a pretty good defensive player, he's not great but he's good. All he needed besides Phil was players that he trusted to be able to make the shots. I can't wait until we actually get him another big name player or a couple of good players to see him take this team and himself to another level......you know, that level that Phil said he still had in him.
You know what I think? After the surgery, he spent a lot of time with Phil to help develop the cerebral part of the game. He and Phil watched a lot of films, and talked a lot about what Carmelo can do to improve his leadership abilities. Phil himself said that Carmelo was not done growing as a player and still had another level that he could reach
http://nypost.com/2014/03/19/phils-prese...p
the irony is would KP have the same numbers if the defenses weren't so per-occupied with Melo?
SupremeCommander wrote:the irony is would KP have the same numbers if the defenses weren't so per-occupied with Melo?
Did you see how vocal Carmelo was with Aflalo after a low pass to KP???? That dude is definitely in a different planet right now. I love the transformation and I pray that he can stay healthy to rejoice from all of his hard work
When people have issues with the Triangle Offense and Culture that Phil is so tied to, they seem to overlook the impact he's had on his players becoming more TEAM oriented. Getting great players to buy into being more team oriented is not easy. We've seen how hard it was and now seeing Melo play like this and his teammates being so much more confident because they aren't just standing around and watching him try to score, is a great thing.
This is real basketball. You can see Melo getting better and better as a floor general. He's scanning the floor faster and his passes are getting more accurate. Melo comes down the floor with his head up and looking for his teammates and they run the floor harder cuz they know he'll pass it. The crazy thing is this will only get better as the continue to play together.
newyorker4ever wrote:The crazy thing about this new Melo as some call him is that not only is he passing the ball but he's really good at it. He makes some great passes that you just wouldn't expect him to be able to make and the same with his defense, he's a pretty good defensive player, he's not great but he's good. All he needed besides Phil was players that he trusted to be able to make the shots. I can't wait until we actually get him another big name player or a couple of good players to see him take this team and himself to another level......you know, that level that Phil said he still had in him.
Agree about his development being related to trust of teammates. Also, he approaches triple doubles pretty regularly of late. He just gets sat down before he can snag those last couple of dimes.
Knicks1969 wrote:newyorker4ever wrote:The crazy thing about this new Melo as some call him is that not only is he passing the ball but he's really good at it. He makes some great passes that you just wouldn't expect him to be able to make and the same with his defense, he's a pretty good defensive player, he's not great but he's good. All he needed besides Phil was players that he trusted to be able to make the shots. I can't wait until we actually get him another big name player or a couple of good players to see him take this team and himself to another level......you know, that level that Phil said he still had in him.
You know what I think? After the surgery, he spent a lot of time with Phil to help develop the cerebral part of the game. He and Phil watched a lot of films, and talked a lot about what Carmelo can do to improve his leadership abilities. Phil himself said that Carmelo was not done growing as a player and still had another level that he could reach
http://nypost.com/2014/03/19/phils-prese...p
Yes this was all talked about many times and was all over in the media during the off season.
