hope we can stop with this anointing him as amazing and ready for prime time.
Yes because we all know that the entire 5 man group's +/- rating is on Willy?
The team is getting killed out there. Willy has had issues on defense like everyone else, but on offense he has continued to look good. Willy is legit starting talent. Marc Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy seem to be seeing it as well.
So Willy goes up against the best or one of the best frontlines in the league and does pretty well. 16 points, 4 assists. And we're going to talk about how he is overrated?
This is why Knicks are in the mess they've been for years. No patience for young players.
KP has to learn how to deal with fouls. He's a foul machine early on. He needs to move more off the ball.
Willy has to learn how to defend better. He got some great experience today against LBJ.
I can't believe there are Knicks fans out there who can hate on KP or Willy. The guys are 21-22 years old. Still learning the NBA game on the fly. They have shown great promise and consistent production.
Willy is producing when given minutes. He dropped 16 points and 4 times against the best team in the league (Or at least the East). Meanwhile our superstar and "name" players are either sitting in a suit (Rose) or playing isolation lame basketball shooting 6-20.
Willy is ready. He's not a superstar, no one is pretending he will be. He's going to be a very good starter. Jeff Van Gundy and MJ were raving about him. He's legit talent. Phil killed that 2015 draft. Just a shame Grant wasn't what some scouting reports thought he could be. We really need a young point guard.
I've been doing with him what I have done with KP in the past...watching him all the time during the game. He has a lot to learn as a defender, but he sure as hell was not the reason we were in the hole we were in. KP hardly played any minutes the first half...I see that as a more significant problem than the way Willy performed.
We are all looking at his progression as a player...he has clearly gotten better on D since the beginning of the year. I see this game as another learning experience.
Most of our issues on D were about our failure to control James, as a scorer and a distributor. If he shoots the way he did tonight and breaks down a D like we saw a few minutes ago, any D is going to have problems.
Caseloads wrote:hope we can stop with this anointing him as amazing and ready for prime time.
And how was Melo'plus minus for the game? Better than Willy's? Is he ready for prime time based on your brilliant analysis?
Caseloads wrote:hope we can stop with this anointing him as amazing and ready for prime time.
Did you watch the game??????
This kind of thread being created is why guys get labeled HATERS! No sense of perspective at all. Can we not forget that Willy is a ROOKIE from Europe??? JESUS! The kid has been impressive and he's just getting started.
nixluva wrote:This kind of thread being created is why guys get labeled HATERS! No sense of perspective at all. Can we not forget that Willy is a ROOKIE from Europe??? JESUS! The kid has been impressive and he's just getting started.
This. The rate of second round picks making it in the nba is really low. Willy is being compared to Marc Gasol. Maybe Noah does better if he doesn't reaggaravate his hamstring but based on what you have seen this year if you watch the games does that work out better?
Willie can certainly be better than Mozgov, Bogut, Gortat or Greg Monroe. Half the starting centers in the NBA. Not bad for a second round pick.
Caseloads wrote:hope we can stop with this anointing him as amazing and ready for prime time.
Can't believe Willy didn't lead the Knicks to victory against the defending Champions coming off the bench in his rookie season. What a bum!
crzymdups wrote:Caseloads wrote:hope we can stop with this anointing him as amazing and ready for prime time.
Can't believe Willy didn't lead the Knicks to victory against the defending Champions coming off the bench in his rookie season. What a bum!
all I am saying is that he still has a ways to go. when he does amazing stuff for more than 1 season, then we can say he is here. For a stretch of 10 games, that's over doing it...
crzymdups wrote:Caseloads wrote:hope we can stop with this anointing him as amazing and ready for prime time.
Can't believe Willy didn't lead the Knicks to victory against the defending Champions coming off the bench in his rookie season. What a bum!
i agree lets trade him for hats to add to melo's collection. bum indeed!
If Willy were on another team I'd trade Melo for him. Exactly type of young player w upside to build around Kp
Still don't get the love love.
Chandler wrote:If Willy were on another team I'd trade Melo for him. Exactly type of young player w upside to build around Kp Still don't get the love love.
I don't think anyone here actually loves Kevin Love. I think I'm the most positive person on the forum about Kevin Love, and I'd still rather just get expiring contracts than Love in a trade. I do think Love is more tradeable than Melo though (younger, no NTC or trade-kicker). I'd rather get him, see if it works, and flip him if it doesn't than keep Melo.
Phil has had 1 lottery pick to work with in 3 years and he's added two young cornerstone players in my opinion in Willy and KP. We will see what kind of motors and stamina they have at the NBA level but they are fantastic build around pieces.
He had Melo here, was able to get Rose and Lee and signing Noah made sense when you considered KOQ/Willy was not adequate if this team was going to make a post season run. That certainly looks like its not happening and people cant see past that and their daily "we suck" and "Phil has not plan" threads.
The only guy Phil added that took on any risk is Noah and the only cost their is (potentially) cap flexibility moving forward. Considering Amare is the marque FA signing of the last 3 decades I wonder why Knick fans so lament this.
Kuz/KOQ are nice low level signings of guys with upside and who are showing that upside. Lance and Lee are good players and easily moved if needed.
KP was a great pic and we got lucky to draft a kid with clear star potential and he's on that track. Drafting Willy during the same span is a coup. Willy would be a lottery pick in this deep draft. He has shown he can do everything at the NBA level. Lets see what kind of motor he's got over 82 games... who knows, but the eye test is eye popping. He's been shuffled in an out but he's played his best when he gets long runs.
Hows this:
Willy per 36 mins: 15ppg, 13.5rebs, 3.3assists, 1.7 blocks, a steal, shoots 54%, has range on the jumper, sets great picks..
He just needs time.
I think the real critical offseason is next, when we can sign FAs and while Willy and KP are still in cheap rookie deals.
Bonn1997 wrote:Chandler wrote:If Willy were on another team I'd trade Melo for him. Exactly type of young player w upside to build around Kp Still don't get the love love.
I don't think anyone here actually loves Kevin Love. I think I'm the most positive person on the forum about Kevin Love, and I'd still rather just get expiring contracts than Love in a trade. I do think Love is more tradeable than Melo though (younger, no NTC or trade-kicker). I'd rather get him, see if it works, and flip him if it doesn't than keep Melo.
You take Love, and you have to move KP to the 5...No? Kind of turn over the KP/Willy cart...and then you have the Noah issue.
WaltLongmire wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:Chandler wrote:If Willy were on another team I'd trade Melo for him. Exactly type of young player w upside to build around Kp Still don't get the love love.
I don't think anyone here actually loves Kevin Love. I think I'm the most positive person on the forum about Kevin Love, and I'd still rather just get expiring contracts than Love in a trade. I do think Love is more tradeable than Melo though (younger, no NTC or trade-kicker). I'd rather get him, see if it works, and flip him if it doesn't than keep Melo.
You take Love, and you have to move KP to the 5...No? Kind of turn over the KP/Willy cart...and then you have the Noah issue.
Solution: 32 min a piece for KP, Willy, and Love. And Noah becomes towel boy. (I'd prob do more like 27 for KP and Willy and 10 for KOQ actually.) It would work if they stop having salary determine playing time. Otherwise, Willy gets a 2 month playing time decrease and we move Love in the off-season.
