Knicks · IS it time to trade Lance? (page 2)

newyorker4ever wrote:I've been a LT fan since the day we got him but he's been hurt a lot the last season and a half. When he's healthy and hitting his 3 point shot and playing the other teams best player he's actually pretty good to have. At the beginning of last season he talked about how he spent the off season working on his 3 point shot and he was hitting it but then he got hurt and we never saw much of him again that season and most of last season. I'd absolutely take a 1st round pick in this draft for him cause it's such a strong draft but not sure i'd take a 2nd rounder for him.

Right you don't give a Lance Thomas away [for a second-rounder]. Given the success the Knicks have had with unsigned and the expansion to protect two additional players in D-League [17 player roster - 15 active].

Lance for a quality risk or keep him.

fishmike wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

newyorker4ever wrote:I've been a LT fan since the day we got him but he's been hurt a lot the last season and a half. When he's healthy and hitting his 3 point shot and playing the other teams best player he's actually pretty good to have. At the beginning of last season he talked about how he spent the off season working on his 3 point shot and he was hitting it but then he got hurt and we never saw much of him again that season and most of last season. I'd absolutely take a 1st round pick in this draft for him cause it's such a strong draft but not sure i'd take a 2nd rounder for him.

Lance is a good 3 point shooter. The problem is that his 2 point shooting is off the charts bad. He's at .431 for his career. To put that in context, no team shot worse than .476 last year and the league average was .503.

if you go down the list of every player on last yrs roster, and check out their flaws, along with the system, we were lucky to win 31 games

Just goes to show you post nothing but uninformed turds. Knicks lost 12 games by a bucket or less.

The biggest flaw last year was health. No doubt that much of that sits on Phil as he added players (Noah/Rose) with a history of poor health. However in addition to those two being hurt often (Noah hurting us the most) the only really healthy guys were KOQ and Holiday.

Lance at $7mm was great. He gave you fantastic bench play for 20-25 minutes a night, played high D and shot over 40% from 3. He gave us nothing this year. Thats just bad luck. KP also ended getting banged up. Melo looked old and they still won 31 and lost 12 others by a bucket. Hardly an indication that we are "almost there" but to suggest that their talent equates to fewer wins than they got this year is simply bullsh!t

Thank you Fishmike, injuries and bad luck ravaged the team. Washington and Indiana were "lucky" the Knicks weren't healthy.

sigh...another case of effort and zero talent being lauded in NYC fanbase.
i think someone already commented about his dismal 2pt FG%.

what about the fact that he plays as slow as Melo.

Cartman718 wrote:sigh...another case of effort and zero talent being lauded in NYC fanbase.
i think someone already commented about his dismal 2pt FG%.

what about the fact that he plays as slow as Melo.

Yeah, it would be better if every time he was going to take a 2 point shot, he just took a bunch of steps back and shot a 3. His 3 and 2 point percentages are practically the same!

I thought the thread was started based on the article where Lance came out in support of Melo in a strong manner. His words certainly don't support the narrative the president. It sounds like Lance hasn't figured out what the problem with the team is.

“I love him here,’’I love him as a teammate, love him as a competitor, love him as a person. Everything else is out of my control, but his approach has always been great.
He’s an amazing professional. I’m not going to comment on what’s happening with him and the organization and trade rumors. I just know I love him as a teammate. I want it to work out....Carmelo fights for his teammates...But he has a passion for winning and bringing it under the biggest microscope. He’s embraced New York and has fought for the Knicks for so long. He’s done an amazing job remaining healthy and being a class act when things have been in an uproar for our team. I can only applaud his approach in everything he’s done — all of the white noise around him.
“He’s done a great job of being a professional and remaining a leader for our team. For me to watch him go through it, for the younger players to see the level of focus, putting all that stuff aside and remaining a veteran leader for the team, I can only hope that when I become a veteran later in my career, my teammates have utmost respect for me the way we have for Carmelo.’’

When Thomas is healthy, he's one of the better glue guys in the league. He's gotten compliments to that effect from other coaches. Problem is staying healthy. If he can avoid another big injury, LT and N'Dour should be good glue guys off the bench next season.

Bonn1997 wrote:Would any team actually want Lance?!

Thomas can hit a wide open 3 point shot.

He is a good energy guy and he pushes with everything he has, that's to his credit.

His flaws?

- Lousy rebounder
- Poor passer
- Outside of his occasional 3 ball, shows poor shot selection
- Cannot create his own shot, AT ALL ( most NBA players cannot do it consistently, but can in limited spots, Thomas cannot do it at all period )
- Has poor ball security
- Doesn't create turnovers
- Does not shoot 3s at a rate where that percentage matters
- Other than wide open 3s, he's a liability on offense ( he understands his defensive role, but his offensive game is mediocre to deficient, he is a poor decision maker, poor court awareness, is poor in transition, does not know how to fit within a context to a functional offense, this is where Courtney Lee is far superior and a better example of a player who doesn't push harder than his actual skill set allows)

Thomas has no ESTABLISHED 3 point shooting history behind him, and he was a career journeyman, also for a player of his pedigree ( basically an energy guy with no true single league average skill besides hitting that open 3) and just turned 28, his last two years of his deal will likely face a sharp decline.

He gets credit for high BBIQ for his defense, but his offensive IQ is pretty putrid.

I LIKE Lance Thomas a fan of the game itself. I do not like him as a Knick for his current contract length and AAV.

He was a journeyman for a reason. He has some extended value on this team simply because he actually attempts to play defensive team basketball and every other shotjacker on the roster must drive Hornacek insane.

As for trade value, can another team get 75 percent of his production at a fraction of the cost?

Lance Thomas has negative trade value IMHO. One of the issues regarding Noah and his horrid contract is it often overshadows the real pooch of a deal given to Thomas, who is a 12th-15th man energy guy getting paid like a middle of the pack rotation guy.

The guy does nothing exceptionally well, worse, the more minutes you give him, the more he plays out of control and outside his actual skill set. He's an energy guy and a grinder and you can use guys like that on the roster, but not for the years and total money given to him by Phil Jackson.

There are times when a team is outbidding itself ( Texas Rangers and ARod) , and in a case like this with Thomas, there are times when teams are just setting money on fire.

I like Thomas as a fan of the game itself. He's a hard worker and he's fought to get into the NBA and try to carve a role out. From a fan level, good for him. But as a Knicks fan, he's a gross overpay for a limited skill set the Knicks could have gotten cheaper and more efficiently elsewhere.