The Knicks Fix

Thanks for the update.
H20, being the gentleman he is won't say it, but I wish he would have gotten more playing time. It's hard to get excited about FJones.
If N8 played D like he did on the football field, he would get more minutes.

Here we go again. The Nets are 7 for 7 from he field

Nice action! I love it.

I think Jeffries is gone. Isiah started him to see what he got and as usual he was useless Chandler lookes great off the bench.

Inaccurate reporting. I saw the game. Steph was not the problem. Jamal and Q's defense and 1 for 16 shooting was the issue. Steph was too unselfish last night. Thomas wants to see if Jamal and Nate can hold it down for a extended period. Good coaching. As far for a head, Larry Brown made the same statement. Alan, don't get it twisted. Marbury was not the problem. Overall team intensity and poor shooting doomed our Knicks last night.

the knicks aint going no where with curry the main dude just let marbury go back 22 n 8 an the knicks going to the playoffs.

I am a lifelong NYK fan since 69, born in 64. I currently live in Greensboro NC and am a FAITHFUL NBA League pass subscriber for many, many years including this one. I've noticed that the puzzle piece lapel pin from Zeke is gone in the preseason game that I watched. Is this a sign that he has solved the knicks puzzle in 07/08? Have not seen any blog comments on this. P.S. don't read too much into preseason, if Zeke goes too hard, the stars could get hurt. I was at the Bobcat/Heat game in Greensboro last weekend and saw shaq get hurt. He really looked out of shape, which is why he got hurt. G Wallace had a great game and was allover the place and on the floor like it was a real game. If he breaks down during the beginning of the season, one could argue that he went too hard in preseason even if that's how he likes to play. Iverson enventually broke down in philly. NBA Coaches have a responsibility to hold their players back during the preseason to confirm the roster and work on offensive and defensive sets. Remember what happened to Mcdyess. The injury cost us a season!!!! LET"S SEE HOW THE BIG THREE IS PLAYING IN FEBRUARY. WHAT WAS THE KNICKS PRESEASON RECORD LAST YEAR?

garbage

Did all of you see that release from Zach? Its pretty special. I'm officially impressed.

At what point, Alan, do you think Isiah will learn that acquring players who've never played defense will affect your team's defensive play. Look at this list . . . .Marbury, Francis, Curry, Randolph, what do they all have in common? They are awful defenders. They were awful defenders.

Its time to go out and acquire Artest. His mentality alone will improve the Knicks defense.

Nate, Balkman, Rose and a first round pick will get it done.

Please can someone tell me what makes Jones so special. I watched him get beat all night long on defence and thats his strong suite. I really do believe that all the hoopla about his is just talk.

I'm glad someone has been paying attention to my blogs last night. Stop procrastinating and get Ron-Ron. They can have Q, Jamal, Jefferies, Nate and our first rounder.

This game was pretty disjointed, but we did show some positives. QRich was a step slow all game. Chandler looked solid. Zach and Curry will play alot better down the road. Defense is still a work in progress. 2nd qurter was nice.

I see a trade involving N8 and/or Mardy. Jared Jordan plays just as much defense as both of them (none), but he is a better distributor of the ball.

Ray Rice is a beast. He runs like Travis Henry.

Jersey Joe when we went on a 14-6 run in the 2nd quartr Jones was on the floor and played very well.

wash 08 - isiah wears the puzzle lapel pin in support of autism awareness.

jersey j - i agree with you about jones. don't see anything spectacular from him after watching on tv. the fact that he's better than crawford on defense isn't saying much. seems like its just isaiah loyalty that's keeping him around.

i think isiah is going for ron ron. the last 2 games, albeit preseason, have shown that we need defense. he also could be pumping up fred jones, as a lock down defender, so to make him trade bait. so let's not get too critical of fred jones. isiah is a GM and knows that other GM's hear the media, so everything we see in interviews and read should all be listened to as if we're playing poker against isiah. i'd hate to see n8 go, he's one of my favorite to watch, gets the team going, is invaluable in comeback situations as shown last year, showed that he has desire and competency at the point during summer league and is always fired up. he's got intangibles and i think isiah wants to keep n8 around. he's definitely got a better attitude to the game than artest, so keeping n8 around is key. i see mardy collins going before n8. it would be better for isiah to trade guys for artest than to cut them to get down to 15.

Crawford is to lazy on defence. The guy never fights over screens and he plays the wrong angles all the time. In the nba if you play a guy to the week side you better have the speed to recover and with his lack of aggressiveness he nevr recovers.

I'm sorry but I can't imagine Houston being any worse then what we saw tonight.

On another note:

I'm a IT fan but I really don't like the way he is treating Houston. He the guy isn't going to make the team why have him go through this. He could've tried out for serveral teams and he chose the knicks. Atleast give him a fare shot. He still has the best jump shot on the team.

he = if :)

@Jersey J: Houston chose the Knicks because they practice close to his home in Westchester, and because he knew he would get a shot with the team on the basis of his former glory. New Jersey was actively recruiting him for a while, but he waffled and they went with Darrell Armstrong instead. Gotta figure Houston knew all along it'd be near impossible for him to make a squad that already has 15 guaranteed contracts. My guess is that he just wants to be able to say "I tried," then retire on his own terms.

Personally, I fail to see the dignity in being cut from a team you once led to the finals, but whatever floats your boat..

@ Starburyfan -- nice to see you back here. It's a classy thing to do. I've been missing in action 'cause of work. Didn't even know there was a game tonight/last night until I got here just now. But I'm glad you'll be hanging around. Otherwise, doesn't sound like we're off to such a great start. Can't really blame it on new players. The core group is returning. I'm not surprised, actually. I also got a sense during camp that it was a little low key, subdued.

Alan, anybody? -- is that accurate? Was camp a little subdued? Hang over from the trial? Often you read a lot of trash talking and big promises during camp. This year it seemed like everybody's reporting was pretty low key. Is that accurate? If not, do you have any theories for such a slow start (yes it's only pre-season, blah, blah, blah). But Isiah's playing his starters enough to know they're still not gelling, right?

It was an awful night in NJ. Did anyone see Krstic, He was 5 of 5 and hit a three pointer. He and Magliore is gonna be the difference this year. They have a solid team of stars and role players. They are gonna be tough to beat this year.

I ran this though a trade machine and it worked salary wise.

Lakers Get: Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford, 2008 and 2009 first round picks(not protected).

Sacramento Gets: David Lee and Fred Jones

New York Gets: Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest

Well, the Kings get David Lee that they want for two years and 2 Million salary and Fred Jones and his expiring contract. Ron Ron market value has dropped even more now and two years ago he was traded for one dimensional shooter who has disapeared since.

Lakers can never get equal value PERIOD. Their starting five would be:

Bynum
Zach
Odom
Crawford
Fisher

That's a playoff lineup. add a hall of fame coach and Staples will remain sold out night in and night out. Not to mention that Kobe goes to the far east.

Kobe will salivate at a chance to play with Ron Ron, Curry, Marbury, Q, Houston, Balkman and Nate. Especially a chance for a new start and the enigma of playing in New York. Not to mention the weak eastern conference.

Isiah gets to finish the year as the coach and then hire Phil Jackson to come home and coach a couple of world championships.

My fixers is this an impossible sell?

The knicks starters were struggling against the Nets' scrubs who are just trying to make a team.

This is just pre-season but realistically, you have to be concerned.

N8 had a 2 on 1 fastbreak and threw up a circus shot when he could have made a simple pass to the trailer on his left. The summer league n8 would have passed it.

I though we had Zach Randolph!!

Alan:
I just read your post of October 17, 2007 in
which you informed the readers that the word "wacky" was removed from your site. I am pleased by the result and now appreciate the complexity of having it removed across a larger corporate field. I take your comments and poem about the matter as a form of "olive branch" and have accepted on face value being "welcomed" to return. I will be pleased ttherefore to post items from time to time.

I am also happy that Lives in New .Jersey, Starbury, Steady, Orange & Blue, among other active bloggers, have expressed their intent to stay involved, return, and now deem the entire the entire episode as closed. As you simply put it: "enough." I truly enjoy your column and blog site for its focus on Knick life. KFL

Losing two pre-season games is no reason to start thinking of crazy trades for Kobe.

I'll at least be patient enough to give these Knicks till the start of the season to see if they can gel. Also, give them some time to play with Balkman, who showed that he can be that lock down defender that they're looking like they desperately need.

Couple things are obvious..Curry is still fat, I've heard Bynum worked out 4-6 hours a day during the offseason..Has Curry done that one offseson during his career?...second thing is Crawford needs to go to the bench...his defense looks worse than ever and he's not any smarter with his decisions.....Jeffires looks ready, you can tell he put in the work, love Chandler....Nate, Lee and Balkman are going to have to win a lot of games for us until the starters hit there groove which they will......

Director after watching last nights game I would do those trades in a heartbeat. But I expect Knicks to be much better down the road.

The facts still are:
David Lee is overrated and is not a starter, though a good role player off the bench.
Crawford still suks defensively. PG duties are not his strength.
Jeffries is useless.

QRich is fat and slow. I was very disappointed in his play. He talks alot of sh!t but played like garbage last two games. If he doesn't get his act together his ass should be benched and Chandler should start. By the way Qrich at 2 would be a disaster right now. He is two steps behind game speed at 3 and has no chance of guarding any SGs period.

The best line up from last night was Nate Jones Chandler with EZ. They were stopping both Jefferson and Carter in their tracks and were scoring at will during 16-4 run. Zach showed very quick moves and the fastest shot release I ever saw from a big. Ever. So with all things considered Zach will be the difference maker this season there is no question that he is head and shoulders better then Lee and certainly then Frye was last season. PF spot is vastly improved with him around.
Jones showed athleticism and solid all around skills he is a keeper. Chandler did same, he is starting material.
I caught a glimpse of the Lakers/Sonics last night and Kobe is just great. He can play this game in his sleep and still dominate. He is worth giving up anybody for.

Kandiman, Curry is in great shape. You are a fool who doesn't know what he is watching.

LOL...

Curry is not in great shape, and never has been his whole career.

Guys like Garnett, Wallace, Howard, Bosh, Dalambert, Mourning and Magliore are in-shape Eastern conf centers.

If Eddy Curry spent some time on his body in the off season, he could be playing at a chisled 260 instead of a pudgy 290. But he doesn't.

Magliore frustrated Curry last night.

I know its just a preseason came but it still was very disappointing. Without Steph Nate and Crawford showed they did not have a clue as to how to run an offense. Or is it there is no offnse put in yet? Last year you at least knew what the team was trying to do. They were an inside out team. Being an inside out team usually generates easier jump shots when you have a horse like Curry. Yesterday they were just heaving up bad jump shots. We won't even talk about what is the defensive philosophy.

On the other hand Nets still stuck to their philosophy even though Kidd and Marcus Williams were not there. D Armstrong even at 50 still can get up the court. Vince as backup point looked better than any of the Knicks points last night.

Right now was have a win against a foreign non NBA team, a blowout and a bad loss. Not the way to develop a winning attitude.

P.S. Nate running a team in summer league does not prove he knows how to run a team. Summer league is still inhabited by rookies and NBDL/International types. NBA preseason has real guys going at preseason speed which still is quicker than the summer league speed. Nate is still best (to me) as a two in a one's body. Let him flourish as what he is. He is more Calvin Murphy than Mugsy Bouges.

This medical stuff is getting more and more suspicious. LIke Alan, the NY Times is reporting that the problem w/James' knee dates back to that 1999 surgery when 4 screws were inserted. But it also reports that he’s known about the problem SINCE LAST SEASON. But that it wasn’t a big concern until HE INJURED HIS KNEE OVER THE SUMMER. And they hope it can wait until after the season is over (the one that hasn't started yet) to be corrected.

What is this medical staff doing? I’m not an MD . . . but if they’ve known he’d need surgery, why wasn’t that addressed over the summer? Or at least after he injured himself?

I need a little perspective here. Is this just a string of AWFUL luck for this team? And this medical staff? Or is there a pattern of negligence here? Does it not seem as though they tend to opt for burying their heads in the sand when something goes wrong . . . and hoping it will go away on its own?

Alan? Gentlemen? Especially when we’re talking about a guy who is putting a LOT of stress on his knees every time he walks over to the ‘fridge . . . wouldn’t you think they’d have been a little more pro-active with this one?

Two more questions: 1) If he needs surgery, would he be lost for the season? 2) If he is, does he still occupy that roster slot? He does, right?

alan,

any reason for lee logging 16 & 18 minutes last two games?

rush,

as for lee being overrated, how can you call someone who is not starting yet averaged a double-double overrated? if you consider him overrated who would you rate better then him at his niche?

those people who are criticizing marbury need to stop. marbury is not the problem. did u guys watch the game yesterday without steph, there was nobody to penetrate and even the nets broadcaster where saying marbury is the best in the league in penetrating. jamal was chunking up shots after shots and nate was out of control last night. the knicks will have been in the game if steph was playing because steph has the ability to penetrate and get to the line when the offense is not going for the knicks. apart from steph, i don't think crawford can penetrate like the way marbury does. and why was mardy collins not playing? anyone knows what isiah is up to with mardy?

@ goat

The key word is "niche". This is what I said in my post about Lee: "good role player off the bench" . What is the difference? Seems like we have same opinion.

agreed about mardy collins. I was just going to ask Alan if he knew anything about why mardy collins got zero minutes. if he did get zero minutes, why didn't jared jordan get more minutes to see what he can do in the preseason? 3 minutes? BS!

alan was saying that mardy's knee was acting up. maybe that's what kept him out.

mardy could be a big contributor. to me, he's the only true pg on the team.

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