The Knicks Fix

From the previous thread
Lives: As usual you make some well-reasoned points, particularly about D’A’s culture change. I’m not sure of the significance of the significance of the Knicks’ weak opening schedule, except as a warning to temper enthusiasm. Either that, or a reminder that the core of a 23 win team from last season, no matter how badly coached or managed, is limited in how good it can be. Good observation of the Isiah draftees too – perhaps he may now claim one managerial skill – “drafter of role players”. Which is an improvement on his current reputation.

I take some issue with your comments on Duhon – not because I think he is the second coming of Chris Paul, but because I’m not sure what evidence is not in his favor. He fights over screens, makes an effort to keep his man in front of him, doesn’t chuck and helps out on the boards. Most importantly, he isn’t a ball stopper, but plays within the offense. I agree that he isn’t a building block, but the evidence suggests to me that the team AS A WHOLE is more fluid with him on the floor that with the Talented Mr. Marbury looking off screens and pounding the ball. Sorry if that comes off as a bit snarky – its just been a while since the Knicks had a lead guard that at least tries to play team basketball,

From the previous thread
Lives: As usual you make some well-reasoned points, particularly about D’A’s culture change. I’m not sure of the significance of the significance of the Knicks’ weak opening schedule, except as a warning to temper enthusiasm. Either that, or a reminder that the core of a 23 win team from last season, no matter how badly coached or managed, is limited in how good it can be. Good observation of the Isiah draftees too – perhaps he may now claim one managerial skill – “drafter of role players”. Which is an improvement on his current reputation.

I take some issue with your comments on Duhon – not because I think he is the second coming of Chris Paul, but because I’m not sure what evidence is not in his favor. He fights over screens, makes an effort to keep his man in front of him, doesn’t chuck and helps out on the boards. Most importantly, he isn’t a ball stopper, but plays within the offense. I agree that he isn’t a building block, but the evidence suggests to me that the team AS A WHOLE is more fluid with him on the floor that with the Talented Mr. Marbury looking off screens and pounding the ball. Sorry if that comes off as a bit snarky – its just been a while since the Knicks had a lead guard that at least tries to play team basketball,

Sorry about the double post - the security thing is giving me headaches.

Great game last night!

inserting chandler into the starting 5
was a no brainer

i like lee
but until he develops an offensive game
he will always be a back up

just imagine if the knicks had
drafted OJ instead of Gallo

look at all the other rookies drafted
in the top 10
most are contributing to their teams

our guy has a "back" problem

i still think drafting Gallo
was a mistake
but maybe once they put Gallo on the IR
they can resign Pat Ewing Jr

D'antoni is proving to the NBA
he has a great coaching mind
i say if the knicks won 40 games
he should be Coach of the Year

Love the Berman dig - "Maybe I'll do a story asking Curry if he would be interested in playing for the Spurs."

Do you and Isola ever think about trying to get him stranded somewhere?

alan, is there any way that the knicks keep randolph, trade curry and still are ok to go after LBJ? i love the way he's playing and a lineup that features LBJ, chandler, randolph and a 6'10" euro who is smart and can shoot the rock (provided he ever gets healthy) would seem to play right into d'antoni's book... didn;t he once say that his perfect team would be 5 guys, all between 6'7" and 6'10" who could all run, pass and shoot?

Can we please hold off on the Gallo bashing until we've seen if he really is injury prone? Its well known that a protruding disk can strike an otherwise healthy person and is extremely painful until treated, which requires a time-consuming surgery and recovery. It is also well known that it is not necessarily a sign of being fragile. Its called a freak accident. So to continue to hold it up as a sign that he injury prone is shows one of two things: ignorance or deliberate misrepresentation of the situation to make him look bad (that''s you, Berman). If fragility continues to be a problem, then fine, but to write a guy off after one injury is either duplicitous or moronic.

Now, I'm totally open to discussion about Gallo's game and whether he was the best fit for the team. Mayo is a terrific young player, but he was gone when the Knicks picked. Westbrook has looked pretty good too, but he also was off the board. I remember people raving about Bayless because of his summer league!! Bayless is glued to the bench in Portland because, wait for it, he is selfish, forces shots and at 6'2" is less of a feel for running an offense than Steve Blake. This is a team that is weakest at the point, to the extent that Brandon Roy is their third option after Blake and Rodriguez, and Bayless can't get a minute. Yeah, the Knicks really needed him. Nice summer league though. If there is one rookie on that team who would be a blast to watch here, it's Rudy Fernandez. I highly recommend the Blazers to any Fixers with league pass.

Other then the undersized gunner, who should the Knicks have taken if not Gallo? This is a moot question if he is injury prone - the answer is anyone. But if it is a freak accident, and he makes a full recovery - who else comes to mind? I guess I'd go big - maybe Jason Thompson (sleeper of the first round) or Anthony Randolph. Lopez hasn't impressed. I'm not sure what Augustin's upside is long term.

Pete, great post.

I feel like Knicks fans are now almost conditioned to complain about something because we've been screwed for the past 5 years.

Yeah, it'd be nice if Gallo wasn't hurt and we could be having a real conversation about his future and his fit on the team, but he's injured. The conversation will have to be on hold till his whole back situation is figured out.

In the mean time, why not just enjoy this nice start to the season? It's pretty refreshing to see a team out there that's playing hard and giving themselves a chance to win every night.

I like Zach. The only I see wrong with his is his lack on defensive intensity. And real game IQ like passing out of double teams and not turning the ball over. Give me a forward that can defend with block shots and score. He is savvy around the rim and active i give that. But greedy. The Zach Hole. Ball comes in but it don't come out. At this moment I would clear any spot to get Patrick Jr. in the rotation again.

Matt and Pete I don't think this injury prone criticism of Gallo is coming out of nowhere. Remember Berman wrote a story over the summer about how injury prone and soft Gallo has been that Alan and other Fixers dismissed as fiction but is bearing out to be true. I think concern over Gallo's health is a legitimate issue for Knick fans since he was picked so high and we haven't had much success in the past. If he is out all year, that is a huge problem. As for who we should have picked, obviously Mayo was already gone but Bayless and Augustine were still there. If we wanted to address our shotblocking needs, Lopez was there or there were some other project type bigs availiable.

Now on to Duhon. Lives is right, one day we are killing him for his lack of aggressiveness and poor decisions, the next he has a big game and everyone says what a great move. He is who is his and who he is is a maddeningly inconsistent player. He has games where you think he is a solid PG and then other games where he'll put up 8pts and 4 asst against the backup PG for a bad team. His defense is an upgrade for sure, but before you start hailing him as some great find remember we used the FULL mid-level exception on him. I'm not a Steph fan, Steph shouldn't be starting, niether should Nate, but Duhon isn't the answer we still need a starting PG.

I have to give D'Antoni credit on this, he has this team playing hard. His banishment of Steph and Curry were the right things to do. Against better teams thie team will struggle, but, at least we have a direction and a leader now.

Yeah, but long term, Gallo could be a much better fit for a D'Antoni team than any other player that was available at 6.

If we wanted a shot blocker for the 08-09 season, then yeah, they should've looked elsewhere. But all of this is for the future.

That said, you have to look at Duhon for what he is.

He's a stopgap point who will *consistently* play D and unselfish ball. He's already showing that he could help this team gel -- which will be important for whatever players are still around in the next couple of years.

And I think he's proving his worth as a starting NBA point.

I was worried that on the back end of a back-to-back two game road trip, the Knicks would look tired and sluggish.

I know it's only eight games in, but this is exactly the type of game they would have mailed in last year: A road game against a below-average team that is more than winnable if you show some effort. Last night they did just that.

I don't know why people criticize Duhon so aggressively. Sure, he's not a stat-machine, but he gets the ball to the plethora of stat-machines that we already have. He's setting people up, getting them in the right spots, and nailing threes when it comes time for him to shoot. His effectiveness isn't going to show up in the box scores.

If people are concerned about his turnovers, they should be more upset with Nate Robinson. I love the guy, but if I see him make another line-drive pass into the paint between three opposing players, I'm going to have a stroke.

We needed a center or a point guard when we were selecting. The only point guard available was Rose and he was gone at 6, but as far as center go I would have rather had Lopez or traded down and grab JaVale McGee. I didn't need another forward when I already had Chandler, Lee, Jefferies, Rose, Q, Balkman and Randolph at the time. Plus I have Ewing son trying out. He better be as good as advertised when he gets unhurt, but from what little I've seen he was a broken ankle waiting to happen. And at six pick I would have rather had a player that was going to contribute this year.

And Randolph is right he isn't part of the future so build his trade value up and get us some picks and some expiring contracts. But he is playing well and we're going to miss his inside scoring which is something hard to come by.

Hi Alan,

Here are my thoughts on the Knicks thus far. I've been a big Knicks fan since I was 10, so I think I have a good amount of knowledge here based on what I see thus far.

Duhon - great move by Donnie. He's unselfish, plays within the system, and something people have seem to have forgotten, he plays good defense and has active hands. For a team with no a lot of great defenders, this was a perfect addition to the starting lineup. When his contract is up, I hope the Knicks can resign him to at least be Rubio's backup (I can dream can't I?)

Crawford - Great for this system, and would be a fantastic compliment to LBJ. I sincerely think we need Jamal to stay to really entice LBJ, because Crawford would be by far the best scoring SG he's ever played with.

Gallo - whether he can play this year or not, doesn't matter. As long as he contributes next year to show LBJ he'd had a sweet shooting 6'10 guy to play with, I think its all good. Plus he won't get a lot of time this year anyway with Q-Rich, Chandler, etc.

Chandler - really showing some promise, but we may have to package him with Curry and/or Randolph to get rid of their contracts. Which is fine, because if you figure LBJ is coming here (this is being hopeful of course), then you can't have LBJ, Chandler and Gallo for the 3 and 4 spots. You'd need to choose at least two out of the 3 there. Or maybe they could keep him to be a first guy off the bench.

Randolph - he's surprised me with his effort, but let's face it, you can't win a championship with the guy. Takes too many wild shots, isn't a good enough defender. But, I am thrilled because I think he's playing good enough to entice someone to trade for him. I think on a more stacked team, he'd be better. But this is fine, because moving forward we'll have Chandler and/or Gallo for the 4 spot.

Lee - plays with so much desire, I'd only trade him if it was an absolute necessity to get rid of a major contract. BUT, i feel like D'antoni and Walsh are smart to not have him be a starter because a) he's better off the bench b) it will be harder for him to request a big-time contract if he's a role player, not a starter

Richardson/Curry - here's my idea....trade them both to Miami for Marion. I tried it on ESPN's trade machine, and it works. The Heat get the center they need, and a SF to replace Marion, then they can slide Beasley over to the PF spot, where he belongs. And the Knicks can let Marion do his thing this year, then let him walk so Gallo and/or Chandler can take over the 3 spot next year. And the Knicks get rid of two bad contracts. Boo-ya.

Jerome James - completely worthless, he should be ashamed of himself for collecting his paycheck for doing absolutely nothing.

Marbury - what a brilliant move by D'Antoni and Walsh. I liken it to what the G-Men just did with Burress, you show EVERYONE right off the bat who's running the show. It's not the players anymore, its the coach and Prez who are in control. This sets a great example for a guy who is about as selfish as it gets. Isn't it funny the Knicks are 5-3 without him?

Jeffries - I think he'll add some defense to the team, but he's certainly not worth the money he's making. Impossible to trade I'm thinking too. Thanks Isiah.

So overall, I think the Knicks are in a LOT better shape then last year. Part of me wants them to sneak into the playoffs this year, part of me wants them to win 35 games and get lucky in the lottery like Chicago did last year, so they can get Rubio or Mullens.

We'll see what happens. The only move I haven't liked thus far is getting rid of Ewing Jr. Bring him back dammit!

Those are my thoughts from a die hard Knicks fan.

I think we need to move Crawford, Zach and Eddie (if there are any takers), Include Lee with Eddy is necessary. Marbury and Malik shoudlbe let to expire. Or use Malik in a deal with any of the others. Jerome should be given a box of tee shirts and put him in the lobby to sell them.

w ahve to keep our eye on teh prize and not get sistriacted by empty stats in a transistion / learning year.

we should be collecting expiring contracts, athletic cheap players and first round draft pics

Matt and Pete

if the injury was a knee or an ankle
i would agree with you

but back injuries are usually problematic
and chronic

name a player that had a severe back problem
and came back to be a great player?

Q-rich had a chronic back problem
he had back surgery and he has come back
to about 70%.

before he started having back problems
he was much more athletic and agile

Gallo is 20 years old
he has a bulging disc
which presses on nerves
causing him severe pain and discomfort

if you study bulging discs
you will see that they sometimes
never heal right

as a knick fan
all i can do is hope
he gets better
but it does not send a good
signal for his B-ball future

BiggieSmallz is right on target..We have to keep our eye on the prize...Lets trade these guys before their value goes back in the tank..

Keeping 2010 alive
with some Bulljive