Quote Originally Posted by melossinglet:
yo,wassup scalabrine!!!...just thought i'd chime in.i think the line is pretty much bang on,if not a tad high and i will give my reasons why i think so....i preface anything said by giving you utmost credit and respect for having a far deeper,more profound knowledge of your local new york sports teams than i so i bow down from a position of inferiority
...but give my perspective regardless.
i simply do not think that the knicks have the outright talent to be trusted to pass .500 with any sort of surety,even in the putrid eastern conference.i reckon everything will have to go absolutely perfect for them to get them over that 41 win mark and the rookie head coach issue is such a big question mark for me,just have to look back a year ago to kidds initiation to put hesitation in the mind around that matter....it can be a real tough transition strait from player to coach and those blurred lines of respect can be a bigger issue than is given credit i feel.
as far as i can see there are 8 teams who i feel will "likely" finish above the knicks-cavaliers,bulls,wizards,raptors,nets,heat,hawks and probably hornets as well...so,given that the last seeded playoff teams in the east more often than not finish below .500 i see it as being a big ask or,at worst,a close run thing for the knicks to make that cut.
a few of their players have already caught the injury bug at various times in their career-stoudemire,shumpert,bargnani,j.r. smith and any injury AT ALL could be disastrous for this squad with how shallow the depth is.i think they need just about 100% perfect health to maximise their potential here with the likes of prigioni,mbenga,acy,outlaw,larkin,jason smith and cole aldrich in reserve should any of their top 7 go down....and it goes without saying they are toast if they lose carmelo for any significant period of time,he has been blessed with his durability and good health thus far in his career,perhaps he is "due"??...but then thats the risk you always take with futures bets.
apparently the "triangle" requires unselfish,hi i.q. players that understand spacial awareness and the need to pass at the right time in the right spots on the floor for it to function at its optimum....since when have these guys on the knicks roster been associated with those concepts??-carmelo,amare and j.r.smith???....anythings possible but i wont hold my breath waiting for the day this group grasps this offense with great clarity and executes it the way it is intended...frustration will grow rapidly when fisher sees 2 or 3 black holes out on the court instead of 2 formations of equally spaced triangles on either half of a halfcourt set and i see carmelo reverting to type eventually....jab step...jab step....jab step....fade-away.....
but even if they do "get it" and click as a team they still gotta make shots and get stops,obviously thats wat this league boils down to and i cant back this roster to do that and be on the right side of the scoreboard enough times....there doesnt seem to be the air of ambition and aspiration about this franchise at the moment from where im sitting(perhaps you have a different take on it being so much closer to it),and im not sure they truly see themselves as a playoff team,regardless of the standard bluster and hyperbole that comes out of every nba camp,including the knick, prior to season tip-off......they know,like everyone else,that management is really positioning themselves to make a run at the next big free agent grab with salary space being planned to be made available.
that dont mean they wont play hard of course.but doesnt do much to galvanise a side and give them a "mission" mentality,which you would hope they will have when they are often over-matched talent-wise...in the end,im not totally sold on what theyve got here and would project that,all going well,they will fall somewhere between 37 and 39 wins......maybe even less if this team splinters apart at sum stage if fisher cant inspire them and get them all on the same page.
wat you think about the rockets UNDER 48.5????im absolutely loving it at first glance..aside from harden and howard they got a pretty scrub line-up and look like they will take a big step backwards to me,end up around .500 in the wild,wild west...not impressed at all with moves that went down on their part this off-season......and can see suns,grizzlies,pelicans and nuggets definitely improving by a few games each whilst no other western team will take too big a drop either so somethings gotta give...any opinion??
Melos I could debate with you for hours on this given your write-up.
The expectations are quite high for this team: playoffs at a minimum and maybe a first round win.
And 40 wins is under .500.
This team needs to finish over .500 to justify:
Paying Phil $60 million
Paying Fish $25 million
Paying Melo $120 million +
They didn't dole out that money, sign the second biggest FAgent of the offseason and bring in a living legend to have consecutive under .500 seasons.
I can assure you 41 wins will be the absolute lowest bar this team needs to win to justify the changes.
The roster is BETTER. Trust me on that Chandler was a cancer and Felton was more involved with bail money than PG play.
All the money, all the changes, the young players, Melo justifying his contract, JR growing up under Phil (he will or he's out), Hardaway growing, Amare healthier and in a contract year, Bargnani giving you more after an atrocious year, better Pg play, higher expectations, a coach who is a conduit to a man who is the winningest championship coach in history.
Again, barring injury, over 40.5 will be attained! And the other numbers in this thread are a dream!
...it is a way of expressing confidence.
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