For the last handful of games now, I don't see much discussion about Melo's ISO domination.
I don't know if I am trying to stir anything with that, but it does seem to me that Melo is heavily dominating the ball on offense. Seems to happen a lot that he gets the ball and everyone runs away. He takes a ton of shots but it seems like little is left for others. Obviously the guy is a dynamic scorer and easily one of the best in the NBA. And don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan. When you have a talent like Melo on your squad, you want to maximize him best you can. But are we doing that? Or are the Knicks overusing him?

D'Antoni did just come out and admit they need to get Amar'e more involved in the offense, but before this, I haven't noticed much commentary here about Melo running the Knicks offense. But has anyone else noticed this? It doesn't seem like the Knicks are necessarily the cohesive bunch that we kind of picture in our mind grapes. Whether or not that is directly a result of not having a "proper" PG I am not sure, but I DO think it is fair to expect better offensive play from this group. Yes we have new pieces, but the new pieces aren't exactly strategy game-changers.

It doesn't seem like the Knicks are running the way we might have expected from an uptempo MDA system either. Is it good for the team to have Melo just improvising or would we be more dangerous in having him create off the ball more and feature more cutting and slashing from other players?
Is anyone else noticing this? Does it bear Posting & Toasting discussion??


*Full Disclsoure* : Yes, we have a PG who is currently injured. Baron Davis, maybe you have heard of him? However, since he is yet to return and still weeks away, let's do better than simply saying "Wait til BD is healthy!" We can't just put the season on hold until Diddy is healthy and in peak game form. These games are gonna get played, veteran PG or not. We still need to win more than we lose too.

The Knicks are 2-4 to open this abbreviated season. It's not time to panic or overstate things. There is no need to talk of canning a coach or passing judgement on this year's team.

But it's also not time to ignore the shortcomings thusfar and give the team a pass for their play. Yes we have weaknesses and injuries and chemistry to use as excuses for this poor play. But given those reasons, it's still not unreasonable to expect better from the Knickerbockers.

Here is my (weak) attempt to balance my expectations of the team with the understanding of pateience amongst a new group of players.

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We've kinda done this the last couple seasons just for the kick of it. Time to see who can really put together a masterful team. The actual season is already upon us this weekend so this has to come together quickly.

Giddyup.

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This began as a comment but it grew out of control. The good news is while it sort was inspired by the recent trade attempt, this isn't a thread about Chris Paul. But I feel the need to talk about the smokescreen laid out by the NBA this summer.


The lockout was never about the Players vs the Owners as much as it was Big Owners vs Small Owners.

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It wasn't supposed to end this way.  Everything was set in our favor.  A deciding Game 5 in Yankee Stadium after a superb offensive onslaught in Game 4.  The Yankees had the momentum, the experience, the crowd, the rested bullpen, the reliable starter.  It was here for the taking.

But the Tigers won.  Hats off to Detroit.  What a great series.  Oh baseball, thou tuggeth on my heart strings.

I've got a few things to get off my mind...

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Alright.  Lockout could very well happen tonight, guys.  It sucks for everytone, no doubt.  But I was looking through and didn;t really find much of an exclusive Lockout Thread to gauge who thinks what about what.  Maybe this can sort of entertain us for a while.  Surely we love to argue and debate! 


I found an interesting quote and a couple quick thoughts to get rollin'.  Let's take a stroll...

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Its really nice and all that we are really in for Dwight Howard and/or Chris Paul.

But as much as I want either or both of those guys... the likelihood that we can sign or even trade for either is minimal at BEST.

There seems to be this idea that "if Miami can do it, we can too" but as we have covered this before... since our Big 2 are already getting significantly more salary-wise than 2 of the 3 in Miami, the situation for adding a 3rd max player is drastically different.  Really... we are almost pretending this is not the case.

Let's discuss this for real like.

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Let's talk about this.  It's constantly mentioned here and all around the media and even common fans.  How much of a "tradition" is defense to the Knicks organization?  Of course I'm a fan of defense.  And I am not looking to trash the idea of the Knicks history.  We have won 2 titles in our time.  Both came under Red Holzman (1969-70 & 1972-73) and his teams were notably great defensive squads.  The Knicks did lad the NBA in Team Defense 5 times in 6 years under Holzman, so yeah, it is pretty easy to declare the Knicks a deffensive team under Holzman.

But since then... Knicks teams have still played good d more often thhan not, but we haven't won a damn thing.  So my question to you is.... at what point does "tradition" become "history"?

I wouldn't call this a jump as much as a maybe a hop, or a bounce, but stay with me here.

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It's worth looking at Dwight Howard's tweets from a couple days ago

“Y does it seem like the writers of Orlando sentinel are tryna push me out of Orlando with dumb articles. It’s annoying. Can I enjoy my summer and get ready for next season in Orlando. Pls. Same thing u guys did to Shaq. Smh”

“I’m not blaming the media. I’m saying stop with the dumb articles. They don’t make be decision of mine. I jus don’t want Orlando fans to believe them. Cuz they don’t know. I love my city.”

I mean, it really gets tiring when this seeming panic sets in amongst analysts, sportswriters, fans, etc.  Shit, it's damn near impossible for a star athlete to NOT address free agency even TWO YEARS before it happens.  Yup, a Dwight Howard caliber player is huge to a franchise.  They are literally built around him and sure it would be devasting if he were to leave and Orlando NOT receive similar value in return.  It IS possible for teams to trade franchise players and NOT be totally screwed, by the way.  Now, I firmly do NOT know Howard's plans for 2012 and beyond, but I've got to believe that this notion of jumping the gun and cornering the dude into an answer he might understandably be unready to answer is NOT good for the game, nor the player.

So let's talk about this otherside a bit.  Because, it applies not only to Orlando, but EVERY NBA team with a star.

Van Halen!

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So I wanted to share a little of my experience this past weekend with everyone (or at least those who look at this thread).  I live in North Carolina and decided as a birthday gift that I would get Knicks/Bobcats tix for my brother.  To say he is a fanatical Knick fan doesn't describe his fanaticism in the least.  I don't know another person as rabidly intense about the Knicks as he is.  It's great though.  Anyways, I'm a simple dude with a typical job and we have doen this before a couple years ago (it was end of the season and Jamal Crawford was still a Knick... but hurt).  Last time I got seats in the lower level (about 15 rows up from behind the Knicks bench).  They weren't very expensive (I believe like $50each) and it was fantasitc because we felt pretty close to the floor and could really gauge just how large these players actually were (and how short Nate robinson actually is).  It was a terrific experience and I believe the Knicks won the game even.  The Charlotte Bobcats have a very nice arena and run a very good and reasonably priced show.  Hard not to like/appreciate them.  We actually got to meet Muggsy Bogues and got a high five from David Lee (also injured) while he was talking to someone by the players tunnel. 

Anyways, this time had to be at least the same or better.  I wanted those Lower Level seats again.  You know, you figure out how to fine tune the 2nd time around, so I did just that.  Get there earlier, bring a pen, cus who knows if you will run into a player or a famous face, right?  So of course we go and sign Amar'e and trade for Melo and that alone makes $50 for a lower level ticket pretty impossible.  I wanted to keep location a secret for the surprise factor.  I worked a few avenues and when all was said and done, I finagled a pair of seats in the 2nd row.... ON THE FLOOR.  Seriously?  Seriously.  I paid a good amount for them, but surely the same seats at MSG would have been 3x as much.  No fucking way would I ever that close to the court.  So there was a row of courtside seats, then a walkways behind them, and then rows of seating began.  We were on the aisle in the 2nd row on the floor.  Fucking fantastic.  I found a supremely bright orange hoodie that I wore (easy to spot on TV?).  The only hindrance (if you can even call it that) was we were by the Bobcats bench rather than the Knicks bench.  But we were right behind the basket, guys.  Holy shit these guys are big.  Kwame Brown is an absolute monster of a person (still sucks though we made him look decent).  It was incredible watching a game this close though. We could hear the fouls under the hoop.  If a errant pass led to the ball going out of bounds by the poop corner, we could have caught it.  Had to be ready, man.  The LadyCats (Bobcats cheerleaders) were right in front of us as well and my oh my they were gorgeous.  I wouldn't put any plastic accessories (read: boobs) past them either.  Either way, I may have had a moment with a few of them (well, moment to me...I'm easily charmed).

You guys all know how the game went though.  It was depressing to see the Knicks play so flat.  Carmelo seemed like the only guy looking to win the game.  Amar'e looked exhausted to the point where I think he should have gone to the bench.  Interestingly though, as the Knicks made a late run, the building livened up.  In our section there were a number of Knick fans with jersey's, hats and shirts.  Loud too.  All around the arena were pockets of Knick fans who stayed loud during the game.  It got to a point, no joke, where it almost felt like a home game for NY.  Carmelo swished a 3 and the place half-exploded in cheers.  The Bobcats fans tried to counter the NY noise y cheering louder for their own guys too and we suddenly had a game.  It got to a point where Stephen Jackson (Bobcats captain!) was on the line shooting FTs and a loud chorus of "boos" swept around the arena!!  Not just a few people either.  It was a significant volume from a lot of people!!  I couldn't believe how many Knick fans peppered the crowd.
If only it would have spurred the Knicks to victory.  Anyways, the game finished and we took our time leaving.  Never got to see any players (we were early for shootaround, but couldn't go over to the Knicks side).  My brother's mind was completely blown though.  Don't if we will ever get such an opportunity like this again, but we definitely made the most of it.  I'm still processing everything 2 days later.  I took a lot of pictures too.  I'll post a few of them later tonight in this post.  What a night.  Oh man.

This is starting to become a nuisance.  I don't know if you have noticed it the way I have.  So last month we kinda made a trade with the Denver Nuggets.  We gave up a lot of our players and got a lot of theirs, most notably, one Carmelo Anthony and one Chauncey Billups.  Much of Posting & Toasting was split over the way the trade went down.  The disagreement was less about whether or not to get Carmelo Anthony, but more of how much we should be willing to give up in order to get him.

Since said trade the Knicks have had some excellent wins as well as some mind-numbing lows.  Including last night's game against Memphis, the Knicks are 7-6 since acquiring Lala's Husband.  However, the Denver Nuggets
 have surprised many a critic by going 9-2 since the trade. 

Let's talk about how people have been using this as judgement on the trade.

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Here is some breaking news for your asses!

Looks like the Nets and Jazz are about to complete a deal for Deron Williams.  Good.  I know a lot of people wanted Deron Williams to be a Knick and dude is really fucking good, but I have never really liked him and the reports of his fueds and spats with former coach Jerry Sloan seem to pain him a high maintenance headcase.  Trading him to the Nets just makes it easier for me to hate the guy, lol!

Anyways Nets beatwriter Al Iannazzone hath twat about this deal.  I found out about it in Rotoworld.

Devin Harris, Derrick Favors + two Firsties  head to the Jazz for Deron Williams. 

Golden State jumps in as a 3rd team to get Troy Murphy and send Dan Gadzuric to the Nets. 



No need to jump.  Kudos to the Nets for pulling a quick big trade without days of speculation.  They finally get their face to put on a billboard for the Brooklyn move.  It was only a matter of time before they made a splash.  Smart move.  Guess Chris Paul is gonna have to be our guy after next year.  I don't want to dominate the thread with this notion, but this is exactly why I wanted the option of holding onto Ray Felton since his contract would be a Team Option after next year.  Love Chauncey, but he won't be a Knick long-term.  Now if this trade hold's up, it's kinda CP3 or bust in 2012.  Risky.

Yo, this is a little change of pace.  Knick News will pick up in about 2 weeks when the deadline is about to pass and I think we could all use a small breather from all the Knick chatter and such.  What better way to get something goin than to yap on about the All-Star selections?!  I done did the Eastern Conference this morning, but there is a Tumbeast of a monster across the Miss'ippi that we shall call the Western Conference.  The fans (and Asia) picked the starters and the all-star coaches chose the reserves.  How did they do?  Let's throw this cherry bomb in the toilet, teenagers.

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Just a slight change of pace for a second, guys.  Let's have it out about the All-Star game and what everyone thinks of the reserve rosters and the starters.  It's well deserved that Amar'e has been chosen to start as it has been a damn long time since the Knicks have had an All-Star starter.  David Lee was an injury replacement recently, but getting voted to be a starter (while admittedly a popularity contest) is a big achievement.  Few people (Kelly Dwyer preferred Kevin Garnett) would argue against Amar'e starting but his play has certainly supported his selection.
But the real meat here is the Reserve Rosters which are chosen by the coaches.  Double cork with me, you Flying Tomatoes.

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I'm more interested in seeing what this bunch is capable of.

So far a Win @Toronto, and 2 losses to Boston & Portland by single-digits (and both games seemingly games the Knicks faltered in vs getting straight beat). For the most part, our new acquisitions are playing strong basketball, we have a rookie transitioning to the NBA much better and quicker than we anticipated, we actually have an exciting defensive game, our veteran Knicks are out of the gate strong, and we are essentially missing two major components of this team (Gallo/Randolph).  We are 1-2 but it seems like this season we will win our share of games and the ones we lose will be very close losses.  While some of us want to laugh and say "I told you so" about Gallo's struggles, the majority of us know this isn't the norm.  Anthony Randolph will get onto the floor and make a difference too.  These are all growing pains right now and a Knick team in progression.

It's just getting way tired to see silly comparisons to players not on this team and speculating the differences.  Let Melo be Melo.  It's getting more than redundant to see the consistent postings of why we should pull the trigger right now for him.  Much like a lot of players stop talking about contract extensions once the season begins... how about we stop focusing on who we can get in a trade now or who is a free agent in the next 2-3 years.  This is the WORST time of the season for NBA teams to make major moves anyways.  Moves happen at the beginning and end of summer or the trading deadline in February. They DON'T happen in the 1st 10-20 games of the season. 

The summer is over.  It's time to focus on THIS team.  What other players do on other Non-Knick teams is irrelevant to our cause.  Fuck 'em.  Our eyes should be on these Knickerbockers and not on this grass is greener bullshit.

We are already competing with (and very nearly beating) TOP NBA teams!!!

Being a Yankees fan means expecting greatness.  To other teams this is unreasonable every year, but for the Yankees, they are willing to go all in at moment's notice.

Sometimes it feels like we use the regular season up until September as spring training.  You know, we have been to the postseason so often it feels automatic for us.  I take that into account when everyone else is counting out the Yankees because they may be 2-3 games out of 1st place.  This year we were in front much of the year and a weak September made things much closer.  I wanted to feel like the Yankees were simply prepping for the playoffs and the cards were in place for a World Series repeat.

I dug the playoff match-up with Minnesota and seeing the Rays/Rangers series move the way it did made it feel like the wind was blowing our way too!  Few would argue that the Rays presented a more favorable match-up than the Rangers!  I don't know if things turn out different against Tampa though.

Fact is the Rangers outplayed the Yankees every way you look at it. 
There were a number of interesting opposites too.
-We've won 27 Titles, they haven't made it to the World Series yet. 

-Their pitching staff has one huge name (Cliff Lee) and the rest are hardly recognizable to the average fan.  The Yankees are painted with big names (Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte)!
-Their closer (Neftali Feliz) is just beginning, and our Mariano Rivera is nearing the end
-We have the largest payroll in the MLB, and Texas just came out of bankruptcy a few months ago!

Hey we have some similarities too though.

-We have the Cleveland Indians to thank for each team's aces (Sabathia, Lee)
-Both teams have shared the services of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira (and soon Cliff Lee??)
-Both teams have top offenses in the MLB, along with questionable pitching.
-Both teams have numerous all-stars in the field.
-Both managers are young in their managerial career (Girardi hired in 2008- 2nd team managed, Washington in 2007- 1st team managed at MLB level)

In the end, I would say that hitting was the difference.  Yes, Texas pitchers held the Yankees to a handful of runs, but I still maintain that aside from Cliff Lee, the Yankees never seemed over-matched on the mound.  Texas' pitching could have been broken. 
The Yankees just never stepped up with that extra playoff push.  The Rangers hitting did.  No matter who the Yankees had on the mound (and we put some excellent pitchers on it), they connected with extra base hits, stolen bases, and big home runs.

The Rangers played good, hard baseball and I found it difficult not to appreciate them.  They weren't dirty, they weren't cocky, they were excited.  I'm still bitter about the loss, but Texas did what it had to do and now they move on to the World Series, which seems to always have a storybook type ending, doesn't it?

Hats off to the Texas Rangers.  For Ranger's fans they probably could not have asked for a more ironic ending too.  Alex Rodriguez caught looking at strike 3 to end the game.  It was a filthy, filthy pitch too.

     I'm new to this page but not to SBNation and definitely not to the Yankees.  But I am getting quick aggravated by this series.  It's a not-so-unexpected 2-1 edge to the Rangers right now, but we have been outplayed in each game.  Andy Pettitte did his job last night and pitched great.  Yeah, the early homerun continued Texas' trend of scoring very early.  2 runs is fine.  He recovered beautifully.  My thing is we are making Texas look better than they are and I'm tired of it.

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Alright suckers.  We dish a lot about the NBA and the Knicks and ALL of us are definitely experts on our opinions.  So let's compete about it!  Let's see who's got the chops to assemble the best squad (and see who chooses Gallo in the 1st round...one of you fuckers will!).  There is a league up on Yahoo Sports right this second and those of us who were down last season had a good time, except Seth, who basically forgot/quit/Eddy Curryed/whatever and nded up at the bottom.  Thats right... I called out the cap'n!  You're not doing us Jews any favors, Seth... we have to keep these stereotypes legit, my friend.  Jews aren't so athletic, but we do know how to produce and manage!

Anyways, it should be good fun, and we can even put a little bit of $$ for the top 3 finishers.  Up for discussion and not a requirement.  The league info is after the jump....

So what the hell you reading THIS line for?!

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Seth posted this quote very recently and it deserves its fair share (read: over-analytical) of discussion.  It actually originates from Knickerblogger's Mike Kurylo Knickerblogger conversations with Mike D'antoni and Donnie Walsh.  There are a number of twats capturing some gems, but I would like to focus on a particular one:

Walsh on getting another superstar "We don't know if he's not on the team right now."

Boom.

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Yo, these are the dog days of summer, no doubt. The excitement happened at the beginning of July and now it is really just about counting down the days for some damn basketball games to start up.  Now, yeah, we still need to keep things fresh here at Posting & Toasting and we need to flex our analytical muscles and vent our annoyances at Nets fans and other unnamed Sports Networks which love to undersell the New York Knickerbockers.  But here is the thing:

I think we are getting away from Donnie Walsh's Big Plan.

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Ok, first things first. Seth, I'm sorry I am taking the Chris Paul talk outside of the thread you created to contain it. Your BP3 cap isn't the right fit so the speculation oil is still pouring out and spreading slowly. Sorry, man. But let's address a couple things here that sort of run contrary to the immediate reactions/responses to this rumor of Paul wanting out of New Orleans before the start of THIS season. You don't even need to jump... just a bit of a hop... or a trip or something.

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I see it creeping up in numerous Fanposts.  Its already fucking annoying too.  We JUST finished this pining over a certain player who has decided to play elsewhere. The lesson we should have learned? We DO NOT need any ONE player in NY.  We are building a team and we are gonna take this league by storm.  Seriously.  Look at the pieces coming together rather quickly.  Everyone is writing us off and mocking us.  I already love what we have.  Let's not fuck it up now.

I'm making a motion right the fuck now to STOP TALKING ABOUT CHRIS PAUL.

Take a minor leap

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http://www.netsdaily.com/2010/6/29/1544049/sign-of-the-times

So apparently there is a giant billboard being constructed that overlooks MSG.  It apparently says The Blueprint for Greatness and has Mikhail Prokhorov and Jay-Z pictured.  Credit the Nets for an aggressive marketing idea, I guess.  I'm sure it will annoy Knicks fans and it is already igniting whats left of the Nets fans.  But stay strong, my friends, don't let them convert you!!!

My take on this: Well, apparently the faces of the franchise have nothing to do with their players, lol.  How good is Jay-Z's court vision?  I don't think he can run the pick n' roll effectively. 

Might be kinda cool to have our own billboard of Toney Douglas staring right back at them with his cold eyes "DWTDD"

Idunno, but maybe drop by NetsDaily and see what they are saying.  For what it's worth, their accuracy is a bit off... Charles Dolan is not the owner of the Knicks, lol.

I came across this article on NBA.com today. A lot of people want Bosh here and a lot of people don't. The number in Toronto are very good, except the team did shit overall. This article is about how Bosh wants to be the man. He doesn't want to play second fiddle and he doesn't want to be a 2nd choice. Its THAT mindset "I want to be the man" that I detest. Especially when the team you are CURRENTLY on looks at you exactly the way you say you want to be looked at! Dude is the centerpiece in Toronto right now. So yeah, he puts up numbers, but its been said before, I believe those numbers won't translate in a different city.  I believe Chris Bosh is destimed to follow the career paths of Steve Francis, Tracy McGrady and all of the other guys who believe it is about themselves. 

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/art_garcia/06/20/chris.bosh/index.html

Check the article.  I know it won't change many minds.  But I'm saying signing Chris Bosh would end up being a bad decision.  He is a "me" player and so far it has shown.  Toronto hasn't done shit in the playoffs since Bosh arrived.  They have some legit pieces too. 

So the big breaking news, other than Tom Izzo staying with Michigan St instead of jumping to the NBA (a good decision for him, in my opinion.  I like seeing longtime college coaches display loyalty over riches) is that Steve Kerr is no longer the GM in Phoenix.  It was a sudden thing apparently and the reasons behind it seem to be vague at best.  Some rumors say Phoenix owner, Sarver, wanted Kerr to take a paycut this coming season.  He seems to have a reputation amongst Phoenix fans for being cheap with his money.  Other rumors say that Kerr didn't think Phoenix would open the wallets and continue to compete aso he decided to jump ship.  Kerr himself has said he wants more family time and desires to go back to TV commentating.

 Regardless of the rumors, my question is this:  Given this sudden departure and knowing that Amare Stoudemire is leaving $17 mil on the table so he can sign a max contract somewhere, does Kerr leaving increase the chances that Amare leaves too?

Hope rather than jump...

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I'm as interested and intrigued as much as anyone else about how this summer plays out.  Really, I am.  I'm absolutely down with all the "scouting" being done on these pages.  I got no problem with debating which free agents we should target too.  But really, can we stop with the "potential lineups" posts that run rampant and just really get hammered anyways by most everyone.  I mean, I get it. I do.  Everyone has the answers.  But its not even halfway through June yet and we have pretty much exhausted all the options available this summer.  And its really kinda watering down the good stuff.  Also, to say it nicely, its a disservice to sell your stuff with words like "best" "perfect" "ideal" "championship" and other far fetched adjectives that describe your starting lineup epiphany.  Chances are, it either: sucks, is too expensive, does not fill our team needs, is unrealistic, or it includes Chris Bosh.

Really, with 4 players on the roster, we have spots to color in.  A lot of them.