Nrmax88, no offense, but it disturbs me when knicks fans think like you. And there are many of them. Amare signed with the knicks when no one else would, and he embraced the role of alpha dog and was playing like an mvp candidate in dantonis system. Then dolan #$%^ed everything up and forced melo into dantonis system and with amare, none of which was even a halfway intelligent idea, and walsh and dantoni and everyone else knew it. Melo comes in and plays typical melo selfish ball whch is exacerbated because dolan made them deal away their goddamn point guard. Then melo got the coach fired, the coach who amare signed with to play for, and oh yeah, baron davis was the pg, exacerbating the problem even more.
Amare went from savior of the knicks, the guy who signed with them when no one would, and mvp candidate...to most hated athlete in ny because of melo and his selfish ways. Guess what? I dont give a damn that hes not a point guard, if hes a top ten player in the nba, then he should be good enough to realize what needs to be done, he also should try hard for whoever is coaching him, something he admittedly did not do with dantoni. Melo is what is wrong with the nba.
Hopefully for all knciks fans sake melo will wake up and change. But he is not the guy yet that can lead anyone to anything except a first round loss.
The Knicks were the only team stupid enough to offer a guy with chronic injury problems a 5yr 100million dollar contract. Savior? yeah right, anyone would take that money and run. Sure I loved him when he was playing great, but that's how it is with sports. You can't blame Melo for everything. Amare flat out stinks now. He didn't go from MVP candidate to completley worthless because Melo joined the Knicks. It's his own fault. The fact is he has one of the worst basketball IQ's in the league. He's not willing to step up his D like Melo did last season.
Also, the Melo trade was a good idea. We weren't going anywhere with that team anyway. I love Gallo, but he's way too inconsistent, and is a role player, most likely never an all star. Same with Wilson Chandler, he's a good solid role player. Felton is a back up PG now. Mosgov is a good solid backup center, but that's it. That was a good trade. Remember, we weren't exactly world beaters even before that trade, we were around .500. Did we give up too much? Probably, but in the long run, it's clear that super stars win championships, and we have one now in Melo. We just need to get the right team around him. Remember, Dirk Nowitzki was looked at the same way as Melo is now. Great player, but not good enough to lead his team to a championship. That wasn't the case, they just needed to get the right team around him.
People who blame Melo for everything are wrong. Let's look at the Knicks lineup Melo had to work with against the heat:
C-Chandler:
Not known for his offense. Can't create his own shot. Knicks had no capable point guard in the playoffs, therefore, Tyson was not a viable scoring option.
PF-Amare:
Punched a fire extinguisher.
SG-Landry Fields
He's Landry Fields...enough said.
PG-Baron Davis/Mike Bibby/Toney Douglas
Yeah, those were the Knicks point guards during the playoff series against the Miami Heat.
Bench: Novak, JR Smith, Jared Jeffries
JR Smith doesn't know when to stop shooting, even when he's only 30%. Jeffries may be the worst offensive player in the NBA. Novak was incapable of getting a shot off the entire series. Miami's closeouts were ridiculous.
My point is, what the hell did Melo have to work with? New York was doomed from the moment idiot Amare decided to take his anger out on that fire extinguisher, or perhaps when Lin hurt his knee. It's actually a miracle we were able to get one game, and that win can be credited almost completely to Carmelo as he had 40 points.
Carmelo needs a point guard to help see the floor and take the pressure off of him. I think a combo of Lin/Kidd will help with that.
Agree with Kid. And with those same players sans Melo J Lin lead them to 8wins in 9 games till Melo came back and worked his magic I mean selfish touch. Just ask G Karl about Melo he had him for all those years in Denver. You say you can't blame it all on Melo-why not it worked with Marbury?
George Karl can blow me. Ride Melo into the playoffs every year, never actually bother to play any real offense (ever realize that? The Nuggets don't have an offense. They just run around and play helter skelter ball. Karl is a blow hard who has taken every chance he has had to trash his best player on his way out the door. He's a no class loser. I'm glad he recovered from cancer, but somehow that has deluded people into believing he is anything other then a mediocreish coach.
Ok, great, Lin won 8 of 9 games against the easiest schedule in the NBA during that time period. The Knicks also finished the season something like 18-5 under Woodson, with Melo in the lineup. 8 out of 9.... "Wellll, WHOOOOOPTY DO BASIL"
Amare.... leader and alpha dog, if I would have had some grape juice in my mouth when I read that it would probably have been completely all over my computer screen.
Also, the kid, I appreciate how you base your entire argument on the fact that Pierce was a better team player, and somehow more well rounded on offense, and how even back in the day Pierce more likely to win. When I bring up the statistics to prove just how much better Carmelo did with his nothing teammates then Pierce did, you completely disregard/ignore it and move onto your next ESPN generated argument about un-quantifiable bullshit about alpha dogs and James Dolan and Amare being a savior. You do realize that Amare openly wanted to go the Heat, but they wanted Bosh, don't you? What am I saying, of course you don't! Miami realized Bosh would take a lesser role, play defense and rebound, and Bosh was as key to the chip as LBJ or Wade.
Dolan forced that trade? I'm pretty sure Donnie Walsh made that trade, you know, the same Donnie Walsh that openly admitted many, many times, that his goal was to add at least 2 star players, if not 3, to the Knicks roster. But yeah, sure, it sounds better to say Dolan forced this whole trade everybody's throat doesn't it? That supports your baseless agenda better. Then comes the "Oh no pooooor Coach Pringles". The way I see it, he resigned, he didn't get fired, because he is a bad coach who is a one trick pony and can't adapt to his players. A good coach would see Stat and Melo and realize how special they are and make the offense work around their skill sets, not Mike D, we keep run and gunning like we are the golden state warriors. No defensive philosophy installed at all.
As for why Melo didn't play defense enough during the Mike D era, I don't know. Maybe he was just being a typical star who thought his de wasn't that important and Coach D was to much of a wimp to stand up to his most expensive toy. I honestly don't know, but I do know he showed flashed of the ability to lock somebody down throughout his whole career, and under Woodson (you know, not George Karl or Mike D'antoni, who don't believe in actually coaching basketball and stuff) he worked extremely hard and looked very good on defense.
Nobody hates Stat because of Melo, why is this so hard for you to grasp? People hate Stat because he played absolutely atrocious basketball for the entire season, and capped it off by throwing his hand through a fire extinguisher window and incapacitating himself for half the series. Stat can whine like a baby for the next 3 years. or he can grow up, be a goddamnn man, and play the Pau Gasol, Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett role, score his 14/10, and commit to actually being a reliable part of our defensive rotations, not the guy who makes the other 4 look bad because he doesn't rotate or try to contest a shot.
Think MJ, Kobe or Lebron had to be pushed by their coach to try on D. Melo was taking alot of heat for D'Antoni firing so he put out more for Woodson for 20 games. Let's see him do it all year. And melo had some pretty good teammates in Denver-wasn't all his doin winning 50 games.
Well, I don't really remember MJ until he was great, but to answer your first question in as quick a manner as possible, yes, I absolutely think Kobe and LBJ were pushed and worked hard to become better defenders. They both were much maligned for defense earlier in their playing days. Now LeBron is an elite defender.
And yes, with Woodson, we have to see him do it all year, although you were quite content using just as small a sample size proving that the Knicks were just as good pre Melo, even though they were basically a glorified 500 team when they acquired Carmelo.
Really, Melo had some pretty good teammates in Denver? In 7 years there? Interesting, how come you didn't even name on, single, solitary teammate that would have made an actual meaningful contribution there? As far as I can remember, they had Chauncey there, that's it, and during those years they won like 53 and 54 games. Sure, they had AI, but he was always super overrated and he was old and washed up by that period.
Denver had much better teams than Boston did in those Melo/Pierce comparisons, so nrmax88, interesting, but not that relevant.
again, just repeating random statements doesn't make them any more true. Still have failed to name a single one of these great teammates Anthony had in Denver. Denvers teams were better because Melo is better then Pierce.
Wrong dude. He played great under D'antoni when he first got here. They were chanting MVP at the garden on a regular basis.
Yes, then we added more talent, and Amare went into full on Vagina mode and started whining. Playing soft. It's funny how you make excuses for Stat saying, "what would you do if Melo got your coach that you loved fired?
Well, 2 things. When Amare left PHX him and Pringles did not get along, not at all. I still don't really think they do. Amare came to NY because they offered the most money and they were the only team willing to go with no insurance. Secondly, what would I do if a coach I like got fired, hmmmm? I would be a man, a professional and play this childrens game for millions and millions of dollars. Lin liked Coach D, did he whine and pout afterwords? No, he played hard and acted like a professional. Come on man, at least the excuses made for Melo are somewhat legitimate.