2015 NY Knicks offseason thread, Los Almighty appreciation thread

[Arthur Shelby]

 

[the gr8est]

isola is a troll b can't stand him

ts;dr means too short, didn't read

 Irony. Wouldnt it make more sense to be "too long; didnt read" though? Why wouldnt you read it if it were too short?

It was one of my short posts also. FTR Wolves are definitely gonna draft Towns if they get that 1st pick. Makes way too much sense for that team compared to any other potential pick. Unless they arent in love with Rubio, which would make sense I guess but they sure are paying him a lot. I guess I could see them taking Russell to pair with Lavine and Wiggins (Mudiay woudnt be as good of a fit for them because he cant shoot), but Towns would almost definitely be the pick if they got #1.

Also like ive said I like Monroe on this team potentially. I do wish he had a bit of a jump shot to space the floor, and it would be ******* awesome if he played defense, but he does fit well in the triangle due to his post skills and passing. He is a tenacious rebounder also. A little bit of a David Lee/Z-Bo type but taller and without as good a jump shot.

And we absolutely in no way possibly can pair Monroe with Okafor. Just cant. What a nightmare that frontcourt would be defensively. Personally I dont even think it would be a good combination offensively. You need guys who compliment each other by doing different things well on the floor. Okafor and Monroe each set up shop in the post and dont space the floor at all. It would be kind of like when we had Z-Bo and Curry... Actually it would be almost EXACTLY like when we had Z-Bo and Curry. I have to think Phil is too smart to let that happen... Please be too smart to make that happen.

I also just really dont like the idea of Okafor just because I really dont want a center who is bad at defense. Honestly name one center that is successful in today's NBA who isnt good at defense? You really need your center to be your rim protector, a lot of times centers are valuable just because of that, but very rarely do successful NBA centers play bad defense nowadays.

IMO its easier to get by with a power forward who isnt great at defense because you could pair them with a rim protecting center and still be fine. Like Z-Bo with Marc Gasol. Or Dirk with Tyson Chandler. Or Melo when he started at the 4 next to Tyson in 2013. Or Greg Monroe next to Drummond in Detorit. Or David Lee next to Bogut before Draymond took his job. Or Ryan Anderson next to Dwight in Orlando. You got David West with Hibbert. You got Aldridge with Robin Lopez. Blake Griffin with DeAndre. Kevin Love with Mozgod.

There are so many ******* examples of 4s who are able to be successful without being great defenders because you could pair them with a rim protecting 5 and get the job done. However there are very few, if any, top flight centers in the NBA right now who are as bad at defense as Okafor is because it is much harder to mask defensive issues of your center because you need a rim protector on your team, and the way the NBA is set up today you arent going to be successful starting 2 centers.

So if you have a center like Okafor who doesnt play defense you certainly cant pair him with another 4/5 who doesnt play defense like Monroe. You dont want to pair him with another center because that limits your athleticism and clogs the paint up offensively. I guess your only hope in that situation would be to try and acquire a 4 who is extremely good at defense like Draymond Green or Taj Gibson but as good as both are at defending the paint I wouldnt call either of them elite rim protectors. Also both of those players would be incredibly difficult to acquire, to say the very least.

All in all, Im hoping the Knicks can avoid this issue and dont end up with Okafor quite honestly. I just dont trust poor defensive centers without a diverse offensive repitoire finding success very easily in 2015 NBA. Let this be somebody else's problem so I dont spend all summer lying awake thinking about it until the season starts 

Now that ive spent more time thinking about it, this worries me about Monroe also. He is too poor of a defender himself to man the only big man spot in a team's starting lineup, and like Okafor he doesnt have a diverse offensive game and doesnt spread the floor so it would be tough to fimd the right big man to pair him with without clogging the paint offensively. I think the only way Monroe would work in New York is if we got Towns to pair him with. They could be a very good combination because Towns would be able to guard centers and protect the rim on defense and Monroe would still be able to man the blocks offensively because Towns has the ability to shoot the ball and space the floor and he is better working from the elbow area.

I could see that tandem being very successful in NY. I think that I want Monroe/Towns as my 2nd choice but my ideal situation would be to draft Russell and sign Marc Gasol at center. The great thing about Gasol is that he is as good offensively as Monroe is (and has a better jump shot) so he could do all the things Monroe is capable of doing offensively on the block while also being a legit 7 foot center who not only gets the job done defensively but is an elite post defender/rim protector. If we can sign Gasol after drafting Russell, it would give us such great freedom in free agency. Getting that comhination would address our 2 biggest needs right off the bat (PG and center) so we would basically be able to sign anybody we want in free agency after that regardless of position and/or fit because a center like Gasol could play alongside anybody. We could sign a 4 like Kevin Love who isnt good defensively or a 4 like Draymond Green and just be a defensive machine with Green/Gasol down low.

If we wanted to we could even sign Tobias Harris or another forward who is more of a 3 and move Melo to the 4 as long as we knew we had Gasol there to protect the rim. Gasol is just so damn good and would allow us so much more freedom for the rest of free agency, I think that he has to be our primary option despite him being 6 years older than Monroe.

i wanna know how many words a minute u type GR8 

Entire post took me almost an hour on the dot. Then I just spent a **** load of time more editing the ******* thing just now but the original post took me almost an hour exactly so yall do the math. Im losing my ******* mind 

Damn this one just became long also 

 

[nick.]

even if we tie with Minny, worst case scenario is one of Towns, Okafor, Russell, Winslow, or Mudiay

we're in good shape

 

[pr0phecy718]

I didn't read any of that

 

[jpzx]

Five years ago you guys wanted Ricky Rubio for Wilson Chandler and look at us now, look at us now. Even worse.

 

[Air Pope]

Hey you guys got the pointless win y'all always wanted . This team always finds ways to do **** that they shouldn't do.

 

[kn0wledgeable]

I think Towns and Gasol together would be scary good.

Or

Gasol, Monroe, and Russell.


Make it happen Phil


THJR needs to be traded after hitting that shot
we ALL know we trying to get that #1 pick

 

[8pm at msg]

For ***** and giggles here's a Greg Monroe scouting report:




If we do sign Monroe like I said before, Towns is a MUST. We also have to sign defensively strong guards to cover for Melo and Monroe's shortcomings on defense. We're also going to be depending on a rookie big man to cover us defensively.

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Give TheGr8est props man, dude's passion is unrivaled.

 

[frshstunna]

I'm a magic fan so we suck too ...but just wanted to say that yall threads always be funny win or lose ...yall handle losing with the lols, wich is cool

Might just be NYC fans in general tho cuz I looked in the Jets thread before n

But still Knicks n Jets

 

[7thave btn 31stn33rd st]

Not even worried about the #1 overall. Give me either 1 or 2.

 

[Air Pope]

I'm a magic fan so we suck too

...but just wanted to say that yall threads always be funny win or lose

...yall handle losing with the lols, wich is cool

Might just be NYC fans in general tho cuz I looked in the Jets thread before n

But still Knicks n Jets

Better to laugh than cry

 

[the gr8est]

I didn't read any of that

I honestly done even expect you to 

Sometimes when things get bad I just need to get this **** out just for me.

Like I get frustrated over something and I just start writing and next thing I know im 10 pages in but once its out its like getting this huge load off of my chest knowing that I got everything down and written regardless of who reads it. Its irrelevant.

Its like taking a huge dump for me or having sex after not having it for awhile. Just a major personal sense of relief for me which is why I just keep writing **** down and even editing it after it is done even knowing that it is really not important at all and only 2-3 people tops besides me will probably read the entire thing.

**** is just apart of me at this point. Its just what I do. Ive been ranting about the Knicks and whatever else I am passionate about for almost a decade now and I am not stopping anytime soon. Story of my life.

Give TheGr8est props man, dude's passion is unrivaled.

Appreciate it though. Just how I am and I only see myself getting worse leading up to the draft and free agency.

I just want this team to be good so bad man. Its all I can think about at times. And now with all of the possibilities of this summer with the draft and free agency. The possibility to really find ourselves franchise changing players and become late, but also the looming possibility that we completely **** things up again and not get a shot like this again for another decade, which would essentially destroy Carmelo's career in the process and make him pay for the lead of fait he took in this team this summer.

 

[pr0phecy718]

I'm changing the poll when we get at least 100 votes in

Not giving Katy Perry the win yet

 

[yeeupp]

Towns & Monroe, get rid of Caldo, get a PG and save come cap for Westbrook

 

[jaysfiend23]

^^^ like where your head is at but instead of westbrook, who knows if hes leaving OKC i woulod take draymond green, nice young prospect

 

[yeeupp]

Draft Towns.
Sign Greg Monroe or K. Love or M. Gasol.
Trade Calderon + Travis Wear & $ for Lance Stephenson.

Towns
Greg Monroe or. K. Love
Melo
Lance Stephenson
(PG)

Point Guard options: Mo Williams and Beverly are unrestricted free agent this summer. We also can keep Galloway

Towns
Greg Monroe
Melo
Stephenson
Beverly and/or Mo Williams


Bench: Larkin - Svhed -
Bigs - Bargnani - J. Smith - Acy - Aldrich
Wings - THJR - SHved - Early
PG: Larkin

 

[ny mavurs]

Melo and Kevin Love on the same team?

Pass

 

[ballinsam23]

I'd actually entertain Lance, maybe Phil and MJ can work something out. Would be a very intriguing backcourt if we pair Russell with Lance. Caldo, THJ, Larkin

Russell
Lance
Melo
Monroe
Deandre

 

[illoquent aka dsk]

You guys and your fantasies.

 

[nick.]

so i've accepted the fact that Monroe will be a Knick..just hope we don't overpay

 

[Air Pope]

Monroe sure is better than aldrich. So I can't really complain.

 

[the gr8est]

I'd actually entertain Lance, maybe Phil and MJ can work something out. Would be a very intriguing backcourt if we pair Russell with Lance. Caldo, THJ, Larkin

Russell
Lance
Melo
Monroe
Deandre

Phil and MJ making a deal 

And for the 57th time just stop already with the DeAndre Jordan on the Knicks scenarios. Literally a 0.0% chance that happens, nor should it. You dont give away Tyson Chandler because he is expensive and doent fit within the system just to go ahead and sign DeAndre Jordan... Who is even more expensive and fits the system even worse than Tyson AND cant shoot free throws for jack ****. Why the **** do yall think we just traded away Tyson? We are looking for a prototype. Dudes like DeAndre Jordan and Tyson Chandler and even WCS dont fit the prototype. Not to mention DeAndre would cost this team upwards of $15-20 million per season for the next 4-5 years. If DeAndre Jordan is the major blue chip free agent we come away with this summer (which wont happen because he will have many suitors and I can guarantee that Phil wont be one of them), Phil might as well step down from his position on the spot. Seriously. Stop with that nonsense...

Now if you give me that same roster but replace Marc Gasol for DeAndre, then you might be on to something. Even though I am still totally not in love with the potential Melo/Monroe/Gasol frontcourt due to potential athleticism concerns.

And honestly, while I am a fan of Westbrook, he is freakish out of this world athlete and he plays hard as ****, kind of reminds me of a taller version of AI. But pass on him as well. Not that we have any kind of remote possibility of signing him. He doesnt even hit free agency until 2017 (and I hope to have a franchise PG in place well before then considering that Melo needs a PG to be effective and by 2017 he will be 33 years old and right at the end of his prime, if the Knicks dont find a franchise PG for Melo before that time then we are more or less doomed regardless of whether or not we would get Westbrook but thats neither here nor there.), and I dont see him coming to NY unless we sign KLove this summer and he can convince Westbrook to come along when we have more $ from the new salary cap.

But Westbrook is a ******* chuck artist. That si what he is at the end of the day. He isnt a point guard. And he is certainly not the point guard the Knicks need. He plays hard as a ************ and like I said he is an out of this planet level athlete, maybe the best I have ever seen in the NBA, but he is constantly hurting his team with his chucking and his poor shot attempts. I hate that aspect about him.

You dont want your PG out there chucking, shooting 30-40% from the field on upwards of 40 shot attempts. Its really unbelievable. Obviously the media being the media freaks out whenever Westbrook has a ridiculous scoring night and/or has a triple double. His stat lines putting aside shooting % are often absolutely ridiculous and justify the kind of outrage they get from people who dont know basketball so well, but this is going to happen with a player like Westbrook. Because of his athleticism and because Scott Brooks doesnt know how to coach and gives Westbrook the green light to do whatever the **** he wants especially with Durant out, Wetbrook is going to put up the kind of ridiculous stat lines that he has been posting on a nightly basis. How could he not when you allow him to bring the ball up and shoot 25-35 times per night with that type of athleticism?? But dude is overrated by the media members who love fantasy basketball stat lines and dunk highlights. Dude is NOT and MVP candidate and he is not a basketball player of the same caliber as Steph Curry. He might be the best athlete in the league, but he still has a long way to go as a basketball player and as a point guard as far as I am concerned. I cant see a team ever winning a championship with him as the starting PG with the way he currently plays and chucks.

Crazy Westbrook stat that I often point out, during this "unbelievable stretch" Westbrook has played, since the beginning of March, he has shot 50% from the field or greater only twice. Wins against the Lakers and Kings, 2 teams awful at defending the point guard position. That is 2 times since the beginning of March. 2 times out of 20 games. However, during this same period of time he has shot the ball at least 25 times on 9 occasions. More than 30 shots on 4 occasions. More than 40 shots tonight. I don't want to say that his chucking down the stretch lost this pivotal game for OKC, because for most of the game he played ridiculously well and was the only reason they were even close down the stretch, but down the stretch he once again got out of control and resorted to chucking while the Pacers moved the ball around, hit open shooters, and remained cool calm and collective. That is why the Pacers got a much needed win over OKC tonight despite Westbrook's 54 point outburst on 43 ******* shot attempts. Ridiculous for a PG.

He has scored at least 30 points on 11 of those occasions. He has had 6 triple doubles in that span. Yet he only eclipsed 50% from the field twice. Shouldnt that tell you something? Also worth noting that both games Westbrook shot above 50% he didnt score more than 30 points and didnt have a triple double yet the Thunder still managed to win handily both times. 

I mean I guess if Westbrook is out there for the taking you dont pass him up. He is an incredible talent and I admire how hard he plays and obviously beggars cant be choosers. The Knicks have nothing even close to a competent PG right now let alone a Westbrook. But personally I wouldnt consider him to be an ideal target to be this team's PG, especially in the triangle, which really doesnt utilize attacking PGs. Especially considering the fact that we couldnt get him even if we had a shot by 2017, and we should have a franchise PG already well established by that point in time if things go according to plan. If the Knicks were to have an all-star type PG like that, I would much much prefer him to be more of the Steph Curry type. A point guard who can shoot the ball well and efficiently without chucking the ball, and look to get his teammates involved, even if he lacks Westbrook's type of athleticism. I prefer a kind of PG like Curry over Westbrook to begin with, but this is all the more important now that we are running the triangle offense, a system that values shhoting, spacing, and teamwork, while devaluing personal statistics, ball dominance, and athleticism from the PG position.

That is why I want the Knicks to draft D'Angelo Russell and personally, if Russell could become as good as I think he can and reach his ceiling, I would much prefer him to be this team's franchise PG than Westbrook. Just saying. IDK if Russell will become good enough to be close to a Stpeh Curry type of franchise PG. I think he has a shot and I hope that he can fulfill those lofty expectations I am sure he places upon himself, but obviously I understand that it is a long road ahead to become even close to what Steph Curry is today. But then again, nobody would have expected Curry to become what he is today when he was a draft prospect, so you never know.

Of course I understand that. Im not an idiot, if the Knicks had a chance to choose tomorrow if for the next 5 years they could have either D'Angelo Russell or Russell Westbrook, of course you go with Webtbrook, 10 times out of 10. He is a proven commodity, an out of this world talent/athlete, and is still young/has a long way to go in terms of his overall development. But if D'Angelo Russell can become the kind of PG I think he is capable of becoming, then I think his style of play much better suits this Knicks team and what we need from a PG, and I would prefer that D'Angelo Russell as the Knicks franchise PG than Russell Westbrook. That is the D'Angelo Russell I hope is on the Knicks by 2017 if we draft him this summer and things go according to plan. That is the D'Angelo Russell that I believe can lead the Knicks to championships if paired with the right pieces like Melo and Marc Gasol. I would take that player over Westbrook no questions asked. Not that I think the Knicks have a legitimate shot at acquiring Westbrook anyway. So this whole rant was basically for nothing, just like the rest of them. Night 

 

EDIT: but seriously though, DeAndre Jordan, Russell Westbrook... Yall would think we are trying to rebuild the Showtime Lakers or some ****. Some of yall really need to do some research on the triangle offense and what it entails.

 

[njavier03]

The new pole should be "do you read all of GR8's posts?"

 

[ny mavurs]

so i've accepted the fact that Monroe will be a Knick..just hope we don't overpay

We will

The new pole should be "do you read all of GR8's posts?"