Melo officially a Knick!

[jibikao]

I'm with jibikao, I think he is overrated, always have and still do. He is a good player but he scores a lot because he is hoisting up 19.5 attempts per game. Not only that, in the top 10 players in FGA per game, he has the lowest shooting percentage among them. In the top 40 players in FGA per game, only 5 players are shooting a lower percentage than he is. Let's not even get into his defense or lack thereof.

When Melo and Lebron came into the league, I was curious to see why Melo was that hyped. Well, let's just say I still don't get what's so good about Melo besides his name. I honestly don't see that greatness in Melo. As an offense player, he takes a lot of shot. As a defense/passer, he is below average.

Melo is probably the most hyped and overrated player right now. Hey, if he can drive up ticket sales, credits to him. I am going to see what happens to Knicks.

The weird thing is I feel Billups is a good upgrade for Knicks that nobody seems to be talking about.

 

[jbeecham]

The weird thing is I feel Billups is a good upgrade for Knicks that nobody seems to be talking about.

On a normal team, Billups should be an upgrade over Raymond Felton... but I don't know if he is on a D'Antoni team. Billups isn't a "7 seconds or less" kind of PG... he doesn't push the ball, doesn't excel on the fast break, etc. Maybe he can do that, but he's always played in slower offenses. Still, he's a veteran player and a decent defender so I'm sure he'll find a way to make it work in NY, but D'Antoni may have to adjust his offense some to make things work well & we all know how stubborn D'Antoni is. Another problem for Billups is the short 8 man rotation DA plays... can Chauncey handle playing 38-40 minutes a night? Felton was playing pretty well this year though so taking on an older Billups should hurt NY in the long run.

As far as Melo goes... I've never liked his game. He just smashes his way through players to the basket... like he's the Shaq of small forwards. It's ugly to watch, but the NBA has rewarded him for it consistently so he's an effective player. NY has gotten better with this trade by bringing in veteran experience & players used to winning & playing in the playoffs. Their chemistry might take a hit for a while, but Billups is setting things up & he's used to playing with Melo already.

It's hard to say if they've improved enough to be considered in the top 3 teams in the east... I'd still take Miami & maybe Boston over them... Chicago is looking good, Orlando is falling off, Atlanta doesn't impress me... NY may be the 3rd-4th best team in the east. NY has almost no size or power players coming off the bench though... the only PF/C on the bench is Shelden Williams.

 

[SirStefan32]

On a normal team, Billups should be an upgrade over Raymond Felton... but I don't know if he is on a D'Antoni team. Billups isn't a "7 seconds or less" kind of PG... he doesn't push the ball, doesn't excel on the fast break, etc. Maybe he can do that, but he's always played in slower offenses. Still, he's a veteran player and a decent defender so I'm sure he'll find a way to make it work in NY, but D'Antoni may have to adjust his offense some to make things work well & we all know how stubborn D'Antoni is. Another problem for Billups is the short 8 man rotation DA plays... can Chauncey handle playing 38-40 minutes a night?

I was thinking the same thing. Billups is one of my favorite players in the league, but I am not sure how well he's gonna do in D'Antoni's system.

Nash for Billups trade, please.

 

[AzStevenCal]

On a normal team, Billups should be an upgrade over Raymond Felton... but I don't know if he is on a D'Antoni team. Billups isn't a "7 seconds or less" kind of PG... he doesn't push the ball, doesn't excel on the fast break, etc. Maybe he can do that, but he's always played in slower offenses. Still, he's a veteran player and a decent defender so I'm sure he'll find a way to make it work in NY, but D'Antoni may have to adjust his offense some to make things work well & we all know how stubborn D'Antoni is. Another problem for Billups is the short 8 man rotation DA plays... can Chauncey handle playing 38-40 minutes a night?

He shouldn't have to. Amare can play the point-center position and give him a good rest. Seriously though, Billups has been playing an uptempo style in Denver and the change in altitude will probably help him even if he has to log a few extra minutes.

Steve

 

[BC867]

Let's not even get into his defense or lack thereof.

Then he'll fit in perfectly with _'Antoni and Stou_emire. Hey, there is no "d" in Carmelo Anthony. Perfect!

 

[Mainstreet]

I've mentioned it before, if NY had a choice between Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams, they would have been better to trade for Williams. DA loves his uptempo PGs and Williams would have been a perfect fit.

 

[jagu]

Yea Williams would have made the Knicks a much better team. I feel like Utah could have gotten a lot more for DWill.

 

[Manu4five]

When Melo and Lebron came into the league, I was curious to see why Melo was that hyped. Well, let's just say I still don't get what's so good about Melo besides his name. I honestly don't see that greatness in Melo. As an offense player, he takes a lot of shot. As a defense/passer, he is below average.

Melo is probably the most hyped and overrated player right now. Hey, if he can drive up ticket sales, credits to him. I am going to see what happens to Knicks.

The weird thing is I feel Billups is a good upgrade for Knicks that nobody seems to be talking about.

Good post. No one seems to care about D or team play anymore, it's all about stats and flashy dunks. Denver might have upgraded their team with this trade. That last win of theirs was sweet.

 

[Lorenzo]

Man I enjoyed watching the knicks beat the heat last night. Melo and Stat rejecting lebron in the paint was sweet. two all star forwards not known for their defense showed lebron what was up. to me there isn't a lot of difference between the heat and the knicks. 3 superstar players and no help. they will both lose in the playoffs. chicago, bos, and orlando all have superstars with depth. they will be the last teams standing in the east.

 

[jagu]

Watching the Heat on offense is truly boring. They have no plays, they give to Wade or Lebron and hope they create a play that's good enough for one of them or Bosh to score. No wonder good teams kick their you know what's....

 

[jagu]

Good post. No one seems to care about D or team play anymore, it's all about stats and flashy dunks. Denver might have upgraded their team with this trade. That last win of theirs was sweet.

Gallinari went off on Portland but they still lost. He might become a good go to guy because he can shoot, he knows how to get to the FT line and he is a big player which creates matchup problems.

 

[cly2tw]

Man I enjoyed watching the knicks beat the heat last night. Melo and Stat rejecting lebron in the paint was sweet. two all star forwards not known for their defense showed lebron what was up. to me there isn't a lot of difference between the heat and the knicks. 3 superstar players and no help. they will both lose in the playoffs. chicago, bos, and orlando all have superstars with depth. they will be the last teams standing in the east.

however, with Amare's great offball moves and Billups a true PG, the NY's 'big-3' mesh a lot better than Heat's.

Come playoffs time, Magics and Bulls have no real chance beating either Knicks or Heat, IMHO.

 

[jagu]

With the Knicks, Anthony has taken 93 field goal attempts to net 108 points!!

 

[Louis]

That offense needs to run through Amare. Carmelo is the better tooled offensive player, but Amare's game is what will open everything else up. The tv heads say that it'll take time for Chauncey to get used to how Amare does the pick'n'roll, I hope that's true. In the 2 games I have watched since the Knicks acquired Melo they have seemed to shy away from Amare while seeking out Melo.

 

[Griffin]

Having watched Amare for so many years in Phoenix, it shouldn't really surprise me, yet it is still mind-boggling to me how he managed to play 38 minutes last night without registering a single defensive rebound.

 

[Chaplin]

What's the over/under for Amare to begin complaining about not seeing the ball enough?

 

[Mainstreet]

Donnie Walsh is still trying to figure out how he missed out on Deron Williams which was the real missing link for the Knicks... not Anthony. This sets up a future feud between the Nets and Knicks for his services when he becomes a FA.

 

[Louis]

Having watched Amare for so many years in Phoenix, it shouldn't really surprise me, yet it is still mind-boggling to me how he managed to play 38 minutes last night without registering a single defensive rebound.

He spent a lot of time defending on the perimeter because of Anderson and Clark.

 

[Lorenzo]

however, with Amare's great offball moves and Billups a true PG, the NY's 'big-3' mesh a lot better than Heat's.

Come playoffs time, Magics and Bulls have no real chance beating either Knicks or Heat, IMHO.

I think chicago is the best team in the east alongside boston. they are very deep and play great defense...even against the elite teams. forget about records and stats overall....throw that out. Look at the results of the head to head matchups among the elite. the bulls have won those games and have played great defense. Rose has vaulted his game to 1st team all NBA status which has propelled the bulls to being better than what everyone expected. boston, chicago, orlando to me have the deepest rosters. in a 7 game series miami and NYK are going to struggle because they don't have enough quality depth to compete every night. that's just my opinion.

I agree with you that billups/amare/anthony could be a better match....but a lot of people are saying that melo and amare aren't a good match either. To me all along from day one I didn't feel that dwade and lebron should be on the same team. but we'll see...i think they can be a champion if they make some roster moves. they need to have a bench if they want to win a title....just my opinion.

 

[jagu]

LOL @ the Knicks losing to the Cavs at home and losing to them 2 times in the span of a week.