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I used to lead the pack in the #tradeamare camp on these boards for the last 2 years or so.


But watching these 7 or so games, but more importantly, the last two, have made me realize how badly we need Amare vs good teams.

First, SAS

They took Melo out of the game with physical fronting and contstant shading and double teams. They basically dared us to play perfectly on each possession to move the ball for open looks. By in large, we did. We made 2 key adjustments. First, we shied away from trying to dump the ball to Melo in the post by (FINALLY) letting Melo walk the ball up the court and play from the top of the key. ALl the legit stars and wingmen do this, it's to neutralize the double team. It's hard to pass out of the double team closing in late when you're in the wing with your back to the basket. It's easy to do it from the top of the key facing the basket. Our second adjustment was straight running the PNR and finding Melo later in the passing game. We couldve used Amare to generate easy buckets in the paint off that third and fourth pass. If you runt he PNR from the top of the key, spacing will not be an issue for Melo and Amare. We need a bigman who can hit the jumper inside the arc.

Vs MEM

Amare wouldve been even MORE helpful. MEM was so good at packing the paint vs our dribble penetration that they basically forced us into jumpshots. They closed out hard on the 3pt line and packed hte paint. Amare's ability to hit the open spot up jumpshot wouldve changed Felton's dribble drive and it wouldve stopped them from packing the paint so hard when felton made his move on the PNR. Defensively, we needed Amare more than ever. Zbo effectively put up 20-10 and no matter how much size Tyson has, it's hard to box out 2 guys every time off the floor. Amare sucks at rebounding, but if you take away 4 offensive rebounds they had, this game looks completely different.

One loss. Every one panics. Knicks win with D. Amare as 6th man, ok. The green light on D is going to save us vs physical teams? Don't think so.

We certainly need a full squad to make a run for a title... Meaning we need Amare back, as well as Shump and a healthy Camby.

Last night proved that Woodson is human...he didn't adjust to their size...should have rolled with a biggeR lineup especially after seeing Gasol/Zack have their way with Melo. Not the end of the world. One game and the team fought back. I have a feeling we'll see a different outcome next time these 2 teams meet.

Honestly, the funniest thing about this is people actually think that a team is going to beat the miami heat in a 7 game series. Unless lebron gets injured, no one is beating the heat in a series.

D-BE-LAW wrote:Honestly, the funniest thing about this is people actually think that a team is going to beat the miami heat in a 7 game series. Unless lebron gets injured, no one is beating the heat in a series.

have you watched the heat at all this year?

small ball

slow rotations on defense

still no bench scoring

sooner or later, small ball is going to wear down that team, and they already don't have any depth to begin with.

I wonder if rotating Stat and Chandler for one another is more of a key to acclimating Amare than worrying about Melo and Stat... Chandler isn't out of the game long enough to play Stat good minutes only when Chandler isn't on the floor, but I think it's more about Stat being better at the 5 than it is Melo and Stat 'coexisting' .. Plus you'd have Melo still at the 4 if he were on the court.

At least for the minutes that Chandler is on the bench anyway. The defense would likely prevent it from being sustainable though.

Shump should be the one off the bench, period. Brewer comes off the bench, while Stat starts.

That's nuts having a player like Amare come off the bench.

DRoberstonNYY wrote:

Workforce250 wrote:Shump should be the one off the bench, period. Brewer comes off the bench, while Stat starts.

That's nuts having a player like Amare come off the bench.

+1

lets be honest, at this point amare isn't good enough to be in a top teams starting lineup. he does nothing well other than dunk

DRoberstonNYY wrote:lets be honest, at this point amare isn't good enough to be in a top teams starting lineup. he does nothing well other than dunk

Amare is a great finisher and he has a sweet jumper. If he comes back from the injury well, we could definitely use his 18ppg-20ppg.

fdr2012 wrote:

DRoberstonNYY wrote:lets be honest, at this point amare isn't good enough to be in a top teams starting lineup. he does nothing well other than dunk

Amare is a great finisher and he has a sweet jumper. If he comes back from the injury well, we could definitely use his 18ppg-20ppg.

he shot like under 40% for his jumper last year

he's not that good.. lets be honest.. and he's even worse when he's asked to play the 4.. all of his damage in his career has been done at the 5

D-BE-LAW wrote:Honestly, the funniest thing about this is people actually think that a team is going to beat the miami heat in a 7 game series. Unless lebron gets injured, no one is beating the heat in a series.

I think we beat them if we have home court advantage in the series. Save it, sig it, do whatever the hell you want with it.

DRoberstonNYY wrote:he shot like under 40% for his jumper last year

he's not that good.. lets be honest.. and he's even worse when he's asked to play the 4.. all of his damage in his career has been done at the 5

This guy has been a perennial throughout his career. He's good. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt right now. Let's see how he plays next month.

this game is proof that


its a long season.

D-BE-LAW wrote:Honestly, the funniest thing about this is people actually think that a team is going to beat the miami heat in a 7 game series. Unless lebron gets injured, no one is beating the heat in a series.

The Heat are beatable. They are not that good, particularly if Wade continues to struggle with injuries.

Amare is still one of the better PFs but he needs assists to score (like Boozer).... He is a good finisher and has a good jumper (And no Im not looking at the stats to define a player....)
With a good pick and roll/pop player he willl be fine

And I think bringing Amare of the bench as the scorer could be a good idea...he should play min. 30 minutes per game.... 20min as pf 10 as Center!

Honestly, Amare could be really useful when you do have the elite scoring PF's on the other side. I think it takes some of the pressure off Melo and makes the PF's work a little harder on the defensive end, having to deal with STAT.

Amar'e is NOT the boogeyman! He's not going to come back and cause the team to implode.

I would like to see him come off the bench cause that's where he fits best. He's most effective as a quick center and his game does not mesh well with Tyson on the court. We also could use another reliable scorer when Melo sits down.

I think a second unit of Prigs/Kidd/Novak/Sheed/Stat would be dominant.

To say he's not a starter quality player though is absurd and typical overreaction of the Knicks fanbase.