Post#123 » by moocow007 » Wed Mar 8, 2017 2:29 pm
On Rose...
Like with just about everyone else that is very talented, there is no such thing as "useless player". It's still about fit. Would Rose fit whatever it is that Jackson and the Knicks can muster and put on the floor. It's the same thing with Anthony, and every other very talented player the Knicks have had (King, Ewing, Marbury, etc.). Unless they are of the Lebron level, you have to have a system that fits. FIT, and the lack thereof is and has been the underlying reason why the Knicks have been brutal for so long. The last time the Knicks ideally fit one another was in 1973 and they won a championship. The fit was very good during the Ewing era and that's why the Knicks were always in the mix.
Basketball above any other professional sport requires that the players FIT one another and FIT the system. Why? Because Basketball above anything else is about continuity and flow of the guys that are playing at the same time. No other sport is like it. Not baseball, not football, not hockey, not soccer. If we're talking Feng Shui, basketball would be the perfect sport to use to demonstrate good and bad "chi flow".
Rose can fit a team if that team is built to fit what he can do and can compensate for what he can't do. Same with Anthony. The onus is on the front office to put a team together that fits each other and the system. Rose fit fine in Chicago with those players and that system. Anthony fit fine in Denver with those players and that system (and the one year in NY that had the right types of players and system that fit what he does best). Very few players (i.e. only the top, top, top guys in the NBA) can fit any system. We're talking Lebron James level here. It's why Lebron James and guys like him are perennial MVP's. The "VALUE" comes from their ability to fit any system and produce.
There is no absolutes when it comes to talented basketball players that aren't Lebron James level. They are neither absolute crap nor bonafide great. It's all about fit and need. I know folks still want to blame players for not being ideal but at the end of the day, great teams are great because they fit each other and the system. And there's been all sorts of systems that great teams have been able to run and all sorts of players (even guys like Rose) that have been important parts of those great teams. Building a team and system is at the crux of every single great franchise in existence. And it's not easy by any means which is why having someone that can maximize your chances to build a great team and system is so critical for your front office. Any idiot can acquire talent (see Isiah Thomas) but very few can build a team.
Bottom line is, as it has been and as it should be...what is Phil Jackson going to be able to do to build a team that fit each other and the system? 3 years and we're still at the front door. If Rose doesn't fit whatever it is that Jackson is trying to do then don't bring him back. If he is then you bring him back. Whatever "it" is that Jackson is trying to do is the most important thing. Which again, puts stress on Jackson both knowing what to do and actually being right about it.
