Can Melo, Amare, and Paul be a championship nucleus?

[farzi]

It's possible, but as a 3 they aren't nearly as good as Miami, although they may fit together better.

[Kabookalu]

Yes, they can contend. The thing with New York after the Melo is trade that what hurt them more than trading away their depth was downgrading from Felton to Billups. D'Antoni's systems have always done well with a dynamic point guard. Having an explosive creative point guard alone would make the Knicks great. Bringing in the very best in the league would make them contenders.

[ITGM]

If we fire D'Antoni and hire Phil Jackson, then yes.

[Joao Saraiva]

If 3 all-stars can't contend I don't know what team can.

[Debaser]

see the problem with the idea that the Knicks need a defensive-minded coach is that you're not beating the Heat with defense alone, and none of the defensive-minded coaches in the league have the offensive creativity of D'Antoni. It's much more likely the Knicks will beat the Heat by being the only team that can score on them than it is that they'll beat them through defense. When your two main guys are Amar'e and Carmelo, you play to your strengths which is scoring, not by trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and making them a defensive team.

With that being said, it'd be nice if our defense could at least become adequate. Picking up a center at some point would probably do a lot toward that end.

Don Nelson would be proud of this post.

[RoyalWun]

If they were able to pick up someone like Tyson Chandler for their Center, then yes.

Paul/Fields/Melo/Amare/Chandler is insane.

[step]

Amar'e and 'Melo are the only players on the books for that year (and Renaldo Balkman's pea-sized contract). Who knows how much cap space they'll actually have since the CBA doesn't exist yet, but we should be able to get him especially if Paul helps us out a bit. This is why I think Paul is more likely for the Knicks than Deron or Dwight, because we'll probably need a little bit of help from the star and I think Paul would be willing to work with us either by demanding a trade or taking slightly less money.

Even using this years cap numbers, Paul is going to have to "help" you a lot. There is still cap holds on each vacant roster spot.

[Scorpion King]

Mike D'Antoni needs all the help he can get. If they get paul, their big three would be better than miami's.

[SaveOurBullets]

Before 2010? Perhaps. But for this to be a championship team they'll have to beat Miami in a best of seven series...and that's not happening. Not only are they much worse off defensively, the core itself is questionable. Paul and Amare have injury issues. They aren't any younger than the Heat's big three and they just aren't as good. Throw in the defensive troubles on top of that, and I don't see how they do it.

New York mishandled their big opportunity about as badly as humanly possible.

[panarama]

With D'Antoni as a coach no. With a defensive minded no-nonsense coach, maybe. You need a coach who's not afraid to sit Amar'e and Melo when they blow defensive assignment after defensive assignment no coach at any level did that with either of those guys and it's part of the reason their defense leaves a lot to be desired.

+1

[knicksosmoove]

Before 2010? Perhaps. But for this to be a championship team they'll have to beat Miami in a best of seven series...and that's not happening. Not only are they much worse off defensively, the core itself is questionable. Paul and Amare have injury issues. They aren't any younger than the Heat's big three and they just aren't as good. Throw in the defensive troubles on top of that, and I don't see how they do it.

New York mishandled their big opportunity about as badly as humanly possible.

what big opportunity? What could we possibly have handled as badly as possible? We have two players on our team right now better than anyone we've had since prime Ewing.