Observations from tonight's game.

[KnicksGod]

center milicic for defensive presence, draws out opponent from the lane on offense to create slashing opportunities for chandler, lee, gallinari

p forw lee for pick and roll with duhon, garbage buckets, rebounds, occasional 15 footer

s forw chandler for midrange shots, slashing to bucket with ball or receiving ball from duhon, gallinari, milicic

pg duhon for orchestration, long jumpers, pick and roll with lee

sg gallinari he's the best shooter, gets more touches from this spot in the offense, creates mismatches, playmaker for chandler, lee, milicic, self

I wouldn't mind seeing this lineup. But in essence, don't you think Gallo and Wilson on the court at the same time basically means Chandler at the 2? You can't control who matches up with you on defense and I think other teams would throw their 2 at Wilson and their 3 at Gallo. And on the other end, we'd probably prefer Chandler to guard 2's. Gallo probably could not do that.

Just mixing and matching here, but one way to go (not necessarily starting) to get people in their right positions is this:

Lee
Gallo
Chandler
Robinson
Duhon

I think Gallo is definitely one of our best perimeter defenders by the way. He'd have a little trouble with defending PF's right now but you could probably get away with it for stretches.

[Capn'O]

I'm starting to sip the T-Will kool-aid but this is somewhat hindsight.

Keeping Lee was a big uncertainty in the offseason and he wasn't resigned till damn near training camp. He likely would have gotten an offer in a better free agent climate that Walsh couldn't have matched. I'm also not convinced that we can/will keep Lee next summer. In any event, Hill gave us some flexibility with Lee.

That said, we sure as **** needed a SG, innit.

[dk7th]

center milicic for defensive presence, draws out opponent from the lane on offense to create slashing opportunities for chandler, lee, gallinari

p forw lee for pick and roll with duhon, garbage buckets, rebounds, occasional 15 footer

s forw chandler for midrange shots, slashing to bucket with ball or receiving ball from duhon, gallinari, milicic

pg duhon for orchestration, long jumpers, pick and roll with lee

sg gallinari he's the best shooter, gets more touches from this spot in the offense, creates mismatches, playmaker for chandler, lee, milicic, self

I wouldn't mind seeing this lineup. But in essence, don't you think Gallo and Wilson on the court at the same time basically means Chandler at the 2? You can't control who matches up with you on defense and I think other teams would throw their 2 at Wilson and their 3 at Gallo. And on the other end, we'd probably prefer Chandler to guard 2's. Gallo probably could not do that.

Just mixing and matching here, but one way to go (not necessarily starting) to get people in their right positions is this:

Lee
Gallo
Chandler
Robinson
Duhon

I think Gallo is definitely one of our best perimeter defenders by the way. He'd have a little trouble with defending PF's right now but you could probably get away with it for stretches.

i don't, because their respective set of skills leads me to look at them as a 2 and a 3, if only because gallinari is a pure shooter. i agree with you that gallinari is a decent perimeter defender. i don't know why so many here say he is no good defensively. what he lacks in foot speed he makes up for in length and proper spacing. he's a smart defender and people who don't see that are themselves not too smart imo.

but back to the gallinari/chandler positional issue: d'antoni's offense appears to me to allow for several positions to overlap a bit, but there seems to me to be a pecking order where your small forward is the third option behind the shooting guard and the power forward-- at least that seems to be the case with these knicks. gallinari in the corner seems a squandering of talent. i could be wrong about that, but the issue becomes whether you prefer gallinari getting more opportunities than chandler.

if i had my druthers i'd prefer gallinari at the two because he is the better shooter, more creative, and creates mismatches.

[RHODEY]

The Nets are likely going to be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Our opponents wins and losses are not nearly important as looking to see what direction THIS team is headed. By that I mean, we should be very encouraged to see how collectively this edition of D'ANTONI'S team is committed to DEE-FENSE.

I have seen more defense this week than I have over the past eight seasons.

MILICIC and DOUGLAS have made us better already just due to their approach to the game defensively.

In the 3rd period we made our 6th steal. Guys are helping out on defense.

There were 18 games decided by 5 points or less that we lost last season. All 18 games could have been won had we displayed better defense obviously. Had we split the 18 and won 9 games we would have made the playoffs with 41 wins.

If we win two thirds of those games this season we end up with 44 wins.

Incremental improvements is what we are seeking ... BABY STEPS!

JJ is much improved offensively thus improving his true market value with every 3 point basket he makes.

QUESTION: If JJ has truly transformed into a real two-way threat and his improvement has an obvious positive effect on our wins and losses, do we reconsider and keep him as part of our future? (jus 'axin?)

We have the potential to be one of those surprise teams of the year. Typically in every season there are 2 or 3 teams that disappoint their fans and 1 or 2 teams that surprise everyone. We can be one of the teams that surprise.

[Pedro Pistolas]

I'm starting to sip the T-Will kool-aid but this is somewhat hindsight.

Keeping Lee was a big uncertainty in the offseason and he wasn't resigned till damn near training camp. He likely would have gotten an offer in a better free agent climate that Walsh couldn't have matched. I'm also not convinced that we can/will keep Lee next summer. In any event, Hill gave us some flexibility with Lee.

That said, we sure as **** needed a SG, innit.

TWill still has some things to learn. There was a play where the defender was draped all over him and he still hoisted a shot. But besides that, man this guy has some skills. He can pass ,drive and play defense. Only thing he's missing is a decent jumpshot.

[nykfan70]

I'm starting to sip the T-Will kool-aid but this is somewhat hindsight.

Keeping Lee was a big uncertainty in the offseason and he wasn't resigned till damn near training camp. He likely would have gotten an offer in a better free agent climate that Walsh couldn't have matched. I'm also not convinced that we can/will keep Lee next summer. In any event, Hill gave us some flexibility with Lee.

That said, we sure as **** needed a SG, innit.

If your sipping the Kool-Aid with T-WIll then you will be chugging it down with what is going down in Sactown with Tyrese Evans at PG, he is impressing people, with his play. He had 13 pts, 9 dimes, 8 rebs, 3 stls, in 40 mins against the Lakers, Thursday nite.