This waiver wire infatuation got me thinking...

[Radiohead311]

Bruce Bowen was waived by the Sixers and claimed by the Heat (we were second in line to get him but we were up on Miami by like 1/2 a game or so in the standings; it was ironic because we were behind Miami most of the year).

Bowen is obviously no star but he is the sort of lock down defender that you throw at the other team's best perimeter player.

Bowen never would have become what he is without playing for Riley in Miami. Riley really helped him take his game to another level. So if he would have ended up with the Knicks, he might not have improved.

Ehh, I guess but Van Gundy was a pretty good defensive coach, who learned from Riley. I believe Tom Thibodeau was still an assistant at the time.

Riley was better but it's not like it's night and day.

I agree JVG and TT are great defensive coaches. I think right now they are the 2 best coaches without a head coaching jobs and they will catch on and thrive eventually. But I think Riley is better at developing talent, JVG was more focused on winning now and is really focused on working with guys that can play now and can win now. Riley is like JVG too but he also likes to develop players or at least has older vets and assistant coached who can teach.

Bowen also had Voshon Leonard and Dan Majerle and Eddie Jones to learn from. But I think Riley used the example of John Starks to motivate Bruce Bowen because over the past few years I've seen Bowen mention Starks in interviews. Bowen is always saying "well John Starks did this" and "John Starks did that" and it's weird because Bowen and Starks were never teammates unless you count the 2 days they were Bulls teammates. Bowen had to get all the Starks examples and references from Riles. Or maybe he already looked at Starks as the perfect role model for how to make it with toughness and D even before Riles got a hold of him. Who knows. Maybe it's fate, Bowen ended up in the place where he needed to be.

[Radiohead311]

ok some other guys that might be well known also are Mikki Moore, Udonis Haslem and Charlie Bell. some other less known ones are Maurice Evans, DJ Mbenga, Josh Powell, CJ Watson and Will Bynum.

Definitely Mo Evans!!! He's been solid since he was a King, I can't believe he's bounced around as much as he has, his biggest weakness is shooting and he's not horrible at it.

[Radiohead311]

Hate to say it but

Mario Elie is another one.

[Radiohead311]

Brad Miller.

[LJ4pointplay]

Wallace was cut several times. I think by the Celtics and by the Wizards

Yup, and he might as well have been cut by the Magic, he was just a throw in for the Grant Hill s&t..who woulda thought the Pistons were the ones robbing the Magic at the time?

Still, the thing with Wallace is that early on in his career he was played as a swingman because of his height. The change of position is what really launched his career.

One player who hasn't been mentioned is my boy Bruce Bowen, he was cut and even spent some time in Europe I believe. He had a scorer mentality early on in his career, and it wasn't until he started focusing on defense that his career launched. Lesson learned from the above two examples? We should be looking at defensive diamons in the rough on the waiver wire..

[Radiohead311]

Wallace was cut several times. I think by the Celtics and by the Wizards

Yup, and he might as well have been cut by the Magic, he was just a throw in for the Grant Hill s&t..who woulda thought the Pistons were the ones robbing the Magic at the time?

Still, the thing with Wallace is that early on in his career he was played as a swingman because of his height. The change of position is what really launched his career.

One player who hasn't been mentioned is my boy Bruce Bowen, he was cut and even spent some time in Europe I believe. He had a scorer mentality early on in his career, and it wasn't until he started focusing on defense that his career launched. Lesson learned from the above two examples? We should be looking at defensive diamons in the rough on the waiver wire..

I kindof knew it. I knew Wallace would eventually be a stud when I saw him play for the Wizards I was hoping the Knicks could pick him up and Charles Oakley even lobbied for the team to pick him up before the Magic did but it never happened. And I knew Atkins was going to be solid eventually. Didn;t think Grant would get injured like that though.



Your boy Bruce has been mentioned many times in this thread.

[LJ4pointplay]

Haha yeah just realized I never read past the first page..

[nylj2]

But I think Riley is better at developing talent, JVG was more focused on winning now and is really focused on working with guys that can play now and can win now.

You're definitely right about that. Riley had a knack for making players better. It always frustrated me when he was in Miami. I was always thinking "that guy was available, how come we didn't sign him?"

The Starks/Mason stuff spoiled me as a fan. I kept expecting the Knicks to keep finding solid rotation players that no one else wanted . But it sounds like Riley can just *make* those guys.

Voshon Lenard is another good example for the thread.

And JVG definitely has a certain impatience. Like you said, "what can you do for me now?" We didn't really do a good job of developing young talent in those years.

[markdeez33]

We did a horrible job of developing young talent during those years, just look at questionable draft pick after questionable draft pick. 1996 we had 3 picks and out of one of the deepest drafts in league history, we end up with John Wallace (who was solid in Toronto, didn't do much in NY but I always liked his game), Dontae Jones (never played a game), and Walter McCarty (another guy who I liked but he was a role player his whole career and is more known for his R&B career than his basketball career).

[nylj2]

In 96, we could have used those picks to take Ilgauskas, Derek Fisher and Malik Rose (the young one

Hindsight is 20/20, but having those guys would have given us some real depth.