Post#98 » by Alex Trevelyan » Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:54 am
The Knicks aren't "underachieving", their record is who they are. A borderline playoff team. Comparing their struggles to the Heat's earlier in the season is positively ludicrous. Even when the Heat were in absolute disarray they were losing squeakers against playoff teams often after having huge leads. Miami plays defense, they're a defensive team first, as are the Bulls and Celtics. Offense for those teams flows from the defensive effort. The Knicks have no competency as a defensive team, none, and their two best players are defensive liabilities and this isn't going to change, ever. You can fire D'Antoni and install a Thibodeax and it's not going to matter.
Melo and Amar'e have been playing a certain way their entire careers, it's not realistic to expect them to change at this point in their development. They are who they are. It's not a question of doubting a team based on a limited sample size. The Knicks haven't played many games together, if you're going to damn the Knicks, it's going to be on the basis of the fundamental flaws in the games of their two best players. In my opinion, Carmelo is nothing more than Gilbert Arenas minus the off-court garbage. In fact, if you look at their advanced stats, Melo is an inferior player to Arenas pre-injury. He's a high volume scorer, period. Can't play defense and doesn't pass the ball. You can question D'Antoni's competence, and there is plenty to support his dismissal, but at the end of the day, George Karl, who is one of the better coaches in the NBA, couldn't win with Melo either. He couldn't get Melo to play defense. He couldn't get Melo to spread it around. Why should anyone think those inherent flaws will correct themselves in NY? Hope springs eternal is not a viable strategy.