Melo is a great passer

[Thugger HBC]

Fury, it was green guy, see the flow of the thread.

[Handledatruth]

Kobe isn't a forward

No, but he is a ball dominant player that can operate from the perimeter and in the post effectively. He's very relevant.

That might have been one of the top two most absurd things D'antoni had said while being our coach, and that was even with Chauncey being our pg at the time.

All Melo needs to do is get his efficiency up, which will translate into more team wins.

Melo surely is not gonna average more assists with three true pg's on the team.

Honestly, I hated D'Antoni's nonchalant attitude towards defense, but I'll never challenge him on offensive principles. I think he was on to something, but he overestimated Melo's ability to facilitate or at least underestimated the amount of time it would take for the adjustment.

Also, one way to get your offensive efficiency up is to get the defensive attention off of you. Melo is often double and triple teamed, so he needs to be able to set up his teammates in positions that makes it easy for them to execute. As the game goes on, the defense goes into "pick your poison mode", he eventually gets more room to operate, and gets the opportunity to take over.

If you all really want to see how Melo "should" be playing, you guys should watch some old videos of Detroit Piston Grant Hill and realize that Melo is a more talented offensive player than Hill ever was.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/grant_hil ... stats.html

[Thugger HBC]

That might have been one of the top two most absurd things D'antoni had said while being our coach, and that was even with Chauncey being our pg at the time.

All Melo needs to do is get his efficiency up, which will translate into more team wins.

Melo surely is not gonna average more assists with three true pg's on the team.

Honestly, I hated D'Antoni's nonchalant attitude towards defense, but I'll never challenge him on offensive principles. I think he was on to something, but he overestimated Melo's ability to facilitate or at least underestimated the amount of time it would take for the adjustment.

Also, one way to get your offensive efficiency up is to get the defensive attention off of you. Melo is often double and triple teamed, so he needs to be able to set up his teammates in positions that makes it easy for them to execute. As the game goes on, the defense goes into "pick your poison mode", he eventually gets more room to operate, and gets the opportunity to take over.

If you all really want to see how Melo "should" be playing, you guys should watch some old videos of Detroit Piston Grant Hill and realize that Melo is a more talented offensive player than Hill ever was.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/grant_hil ... stats.html

Melo is not the same as Grant Hill in no way form or fashion.

Melo is a scorer with good courtvision, good ballhandling, court vision and playmaking.

All i want is Melo to get his efficiency up, and play to his capabilities for every game.

He has the talent around him, and the opportunity now to make that happen.

But I'm not expecting something he isn't.

After watching d'antoni for these three years, I question way more than just his offense.

[Fury]

Fury, it was green guy, see the flow of the thread.

My fault

[omerome]

Melo will get his credit, even in a Knicks uni.

But for RealGM purposes, some would rather kill themselves than to cheer for a team that can win alot of games with Melo as it's leader.

There are very few True Knicks Fans around these parts, no matter what they call themselves.

I don't think you realize just how much of a sig-worthy statement you just made. So I'm posting it again.

[barborous]

For someone who's not actually a primary playmaker, assists are a relatively worthless stat. Criticizing Melo for not averaging 5 assists per game is dumb and insane on so many levels.

[Handledatruth]

Melo is not the same as Grant Hill in no way form or fashion.

Melo is a scorer with good courtvision, good ballhandling, court vision and playmaking.

All i want is Melo to get his efficiency up, and play to his capabilities for every game.

He has the talent around him, and the opportunity now to make that happen.

But I'm not expecting something he isn't.

After watching d'antoni for these three years, I question way more than just his offense.

Yes they are different players, but they have the same skill set, same success in college, same position, slightly similar body type, same block to baseline ISO stance, and so on. Only difference? Melo is a better scorer and Grant Hill was a more willing facilitator. When Melo becomes more comfortable with facilitating he will realize that scoring will be a bit easier. Grant Hill's ankle never give him the chance to do it the other way around (become comfortable with dominant scoring).

In the end, ball dominant players become MVP-like when they realize how to trick defenses into paying attention to their teammates WHILE putting up their 30+. It's much more reasonable to ask Melo to be Kobe-like in his approach on balancing passing and shooting than to keep wanting him to be Durant (pure shooter) or Lebron (super court vision).

For someone who's not actually a primary playmaker, assists are a relatively worthless stat. Criticizing Melo for not averaging 5 assists per game is dumb and insane on so many levels.

Its not dumb criticism. Just a suggestion on the next thing he needs to do to become a better player. He's a great scorer, but he needs to be a better facilitator. This is what all the arguments are about. Plain and simple.

[Thugger HBC]

The points are well taken, but Melo is not gonna be a 5-6 assists guy.

The team will have a facilitator on the floor pretty much ay all times now, with our three guard rotation.

But i do think he'll maintain the 3-4 assist average though.

Melo's next step is to convert high scoring, and consistent two competitiveness into high winning and that's with efficiency and mindset.

[j4remi]

Kobe had the benefit of the triangle offense though...He's still an excellent passer, but I don't think he'll put up 5 APG ever again especially with Nash around.

[I_Love_NYK]

Do we seriously have someone thinking Melo should be LeBron or prime Kobe?

I would think having Douglas and Fields in my starting lineup not even including a bum wrist....... 4 assists is pretty excellent.

A career high is usually a good thing, but I guess not on here.

Hey, if Scottie Pippen and Larry Bird could average 5+ assists, why not Melo?

/greentfont

Pippen was the main ball handler with Jordan. BJ Armstrong and Ron Harper rarely had the ball. While Dennis Johnson was not a big assists guy also. If anything Melo should learn from the Olympics and be more of a catch and shoot guy with Felton and Kidd setting him up.

[GONYK]

Do we seriously have someone thinking Melo should be LeBron or prime Kobe?

I would think having Douglas and Fields in my starting lineup not even including a bum wrist....... 4 assists is pretty excellent.

A career high is usually a good thing, but I guess not on here.

Hey, if Scottie Pippen and Larry Bird could average 5+ assists, why not Melo?

/greentfont

Pippen was the main ball handler with Jordan. BJ Armstrong and Ron Harper rarely had the ball. While Dennis Johnson was not a big assists guy also.

Ha..I know

Sarcasm

[Handledatruth]

Kobe had the benefit of the triangle offense though...He's still an excellent passer, but I don't think he'll put up 5 APG ever again especially with Nash around.

Agreed. Just saying what he did before and using Kobe as sort of a gold standard for Melo.

The points are well taken, but Melo is not gonna be a 5-6 assists guy.

The team will have a facilitator on the floor pretty much ay all times now, with our three guard rotation.

But i do think he'll maintain the 3-4 assist average though.

Melo's next step is to convert high scoring, and consistent two competitiveness into high winning and that's with efficiency and mindset.

5-6 may be a bit much, but if he can pull it off
Other than that, the man was created to put the ball in the basket, so I have no worries about that side of his game.
In the end though, he has to get a little more used to passing than he has throughout his career. I saw improvement last year and maybe it will continue. I'd be happy with 4+. He can at least do better than Tim Duncan (3.1 career average). But 5 locks him into MVP status

[NoLayupRule]

Melo is a skilled passer mostly because he's a natural born ball player

hes a solid ball handler too

doesn't mean he should be taking the ball up court or playing point forward - you listening D'Antoni?

Melo is the best or one of the top 5 scorers in the world
lets let him be a scorer

ok, on the other end of the floor he needs to play D, and he did last year.
when he doesn't have a good shot he needs to pass the ball out. I think he does ... sometimes
and lastly we need him to rebound, which he does as well or better than any other SF in the league


we have a gem in Melo. It may not be a flawless gem but I don't think there is such a thing

[Thugger HBC]

The points are well taken, but Melo is not gonna be a 5-6 assists guy.

The team will have a facilitator on the floor pretty much ay all times now, with our three guard rotation.

But i do think he'll maintain the 3-4 assist average though.

Melo's next step is to convert high scoring, and consistent two competitiveness into high winning and that's with efficiency and mindset.

5-6 may be a bit much, but if he can pull it off
Other than that, the man was created to put the ball in the basket, so I have no worries about that side of his game.
In the end though, he has to get a little more used to passing than he has throughout his career. I saw improvement last year and maybe it will continue. I'd be happy with 4+. He can at least do better than Tim Duncan (3.1 career average). But 5 locks him into MVP status

Definitely, although passing isn't really where his critics hold their hat, it's only secondary.

Winning is though, combined with efficiency.

If Melo leads the Knicks to a 53 win season, on 47-48% shooting, which will be done by trimming the threes (2 attempts max), and more low post scoring, that's MVP discussion.

[I_Love_NYK]

There isn't even a SG who averages 5 apg, so anyone expecting that out of Melo that's crazy.

[johnnywishbone]

There isn't even a SG who averages 5 apg, so anyone expecting that out of Melo that's crazy.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ami01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... nko01.html

The difference between good and great.

[Thugger HBC]

There isn't even a SG who averages 5 apg, so anyone expecting that out of Melo that's crazy.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ami01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... nko01.html

The difference between good and great.

They're both great, one is GOAT.

Sent from my Asus Transformer Prime TF - 201 using Xparent Sky Blue Tapatalk 2

[johnnywishbone]

There isn't even a SG who averages 5 apg, so anyone expecting that out of Melo that's crazy.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ami01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... nko01.html

The difference between good and great.

They're both great, one is GOAT.

Sent from my Asus Transformer Prime TF - 201 using Xparent Sky Blue Tapatalk 2

All three are great scorers. But two are(were) hawks on defense and pass(ed) the ball more.

[Thugger HBC]

Who's the third, I only see two in the example.

[NBA Fan 1234]

No sh*t, Melo isn't as good as MJ or Kobe.

@Thugger, 3rd=Melo.