KnicksScholar24 wrote:Synciere wrote:This is where people lose me.
How does signing Hardaway have anything to do with Melo? They play different positions. Hardaway has never played SF. Just because some teams and the league have gone pace and space doesn't mean you play every player one position down in the lineup. We don't néed to make all 2s 3s, all 3s 4s, and all 4s 5s. Melo is a SF that can play PF, I get that. But KP isn't a 5 yet. Hardaway isn't a 3.
At this point in his career the best position (defensively) for Carmelo is PF. Kobe move up a position to SF when he could defend at the two any more, Jordan did the same. A lot of players do this. He'll likely be able to play more like 'Olympic Melo' as well from that position.
Porzingis still hasn't added any bulk or gotten stronger, but the reason he makes sense at the 5 is because he'll be able to play closer to the basket (defensively). Since there are so many stretch 4s in the league, KP gets draw out of the paint and it limits his impact protecting the rim and grabbing defensive boards. He always has to run from the perimeter to get weak-side blocks. At the C position, he'll more often than when playing PF will be able to rim protect and clean the defensive glass. He'll
possibly pick up fewer fouls playing closer to the rim defensively. Also, 7 rebounds a game is weak af. He should be grabbing 10-12 boards/game and getting 3-4 blocks/game with his length, mobility, and instincts (in his prime). I like KP at the 4, but he'll have more impact on the defensive end and the glass, imo, at the 5. He could also pull Cs like Rudy Gobert and Deandre Jordan away from the basket on offense. He can move back to the 4 when Hernangomez (or O'Quinn or Noah) enters in the game.
Hardaway is 6'6" and can manage to play SF with Carmelo & Kristaps at the 4 & 5. It would make more sense than bringing Lee or Hardaway off the bench.
The Knicks shouldn't go small because of the rest of the league, but because it puts their top two players in the best position defensively. The fact that the league is going small just makes it less risky because it won't lead to NY getting dominated inside or on the glass.
If the Knicks are not going to tank, they Knicks need to make whatever decisions they can make to improve the team defense. Ntilikina and Porzingis may be able to defend 1-5 high screen plays better than Rose and Noah. Keeping Melo in the post defending traditional inside 4s or even on the perimeter stretch 4s should be an improvement over Melo defending Paul George/Giannis Antetokounmpo/Kawhi Leonard type 3s. He could rest more on D. It's not perfect, but it could be an improvement.
I think Melo will be traded to Houston before the off-season is done, so this is probably all moot. If he is traded, the Knicks better go FULL TANK mode. In order to get a top 3-5 young talent (or two) to play along side KP can ONLY be accomplished via the draft. KD had Harden and Westbrook as teammates because they rebuilt the proper way. The Sixers had 4 top 3 picks in the last 4 drafts alone. If healthy and well developed, they'll become one of the top team in a few years rather than a middling team that draft in the 8-16 range every year.
The best way for the Knicks to improve team defense is to remove Carmelo from the roster, and play two way players.
Sadly, our owner would not agree to a Melo buy-out, which would have been addition by subtraction, and we'll even have to watch Timmy Hardaway suck for us now that he's under contract.
You cannot be serious and state that a frontline of Hardaway-Melo-Porzingis would improve our team defense as opposed to say Lance Thomas-Porzingis & either a healthy Noah or a Kyle O'Quinn, that we happened to run last year with some mixed results already.
Melo is NOT a good defender, whether you put him at SF (too slow), PF (undersized) or C (overmatched). There's no magical improvement you can expect from him in 2017, soon 2018.
I can't believe some still believe a Melo team can contend with the right lineup, and non-Melo team should "tank". Sometimes I feel we haven't been watching the same Knicks the past 6 years.
Without Melo, the Knicks don't suddenly need to go "full tank". Many teams in this league don't have what ESPN calls a "superstar scorer", and yet manage to reach the postseason thanks to good team defense, unselfishness and chemistry.
The Hawks were the highlight of such ball, when they won 60 games without a superstar scorer. But their system made Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap & Al Horford, all all-stars the same year. These guys played defense despite they had no amazing scoring talents who could create shots on their own, but they could get stops, those guys Carroll, Bazemore, Sefolosha would work their ass off the guard the wings, and they played a good system offense the other end which would provide each of these guys good open looks they would hit.
When their Nuggets traded Melo, they didn't go full tank. They used the available talents they had and promoted unselfish basket-ball which got them the #6 seed in the West, with the likes of Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Aaron Afflalo, Timofey Mozgov, all guys we are familiar with in New York, plus an underrated stud like Faried inside. This team had more wins in the West than Melo's Knicks in the East, who were supposedly chasing a ring, and getting swept or nearly in a play-off series they would have never even played without Linsanity.
It is mind blogging that the Knicks couldn't figure out to get rid of Melo, even on a buy-out, and to offer say the Raptors their cap space for a creative package including a two way player like Demarre Carroll and a 1st round pick.
Oh wait, the Brooklyn Nets just did.
The Knicks on their side, offered Hardaway a contract the rest of the league is laughing at, and the Hawks wouldn't even consider.
When the Nets get some picks again and get through the disaster trade that net them Pierce & Garnett, they are going to outrule the Knicks again quite soon. Perhaps next year already.
Hardaway is a terrible match for Porzingis (and lots of other bigs) who need guards who can regularly keep their men in front of them. The idea that Hardaway can guard LeBron, Tatum, Hayward, Giannis, etc all those star threes in the East, is laughable. Let alone the Kawhi Leonard's, the Kevin Durants, the Paul Georges of the West, etc.
We're still going to need to insert a Lance Thomas for some minutes to guard these dudes.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
New-York Knicks fan since 1998, based in Paris, FR.
