Enough is too much: Do something!!!

Everything that we built up until this point has failed us.  Firing Grunwald and Chris Smith making the team was the straw that broke the camels back.  It didn't help that Felton,  Melo,  Shump, Metta and whoever had a mic in their face all seemed to think they were going to start the season and just win because they did that last season. The sheer arrogance of these guys was led by a coach that to this day is saying he is still trying to figure out this roster.  Who is to blame? The only answer to this question is EVERYBODY!!!

Only 4 players showed up in shape and ready to play on day one. The first I'll mention is Tim Hardaway Jr. The kid broke his shooting hand in summer league and still showed  up to training camp ready to steal someone's job.  Aside from typical rookie mistakes,  the kid has been fantastic. Another guy that I have bashed hardcore in previous blogs,  Tyson Chandler, showed up in phenomenal shape.  He admitted  Roy Hibbert embarrassed him and it drove him to improve his body physically.  To my surprise the dude brought a nice looking jumpshot and hook in the lane! That's all I asked of the guy and he finally brought that to the table.  For that he has my respect.  He had a freak leg injury this year so that's unfortunate.  If he can come back and build upon his early success that would be great. The other two players are Carmelo Anthony and Pablo Prigioni.  Priggy was picking guys up full court during preseason so he was ready.  Sad he's too damn old now and just refuses to look at the rim sometimes.  Melo is currently leading the league in minutes and is killing himself trying to do everything.  Call him selfish if you want to be cool, but he is playing extremely hard right now. So the problem lies between the eyes of every other player that had put on a knicks uniform this year. What is the problem? That right now simply does not matter.  What does matter is what management is prepared to do about it. 

First of all, Woodson and his entire coaching staff needs to be fired. There is no excuse to be unprepared like this.  The team doesn't run any plays and they are putting everything on Melo.  We aren't the best team but we should not be 3-12 right now.  That is bullshit my friends.  The blame is not all on coaching. The knicks need  a point guard. Nothing to debate. Felton needs to go.  He's not a champion so I don't understand the respect he's getting from this coaching staff.  Beno needs to be let go as well.  It's a shame the knicks tricked him into taking a pay cut only not to play him. If we can get a second round pick for Beno, trade him to a contender.  I would target Isaiah Thomas immediately.  He's averaging 18pts per game off the bench. Sacramento made a major move for their future by starting Ben Mclemore and trading for Derrick Williams.  They made a commitment to Grievas at point guard. Isaiah Thomas is available to be had right now! We simply can't wait to get a kid that young and talented.  The kid can get in the paint at will and score.  He can shoot the lights out as well.  He's had his best game's this season playing against Chris Paul. Youtube it if you don't believe me.

Amare Stoudamire wants to dunk the ball and go to the hall of fame.  That's all he cares about.  The knicks need to Marbury this guy once and for all and look to trade him for the best deal that benefits our team.  That's it.  Be done with it.  We are playing ourselves babying this man.  He doesn't rebound or play defense. Be done with this guy. Move on and get the ball rolling with Jeremy Tyler. If someone is going to make rookie mistakes let it be a rookie. The word is Jeremy is healthy and playing unrestricted right now.  Get him in uniform asap!

By the time Tyson comes back,  the knicks should  have Tyler in the mix,  Isaiah Thomas as the starting point,  Jr Smith starting with Toure "Baby Clyde" Murry and Hardaway Jr off the bench.  Bargnani is not as soft as we thought.  He should be the starting 4 with Melo and Tyson. Lets get this going immediately.  I understand it takes two to tango so teams have to want to trade with us.  That's not my problem. Management needs to get their shit together.  Excuse my language kids but this is where we are. Hire Lionel Hollins as coach and lets get it popping right now.  This team is not dead yet,  but the bleeding can't stop until they pull out the blade. Go Knicks!!!

Internal medicine

The rumors surrounding Shumpert have been embarrassing to say the least.  Nobody wants our players,  but they don't mind trading garbage to us because they know we are desperate.  Firing Woodson and trading Shumpert are easy outs for our team and don't guarantee anything but media scrutiny. If you sit back and allow your pain medication to kick in,  you realize the root of all our problems this season is this medical restrictions on KMart and Amar'e.  Think about it.   Tyson went down,  so by default you have to play Bargnani at the center spot. If you start KMart with Amar'e off the bench and have them split 48 mins at the power forward the Knicks wouldn't have the problems they have. 

The Knicks simply can't compete with Melo playing the enforcer role of the power foward.  It's not enough that he can dominate that position offensively.  It's not enough that he can guard power forwards.  He should not be asked to play that role when we have guys that are born to bully their peers in the paint.  We can't defend or rebound properly as a team without that mix.

Poor Shumpert.  Kid has to be asked to rebound and defend bigger guys also,  when his claim to fame was originally being a point guard and defending the perimeter. We got that kid guarding 6'9" guys and power forwards on the switch.  We got him spot up shooting.  Shump needs to be bringing the ball up with Felton.  He needs to be guarding guys like Teague, not Milsap. Who will he guard in Detroit? Their starting small forward is Josh Smith! They also have Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond starting in their front court.  Will we even get a rebound or a layup tonight?  

The pain is in plain language for our Knicks.  Maybe Woodson sucks as a coach this year because his hands are tied by the front office.  Maybe our problems are being deflected by these medical restrictions on our bigs.  Felton sucks.  Jr Smith is too erratic.
Maybe Woodson should in fact slide Shumpert back in a facilitating position and free Toure Murry to help on defense and bring some consistency attacking the paint. You start KMart,  Melo,  Bargs, Shump and Murry. What can you lose at this point?  Our season is in jeopardy.  We can't fall into a deep sink hole this early in the season.  We need better perimeter defense and help inside.  We have the depth.  We need to start using it. What the problem is?  Time to take this bubble wrap off.  Ain't nobody got time for that!

Call of Duty: Knicks are bleeding out

Sometimes you wonder as a fan,  what did we do to deserve this? All we want to do is enjoy a good team. For all the changes going on in the city,  the true fans of NY love a good basketball game.  The more things change the more they stay the same for our Knicks.  I thought we were on the right path.  We seemed to be taking the necessary steps to move forward in a positive way.  After all the seemingly decent upgrades we made, the first blow to our positive energy was the demotion of Glen Grunwald.  Karma is a bitch.          

So now things are unraveling. Coach Woodson is still talking about he's trying  figure out his roster after a full training camp.  Somehow Chris Smith, Jr Smith's little brother, made the team. He couldn't make a West 4th St streetball  team. That's the running joke with Chris.  Its a little harsh but not far from the truth. Brandon Jennings took to Twitter to express his disgust over it.  He mentioned California legends Pooh Jeter, and Bobby Brown.  Both players could start on the Knicks right now.  In fact did everyone forget the fact that our Knicks worked Bobby Brown out 3 times in the summer,  yet chose to sign Beno Urich. Has anyone seen Beno   lately? Right now Felton is playing the worst basketball of his career. The man has the senority to maintain the starting spot but at what point do you say he just doesn't have it anymore?   When do you hold Woodson accountable? What should management do about it?

There's Alot of talk about Shumpert on the trade front. It's a shame but he's our only real trade chip. At the same time Shump hasn't been playing his best basketball.  Fans are questioning now if he will ever forfill his potential.  Woodson can be charged with misuse,  but at the same time you have to show improvement and Iman appears to have peaked.

Question is now after all this,  along with the minutes restriction nonsense going on with Kmart and Amare, where do we go from here? The holes on this team are too big to blame it solely on early season rust.  You can blame it on Woodson for not having a hold on his roster,  but you could also say he was given poor pieces to work with.  One thing that you can't blame is the fire from the fans.  The boo's and the blogs like this one are running rampant.  It's not that we are impatient fans, it's the fact that our team sucks and they really shouldn't at this stage of the game.

Should we blow it up,  meaning trade Melo, Tyson, etc and plan for 2015? Do we look to make a lateral trade to clean things up and set us up to make a run when Tyson gets back?  The only other option is to be patient and let Woodson figure out. Problem with that is Woodson has no offensive foresight. As soon as he starts benching guys that are currently in the rotation for our 10-12 man this whole thing might crash and burn right in our faces. 

In my opinion,  I think you need to fire Woodson.  It's unexceptable that he has no feel for his team after his success with the club. He's a highly experienced coach and had these guys in a full training camp.  There is no reason to be this disorganized. At the same time you still have to address the flaws on the roster via trade.  Darryl Walker or Herb Williams would need to interm and get a more traditional set going.

This season is far from over,  but the drama can't be left to burn freely. If we nip things in the bud and take responsibility now maybe we can refocus and get back on the right course. If Woodson remains head coach,  he needs a roster move asap. Nothing drastic but we may need to move a fan favorite to get us over the Hump.  As a fan you just want your team to succeed so whatever they do I hope it works.  Right now the team and the fanbase is broken.  Winning cures everything.  Here's to hope.

Yoots Maneuver

Yoots maneuver 

The Knicks are no doubt in hot pursuit of a championship as long as Carmelo Anthony is on the team.  Say what you want about Melo, but he's a top nba talent and is worthy of being centerpiece on a team.  He gets Alot of flap but he can't win alone.  He definately should not be asked to play  out of position. The investment in him is too great to wear him down. Lebron can play any position on the court.  He's bigger than any of his power forwards. He averages the most rebounds per game on his team. He's also the teams best ball handler and passer. Miami knows enough to play Lebron at his natural position and allow him to do his thing. In turn, you put position players around him playing their roles so their star player can continue to dominate without having to do everything. The Knicks are forcing Melo to do everything and he's taking heavy criticism because of it.  Melo should not be asked to bang with  Tim Duncan and Kevin Love.  The fact that Melo can compete with them is beside the point . Melo needs to go back to dominating small fowards and leave the role playing  to someone qualified to do so. 
                                                                  
That being said,  why is Shumpert  our starting small forward? Why is Felton playing shooting guard next to Priggy? Last season the Knicks had no choice due to injuries.  This year the Knicks have the healthy bodies to match up better than this on paper.  The coach after training camp still doesn't believe it.  That means there is a conflict between the coach and management.  Something should be done and it doesn't have to involve firing Mike Woodson.

In order to do that there has to be a lateral trade forcing Woodson to slide players back into their natural positions. In my humble opinion,  this has to involve Iman Shumpert.  Fans like to talk about his potential,  but what about Tim Hardaway Jr and Torre Murry? I believe both players have just as much if not more upside than Shumpert. Are we grooming talent as a lottery team or are we trying to win right now? The Knicks need to come to grips with this issue and make a move before the season gets ugly.  Melo needs to be playing small forward.  The Knicks have a glaring hole at power foward and center.  We can't afford to harbor 3 point guards and 4 shooting guards. Something had got to give.  The decision to invest in Jr Smith should make him the starting shooting guard   by default.  That is not too shabby especially if you factor in Tim Hardaway off the bench. Woodson seems to like Priggy as the starting point guard.  That's fine because he's been effective running the team.  So your backcourt is Priggy and Jr Smith with Beno,  Hardaway and Toure Murry off the bench.  That's a solid unit.  If you are listening,  our odd men out should be Felton and Shump. This was supposed to be our starting backcourt. Priggy and JR Smith is equal if not better, that's not even a question.  What can we get for Felton and Shump? The Knicks need a solid rotation big man.... in a nutshell,  you have to pursue that and not look back.  This is not a reality show.  The Knicks are trying to win and win big this season.  Time is now to settle this ship and get back on course.  Make that move. Knicks should probably look to Denver, Sacramento or the Bucks for answers.