What I don’t know from professional hoops is more than somewhat. Still, as a casual fan, I just don’t see the Knicks’ splashy signing of Amare Stoudemire as anything but a prelude to more disappointment at the Garden. Maybe I’m jaded by all these years of Dolan depression. Amare strikes me as the guy you’d ideally want to be the third-best player on your team, not the guy you build around. He is a stud, he is a good player but he also feels like Plan B.
I’m curious to know just how much better he is than David Lee (he’s better for sure, don’t get me wrong). Anyhow, unless he lures a couple of more stars to town–preferably a point guard–this could be the start of something familiar. To be fair, it is too soon to judge this signing. I just hope it is the start of something…better, for the Knicks and their fans, and not just another re-run. It’s still early…
Am I crazy? Am I mising something?
I think Stoudemire's reconstructed, can't be insured knee is a huge red flag.
David Lee may be a zero on defense, but he averages a double-double.
Sigh.
nope, you aren't missing something. amare is someone you want to be your third best player.
given david lee's improvements to his game, he can actually create more offense for himself and his team than amare, which might be important given that the rest of the knicks are basically nice back-up players. however, believe it or not, amare actually plays more defense than david lee and has the size to pass as a center, where david lee really can't handle being a center.
the only way this looks good is if amare somehow does get tony parker and melo to join him somehow. though the knicks have traded everything of value away so they would have to do a sign and trade with david lee for parker and then wait on melo for next summer.
i am still not feeling the knicks.
1) Yeah, I like Lee though I am always a little suspect of guys who put up big numbers on lousy teams. Not saying he isn't good but...
Stoudemire would have an easier job, and lower expectations on him if he were handed a plastic bucket, and shovel, and told to go clean up the Gulf of Mexico himself - and have it done by Labor Day.
I can't feel sorry for somebody who makes that kind of money playing basketball, but it seems Knicks fans (at least the ones who were calling WFAN this morning) can't wait to blame this guy for failing to singlehandedly turn them into the Lakers overnight. The Knicks fans I heard on the radio this morning were like starving dogs who will only eat filet mignon cooked to their specfications.
My whole thing with Lee is, well let me put it this way...Knicks fans who want Lee over Amare remind me of Mets fans back in the day who wanted Hundley over Piazza because Hundley could hit 40 home runs on a 79 win team.
Did they overpay? Yes. But he's a piece, and a good one. He's a complimentary player, but team him up with a capable/athletic PG (thinking Miller or Felton) in D'Antoni's system and you're left with a flawed but competitive and exciting team. If they can somehow swing Parker in a 3-way deal while holding onto Gallinari, then they are a legit contender in the east.
But even with a lesser, but still very solid, guard I think they can be a 43-47 win type of team...which in the east is gonna get you something like a 6 seed and a puncher's chance in the playoffs. Is it perfect? of course not. But after all the godawful ball we've seen over 9 years, can't we be happy with at least being relevant and competitive?
[5]
Did they overpay? Yes. But he’s a piece, and a good one. He’s a complimentary player, but team him up with a capable/athletic PG (thinking Miller or Felton) in D’Antoni’s system and you’re left with a flawed but competitive and exciting team. If they can somehow swing Parker in a 3-way deal while holding onto Gallinari, then they are a legit contender in the east.
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If you overpay Amare, and make this deal, do you have any cap space left for ANY quality players .... or is it stars and scrubs?
[6] you'd be top-heavy for sure, but the NBA (for better or worse) is such that you can be a very good team with 2 very good players and a whole lot of meh. Can you be a championship team? No. But would you be any worse than say the Heat or the Jazz or some other good but middle-of-the-road team? I don't think so.
Why can't we have Amare AND Lee?
[8] i don't think you would want to spend your money like that.
they need a real guard.
lee and amare together might as well hold a sign up that the lane is open all night cause that defense would be atrocious.
[5] raging,neither felton nor miller are athletic pgs - miller is still capable, but not that much.
this system absolutely has to have a creator to succeed and douglas just doesn't cut it - if tony parker still has his legs he would actually be a nice fit since they could spread the floor with their small forwards.
[4] Cooked a cheap flank steak for the dogs last night (given all the fireworks they've had to deal with the last two nights, it was the least I could do for them), and by salmon steak wasn't quite cooked all the way through, so I gave the less than fully cooked part to them as well. Maggie, dog #2 (a chihuahua) ate the steak but turned up her nose at the salmon. Granted, it wasn't fully cooked, but 1) it was salmon and 2) you're a frakking dog, you eat meat.
Wake me when the Knicks are actually relevant.
[10] I'm just looking at it as "available guards not named Wade," of that group those guys are probably as good as its gonna get. Parker is the ideal, but I think thats still in pipe dream territory. Obviously if I had my pick of Parker, Felton, or Miller it would be Parker without a second's hesitation...but we just don't know if thats realistic yet.
now if they were able to put something together to get Melo, well at that point you can get someone with a pulse to play the point for all I care. And I don't think Melo is re-signing in Denver either, theres no way Carmelo from Baltimore and Lala from Brooklyn are that much in love with the Mile High City...I'm just not buying it.
[10] you can, I guess, make a case for J.J. Redick too...but I wouldn't. Nor would I, after the past 9 years, appreciate being put in the position to have to actually root for J.J. Redick.
The Knicks needed 2 players this offseason. The best scenario they could have hoped for was lebron and bosh. 2nd best they could have hoped for was wade and bosh.
third and fourth best they could have hoped for, in my opinion, was amare and lebron/wade. so that is still slightly alive. lebron/wade wasn't coming the NYC by himself i don't think.
the knicks w/ amare are a more attractive landing spot than w/o amare. would have been great if they could have signed bosh right out of the gate, but w/ bosh playing the waiting game, they could have very easily been left holding the bag and getting no one.
as a non partisan here, i thought the knicks probably did the smartest and safest thing (and probably indicates they don't love their chances w/ wade & lebron).
Tweet from ESPN'S Chris Broussard:
Raptors have told Cavs they would do a sign-and-trade with them for Bosh. Cavs and LeBron working to convince Bosh to join them in Cleveland
[13] i don't really think reddick is a good fit for the knicks. they have a couple of shooters. i just don't see how d'antoni's system can work without a pg.
[14] agree jon - this was the safe thing. walsh couldn't end up with nothing. i think they knew quickly that neither lebron nor wade had them as their top choice.
Read a rumor the talks of Lee being traded for the Warriors' Monta Ellis this AM. I kow the Yanks are accustomed to taking whatever they want to Oakland, but this is a little extreme.
If they get either Wade this year, or Melo next year, then the signing will be a good one. But not yet...