2015 NY Knicks offseason thread, Los Almighty appreciation thread

And if we want a player that will impact our team NOW, then we gotta go with Russell. Bigs take time to develop, and if Melo is our star, then we don't have much of it.
 
Russell isn't physically ready to make an impact now like the bigs are.

How can Parker be a bust if he blew his knee out? Give him time to see what he has b.
 
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just lurked the Lakers thread, figured i'd bring it here:

who should we send to the lottery?
 
Mase or Melo's son would be cool

we'd somehow get the 10th pick if we sent Dolan

Emmy :smokin


i say send Clyde
 
you go boy said:
GR8 you are overvaluing russell a little much... hes a good player but not great... knicks should only draft him if they get the 3rd pick and you can make the argument mudiay is up there also
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I mean that is fair enough for you to say that but that is MY list, and personally I think Russell is a stud who very well could turn out to be the best player in this draft, especially on this team where he fits the triangle offense excellent and would step in as our franchise PG and an excellent secondary perimeter scoring option, both major need areas. I think having Melo already on the team as well as $ to spend on an established post presence as well as Derek Fisher as coach would all do wonders to Russell's development as well and makes him the right pick for us. He has the kind of swagger where he would not be intimidated by coming in and playing with big name stars right away. Quite the contrary IMO. Russell is the kind of player who would come in and be a leader on this team from the moment he steps on the floor. He would be able to get out there and make guys like Melo and maybe even Marc Gasol better players, and take control of the offense the way you want your franchise PG to do all while getting buckets for himself from Day 1. He is a good enough floor general and a good enough PG and a good enough leader and a good enough teammate and a good enough scorer to do all of that. I think if the Knicks drafted Russell he would win ROY and have a lot of room to grow from there, and that is why I want him on the Knicks.

Sure you could say that I am "overrating" him because the "consensus" is that this draft is a 2 man race for the 1st overall pick. But that is simply not how I view things. I have watched all of these players very closely all year long and I personally think that Russell would kill it on this team. Maybe I am "overrating" him and the consensus will be right, but a lot of times the consensus leading into the Draft is not actually how the draft plays out and even when the draft does resemble the consensus players overperform and underperform their draft positions all he time.

If you would have said that Steph Curry and James Harden would be MVP Candidates when evaluating each of them as draft prospects, people probably would have called you crazy and said that you were "overrating" them as well. Yet both of them have become the 2 best players in their draft class. Remember, Hasheem Thabeet was selected ahead of James Harden and 3 point guards were selected before Steph Curry was.

The thing about Russell is that he is a 6'5 point guard who was more productive than Okafor and Towns were this past season on a much worse team and he is a freshman as well. I just dont buy into the notion that centers are more important than point guards and I view Russell having arguably the highest ceiling of the 3 and I think he has the least important/glaring weaknesses for this team as well.

Okafor's glaring weakness is clearly his defense. That and his lack of versatility offensively outside of the post. These glaring weaknesses are why he is clearly behind Russell and Towns if I were making the Knicks draft positions,

Towns has less weaknesses than Okafor, having enormous potential both offensively and defensively, and like I have said countless times, I would be thrilled if the Knicks ended up with him on draft night. Drafting Towns also gives the Knicks options in free agency because he could fit well next to any kind of big man due to his versatility. If we drafted Okafor we would have to find a rim protector to help him out defensively. But for one, I see Towns' raw offensive ability to be a weakness of his although it is not the primary reason I would prefer Russell.

The primary reason I would prefer the Knicks to draft Russell over any other player in this draft is because the NBA has become more PG driven than ever before. The Knicks run a VERY specific system which calls for a very particular type of point guard that is less and less common with modern players. D'Angelo Russell is not only an incredible draft prospect, but he just so happens to have the prototypical triangle PG skillset and more. As I have said many times, I view D'Angelo Russell necessary to evolve the traditional triangle offense into fast paced PG driven 2015 NBA basketball. 
 
Players like D'Angelo Russell just dont come around very often, let alone come around and be attainable during a time where we need him the most. I view the chance to draft D'Angelo Russell this summer as a redo of sorts at the shot we missed out when Steph Curry was picked one spot before we had the chance to take him, which is probably my greatest regret for the Knicks of the last 10 years. I truly think he is the perfect player to pair with Melo and whoever else and lead this team into the future. That is why I think the Kncks would ultimately regret passing him up in the draft and I give him the slight edge over Towns.

Sure you can argue that I "overrate" him but I dont think that I do. If I felt that I was overrating him than I probably wouldnt be rating him as highly :lol

We have a PG prospect here who does EVERYTHING that we ask for and his only significant weakness is that he isnt a truly elite freak athlete, like Mudiay or John Wall. If that is his only real weakness than sign me up. I definitely think that is the least important weakness of the 3 top prospects. I love Mudiay as a prospect as well but his weakness is that he does not fit the triangle PG mold whatsoever.

Watching a similarly athletic Steph Curry and James Harden and Brandon Roy before them dominate the NBA on a nightly basis makes me think that Russell is skilled enough to do the same. He also is probably a better draft prospect than all 3 of those players were, which is a scary thought if you really think about it. Add in the fact that the triangle is a system that has worked very well without ever using a freak athlete PG (Russell is far more athletic than triangle PGs of the past like Derek Fisher and Steve Kerr) and traditionally values size over speed when it comes to PG. This fact makes me all the more comfortable taking a gamble on D'Angelo Russell.

And maybe I would be a little more concerned about the athleticism factor if he were Steve Nash or Steve Kerr or someone like that who would consistently get ABUSED by the athletic PGs who have taken over the NBA. I dont think I would want to draft an unathletic PG like that with the first overall pick if that were the case.In fact, I know that I wouldnt because that right there would be a glaring weakness. Enough of a weakness to scare me away even if they were as skilled offensively as Russell is.

But this to me is not a glaring weakness. D'Angelo Russell isnt by any means unathletic, in fact as far as normal standards go he is considered a FREAK athlete. No, he isnt an athlete on par with John Wall or Russell Westbrook, but he is definitely athletic enough for it to not be a "weakness" and his size and skill at the position should more than make up for it the same way it has made up for similar players before him who are similarly skilled. In fact, looking at the recent level of success in NBA PGs; despite the rising crop of freak athlete PGs like Rose, Westbrook, Wall, etc; I honestly think that true skill reigns supreme. Freak athleticism is a gift that can be stripped away from you at any time, just look at Derrick Rose. However, it is the truly SKILLED crop of point guards who not only last longer but also have dominated the most and most consistently, even during the freak athlete era.

The most consistently successful PGs in the NBA have been players like Steve Nash, Chris Paul, and now Steph Curry. I think that Nash was the best PG in the league until he passed the mantle to CP3 who is still a superstar but it seems as if he has passed the mantle to Steph Curry. All 3 of these PGs are clearly more skilled than they are athletic. And Russell is taller and might be more athletic than Nash, CP3, or Curry and he might also possess that rare combination of truly rare PG skill along with elite scoring ability as well.

So Russell may not be John Wall or Derrick Rose or Westbrook in terms of being an absolute athletic FREAK from another planet, but I wouldn't exactly call him "unathletic. " And if you want to consider it a weakness that he is more skilled than athletic (compared to Mudiay for instance), let recent history tell you otherwise ESPECIALLY in a system that particularly values skill over athleticism. He is no more "unathletic" than Curry or Harden, has better size than both of them, and is also viewed as more of a true PG than Curry was coming out of college and Russell is a freshman compared to Curry who was a junior. I could rant about this kid all day. I would love for him to be a Knick. Thats all it boils down to.
 
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What about Dave DeBusschere's kids? Or Patrick Ewing. Could use our 1985 lucky charm unless Silver rigging the lottery for us. :lol

RIP Dave
 
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phil should just go himself, if the Zen Master's luck cant land us the #1 then nothing will
 
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That's directed at his ex wife who hes divorcing who said he'll never be anything :lol
 
I had Fish's same optimism at the beginning of the season, I have since cut back on the good ol' drank.
 
We got a team full of rent-a-scrubs and he's talking about 63 wins.

I'm dead*** laughing over here :lol
 
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