Melo the root of Knicks defensive woes

[PeroAntic]

I really didnt expect the Knicks to be so horrible on defense.

I mean Porzingis and Noah are elite defenders.

Courtney Lee is supposed to be a wing defense specialist (although hes not been that so far).

DRose has never been a great defender, but his position doesn't have much impact anyway as long as the player has minimum competence. and hes the best shot blocker among PGs. Bulls defence didn't suffer with him.

Which leaves Melo as the problem. He should bethe Knicks' Lebron, his position is crucial for perimeter d. But hes so SLOW. He can get away with being so slow on offense, but not on defense. And he shows zero focus and effort. When the leader of the team is like this, of course there will be no team effort.

The only solution I see is to break up the starters. Play Melo as a PF, Zingis as C and Noah as leader of 2nd unit. Put Holiday in the lineup, or trade for someone soon. Question is who?

[FKAri]

Porzingis is not an elite defender. Atleast not this season so far. He's great as a helpside defender but he can't defend physical players inside. And unlike last season he's been getting beat way too much by quick 4's. I imagine it is temporary and he will atleast regress to how he was last season and hopefully even improve from that standard.

And yea Melo has also been especially bad so far this season. Today was a great example of Melo's incompetence on D costing the team.

[Smoke117]

The Knicks are 29th in defense...possibly 30th now after today's loss...there isn't one guy you can blame when a team is this bad at defense.

[imdaman99]

KP been struggling on D. I have faith he'll get better at that end.

Melo can go. He could have gone last season. When (If) the Knicks become good again, Melo won't be here. Or he'll have become 2nd option by that time.

[PeroAntic]

The Knicks are 29th in defense...possibly 30th now after today's loss...there isn't one guy you can blame when a team is this bad at defense.
I honestly think he's that bad... KP is a great rim protector but he can't run after everyone:rant

[Human Error]

Rose and Anthony are some of the worst defenders in the league. No surprise that the Knicks are the 29th best defensive team. I told you Knicks fans that you are going to be disappointed big time if you expect them to win 50 games.

[FreezingTsmoove]

They switched on every pick and roll against the Jazz and eventually got picked apart in the 4th quarter

They have zero quickness on defense, especially Melo

[Sarcastic]

KP is struggling on D because he's constantly having to switch onto Melo's guy for no reason other than Melo is too lazy to go out to get him. It's putting 7'3" Porzingis on the perimeter, which is not where he should be.

[gigantes]

KP been struggling on D. I have faith he'll get better at that end.

Melo can go. He could have gone last season. When (If) the Knicks become good again, Melo won't be here. Or he'll have become 2nd option by that time.
i'm not sure melo would be able to handle that. :(

[Marchesk]

Why did the Knicks give Melo that contract? Why not just totally rebuild? He was on the wrong side of 30 anyway.

Not that you can blame everything on him. But he needed to be on a different sort of team to maximize what he's good at. Maybe it keeps fans in the seats?

[hiphopfan777]

Melo never teamed up with two superstars like lequeen did twice. He doesnt have the highest payroll. Lequeen has two superstars so he can coast . melo has a good midrange lequeen is nothing without his athleticism and shouldering defenders. He constantly airballs free throws

[theaussieguy]

melo is honestly a disgrace to basketballl

[Smoke117]

Melo never teamed up with two superstars like lequeen did twice. He doesnt have the highest payroll. Lequeen has two superstars so he can coast . melo has a good midrange lequeen is nothing without his athleticism and shouldering defenders. He constantly airballs free throws

salty much?

[gigantes]

[code]2003 NBA draft

1 LeBron James * SF United States Cleveland Cavaliers St. Vincent

[Hey Yo]

[QUOTE=gigantes][code]2003 NBA draft

1 LeBron James * SF United States Cleveland Cavaliers St. Vincent

[gigantes]

Bosh never lead Toronto past the first round. Melo did with Denver and the NYK as the first scoring option/captain of the team.

Melo > Bosh
meh. carmelo's denver teams were an amazing group as is... i'm not sure how much they even needed him, really.

not to mention, i've never read about a single player who "looked up" to carmelo for anything. no, the reason he was awarded "captain" is the very same reason they hand lots of franchise scorers that"captain" title.

carmelo also has a history of dumbass incidents and statements, while chris bosh, captain or no captain, is a guy who led by two-way example far more to me than melo ever did or ever will do.

[MellowYellow]

Melo was a +6 against the jazz when he was in the game and a -1.7 on the season despite the team as a whole being -7.7. Any blind man could see that the reason they lost was the all bench lineup at the beginning of the 4th that spotted the jazz a free 9 pts.

[PeroAntic]

Melo was a +6 against the jazz when he was in the game and a -1.7 on the season despite the team as a whole being -7.7. Any blind man could see that the reason they lost was the all bench lineup at the beginning of the 4th that spotted the jazz a free 9 pts.
The bench is a huge issue thats true.

But Melo is the worst defender of the starting five.

Knicks starters should have wrapped up that game before the fourth and let the bench play it out, instead of keeping it close and then allowing the bench to let Jazz get away.

[Lebron23]

Love to see Melo return to the Denver Nuggets.

[bluechox2]

Love to see Melo return to the Denver Nuggets.
me too, he isnt fit to lead any team, needs to run as a high scoring 3rd option where options 1 and 2 also play defense

[Real14]

Love to see Melo return to the Denver Nuggets.
Stop trolling.

[MellowYellow]

The bench is a huge issue thats true.

But Melo is the worst defender of the starting five.

Knicks starters should have wrapped up that game before the fourth and let the bench play it out, instead of keeping it close and then allowing the bench to let Jazz get away.

Refs decided to let the jazz hang in the game. There is no way vegas was going to let the knicks blow out the jazz.

[FKAri]

Refs decided to let the jazz hang in the game. There is no way vegas was going to let the knicks blow out the jazz.
Yes. Vegas had big money on a Sunday afternoon basketball game between the Jazz and Knicks. Oh and also the refs were in on it.

[smoovegittar]

KP stays out of foul trouble; Knicks win.

Can we move on now? :rolleyes: