?

I understand that Hibbert is the most valuable piece to what makes the Pacers championship contenders. But he is so inconsistent despite being all-around solid. Meanwhile, Al Jeff signed a max deal with Bobcats usually this means that a player would not give it his all afterwards. Especially, with Jefferson who's desire has been quetioned in the past. Jefferson is a much better scorer and doing a better job on the boards than Hibbert statistically. Many people would say that is because Hibbert has other scoring and rebounding options than Jefferson does. Also, Jefferson is bad on defense while Hibbert is an all-nba defender. This is true, but Jefferson at 18/7 may do the unthinkable and lead Charlotte into the playoffs.

These are my players and these are their stats so far in the season

PG. TONY PARKER: 31 MPG/ 18.5 PPG/ 53.8 FG%/ 75 FT%/ 6.2 APG/ 1 SPG/ 3 TOV

SG. ARRON AFFLALO: 37 MPG/ 21.3 PPG/ 48.6 FG%/ 52 3pt%/ 76.2 FT%/ 5.3 RPG/ 5 APG/ 1 SPG/ 2.7 TOV

G. JOHN WALL: 36 MPG/ 17 PPG/ 38 FG%/ 35.3 3pt%/ 83.3 FT%/ 8.8 APG/ 4.8 RPG/ 2 SPG/ 3.4 TOV

SF. CARMELO ANTHONY: 40 MPG/ 26.1 PPG/ 43.2 FG%/ 37.5 3pt%/ 81.8 FT%/ 8.5 RPG/ 1.5 SPG/ 3 TOV

PF. ZACH RANDOLPH: 29 MPG/ 14.3 PPG/ 51.4 FG%/ 87.5 FT%/ 8.4 RPG/ 2.7 TOV

F. JOSH SMITH: 36 MPG/ 16 PPG/ 42.1 FG%/ 63.3 FT%/ 5.8 RPG/ 3.3 APG/ 1.8 SPG/ 1.8 BPG/ 3.3 TOV

C. GREG MONROE: 36 MPG/ 16.4 PPG/ 50 FG%/ 72.5 FT%/ 9.5 RPG/ 1.5 SPG/ 2.5 TOV

C. ANDRE DRUMMOND: 34 MPG/ 12 PPG/ 64.4 FG%/ 20 FT%/ 12 RPG/ 1.8 SPG/ 1.8 BPG/ 1.3 TOV

Util. Marcin Gortat: 33 MPG/ 12.8 PPG/ 51.8 FG%/ 65.2 FT%/ 9.8 RPG/ 2 BPG/ 2 TOV

Util. Andrea Bargnani: 26 MPG/ 15 PPG/ 51.6 FG%/ 44.4 3pt%/ 85.7 FT%/ 1.6 TOV

B. Danilo Gallinari: ---

B. Tobias Harris: ---

B. Louis Williams: (1 GP came back from injury) 16 MPG/ 7 PPG/ 37.5 FG%/ 33.3 3pt%/ 3 RPG/ 2 APG/ 1 TOV

Thad Young is their best and highest paid player. He already let it be known that whether or not Sixers are tanking he won't have any part of it and will play to win. Therefore, he is on the trading block because of it. He plays excellent defense and could do a bit of everything on the floor. Young averages last season were: 15 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 1.8 SPG on 53.8 FG%. He could be an excellent addition for let's say the NY Knicks.

All the Sixers really want are expiring contracts/young players/draft picks in their effort to tank for this upcoming draft yr. So NY doesn't need to give up much to obtain Thad Young. Something like Cole Aldrich (who is both young and an expiring contract) and a 2017 1st rd draft pick (one of NY's last draft picks left) could be enough to reel in Thad Young. Especially, since Spencer Hawes and LaVoy Allen are also FAs and Nerlens Noel may not play this yr so they could use Aldrich to try and develop him and if that doesn't work he's a FA anyways so he could be let get of easily.

PG. FELTON

SG. SHUMPERT

SF. ANTHONY

PF. YOUNG

C. CHANDLER

6. Smith, 7. Bargnani, 8. Stoudemire, 9. Artest, 10. Hardaway J.R., 11. Prigioni, 12. Martin, 13. Udrih, 14. Murry, 15. ??? (hopefully C.Smith is waived at some point of the season and Jeremy Tyler is re-obtained once he's healthy.)

So my draft was this past Friday but I had a bout of strep/fever and knocked out whilst the draft was starting. This left me subjected to the CPU automatically picking my team and as far as I'm concerned, it didn't do a good job doing so. I have some pretty good selections I'm happy about like...

Stephen Curry

Serge Ibaka

David West

Mike Conley

Goran Dragic

Tobias Harris - total x-factor

But the rest that rounds out my team I'm not too pleased with because of the fact some of them aren't too good while others won't have significant roles that they are accustomed too on their respective teams.

Kevin Garnett

Brandon Jennings

Omer Asik

Evan Turner

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

Alex Len

Robin Lopez

I knew that in order to change this roster for the better I had to package players in trades because not even my better guys with the exception of Curry are good enough to get extra firepower in a straight up deal. So I traded Serge Ibaka, David West, and Brandon Jennings for Carmelo Anthony. Then I worked the waiver wire by dropping Turner and Len and adding Sessions and Hickson. I plan on keeping Hickson cause he was 13 PPG/11 RPG last season. Sessions was 14/6 but I can afford to use him in trade. I'm trying to get better PF/C than KG and Asik and may package them. I also may pick up Isaiah Thomas from wire to work as a trade piece too.

Right now my team is...

PG.CURRY

SG. DRAGIC

G. CONLEY

SF. MELO

PF. GARNETT

F. HARRIS

C. HICKSON

C. ASIK

U. Sessions

U. R. Lopez

Bench: MKG

Bench:

Bench:

Hopefully, a good wing player is waived by someone so I can snag one up and I can make trades to upgrade my front-court some more. But I think my team is shaping out well from where it began.

Basically, they're practically the same kind of player. Could it be because Bargnani is a current Knick while Gallo is no longer associated with the franchise given that for unbeknownst reasons people that aren't Knicks fans don't like the Knicks.

Gallo is a 6"10 SF that plays like a SG. Andrea Bargnani is a 7fter @ PF/C that plays like a SF. I still like the Rooster even though he no longer is with us and I think he's the best player on the Nuggets. But, like Bargnani Gallo shouldn't be relied on to be the face of the franchise.

1. Both are injury prone --- Bargs has had elbow problems in recent years, Gallo came to the league as a 19 yr old with back problems and now he is recuperating from an ACL tear.

2. They both like to shoot --- Gallo is very skilled at getting to the rim and the line too though. He may be better at that than actual shooting and not the 'best shooter Mike D has ever seen' like he said. Bargnani can put the ball on the floor as a 7ft and has a good face-up game inside but not as good as Gallo's. Bargs is a better shooter.

3. Rebounding/Defense/Passing: They both average less rebounds that their size should state. Gallo is a career 4.7 RPG guy while Bargnani stands at 4.8 RPG. Both are not known for their defense. But, Gallo is actually solid in the low-block and post defense while struggling at perimeter. Bargs is the opposite in that he's a solid man to man defender on the perimeter and struggles defending the post. Passing-wise Gallo is pretty skilled as well and Bargs doesn't average many assists but is a good ball-handler at his size and could pass some.

Bargnani is a better scorer. His 2 best scoring seasons as face of the franchise are 21.4 and 19.5 PPG. When he was Bosh's sidekick his best scoring seasons were 17.2 and 15.4 PPG. The most points he ever scored in a game is 41 and his career PPG average in total is 15.2 PPG on 43.7 FG%, 36.1 3pt%, and 82.5 FT%. Gallo's best offensive seasons are 16.2 and 16 PPG. The most he's ever averaged as a sidekick of Lee and Amar'e in NY are 15.1 and 14.7 PPG. The most points he's scored in a game is 38. Gallo currently averages 14.5 PPG on 41.9 FG%, 36.9 3pt%, 84.4 FT% for his career.

- They can both be either really inconsistent on offense or completely on fire as one tough cover to defend against. Gallo's personality is more fiery as he plays with more of a chip on his shoulder and takes things personal. Bargs is way more low-key and soft-spoken. That's a difference in personality.

Carmelo's defense has always been measured in effort as opposed to ability. When Melo wants to he possesses the necessary tools of being an effective defender. Not the greatest on defense and that's okay but an effective one which is more than all right. He's super strong and has, has good height, and has a lot of lateral quickness. But that's just it in the past the effort wasn't always there.

Since Woodson took over as head coach there's no denying Melo has been a more committed defender. Especially, last season as Melo's defense was actually good especially man 2 man defense on the wings and in the low-block. Help defense he can struggle with especially on the low-block where he is pitted against large massed presence in David West, etc.

If you look @ last year's playoffs Melo did put up the effort defensively. He shutdown Jeff Green in a ton of 2nd halves in the Boston series. And Jeff Green and Brandon Bass were the only ones in that series for Boston worth a damn. KG was hit or miss, Pierce sucked, and Bradley/Terry were terrible for the most part. Against Indiana Melo forced West in Hibbert to a lot of big turnovers down the stretch of games that NY unfortunately couldn't take advantage of. Melo also coaxed Paul George into a lot of bad shots. George had a terrible offensive series against NY and he had trouble taking care of the ball in the series as well and Melo played into that some.

It seems as if the only time that Earl Barron shows he's a viable quality backup in the NBA, is when he's on the Knicks. In 2010, as a rental he excelled and averaged a double-double of 11 PPG/11 RPG in the same starting back-court as David Lee. Since then, he's pretty much bounced in between teams, and in and out of the NBA. Never really carving out his niche to stay on a roster long-term wise.

When the Knicks brought him back this season he picked up where he last left off with the team. In his only game he posted significant numbers 14 points and 18 rebounds. He did this against KG which he posted 14 rebounds on him last yr when he was on the Wizards too.

Barron is a true 7ft to spot Chandler. He has a very well-developed touch on offense from mid-range which is a nice thing to have. He is a banger inside on the offensive and defensive glass which the Knicks need more of being ranked 26th of 30 in total rebounds as a team. Only thing that's alarming is how bad of a defender that he is. Chandler's primary backup should be solid defensively but Barron isn't. But at this late stage of FA he seems the better option over Cole Aldrich,Hamed Haddadi, Chris Wilcox, etc.

Knowing Pringles and believe me I do he will vehemently employ any lineup with Pau @ C because his system in his eyes will thrive with such a versatile big as Pau @ the 5. Reason he couldn't do so last season was that Dwightmare didn't want to play the 4. This would mean that Gasol-Kaman tandem would have to split up as far as starting together goes which is more than fine because Kaman is injury prone and monitoring his minutes could be in the best interest for him and the Lakers. Also the Lakers lack a bench especially in terms of size. Right now the primary backups Pau has are Jordan Hill. Who Mike D has hated ever since NY, Robert Sacre, and Ryan Kelly. LA needs Kaman as Pau's primary backup in terms of depth goes. Who will start alongside Pau then?

My money is on Shawne Williams. Williams is a Mike D system player. Mike D had a hard-on for him in NY where he started @ PF. In NY, he was #1 in 3pt% in the NBA and top 5 in 3 pters made. He could also defend fairly well. But for Mike D the driving factor of why he starts is because he opens up and spreads the floor with his shooting. Every time he takes a few steps up from the 3 line he misses and every time he takes a few steps back into 3 pt land he makes shots. He's a weird phenomenon onto himself.

Nash and Kobe as the back-court is etched in stone. But who will take up the wings @ the 3. That's an open competition between Nick Young and Wes Johnson. But in the end, I feel that Wes Johnson would assume that role. Johnson is younger than Young. More athletic than Young. Plays much better defense than Young. And more importantly, is a better fit in the same lineup with Kobe because Young doesn't pass up shots and it could negatively impact LA's offensive flow at times. Plus Young's scoring ability would be of better use of the bench. For the Lakers sake better hope Young and Mike D get along and it isn't a Mike D power trip like he had with Nate Robinson and a ton of other guys in NY where he'd take them out of the rotation for months on end just to prove a point.

PG. NASH

SG. BRYANT

SF. JOHNSON

PF. WILLIAMS

C. GASOL

6. Young

7. Kaman

8. Blake

9. Farmar

10. Hill

11. Henry

12. Sacre

---. Kelly

---. Harris

2012-2013 DEFENSE:

Ranked 7th in the NBA in points allowed

*If you include points scored off fouls committed they'd be ranked 17th defensively. But that's a bad measure for a defense because sometimes fouls aren't really fouls but bad calls and sometimes a defense is playing great defense despite the fact that they committed a foul. There were times last season NY's defense looked top 3 in the NBA.

- Iman Shumpert the team's best on-ball defender and most relentless defender on the wings missed 37 games due to rehabbing an ACL tear.

- Tyson Chandler the anchor of the team's defense missed 16 games due to injury. Chandler was forced to play a ton of minutes because he had no backup to hold the defense fort down. Wallace played good defense but he missed 67 games due to injury. Camby, Thomas, and Barron/Jones were non-factors. K-Mart was a factor but he's smallish for a C.

- Melo and J.R. Smith were committed on defense especially Melo who had the most efficient yr on defense of his life.

- Prigioni was the team's best pressure defender esp compared to our other PGs. The team's defense while guarding the ball against opposing PG's wasn't exceptional as Felton was burned on defense against other G's but most of that happened after his broken hand. Before that he held his own on defense.

2012-2013 OFFENSE:

Ranked 11th in points scored; Ranked 3rd in offensive efficiency

- 2 biggest issues were that NY lacked post scoring outside of Melo. Also when teams decide not to double or triple Melo there isn't enough spacing created for the team's shooters. With tight spacing the 3pt shooting fell completely off the map and guys like Kidd, Novak, etc. struggled to score.

2012-2013 PLAYOFFS DEFENSE:

Ranked #1 of 16 in points allowed and both Boston/Indiana shot terrible %s against NY's defense. The factor that ultimately did NY in was their lack of rebounding against the NBA's best rebounding team Indiana, but rebounding is just as much a offensive stat as it is a defensive one.

2012-2013 PLAYOFF OFFENSE:

Ranked #16 of 16 in points scored. On top of the fact there was no post scoring other than Melo. Boston and Indiana didn't double or triple him and it resulted in tight spacing so Novak didn't play because without spacing he's useless as a spot-up shooter. Kidd as a spot-up shooter took plenty of shots but went 0 for his last 22 and finished on 3-22 shooting through 2 series'. Smith didn't have as much room to penetrate without the doubles so he settled for jumpers and missed a ton as well. When Smith is penetrating it opens up the rest of his game offensively. When he isn't he could struggle on top of that he was hurt.

Amar'e Stoudemire was never more than 65% healthy last season because he was always setback by inflammation to his knees because of knee de-bridgement surgery which is a minor procedure that doesn't effect a player long-term. Therefore, Stat was on 15-20 minutes restriction when he played and NY lacked depth and were also injured in the front-court last season so Stat had to play in back-to-back situations because there was no other choice.

Stat averaged 14.2 PPG and 5 RPG with 57.7 FG% and 80.2 FT%. That's amazing production for 15-20 min reduction. He was looking like his 20/8 Stat self with the addition of having a post game on offense for once.

It took KG 30 MPG to average 14.8 PPG, 7.8 RPG on 49.7 FG% and 78.9 FT%. Stat nearly eclipsed these numbers in half the playing time practically.

This season NY's strength is in their front-court so Stat will be restricted to the 15-20 min mark of play again. But this time around he will also be held out of the 18 back-to-back games NY will have this season either the firsts or seconds of the back-to-back situation. To maintain a chance that he has a healthy season. Kind of like what Popovich does with Duncan, Ginobili, and sometimes Parker throughout the course of a regular season. Essentially, this could keep Stat's durability intact. Stat will also not participate this time in the Hakeem camp even though it yielded positive results for him because it overworked him to the point where he got injured.

Last season NY's biggest need on offense was post scoring. Melo was the only one that continuously could score in the post. Stat worked on this area of his game and results showed just that until he re-injured himself. This season Artest could help score in the post but Stat will have a large role to fill out this need if everything pans out.

The fact that this is NY's biggest need on offense shows that Stat is more important to NY than Granger is to Indiana. In fact, Granger is as injury prone as Stat and they're the same age. Indiana has shown to play better without him too. George struggled his 1st 3 seasons in the NBA as a SG on the wings with Granger @ SF. Also even with playing well this season Indiana isn't a regular season team they play better in the post-season so there aren't any assurances they finish higher in the standings than NY.

Of course Rose is the most important player on the Bulls as he gives them extra star power. However, they lost Bellinelli and Robinson to FA. Dunleavy is a nice addition but isn't impervious to injuries. What happens if he has an off year too? Rose also hasn't played a real game in a little over a year so there's rust. Not to mention Hinrich the 6th man suffered a major injury in the playoffs and if he isn't ready for the reg season the inexperienced Marquis Teague will have to log a lot of minutes. Luol Deng too suffered a serious injury and he's injury prone.

In 2 playoff series Melo absolutely abused Pierce in the head 2 heads.

Melo can defend Pierce and has done so beautifully in the past but Pierce cannot defend Melo. Melo didn't even need to defend Pierce these playoffs because he was guarding a combination of Green and Bass while Felton who's 7 inches shorter than Pierce pretty much shut him down and he was playing with a practically broken hand too. Pierce could not even get by a much shorter/relatively injured player.

All Pierce did in the playoffs was force contested jumpers. He shot 30% and below in most of the games and averaged 18.6 PPG. He did average nearly 5 APG in the series but averaged 4 TOs too.

Melo torched him in a lot of those games over and over and over again.

In the first playoff series between the 2 Billups practically missed the entire series. Stat missed 2 games and played injured in the next 2. Melo had to carry a starting lineup of Toney Douglas, Landry Fields, Shawne Williams, and Ronny Turiaf with a supporting cast of Billy Walker, Shelden Williams, Roger Mason, and Anthony Carter against a team with a championship pedigree. Not to mention NY was coached by the idiot of all idiots Mike D'Antoni who was badly outcoached by Doc Rivers.

Yet Melo had a game for the ages against Pierce: 42 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block and almost took the Knicks to an upset W.

This yr in the reg season Melo only had 1 bad game against BOS it was the Honey Nut Cheerios game. The other 3 he pretty much obliterated BOS.

The name of 1 of his rap songs that's the background of this sick mix of his. He's magnificence in the making as a player too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ngkrEtQXs%E2%80%8...

The training staff, Woody, and upper-management are all on board with keeping STAT out of the first or second of back-to-back games this season in order to ensure that he'll be ready for the playoffs without any setbacks. Meaning that Melo will get to play PF more but Martin and Tyler would have to take Stat's minutes/spot in the rotation and sub-in for Bargnani and Chandler. So in games that Stat doesn't play Tyler is the replacement. Its not like last season where the PF/C spot was injury riddled and lacking in production. Stat, Sheed, Camby, and Thomas all missed substantial time. So much so that NY had to thankfully sign K-Mart midway through the season after trying out journeymen Solomon Jones and Earl Barron too.

Although Ivan Johnson is a banger which NY could use a bit more of Tyler is a bigger body and 8yrs Johnson's junior. Johnson has peaked as a chiseled 6"8 PF that's game isn't pretty on offense or defense inside but effective. He can also hit a 10-15 footer.

Tyler on the other hand is the proper size for an NBA PF/C and has a world of athleticism and length. He has great footwork on offense and could also step outside and hit some jumpers. He has a lot of untapped potential and if he stays with it he could really be something.

Bringing back Al Harrington could be a possibility as well as other remaining possibilities include Toure Murry, Bobby Brown, Ivan Johnson, DeShawn Stevenson, or Dahntay Jones to fill out the last roster spot. The 15th man has to be a good decision because if there's injury or suspensions I don't want what happened this yr to happen next yr where the likes of James White 15th man had to start 16 games for such reasons. If NY fills out its roster better make it with one that can play because it was torture watching White start.

Nikola Pekovic is asking a $15M deal to extend his contract with the team. That's chump change for the quality player that he is and is still becoming. He's probably the most intimidating scorer in the low-post the NBA has right now. He's put up some monster double-doubles over the last 2 seasons like 30/20 games. Not to mention he averaged 16.3 PPG/8.8 RPG this season and 14 PPG/7.4 RPG in 11-12'. The RPG averages being the most impressive being that he can average those many rebounds playing in the same front-court as K.Love who gobbles up boards by the dozens.

15M is considerably less than what Roy Hibbert received from Indiana and Hibbert puts up pretty much the same numbers as Pek. Given Hibbert is defensively there while Pek still has a ways to go defensively. But being that the NBA is void of promising big men it would be a no brain decision for Minny to pony up and give Pek a $15M deal that he's earned. OJ Mayo, Kyle Korver, etc. received well over $15M in the FA market its ridiculous. DeAndre Jordan was given a $40M deal by the LAC and he was nowhere near as productive as Pek.

Lillard, Williams, and McCollum could all play off-the-ball @ the 2 spot so I take it they will all get more than enough MPG and work lineups where any two of them play together. Lillard wouldn't b be forced to lead the NBA in MPG like he was last season. This would mean less minutes for the only pure PG they have in Earl Watson which is GOOD because he's a 4th string PG with a lot of veteran savvy and could put up productive minutes from time to time when needed.

PG. LILLARD

SG. MATTHEWS

SF. BATUM

PF. ALDRIDGE

C. LOPEZ

6. Mo-Will

7. McCollum

8. D-Wright

9. T-Rob

10. Leonard

11. Crabbe

12. Watson

---. Claver

---. Barton

---. Freeland

Ron Artest

Kenyon Martin

J.R. Smith

Are labeled THUGS. Yet Artest and Martin know who they are and are true to who they are. They don't apologize for who they are. Neither does J.R. Smith for that matter. Artest has been a loose cannon pretty much since entering the NBA he's a dirty player I admit it and is one of those players that could beat anyone in a test of strength and you don't want to mess with him. At 33 yrs old he came back 12 days after a season-ending type of injury. That's showing tough as nails heart. Not only that but he had one of his better offensive seasons in a while and was still an elite defender holding guys like KD, Randolph, Harden, etc. to some of their lowest point totals of the season. He has reformed some too despite some cases of the old Ron chiming in like his elbow to Harden's face.

K-Mart when he signed with the Knicks admitted that his tact oftentimes comes around @ the wrong time but it's definitely in a good place because he plays the game with a passion/intensity. He is a high-impact player and was a big midway season addition for the Knicks.

Last J.R. Smith comes with baggage and immaturity issues but he's a good kid at heart as expressed by a number of his teammates. He is a very quiet demeanor which would shock some people as they initially sight him. Under Mike Woodson he has matured wonderfully and its a growing process as he can continue.

You go around the NBA teams like Indiana. David West. Isn't he the one that grabbed Tim Duncan by the neck in a playoff series back in the day? Roy Hibbert didn't he purposefully knock Stephen Curry to the ground because he was showing them up and then he wanted no part of David Lee after Lee tried to defend his teammate. Then there's Tyler Hansbrough who isn't a part of Indy anymore but wasn't he the one that smacked Carmelo Anthony dead in the face with malcontent when Melo drove the lane?

When the Knicks try and reciprocate against a physical team like this in a series the Pacers got to the line 60x to NY's 20 and NY are called a bunch of THUGS.

Chris Andersen on MIA was arrested for having paraphernalia of 12 yr old girls and he isn't labeled a thug and praised for the part he played on the Heat as an instrumental late-season pickup.

KG is one of the biggest thugs in the NBA. Trying to fight smaller players like PGs. Talking about another man's wife, and then purposefully grabbing his arm to pull it down and further separate his shoulder in a playoff series because he was frustrated Melo was giving it to the Celtics.

I don't think that if the BK Nets do struggle J.Kidd should be assessed with the blame. I think that J.Kidd ONE DAY will make an excellent coach. While I agree that he's too inexperienced to take a HC position right off the bat and should of done what Brian Shaw and Mark Jackson did before getting their shot in Shaw's case being an assistant coach for many years to learn the nuances of what it is to coach and Jackson being a color analyst for many years to closely watch the games and how coaches do certain things while the game is in action. I think the roster should be more at fault than Kidd. This isn't a good roster to have for a 1st time coach because of the hype it generates and the fact that a lot of their players look DONE...

Paul Pierce had a horrible year for his standards this past season and in the playoffs he was horrible. He had to play SG and was primarily guarded by Raymond Felton who played SG for NY in the series. Felton was playing with practically a broken hand and is 7 inches shorter than Pierce and Pierce could not get by Felton for the life of him. All he did was jack up contested jumpers and missed most of them as well as gimme lay-ups. Pierce was never a solid defender even in his prime. Now that he's out of his prime he's even worse @ this end.

Joe Johnson is one of the most overrated players in the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks never really needed him and played @ the same record pace with or without him. For the past 5-6 seasons he's been in decline. Even in his better days he was on the overrated end of things. Doesn't defend well at all.

KG had himself a good season and showed he can still anchor a defense but he is 37 years old. How much more can he take. In the playoffs he also looked a little spent as well.

Jason Terry is a chuck-up artist who had a terrible season and he's way in decline right now. He doesn't play d either.

Deron Williams and Brook Lopez will be the focal points but as good as D-Will is he can be rather unfocused at times and let's lesser guys like Nate Robinson and Kirk Hinrich get the better of him. Meanwhile, for how good Brook Lopez is offensively as a C he's a sub-par defender and a very bad rebounder @ 7 ft. He also isn't that good offensively when doubled and put pressure on.

AK47 is a good signing and they got him on the cheap. Andray Blatche also re-signed on the cheap but he's very inconsistent and sometimes shoots too much for his own good. He can be a headcase. Reggie Evans provides toughness and rebounding inside but he's an offensive liability at times. That's pretty much it for Mirza Teletovic, Mason Plumlee, Tyshawn Taylor, and Tornike Shengelia pretty much SUCK and Shaun Livingston hasn't been the same since that gruesome leg injury of his and isn't even a top 15-20 backup PG.

"Griz, Grit, and Grind" had a lot of Grit and Grind but not a whole lot of Fly this past season. Not having reliable outside scoring put them in tough situations when shots weren't falling for them on the inside.

However, by bringing back Mike Miller they fixed that. Miller is one of the best 3pt scorers in the NBA and he is an underrated defender, passer, and rebounder as well. He isn't expected to play the same minutes or average 20 PPG like he did the last time he was a Grizzly but he does make them better by addressing an obvious need of theirs.

Not only him. The Grizzlies drafted Jamaal Franklin, who not only is a freak of an athlete - but he can score in electric-like fashion. He's a big upgrade from what MEM had in Austin Daye because despite the fact Daye is a very good outside shooter he's rail thin @ 6"11 and cannot defend for the life of him right now. Tony Wroten is also there and will get a bit more playing time this season as a 2nd yr player than what he did in MEM as a rookie. Grizzlies also added Summer League standout Josh Akognon who was waived from his team the Mavericks. Akognon is another sharpshooter from 3. Grizzlies have 3 playmakers off the bench that could come in and fill-in for Conley while last season they only had Jerryd Bayless (more of a SG) and Keyon Dooling pretty much. They got younger and more explosive offensively in their back-court. Not to mention they will have Donte Greene for a full season now and with a full off-season to condition his past injury he'd give them a PF/SF that can spread the floor from 3pt range and has a lot of athletic ability.

Miller, Franklin, Akognon, Wroten (more pt), and Greene (full-season) added to Bayless and Pondexter gives them more scoring threats. They will now have Fly added to Grit and Grind. Not to mention getting Kosta Koufos for Darrell Arthur may be one of the off-season's most underrated moves because Kofous had a solid season as the starting C for DEN and he's a true C that stays healthy. While Arthur is undersized and injury prone. Not to mention doesn't have the starting experience that Koufos has. Kofous will be a good backup for Gasol.

They did lose a very good coach in Lionel Hollins but David Joerger was Hollins' assistant and is his replacement. Joerger also was the defensive specialist that had Memphis as the best defensive team in the NBA. He's been the assistant coach for MEM for 7 yrs so there's familiarity he knows the team.

Yes Chandler still has 2yrs/$28.69M left on his 4yr/$58M deal and is 30 and suffered debilitating injuries down the stretch of the season that left him not looking like himself in the playoffs. However, he is more essential to the Knicks than Amar'e Stoudemire. Stat is still owed 2yrs/$45.09M of his 5yr/$100M contract assuming that the Knicks don't use the early termination clause of the contract before the start of the last year.

Yes Stat averaged 14.2 PPG in a 15-18 minute restriction interval but he's far been more injury prone than Chandler. Stat has been injury prone since inking the contract and although when healthy and with the work he put in with Hakeem to newly develop his post offense moves he's a fit for the team's necessity for a low-post scorer he still isn't worth more than Chandler.

Chandler really isn't injury prone since he's been a Knick and was suffered a really bad hand towards the end of this season. Chandler had a great year this season. Chandler became the only Knick other than Willis Reed to post three consecutive 20+ rebounding games this season. Not to mention Chandler was voted to his 1st All-star team selection as well. 11.3 PPG/10.7 RPG and led the NBA in FG% for the 2nd straight season @ 63.8%. Tyson was on par of being the only player since Wilt Chamberlain to shoot 70% from the field in a season for a large portion of the season.

Chandler played through 60 games without sitting down for a single injury. He and Smith were the only Knicks not to sit out a game due to injury until the injury bug hit. Then he sat out a couple of weeks only to return earlier than expected instead of sitting the rest of the season out and return to the playoffs. This early return could of done more bad than good.

The thing is that the Knicks should not be looking to trade Chandler because he's worth so much to this team and is the one that truly anchors our defense. The problem is that the guy is relied on too much and needs an adequate back-up. Due to the injuries of Camby, Wallace, and Thomas Melo had to play the role of backup C to Chandler at times as did K-Mart and K-Mart is practically the same size as Melo. Even Copeland had to play some C. Tyson Chandler could be a shoe-in for DPOY if NY does right by him and brings in a big that can come in for Tys and produces - Drew Gooden, Jeremy Tyler, etc. are guys that can fit the bill. Not what he's had in Jared Jeffries, Rasheed Wallace, Marcus Camby, and Kurt Thomas.

Chandler is 30 yrs old and soon to be a 14 yr pro so what you see is what you get with him in terms of his offensive versatility in the low-block. He isn't a face-up nor back-to-the-basket guy. He will get you points off lobs and hustle plays and can shoot well enough at the FT line to get you points. However, he means a lot to the franchise and shouldn't be the one of the large salaried big men in NY to get tossed aside. In fact he's still in his prime, both career and athletic --- he just needs an adequate back-up to take minutes off of his body of work so that he can maintain healthy.

what makes a player good or not.

I've watched a lot of basketball through the years and some of the best players in NBA history did not have this ability. Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Gary Payton, Julius Erving, and the list goes on and on. All great players but they cannot make others better.

In fact the only players in my lifetime that have made everyone around them better are few and far between. LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, John Stockton, and Sam Cassell are some of these players. I'd include Magic but he isn't part of my lifetime.

People criticize the likes of Carmelo Anthony for not making the rest of his teammates better but that isn't a part of his game like it isn't for many others. Melo gets criticized and labeled a "ballhog" when the truth of the matter is that's an unfair label on him.

In the past yes he would be more inclined to hoist shots up off of double and triple teams on a normal basis. But this past season Melo did a better job of trusting his teammates and giving the ball up in these situations. He may or may not have given off the assist but by him giving the ball up he engineered the play and put the ball in motion. Even if he wasn't the one who gets credited with the assist he gets a hockey assist in forming the play. He did a lot of this in 2013-2014.

The fact that he shoots a lot and doesn't average a ton of assists shouldn't place him as a ball-hog. The reason he shoots a lot is because the Knicks give him the ball a lot off broken plays where he has to bail the team out of a bad possession as the shot clock is winding down. When Melo played under the Mike D offense he only shot 15-18x a game and was playing through 3 injuries at the same time and people were on him that he didn't shoot enough. Now that he's in an offense tailor made for him under Mike Woodson he gets the label of shooting too much.

The Knicks had a lot of scoring depth but a lot of injury problems, lack of post scoring, and inconsistent scorers made Melo's role on the team as the guy who needed to get off 20+ touches a night just to have the team in a position to win games. You could see this in J.R. Smith laying a brick-house in the playoffs, Jason Kidd going 0-22 in 10 playoff games from the field, Felton playing too many minutes and injured, Chandler's lack of post scoring, or Iman Shumpert not being aggressive enough to take over some of the offensive reigns just yet in his short career.

Melo holds career average of 3.5 APG which is decent enough for a SF that is most comfortable as a PF. 3.5 APG for his career and 2.6 APG this season is okay for a PF. Assists aren't the deciding factor of what makes a player selfish or not anyways.