Cle Early in the NBA

[glm38]

Watching some of a Knicks game tonight. Cle is getting some significant PT. He looks good and is getting some love from the announcers. If he stays healthy I'll bet he has solid pro career.

The Knicks are just horrendous though. What a waste of a once proud franchise. Not sure if they are better with Carmelo or without him? Hopefully Early is smart enough to steer clear of his bad example.

[uniftw]

Watching some of a Knicks game tonight. Cle is getting some significant PT. He looks good and is getting some love from the announcers. If he stays healthy I'll bet he has solid pro career.

The Knicks are just horrendous though. What a waste of a once proud franchise. Not sure if they are better with Carmelo or without him? Hopefully Early is smart enough to steer clear of his bad example.

They'd be much better off without him because they could dump his salary and actually sign some real talent at every other position

[Shoxfan11]

I recently read "The Jordan Rules", which is a book about the Chicago Bulls' 90-91 season (their first championship season). There are plenty of Phil Jackson quotes in the book, and he talks about how he hated certain teams at the time because all they did was go after "stars" who didn't make their teammates better. He talked about the Knicks teams that he played on that obviously had some of the best players in the league, but were based off of defensive play and teamwork, and he felt that that's how teams should be. Heck, a lot of that was the inspiration for the triangle offense that Phil Jackson ran (thanks to Tex Winter). Of course he had a star in Chicago but the triangle allowed for other members of the team to step up.

This is why I'm really confused as to why, after becoming GM of the Knicks, signing Carmelo Anthony to a new deal was such a priority of his. Carmelo has never been known to make his teammates better. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like Jackson practices what he preaches. I was happy for Cle to go to the Knicks since it's where he's from and I thought he'd get a good deal of PT, but I'm not sure if he will when Carmelo comes back.

[uniftw]

I think Phil fell victim to the typical NYK fan pressure of we need big names and his "I can handle anyone" mentality. That saddled him financially and will be a death blow to NYK for a long time

[glm38]

I recently read "The Jordan Rules", which is a book about the Chicago Bulls' 90-91 season (their first championship season). There are plenty of Phil Jackson quotes in the book, and he talks about how he hated certain teams at the time because all they did was go after "stars" who didn't make their teammates better. He talked about the Knicks teams that he played on that obviously had some of the best players in the league, but were based off of defensive play and teamwork, and he felt that that's how teams should be. Heck, a lot of that was the inspiration for the triangle offense that Phil Jackson ran (thanks to Tex Winter). Of course he had a star in Chicago but the triangle allowed for other members of the team to step up.

This is why I'm really confused as to why, after becoming GM of the Knicks, signing Carmelo Anthony to a new deal was such a priority of his. Carmelo has never been known to make his teammates better. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like Jackson practices what he preaches. I was happy for Cle to go to the Knicks since it's where he's from and I thought he'd get a good deal of PT, but I'm not sure if he will when Carmelo comes back.

I read that book years ago. Pretty fascinating.

Carmelo really bothers me as a player. He has as much talent as anyone in the game outside of Lebron. But he's just not a winner. The Knicks were so foolish to sign him long term. The Knicks have a history of making horrible decisions for the past few decades though.

[pawball]

My brother, I Jerseyite long time Knick fan, opined to me that Isaiah Thomas killed the Knicks from the time he began until he left. Still, no sense at all, knowing Jackson's history, that he would think having Carmelo would be a positive thing. Unless Phil got caught up in his own guru hype and thought that he could improve anyone, including the clueless Anthony. Maybe Phil failed to take into account that Carmelo is clueless. And maybe a few months from now Carmelo will have been madeover into a new, better playa. Personally, I wouldn't bet on that being achievable. The good thing may be that Cleanthony can pick up some good pointers from Phil.

[mathewson10]

Watching some of a Knicks game tonight. Cle is getting some significant PT. He looks good and is getting some love from the announcers. If he stays healthy I'll bet he has solid pro career.

The Knicks are just horrendous though. What a waste of a once proud franchise. Not sure if they are better with Carmelo or without him? Hopefully Early is smart enough to steer clear of his bad example.

They'd be much better off without him because they could dump his salary and actually sign some real talent at every other position

Why would you get rid of him? 2nd rounders have team options. No guaranteed money & makes minimal amount. Perfect fit for a rebuilding team.

[Shockerfan13]

Watching some of a Knicks game tonight. Cle is getting some significant PT. He looks good and is getting some love from the announcers. If he stays healthy I'll bet he has solid pro career.

The Knicks are just horrendous though. What a waste of a once proud franchise. Not sure if they are better with Carmelo or without him? Hopefully Early is smart enough to steer clear of his bad example.

They'd be much better off without him because they could dump his salary and actually sign some real talent at every other position

Why would you get rid of him? 2nd rounders have team options. No guaranteed money & makes minimal amount. Perfect fit for a rebuilding team.

I took it that he was talking about Melo.

[mathewson10]

I took it that he was talking about Melo.

Awww my bad! That's what i get for reading the fan forum while holding a baby!