As objective take as possible

[bruincoach]

1) Look at the standings and we are currently 7th. That's not bad considering the destined to be up and downs of a team with a totally brand new roster. The bucks and bobcats are NOT better than us so that is 2 more spots to climb. The bulls ad celtics are in the mix to be BUT Chicago shouldn't be with drose out2) have any of you ever coached? I only coach high school sports (head football coach) and did basketball for 8 years varsity and jv...here is what you must know. By talent JOSH has to be out here BUT he will kill you as a coach. Talented but untrainable. It takes other PLAYERS to control crazies i.e. rid man and Jordan. That's the biggest need for a vical leader. Josh has to be harnessed by them no ld. He can't ld is smaller than smoove. I really believe wih a small forward of the tyshaun prince mold we could be really good3) I bet money that ferry is at least fielding interest in smoove. See what he and Gilbert said about letting lebron walk4) Knicks, heat are the only teams that are CLEARLY better than us in the east. No one else is5). To many people panicking. This is a marathon not a sprint

[AHawks89]

Knicks are not that good. Just off to a hot start IMO. Speaking of the terrible Knicks, Woodson just had a one-on-one interview with Bobby Knight on ESPN. The joy of watching media over hype big market teams, regardless who the players or coaches are.

And Josh just needs a coach like Thibz, Doc, Popz, Phil, etc. He needs a coach that disciplines and has the good resume. The way how Josh is so stubborn, I don't see him changinged anytime soon unless we get a good coach. Players won't do anything.

[bruincoach]

Don't agree. All those guys have strong leaders. Good coaches need good strong players as leadersKnicks aren't great. More solid in the top 7 than us overall. We are deeper

[Jizzle]

I think you guys are crazyI think the Knicks have everything needed to upset the heatGo to scorer- MeloLeader - Kidd, ChandlerBig Man- Chandler, Wallace, Camby (if needed)Solid PG- Felton, Kid3pt Shooter - Novak, Smith, MeloScoring off the bench - SmithD on the wing- Brewerif they can get amre and schempert to by in then they'll give the Heat a run

[bruincoach]

I think the Knicks are good but not GREaT like the heat. Are they good enough to beat the heat in a 7 games series? Yes. Are the hawks good enough to eat them Knicks? Yes. Are the hawks good enough to beat the heat? As weird as it sounds...noJust my opinion

[Diesel]

I think the hometeam bias is rearing it's head again. That's fine because that is what we do but let's just not call it OBJECTIVE.Teams that are better than us...Knicks, Heat, Brooklyn, Boston, Philly, Chicago, and Indiana. These teams have the talent to take us into a 7 game series and dismantle us in a halfcourt game. That's what happens in the playoffs. You would think we'd figure it out but we haven't. Right now, we have way too many guys living on the perimeter and we haven't established a post game. Nowhere. No post game. This is truble... When the shots don't fall, we find ourselves in a whole heap of trouble because a guy like Smoove is prone to try to make something happen. We also have suspect coaching. Say what you want, LD makes some idiotic decisions. His treatment of Teague is case in point. I would hate to see us lose Teague at the end of the year because we mistreated him during the 4 years he was with us. Vet teams like Boston, NY, and Brooklyn got their stuff in order. They know who they are and what they do well. That's why we will not beat them in a 7 game series. The interesting thing about NY is that Amare hasn't played 1 moment. You know how beastly Amare can play. Ask Horf. If they are able to move Amare into the rotation they will be even stronger. The thing about Boston is that for years, they have forsaken the regular season and took their chances in the post season. Miami is Miami. Miami will get all the calls.

[macdaddy]

I think the hometeam bias is rearing it's head again. That's fine because that is what we do but let's just not call it OBJECTIVE. Teams that are better than us... Knicks, Heat, Brooklyn, Boston, Philly, Chicago, and Indiana. These teams have the talent to take us into a 7 game series and dismantle us in a halfcourt game. That's what happens in the playoffs. You would think we'd figure it out but we haven't. Right now, we have way too many guys living on the perimeter and we haven't established a post game. Nowhere. No post game. This is truble... When the shots don't fall, we find ourselves in a whole heap of trouble because a guy like Smoove is prone to try to make something happen. We also have suspect coaching. Say what you want, LD makes some idiotic decisions. His treatment of Teague is case in point. I would hate to see us lose Teague at the end of the year because we mistreated him during the 4 years he was with us. Vet teams like Boston, NY, and Brooklyn got their stuff in order. They know who they are and what they do well. That's why we will not beat them in a 7 game series. The interesting thing about NY is that Amare hasn't played 1 moment. You know how beastly Amare can play. Ask Horf. If they are able to move Amare into the rotation they will be even stronger. The thing about Boston is that for years, they have forsaken the regular season and took their chances in the post season. Miami is Miami. Miami will get all the calls.

I'm not seeing Philly and Indy as better than us right now. We will see how Philly does when/if Bynum plays. Both those teams have some problems. I agree we don't have great post play but our biggest issue is defending the wing. Playing Boston, Miami, and Brooklyn we will see if these guys can make team defense work. Like you said it's about chemistry and it's possible they can't play good enough D. Right now it requires a lot of Deshawn and a lot of gambling and scrambling.

[Wretch]

New York is for real. They've beaten Miami and Philly twice. They've been San Antonio and Dallas. They've also beaten Indiana. I'm not sold that they can take Miami in a series, but they're for real. Miami is the team to beat in the East and Chicago will be a different team when DRose gets back. That's your top 3 with a few teams waddling around in the middle.Brooklyn looks good against bad teams. Even though the Lakers are suspect right now, they're still the Lakers with Kobe, D12, Nash, Gasol, and Artest. And Brooklyn made it respectable. Same as with NY, the Nets are playing good defense. These are decent teams. Philly is doing ok without Bynum and I figure that Indiana will eventually shake the funk off and pick up the pace. Boston will be fine.The question is...where do we fit?New YorkMiamiChicagoWe're not up there.BrooklynPhillyIndianaBostonWe're probably somewhere in there.Milwaukee hasn't beaten anybody, but they're good at putting points on the board. So what we're talking about is...we might be a 4-5 seed. I'm sure we'll make the playoffs, but forgive me if I don't share the optimism.Josh Smith is a problem and I can't understand why people are still looking at him like he's a scoring option. He isn't. He is a complimentary scorer (who should be no higher than #3 on anybody's team), but he shoots the ball like an All-Pro. Josh's impact is on the glass, on defense, and on the break. Until Josh gets that through his head, we will struggle. We need a post presence and we need firepower...but I've been singing this song and dance too long.Josh should be traded and rebuilding should start.

Edited November 21, 2012 by Wretch

[Diesel]

I'm not seeing Philly and Indy as better than us right now. We will see how Philly does when/if Bynum plays. Both those teams have some problems. I agree we don't have great post play but our biggest issue is defending the wing. Playing Boston, Miami, and Brooklyn we will see if these guys can make team defense work. Like you said it's about chemistry and it's possible they can't play good enough D. Right now it requires a lot of Deshawn and a lot of gambling and scrambling.

You say that because of a right now thing. Look at the talent they have. Starting with Jrue. He's bonafied. They are a winning team without Bynum. Coaching wise, Collins will coach circles around LD but like us, they changed their lineup a lot. Unlike us, they have talent at every position. Indy does have identity problems right now. That's because they got too much talent. They moved Hill to PG... they play Gerald Green and Lance Stephenson at the 2 and Paul George at the 3. George has to find his space and a better 2 could help them... but once Paul takes over that 3 the way that he can, they will be hard to stop. What you see now is just George Hill adjusting (after injury) to a new position and Paul adjusting to a new role.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

New York is for real. They've beaten Miami and Philly twice. They've been San Antonio and Dallas. They've also beaten Indiana. I'm not sold that they can take Miami in a series, but they're for real. Miami is the team to beat in the East and Chicago will be a different team when DRose gets back. That's your top 3 with a few teams waddling around in the middle. Brooklyn looks good against bad teams. Even though the Lakers are suspect right now, they're still the Lakers with Kobe, D12, Nash, Gasol, and Artest. And Brooklyn made it respectable. Same as with NY, the Nets are playing good defense. These are decent teams. Philly is doing ok without Bynum and I figure that Indiana will eventually shake the funk off and pick up the pace. Boston will be fine.

I agree. And the way you can tell that the Knicks are forreal, is that they're not fooling around at all with the bad teams, and can go toe to toe with the good ones. And you can easily justify the loss to the Griz when you see that the night before, they had to go to San Antonio and won a tough game down there. The only question with the Knicks, is if Amare and Shumpert will mess up the chemistry when they come back. Honestly, Woody should seriously think about bringing Amare off the bench ( but still getting him 30 - 35 minutes a night ). He and Melo seem to not mix together ( especially defensively ). But now, the Knicks have a top notch defensive team, while also doing it on offense. Brooklyn reminds me of the 2009 - 10 Hawks, with the way they could take care of bad teams, but struggle vs good teams. JJ is struggling big time with his shot, mainly because Avery is turning him more into a spot up shooter, instead of a guy who works off Isolation. He's missing his floater also. And he can't score in the post either. Like Josh Smith, we'll see if this is an anomaly or a future trend.

[bruincoach]

No way is Indiana better than us even if granger is healthy. Philly is not great but there are some guys I wish we had. Young, jrue, but Bynum is ALWAYS hurt and is very immatureChicago without rise is not better than us. Better in the front court maybe depending on how josh is playingCeltics are old but I don't mind them being put ahead of us because of their defense and accomplishments. Diesel you don't know it all and neither do i

[Wretch]

I think there are about 3 teams in the east clearly better than us right now. And for me, that's all that really matters. Where we are in the pecking order behind those guys doesn't really matter in the long run. I don't see the depth to go blow for blow with these guys...except maybe the Knicks. And with the way they play defense, I don't see us in the conversation.What's funny is, I think trading Josh might be addition by subtraction. Josh is takes A LOT of shots. He takes a lot of BAD shots. It's comical really, but let's not digress. You take those shots away from him, and give Horf/Teague priority and you've got a better team already. You take away those bad shots, and you're making double the improvement. What remains to be seen is how the positive impact of what he brings would be missed...which is why I say he MIGHT be addition by subtraction. The flip side of that is that taking away what he brings to this team as well as taking away the bad may just negate the move.It's a sticky and complicated situation to be sure. I wouldn't settle if I was DF though. TBH, I would just as soon let him walk or try a sign and trade in the offseason than get screwed on a trade.

[bruincoach]

I love smoove when he's attacking and like all other people he drives me crazy shooting jumpers. He played great for a while and then all of a sudden he hangs out on the perimeter forcing shots. I still stand by the fact he needs a dominate personality to get after him as a player( Kobe, Paul pierce, lbj, etc..)Al can't shoot 1/10 at the free throw line but he still plays so much harder despite being way less athletic than josh. I don't see that happening againI think a decent small forward or big man would be great to get get from Josh. Just a workhorse at either position. I think gortat and a filler is a dream. Heck after tonight sherapin and singleton would be great. LolIn any case I'm telling you because of lebron I don't see ferry letting josh just walk

[Diesel]

No way is Indiana better than us even if granger is healthy. Philly is not great but there are some guys I wish we had. Young, jrue, but Bynum is ALWAYS hurt and is very immature Chicago without rise is not better than us. Better in the front court maybe depending on how josh is playing Celtics are old but I don't mind them being put ahead of us because of their defense and accomplishments. Diesel you don't know it all and neither do i

Bruin, it's all subjective. But based on several years of watching and studying basketball.

[bruincoach]

Buddy I've coached bball for 9 years and watched nba and the hawks for 15. Been a season ticket holder for 7. So I agree. I'm not wrong and you aren't either. Just different perspectives