You may hear talk radio personalities (points at Colin Cowherd) bash Melo on a daily basis. When you are a superstar criticism is warranted because who else is the media going to talk about? Now that LeBron has one his ring who else can they pick on? Points to Melo, but even when pointing you know that Melo is a top 10 player in the league. Being in the Big Apple puts a magnifying glass over your every move, this is something that Melo signed up for when leaving Denver via trade.
We all know Melo is a scoring machine but he will have to work on a few parts in his game to become better in the off season. He has the tools to make the improvements needed. My question is after losing to the Pacers 4-2 will his teammates make the necessary improvements? Or will the front office get some players who can fit with Melo?
During the series we saw Roy Hibbert look like an all world center playing against Tyson Chandler. If Chandler isn’t being an anchor on defense what else is he going to provide the team? I know it’s not a low post threat. Chandler lives by the dunk or die motto. To make matters worse he’s on the books for major coin.
Can somebody please put out an ABP out for J.R. Smith? The reigning 6th man hasn’t been right since he dropped the people’s elbow on Jason Terry in the first round. It was all good just an elbow ago. Word on the street is Rihanna put that voodoo on him, I’m not mad at him for doing his thing but he damn sure picked the wrong time to mess with the athlete killer. Not only did the Knicks lose the series but AR JR loss a lot of coin with his amber alert performance.
Jason Kidd didn’t make a shot all series. I know, I know, the great Jason Kidd isn’t a scorer but not a shot at all? He’s been giving the Knicks timely shooting all year. Seems like Kidd will be turning NBA AARP card soon just like Sheed did earlier this year, Marcus Camby may not be that far behind them.
Amar’e hasn’t been healthy during key points during playoff runs if he can even be a sixth man type to help carry some offensive scoring it would do wonders for the Knicks chances. The Knicks are still stuck with Amar’e for two more years so I know they hope he can be healthy because a trade featuring their max player seems highly unlikely.
Now back to Melo with so much uncertainty one thing he can do himself is control how he works on his game during the offseason. He’s a scorer, he doesn’t have to be LeBron but he does have to do a better job at setting his teammates up it will help him in the long run. Defensive effort would be another thing Melo should hang his hat on during the offseason. No matter how you look at Melo in the overall spectrum, he left it all on the line against the Pacers during the series. Sometimes it’s easy to point at the superstar as the problem because he makes the most money, has the most endorsements , exc. , exc. but Knicks fans be happy you have a superstar like Melo at least you have hope now.
