Obviously the Knicks are struggling, as seen by their record of a putrid 7 wins and 13 losses. Melo and Amare have not been on the same page since the deadline trade last season. Something has to give between the two stars or one of them has to go.
There have been trade rumors surfacing lately involving Amare to the Magic and the 76ers. First, the Magic. If they are willing to take Amare and Tyson Chandler for Dwight Howard I would pull the trigger on that deal in a New York minute. Now, the 76ers. They've been rumored to be inquiring about a possible deal involving Andre Iguadala, Andres Nocioni, and Elton Brand. I'm definitely less enthused about this trade. Brand is a solid low post threat, but he lacks the quickness and athleticism needed to play in this offense. Iggy would be a great acquisition as he is a solid perimeter defender and a freak athlete. Nocioni is past his prime but would still be the best option off the bench on this Knicks team.
As presently constituted, the Knicks just don't have enough pieces to compete on a championship level. Melo and Amare have been less than stellar as seen by their field goal percentages of 39.4% and 42.8% respectively. In fact, Melo has been a huge detriment to the offense as a whole. Anyone who watches the Knicks knows how the offensive possession is going to end when Melo gets the ball on the wing. He jabs two or three times while staring at the floor and then finally rises up and takes a contested jumper while the rest of the team just watches from beyond the 3-point line. Here's an interesting stat to back up my claims. Melo has spent 33% of his possessions in isolation, by far the most by anyone in the league. In those isolation possessions he's shooting an anemic 28% from the field, yikes.
Before I start clamoring for a trade, I first want to see how they play together with a true point guard such as Baron Davis. If they can start to mesh together on the court with Baron Davis as the floor general then I think they have a chance to progress moving forward. If not, however, one of them has to go.
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