2019-20 Game Thread: Knicks vs. A Team That Willingly Signed Enes Kanter to Start For Them – THE HOME OPENER!

The Knicks host the Boston Celtics in their 2019-20 home opener. Sadly, the much-maligned Enes Kanter will not be playing tonight due to a nagging injury, and at this precise moment, I’m not even sure who WILL be starting for the Celtics at center, as Kanter’s backup, Daniel Theis, also got banged up in the Celtics last game. I assume it’ll still be Theis, but it could get freaky if he’s hurt, too. Maybe Robert Williams III?

Anyhow, since the Celtics are basically the same team as Team USA in the FIBA World Cup (and Dennis Smith’s shot looks like someone just keeps on hitting him in the elbow with a crowbar every time he shoots the ball), you would think that Frank Ntilikina would get some burn tonight. You would think that, but this is David Fizdale we’re talking about. Who the heck knows what will happen?

At least the starting lineup is the same. It’s a really quite adequate starting lineup.

The Celtics have been known to look past teams and fall apart, so coupled with this being the Knicks’ home opener and the fans should be really into it, I think the Knicks could pull this out, which would be awesome, because wins are fun and wins over the Celtics are doubly fun.

Let’s go, Knicks!

254 replies on “2019-20 Game Thread: Knicks vs. A Team That Willingly Signed Enes Kanter to Start For Them – THE HOME OPENER!”

the team looks better than I expected at the beginning of the year…

no doubt they look like a bunch of guys who’ve never played together before, but, payton should be a serviceable pg, randle can’t play much worse than he already has, knox’s stroke looks sweet…

sooner or later mitch is gonna wake up to what’s going on, on the court…when he does – watch out league…

I’m looking forward to the epic Randle vs. Kanter battles!

I still can’t predict a win:

Celtics 108
Knicks 104

Robert Williams is, in fact, starting, as Kanter and Theis are both out. Mitch and Randle better feast in the paint!

In all fairness to Fizdale it can take sometime for new players to gel together. Part of the sloppiness may be due to that. The Lebron heat struggled for the first few months as they figured things out. I believe the same thing happened to the Garnett/Pierce/Allen Celtics. Not that our team is on that level, but we may look a bit better once everyone has their roles figured out.

@4
Uh oh, I may need to revise my prediction.

I’m already tired of the “tough” and “dawg” talk… how about being “good?”

Why would you try to throw a lob to someone guarded by Mitchell Robinson? Like how is that supposed to work?

I love that the Celtics have decided that they’re all in on this roster. “When you have a mediocre team, you just have to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to it.”

Kind of amazing how the Celtics squandered all of that draft capital from the Garnett/Pierce trade and ended up with this scrub ass team

Kind of amazing how the Celtics squandered all of that draft capital from the Garnett/Pierce trade and ended up with this scrub ass team

The lack of upside is what really shocks me about it all.

Fiz should be fired for this lineup alone. Worse defense than I could ever imagine

I mean the Celtics are better than the Knicks

Yeah them and like 27 other teams in the NBA.

It’s still a lame team.

I mean the Celtics are better than the Knicks.

Oh sure, it’s just striking how little upside they have. They’ve locked in long term a team that looks like a #4 seed at best.

why do we throw such lazy passes and so lazy with our dribbles… unforced errors are so infuriating…

I’m not high on Frank, but if we aren’t going to score anyway put the kid in.

You could make a pretty good “how not to play point guard” video made up of nothing but Dennis Smith Jr clips

DSJ forgot how to play basketball over the summer

From Payton / RJ to DSJ / Trier, the ball movement has gone to shit. I would rather play smaller with an extra guard and play nicer.

I feel like DSJr was at least more aggressive attacking the basket last year. He could penetrate and kick out. Now he looks like Ron Baker out there without the defense.

Are we really already at the point where Fiz feels he can’t take Barrett off of the court or else the team falls apart?

We’re like the 90s Knicks, except instead of fouling hard and playing good defense we just foul hard.

Mitch is still Mitch, which is awesome.

And Barrett, holy shit, dude, what a good game he’s having.

For all their other nonsense, the Knicks ended up with Mitch and Barrett, so we have a lot to root for.

RJ is the second best player on the team. Is this good or does this mean we’re going to win 15 games

RJ is the second best player on the team. Is this good or does this mean we’re going to win 15 games

From where I’m sitting both those things are good.

From where I’m sitting both those things are good.

Bingo (and that’s me assuming Mitch is #1).

I was making fun of kobe assists earlier but since we don’t get any real assists missing at the rim when Mitch is in might be our best offensive set.

Seriously, an offense where you just throw it at the rim while Mitch is in the paint probably isn’t bad….

He has a great stroke at the line also, as Breen says. I can believe he could shoot threes…

And another great block of a three.

I love you Mitch…

Also, we don’t give Rebecca enough credit for how much she has improved in every phase of the game. i do not miss Tina, anymore.

I should be used to it by now, but I did not think Mitch would get out in time to contest that three. He’s a freak!!

There are like 2 players in the league who can recover and block a shot like that. One’s name is Mitch Robinson, and I’m not sure who the other is. Holy shit.

Mitch has got to figure out how to stay on the floor.
Three fouls at this stage is too damn many

There are like 2 players in the league who can recover and block a shot like that. One’s name is Mitch Robinson, and I’m not sure who the other is. Holy shit.

The other is also Mitchell Robinson, he just looks like he’s in two places at once sometimes.

Barrett needs to see the defense. He had four guys around him and he still tried the reverse.

Mitch was on the other side of the basket when that pass went to Grant. He’s really incredible.

Mitch really is an insane athletic marvel. Giannis would be the other guy or maybe Zion. He had a couple insane three point blocks I can remember.

It’s must amazing how little he has changed since he got here. So many dumb fouls.

RJ is a good passer, but his vision is crap. He needs set plays to find the options so he knows where guys will be.

As a lover of the 90’s Knicks I heartily approve the BullyBall happening out there. I do love the way Barrett uses his strength.

Was it me or did the Knicks kind of seem imposing?
I mean Boston missed some open shots…but the Knicks were running and the big guys were pounding.
Call me impressed.

But I suspect they don’t yet know how to close out games.

Terrible thinking from Payton – 20 seconds left in the half, takes it to the hoop instead of pulling back and taking the last shot. Just dumb. Ended up not costing us, but it’s little things like that that make me think he’s never going to be a quality starter.

Seems like the Celtics missed a good number of bunnies and open J’s in that half. Good effort though by NYK for the most part.

I guess the scary stat is the Celtics only 6/25 from three. They might be due to get hot later on.

Smart probably shouldn’t be shooting 7 of those…

We might actually have a young core with Mitch and Barrett.

Someone needs to call Morris and tell him he’s not Melo, but otherwise a pretty fun first half to watch.

This season would 40x more fun to watch if Bobby Portis wasn’t on the team.

Too many ‘wtf’ and ‘jeeeeesus christ’ plays already….but at least we’re up 5

the celtics are extremely small…. and even smaller today without kanter…. a team like us is gonna kill them on the boards…. and we are doing a good job of leveraging our size against them….

I like this team (minus DSJ)…I like morris more than I thought I would…payton isn’t a terrible option as a point guard…

randle just needs to relax a bit and let the game come to him…he’s been forcing things a lot since he arrived…

I’m trying to think how mitch’s athleticism would translate to another sport – maybe volleyball, team handball, or the high jump…that kid is freaky athletic…

mitch is wierd with crazy long limbs, but, with incredible reaction time and burst…

I don’t know, maybe the high jump – but yeah, he’s an elite athlete…

Fultz hit his first three since coming back. That’s gotta feel good. Looked pretty too.

Frank only came in to play end of the half defense. I’m not sure you can read too much into that. He should, of course, get the nod over DSJr. tho.

it seems they’re going out of their way to make it work for DSJ…trier’s not terrible, or that disruptive to their offense, shit – you already know morris, taj and randle are talking to him all the time about passing the ball…

I like taj on the team a lot…good professional, still has some game…

I do wonder if, at some point, it makes sense to bring Payton or RJ off the bench just to have someone who can pass.

Random question, but did the FO ever provide any explanation for not trading for bad contracts to get future picks? Just wondering. I imagine they must have some justification, however ridiculous.

man the amount of silly fouls mitch gets is astounding… like these are easily avoidable…

I mean, how badly was RJ coached at Duke. Huck the feck. Great charge drawn there by him.

My pet theory is that the game has long passed coach K by but he gets such great recruits it doesn’t really matter.

It would help the Knicks out if they made some 3 point shots imho.

If Woodson was still coaching this team he wouldn’t have to worry about running laps during practice cause these Knicks are beyond awful with turnovers.

Yeah, he is. That was a great righty bucket. His ability to use his body as a battering ram in the NBA is quite impressive indeed.

And then a three!

What the hell is going on

RJ proves that even though he has flaws it’s still a helluva lot better to be picking in the Top 3 than 8th or 9th.

I just don’t understand why anybody would ever draw up plays that end in a Bobby Portis post up.

RJ proves that even though he has flaws it’s still a helluva lot better to be picking in the Top 3 than 8th or 9th.

I was just thinking that, “Huh, the three times in the past 25 years when the Knicks’ pick was in the top five, the players chosen were LaMarcus Aldridge, Kristaps Porzingis and RJ Barrett. It sure is nice to be picking in the top five.”

My pet theory is that the game has long passed coach K by but he gets such great recruits it doesn’t really matter.

This is also the belief of like every UNC fan and some big-time CBB analysts at this point. The Three Man Weave guys have been harping on it in their pre-season breakdowns. K just rolls the ball out there anymore.

Heck, expand that to top six and you get Danilo Gallinari, who is also a fine player! But instead, they kept trying to win just enough to not pick in the top five every year.

Smith and Portis are just useless. Dennis doesn’t even look like he wants to be out there.

There’s no way Frank could be worse than this version of DSJ

Celtics color commentator just said, in response to the “We Want Frank!!!” cheers from the crowd:

“Fans want Frank Ntilikina put in the game. Which…. I think he’s a stud. I don’t know why he never plays here.”

LOL

Why hasn’t Ellington played tonight???

Curious, right? It’s almost like this roster was constructed terribly.

My worst fears are coming true with Portis, he’s just soft finishing inside and he’s not a real defender, his only value is if he’s hitting 3s.

The thing that kept us in last night’s game was 3 pt shooting, so tonight Fiz gives our best 3 pt shooters – Knox, Trier, Ellington – a total of 26 minutes floor time.

This really is an insanely dumb team construction.

It’s like the Hostetler- OJ Anderson Giants offense, three yards and a cloud of dust. And then absolutely no defense.

I wouldn’t mind the Hostetler-OJ Anderson offense if it also came with that Giants defense.

But coach has to used his head.
I mean Knox and Smith are struggling, and you run them together?
And Trier too?

I mean that is inviting a run.

I wouldn’t mind the Hostetler-OJ Anderson offense if it also came with that Giants defense.

That was the joke I was going for. Apparently I missed the mark. It happens quite frequently.

I kind of love Twitter. This captures me perfectly right now.

Joseph Flynn
@ChinaJoeFlynn
·
1h
BEFORE DRAFT: “I’m not really a fan of RJ Barrett.”

3 GAMES INTO SEASON: “I would take a bullet for RJ Barrett.”

Half the Garden’s calling for Frank because he’s better than the two guys he’s sitting behind. Not real complicated

Frank and Taj need to be out there anytime Mitch sits. Portis should NOT be in the NBA.

Half of MSG and most of the Twitterverse is now screaming that no matter how little you get from Frank on offense, getting good defense and unselfish play is greater than getting lousy offense and lousy defense from DSJr. I feel bad for Smith. Fizdale has totally fvcked him up like he’s done to Frank repeatedly, but this is a bit much to stomach. Payton may or may not be the better all around player than Frank (because he’s no bargain as a scorer either and is clearly inferior on defense), but DSjr is in a coma. I’m not sure how you get a player out of a coma.

Mitch does a great position game boxing, getting the board and rolling and slamming

Would be nice to still have KP with Mitch and RJ…..

Tell me about it.

there’s no fucking way frank is better than payton… frank sucks…. ppl need to come to terms with that…

Yeah Frank isn’t better than Payton. But he’s probably better than DSJ if he can’t score.

Morris has the lowest bball iq I’ve ever seen

I’m starting a new organization to start picketing in front of MSG. I’m calling it PETPG. People for the ethical treatment of point guards.

djphan, I respect your opinions, but you’re 100% wrong on DSj/Frank. DSj is all potential, no production. Frank can play D now. Knicks fans love defense. That’s why we’re rooting for him.

That was not RJ’s best moment. But I already sense he has a good makeup and will learn from it.

This offense is pretty offensive. They only have one solution – to post up Randle. Our ball handlers overlook Mitch on many lob opportunities to force the ball. Its lame as hell.

this offense on the whole just looks pretty poor…. there’s some talented passers on the squad now but there’s so many one or no pass possessions… ppl standing around…. ppl just jogging….

there’s new players… but a lot of this gotta be on the coach….

The difference between last night and tonight are examples of why Trier is a 6th man and not a starter.

I have this vague memory that Kemba had a rough game in the Olympics… who was guarding him again?

Is Dolan at the game watching this?? I also haven’t seen Mills and Perry sitting next to each other in the stands with those stupid looks on their faces.

There’s no system in place. Fizdale so doesn’t have a clue. And you can see that guys are just forcing it up in response.

Fire Fiz nail Trier and Portis to the bench and trade Morris by the trade deadline for anything

Portis passes up a corner 3pter to drive and miss an awkward looking floater. Maybe just maybe the coaching staff should emphasize shooting that corner 3pter instead.

We’re by far the worst coached team in the league.
There isn’t a play in place, absolutely nothing.
Fire that moron.

The Knicks look terrible without Mitch.

Randle sucks.
Smith sucks.
Knox sucks.
RJ is okay.
Trier sucks.
Portis should not be in the NBA.
Morris sucks.
etc.

We have RJ and Mitch, both very valuable pieces. We have Randle, on a fair market contract.

Everything else on this roster is completely fungible. We’re really, really far away from doing anything other than sucking.

You can take a glance at Portis’ career stay line and tell exactly what kind of a player he is: soft.

The amount of burn Portis gets when Taj is sitting there on the bench is just offensive

This is embarrassing. They put Taco there just to show us up with his bigman sideshow.

Knicks fans at the Garden are total assholes and the absolute best in the world. No fan base is smarter about basketball.

If they had one decent guard on this roster who could shoot and pass it might make a tiny bit of sense. Like, if we had signed Randle and Kemba it would have sort of made sense.

A Dotson sighting. Is there any reason why Frank or the other end of the bench players are not in? For that matter is he looking to burn out RJ by Thanksgiving?

At least Knox is rebounding more… right?

Those silver linings are barely visible to the naked eye.

We could seriously use Tacko Fall on our team. Or literally anyone who is kinda tall and can defend the rim. Not taking Wooten was another bad decision.

I wonder if Fizdale realizes this is likely his last coaching job in the NBA if he doesn’t actually install systems?

I don’t know where Grant Williams was drafted but he looked better than most of our players…

I would kill for a Lonzo Ball right about now. He’s a raw guard with serious deficiencies but there is a marked difference between him and every young guard we have on this team with the exception of Barrett. I thought we should’ve looked into him when his value was low, and now it seems like he’s making some strides away from that circus in LA.

Yeah Frank isn’t better than Payton. But he’s probably better than DSJ if he can’t score.

Both Payton and DSJr are below average efficiency scorers. They are both negative value on offense. They are just a little less negative than Frank if you are asking Frank to be aggressive and do more than he can. That’s why I keep saying they should stop trying to make Frank something he can’t be yet. If Frank scores 8 points per 36 at decent efficiency, he’s clearly a negative offensive player, but he’d be hurting the offense no more than guys like DSJr taking loads of shots at below average efficiency. If Frank did virtually nothing except shoot 3s at 32% and make an occasional layup or FT, but moved the ball and defended at a high level, he’d be more valuable than those other guys. You can get what Frank cannot do by upping the usage of other players with good ball movement or better lineup construction. There’s nothing you can do to make up for DSJr’s bad play on both sides other than take him out. Neither Payton or DSJr is a plus player on either side.

Porzingis playing pretty well. Scoring, blocking shots, but four boards per game…
He’s also shooting the three well

We just need a new coach already. Bobby Portis just cannot be playing more minutes than Taj and Mitch. Why hasn’t Dolan given Masai Ujiri a max contract to run the Knicks again?

@211 in no NBA season ever should a center be able to average 4 rebounds a game and be labeled as playing well.

I have this vague memory that Kemba had a rough game in the Olympics… who was guarding him again?

This is Mills, Perry, and Fizdale we are talking about. They do not understand the value of defense. Only teams that want to win basketball games and compete at a high level focus on two-way players and defenders first and scoring second. Losers do it the other way around. You only worry about scorers when you have a chance to get a legit #1 or #2 option. We trade those away for bad PGs and cap space for Bobby Portis and similar mercenaries.

so far the common theme in these games… is turnovers… poor quality shots… and getting obliterated on every screen…

this should be a better team than they’ve shown… i’m not sure what’s wrong with dsj but he is not right at all…. ellington should definitely be playing more…. and gibson who’s proven to be a good defender should be playing more minutes than portis…. knox has shot well from deep but aside from that has given nothing…. if he continues to get 20+ minutes it’s gonna continue to hurt us….

all that being said… it’s fine…. we just need continued progress from the core.. and the core looks good so far… everything else is window dressing….

My take on the PG. Note that it is still very early on, though tonight’s loss was thoroughly humiliating, and Fiz may already be on the hot seat:

Payton is a solid backup PG who gets exposed when he plays too many minutes. He’ll have a good game from time to time, and he is the best PG on the roster, so it is fine to start him.

Frank is a good defender, but probably should be a 2/3. At this point, though, why not make him the backup PG and give him one last shot to show he belongs?

DSJ can jump. He does nothing else well. He needs to be in the G League to work on his shot b/c it appears to be horribly broken.

Trier can iso score and shoot. He’ll get hot from time to time and have nice scoring games. He’s a solid 2 off the bench, esp. if the scoring is lagging.

After how embarrassing Frank looked in his brief cameo vs the Spurs I don’t think you’ll be seeing him anytime soon. Although at this point he certainly should be playing ahead of DS Jr.

@213
Well he got five blocks and shot 60% from 3 in one game. Both will mean fewer boards, so I’m trying to be fair.

It doesn’t get any better than going to opening night with your son and watching your team get humiliated in the 4th quarter

They have more talent than us, but it really comes down to smart basketball vs dumb basketball

Well, the ship sinking by game 3 sets us up well for the Cole Anthony sweepstakes come draft time. And, when our bad luck inevitably manifests, there’s like 3-4 good looking PG prospects in the top 10 of the 2020 draft. So buckle up and enjoy the RJ show everyone.

“When you have a mediocre team, you just have to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to it.”

Mike

Yeah, a remarkable number of the problems we see could be fixed with coaching. I put these losses on Fizdale. Turnovers, bad shots, no discernible offensive system, and a crap rotation. Fizdale should be out the door.

Trier, DSJ and Payton combined for 2-14 with 7 TO,
so The Fucking Idiot plays Frank 18 seconds and Ellington is DNP-CD?
Barrett 37 minutes in a game that we lose by 23 and Dotson gets 4 minutes?
Portis 27 and Gibson 5?

Fire The Fucking Idiot.

Yeah, I was really happy for Pulisic. Not wonder goals but I am sure they felt like it.

The one thing i will say about Fizdale is he is a great talker. I mean granted, the fact that he is lamenting the fact that “the ball was sticking” on offense is totally hilarious given the guys he is running out there. On the other hand, he doesn’t have that much of a choice given what the FO has given him. On the third hand, his rotations are the worst I have ever seen.

Every Knicks season is like a snowflake. They are all a disaster in a different way.

The one thing i will say about Fizdale is he is a great talker.

He’s such a good talker. I do give him credit for being really very good at covering his own ass.

@211 in no NBA season ever should a center be able to average 4 rebounds a game and be labeled as playing well.

He was rebounding very well in pre season. It’s two games and somewhat overrated anyway. Rebounding is very important, but it’s way more important at the team level than at the individual level. Dallas’s team is rebounding OK.

Some of rebounding is role. Are you inside, outside, being asked to get offense rebounds or get back on D to protect against a break, being asked to bang inside or not etc…

KP is not a good rebounder, but he’s also outside a lot, not banging, and deferring to Doncic on some marginal ones by design. You’d way rather have guys like Doncic, Harden, Westbrook, Simmons etc.. get the marginal rebounds that several players could have gotten because the break starts quicker if the rebound starts in the primary ball handler’s hands.

If Dallas starts losing games because of rebounding and they ask KP to be more aggressive and he can’t, then it’s an issue. Right now it’s not.

KP’s job is to space the floor, score and defend the paint.

Doncic’s job is rebound, score, make plays, and not screw up too badly on defense.

Ok amid all the gloom of a butt kicking by the fucking Celtics, I have to remind everyone that we have a 19 year old rookie who looks like he was born to play in the NBA. Watching him in person, I was so impressed how well he sees the floor, plays at his own pace and finishes through contact. Oh and he’s already one of our better defenders ( and yes I know that’s not saying much)

Ok so once again, we’ve got RJ Barrett. And I’m thrilled.

kp’s rebounding and 2p shooting is not in good territory… and it wasn’t all that great in preseason…. it’s early but that’s not exactly good and i’d be more worried than excited considering the only thing making him look good is hot 3p shooting….

it’s the same with knox…. once those 3s stop falling he won’t be giving any value….

After how embarrassing Frank looked in his brief cameo vs the Spurs I don’t think you’ll be seeing him anytime soon. Although at this point he certainly should be playing ahead of DS Jr.

Less than 3 minutes that contained 2 good plays and 2 bad TOs translated into being sent to Siberia and a full season of being the worst player in the NBA getting huge minutes (Knox) meant nothing because he was trying to develop “his” guy.

Fizdale is a fvcking idiot and incompetent. There’s no nice or politically correct way to say it and have no such impulse to be kind to anyone managing or coaching this team anymore. Fvck them. They are incompetent idiots. It’s that simple.

The Knicks are not good and the Celtics should at least be pretty good. I’m not sure even with a very good coach we win the game tonight. The NBA is mostly about talent, and we don’t have a lot of it. However, it’s also ridiculous to think Fizdale is getting the most out of this team.

After Game 3 in The Era Of The Portis
that deal looks even worse then when we cried in outrage last july.

Did we really act like brigands over the Spurs, pushing a player to renege on his word after the other team has made trades to create cap space for him… to get Marcus Morris? Great move for our “new culture”… (BTW Bertans is a good player, watch his boxscore tonight)

On the bright side, RJB is legit, he’s fearless, he tries on D, is a good passer and he’s 19 year old… now if he could start hitting free throws…

kp’s rebounding and 2p shooting is not in good territory… and it wasn’t all that great in preseason….

He’s playing better than “I” expected at this stage off the layoff (and he did have a 16 rebound game in pre season and a couple other decent ones on limited minutes). Most guys coming off ACL take 3-4 months to round into form. He looks a little slower to me and he got badly winded last night late in the game and was taken out, but he mostly looks way ahead of schedule.

If I was Dallas, I’d be thrilled. They have a solid 1-2 punch of players that compliment each other perfectly. Doncic is more of an alpha playmaker/scorer and KP is a great #2 scorer that will clean up some Doncic’s bad defense in the paint. The sky is the limit if they stay healthy and put the right pieces around them.

Elfrid appears to be “good enough” until we can bring in a real point or else Barrett becomes the point… the problem is that he has no legit backup.

And yeah, how does Portis get more than 15 bench minutes a game? Honestly, if Fizdale adjusted his lineups based on the consensus of this board (or any Knicks board really) his rotations would be much better, which is sad.

Knicks coaches: always the last to know.

You know who also doesn’t have any sort of game plan at all as a coach? Luke Walton.

Can Fiz even play a semi-intelligent rotation even if he wanted to? Pills spent 15 million dollars for Portis to play for us this season. They traded KP for DSJ and some picks we haven’t used yet. Is he really going to be able to tell that front office that both of those two scrubs shouldn’t sniff 20 minutes a game combined?

Porzingis is overrated as fuck

I am on the Barrett train. That’s a nasty box score for a teenager.

I really don’t know if the next game against Chicago is a Must-Win as Clyde called it or a… Must-Lose to start putting things in order.

I just hate losing to the Celtics so much that I lose all sense of neutrality watching the games.

I thought during the draft that Barrett would be a safe pick because his floor would be a NBA player, unlike guys we drafted like Knox and Ntilikina, but I’m very positively surprised at how early he has shown he belongs on this level. There’s a plethora of little things he can work in his game, the free throws, the vision while driving, going right on drives, 3 point shooting, etc… but he’s clearly been the team’s 2nd best player so far and watching the game I noticed myself wishing that he got the ball on every play, as good things seem to happen when he has it. For a 19 year old in a situation where a lot will be expected of him, what he’s doing right now is the best case scenario I expected of him. Really really good signs.

Also, another truly exquisite game from Trae Young, it seems he watched Luka’s triple double yesterday and wanted to one up him again.

For all of you anti-tankers out there, I’ll remind you that we wouldn’t have RJ Barrett on this team right now if the 2018-2019 Knicks had won a bunch of meaningless games and selected ninth as usual. We’d be debating about whether or not we should have taken Rui Hachimura instead of Cam Reddish.

Even with the flattened odds, we drafted high, and got a blue chip player. Tanking works!

Ok…
But let’s not forget also that the first and second draft of 2019 went to the two of the three teams that had record 39-43 (7th to 9th worse of the season)
so…

Ok…
But let’s not forget also that the first and second draft of 2019 went to the two of the three teams that had record 39-43 (7th to 9th worse of the season)
so…

Let’s see, what’s higher, a 52% chance of a top 4 pick, or a 20% chance of a top 4 pick? I’m gonna check my slide rule here… Oh! It turns out 52 is higher than 20. By a large amount.

You know the other great thing about finishing with the worst record instead of the 8th worst record? You can’t pick any lower than fifth! That’s the worst case scenario. There are usually some pretty talented players hanging around at #5. More talented than the players available when you pick #9.

I’ll take the higher draft position over meaningless marginal wins generated by mediocre veterans every time. I’m glad I’m watching RJ and not Cam Reddish.

Though I was for taking last season, I do want to note that Rui Hachimura looks promising – though RJ looks special.

Let’s see, what’s higher, a 52% chance of a top 4 pick, or a 20% chance of a top 4 pick? I’m gonna check my slide rule here… Oh! It turns out 52 is higher than 20. By a large amount.

You know the other great thing about finishing with the worst record instead of the 8th worst record? You can’t pick any lower than fifth! That’s the worst case scenario. There are usually some pretty talented players hanging around at #5. More talented than the players available when you pick #9.

I’ll take the higher draft position over meaningless marginal wins generated by mediocre veterans every time. I’m glad I’m watching RJ and not Cam Reddish.

And that’s why I didn’t like the “Add a bunch of mediocre veterans” strategy, because we can see that even with Barrett looking as good as he possibly could look, it still doesn’t necessarily lead to them winning games just yet. Now, imagine if they had more actively tanked this year, they would probably be in line for another top five pick and a shot at #1. All while still having Barrett and Mitch in the fold.

In other words, you don’t stop tanking after your first top five pick. You tank at least one more season and then you try to improve by adding veterans.

Portis and DSJ hurt my eye.

Also can someone please tell the Knicks that a 3 generates long rebounds? It’s Bargnani level comedy to see four guys jump up and down in the paint while the ball goes way, way over their heads.

Is Morris hurt? I observed him casually jogging the court in both directions slower than the ball. On a break the ball handler would routinely catch up and there was no decent passing angle for a potential layup. Jogging back on D after crummy shot that led to long rebound and quick outlet. At least Elf showed some hustle in both directions. I’m done with Morris and his knucklehead tendencies.

Im not Archimedes but i think “a 52% of a top 4 pick” ain’t true.

The chances Are 47,9% of picking at Number 5.
As for picking from 1-4 is from 14% to 12% each time.
Right ?

Cripes, the Suns went HAM on the Clips without Ayton. Maybe Zen Master was smart to go after Booker after all?

tanking as a result of poor coaching and chicken shit front office non-moves was the desired outcome all along. Ensures all three have jobs for two more years.

KP realized he was working with incompetent, slick talking fake ass geeks and wanted out but I was called a troll to point this out. This trade has the potential to be the worst in Knicks history by far.

Let’s keep making excuses for these three stooges, enjoy a 3yr tankathon and then blame RJ & Mitch for wanting out of NY.

Knew your Nicks, I think the 52% refers to the chance of having any one of the top four picks. If you are guaranteed a top five pick and the chance of getting pick number 5 is 48%, then 52% of the time (1 – 48%) you will not pick at number five meaning you are picking one to four. That matches your number.

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