Knicks Morning News (2019.07.16)

  • [SNY Knicks] How Knicks’ RJ Barrett compares to other rookies in NBA2K ranking
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 9:35:57 PM)

    While some fans are still riled up over Madden’s rankings, NBA2K released theirs the same day, where Knicks’ RJ Barrett was among the rookies getting his first ranking.

  • [SNY Knicks] Former Knick JR Smith available on waivers
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 7:48:06 PM)

    The Cleveland Cavaliers released JR Smith from his contract on Monday, could the Knicks be a potential option?

  • [SNY Knicks] Here is the Knicks’ over/under win total for the 2019-20 NBA season
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 12:32:46 PM)

    The Knicks had the worst record in the NBA last season (17-65) and scooped RJ Barrett with the No. 3 pick in the Draft and Ignas Brazdeikis in the second round before missing out on every top free agent and pivoting to the lower tier.

  • [NYTimes] How Knicks’ RJ Barrett compares to other rookies in NBA2K ranking
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 9:35:57 PM)

    While some fans are still riled up over Madden’s rankings, NBA2K released theirs the same day, where Knicks’ RJ Barrett was among the rookies getting his first ranking.

  • [NYTimes] Former Knick JR Smith available on waivers
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 7:48:06 PM)

    The Cleveland Cavaliers released JR Smith from his contract on Monday, could the Knicks be a potential option?

  • [NYTimes] Here is the Knicks’ over/under win total for the 2019-20 NBA season
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 12:32:46 PM)

    The Knicks had the worst record in the NBA last season (17-65) and scooped RJ Barrett with the No. 3 pick in the Draft and Ignas Brazdeikis in the second round before missing out on every top free agent and pivoting to the lower tier.

  • [NYPost] Ex-players: Why this Nets-Knicks war will be different
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 3:42:40 PM)

    The Nets’ addition of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving can change the landscape of basketball in New York City — but it may not come easily. The Nets added two of the NBA’s best players to a young team coming off the franchise’s first playoff berth in three years. They hope it’s the next step…

  • [NYPost] Charles Oakley sees one ‘B’ and a lot of ‘C’s’ on the Knicks
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 2:15:35 PM)

    Knicks legend Charles Oakley knows what he saw from his former team in the past few weeks: a failed plan to restore their greatness during free agency. “Do they have an ‘A’ player on this team? I don’t think so,” Oakley told reporters after his Big3-based Killer 3s fell at the Barclays Center on Sunday….

  • [NYPost] Nets taking a flier on former Knick Henry Ellenson
    (Monday, July 15, 2019 8:38:17 AM)

    At least the Knicks won’t be bothered by the Nets’ latest signing. According to multiple reports, Brooklyn is bringing in former Knicks forward Henry Ellenson on a two-way deal. The 22-year-old, 2016 first-round pick spent 17 games with the Knicks last season, in which he averaged 6.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and shot 44 percent on…

  • 94 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2019.07.16)”

    The Washington Post had an article today on rookies who stood out in sumner league. Both Iggy and R.J. were mentioned.

    For fear of Dot or Trier falling out of the rotation, I wonder if this would be a sensible move that would include waiving the guards and playing Barrett at the 3. Of course we would require a 1st in this deal

    Berman:

    Reggie Bullock has signed an agreement with Knicks for two years with a team option for second year, per source. The reworked deal has him taking less than the $4.8M room exception.

    And that’s 15 guys on the roster. We’ll see if Frank and/or Dotson are still here when training camp opens, I guess.

    I’m not at all optimistic about this season, despite several interesting young players. Just no confidence in the FO and Fiz. I hope I’m wrong.

    With the Mets a total mess, it’s “Help me, Sam Darnold! You’re my only hope!”
    🙂

    I’m working in Medford, OR (southern border) and there’s a guy wearing a St. Patty’s Marbury jersey in line for coffee.

    We’ll see if Frank and/or Dotson are still here when training camp opens, I guess.

    I just don’t see how Frank can be here when training camp opens unless he goes bonkers in FIBA World Cup (nah, not happening).

    Re post from yesterday in response to 2FOR18:

    Private pharm companies do medical research so they can develop new drugs to sell

    There’s a misconception that because we want Government out out of X, that means we don’t want X.

    So a pharma company. It’s run by a board, which represents the owners, and selects a CEO and other suits. Isn’t this structure just like a government? These guys have a pretty strong control over their employees. In many cases as strong as a national government does, or stronger. So what have you achieved?

    Sure, an employee can resign but which form of governance would be used by his next employer? And if you’re saying the employee can resign again and again, and everyone can be on their own, you’re basically saying no to any effort to organize. Which brings me back to my original question, how do you get organized?

    I’m just answering a civil question in a civil manner. Can we be civil to each other and avoid personal insults?

    I’m in.

    Grocer @126 yesterday:

    Libertarianism has always struck me as replacing government control with corporate control. The end result is basically neo-feudalism. Heavily decentralized with local fiefdoms controlling most of people’s lives.

    Exactly, these fiefdoms are governed by a system that is far from being free, or laissez-faire in any way, other than for the feudals themselves.

    Yeah there’s probably a pretty good reason why there is no such thing as a Libertarian government that exists anywhere in the world. You can’t run a society on “I got mine, fuck you.”

    @5

    I’m stoked for the season to start. I like the overall talent level. Plus a year more mature Mitch.

    Rj could be the real deal!

    I’m ready.

    I almost feel sorry for Fiz.

    Even a savvy coach with an established track record of success would have the devil’s own time molding this mis-sharpen collection of pricey veteran mediocrities, undeveloped youngsters in need of significant minutes, and more power forwards that could fit inside a subway car into anything resembling a coherent whole.

    And yet, instead of the likes of Gregg Popovich or Mike Budenholzer, the Knicks have entrusted this Herculean task to a man whose track record as head coach to date largely consists of encouraging Kevin Knox to shoot 43 FGAs every game, randomly throwing players into the doghouse, mouthing the most inane platitudes of coachspeak in a somewhat convincing manner, and highly telegenic looks of disgust on the sideline when, predictably, it all went horribly wrong night after night after night.

    Oy.

    This FO basically decided to punt a season. They had cap space and could have done creative things with it, but they spent it on magic beans. It’s gonna be a slog. There’s not a whole lot to hope and dream on here. We’re out in the wilderness. Still. And will be for quite some time.

    You can’t run a society on “I got mine, fuck you.”

    We’re giving it our best shot, though!

    My only question going into the season is who my least favorite Knick will be coming out. Early money is on Portis.

    Even a savvy coach with an established track record of success would have the devil’s own time molding this mis-sharpen collection of pricey veteran mediocrities, undeveloped youngsters in need of significant minutes, and more power forwards that could fit inside a subway car into anything resembling a coherent whole.

    You, sir, are a nattering nabob of negativism (-:

    Stratomatic: Management consists of talent evaluation, fitting pieces together coherently, & contract/valuation level decisions. The Knicks are bad at all three.says:

    I’m not at all optimistic about this season, despite several interesting young players. Just no confidence in the FO and Fiz. I hope I’m wrong.

    I just don’t see how Frank can be here when training camp opens unless he goes bonkers in FIBA

    I agree with the both of these.

    It simply makes no sense to significantly overpay a few veteran dregs that are 100% to not be part of the future, be aggressive in bringing in former lottery pick disappointments last year to give them another chance to develop, most likely use some of the cap space we are rolling over this year on another group of veteran dregs next year, and get all upset because you don’t want to overpay a 20 year old plus defender that you drafted while he’s working on his offense.

    This is why Knicks fans can’t have nice things.

    The front office has the patience of a fruit fly.

    I haven’t been shy about stating how much I think Frank Ntilikina sucks.

    He should still get one more crack at making something happen here. It’s not likely that he’s going to end up an NBA-caliber player, but he’s young and under team control, maybe a miracle happens. It’s worth a look. So I’m with Strat on this one.

    I’m starting to think the 2nd unit should be Portis/ Knox/RJ/Trier/Payton. With Paytims pass first mentality and Trier’s ability to score, that could make Knox and RJ’s growing pains less impactful while letting them play fast and free. Meanwhile, a starting 5 of MitchRob/Randle/Morris/Dot/DSJ feels like a good 2 way mix with great floor spacing.

    I don’t envy Fiz at all right now because we can go 10 deep easy with guys like Ellington, Ntilikina, Gibson, and Allen all deserving of minutes. Ntilikina not as much as the others, but he’s still a lottery pick who has yet to find his footing

    Stratomatic: Management consists of talent evaluation, fitting pieces together coherently, & contract/valuation level decisions. The Knicks are bad at all three.says:

    One post on politics, then I am checking out for the day. I’ve had about enough of this place.

    Libertarians come in all sizes and flavors. There is wide disagreement among libertarians on practically every issue. They just share some general principles about limiting the role of government economically (especially the monetary system) and socially. Most libertarians are not extremist anarcho libertarians in the same way most democrats are not full out socialists (only the economically illiterate pinhead ones).

    John McAfee finished third in the 2016 Libertarian primary.

    It’s not a real deep bench over there

    The Bullock, Ellington, and Morris signings seem totally pointless and create a logjam for minutes to be distributed to the young guys, who by the way need to play. Not wishing injuries to anyone, but I’d much rather watch Iggy, Barrett, Trier, Dotson, and even Knox get minutes instead of these guys.

    Fizdale and the FO just seem to be treading water with no discernible plan on getting to the destination of building a good, balanced team with a winning culture. I have little confidence they will suddenly figure it out.

    @6 Starbury St Patty’s Day Jersey, LOL. That guy must be a lifer.

    I have to agree with Strat. Any arguments about Libertarianism or libertarianism or classical liberalism are fundamentally stupid because no one can define what one is. It’s really not worth arguing about.

    John McAfee finished third in the 2016 Libertarian primary.

    Maybe I should predict bitcoin at 2M by the end of 2020. I’ll finish second.

    Yeah, that’s what’s discouraging about signing so many veterans. I would be fine if they went with Randle, Bullock, Payton and Morris, then have a 10 man rotation with Payton, DSJ, Barrett, Bullock, Trier, Knox, Randle, Morris and Mitch, with spot minutes here and there for Ntilikina, Iggy and Kadeem. But now we also have Ellington, Portis and Gibson for a full 14-15 guys roster and all of them kinda need minutes (the veterans if they’re gonna have any trade value, the youngsters if they’re ever gonna develop, etc).

    So yeah, I have a feeling I’ll spend an entire half-season getting angry at weird minutes distribution until I can’t give a damn anymore around all star break probably.

    I think we have a really good chance at being Utah Jazz East as early as this year. Mitch and Morris are our Gobert and Crowder, RJ Barrett is our Donovan Mitchell, Smith Jr/Payton sorta look like Rubio and Exum, and we don’t have a Joe Ingles but Julius Randle’s pretty good at basketball. It depends on if Knox, Smith Jr, and Barrett will sink us, but none of those three are guaranteed minutes if they prove to be terrible next season. I’m cautiously optimistic about this Knicks team. Randle and Robinson remind me a lot of Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler.

    Hey, don’t take away my right to be poor, sick and under educated.

    As to hoops, down from the ledge boys. The better players will play. The better players will have their options picked up then we’ll draft again. Our young players looked very strong against their counterparts on other teams at SL. What, now we’re bummed that Ellington might steal a few minutes from one of the players on last year’s juggernaut? Chill, everyone. This year is about R.J. and Mitch.

    we are not the utah jazz of anything…. the jazz have done a lot with very little… we have done the absolute least with the absolute most….

    we have a handful of promising guys that could turn into something…. but that basically makes us the kings or magic of season’s past…. it’s not any different than other organizations who had some lotto picks a few yrs in a year….

    i am pretty optimistic about this core though…. but let’s just say that there isn’t anything special in what they are doing and they left themselves plenty of ways to screw this up royally and they are very very capable of that….

    Yeah, all our guys in that comparison are either worse or younger and unproven, and they have a legitimate coach who’s been working with them, specially defensively, for years now. We’re nowhere close to the Jazz’s level, if everything goes very well we should be closer to Orlando / Miami / Detroit, which is a much less impressive group to be a part of. But I guess if all goes right we will have some happy fellows around this site because we’ll finally win 34 games!

    Great work with the video, ClashFan. I loved the 2nd song the most, good strong energy. The story in the slides reminded me of Nashville, the series, which my girlfriend loved so I watched all the seasons with her. Not anywhere near Deadwood but still it was fun.

    Re the police, yeah, they would harass you for nothing sometimes.

    So with our 15 man roster set, what players start on the inactive list to start the season?

    My guess is: Dotson, Iggy, Wilkes, Frank, and Trier.

    Unless Frank impresses then replace Frank with Allen.

    The better players will play. The better players will have their options picked up then we’ll draft again. Our young players looked very strong against their counterparts on other teams at SL. What, now we’re bummed that Ellington might steal a few minutes from one of the players on last year’s juggernaut? Chill, everyone. This year is about R.J. and Mitch.

    Color me skeptical as to the process these coaches will use for sorting out just who are – and who are not – the “better players.” How much patience will they exercise with the raw youngsters who will need PT to demonstrate that they may indeed be better than the more immediately serviceable, high priced veteran mediocrities who could be called to step in following the first rookie mistake? And while most on this board are rightfully gaga over Mitch, it’s still an open question as to whether the brain trust shares these sentiments. If we see a reprise of last year’s 20 minutes per game Mitch in the ’19-’20 season, then we’ll know that this staff has no clue as to how to balance the sometimes contradictory goals of developing young players for tomorrow and fielding a competitive team today.

    Yeah there’s probably a pretty good reason why there is no such thing as a Libertarian government that exists anywhere in the world. You can’t run a society on “I got mine, fuck you.”

    The gilded age and frankly most of early industrialization around the globe operated on this exact principle.

    I mean sure, get a few veteran “play the right way” kind of guys, whatever fine. They kind of overdid it though, no? They signed SEVEN veterans. It’s just a really odd plan to me, they’re really making it difficult for some reasonably promising young players to get minutes or even make the roster.

    Color me skeptical as to the process these coaches will use for sorting out just who are – and who are not – the “better players.”

    I suspect the process will be ‘Dolan wants wins or we’re all fired.’ I enjoyed watching the kids play last year but I’m less excited about this season. Based on the signings I think we’ll see a lot of ill-advised positionless basketball which could be interesting in a train wreck sort of way. I’m anticipating every third post to be along the lines of ‘what the fuck is with these rotations’.

    I think Frank will definitely start the season on the team. We already picked up his option and no one would give up one second rounder in a weak draft for him, so how exactly would he not start the season on the team?

    Minutes will be a different story. I think he should get more than Ellington, Bullock, etc. simply because he’s young and on a rookie deal, but I won’t get nearly as mad about him losing minutes as I will about RJ/DSJ/Trier/Iggy/I guess Knox losing minutes. A lot of his benchings last season were more merciful than anything else, I’m not sure telling a guy in a 27-92 shooting slump (this is the real number that lead to 3 DNPs last year) to “just keep playing your game” or whatever is optimal. I mean a lot of the time it looked like Frank didn’t even want to be out there.

    The Pollyanna view on Fizdale, which I’m not sure I believe but will try to argue:

    Last season was a shitshow, intentionally. We tanked like hell, so it’s hard to judge most of what Fiz did in the context of a normal season. Was he giving Knox the green light because he felt throwing him into the deep end was good for his long-term development, or because he knew it was good for the tank? (Or a bit of both?) Will his offense and rotations be quite so nonsensical now that the team is trying to win?

    Again, I suspect he talks a much better game than he coaches. But I want to see him in a year where we have actual nba players on the team besides Mitch.

    I have to agree with Strat. Any arguments about Libertarianism or libertarianism or classical liberalism are fundamentally stupid because no one can define what one is. It’s really not worth arguing about.

    bless you owen for making some sense out of this crazy libertarianism discussion…i spent about 30 minutes yesterday googling it, and, only became more confused – especially when i hit the part about left-wing/right-wing libertarianism…

    about the only good that came of poking around with it was finding this:
    https://i.imgur.com/2ezi8tN.gif

    i liked this one a lot too, but, not 100% sure what it even really means:
    https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AdmirableRadiantIcterinewarbler-max-1mb.gif

    Also, Frank going off in FIBA could actually lessen his odds of being on the team, since it could up his trade value.

    an extreme laissez-faire political philosophy advocating only minimal state intervention in the lives of citizens.

    yeah, i’m gonna say that pretty much is exactly the opposite of where this world is heading…

    My only question going into the season is who my least favorite Knick will be coming out. Early money is on Portis.

    We should call this the annual mudiay award.

    Portis seems like a great candidate. Allonzo Trier could be a dark horse. I tend to dislike players who shoot a ton but neither pass nor defend.

    @36

    That’s the point, did we really need 7 veterans, when there’s already 8 players on the roster in rookie contracts who could (and some should) be part of our future past those 2 seasons? Signing so many veterans definitely means some of the young guys are not part of the plan, which I would assume are Ntilikina and Dotson, and others are definitely seeing less minutes, like Trier, DSJ, Knox and maybe probably even Mitch.

    I don’t care much for Ntilikina and Dotson as I don’t think they’re NBA rotation players right now, maybe Trier is in the same spot, although I like him a bit more. But I’m pretty sure we’ll see plenty of nights where Fizdale will go for Portis or Gibson at Center because “they’ve earned it” while Mitch sits on the bench like he did so many times with Mudiay in place of the other guys and now he’s gone with no positive to the Knicks.

    we’ll see plenty of nights where Fizdale will go for Portis or Gibson at Center because “they’ve earned it” while Mitch sits on the bench

    Shoot me now

    @44 it was recently revealed that the FO was adamant about not including Mitch in an AD trade. Wouldn’t this imply that they value him highly and plan to play him a lot?

    Libertarians come in all sizes and flavors. There is wide disagreement among libertarians on practically every issue. They just share some general principles about limiting the role of government economically (especially the monetary system) and socially. Most libertarians are not extremist anarcho libertarians in the same way most democrats are not full out socialists (only the economically illiterate pinhead ones).

    Yeah, I’m throwing in the towel trying to explain this. For a bunch of people who pride themselves on being nuanced thinkers, most are looking at this in black and white extremes and think libertarians = anarchists. I think Cock, even though he has nothing but contempt for us, is the only one who actually understands it.

    We should call this the annual mudiay award.

    For me, it’s got to be named after Carmelo. Reading Karl’s remarks about him in his memoir proved to me that I still have a lot of anger left about the entire Melo era. Although, part of what got me so steamed up was that even Karl still feels he has to genuflect to this myth of Melo’s offensive ability.

    Geo, I have been down the libertarian rabbit hole so much in my life. Loved loved loved Hayek and Friedman in that phase so many have. I think I learned my lesson when I realized that one of the modern guys I was most influenced by at the time, a libertarian writer named Jonathan Rauch. didn’t even consider himself a libertarian. (he’s a communitarian as it turns out). You can splice and dice these things as much as you want.

    The good thing about that libertarian phase is that it gave me a theoretical structure for profound pessimism and a dim view of human nature. Basically, the perfect training ground for being an adult Knicks fan.

    @46

    That is encouraging, yes, but there’s been cases of dissonance between what Perry and Mills seem to think and what Fizdale seems to think, with Mudiay himself, who Fizdale played for 28 minutes a game and reportedly really liked, yet Perry and Mills never bothered to even extend a qualifying offer to him. So either Fizdale was just saying stuff to the media when he talked all that stuff about Mudiay, which is also very possible, or there’s some wiggle room for him to operate as he likes.

    There’s no such thing as a Libertarian government in the world, and the American Libertarian Party is so moribund it draws single digits of support and is led by a low-impact boob who has about as much understanding of geopolitics as an average Kardashian. So forgive me if I don’t take it super seriously as an ideology.

    I’d actually like to see Libertarianism flourish, because Libertarianism is essentially Republicanism but without the Bible thumping and with legal weed, so it’s a marginal improvement. So you go, Libertarians. Do your thing. Recruit more members, and remember: always vote for the Libertarian. Don’t do the thing where you say you’re a Libertarian on the internet and then vote straight ticket Republican in every single election. Let’s make this thing happen! Otherwise you’re just a Republican who pretends to be something else to avoid the stink of Republicanism.

    The good thing about that libertarian phase is that it gave me a theoretical structure for profound pessimism and a dim view of human nature. Basically, the perfect training ground for being an adult Knicks fan.

    Statistical Analysis. Humor. Knicks.

    See, we’re still on point!

    So either Fizdale was just saying stuff to the media when he talked all that stuff about Mudiay, which is also very possible, or there’s some wiggle room for him to operate as he likes.

    Fizdale reminds me of a contestant on one of those Iron Chef shows who’s challenged to create a palatable dish using everything in a basket of odd, seemingly mismatched foodstuffs.

    Mitch could end up being one of the central ingredients in an interesting but not entirely successful dish. Or he could wind up as merely garnish for some ungodly concoction that looks and tastes like shit.

    “The good thing about that libertarian phase is that it gave me a theoretical structure for profound pessimism and a dim view of human nature. Basically, the perfect training ground for being an adult Knicks fan.”

    Nice!

    I just found this on Twitter. I thought some might be interested since it touches upon the issue of public-private partnerships in the biomedical research field we were discussing on the libertarian topic.

    Publicly funded drug research is “not a far out idea,” posits @DeanBaker13. Delinking drug prices from research costs is also a topic at international forums. https://t.co/cEnNnKagHJ pic.twitter.com/p1vGNpiRGg— CEPR (@ceprdc) July 16, 2019

    Amash is the closest we have to a real libertarian, and he’s still got paleoconservative leanings. The Freedom Caucus is cryptoconservativism all the way. They want to hand the country to the Koch brothers one judicial appointment, deregulatory act and tax cut at a time. The Koch influence is deep and insidious, especially as they radicalize young people on campuses all over the country.

    Maybe I should predict bitcoin at 2M by the end of 2020. I’ll finish second.

    I’m invested and would be happy if this Bitcoin $100,000 were to happen.

    @10

    Wake me up when politics end

    It’s going to be a long nap Mr Van Winkel…but I agree (bitcoin isn’t “politics” per se)

    @12

    I’m stoked for the season to start. I like the overall talent level. Plus a year more mature Mitch.

    I want whatever drugs you’re on!

    @24

    The Bullock, Ellington, and Morris signings seem totally pointless and create a logjam for minutes to be distributed to the young guys, who by the way need to play.

    That’s my problem with the off-season. If they left 2-3 slots open for prospects like Wooten to crack the lineup, or to have cap flexibility to absorb a star contract if one became available.

    Also, unless we want to retitle this web page, let’s get off of politics because the temptation to post something belligerent is overwhelming and difficult to resist.

    Goal: Championship
    Tools: Young Promising or Bust players, Expendable Productive Veterans, future draft picks, trades, g-league development, Superstar hunt,
    Maestro-Coach.
    Chances: 1/30
    Don’t seem so hard !

    If we could have gotten in flexible economical deals Randle, Payton, Morris, Avery Bradley and Nerlens Noel I’d be “thrilled” and would have opened a Weiss beer (not a champagne, its not so exciting to go for champagne) but Steve and Scottie went in panic mode and got a few not so cheap role ones more. ….
    If i were a FOman doobie doobie doobie doobie foobie doo ……

    Also, unless we want to retitle this web page, let’s get off of politics because the temptation to post something belligerent is overwhelming and difficult to resist.

    Yeah, so far everyone seems to be able to work well and play well with others, but you can feel the belligerency simmering just below the surface.

    I haven’t lost hope that DSJ can figure it out and become a competent point guard and valuable contributor for the Knicks. The coaching staff should earn their salaries and work with him on improving his decision making and 3 point shooting. How hard is that? He certainly has some skills to work with. The chances of him becoming good are exponentially higher than Frank’s IMO.

    I’m open to Libertarianism if it allows us to sign as many max players as we want just like Real Madrid in soccer !
    SALARY CAP DIE !
    SMALL MARKETS BURN IN HELL !!!!
    😉

    Troubling note from Vorkunov’s summer league wrap-up, while discussing the encroachment on Mitch’s playing time this season:

    Randle is nominally a power forward, but he played half his minutes at center for the Lakers in 2017-18 and played there a quarter of the time last year in New Orleans. That may be his future with the Knicks, too.

    “Fiz says he’s going to play him a lot at the five,” Knox said last week, “which is going to be a nightmare for a lot of fives in the league.”

    We’ll hear directly from Fizdale at some point what he intends to do with Randle, but indications are that the 6-foot-9 lefty could be seeing significant time at center. Maybe that doesn’t really matter, and he still intends to play him a good amount alongside Robinson, but it’s clear that Fizdale thinks Randle is at his best as a center.

    @58 – An interesting theory but it doesn’t make sense to me.
    I bet many here have no clue about Bitcoin, much less about it’s founder. Briefly, NOBODY knows the founder. Apparently the person that conceived of it went by a fake name “Satoshi”. This Satoshi is probably a billionaire now, if alive.
    Bitcoin arose from the 2008 financial crisis and crimes that Madoff committed. It became clear to many that money you deposited in the bank or with your brokers is not safe. In fact, our fiat money is backed by nothing other than faith in the government. Bitcoin, and the underlying technology called blockchain, is security against that. Imagine if you lived in Venezuela where their Bolivar is now close to worthless. If you had money in Bitcoin, you wouldn’t need to fear that. Anyhow, the reason the story doesn’t make sense is because the impetus wasn’t to bypass the law it was to insure against the collapse of the dollar and to create a better, universal, global banking system.

    Trier deserves more love here. As an undrafted rookie, he overachieved big time. Whatever you think of his game, he’s a legit rotation player on a good team. The dude knows how to score, and can be coached up in other areas.

    No free lunches this year. Play well or get yanked. Play poorly and get cut (vets) or demoted (1st/2nd year guys). Everyone gets second and third chances. Defense is a must. Unselfishness is a must.

    Trier does deserve some run, and his skill set is actually something the team doesn’t have much of: he’s a speedy guard who can get to the rack and score and draw free throws and he can also shoot a little. Most of our guards are not that type of player.

    We should be in ‘Survival of the fittest mode’ if we want to progress.

    If they just let this board draft, run free agency and allocate minutes, the Knicks would be much better off.

    Trier can and should play, but signing Ellington and Bullock plus drafting Barrett probably tells us they’re not looking to give him many minutes. He’s not a Point Guard at all, so he should not be competing for minutes with DSJ and Payton. I like him, I think if he can shoot more threes and get to the rim consistently he can be a Eric Gordon type of player that has a spot coming off the bench for even contending teams, but he’s also not a good defender and has to improve some before I get too excited about him.

    Not for us. I think as soon as he loses his big contract number someone will give him a shot for a while.

    The FiveThirtyEight model has the Knicks winning 23 games, and finishing with the second worst record in the NBA. Only the Cavs are projected to finish worse, with 21 wins.

    Tank on!

    I just saw a video of a recent Ntilikina workout. Did he grow even more since last season? He looks a little taller and stronger/heavier than last season like he’s FINALLY growing into his frame. Kinda looks like he’s growing into a frame similar to Iguodala. Long arms, broad shoulders, more muscular build. He looks like he has worked really hard to tighten his handle. I guess we’ll see if it worked come preseason. If he’s grown some more and it translates to the court- I dunno yal. Fiz may not want the team to trade him. But we’ll see.

    Ntilikina’s last hope with the Knicks is this FIBA tournament. If he looks like a basketball player and gets minutes, he might save his NBA career. Otherwise, he’ll be looking for a job next July.

    I just want to remind everyone how rare it is for a lottery pick (lmao, Ntilikina was a lottery pick!) to be out of the league by the end of their rookie contract. But indeed, that is a real possibility with our Frank.

    Frank will either be out of the league soon or end up being a good player for the San Antonio Spurs

    I wasn’t upset about the Frank pick. I was furious about Weiss over Artest, Knox over SGA or Mikal, Hill over Lawson. Frank wasn’t an outrageous reach or anything at the time.

    Out of the league I don’t think, but he might get the Hezonja treatment, where the team simply declines his 4th year option. They’re supposed to decide upon this in October right?

    Yeah hindsight is always 20/20 on Frank. IIRC a lot of mocks had him at about the range we picked him. I think most on the board were either in for Frank, DSJ or Monk (although I think a few less were on the Monk train).

    The 2 spot is going to be an intriguing camp battle and it will be interesting to see how comes out on top. I feel RJ is the lock to start, but as far as any rotation goes that is anyone’s guess. If Frank appears to have grown a bit more into his frame, it would be interesting to see if Fiz looks to move him to a wing.

    Ok. Honest question for Mets fans here. What trade EVER in NY Mets history do you love? (for the Mets, of course)

    Definitely anti-Monk. There were some Donovan Mitchell enthusiasts, though. I was lukewarm on him, because I liked the idea of a player who could play defense.

    I still think Frank can turn it around. He was the top pick and roll defender in the NBA his rookie year and he does have a positive impact on that end of the floor. I think he just had a really bad sophomore year. First he was yanked in and out of the rotation, then he got hurt for a long stretch. When he was healthy, it was post KP trade which should have opened up PT time for him because Hardaway and Burke were gone but then he got hurt again. I don’t think he “regressed” in the sense that he got worse at basketball. I just think he had too many injuries to deal with. Of course that could be an ongoing thing for him, so who knows. But I think we should give him one more year. He is an intriguing player. I also don’t think the “eat what you kill” ISO oriented offense of last year’s team did him any favors. I think in a system with a defined role on a team that shares the ball, he could thrive. COULD being the most important word.

    If he sucks again and we cut him at the trade deadline, c’est la vie. But I think we should give him one more shot.

    Gary Carter for Hubie Brooks and Mike Fitzgerald
    Keith Hernandez for Neil Allen
    There are a lot in the early 80 that bore fruit. But I will refrain rather than bore you all

    The trade that sent Bob Ojeda to the Mets and Calvin Schiraldi to the Red Sox was a true win-win

    The Noah/D’anard trade for the knuckleballer was the other good Mets trade not yet mentioned.

    @85 I would like to believe that. I think he has to show a lot in the FIBA tournament and pre-season.

    I did hear that Frank grew more. Could he be a SF now? That SG/SF 3-and-D seems to be his calling… if he can figure out the 3 part.

    I still think Frank can turn it around.

    Name a single Knick you wouldn’t have said this about

    The more I think about it, the more I dislike the Bullock signing. I think it will generate goodwill and help change the perception around the league considering the team took care of him when they didn’t need to, but we already have a Reggie Bullock. He wears #21. And Bullock is probably his floor. It would be disappointing, to say the least, if Dot and Trier can’t beat Bullock out. I’m still on t hff e fence about Ellington..

    Thanks for that list of Met trades. I was with my bro at the Yankee game and the topic came up in the stands.

    The trade of RA Dickey for Noah Syndegaard is probably the best recent trade but that Piazza trade sits on top.

    The more I think about it, the more I dislike the Bullock signing. I think it will generate goodwill and help change the perception around the league considering the team took care of him when they didn’t need to, but we already have a Reggie Bullock. He wears #21. And Bullock is probably his floor. It would be disappointing, to say the least, if Dot and Trier can’t beat Bullock out. I’m still on t hff e fence about Ellington..

    Considering word is he will miss the first month of the season makes it even stranger. Upside is more minutes for Dot, Trier and RJ.

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