(Monday, May 14, 2018 9:08:33 PM)
Scott Perry doesn’t plan to bring any lucky charms with him, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Knicks’ general manager wave a Terrible Towel if they win the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday night.
(Monday, May 14, 2018 6:00:57 PM)
Will tanking pay off? The NBA’s bottom-dwellers will find out Tuesday night at this year’s NBA draft lottery.
[NYDN] This could finally be year Knicks end horrific run of poor luck (Monday, May 14, 2018 9:32:06 PM)
The Knicks are due.
(Monday, May 14, 2018 10:36:16 PM)
Despite reports indicating the Knicks were expected to hire Nick Van Exel as an assistant on David Fizdale’s staff, Van Exel tweeted that won’t be the case.
(Monday, May 14, 2018 1:10:33 PM)
With the NBA Draft Lottery to be announced on Tuesday, Knicks GM Scott Perry and the rest of the organization will cross their fingers and hope their slim chance to get in the top three picks is fulfilled.
(Monday, May 14, 2018 10:45:49 AM)
The ruling was en enormous immediate victory for the state of New Jersey, which could have a gambling venue open in Monmouth Park within a few weeks.
[NYTimes] 2018 N.B.A. Draft Lottery: Time, Odds and How to Stream (Tuesday, May 15, 2018 9:00:09 AM)
Some teams earn a No. 1 draft pick by playing badly. Some get their No. 1 by playing badly on purpose. Others get their No. 1 by getting really lucky.
[NYTimes] N.B.A. Playoffs: Warriors Cover Steve Kerr’s Bet in Game 1 Victory (Tuesday, May 15, 2018 5:13:26 AM)
Golden State got into some early foul trouble, but they fought back from a slow start and stole Game 1 of the Western Conference finals in Houston.
[NYTimes] Cavaliers and LeBron James Hit a Roadblock: Marcus Morris (Monday, May 14, 2018 4:07:33 PM)
The Cleveland Cavaliers were rested. They were hot. And most important, they had LeBron James. So how did they lose?
[NYTimes] N.B.A. Western Conference Finals Preview: Rockets vs. Warriors (Monday, May 14, 2018 6:27:39 PM)
James Harden and Chris Paul led Houston to the No. 1 seeding in the West, but can Stephen Curry help Golden State rise again after the team’s injury-filled season?
[NYTimes] Jerry West Just Wants to Feel Wanted (Tuesday, May 15, 2018 12:30:44 AM)
For his last act, can the N.B.A. legend have a hand in fixing the Clippers once and for all?
(Monday, May 14, 2018 5:02:43 PM)
You know the meat of the quote. But this is the entirety of what Branch Rickey said one day in 1946, in an interview with The Sporting News, in what was possibly one of the most honest things anyone in sports ever said about anything: “Things worthwhile generally don’t just happen. Luck is a fact,…
(Monday, May 14, 2018 2:13:01 PM)
If you listen to Alabama coach Avery Johnson, the Knicks would be wise to bring “Sexton to the City’’ despite their young point-guard glut. The former Nets coach, in fact, thinks if the Knicks stand pat at No. 9 in Tuesday’s lottery, his point guard Collin Sexton won’t even be around for Knicks president Steve…
(Monday, May 14, 2018 9:36:36 AM)
To date, the defining snapshot of Scott Perry’s term with the Knicks is the GM holding his hand to his forehead the night of Feb. 6. A look of horror stretched across Perry’s face. From his Garden seat, Perry had just seen Kristaps Porzingis crumple to the court with what turned out to be an…
46 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.05.15)”
That gs/ Houston first half was awesome, the second half not so much. Houston needed to get a a ten point lead going to half and they failed, I knew the game was over right there. Gs is too deep and durant is two good, it’s a two headed monster.
Houston finally got something from Gordon in the second half but it was not enough And zeros from the bench players like Anderson, Joe Johnson dnp, nene and mbah is not make for winning bball. This is not a seven or even six game series like everyone on here seems to think.
Bring on Boston and let’s see if they can take it to six which is a pretty good outcome without Kyrie and heyword. Ugh on to the ping pong balls and our slow attempt to rebuild.
About the ping-pong balls. Does it really matter? We need a top-4 pick. Unless there’s a miracle and we win in the lottery, the Knicks are playing in the mediocrity bowl. 2018-19 is a 100% tank season with KP on the mend. First chance for a playoff berth 2025-26. I hope to live long enough to see another championship. Right now the odds are against me – and I’m healthy.
The Knicks need radical, out-of-the-box thinking in order to become a decent team. Signing Porzingis to a max contract, expecting he becomes a superstar is not the way. Trading him for good assets, young players or draft picks is the way. Otherwise, we are filming “Melo II – The Nighmare Returns”: a horror movie about maxing out a guy who is definitely not a superstar and surrounding him with scrubs and faded veterans.
My reasoning assumes Porzingis makes a full recovery, of course.
Sad but true, but we’re looking at the glass half empty. Lance, baker, Lee, Noah, kanter contracts will eventually start to disintegrate… Beasley and KOQ are coming off the books… after the draft we will have a young chip to hang our hats on moving forward plus a second rounder.
That leaves us with 9 young players in Burke, mudiay, frank, Kp, Kornet, Williams, thjr, 2 rooks and a new coach. At the very least that’s a youthful movement.
Houston’s offense is way too predictable for GSWs defense. Just ISO Harden for 20 seconds and Chuck up contested 3’s isn’t gonna beat the Warriors.
A sweep isn’t out of the question right now.
As I said about the Celtics-Cavs series, never make judgments after the first game of a playoff series. I wouldn’t be surprised if Houston pummels GS in game 2. Still think the Warriors win in 6 tho.
KD is unfair. He should be banned. Even CP3 can’t stop his ball handling and penetration to sweet spots where Clint can’t stop his jumper.
I thought Capela should have played more last night.
D’Antoni should be riding Capela like freaking Secretariat. Dude is young, he should be playing 40 mins a game if he can handle it. Certainly more than 30 flat.
I think GSWs defense gave Houston fits last night. They usually have way more easy ball movement. I don’t think Houston is a predictable team usually, but they can overly rely on Harden when the going gets tough. Let’s see. I still have GSW in 5 or 6; I highly doubt Houston will get swept.
Capela on offense is not a good match up for Houston… he feasts in lobs off of harden. Kd is too hard of a matchup when you have to guard curry and klay.
On a side note I live in the Hamptons , this ‘hamptons 5’ moniker is really annoying. I’m a dam knicks fan, stay outta my town!
Ha, I’m going to be in the Hamptons a lot the next few months Mase. It must be nice to live there full time!
I can’t decide if I’d rather jump top 3 this year or next. Either way, this team deserves to be thrown a bone.
At #1 Doncic is a no-brainer (for this team anyway) but at #2, would we go for Ayton? If you’re worried about Bagley’s D, you should be worried about Ayton’s too. Brandon McCoy lit him up for 33 pts head to head. And at #3, I guess Jackson Jr.?
The issue is that Harden played very well, Curry didn’t score much and it was still a comfortable win for the Warriors. I don’t think Durant is stoppable and that’s gonna be a huge deciding factor.
Boston beat a Cleveland team that shot 15% from 3, that’s a big outlier. The Rockets, on the other hand, played well but I don’t think there’s any answer to Durant when he just decides he is scoring. I hope Houston wins and we get a very good series, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Capela is a very good defender that on offense mostly gets lobs from two great play makers in Paul and Harden or he gets putbacks. That’s all dandy. But if the Warriors can take away the lob or at least limit it, Capela’s value goes down because it’s not like he can stretch the floor and hit jumpers or create much for himself. He’s a 3rd scorer, but he has limitations in his game that can make him less relevant.
The Rockets are over matched.
The Rockets two best scorers are not as good as the Warriors best 2 scorers, the Warriors have a high level 3rd scorer, a better defense, and still have the better bench. The Rockets have closed the gap, but it was gigantic before. Now it’s just large (I’m rooting to be wrong).
Why do I feel like we’re going to drop to #10 tonight? Is it Knicks fan PTSD? Almost feels inevitable.
(and if the Lakers move up to top 3 and the Celtics get that pick, I may take a baseball bat to my TV)
The Knicks can start being good in 2019/2020 if they draft the right player this year (perhaps Mikal Bridges or Wendell Carter) and stay on course. A core of Prozingis, Bridges/Carter, and Frank is an excellent start on defense. We have other young players now, picks to add other players, and then cap space to fill gaps and add another star. It was going to take a long time to rebuild this way no matter what we did. Just get used to it. As long as they don’t blow a draft badly and lose a year or add some overpriced bum free agent, everything is on course. The Baker overpay is irrelevant, the Hardaway overpay is not a disaster, and the rest will be gone soon.
I heard that the Rockets had 14 FGA with 3 or less seconds on the shot clock and 20 with 5 or less seconds on the shot clock.
Guys are gonna miss shots but when you don’t have much time to even set your feet then it won’t even matter. Houston needs to adjust because that type of offense just isn’t going to work against the Warriors.
Z-man, with what non-sequitur did I violate you?
@16
It was hard to watch. Harden and Paul both dribble WAY too much. They may eventually score efficiently in ISO in the regular season, but against an elite defense they are going to have to move the ball quicker and better than that.
@11
quiet place to live, has its drawbacks; we should get up and watch some summer league at a bar, good excuse to day drink.
in any event, i’m hoping tonite we dont drop down to 10 because i think bridges will be gone by 10
It’s odd to me, as their big scoring games in the regular season were sometimes against good defenses (Jazz, Spurs, Celts). Their (tied for) worst scoring game was against the Kings (28th DRtg) and then #3 and #4 were against the Grizz (26th). But the Jazz, Spurs and Celts also appear in the their ten worst scoring games of the season, too. (Just found the advanced game log on BBRef; it looks about the same when you use ORtg instead of raw points.)
The Rockets offense is so potent that I suspect they’ll steal a game by hitting 40% of their 50 3PA, but it’s hard to see how they take 4 of the next 6 without something Wiccan happening to Steph’s ankle.
I kind of forgot how good Klay and Iguodala are on defense. The other three starters are obviously the bread and butter of the team, but Klay and Iggy are both such tough, penetration-denying, no-mistakes making defenders.
Yeah, it’s been said many times at this point but Klay Thompson is really an extremely good defender. How can you be so lucky to have 2 MVP level players and then your 3rd star is a knockdown shooter who also happens to be a superb defender and have no ego? You’d have to build a player in a laboratory to fit better on the Warriors than Klay does.
Just having some fun with you, but if you truly think that Beasley is not an NBA-level player at this time, it’s hard to take anything you say seriously, as that is as utterly nonsensical as anything you’ve ever said, much less tried to defend. And that’s saying something.
Sign me up for the outcome in Kyler’s latest mock on bball insiders. Carter at 9, Diallo at 37 – sure. Very happy.
@11 – I’ll take the lotto jump this year as I fell we’ll be top five next year based on record. We had the second worst record in the league after KP went down I spite of trying harder than like 6 other teams and we’re likely losing KOQ, maybe Kanter and Beasley, who each contributed to the odd win in the second half. Lotto luck this year plus full-bore tank next and we could be up two major building blocks…
I’m more confused that he was allowed to continue to play in the NBA for the years where he was among the league’s worst player (year after year after year) than that people think he’s a legit NBA player now. This season, he finally did break positive VORP for the first time! Then again, I’m not surprised that recency bias continues from the usual suspects on this site.
Yes, he’s much more valuable at .584 TS% and 25.3 USG% than he was earlier in his career. He’s still 29 and occupies a roster slot that any reasonable rebuilding team should use on young, cheap talent.
Is it really “utterly nonsensical” to call a player bad when he is bad according to literally every metric we have? At least when we were arguing over Carmelo you could say, “But his PER!” You can’t do that with Beasley. You need to focus solely on his big scoring games and ignore the times he goes 8-24 or 5-15 and single-handedly kills your team’s chance to win.
And don’t forget: they got so much shit from all over the internet and airwaves when they were unwilling to trade this guy for Kevin Love.
I’ve become more of a Carter guy now, but I don’t see why Mikal Bridges doesn’t have strong potential to be a similar player to Klay. Their college stats are similar. Klay shot a higher volume, Mikal a better percentage.
People are underestimating how good of a shooter Mikal is. He can come off screens and rise up over anyone.
I haven’t been the biggest Ayton fan, but his ceiling could well be a better rebounding version of STAT. Even with some of his lack of any and all defensive awareness that’s definitely a player you can win a title with.
Do you remember just how good Love was in 2013-14?
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/loveke01.html
There was a pretty vocal group (probably a minority) re: the Klay-Love trade saying the Warriors were right because Klay was a much better defender at a more-difficult-to-fill position.
I agree Klay is good, a great fit, and a fantastic temmate. But there is a long history of guys who get mythologized after playing next to amazing teammates and I sort of wonder if Klay should be in that bucket. He isn’t a Bruce Bowen but I can’t help but feel he’s a little overrated.
Suffice to say Klay fits really well on that team.
You’re most likely right.
Then again, Kevin Love has played with the greatest teammate, and he ain’t on that list.
Counterfactuals are fun. If the Klay/Love trade had gone through I think Love would have two titles right now and Klay probably has faded into modest irrelevance. Harrison Barnes sure has and he got picked for the Olympic team.
But who knows.
Let’s say a miracle happens and the Knicks move up in the lottery, but only to #3. Doncic and Ayton are off the board when NYK picks.
Who you got?
I’d swing for MPJ if he looks good in workouts.
JJJ without hesitation
It’s got to be JJJ though I might see what you could get for trading down a couple of spots and grabbing Carter or (depending on how he shoots in workouts) Young.
You’ve got to consider Porter Jr., but otherwise, JJJ would be my pick.
Try hard to trade down a few spots.
They are fun.
I think Klay would be a modern day Rip Hamilton on his own.
As for Golden State… I don’t know if they would have won a title with Love. He’d be such a weak link defensively I think he’d compromise everything they do.
If he had won a ring, it would have been the way David Lee did… by being dumped from the lineup. But in that instance, they still had Klay. Klay may be overrated but I just can’t imagine them winning anything without him and that death lineup.
He is a modern-day Rip, i.e. the 5th-best player on a stacked, dominant championship team.
Fans of all other lottery teams: Let’s move up and get Doncic baby!
Knicks fans: can we please please please just stay at 9.
I made an offering to the RNG gods today. But they can be cruel masters, at times.
Last year one of them sent me a prophetic dream, which I posted here. In the dream, the Knicks pulled the #2 pick in the draft. Representing the Knicks at the draft lottery was Charles Oakley.
Needless to say, the dream did not come true.
There’s an open thread up for the lottery.