Knicks Morning News (2018.07.04)

  • [NYTimes] Sports of The Times: The East Needs Some Beasts
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 10:39:03 PM)

    LeBron James as a Laker makes the Western Conference absurd. Time for most of the East to become the Far Eastern Conference.

  • [NYTimes] DeMarcus Cousins Gives the Warriors a Fifth All-Star
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 2:20:46 PM)

    While the former Pelicans big man is still recovering from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, he gives the team the one thing it has lacked: A dominant center.

  • [NYPost] Knicks’ top draft pick vows to fix one weakness
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 11:20:30 PM)

    LAS VEGAS — When rookie 6-foot-9 combo forward Kevin Knox debuts for the Knicks on Saturday in the Las Vegas Summer League, their lottery pick gets the first chance to dispel his reputation as a low-energy defender who occasionally lacked a revved-up motor while playing one season at Kentucky. Knox, 18, has taken all the…

  • [NYPost] Breaking down the Knicks’ enticing summer league roster
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 2:57:57 PM)

    Here’s a deeper look at the players on the Knicks’ summer league roster: Troy Williams Was impressive add to roster after All-Star break as athletic, dunking small forward will be on NBA roster. Luke Kornet After being two-way contract guy last season, Kornet signed an NBA deal on Sunday and could be backup to center…

  • [NYPost] Knicks coach plots Lakers-like splash with big names lined up
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 12:55:18 PM)

    LAS VEGAS — The Lakers got LeBron James and the Knicks got Mario Hezonja … but wait till next July. “Hal-le-lu-jah,” coach David Fizdale said when asked Tuesday about James leaving the East for a four-year deal with the Lakers. “But I can’t talk much about that stuff until all of those guys are inked,…

  • [NYPost] Enes Kanter burns NBA to ground amid Warriors fury
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 9:06:27 AM)

    The never-ending ensemble of talent stacking up in Golden State set Enes Kanter off. Shortly after news broke of DeMarcus Cousins joining the Warriors, the Knicks center went at the NBA, mocking the signing and state of the league. Kanter joined fans and other players who essentially threw their hands up as the four-time All-Star…

  • [ESPN] Fizdale: Knicks poised to ‘make moves’ in 2019
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 9:03:51 PM)

    Knicks coach David Fizdale believes that heading into next summer the club will “have the bricks in place to make some big moves.”

  • [NYDN] Dwight Howard’s tenure with the Nets comes to an end, and it was quite the run
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 9:50:00 PM)

    After a cup of coffee with the Nets, one of the NBA’s most-traveled players has found a new home.

    Dwight Howard finalized his buyout with Brooklyn Tuesday night and will sign a $5.3 million deal with the Washington Wizards, according to multiple reports.

    Brooklyn acquired the big man on June 20th…

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks could take advantage of wide open Eastern Conference by 2019
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 1:45:48 PM)

    With LeBron James going to the Lakers, the Eastern Conference is now wide open. And the Knicks can take advantage as early as 2019.

  • [SNY Knicks] Can Knicks trust Hezonja to fill Michael Beasley’s shoes?
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 12:15:27 PM)

    With the Knicks signing F Mario Hezonja on Sunday, it seems the return of F Michael Beasley isn’t in play any longer.

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks PF Isaiah Hicks returns for 2018-19 season
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 10:43:16 AM)

    The Knicks announced Tuesday that they resigned forward Isaiah Hicks to another two-way deal.

  • [NY Newsday] Knicks could take advantage of wide open Eastern Conference by 2019
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 1:45:48 PM)

    With LeBron James going to the Lakers, the Eastern Conference is now wide open. And the Knicks can take advantage as early as 2019.

  • [NY Newsday] Can Knicks trust Hezonja to fill Michael Beasley’s shoes?
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 12:15:27 PM)

    With the Knicks signing F Mario Hezonja on Sunday, it seems the return of F Michael Beasley isn’t in play any longer.

  • [NY Newsday] Knicks PF Isaiah Hicks returns for 2018-19 season
    (Tuesday, July 03, 2018 10:43:16 AM)

    The Knicks announced Tuesday that they resigned forward Isaiah Hicks to another two-way deal.

  • 81 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.07.04)”

    Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns are progressing toward finalizing a 5-year, $158M maximum contract extension as soon as the weekend, league sources tell ESPN. Suns presented the offer to Booker in Los Angeles today.

    Cool, cool, that will definitely work out well. Definitely.

    Andrew Wiggins has a new challenger for worst contract for a young player who is all upside and pointzz.

    Booker did show some improvement last year and now he has some talented pieces around him, and Devin Armani Booker is a pretty cool name.

    He definitely did show some improvement, but holy shit, right? Who the fuck thinks it makes sense to say “Oh, you showed some improvement and you scored 80 points in a game that one time, let’s pay you $32 million a year for five years”?!

    The Booker deal is scary but it’s not in the Wiggins universe. It’s almost never a good bet to go all-in on a high volume, high turnover scorer who doesn’t defend. But getting 26 pts at 56% as a 21 year-old on an upward trajectory means there’s a non-miraculous world in which Booker produces like Lillard and earns the contract. Wiggins’ deal was literally DOA.

    I guess I like Booker more than most here. I think that a 20-21 year old who puts up 26-5-5 per 36 at a TS% of .561 on a 31% usage rate and 3pt% of 38% on over 7 attempts and gets to the line over 6 times and is a smart, hard working kid is pretty special. He’s a pretty terrible defender and turns the ball over too much, but I don’t see him as an inefficient no-d chucker wing like Wiggins. If you’re gonna gamble a max salary on a guy becoming a franchise player, he’s a pretty good bet.

    Similarly, there’s nothing KP has done that justifies a max extension but I hope we roll the dice on him.

    Here’s a spot-on comparison to another 21yo:

    http://bkref.com/tiny/qofP9

    It seems that $5.3 million is now the established market rate for talented, pain-in-the-ass big men in the decline phase of their careers.

    @4+5

    I agree. I think betting on Booker is risky, but reasonable. He’s showed tangible improvement and is young enough where continued progression seems very possible. This isn’t a Wiggins contract.

    https://fansided.com/2018/07/03/nylon-calculus-wingspan-defense/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

    I really liked this article posted yesterday or whatever, and I wish every coach would ram this down every player’s throat. It’s so true that defense, especially in today’s NBA is mainly about hustle and covering ground, not height or wingspan.

    Anecdotally, the non-basketball athletes I used to hate playing against the most were soccer players. They couldn’t dribble or shoot worth a shit but were all over the fucking place on D. I would argue that relatively few NBA players are in “soccer” condition and would get their asses kicked by world cup level players in any sport-neutral conditioning drills.

    Probably the prettiest college campus I’ve seen, right there with Williams College. (My high school girlfriend went to Williams and I [at first] went to Fordham at Rose Hill. She made a much better choice than I did.)

    Thanks, Jowles, I’m glad we can occasionally agree on something (actually most things, but don’t tell anyone.) I grew up walking distance from Rose Hill and played pickup basketball in the Lombardi Center many times…horrible concrete-like rubberized floor. But otherwise a nice, pretty oasis in the mid-Bronx, and the adjacent Botanical Gardens are world class.

    I’ve been in the throes of college searches for my three kids for the past few years and have seen lots of campuses in the northeast and DE/MD/Virginia/NC/SC corridor. I love visiting and touring campuses and joke with my kids that I’m bringing them along on my tours. What has stood out to me the most is how sadly institutional most SUNY colleges are. Other states have attractive, private-school-looking public colleges that attract out-of-state students. Not NY. One’s uglier than the next.

    Here’s a spot-on comparison to another 21yo:

    Even if you think that Booker will become the current version of Steph Curry, what made the Warriors become a dynasty was the fact that Curry’s first contract was for way under his value.

    When he signed his extension for 4/$44m he was the 4th highest paid person on the team.

    If the Warriors has thrown $3o% of the cap at him, LeBron would probably have 2 more rings and Durant would still be in Oklahoma.

    I would argue that relatively few NBA players are in “soccer” condition and would get their asses kicked by world cup level players in any sport-neutral conditioning drills.

    I believe Hakeem Olajuwon was a serious soccer player before taking up hoops in Nigeria(?) and he was about as good as a defensive player as you could want.

    Also Haverford in suburban Philly is a very nice campus and an excellent school and if you are really liberal, my son graduated from Middlebury in Vermont and that’s a lovely campus too.

    I believe Hakeem Olajuwon was a serious soccer player before taking up hoops in Nigeria(?) and he was about as good as a defensive player as you could want.

    Steve Nash is another notable example. Although not known for defense, his athleticism was off the charts.

    Also Haverford in suburban Philly is a very nice campus and an excellent school and if you are really liberal, my son graduated from Middlebury in Vermont and that’s a lovely campus too.

    There are so many beautiful small liberal arts campuses in great settings. It’s so much fun to visit them!

    Even if you think that Booker will become the current version of Steph Curry, what made the Warriors become a dynasty was the fact that Curry’s first contract was for way under his value.

    When he signed his extension for 4/$44m he was the 4th highest paid person on the team.

    If the Warriors has thrown $3o% of the cap at him, LeBron would probably have 2 more rings and Durant would still be in Oklahoma.

    This is fair, but the GSW situation is simply an outlier and not replicable. Curry was a freak luck kind of pick, and his early value was diminished by the specter of a chronic ankle/foot issue. But to be fair, they were a workd class team even before signing Durant, and would have been even if Curry was maxed. They just wouldn’t be the GOAT as they arguably are right now.

    But try offering guys like Towns, Porzingis and Booker contracts like Curry’s and watch them laugh their way to being free agents.

    What does guys like Towns (.224 career WP48), Porzingis and Booker (.010, -.013) mean exactly?

    If these guys offer Porzingis 11 per and he laughs it off on his way to free agency I’m giving them lifetime contracts.

    Happy 4th everyone

    Be good
    Be happy
    Be safe
    Go Knicks

    Oh…and be like me..STAY IN THE HOUSE AND SOAK UP THE AC lol

    You mean the same KAT who apparently has Butler wanting to get out of Minny because of his lakadasicle approach to winning?

    You mean the same KP who probably has more trade value right now than most players getting paid the max, even coming off of an ACL repair?

    You mean the same WP that is at least as flawed as PER in evaluating player value?

    Any GM who offers KP a lowball extension and then lets him walk is going to be the laughing stock of the league and will be out of a job. It would be a terrible business decision.

    Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, and Knox are going to lead us to the promised land"says:

    Booker is a SG. SGs tend to not fill up the stat sheet as much as the other positions because they don’t handle the ball enough to pile up assists like PGs even if they have the skill set (same would happen to Frank if he shifts to SG) and don’t get as many rebounds as SFs due to size and being on the perimeter virtually all the time. There are always exceptions for players that do dominate the ball, but typically what you want from the SG is high volume very efficient scoring, spacing (value not measured well), and defense.

    Booker has all the attributes to become a dynamite SG on offense. He scoring efficiency and 3p% are rising with a TS% of 60% and 3p% of 40% or thereabouts being the target. Even his assists and rebounds are inching up.

    His defense is the issue. It would OK if he was neutral on defense, but if he’s going to be a negative it will destroy some of the value he adds on offense.

    Basically though, this is one of the problems with drafting very young players. You have them on a cheap contract when they are learning and improving, but they often don’t add much value at that stage. Then when they finally start getting really good, you sometimes have to overpay to keep them on the assumption the improvement will continue.

    The value of the 2nd contract for players should probably be capped lower. This means that the value of the 6+ years player contracts would go higher, which I think is fair and may also push teams not to give anyone max 6+ contract unless they’re truly max players.

    Booker is by all accounts an excellent scorer. Can’t argue with the free throws and the 3pt%, even though I would like to see better shot selection from him.

    I agree SGs don’t fill stats so much as other positions, but doesn’t that also mean paying premium for a dedicated SG is not efficient in a way? If all you want is an efficient scorer that can defend on the position it can be done with a much lesser price than a big max like that.

    If Booker manages to reach a 60 ts% with better shot selection now that he has better weapons around him, he’ll be a pretty valuable player, as long as the defense is somewhat passable. But I would rather have a very valuable PG or SF that can affect the game in more ways than sinking such a huge contract for a guy who won’t provide other production across the board.

    I’ll take that bet Strat!

    I think you guys who are discounting Trae are going to feel silly in a few months.

    What has stood out to me the most is how sadly institutional most SUNY colleges are. Other states have attractive, private-school-looking public colleges that attract out-of-state students. Not NY. One’s uglier than the next.

    I’m glad I went to SUNY to finish my BA and MA, or I’d be in crippling debt now. My close friend went to Vassar and I was always envious of the straight-male-to-female ratio and the beauty of that Poughkeepsie oasis, but I’m glad I came out with practically no debt and landed a good career anyway. When I applied to CU, it was already up near $45K and (I just read) it’s currently $69K a year to attend now! As beautiful as that place is, I wouldn’t touch it unless I knew I had a job at Goldman Sachs lined up after, and if that were the case, I’d rather jump off a bridge.

    Re: Devin Booker, not a good contract but definitely not in the Wiggins stratosphere. There is a world of difference between .560 and .505 TS% on high volume. Wiggins is a total bust, full stop. There’s nothing redeeming about his play — no Avery Bradley “but hey, I can defend!” caveat, no Jason Kidd “yeah but I do everything else” upside — just bad.

    Booker becomes a .580 or .590 TS% volume scorer on 25 PPG? Home run.

    Wiggins reduced his volume, played next to Jimmy Butler, and still had the worst efficiency of his career. They should have traded him for anything they could get. Sunk cost fallacy is going to fuck the Wolves.

    Edit: As usual, my half-Swede, half-Brazilian counterpart beats me to the punch.

    The People’s Republic of Boulder is the prettiest city I’ve ever been to. They’ve apparently mandated that only women who meet a certain level of hotness are permitted to enter the town.

    I can just see the headline now:

    Knicks trade Hardaway and Lee (Yayyy!!!!) For Timberwolves Star (we’re getting Butler!) Andrew Wiggins (burns Starks jersey, quits job, moves to Tibet)

    Boulder is a great town.

    This Booker deal seems crazy. It’s the same question I already have, (which I believe ptmilo answered the last time), but why the heck give him the max? Does he turn down 25 million per? 22? Was someone waiting in the wings with 30 million per?

    I know nothing about gming but I can’t see how paying Booker 150 will end up providing surplus.

    Moving to Boulder this fall. Went to undergrad there, can confirm. But definitely don’t move there, it’s terrible (I mean it’s actually wonderful, but we’re trying to keep even more people from moving there).

    Agreed with you guys about Booker and vs. Wiggins. Booker is way better gamble.

    How can you blame Phoenix for that deal? Are they going to be able to attract any premium free agents? Phoenix is not LA, and they are looking way up at GS, Houston, etc. They’re going to have to try to get out of the lottery by building from within and keeping their young core happy.

    As some have already pointed out, if they offer him a 4/$11 or 12m type deal, he’d laugh and become a free agent.

    As with any huge deal, the big risk is that Booker now is satisfied with his income and stops working to improve.

    I’m glad I went to SUNY to finish my BA and MA, or I’d be in crippling debt now. My close friend went to Vassar and I was always envious of the straight-male-to-female ratio and the beauty of that Poughkeepsie oasis, but I’m glad I came out with practically no debt and landed a good career anyway. When I applied to CU, it was already up near $45K and (I just read) it’s currently $69K a year to attend now! As beautiful as that place is, I wouldn’t touch it unless I knew I had a job at Goldman Sachs lined up after, and if that were the case, I’d rather jump off a bridge.

    What I hear about the SUNYs is that the courses and professors are generally competitive with other schools, and the overall value is exceptional. My junior in HS is a strong D3-level athlete and considering both private schools in the NE and SUNY schools. I’ve visited Oneonta, New Paltz, Geneseo, Cortland, Oswego, Potsdam and Plattsburgh (the big 4 are all D1) and all of them have that institutional look, although some are in very pretty surroundings or nice towns and have excellent athletic facilities, arts complexes. etc.

    It’s sad how much the cost of college has gone up relative to inflation. The upper-echelon liberal arts private colleges (e.g. Colgate, Williams, Amherst, etc.) cost about $5-6K per year for a full ride back in the mid ’70s and now cost 10X or more than that. Even so, I only was able to afford it back then bc I qualified for an affirmative action program for inner city kids and for what they used to call a Regents scholarship. For a kid from the Bronx, it was pretty eye-opening! At that time, Vassar was still all-female!

    Boulders great but super expensive now. Applying there for PhD work this admissions cycle, though, so I might end up there. Most beautiful place in the world to me is still Upstate New York and Montreal, though. Can’t wait to get back to the North after my stints in ATL and NC.

    You don’t give a guy 158 million dollars and hope he grows a conscience. Chuckers don’t stop taking shitty shots. Wiggins v. Booker v. Porzingis is shades of brown.

    Booker is not necessarily a chucker. He played for the worst team in the league and was given complete license to shoot at will.

    What I hear about the SUNYs is that the courses and professors are generally competitive with other schools, and the overall value is exceptional. My junior in HS is a strong D3-level athlete and considering both private schools in the NE and SUNY schools. I’ve visited Oneonta, New Paltz, Geneseo, Cortland, Oswego, Potsdam and Plattsburgh (the big 4 are all D1) and all of them have that institutional look, although some are in very pretty surroundings or nice towns and have excellent athletic facilities, arts complexes. etc.

    New Paltz is easily the best location and town of those seven (I’m assuming on Cortland, as I would never voluntarily visit there). Unless he’s planning on being an aerospace engineer, the departments are top-notch, mostly owing to there being so few jobs market-wide for new academics. The English department recruits from first- and second-tier PhD programs at this point. You’ve got Columbia and Yale PhDs flocking to New Paltz because of the combination of rustic beauty and proximity to culture.

    I grew up right outside Stony Brook and I agree that the vast majority of SUNY campuses aren’t theost aesthetically pleasing. That said, I sometimes wish my family had stayed in NY so I could’ve taken advantage of SUNY and CUNY schools very competitive tuition. I received a top notch education at UNC, though, but unique financial circumstances (separated Catholic parents that never divorced, dad made decent money but didn’t support us so I lived with my mother on public assistance while their combined income looked high 5 figures so on and so forth) made it such that though I had the income level suitable for Pell Grants and need based scholarships I received none of them and cameout with a fair bit of debt.

    My advice is go to the place that’s the best value for money, so I agree with Jowles on the SUNY schools generally, especially Stony Brook and New Paltz, though it’s a pretty non collegey atmosphere at SBU.

    I’ve been thinking about the Hezonja thing. And I’m torn.
    Looking at it from a pure basketball perspective, if the idea is for him to replace Beasley and see if he’s a fit moving forward, I think it’s a bad idea. But if the goal is to look at another young and developing player while helping the team get a good draft pick, then it’s a great idea. I don’t know what’s worse, signing him to play SF primarily where he will have trouble keeping up on defense, or having him replace Beasley’s production as a small ball PF. He’s probably got more all around game than Beasley, but Beasley is a far better scorer and rebounder. And with his length he can be a better defender. With Hezonja, I wonder if he can play physical enough to be a smallball PF. If he can improve his rebounding, it won’t matter. His skillset does intrigue me as a smallball PF with his modern offensive game and passing. If he starts, Kanter had better stay healthy because he is the only rebounder we have unless we keep Noah or Robinson shows something in year 1.

    See? Torn.

    Go Knicks

    I recommend you all come over and spend some time in Oxford and/or Cambridge. Or Durham, York, Bristol or Edinburgh. We can’t match your weather (at least in some parts of the country) and we’ve gone past you in average student debt, but the college I went to was founded in 1249 and as an environment in which to get an education, it’s pretty hard to beat…

    By the way – as fellow travellers on the good ship ‘sports misery’ I hope you’ll all allow me a moment to forget about the knicks and revel after a first shoot-out win since I was 15 and we were hosting the Euros in 1996…

    Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, and Knox are going to lead us to the promised land"says:

    I’ll take that bet Strat!

    I think you guys who are discounting Trae are going to feel silly in a few months.

    We’ll see. I’m not particularly good at making player projections. IMO, a lot of it work ethic and basketball IQ. I’d still rather have Bridges over Knox, but I don’t feel so bad about having Knox over Young.

    Back to yesterday’s weather commentary, I live in San Diego and can confirm the weather is beautiful almost every day. Don’t tell anyone, it is getting more and more crowded every year. Balancing out the great weather is the fact that the sports here are terrible. We lost our football team (the team formerly known as the San Diego chargers), have no NBA team, and the baseball team is more of a AAA feeder for other big league teams. So right now it is literally a pro sports wasteland.

    The Eastern Conference used to be “big”, but now it’s just really bad. The imbalance has reached ridiculous levels. Western conference teams have won 12 out of the last 18 NBA titles (4 of last 5) and are heavily favored to win next year too. Every player on the last 4 all NBA teams now plays n the West. Let that sink in. It’s almost enough to make me root for the Celtics next year. The all star game is going to be some kind of joke for the next few years unless something changes.

    Kind of pissed the Knicks didn’t or couldn’t make a run at Randle. 2 years at 9 million per seems reasonable and he would have fit well next to KP in theory any way. Of course another team cashed in on the Lakers mistake not NY because Knicks.

    Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, and Knox are going to lead us to the promised land"says:

    The Wilson Chandler deal made me a little more skeptical about our ability to trade Lee.

    When I was in college, I visited my sister in Binghamton and my best friend in Stony Brook. I have to say, the difference culture-wise and aesthetically was astronomical, and it is hard to imagine how different the overall experience would have been had I gone that path rather than lucking into an affordable route to Colgate. Neither of them ever go to reunions or have much of a alumni friend network. It’s hard to put a price on that stuff. But at the end of the day, it’ll be between my girl and the coaches. I’m just the ATM.

    Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, and Knox are going to lead us to the promised land"says:

    @36

    I think Hezonja has some skills and upside, but I don’t think they brought him in to be part of some 4d chess tank while getting a look at him. I think it’s a similar move to getting Mudiay. Perry seems to like former high draft picks that washed out with their previous team(s) (Burke is another). I guess the idea is that if the kid was talented enough to get drafted that high, maybe the scouts weren’t wrong. Maybe the wrong team drafted him, he didn’t fit, and they developed him poorly. It’s an effort to find hidden value. Phil took a shot with Derick Williams like that. I don’t see a lot of evidence that technique works, but if you can get a player like that short and cheap, there’s not much downside other than opportunity cost.

    Hezonja has developed a bit already and looks to have some good fundamentals. Mudiay is a bit younger and has a great physical profile but so far away from being good, it’s doubtful he becomes anything more than an end-of-bench guy. Neither deal is all that consequential, since most second rounders don’t even get as far as Mudiay has. Maybe Fizdale is a whiz at player development and works some magic with them, as well as Frank, Dotson, Troy, Mitchell, Knox and Trier. Otherwise, just let Mudiay and Hezonja go, no harm, no foul.

    I also spent a week with my older brother at U of Miami (Fla). Now THAT was pretty freakin’ happening! It’s not San Diego, but from September to May, you can do a lot worse than the weather in Coral Gables. facehumper, isn’t that your alma mater?

    @37

    I’ll be applying to Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge, KCL, and maybe the LSE for doctoral work, so there’s a good chance I’ll take the opportunity to explore all the august, ancient unis and their towns that the UK has to offer.

    It’s not San Diego, but from September to May, you can do a lot worse than the weather in Coral Gables.

    I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, not far from Coral Gables, and to me that weather is THE WORST. Sure, it’s warm, but even in the winter the humidity is ridiculously crushing. When I was a little kid we had no central air, and there was no AC in my bedroom. It was a sweaty childhood.

    Don’t even get me started on the bugs.

    Palmetto bugs are terrifying. But Central and Western NYS are horrific from November to March, often lousy in October, April and May, and not all that great in summer. No A/C in south FL is a bitch, though, no wonder you’re so surly! 🙂

    I love the cold weather–even lived in Minnesota for a year and lived in -40 f weather and kind of loved it. New York is relatively easy unless you have to deal with syracuse or buffalos snow. Can’t stand the Southeastern heat, though, and the palmetto bugs and cockroaches.

    I live in west Knoxville TN. Good cost of living…beautiful Smokey Mountains nearby. A major college town with all the comes with that.

    And one of the worst places in the USA to live in if you have allergies…as most people do… Also lots of heat AND humidity. We got it all!

    🙂

    @46 – great selection. I did my undergrad at Oxford. 15 years later, doing my masters at the LSE. Both great places to be. Happy to give you some visiting tips if you come across… good luck!

    Lived all over the US and some outside the country. We had 28 of feet of snow in 2 days in Buffalo once; we got on the roof and were diving into the snow. Wild. It was almost as bad in South Bend, Indiana, except the lake was more than an hour away. San Diego is pretty blissful, but boring. Paris is the most beautiful city in the world (caveat: haven’t been to South America, sorry, Bruno), but the people really are nasty. Really don’t like London; a lot of the stuff I don’t like about NYC, except more boring and segregated. Amsterdam is probably the coolest city I’ve been to, lovely, with really down-to-earth people, and Edinburgh is kind of awesome – a world-class small town. All in all, though, I love where I live now the best, in a small town half an hour west of NYC. Small town feel with cosmopolitan people, rich, poor, black, white, with parks, a jazz club, indie theater, good restaurants, and actual seasons… snow in the winter and the pool in the summer.

    May have to give Boulder a try, though…

    @ english-knick – my daughter is a year away from applying to colleges and wants to leave the States. Probably can’t get into Ox/bridge or the LSE, but any other suggestions? St Andrews seems good…? (and as said, I personally love Scotland)

    St Andrews is great from what I’ve heard. Tiny tho.

    Regarding diversity, Boulder may be the whitest place on earth.

    Regarding diversity, Boulder may be the whitest place on earth.

    This is definitely true and a large part of why I initially moved away. Also the city is way overeducated so you see a lot of people working jobs they’re overqualified for. Then there’s the whole mystical anti-science portion of the community that this board would dislike.

    @53 – depends a bit on what she’s looking for. I personally wouldn’t recommend being an undergraduate in London. Students end up living all around the city, there’s not a lot of community within the colleges and it can be quite lonely. For city-based universities, especially some of the older more beautiful ones, Bristol and Edinburgh are great cities and really good universities. Durham is supposed to be really good though I don’t know it personally. Don’t know St. Andrews but it has a great reputation. Trinity College in Dublin is beautiful and a great school.

    Then we have more out-of-town campus-based universities – less beautiful but often very good institutions. UEA in Norwich is excellent – very literary, wonderful city. Warwick is a very good university, though Coventry as the nearest town is not so nice.

    Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, and Knox are going to lead us to the promised land"says:

    I haven’t done as much international traveling as I should have at this stage, but the best “city” I’ve ever been to was Montreal. It has most of the upsides of a city like NY, but it’s feels cleaner, newer, safer, and friendlier than NY. It’s too cold for me to live full time, but it’s a great place to visit.

    I did not like San Diego. The weather was great, but when I was there there I saw a lot of homelessness and teenage loitering. It was the worst of what I see in NY from time to time multiplied by 2. I saw no upside other than the weather and the rest was downside. I way preferred San Francisco. San Francisco was beautiful. The weather was great. There was plenty to do. But I am hearing it has deteriorated since I was there 15-20 years ago.

    Right now if I had my choice I’d spend my summers in Saratoga Springs, NY. I’d head to Lexington Kentucky for awhile (which a really nice city) and then spend my winters on the west coast of Florida to relax.

    I really, really didn’t like San Diego, I thought it was one of the most boring cities I ever been too. I guess living for 18 some years in Brazil made me not really appreciate the weather as much as it’s important if you live in the colder areas of North America. I’ve lived in Oslo and Trondheim in Norway when I was younger and the snow and the cold were really depressing, specially as a pre-teenager, but since then living in São Paulo and Porto Alegre made me forget what real cold weather feels like.

    I liked San Francisco and New York the most in North America for sure, and Barcelona and Lisbon are my favorite places on earth so far. I found every city I’ve been to in Canada to be too tame for my liking, even Toronto. But yeah, visiting a place is so different from living in it so my experience is definitely a very biased one.

    #58 and 59 Awesome, please tell everyone you know how you feel about San Diego.

    Love this place.

    Where else can you get inside scoop on weather, best cities, politics, sports, salary cap math, money ball data, draft insights, free agent wealing & dealing etc…and oh, Knicks.

    Chicago during the months it’s not winter has been amazing every time I’ve been (albeit not that often). If I can winter somewhere else, I would have that listed pretty high.

    SUNY Binghamton product here. BS in biochem class of 1997. Then got my MD at SUNY downstate. I grew up in queens and my years in Binghamton opened my eyes to upstate ny. The beauty, the rust belt issues, the lack of traffic, and the snow. I eventually ended up back upstate to train in residency, and now reside in Cortland, NY. I’m still a queens kid at heart (My parents still live in queens), but I also love upstate now. Just today I was in ithica hiking the buttermilk falls trail. Beautiful country up here. Though you do have to like or at least tolerate cold and snow 5-6 months a year.

    Z-man SUNY Cortland has a strong academic program as well as a strong D3 atheletic program. I use some of their athletic facilities, to play pick up ball, and my kids swim at SUNY Cortland (they are still 4 and 7).

    How is this even possible?

    A source close to #LeBron tells me that Bron had zero contact w/#Lakers head coach Luke Walton throughout the Lakers’ entire recruitment process. “LeBron never met Luke at all,” source says — and they still have not met. Walton will be James’ seventh full-time NBA head coach.— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 4, 2018

    I spent a year a SUNY Purchase in the 80s and that campus is dismal- great for the arts though and just 1/2 hour from NYC.

    I live in probably the most underrated city in America, Los Angeles. The weather is great, although not as nice as San Diego, and I love the culture. Incredible city for food, and there are lots of interesting, creative and ambitious people here.

    Most people think of LA as shallow and superficial, and some of that does exist here, but actors and models are only a small part of the ecosystem. There are tons of talented musicians, writers, editors, photographers, engineers and all other sorts of creative types here. I have a million smart, funny and interesting friends and colleagues here. Hollywood is also recession-proof, and if you’re good at what you do you can always find work somewhere.

    Housing prices are insane, so that’s the big downside, but that’ll happen when you live in a place where everybody wants to be.

    Great 4th of July convo here, guys, we had thunderstorms here so spent most of the bbq indoors and it was nice to take an occasional break the hear your thoughts about cities and colleges. My daughter is a club volleyball player and her team has traveled to Philly, DC, Atlanta, Orlando, Lancaster, and most recently Pittsburgh. I didn’t expect much from Pittsburgh but really liked it! What I have generally found is that all have really nice features and are very livable, but it’s hard to top NYC.

    I live in probably the most underrated city in America, Los Angeles.

    Agreed, LA is pretty amazing, as is Coastal California overall. Frisco and the wine country is awesome too. I wouldn’t mind spending a couple of months a year playing golf around Santa Barbara or on the Monterey Peninsula.

    What a country!

    JK I live in LA now as well – I’m from the BX and Yonkers, also lived in Albany 3 years and Syracuse off and on since I went to SU for grad school (Newhouse) in ’03. Was beginning my real estate investing career a few years ago when I met the girl of my dreams who lives in LA. So i’ve been here for 2+ years.

    Obviously, Syracuse can’t hold a candle to LA. Two things, though:
    1. This Southern Cali lifestyle – lets just say I’ve realized I’m not quite that liberal 😉

    2. I’m a cheap-ass. And Syracuse is cheaper. Way cheaper.

    OT: i’m hoping the Clippers stay mediocre for awhile so I can afford tix again when the Knicks come to town.

    P.S. I miss good pizza and heroes.

    Oh this is interesting. PGs and SGs that graded out as the best interior defenders:1. Oladipo2. Lonzo3. Butler4. Dejounte5. Buycks6. Ntilikina7. Jrue Holiday8. Justin Holiday9. Pat Beverley10. Conley— Cranjis McBasketball (@T1m_NBA) July 1, 2018

    Man, imagine if we could trade for a backcourt with Frank and Lonzo…

    llcoolbp, SUNY Cortland is in the conversation because her HS coach went there.. But she wasn’t crazy about the campus overall. She loves Ithaca College and the city of Ithaca but they have one of the top D3 volleyball programs in the country and it’s a tough team to make and play for, not to mention a $60K per year price tag.

    nicos, SUNY Purchase is a short drive for me, dreary campus but beautiful, very wealthy area, I’ve been there many times and played adult league basketball there. Wasn’t it once was a prison? chrisk06811, the Knicks used to practice there but now have their own facility across the county in Greenburgh.

    This is heartening to read:

    – Fiz won’t confirm that THJ is a lock to start. ??- Knicks would have passed on Trae Young. Fiz had concerns about him defensively- They “lightly considered” Sexton https://t.co/Yi6LAfBkyh— Delblogo (@Delblogo) July 5, 2018

    ah! I went to the Purchase site once, years ago, at the invitation of Paul Silas, former assistant coach, and really a gentleman

    JK I live in LA now as well – I’m from the BX and Yonkers, also lived in Albany 3 years and Syracuse off and on since I went to SU for grad school (Newhouse) in ’03.

    You are like my brother from another mother. I was born in St. John’s Hospital in Yonkers, lived in Riverdale (technically the BX) until I was six, went to the Newhouse School at Syracuse (TRF Production, graduated ’94) and live in LA, been here since ’98.

    Ntilikilla,

    I agree about the quote from Fizdale, it is promising. As for Lebron never meeting Walton, LeBron probably figures he’s going to run the team, so why does it matter. I think Walton is in a very tough position now. His preferred style of basketball is not what Lebron does, and his team isn’t set up to be good at his preferred style of Basketball. I don’t know how he is going to adapt. The Lakers may not get great results, despite having Lebron, and that could put a lot of pressure on Walton.

    You can take yourselves out of NY, but you can’t take the knicks out of yourselves.

    By the way – as fellow travellers on the good ship ‘sports misery’ I hope you’ll all allow me a moment to forget about the knicks and revel after a first shoot-out win since I was 15 and we were hosting the Euros in 1996…

    I can assure you all the English expats in Melbourne are letting us know about it, so you may as well join in ha ha

    I also spent a week with my older brother at U of Miami (Fla). Now THAT was pretty freakin’ happening! It’s not San Diego, but from September to May, you can do a lot worse than the weather in Coral Gables. facehumper, isn’t that your alma mater?

    Yes sir. The weather is shockingly decent despite the temperatures being high. I guess the breeze from the water will do that. Even the worst months in Miami aren’t as bad as what we’ve had in NYC for the last few days…

    I went to school in Rochester. Winters were brutal, even if you liked the cold. Spring summer and fall were gorgeous though. Great weather, amazing light. Not surprising Kodak set up shop there.

    So many of yall have been to college upstate. Crazy.
    @JK maybe, man. I worked out of St. John’s Hospital during the fall of 2012 for a tv service. Blah pay, but easy gig. Spent most of my working hours researching real estate stuff and chillin.
    @77 Sure can’t.
    …Oh and for the record, I can’t hate on the Warriors no matter how bad they’ve broken the system and stay heavy frontrunners. At least we had the 90’s Knicks – during that time, they had…??? I mean, outside of We Believe and Run TMC, they’re been #lolKnicks-West until this decade. They are my irrational hope that the Knicks will one day get it together.

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