Knicks Morning News (2019.03.13)

I bit the bullet and listened to the full Dolan interview on the Michael Kay show this morning. I don’t normally listen to the show but I have to give props to Kay and whoever his co-host was for not holding much of anything back. Some notes:

-If you’re reading this website this isn’t exactly going to come as a shock, but it’s truly amazing what a pompous, totally self-unaware jackass he is. He’s convinced that the NYDN actively roots for the Knicks to fail, whines incessantly about how they haven’t written “a single positive story,” (this seems both unlikely but also justifiable if true) and more generally has seemingly never considered that being the worst-run franchise in the NBA for 20 years will naturally lead to critical coverage.

-He says KP’s fallout with the Knicks happened under Phil Jackson and the new front office basically just wasn’t able to contain the damage. Normally I wouldn’t believe a word out of the guy’s mouth for all of the aforementioned reasons, but this dovetails with what Zach Lowe and Ian Begley both said on Lowe’s podcast a few weeks ago. So if you’re mad about that whole saga (I’m not because I think the trade was simply an objectively good move), Phil is to blame.

-He makes several references to “what we’ve heard” in terms of free agency, which sounds like a straight up tampering confession but I guess you never really know with Dolan. Based on everything we’ve heard it sure seems like they have a more concrete indication of interest than “we can pay them the max and we’re in New York City, so of course they’ll want to come.

-He threw Ntilikina a few bones, but based on his audible sigh when asked why he let Phil draft him, one definitely gets the impression that the braintrust is largely out on Frank.

-He spoke very highly of Mitch, so I’m less worried than I was before about the FO not valuing him properly.

To continue the Smith vs. Mudiay discussion

I understand that Smith has the better handle and innate passing skills. So if you want to say Smith is the better fit for our team given what Mills/Perry/Fizdale seem intent on finding at PG, I can see that. However, imo, they are equally bad players albeit with slightly different strengths and weakness right now.

I also don’t see control as a major issue.

IMO, if you prefer Mudiay it won’t be expensive to sign him in the off season. You could then also trade DSJ and probably get back two 2nd rounders and an expiring (Dallas couldn’t get a 1st). Getting two 2nd rounders would be better than just allowing Mudiay to walk. Of course, some of that would depend on who else we sign and for how much.

I’m not advocating for any of that. I give DSJ a small edge because he’s younger and more athletic. I’m just observing both players and reading the commentary in articles, on Twitter, and in forums. People seem to be genuinely enthused about DSJ and totally hate Mudiay. I don’t understand that. I’m not even 100% sure either is a better backup than Trey Burke right now. They are just younger and expected to be better because of greater size and “upside”.

Dolan has no grasp of basketball, no social skills, no idea what’s going on around him, and is full of shit. I don’t know whether he has some kind of developmental disorder or he’s just a scumbag, but either way, whatever he says is irrelevant.

He still employs Mills and wanted to bring Isiah back in some capacity even after all the basketball failures and the scandals they were part of at the MSG.

And it continued into this administration. It cost us plenty to move Hardaway (which was the only real problem) instead having a good player in that space or getting more assets for KP instead of using him to get that space. Loyalty to friends has value, but Dolan is an idiot.

He makes several references to “what we’ve heard” in terms of free agency, which sounds like a straight up tampering confession but I guess you never really know with Dolan.

Yeah I mentioned this yesterday. He really shouldn’t have said that out loud.

He followed it up with “because of tampering rules, we’re not allowed to talk to them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t say things to us.” That was a very, very stupid thing to tell the world. I’m sure some teams are keeping that in their back pocket should anything good actually happen to us.

The most positive takeaway from that interview was that he seems to have no idea what’s going on with the Knicks.

I’m actually slightly bullish on James Dolan. I know he’s an idiot. But I think the days of him being involved in trade talks and day-to-day business seem to be behind him. Since he hired McKinsey, he’s been hands off.

Now we just have to worry about how terrible Steve Mills is. Scott Perry seems like the goods. We just have to see if this obsession with Tim Hardaway, Kevin Knox, Emmanuel Mudiay types persists when/if we actually get a true star.

Look at Mudiay’s numbers from his age-21 season, which was his third (as opposed to DSJ’s second) in the NBA. They are hideous, NtiliKnoxian-level trash. DSJ is undoubtedly way ahead of Mudiay on the developmental curve.

I agree. The age difference is a legitimate point in DSJ’s favor.

But you can counter that with Mudiay having no college, spending a year overseas mostly injured and losing a year of development, and then rotting on Denver’s bench for half a year. Plus as a few of our regular posters often point out, development is not a guarantee. It’s just a statistical probability.

Giants fans are pissed.

Which just goes to show how stupid most fans are.
The Giant GM’s moves this off season:

1…. somehow swapped the most overpaid non-pass rusher in the league for a very good (by every metric) OG in his prime filling a gaping hole in the OL .

2… avoided paying a safety/”linebacker” who can’t cover in space with a damaged labrum (think he going to be taking on 300 lb guards next season?) 95M and further crippling the cap. Collins was terrific as a rookie and was exploited through the air ever since. He IS a phenomenal tackler when healthy .Replaced him easily with move #3

3… Moved a gifted receiver who is an enormous pain in the ass and reasonably frail on a huge contract for a good 23 yr old starting strong safety, a number one pick (#17) (which frees up the #6 pick to draft the OSU QB should they chose to) and a third rounder. How do you think the next rookie QB that takes over would be influenced by OBJ yelling throw me the fucking ball every other play. Evan Engram should probably be playing on the outside anyway.

4…. And by the way… the GM’s first four picks were all hits last year…..

“I absolutely would not let DSJ’s presence get in the way of signing Kyrie, or drafting Morant, or both. But as long as he’s here we have nothing to lose by playing him, trying to develop him, and seeing what happens.”

This is simply not true. You lose $4+ million in cap space and a roster spot.

PS the “age” argument is in the same family of twisted logic that has people drafting Ntilikina and Knox over Mitchell and Bridges. DSJ and Mudiay are similar enough in age and experience that it’s virtually meaningless to bring it up. It’s ridiculous to say “if DSJ improves his TS% by 50 points…” without saying “if Mudiay improves his TS% by 50 points…or his AST% by 15 points, etc.”

Personally, I prefer DSJ to Mudiay, but it’s such a low bar that it’s hard to care much about how management handles it, so long as neither costs more than $5 mill in cap space over the next 2 years.

Giants’ fan here.
I do NOT like that they traded Beckham. However…

…there is a realm where if the goal is to restock the talent cupboard with youth and picks (sound familiar?), you can defend the trade by saying that trading your best player in his prime allows you to further hit the reset button. I’ll buy that if they do something with Eli this offseason.