[Hoops Rumors] 2019 NBA Offseason Salary Cap Digest: New York Knicks (Thursday, April 25, 2019 6:00:42 PM)
There was plenty not to like about the Knicks‘ 2018/19 season. They lost an NBA-worst 65 games; they traded a potential franchise player, Kristaps Porzingis, to Dallas in a deal primarily aimed at creating cap flexibility and acquiring far-off assets; and young prospects Frank Ntilikina and Kevin Knox looked shaky. Still, there’s optimism in New […]
[NYTimes] John Havlicek, a Dynamo in Two Eras of Celtics Glory, Dies at 79 (Friday, April 26, 2019 7:18:41 AM)
“Hondo,” as he was called, was a relentless, clutch and consistently proficient player on eight championship teams in a 16-season Hall of Fame career.
[NYTimes] Finding Lonzo Ball’s Missing $1.5 Million, and Himself (Thursday, April 25, 2019 7:30:42 PM)
The Uganda-born financial whiz who blew the whistle on the possibility of fraud in the basketball star’s accounts traveled a long, emotional journey to success.
[NYTimes] N.B.A. and Kings Will Investigate Claim Against Luke Walton (Friday, April 26, 2019 12:01:11 AM)
The Kings coach was accused of sexual assault in a lawsuit. He has denied any wrongdoing.
(Friday, April 26, 2019 12:45:53 AM)
Mitchell Robinson has watched some playoff games, including those between the Nets and 76ers. And the Knicks rookie center has decided the Sixers’ Joel Embiid is the center he wants to emulate. “He’s a competitor. He just goes at it,’’ Robinson said at an autograph appearance Thursday at the NBA Store in Manhattan. “He goes…
(Thursday, April 25, 2019 10:02:13 AM)
Warriors star Kevin Durant will have his choice of where he wants to play and live next season when he becomes a free agent this summer. So is it a sign that he is selling his California home?
37 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2019.04.26)”
That was an amazing performance by Kevin Durant. As we discussed early this season, he would likely become the greatest player to ever wear a Knick uniform if he signs here this offseason (which sure seems like what he is going to do be doing).
I saw a headline noting that he tied a record for the second-most points in a playoff half and, wow, that’s such an odd description of his very impressive achievement.
A lot of people mocked me for saying Durant over Harden is “a stupid take.”
Who wants to bet money on their individual performance in the next series?
The specific take of yours that people took issue with was that Durant would score more points next season if he was on the Knicks than Harden did this season.
Harden, who just set the all-time record for points per possession, outpacing the previous record holder, 23 year old Michael Jordan, was going to be passed by Durant in his age 31 season when Durant’s peak result in the category to this point was #16 overall, established when Durant was 25.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.fcgi?id=TIe2s
It doesn’t seem likely.
But hey, I’d love to see it happen, too! Lord knows that they’re going to need him to shoot a ton next season!
It would appear that Durant was coasting a little during the regular season. He obviously still has plenty left in the tank, but he probably can’t or chooses not to bring it every night anymore.
In any debate about Harden and Durant, I prefer Durant easily. For all the good Harden does, imo, he tries to do too much at times and it actually hurts the team. He also takes some horrible shots in key situations. I’d rather see the ball in CP3’s hands more often. If the Rockets/Warriors series comes down to a handful of key possessions in a few of the games, I like the Warriors to get and take better shots.
Durant seems to be authoring his own narrative. Who his antagonists are is a matter of speculation:
LBJ and the Lakers make for an interesting one
Curry, Draymond and the Warriors, as well
The media
Fans
The story seems fluid.
As Yogi famously said, ” Baseball is 90 % mental, the other half is physical”. Seems apt.
( Long Island connections- Red Holzman lived in Cedarhurst during his late 60’s Knicks chp teams coaching tenure; Wilmer ” Bill ” Hosket in Freeport. I used to meet Hosket on the LIRR going to Manhattan [ Baldwin boy myself]Hosket hooked me up with The OSU freshman hoops coach)
Durant is the most talented scorer in the NBA, and probably at the very least a top 5 scorer ever… last night showed his entire range I think, there’s not a single aspect about scoring where he’s not elite.
He’s better than Harden as an offensive player to me because there’s legitimately nothing you can do when he’s playing like yesterday, while Harden can takeover like this too but seems more affected by defensive strategies suited to stop him.
Id still take Harden to finish with more overall points simply because that’s the way he plays, and Durant is not likely to reach his insane usage levels even on the Knicks (specially because I think he only comes if the Knicks secure a second star to play together).
No, it was *next* season. If Durant is here next season, I’m taking 31 year old Durant’s 2019-20 season over 30 year old James Harden’s 2019-20 season. That was my stupid take, and I’ll be around to back it up.
IIRC correctly, the counterargument was that even in Durant’s MVP season, he never did what Harden is currently doing now. And since Durant will be 31, he’ll never be able to top the season he had when he was 26.
And then the usual suspects did that thing where they take what you say and make it into something completely different so they can laugh at it. I think someone imagined I was making a gravity effect argument because I believe Durant’s USG is suppressed by the fact that his teammates are incredible and need to take their own shots, too.
So when we’re done arguing about Durant vs. Harden, I think we should argue which of Per Se or The French Laundry is the better restaurant. Maybe we can move onto a discussion of Pet Sounds vs. Sgt. Pepper’s.
(I’m all for our endless discussions of unanswerable questions, but we’re arguing between two really, really, really good players here. If you put Harden on the Dubs he’d still be an MVP-level player.)
Per Se has really fallen off, Pet Sounds is better than Sgt. Pepper, and Durant is better than Harden. I will die on each of these hills.
Now it’s per se v French laundry? A month ago you wanted to open an escrow account because it was incomprehensible that Durant could outperform Harden. “Easy money.” “Stupid take.” “Smoking angel dust” (I think that last one was z-man.)
Huh?
That argument was all about you saying 2020 Durant would be better than MVP-year Durant, which is simply not going to happen. Durant is still one of the best players in the game but the dude is not going to turn back time six years. Nor is he likely to keep his .719 TS% on 32.8 USG% going through the rest of the playoffs.
He’s a great player, but even a cursory glance at his regular-season advanced stats makes it pretty clear that you’ll never see 82-game MVP Durant again.
I’ll go with Sgt. Peppers and Durant and abstain from the restaurant comparison.
Next up, which supermodel is prettier….
If i had to vote for a self indulgent, lysergic masterpiece, I vote Anthem of the Sun.
French Laundry over Per Se, and I think probably this was always the case. Pet Sounds, and Harden will score more points next year than Durant will. As we hashed out before, Harden is scoring at historically high levels and has been increasing his ability to do so year after year. For as versatile and excellent a scorer as Durant is, he has never given any indication he’s capable of that level of sustained pointz across a season. It’s not the Durant isn’t great, it’s that you are seriously underestimating what Harden is doing.
Which chunderhead said that Harden was a sixth man? Was that jon abbey?
If this Raptors Sixers game is any indication, I might take Leonard over both Durant and Harden… this has been a good week for godly playoff performances.
I get that Harden is unreal and all, but subjectively, I like everything about Durant more. I’d rather root for Durant on the Knicks than Harden on the knicks any day.
@17
Yep
Nuggets-Spurs is insane right now.
Nikola Jokic is already a top 3 all time passing big man that I’ve ever seen. I have him up there with Arvydas Sabonis and Vladie Divacs.
Wow, what a game!
This is the lowest scoring barn burner I’ve seen in years
what the hell was that ending
Kind of weird the Spurs didn’t stop the clock there. Did Pop just give up?
Pop just ran out the clock. Makes no sense.
that gets like 20-25 coaches fired on the spot
What the hell?????
Pop was yelling desperately while inside the court, how the hell did they not foul instantly after DeRozan got blocked???????
that was strange. nuggets shot 2-20 from three and won game 7. weird series.
DeMar DeRozen did not shake his poor reputation as a playoff underachiever with this 7/21 game.
Yeah, no idea what happened there. Pop was clearly livid. I couldn’t believe they didn’t foul.
Pop finally met his match trying to make DeMarr DeRozen not suck.
I still believe this season saw some of Pop’s best coaching in his storied NBA career. He really did a lot with some veterans, D-League projects, and middle of the road veteran stars.
Looking at the ESPN video Pop is *not* calling for a foul. He wants his players to pressure Jokic, and then just stands there as if he gave up. His assistants are calling for a foul at first but then they also just stand there and watch.
Pop himself on the press conference said, when asked if there was miscommunication, that “he didn’t hear anything so he didn’t foul”, probably referring to Aldridge who was closer to the play. I doubt very much he and the coaching staff were not telling the players to foul.
It’s not likely that they would have won anyway but it’s a massive blunder.
It’s kind of cool that either Denver or Portland will be in the WCF. I didn’t see that happening at the start of the season.