(Monday, May 13, 2019 4:49:51 AM)
NBA rumors: Only Kevin Durant ‘changing his mind’ can derail Knicks plans originally appeared on nbcsportsbayarea.com Kevin Durant is still a member of the Golden State Warriors. But most national pundits are getting ready for Durant’s introductory press conference with the New York Knicks this summer. At this point, everyone expects Durant and Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving to decline their player options and join forces on the Knicks.
(Monday, May 13, 2019 4:49:51 AM)
NBA rumors: Only Kevin Durant ‘changing his mind’ can derail Knicks plans originally appeared on nbcsportsbayarea.com Kevin Durant is still a member of the Golden State Warriors. But most national pundits are getting ready for Durant’s introductory press conference with the New York Knicks this summer. At this point, everyone expects Durant and Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving to decline their player options and join forces on the Knicks.
(Sunday, May 12, 2019 5:45:45 PM)
The Knicks (along with the Cavs and Suns) have the best chance at landing the No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s draft and the rights to draft Zion Williamson. But, as good of a prospect as Williamson is, he still hasn’t played a minute in the NBA, and as a result, the Pelicans’ would still want a […]
(Sunday, May 12, 2019 6:08:56 PM)
Former Knick Kristaps Porzingis was bloodied after seemingly being involved in an altercation.
(Sunday, May 12, 2019 1:42:40 PM)
With turmoil swirling around the Lakers — including Magic Johnson’s departure, the botched Ty Lue pursuit, and a protest by the fans — some are calling on LeBron James to demand a trade.
(Sunday, May 12, 2019 9:35:04 PM)
It was the worst time to equal the worst mark in franchise history. Following a 13-year stretch in which the team with the NBA’s worst record held a 25 percent chance to win the draft lottery, the Knicks’ horrific 17-win campaign earned them only a 14 percent chance to claim the upcoming No. 1 overall…
(Sunday, May 12, 2019 2:21:12 PM)
The Knicks need Zion Williamson, but Williamson would be helped by New York. Tuesday’s draft lottery not only will largely determine where Williamson will play to begin his NBA career, but it will also provide the base for how big of a media sensation he may become. While in the social-media age, the playing field…
(Sunday, May 12, 2019 10:56:41 AM)
Video has surfaced of a bloody Kristaps Porzingis outside a bar in the aftermath of a fight. The footage, circulating the internet, appears to have been shot in his native Latvia. The Mavericks star, traded from the Knicks in late January, has a ripped shirt and a cut above his eye. He shoves a woman…
[NYTimes] Frank Vogel Set to Be Lakers Head Coach; Kidd Tapped as Assistant (Sunday, May 12, 2019 4:31:39 PM)
Vogel, 45, did not coach this season, but he spent two years in charge of Orlando and six seasons coaching the Indiana Pacers.
114 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2019.05.13)”
Wow, just wow. I thought the way JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson butchered the Star Wars franchise was the Gold Standard for how not to adapt a beloved fantasy series. But what David Benioff and David Weiss did with the Song of Ice and Fire saga is legendary in the sheer depth and scope of its ineptitude. The actors tried to warn us as diplomatically as their contracts would allow them to over the past year or so and now we’re seeing what they were hinting at.
“We don’t need a full season, there’s not enough story to tell.”
Then they tell the most complicated story in the entire series by messing up Dany’s hair.
Well, to me it’s not even what’s happening. I’m (mostly) ok with everything happened in the last two episodes (I can’t get over the massive Long Night blunder. Seven seasons of “Winter is coming” for that?). It’s how it’s happening that’s really maddening.
They’re getting where they should be, more or less, but there’s such a stark (pun unintended) contrast betweeen the amazing storytelling of seasons 1-4 and the childish broad strokes that characterize seasons 7 and 8. It’s like the authors never passed Creative Writing 101. Lots of characters doing things that can be explained only be reverse engineering what you see on screen. A couple of terrible actorial performances (looking at you, Emilia). A Michael Bay-ish director incapable of looking at his characters in Miguel Sapochnik.
This last season is almost Lost-bad. And I think there’s something cringeworthy expecting us in the finale.
It’s quite clear by now that Benioff and Weiss grew tired/bored of running GoT without any source material. I don’t blame them for that. I blame them for not stepping off and letting someone more energetic run the show. This is like playing amazing, years ahead of the curve basketball before the All-Star game break and then proceed to go on autopilot deep into the playoffs. Wait, are D&D Dwane Casey?
I find this explanation to be more spot on than this one…
Even though I think both taken together encapsulate the problem with GOT ever since the show surpassed the book narrative around season 5.
@5
Apparently HBO gave them carte blanche to weave two more full (as in, 10 episodes) seasons to tie everything together, but they were like “nah, we’re good with 6 episodes”.
This looks like someone who can’t wait to be done with that damned thing.
It’s an interesting parallel for two shows that were, despite all the magic around them, about characters.
Lost ran out of story to tell and had an overbearing audience demanding answers to every stupid mcguffin that could have been ignored to no one’s detriment. But they, for the most part, maintained every character’s logic. I’ll still defend that show even though it didn’t stick the landing.
GoT has miles of story to tell and is opting to betray every character just to wrap things up. It’s one of the greatest “Fuck you for your time” sendoffs of all time.
In fairness to her, it seems that every actor on that show has mailed it in this last season. Kit Harrington and Peter Dinklage have especially looked like shells of their past selves playing their parts. I legitimately believe the poor writing has effected the quality of their work. You spend 4 seasons developing well fleshed characters who end up doing 180 degree turns into poorly done caricatures you don’t even understand anymore by the end.
I believe he was able to tell a compelling story in the Battle of the Bastards, but again, it’s very difficult when the writers themselves do not offer much in the way of storytelling.
And yet took an extra year off to make this rushed botch job of a 7th season. Makes zero sense. Even their excuse at the time was pure bullshit. They claimed that they needed to wait extra time to sync their filming schedule with colder weather for some long night finale. Where the fuck is all of this cold weather? Half of their Winterfell scenes were in a studio.
Oh yes! That’s a major difference. If we’re completely honest, though, the island was also a major character of that show and it really didn’t maintain its logic.
Peter Dinklage mailing it in (which he has certainly done, as you say) is still a magnificent display of acting talent. The same can be said for Lena Headey.
VERY MILD SPOILERS
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There’s a scene, fifteen minutes in more or less, where Qyburn tells Cersei that the Red Keep might not be safe. Cersei tells him that the Red Keep has never fallen before and won’t fall today. Then the camera lingers on her for two more spare seconds and with a single blink Headey sells Cersei’s inner doubt magnificently. That’s pure acting gold (that gets squandered by a sloppy script).
I think one could make a fairly sound argument that Lena’s work was consistently the best from start to finish of any of the actors on the show. She’s found a way to humanize Cersei as something more than a vain, petty, vindictive monster – a narcissistic yet loving mother whose insecurities about losing her control of her life choices and children drove her extremely controlling personality ever since the wood witch’s prophesy. Of course, it also helps that Benioff and Weiss seemed to like her character better than most of the others developing Cersei with a greater backstory and role in manipulating the show’s narrative than we’re likely to see in the books.
I don’t mind the GOT discussion but I don’t watch myself so I just want to say it’s absolutely hilarious that friend-of-the-blog Phil Jackson has seamlessly worked his way into the Lakers’ front office. It’s also pretty funny that he’s working for free on our dime in what has to be the best possible evidence that he never wanted any part of the Knicks job and only took it because Dolan backed up multiple Brinks trucks.
This is the guy who has taken multiple unprovoked pot shots at LeBron James for some reason that must only makes sense to someone who galaxy brained himself into making Carmelo Anthony the highest paid player in the NBA.
Jeanie Buss comes across as intelligent and thoughtful in interviews, and I think she probably is, but it seems like she just can’t get over her loyalty to Lakers lifer types. It’s somewhat Dolan-esque, actually. I mean, the Lakers have virtually unlimited resources to try and throw at someone like Masai/Morey/Buford and their equivalents on the coaching side. How do you possibly have Knicks legend Kurt Rambis working a prominent role in your front office under those circumstances?!
The Lakers drama is actually a lot more compelling than GoT. I love the potential of the Phil and LeBron subplot.
Vogel seems like he was Rambis’ guy (signed off on by Phil). Lue was clearly LeBron’s guy. What I can’t figure out is who is stumping for Jason Kidd?
From time to time every NBA franchise (save for the Spurs?) becomes a laughingstock. Pre-Ubuntu Celtics were like that. The Warriors were like that for a long time before things clicked. Pre-Dirk Mavs were a joke. The Suns were kind of a powerhouse until 2010 and then started doing all sorts of dumb things (actually the Shaq trade was the first, but whatever).
What’s amazing in this case is that the Lakers are inheriting our kind of laughingstock, not only thematically but literally by osmosis thanks to a few selected people. I can see LeBron asking to be traded by midseason if things really go south.
Pelinka?
I answered my own question. Per NYT…
Interesting. So LeBron was trying to get the head coach and the assistant, and the Lakers decided to let him pick the assistant but foist a head coach on him. Not just any head coach, a head coach chosen by the brain trust of Kurt Rambis and Phil Jackson, who LeBron has been at open war with.
Yeah, that ought to end well.
Knicks Salaries
This list is weird as John Jenkins, Billy Garrett, and Dotson all have team options.
Lance Thomas is only guaranteed $1 million for next year.
If we let all but Dotson go, then we should be able to sign 2 max players (KD/Kyrie is the assumptions), Zion, and keep Trier. Unless I screwed my math up, that would leave us right around the cap.
If we get #2, we have around $ 1.5 mill free. We can keep Ellenson for $1.6 mill.
If we get #3, around $2 mill free.
#4, around $2.5 mill.
#5, around $3.5 mill.
For the above I assume we sign all rooks to the 120% max of rookie scale. These are rough estimates, we may need someone to be let go or sign KD/Kyrie for slightly less.
If we end up with some cap space, I’d love to sign Kornet, Kadeem Allen, and would not hate Ellenson.
It will be difficult to retain Mudiay even on a QO unless we let Trier go. Even the Knicks can’t be that stupid, right?
Let me know if you think I screwed up my math. I eyeballed a lot of things.
Ha! I forgot about him! Did the GM even have a guy or was it just between the star player and the owner’s ex boyfriend??
Actually, I’m googling as I write this post… Phil seems to have endorsed Lue! Maybe Vogel was Pelinka’s guy? This is madness. Definitely more complicated and dramatic than GoT.
If I recall correctly, Vogel was very close to being our coach before Phil ultimately went with Hornacek. Given that, it’s hard to imagine Vogel doesn’t have Phil’s approval (though it’s possible that Lue did as well).
It just truly boggles the mind that one of the very few teams that could make literally any executive, and almost any coach, at least have to think about dropping whatever it is they’re doing is instead rolling with these folks.
*Steve Mills* cough cough
Nvm, forgot empty roster charges. Subtract 2.7 mill from the free space.
Thus, we need to let Trier go ~3.5mill, to make it work for pick #1-4, or Dotson for #2-4.
Yeah, it seems that the Lakers are Dany Invasion level stupid. At the top you have an out of touch daughter of a once powerful dynasty in Jeanie Buss who is allied with a moronic flame in Phil Jackson. At the intermediate level you have a bald headed fat man who betrayed her in Magic Johnson, his oafish counterpart who can’t make a proper decision despite being highly touted in Rod Pelinka.
As someone who’s done this math way too much, I can confirm that yes, you do need to eliminate salary to get the two max slots if you have a cap hold for a top 4 pick.
This could be done by declining Trier’s option, and then re-signing him with the room exception. But that costs you the rotation player you could expect to sign with the room.
The most likely route is going to be trading Frank, who no one expects to be a rotation player next year, for a draft pick. At this rate, it doesn’t seem likely he’d fetch more than one 2nd round pick, but you never know.
The laziness of having Euron, all alone, wash up at the secret entrance at the exact moment that Jaime stumbles upon it. The laziness of creating a scenario in which Daenerys chooses to fly her dragons over a hundred ships, all capable of taking her out with one (or three) heat-seeking trebuchet missiles, instead of approaching King’s Landing by land. The laziness of putting the North army inside the city while it’s being torched indiscriminately by Dany, but not creating any kind of conflict where they (ahem, Jon) realize that they are just as endangered as the civilians and Lannisters they’re watching die by fire right in front of them.
The only thing that really made sense was Arya’s arc coming to an end as it did. (And maybe Sandor finally finding his purification by fire, and Qyburn being dashed by his own evil manifested.) And even then, they had to airlift her a deus ex, biblical horse to ride off into the distance.
They could have cut one or two of the CGI building explosions and hired a decent story editor. A 6th grader could have told them where they fucked up, but it seems at this point they don’t actually care.
Alt Shift X (the only commentary I have the stomach to watch) pointed out that in E4, Tyrion tells Varys to not overthink things so much, a not-so-subtle jab at the GOT/SOIAF communities’ tendency to… actually think about things. It’s fucking offensive. I think about when The Sopranos jammed Tony B. into the plot in S5E1 and they had to retcon the Tony/Tony relationship by having one of the children say, “Why haven’t I heard about this childhood BFF of Tony Soprano’s until now?” Even then, you kind of groan. But then they actually create a story arc for him. For GOT, they create the story arc and THEN create implausibilities that insult the intelligence of any critical viewer. Fuck them.
That Raptors game, though.
Btw, I don’t mean to play Debbie Downer to the Kawhi love fest, but as heroic as that performance was, he was 16-39 with 3 assists. That’s a Kobe/Iverson line if I ever saw one.
Kidd may not have been a good “in game” or “strategic” coach, but from all accounts he did a good job helping develop the Bucks young players. The Lakers still have Ball. He is often compared to Kidd. I wouldn’t know who thought it might be a good idea to bring Kidd in also, but I think it’s a good idea. He certainly qualified to be an assistant and if he can help develop Ball, why not?
The dumbest thing the Lakers have done in the last 2 years was signing James. They already had a good young core that was playing playoff caliber basketball under Walton in the 2nd half of the previous season. All they had to do was continue developing those players and adding to it via draft, trade and free agency. They could try to make bigger LONG TERM moves as opportunities presented themselves later. Instead, they blew much of it up for a short window of Lebron’s remaining prime hoping to attract other star free agents. At best that was probably going to get them two failed runs at the Warriors until James was shot. Now James is starting to break down, they don’t have as good a young core (though still OK), and they are finding out no one really wants to play with Jame that much anyway. It was Magic that screwed them up.
Hiring Jason Kidd to be your assistant coach is like Ned trusting Littlefinger. This won’t end well.
Yeah, it was an Iverson line, but both teams sucked with the ball in their hands. No one remembers the 6-24 Game 7 by Kobe because the Celtics somehow shot even worse.
He’s been incredible with the ball all postseason and they lose that game handily without him. He gets a pass. Gonna get smoked in the Conference Finals, though.
I only mention it because I think Kawhi is miscast. He strikes me as the evolutionary Scottie Pippen. And I say that as someone who revered Pippen’s game, so it’s not a slight.
He seems to want his own team, and he deserves it. I just think him playing Pippen to LeBron or Durant is the way the basketball gods would want it.
Of course, he also go out and dominate Giannis en route to becoming the NBA’s new Alpha, so this post may not age well.
I would agree with that if it was a regular season game against an average team, but this was a playoff game where both defenses were locked in and excellent and the winning team scored only 92 points.
I wouldn’t rule out the Knicks having to use some small sweetener to trade Frank. That’s the reason I was hoping he was traded at the deadline before it was obvious to everyone that we might need to create a little more space to optimally execute our plan.
If the Knicks trade Frank, they have enough space to outright sign both KD and Kyrie without losing Trier or Dotson. They’d maintain the room exception too. They’d have to renounce Kornet if Kyrie insisted on every penny, but he regressed the point where I wouldn’t sweat that.
Hopefully KD and Irving are a little flexible and none of this matters, but I could see a scenario in which Frank’s salary presents a headache disproportionate to his production…to put it generously.
Kawhi’s TS% on the game was .482, which, amazingly, was above the team as a whole’s average of .472.
Pippen’s all-time playoff USG% high: 31.9% on .521 TS% in 1994
Pippen’s all-time playoff TS% high: .569 on 21.8% USG% in 1990
Kawhi, this year: 34 USG% on .650 TS%
gonna be a no from me, dawg
Bad shooting lines are sometimes the result of especially good defense, especially when both teams are known to be very good defensive teams.
There’s a risk to Vogel. I’m sure he’s aware of that. But there’s no risk to the Lakers if the goal is to develop Ball and you think Kidd is the best man for the job. Worst case is that after 2 years you move on from Vogel and/or Kidd and get stuck for one year of money. If Ball is a much better player for it, you won.
And what about Kidd’s well documented history of shady behavior as a coach? The way he left the Nets high and dry for the Bucks job? Or the way he alienated himself from Jabari Parker to the point they were no longer on speaking terms? Or his breech of trust issues with Giannis?
Being the evolutionary version of something does imply being better.
It just seems to me that making this guy have to shoot 40 times a game and carry a load of dead weight isn’t the best use of his broad array of talents, is all I’m saying. Him and Durant seem like they’d be as great a 1-2 punch as we’ve ever seen.
The 76ers are in good shape despite the loss. If I was them I’d move on from Tobias Harris (a bad trade) but go all out to keep Butler (which I expected to be a great move) and also keep Reddick. They have enough youth to expect continued improvement and got even more seasoning this year. The idea would be to replace Harris with someone that can space the floor a little cheaper and fill out the bench. Their main 4 (minus Harris) is close to being good enough to go all the way now IF Embiid can stay healthy and they get any improvement from Simmons as a shotmaker.
Pippen was amazing and critical to every championship team he was on (not to mention a superstar in his own right when he had to be option A during the Jordan gambling suspension), but Kawhi looks waaaaaay more like Jordan to me. Like, if I’m choosing a player from NBA history that Kawhi reminds me of, it’s Jordan. Not even having to choose between the two.
@36
He’s an assistant coach. If he causes any trouble you give him a kick in the ass out the door and everyone will know he’s too much trouble to hire as a head coach. Kidd has been looking for a way back in. I don’t think he wants to be the next Mark Jackson. But if he does, he can arrange that.
Yeah, the concerning history with Kidd is pretty damn long. It’s hard for me to see what he brings to the table in such a unique way that makes taking on that risk worth it. Especially when there are already a lot of strong personalities around the organization. It sure feels like they’re building a powder keg of sorts.
It was a different league, with different rules, different refereeing, and a different style of play back in the 90s, but in any era there aren’t many players that can dominate a game on both sides of the ball. Jordan, Khawi, and Pippen could all do that when required. Jordan and Pippen were lucky to have each other. Two guys like that equals a lot of championships.
kawhi’s shooting line isn’t great… but he was still the best option and shot better than everyone else on the team besides ibaka… and ibaka isn’t shooting more shots than he wound up shooting…
he’s def not jordan… but he’s also a lot better than pippen at this point…
I quickly era-sdjusted the data Jowles posted and it looks even more impressive for Kawhi.
Pippen’s USG in 1994 is actually understated in that comp (he led the whole NBA, a smidge more than Hakeem, a head above Malone, Smits, and Ewing, and head & shoulder over the nearest perimeter player). But his eFG% was below league average.
Kawhi’s USG compared to his peers doesn’t make him stand out as much as comparing him directly to Pippen does, but the shooting percentages on that USG vs the league average is remarkable.
Giving Kawhi a hard time about not having an “efficient” game in a game 7 where he hit a buzzer beater and has been beasting out the entire playoffs is one of the most knickerblogger things in the world…
@44 He’s a great player. No one would argue with that.
Kawhi is one of if not the most efficient shooters in playoff history. One game doesn’t turn him into Kobe.
This is what I was thinking too, but it’s a minor problem in context.
It’s the 2nd most knickerblogger thing in the world.
The first would be to just look at the boxscore and not consider that the other team played great defense, the refs let them play hard, and he was under extreme playoff pressure in a game 7 with Siakim under performing and Lowery rarely being up to task. Then again, his TS% sucked so I guess he had a bad night shooting. 🙂
I have a tendency to notice double standards and an inability to shut up about it. It’s not an attractive quality, I admit. But I have a nice beard.
We really need percentiles and something like TS%+ to compare across eras. The league was far more efficient back then, but Kawhi is still further above league average than Pippen was. He’s simply a better player, which is fine, because we’re comparing HOFers to HOFers. Kawhi is a franchise player. There’s no slight to Pippen in this comparison. It’s not like saying that 2011 Derrick Rose was better than peak Stockton or something crazy like that.
I’d be stunned if that were the case. Being a top 10 pick still carries value, whether it should or not. Can you think of any instance ever where a team had to attach an asset to dump a lottery pick after 2 seasons? And here we’re talking about a 20 year old one, no less.
Legendary busts like Darko Mlicic, Andrea Bargnani, Emmanuel Mudiay, Markelle Fultz, Johnny Flynn, and Adam Morrison were all traded for value despite terrible production based on where they were drafted. Granted, two of those players were traded to us, but still.
I think Hubert’s fundamental point still stands: Kawhi isn’t quite the apex scorer Jordan was, or KD is, but his all-around game – reminiscent of Pippen – makes him an ideal 1A next to KD. I mean, is there a single person here who would prefer Kyrie? Can you imagine a front line of Mitch, KD, and Kawhi???
Sigh. Imagine it is all you can do, because despite us having the cap space, he ain’t coming here.
@50
You mean far *less* efficient, right?
I’m not even saying that, because his scoring ability is incredible.
Scottie Pippen was one of my favorite basketball players, after my irrational hatred for the Bulls settled down. He had so much ability outside of scoring and I loved watching all the different ways he impacted the game. I’ve always hated the way people refer to being a Pippen like it’s a knock, like he’s Robin, or a sidekick.
I don’t have the musical chops you guys do, but you got into this a little bit with the George Harrison discussion. You don’t have to be the frontman to be brilliant, and not everyone who is brilliant should be pushed to the front. That’s how I saw Pippen. Kawhi is a guy who I think offers so much that I’d rather see him playing next to another player that carries the scoring load so he can do all the basketball genius things he’s capable of.
It doesn’t mean he can’t be the alpha. He clearly can, and he will be. I’m just wondering if that’s the ideal use for him. Him and Durant, I think, could blow away anything Durant and Steph or LeBron and Wade ever did. I think that would be a Jordan/Pippen kind of duo.
it’ll be interesting to see if Toronto can keep kawhi…I think they have a decent chance…good organization, seems like a media friendly environment (as long as you’re not playing hockey)…
for myself I’d like to see kawhi move to the clips…the clips move to the forum, then supplant the lakers as la’s team…pretty close to what the nets may end up doing to us…
I feel like Kawhi will stay in Toronto only if they reach the Finals and they lose.
I actually think it’s possible, they match up pretty well against Milwaukee.
I was just giving Hubert a hard time. But I do think its interesting. CJ McCollum yesterday roasted the Nuggets with that pull up mid range jumper. People who are super hard core about efficiency would say that’s a bad shot but in the playoffs if that is the best available shot, you have to take it. Efficiency is great over the course of a season or multiple seasons when evaluating how good a player is, but playoffs, elimination games, etc…its a totally different beast. Kobe was “awful” in that game 7 against The Celtics but he probably hit a big shot near the end or made a good defensive stop when it mattered.
Thinking about Houston and how religious they are with only taking layups or 3’s. It makes them kind of predictable in the playoffs and I think its partly why they can’t ever get over the hump.
Just my 2 cents on GOT…
I am at a loss as to why people are hating on this GOT season and yesterday’s episode. I think there are a lot of folks that put the show on a pedestal with expectations that are far from reasonable. I saw nothing that indicated any type of acting mail-in. I see all loose threads getting tied (as people die). How else did anyone think this was going to end? Are you expecting new character development? I thoroughly enjoyed the episode and I did last week’s as well. The “Long Night” was so awesome that I couldn’t fall asleep after watching it.
As for hoops, I’m getting ready for a huge disappointment and the 5th pick and Durant re-upping with Golden State.
Anybody else feel like they were watching 1990s NBA East basketball last night?
Last night episode of Thrones was good in isolation–it did a really great job showing the consequences of Daeny’s lust for power, and also did a good job sending off Jaime and Cersei (especially Cersei–Headey was terrific this episode) despite the stupid Euron fight. Sapochnik did a great job directing (as he usually does–and the Long Night misstep was the cinematographer’s fault in the end for not realizing that not everyone has $10k worth of video equipment in their home to render deep blacks in pitch-dark conditions).
The issue was that the prior episodes really lessened the emotional impact, because they were so rushed by the show runners. If we had 4 extra episodes of buildup and development, it would’ve been much better for it. But that’s the issue with this season, it’s criminally rushed because Benioff and Weiss don’t actually care about doing right by the show and instead want to move on to the shiny new toy in Star Wars. The show has made the right moves with its principal characters, but getting them there has been such an unsatisfying shit show that it cheapens the whole affair.
I don’t watch GoT so I can’t really speak on it but there’s something kind of inherently unsatisfying about the “tie up loose ends and stick the landing” portion of a long-running show. “Breaking Bad” was smart about this, as they saved all that stuff until the very, very end. They were still ramping up the intensity and suspense through “Ozymandias,” which is pretty much the most amazing hour in the history of TV.
The last two episodes were okay, but the show was pretty much already over by that point. The whole final battle with the Nazis didn’t really carry a lot of emotional weight considering what had come just before it. You could see the seams in the script over those last two episodes as the show wrote itself out of the corner. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t a killer ending. It was “sticking the landing.”
you can’t get wide open 3s or layups every possession… that’s why midrange jumpers are valuable… a lot of shots are going to be tough… especially in the playoffs and hitting those is key to generating good offense…
at the same time… you don’t want to gimp yourself by taking too many of those… you lower the cap of your offense by taking too many… what too many is depends on how well your offense generates more efficient opportunities… it’s the equivalent of taking an outlet pass/3rd read in football once your downfield options are covered…
@61
I agree, it’s very rare that a TV show really brings out an ending that no one expects after the 2nd or 3rd to last episode. The Sopranos is the one that comes immediately to mind, and it’s probably the greatest ending in TV history for it. But it’s exceedingly rare that you get an uncompromising ending like that in TV.
As an aside, BB’s ending is why it’s a step below the The Sopranos/The Wire to me. The entire show was about unintended consequences and how good intentions don’t stop–and in fact often serve to excuse–one from being a monster. What the ending should have been, if the show was really true to its themes, was that Walt dies trying to defeat the neo-Nazis, Jesse remains a slave, and his family is destitute. But that is so depressing an ending that I don’t think the show runners could do it in good conscience, especially with the fan blowback they would’ve received. But it still would’ve been the right way to end it, rather than turning Walt into a tragic anti-hero and letting him win.
It’s almost impossible to do a “tying up loose ends” type of finale and have it live up to the hype. Game of Thrones is compounding that with a rushed script, so we don’t even get proper intellectual or emotional closure.
I don’t know, man. It’s really difficult to get excited about the Nets.
Seriously, the load I have to carry negating you guys and your negative attraction.
When we win the lottery tomorrow night, I’m going to feel like LeBron taking the 2007 Cavs to the NBA finals. I’m going to start calling y’all Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, Larry Hughes.
It’s a pretty simple formula if you already have all the data. Takes about 5 minutes in excel.
In the 1993-94 season, Pippen had a eFG%+ of 106 and a TS%+ of 103.
This season, Kawhi had a eFG%+ of 104 and a TS%+ of 108.
It’s pretty easy to guess who the Knicks leader was in eFG%+ and TS%+ this season. Anyone want to guess who the best Knick was in 1993-94?
Nothing like a few players hitting a few mid-range jumpers in big games to get people to question literal decades of empirical data.
Having said that, I do think there’s something to the idea that in late game situations when the game is very close there’s an advantage to having players who can score in a wide variety of ways. The time constraint kind of flips the normal incentive structure on its head–there are many end-of-game situations in which you want the shot with the highest expected raw FG%, not PPS (which is what you should be aiming for in the first 46 minutes or so). I also don’t think a single analytically minded person has ever denied that, though.
@59 truuuuuu! I was thinking the exact same when watching that 6ers/Raps game. As someone who came up on the 90s Knicks, it was nice to see in a way.
@55 I said this a while back, but living out here now in LA, I can tell you that it’ll take A LOT for the Clippers to wrest LA from the Lakers, if they ever can. It won’t be enough for them to be consistently good – too much Lakers’ pride, prestige and history to overcome, not to mention that all those years of Clippers’ suckitude b4 Paul/Griffin/Jordan. They need to win an NBA title or three, PLUS have a least one the big name player that is (or viewed as) the “best/top five” in the league that fans can gravitate to. And the Lakers will have to be stuck in the mud as they are while the Clips achieve all of that.
Maybe.
Absolutely. When Cersei was standing there on the balcony watching Drogon set all her hopes and dream on fire, it totally reminded me of all the times Michael Jordan devastated my life.
And when Qyburn kept breaking the bad news to Cersei, it reminded me of my Dad after we lost game 7 at home to Indiana in 95:
Me: “we can still win next year”
Dad: “this was probably their last shot”
Me: “Patrick Ewing will never give up”
Dad: “Shaquille O’Neal is getting bigger”
Me: “Pat Riley will think of something”
Dad: “check the fax machine”
I wasn’t questioning decades of data but nice strawman.
What I said was that efficiency is good to look at for an entire season or multiple seasons for players to see if they are good or not but when it comes to the playoffs or single games or possessions, having a system where you ONLY take 3s or layups is probably not going to win you a game.
And coming back to Kobe, do you think he thinks about that game 7 and goes “man, I was really inefficient that game.” Or do you think he looks at his ring and says “man, that was a tough game but I got that stop or I hit that shot at the end.”
@64 I’m with you. It’s about time for us – I believe we’ve taken the steps to right many of our basketball sins: Dolan has left the front office alone; Perry has by and large has made decent to smart decisions to position the team to power upward, and he’s created flexibility in doing so. The team secured the worst record in the league by mainly honest means, not by pulling a Chicago late-season.
We’re not putting all our chips on a 14% lottery hit or a free-agent “savior” or two. That’s another reason why I believe we’re due.
But boy, if we do hit on that #1…
I have neither an idea nor an interest as to what goes on inside that dude’s head, but he was really bad that game. Unlike Kawhi his efficiency was much worse than the team’s average (.376 vs .418). Pretty good chance they win by more without him, though I’ll grant it’s a rather pointless counterfactual.
Analyzing Kobe’s career as a whole with the tools we have now is a much more interesting discussion than psychoanalyzing one of his performances. His career TS% is actually lower than the league average TS% during the 2018-2019 season, but I’m sure by TS%+ he does much better. Overall he was a very good player, but he also might be the most wildly overrated athlete in any sport. It’s borderline consensus that he’s a top 5 player ever and I’m not certain he was top 5 in any individual year he was playing.
Great series finales of the past 20 years that fit that description, more or less:
* The Shield
* The Wire (the final season has problems, but the last couple of episodes are great)
* The Americans
* Justified
* Six Feet Under (which, in its last five minutes, tied up every loose end possible for those characters)
* Halt and Catch Fire
Endings are very hard, absolutely, but they can be done really well even in that vein.
CDiggy is right, the Lakers are an institution here and people are really used to rooting for and identifying with them. They have hardcore fans. Laker fans have a kind of myopic optimism, they always believe things are gonna work out because why wouldn’t they? Things have tended to work out for them over the years. They were sure they were instant contenders when they got Old LeBron.
They’re having a little bit of cognitive dissonance now watching the team get Knicks-ified. They’re in denial mostly. They are still really believing the Lakers are gonna get it together and get back in contention very soon. They figure they have LeBron, all they need is a sidekick for him and they’re good to go.
The Lakers would have to be bad and the Clippers would have to be good for a very long time before this city would switch allegiances.
To be useful, TS%+ would have to be adjusted differently than, say, .550 vs. .500 being given the value of 110. Being 10% better than league average can make you one of the very best players in the league when games are routinely decided by 1-8 points over the course of 80+ possessions per team, so it seems just another opportunity for dummies like me to misinterpret objective data.
I mean, shit, the Sixers just lost a series by being about 2% less effective at turning possessions into points over the course of a single game. I’d much rather have percentiles for usage and efficiency.
not to be overly pessimistic, but, it is very possible the nets could double us in wins next season…
I can’t remember, but, doesn’t the yes network carry the nets games too…
The way The Wire ends, with the cycle just set up to repeat itself again, is the most elegant ending ever, it’s the ending that show deserved. The storyline of Michael, Namond, Dukie and Randy that begins in season 4 is the thing that lifts The Wire from mere greatness into GOAT status.
I was about to list some shows that I thought ended well. The Americans finale was outstanding. Probably the best finale I’ve watched.
Halt and Catch Fire and The Wire were both satisfying. I’ve never watched the other shows you listed.
I would add the Mad Men finale. And I might be dating (or even exposing) myself, but I’d list the finales for both Buffy and Angel. The Buffy finale is hokey but satisfying. The Angel finale, though, might be my favorite series finale (“would you like me to lie to you now”…so good).
There have been critically acclaimed series which have ended their arcs in a masterful way that have left their most avid audiences satisfied. I think Breaking Bad, The Leftovers, and Mad Men (even though I think it went on for too long) are popularly considered in that category. Then there are shows which end their arcs on controversial notes which alienate some fans and satisfy others. The ambiguous Sopranos final diner scene and The Wire’s fifth season surprises with Omar being killed by Kennard come to mind. But Game of Thrones belongs in its own worst category of shows – it is one which built up very high expectations regarding characterization and then undermined them with the worst possible narrative decisions in order to arrive at a predetermined plot point. What made its most ardent fans love the show wasn’t the CGI effects, or the idea of fantasy magic, or even the plot twists. It was how the show revolved around an ensemble of fully fleshed characters who were realistically human in the complexity of their motivations and morals. It was the show’s commitment to well-defined characterization and development which allowed Benioff and Weiss to deliver the big payoff moments like Ned Stark’s execution, the Red Wedding, and Joffrey’s assassination during the first four seasons. This series resembles very little of that character driven narrative so many fell in love with reading the books or watching the first episodes. Now all the show can offer is the CGI special effects, fantasy magic, and plot twists that seek to subvert the audience’s expectations without earning it.
@70
I’m crying from laughter.
I have to ask… was Randy supposed to become someone specific in the new cycle? Michael and Dukie becoming the next Omar and Bubbles was crystal clear. Randy seemed like he could have become anyone. I’ve heard everything from Bodie (because of his good nature) to Stringer (because of his business acumen).
@82
Randy Wagstaff was Cheese Wagstaff’s son so I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up like his old man but Boadie is as good a guess as anyone. I think he was just supposed to represent the generic product of how Baltimore’s institutions grind up and destroy entire generations of children.
I think Randy is just a victim of systemic injustice and dysfunction. No 1:1 on that one, and that’s fine.
I suggest Simon’s book Homicide if you’re wanting to spend more time in the world that would become The Wire. Also if you want more Season 4 coming of age with a (largely) softer touch, Moonlight was wonderful. Finally got around to seeing it, and boy I’m glad I did. The final act is one of the more moving works of art I’ve seen in years.
@66 – I’m a pessimist. If I was an optimist, I would either get what I expected or be terribly disappointed. As a pessimist, I get what expect or am pleasantly surprised. I would rather the latter. And as a Knick fan, there hasn’t been a lot to be optimistic about.
@64 – I pretty much think the Sopranos ending was the absolute worst ending ever. A few years after the fact, I feel that Breaking Bad’s ending was the best and was quite satisfying.
@80 – I really don’t know what you expected. Yeah, nice CGI but this season has been all about the character driven narrative. Daenerys’s evolution from outcast to monarch to villain has been a roller-coaster ride. Tyrion and John Snow’s devotion to Dany and their utter emotional destruction while watching her become their worst nightmare was riveting. Brianne’s knighthood brought this burly man to tears. We must be watching different shows.
Moonlight was great but it was no LaLaLand.
The ending to The Sopranos was great in my opinion. It’s similar to the ending of Infinite Jest– you can project the ending just beyond the edge of the last frame.
Spoiler alert: Tony dies
It’s weird how I visit tvguideblogger.net to get basketball insight, but if you can just get through the talk of Drogons and Eurons, you can actually learn a lot about the nba here.
These guys were all drafted higher than Frank, and most of them a lot higher than his mundane #8 spot. And Morrison wasn’t traded for value, he was traded for the right to pay 3 years of Vlad Rad to suck. (Also, I think Flynn was ultimately traded for a 35 yer old Brad Miller and a 2nd round pick that would become Norris Cole, which isn’t great value, but there were a lot of moving parts in that deal which makes Flynn’s perceived value at the time kind of hard to establish).
So the twolves didn’t have to pay to get rid of Johnny Flynn but we’ll have to pay to get rid of Frank bc being picked 6th has cache but being picked 8th is mundane.
There are 29 other NBA teams, I guarantee you we can find one to take a flier on a 20 year old lottery pick from 2 years ago without adding a sweetener.
I think the difference in opinion lies in the fact that many defenders of this season, including Benioff and Weiss, seem to confuse subversion with good plot twist writing and foreshadowing with character motivation. It’s the same problem I had with Rian Johnson’s work in The Last Jedi where he dismantled a lot of Star Wars mythology, attempting a deconstruction of its famous tropes about Light vs. Darkness but took so many sloppy shortcuts in the process that the end result left long time fans scratching their heads at the plot holes and poor characterization.
I get that Benioff and Weiss were following George R.R. Martin’s outline to subvert popular fantasy tropes with an endgame where a liberator like Danerys (who we assumed would be free of the curse of Targaryen genes is a mad queen) ends up repeating her father’s genocidal trajectory because the show has been foreshadowing it. What bothers me is the execution, its all one big rush job with once intelligent characters making decisions that aren’t well thought out. Dany goes out of her way to massacre innocent civilians for no apparent reason despite her well established pattern of trying to protect them. Even when she burned Astropoor or crucified the slavers it was out of compassion for the people they brutalized. Now she raises the entire city to the ground because she hates Cersei? Why not just burn the Red Keep? Makes no sense.
@86
Kareem Abdul Jabbar, an erudite Jazz aficionado, had an interesting take on that movie.
After having been trolled by David Lynch via Twin Peaks season 3, I am now generally happy to get some kind of resolution in whatever series I invest time in.
I’m seeing mock drafts now having Darius Garland as the 4th pick in the draft. Only played 5 games before getting injured but shot the ball extremely well. I really hope Knicks get a Top 3 pick because after Ja/Barrett it’s a total crapshoot.
The Sopranos is the GOAT ending. Perfect and brilliant and great in every way. I’ve seen it twenty times and still find it worth watching. The real ending to Breaking Bad happened in the penultimate episode. I read the last episode as fan service. Jesse’s ending is good and everything, but the undulating machine gun is absurd beyond belief.
I think the ending to Mad Men was pretty great.
The Breaking Bad finale was good but severely overrated. The episode just before it, Ozymandias, is way better and is arguably one of the best episodes of the series and of all time.
The Sopranos was great but only in retrospect. In the moment it was terrible; I actually thought the cable had gone out when it ended.
I’m so glad that some people are shouting at The Shield. I love that show and I’m always sad that it doesn’t get the same respect and recognition as a lot of the other “peak TV” has gotten. Admittedly, on an episode to episode basis it could be pretty uneven but when it was good it was great. And I’ve never seen a finale better than Possible Kill Screen and Family Meeting; they were absolutely perfect.
So we are interested with Morris and Rozier?
Bargain deals are good but im assuming rozier might be expensive. Is he really a starter caliber player?
Seems there are other better options.
garland wouldn’t be a terrible pick… it’s just that there’s a lot of other good players without having to take one that tore his knee….
without the injury… he’s probably in the conversation… at least in my top 5 vs coby white… but coby gives you similar things… he shoots just as well if not better and has similar questions as garland…. but he didn’t tear his knee up… so he’s def behind him in my eyes…
I always thought the ending of Seinfeld was basically perfect for that show. I’m too nervous about tomorrow to talk about the Knicks.
I got the Ramones on repeat.
There were actually two episodes after “Ozymandias.”
“Granite State” is the one where Walt goes out to New Hampshire and lives in the cabin.
“Felina” is the finale.
So there were basically two full episodes of denouement.
/pedant
Have any other Breaking Bad fans found it oddly not rewatchable?
Sometimes I wonder if the miserable way it ended for everyone involved makes me not want to see them before it all went to hell.
“Breaking Bad” is not as endlessly rewatchable as “The Wire.” No question about that.
I’ve been invited to the MSG season ticket holder lottery event. Maybe I should just stay home, squeeze one of my nuts in a vise and then hit the other one with a ball-peen hammer.
A) that was a long time ago, and B) people may have learned better, and C) that was just one example out of dozens of possible examples, and D) despite being a “legendary bust” Jonny Flynn was still better than Frank Ntilikina at almost every quantifiable aspect of basketball.
If you’re gonna have a party might as well make it an event.
The relevant commentary above not withstanding, if teams know we’re ditching an unimpressive prospect to create cap space? Honestly, what team, even with the abundance of silly GMs, thinks he’s worth $4,855,800 of their cap space. We’d be blessed to give him away. That’s not even a dig on his potential.
I might watch the lottery with Desus & Mero and Fat Joe but I don’t know if that’s good or bad luck
Maybe the Nets, who could play him alongside Russell. I would hate for them to make us look silly, but they are a well run organization and I’m still not convinced we are.
that sounds like a party…good or bad, I imagine the experience will be more intense with other invested folks…
How much room is there in your mom’s basement?
I’m pretty straight but I’d watch that
How does it make you feel that if you live-streamed it on YouTube as a “Knicks draft party” it still wouldn’t be the weirdest Knicks-related video available on the internet, courtesy of a certain expat Chinese celebrity
tomorrow will be an interesting day..
“Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.”
i have a feeling i just may need this one later 🙂
It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.
It would be interesting if someone had a live odds calculator out there…for example, if the 14th pick goes to BOS via SAC, everyone’s odds rise slightly…if they don’t get called, then everyone’s odds drop dramatically. And on and on…
I mean, is there anything in sports that is as weird as the NBA draft lottery? Where the future of the league as a whole and individual franchises is as dependent on fucking ping pong balls?
Frank is utterly worthless as a commodity right now. If he were eligible for this year’s draft, it’s even money that he goes undrafted, even without his $4+ million contract. No one is taking him and giving us something back.
Hopefully he plays in Vegas and displays an improved 3-pt shot. That might at least make him worth a 2nd round pick.
Maybe a team like PHX would take him and a 2nd to dump Josh Jackson. But beyond that, keep dreaming.