Knicks Morning News (2019.05.25)

  • [Hoops Rumors] Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Sixers, T. Harris, Nets
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 1:06:24 PM)

    The Knicks find themselves in an interesting cap situation this summer as they mull a possible run at Anthony Davis, as well as the pursuit of multiple elite free agents. As Ian Begley of SNY.tv explains, it’s possible for New York to sign a pair of star free agents and then acquire Davis by sending […]

  • [SNY Knicks] Derek Fisher says Porzingis/Knicks split was best for both parties
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 7:18:17 PM)

    Ex-Knicks coach Derek Fisher, who had a strong relationship with Kristaps Porzingis during their time together in New York, believes Porzingis will thrive with the Dallas Mavericks.

  • [SNY Knicks] LeBron James ‘likes’ Knicks free agency target Kyrie Irving in a Lakers jersey
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 6:04:23 PM)

    LeBron James apparently likes the idea of Kyrie Irving joining him in Los Angeles.

  • [SNY Knicks] NBA officially moves up negotiating period for free agency
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 12:20:02 PM)

    The NBA and Players’ Association reached a deal to move the beginning of free agency to a reasonable hour at 6 p.m. on June 30.

  • [NYPost] Kevin Durant snaps back at talk of being Warriors outsider
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 8:30:30 PM)

    In his first interview since being felled by a calf strain, Kevin Durant indicated Friday that he still feels he’s perceived as a Warriors outsider — one of the factors in a growing belief he will leave as a free agent. The Warriors have moved on to The Finals without Durant. On Friday, the elephant…

  • [NYPost] LeBron James steps up Kyrie Irving recruitment in bold Instagram move
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 11:33:25 AM)

    LeBron James has another superstar target, and the Knicks may have a competitor for Kyrie Irving. James liked an Instagram post Friday afternoon displaying Irving in a Lakers jersey, adding fuel to the fire that ESPN’s Brian Windhorst started Thursday. “I think Kyrie is considering the Lakers,” Windhorst told Stephen A. Smith. “… I know…

  • [NYPost] Knicks’ NBA draft dream: RJ Barrett ‘a lot like’ James Harden
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 7:32:17 AM)

    Here’s a juicy comparison to chew on over Memorial Day Weekend — courtesy of ESPN’s college basketball savant Jay Bilas. Bilas sees a lot of 2018 MVP James Harden in Duke’s lefty 6-7 shooting-guard sniper, RJ Barrett, who should be available at No. 3 when the Knicks are on the clock at the June 20…

  • [NYTimes] Kevin Durant snaps back at talk of being Warriors outsider
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 8:30:30 PM)

    In his first interview since being felled by a calf strain, Kevin Durant indicated Friday that he still feels he’s perceived as a Warriors outsider — one of the factors in a growing belief he will leave as a free agent. The Warriors have moved on to The Finals without Durant. On Friday, the elephant…

  • [NYTimes] LeBron James steps up Kyrie Irving recruitment in bold Instagram move
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 11:33:25 AM)

    LeBron James has another superstar target, and the Knicks may have a competitor for Kyrie Irving. James liked an Instagram post Friday afternoon displaying Irving in a Lakers jersey, adding fuel to the fire that ESPN’s Brian Windhorst started Thursday. “I think Kyrie is considering the Lakers,” Windhorst told Stephen A. Smith. “… I know…

  • [NYTimes] Knicks’ NBA draft dream: RJ Barrett ‘a lot like’ James Harden
    (Friday, May 24, 2019 7:32:17 AM)

    Here’s a juicy comparison to chew on over Memorial Day Weekend — courtesy of ESPN’s college basketball savant Jay Bilas. Bilas sees a lot of 2018 MVP James Harden in Duke’s lefty 6-7 shooting-guard sniper, RJ Barrett, who should be available at No. 3 when the Knicks are on the clock at the June 20…

  • 46 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2019.05.25)”

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    I don’t see the Knicks trading down for an extra asset unless that’s a critical part of another deal (Davis?) or they are absolutely convinced another player has a better chance of becoming a star than Barrett. If they have Barrett ranked slightly higher but could squeeze an extra pick out of trading down (for Culver?) I don’t think they’ll do it. I think they are “star” hunting now. If they were to trade down and Barrett became the better player, they would look like fools. You tank to get stars. You trade down when you like another player better.

    I’m starting to think there’s a slight possibility that Barrett will move up to #2 and Ja Morant will fall to us. I saw a couple of people talking about the age and quality of competition differences where the analyst suggested Memphis should seriously consider going the other way.

    Given that our last two lottery picks have not looked like solid rotation players in the NBA, that is a definite plus for Barrett.

    I’m starting to think there’s a slight possibility that Barrett will move up to #2 and Ja Morant will fall to us.

    This would be fantastic and there is no way Memphis is that stupid.

    I think the jury is still out on Knox. With him, it seems more about b-ball IQ. He’s shown lots of good things in sporadic doses. His 3-point stroke looks good. He has fought for rebounds and hit the floor for 50-50 balls. He’s had some chasedown blocks. He’s turned the corner on drives. He gets to the line. He’s had some nice pnr plays with Mitch. It’s just that between those plays, he has a host of dumb/inept plays. But he seems like a humble, self-aware hard worker who will put the work in. He also has really good size for a combo forward.

    As opposed to DSJ, who seems arrogant and lazy. I don’t seem him accepting that his shot is completely broken and putting the work in to fix it.

    Or Mudiay, who has improved but still seems dumb as hell out there.

    Or Ntilikina, who doesn’t have the skillset for a guard or the size for a forward.

    I think I’d take Barrett over Culver (but would prefer the trade down for Culver scenario tossed out yesterday over either at #3), but the idea that Barrett was hindered by Zion is ridiculous. Zion took away a lot of defensive attention from Barrett; he would’ve had a tougher time on a less talented college team. Granted, they had no one who could shoot from the outside so the spacing was poor.

    He is a good playmaker, but I think there are legitimate questions about both his outside shot and scoring inside given his reliance on power and straight line drives over shiftiness. I don’t think he has the body to power to the rim in the NBA.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    @5

    I agree. Knox was definitely making slow progress on his shot selection and clearly has some tools to work with on offense. I’d bet almost anything that he’s also going to finish better at the rim and rebound better as he fills out. He’s ridiculously thin for a SF/PF. The question mark I have is defense. He’s too slow for SFs, not strong enough for PFs, and on top of that he often looks lost out there. He’s as bad on defense as Frank is on offense.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    @6

    The idea that Barrett benefited from Zion being on the court in terms of scoring and assists is why I put his stats for the 5 games Zion was hurt in the previous thread. The evidence suggests he might have been better with Zion off the court because he was the clear #1 option and could handle the role. Of course, the team was worse. They lost 2 of 5. But Barrett was very good.

    I think he is still getting used to his frame and will move better when he physically matured. He moves like a newborn colt. He has huge feet and it will take time to polish his footwork. Or maybe he stagnates at this level. Too early to tell. But he has potential.

    Same is true for Barrett, but he has more fluidity and court vision/awareness. He has less to work on.

    Think of how starved this fandom was for any good news that we turned John Starks’ admittedly very awesome and impressive dunk into “The Dunk.”

    Yeah, RE Knox. I did NOT want the Knicks to draft him, but he played better than I thought, given his age and all. Yes, he sucked, but I thought he’d be worse.

    He competed much better in rebounding than I thought he would, and he was more aggressive in general for a guy who stood around a lot in college. His shooting shows flashes.

    However, his BBIQ is hugely suspect. He tends to put his head down with the ball the charge in foolishly. Take the ball out of his hands. Have him hit the weights and work on his shot. If he fills out and works hard, has a chance to be a decent stretch 4.

    I’d have no problem if they trade him, however.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    I know we are dealing with small samples, but I wonder why Culver shot so much worse from 3 in his 2nd year than his 1st year. Had he shot as well as a sophmore, he might be the 2nd pick.

    Culver’s usage was way higher in his second season. Spiked from 22.1 to 32.2. His 3-point rate also went down quite a bit.

    Probably was standing in the corner shooting 3’s a lot as a freshman, much like he’d probably do in the NBA for a while? While as a sophomore had the ball in his hands a lot more? Can’t say I’m a huge expert on Texas Tech basketball so I dunno

    @9 I’m glad you noticed that too. That was the big thing that stood out to me when I watched Knox play. I think we all know what the stats said about him this year, but how do you accurately project the effects of physical growth/maturity and desire to increase bbiq for future production?

    I’m very interested in seeing Year Two Knox if he’s not included in a trade. He could be a wildcard for us – as much as you can (and should) plan for success, sometimes in sports you need a thing or two to break right for you on the way up. I know that having that kind of hope is not a Knicksian thing for us, but I guess that’s one reason I’m moreso on #TeamOptimist.

    Re: Knox, I believe I also remember reading that he came to basketball late (he started out playing football and only switched over at like 16 or something)?

    Point being he’s just raw as hell right now. Idk if this is the best way to groom a player, but I’ll agree that he has more room for improvement than a guy like DSJ maybe. But of course, I thought that about Anthony Randolph too.

    Stratomatic "I'm tired of the Knicks paying lip service to DEFENSE. Get defenders & two-way players. Then play them!says:

    But of course, I thought that about Anthony Randolph too.

    He was one of my big “busts” also.

    He had a few major problems despite all that athletic potential.

    1. Low basketball IQ
    2. Low motor
    3. Low work ethic
    4. No shot
    5. Bad defense
    6. Probably smoked too much weed

    Other than that, he could really fill up the stat sheet. lol

    I think Kevin Knox has a decent shot to develop into Marcus Morris without the edge. If he can contribute defensively and knock down 3PMs at like a 38% rate then he’s not a bad rotation player. Right now he’s the starting power forward between Durant and Robinson, so he can kinda suck and get away with it.

    I mean if OKC wants to take a bottom 5 player in the NBA so we can draft Shamorie Ponds or Cameron Johnson (a perfect stretch 4 next to Mitch and KD) or Grant Williams of China Okeke, absolutely fine by me. My question is: Why would OKC do that?

    Well, we do know OKC is allergic to adding guys who can actually shoot to their teams, and they really like Andre Roberson, so maybe they’re trying to get another guy who can defend but can’t shoot?

    I have no clue either, but then again, I think Sam Presti is a hack and we should definitely be looking to deal with him.

    @21 intrigue / potential / flashes / theoretical upside / bad situation / etc

    The standard reasons teams talk themselves into taking on other teams’ failed projects.

    Danny Green might be cooked enough to take a vet minimum deal from us.

    With the nba moving the start of the off-season back to June 30 could/would it be smart for the Bucks to push all their chips in to go after kemba in a S&T usng a pkg centered around George Hill to make salaries work?

    that’s a seriously shaky lead the bucks got going in to the 4th…

    if giannis don’t get some help, kawhi is gonna beat them…

    Knew we should’ve signed Van Vleet instead of Baker all those years ago…

    Did Giannis just get posterized by Kawhi right there???!!! Geez, talking about extracting someone’s soul out of their body. Bucks better get it together and fast.

    Was that George Hill who knifed to the basket, eluded one defender but slipped whole tossing up that layup? Would’ve put Bucks up 1.

    Instead, Lowry comes down the other end and converts his layup. Kawhi gets a Game 7 bounce on a 3-ball. That might be game.

    Hey, gotta give it up to Toronto. Does Kawhi really leave this team after they make the NBA fuckin’ Finals? That’d be kind of embarrassing on his part.

    Kawhi Leonard might really be the best player in the world.

    Do people really think Danny Green is “cooked”? RPM had him as the best shooting guard in basketball this year. His shot has been miserably off in the playoffs, but he usually takes wide open looks so I don’t see aging impacting that part of his game much. His defense has still looked good to me, and his release doesn’t look noticeably slower. He’s just flat missing.

    Raptors in the finals!

    Fascinating. I really don’t see how Kawhi leaves now. But…the going home angle is compelling (unlike the “why the hell?” angle with KD).

    I think Kris Middleton played himself out of a lot of money this series.

    @35

    I guess it depends on how important LA is to him? As we’ll likely see with KD (and saw with Shaq, LeBron, etc) winning isn’t always the most important thing to players. If you’re a superstar with a couple hundred million dollars, a championship ring already, and can turn any decent situation into a good team maybe picking your ideal location is the most important.

    It’s crazy to think about it, but the Raptors will go into this series with homecourt and the best player in the series… is that enough to give them a chance?

    I thought the Bucks matched up better against the Warriors than the Raptors, but this version of the Raptors that won these 4 straight games is a pretty formidable team, and I do believe Leonard is the better player on the series. I counted them out after two games, but I’m not making that mistake again.

    I’ll take Steph over Kawhi. Kawhi provides quite a bit of value over Steph via defense and rebounding. However, Steph is a more efficient scorer, better playmaker, and has a huge gravity advantage.

    We’ve had hundreds of games to evaluate these guys. People are going to change all their beliefs over 4 games? Everyone was talking about Giannis a week ago.

    “Everyone was talking about Giannis a week ago.”

    That’s because he was coming off whipping the Celtics and a lot of people who’ve weirdly been in denial over how dysfunctional Boston has been thought it showed Giannis “putting it all together.” Now we see that Giannis is still just a physical freak whose overall game is less developed than most college sophomores.

    Question: Is analytics killing Giannis’ game? It sure looks like he’s spent all his time on a small number of analytics-friendly skills while ignoring other huge elements of playing basketball. How can a guy like him have NO post game?

    Mike

    Toronto’s season makes it damn near impossible for Kawhi to leave. If the Clippers miss out on Kawhi and Durant, I can imagine a situation where LAC trades for Anthony Davis. SGA with Zion is a great place to start your rebuild if you’re New Orleans, and how better to screw with the Lakers than to trade AD to the other team in Los Angeles?

    Now we see that Giannis is still just a physical freak whose overall game is less developed than most college sophomores.

    Look out these takes are coming in HOTT

    Giannis is one of the most physically gifted players any of us has ever seen. He also doesn’t appear to have a low BB IQ. It would make sense someone so athletically dominant would come into the league with holes in his game because he was so unstoppable doing certain things that he never needed to develop other skills.

    Giannis has now, I believe, been in the league for six years. He’s had six years of being paid millions to do nothing but play AND PRACTICE basketball. How is it possible, then, for someone so talented to be so freakin’ bad at multiple elementary basketball skills?

    Seriously? What is the explanation? How can Giannis not have even a rudimentary post game after six years in the league? Or does he have a post-game but has been so brainwashed by analytics that he never uses it, no matter what?

    Mike

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