The plus minus stats do mean that Frank should have had more minutes at point guard and less at two guard. But that is water under the dam.

I think the media is missing the story here. I doubt Kyrie wants to team with Russell. If he goes to Brooklyn, they’ll probably be the front runners for AD with Russell as the main trade chip.

I don’t believe that you are allowed to pair a sign and traded player with other players in a deal (the example I used the other day is the big Boston/Brooklyn deal, where Keith Bogans was signed and traded and included in the deal, but he was part of a side deal for Jason Terry and not part of the main deal). You need to do it as two separate deals. I imagine the Nets would be able to work out two separate deals (re-signed Russell for Davis and then all of their other stuff for Pelicans players X and Y or cap space or whatever) but I do not know for sure if they are able to pull that off (I honestly don’t know where New Orleans is, cap-wise).

Submitted on 2019/06/04 at 10:10 am
http://knickerblogger.net/knicks-trade-outlaw-2nd-round-picks-for-nothing/

Most recognized this for the dumbassery it was, even though it was 5 years before the pick turned out to be #31. As usual, there were also some others who carried out their sacred duty to defend every dumbass move this team makes.

Heh, pretty much every dumb Knicks move of the past had a conversation just like this on the blog when it happened. “What are you guys complaining about? This isn’t a big deal!” (or the rarer, “What a great move!”) cut to the present, “Wow, that move really fucked them.”

The dude honestly just makes teams better in his own Frank way that just seems to dumbfound advanced sabremetrics which, I guess, isn’t quite that advanced then.

He makes teams better in his own Frank way. Just Frank being Frank makes teams better. Never mind that he’s the worst offensive player in the league, and doesn’t even get lots of steals, blocks or rebounds. It’s something ephemeral. It’s his Frankness that makes him so great. Who knew, getting skinny through screens and playing good isolation defense is the secret sauce to everything. You can literally be horrible at every other phase of basketball, but if you can play a little defense and Be Frank, you can be an impact player.

Like the other team sometimes says, “Hey we should score a basket” but then they remember “Oh shit these guys have Frank” and then they just forget how to play basketball. You can’t capture that in a boxscore. But it’s real. Oh it’s very real.

You nerds with your slide rules and “advanced” stats can’t see greatness when it’s right in front of you. Raw plus/minus numbers don’t lie. Those aren’t noisy. They’re the gospel truth. Get out of here with your RPM crap. Raw plus minus. That’s what it’s all about. Just like pitcher wins and RBI. When’s the last time you went to a baseball game and saw somebody do a WAR? That’s right, NEVER.

There’s something poetic about all of that, too. Ainge raped and pillaged the Nets, if now they take his main acquisition and beat them to trading for his ultimate prize…

And LA, if Russell becomes the centerpiece of a trade they couldn’t pull off…

Seeing LA and Boston get trumped like that is enough to make you hope it happens, even if it’s our supposed rival.

As bad as Frank’s individual stats have been, somehow he has posted a lot of the best 2/3/4-man lineup +/- of any Knicks player over the past 2 years.

Not really a fan of +/- based metrics, but if you want to go down that route, Frank ranked 100th out of 102 point guards in RPM this season. He owes a great deal to (future Knick?) Colin Sexton and Jerryd Bayless.

Frank was drafted at 18 and still can’t drink legally. Before we write Frank off as an impact defender and play maker, let’s allow him to finish going through puberty.

Be honest, what do you think Frank’s line would look like if he were in the NCAA this past season?

I’ve got news for you: it wouldn’t be very good because Frank Ntilikina does not have the underlying basketball skills to succeed at the highest levels.

He can’t dribble very well. His shot release is slow and the shot itself is bad. He has negative rebounding instincts. He’s not very good at forcing turnovers. Any plus passing skills he may have (dubious) are completely mitigated by the fact that he cannot dribble and thus cannot make plays consistently.

He has one clear, NBA-level skill: isolation defense in an era where that’s arguably as irrelevant as it’s ever been. He has never demonstrated Draymond-level anticipation or switchability. This is likely why the numbers have never supported the Frank Ntilikina: Defensive Monster narrative

Plenty of young players have struggled initially in the NBA only to go onto highly successful careers, but they didn’t have the same “bad at basketball” problem. They were generally oozing with skills that they had demonstrated in either college or whatever previous league they were in, and flashed in the NBA inconsistently before putting it all together.

Frank has nothing to put together. His weakness is the sport of basketball.

Basically, without being a significant offensive contributor, teams somehow get better (on average) when he’s playing. This pattern also goes back to his euroball days.

Example: A lineup with Frank, Dotson, and Mitch was +8.7 per 100 possessions in 240+ min. When its just Mitch and Dot (840 min), the Knicks get +0.0 per 100 pos which includes Frank’s 240 min. Which makes Dot and Mitch a negative on the court without him.

The dude honestly just makes teams better in his own Frank way that just seems to dumbfound advanced sabremetrics which, I guess, isn’t quite that advanced then.

Stephen A is saying Kyrie has told the Nets that’s where he intends to sign.

Assuming KD comes here and Kyrie goes to the Nets, I wouldn’t be averse to trying to bring in Kemba as a Kyrie consolation. Kemba without KD though is a different story. I don’t think we can get close to outbidding Charlotte, but worth kicking the tyres (assuming of course we get KD).