That was pleasurable

Z-man:
RIP Paul Westphal, really good player in his day, had a short run with the Knicks during the Bernard King era.

Didn’t knew that. I remember him from his coaching days with the Suns, that time in the first round of the playoffs they went 0-2 at home against the Lakers (best of 5 series), and he said they were going to win the remaining 3 games, win the series and people would be saying how good a series it was. And then it really happened. That’s one for the ages.

I mostly remember him for his Suns coaching. He seemed like an interesting guy. I still remember how out of nowhere his Kings gig was.

Z-man:
RIP Paul Westphal, really good player in his day, had a short run with the Knicks during the Bernard King era.

RIP
Top ten player for four years in the late ‘70s, career as a player derailed by injuries and “other things”. Alas he come to us washed up and not during his peak, but once a Knick…

But to put it simply, you really have to be able to put the ball in the basket worth a damn these days. It’s the same reason I’m skeptical of Ntilikina’s ability to stick in the NBA even if his 3PT% ticks up a bit–you don’t see many low-efficiency rotation players on good teams outside of extraordinary cases like Westbrook.

Barrett will stick in the NBA because his diverse skillset will be attractive to at least a few teams at any given time, but as of right this second I’m feeling skeptical of his ability to be a prominent player on a good team. Wouldn’t be a Knickerblogger post if I didn’t say I’d love to be wrong!

Deeefense: Obi is our stretch PF now and we are paying him more. 🙂

Obi has more potential, if he gets there it’s another story. But my take was just a (probably failed) funny take on the very good defense Portis shows every time he steps onto the court.

Max: Also, do I remember correctly that he’s at his sixth or seventh agent in three years?

Exactly because of this. He probably feels underpaid, and in fact he clearly is – Quickley is a rookie and makes more than him. We got a huge bargain, so i think it would be of good will to extend him sooner than later (because there’s no doubt we will do it).
And i like the kid, he’s a little bit immature, but he’s a great kid that he’s always smiling and having fun with the rest of the team. At the beginning of the season there was a little controversy that he would demand a trade, next day he comes to training camp with a t-shirt NEW YORK FOREVER. He’s definitely a keeper.

djphan: of course if you take out 33% of his makes he’s a severely worse player… that’s true of anyone at this point… even lebron or durant…. the point is that we’ve seen what progress looks like for players who take out some of the bad shots they were taking…. we do have evidence of that.. and he’s playing in the same lineup as rj…

and yea rj is pretty garbage now…. and yes improvement is never a guarantee but there’s enough evidence here to believe that his shooting comes around… maybe this year… maybe next year but it’s reasonable to think it’s coming…

or it couldn’t… but i think if you’re betting that rj is going to be in china then there’s really not much evidence for that…. unless you think he doesn’t improve at all and he is who he is at this point…. and that’s a pretty impatient take….

If you can throw out half of his bad shots I can throw out one half out off ten! I do still see the potential to be a solid starter but not much more than that barring a huge, and I mean huge improvement in shooting. And while the free throw shooting is encouraging it’s not like hitting free throws guarantees anything- DeRozen’s been 80%+ pretty much his entire career. I still think it’s more likely he’s a bust than a genuine #2 guy on a good team but more likely decent than a bust overall. Hope I’m wrong though- that first half against Indiana was a joy to watch!