danvt:
As to prognostications, I bring this up on this board and nobody ever takes it up. The things to watch for are anomalies.

In the last thread, I brought up NBA market inefficiencies because it’s been discussed here before. I basically theorized that the CAAntucky angle the team has is them attempting to identify and exploit such inefficiencies. Kentucky is a top-3 farm for blue-chip/high-level collegiate talent whose collection forces some of those talents out of position, away from showing their full tool kit – the type of players that can be mid/late 1st rounders.

The Infamous Cdiggy: I’ve already bought my 100 shares. Your observations align with what his draft profile said in regards to his playmaking ability. I began stanning for him because I saw the profile of a mobile 3&D guard with some playmaking skills: not a headliner, but something the team needed. I thought he would be a guy that comes off the bench this season and be a poor man’s Lou Williams w/defense. The fact that he’s shown he may be able to handle starting PG duties was something I was not expecting at all.

I don’t know how far he’ll develop, and maybe he won’t reach elite playmaker level required for a title contender. But his base is a level of competency we haven’t seen in quite a while.

If nothing else Quickley looks like a solid combo guard or a Jason Kidd style 2 guard where he just makes the right read and swings it or throws an entry pass a little crisper and with a bit more oomph than other SGs.

The Glass Half Rebuilt:
So I’m not buying any stock in the Immanuel Quickley company just yet. He has the size, speed, defensive chops and shooting ability you want to see from a point guard and that’s really nice to have on the Knicks. The problem is he’s way too reliant on that floater and he doesn’t have any dribble moves to beat defenders off the dribble. From what I saw, Quickley projects more as a secondary playmaking type more than a guy who can get you into your offense every night. The good thing is he’s 21 years old and that’s a great place to start.

I’ve already bought my 100 shares. Your observations align with what his draft profile said in regards to his playmaking ability. I began stanning for him because I saw the profile of a mobile 3&D guard with some playmaking skills: not a headliner, but something the team needed. I thought he would be a guy that comes off the bench this season and be a poor man’s Lou Williams w/defense. The fact that he’s shown he may be able to handle starting PG duties was something I was not expecting at all.

I don’t know how far he’ll develop, and maybe he won’t reach elite playmaker level required for a title contender. But his base is a level of competency we haven’t seen in quite a while.

– More ability to work off the ball in catch and shoot situations. If you can’t handle it like Ja Morant or even Elfrid Payton, I need you putting pressure on defenses coming off screens.

– That handle has to tighten up. The problem here is I have never seen an NBA guard come into the game with little to no juice on ball and turn into a guy who can get you a bucket with no screens.

– Use that 6’8” wingspan to long arm his way to a better finishing percentage at the basket. The kid has the tools to do it, but his slight frame and lack of Morant level explosiveness makes me think it’s a strength issue with IQ. If he’s ever going to be an average finisher at the basket, he’s going to have to spend a lot of time with the strength and conditioning guys.

As to prognostications, I bring this up on this board and nobody ever takes it up. The things to watch for are anomalies. Like Drummond shedding 50 lbs and developing a 3pt shot. Tons happens that we expect of course. Shit moves depending on things we do not. That’s the kind of analysis I’m looking for. Mitch was a second round pick but looks like an all star if he can stay out of foul trouble. Last night no fouls. Can he keep it up? Based on statistical projections, no. But is it a forgone conclusion, no? If he stays on the court and becomes a double double machine, how much better does the team become? What other minor / major changes in profile do we need to get the W/L record above .500%? Is it probable based on past results? No. Is it possible? Well, every team that’s gone from bad to better has had that type of growth. I’d say that one break that we may be able to take to the bank is our late first round pick looking like an above average starting NBA PG.

Brian Cronin:
Erick Strickland made me think of that big three-pointer he hit to tie a game with less than a second left. He barely played for the Knicks and yet I still have that memory. I wonder which Knick played the fewest amount of games and still had a big shot to their credit.

Maurice Ndour sigh

Erick Strickland made me think of that big three-pointer he hit to tie a game with less than a second left. He barely played for the Knicks and yet I still have that memory. I wonder which Knick played the fewest amount of games and still had a big shot to their credit.

Rod, or Erick?

I didn’t watch this, or that, or anything in between, but which team was better: this 2020 Cavs preseason team or that Hawks summer league team that Knox had his debut/coming out party for?

Z-man: Reality will hit hard in games 1-3

It will, but I think it won’t be as grim as previous seasons. This team has some young talent and a little bit of a spark. Between Mitch owning the offensive boards, RJB getting to the rim, and Topin and Quickly developing there’s something to look for. Also the coaching is not terrible anymore, you can see a team out there, not a collection of chaos agents running around aimlessly.

Dudes, these are all basically kids. They could get better or maybe not, but we’ve got the youngest team in the NBA and personally, I’m just thrilled to be watching players who are not freaking Bobby Portis or Taj Gibson where you know exactly what you’ve got and there’s no upside.

This will be a fun team to watch, win or lose.