NY Post: Tom Thibodeau didn’t look pleased as flat Knicks fall to Bulls

I’d like to talk about Mitch, I went team-by-team to find out where I think he stands in the Center pick list and came out a bit disappointed for a player that many on this site hailed as a surefire All-Star, the most efficient player in the league and maybe and HOFer, but that’s for another post.

Okay, by “many,” find me one person who said that Mitch was a surefire All-Star.

And I like Mitch!

Oh, of course, that much is obvious.

[reposting because I didn’t realize we had a new thread]

I don’t think any of us is saying Mitch is a star, Z-Man. I think many of us think if he’s developed right, he can be a good center, like the 18M centers (eg. Myles Turner or Clint Capela). That’s a good player to have, isn’t it?

As improved as Mitch is defensively, is this version of him worth $18 million in the modern NBA? Turner has a much more versatile and consistent offensive game, and Danny Ainge wouldn’t take him basically for free in a Hayward sign-and-trade. Capela has gone off in this recent stretch of games in a way that suggests the platonic ideal of Mitch — or, at least, a version of Mitch who gets featured in the pick-and-roll much more often than the actual Mitch — and I’m still not sure how many teams in the league would want to take on that contract. Unless a guy is a Gobert-level game changer of a defender — which Mitch can be, but isn’t right now, especially night to night — there’s just a limit on how much the league currently values centers who are limited on offense. Mitch is a fantastic player to have on his current contract, and would be great to still have if his next contract was in, say, the $10-14 million range. Once it starts creeping above that, though, he’s a guy you can’t move as well as someone whose deal makes it harder to acquire other players to place around him.

All of which is me saying that I’ve gone from wanting to tear out what’s left of my hair if the team were to trade Mitch, to being at peace with the idea depending on the circumstances and return.

Dallas with another great loss last night.

Think shit is going to hit the fan there soon. Good for us!

I like Mitch a lot. But let’s be real: he’s going to need to start hitting 3’s if he wants to get paid. That’s just the way it is.

I’m not paying this version of him more than $8mm (or
whatever the veteran mid-level is).

My point is that Mitch is a lot closer to Noel than Gobert. He a turbocharged version of the garden variety pogo stick 5. That’s a valuable player, but not anywhere near untouchable.

Wasserman’s new mock draft is up. Amusingly, he has us taking Sharife Cooper with the Mavs pick, after Sam Vecenie yesterday had us taking him with our own pick. He then has us going with Moses Moody from Arkansas at 11, so it’s still about us pairing Cooper with a shooter. In the second round, he goes with Justin Champagnie from Pitt and Sandro Mamukelashvili from Seton Hall.

I don’t subscribe to ESPN , but Givony has a new mock draft there, too.

IQ, Burks, RJ, Randle, Mitch.

The problem with that starting lineup is that we’d be sacrificing some defense to get ALL our scorers on the court at the same time. That’s going to lead to better offense, but not as big an offensive jump as you’d intuitively think. Second, we need two units. We have to have some scoring off the bench or the 2nd unit will get killed.

Thibs is CORRECTLY trying to create 2 balanced lineups, but with a team of players lacking shooters and talent. So you do the best you can.

We could probably move Quickley to the starting lineup, leave Bullock in as a starter, and have Burkes as a 6th man scorer. But the 2nd unit would still have a lot of trouble scoring or someone would have to play a lot of minutes and then everyone would start whining about that.

The issue isn’t the lineups. The issue is the lack of shooters and two way players. The way to fix that is to try to get a high quality player to NY via trade at the deadline.

Thing about Thibs is that he seems to be an inertia coach. If something is working he will stick with it. So if you want to see IQ in the starting lineup, games like last night will help.

i kind of stopped looking at other mocks… because i keep seeing ziaire williams in the top 10 or brandon boston in the lottery and these guys haven’t played like good college players … let alone nba players… all season…. and i think that’s a signal that most folks are still not paying much attention to the college game this season and just copying each other’s mocks….

djphan: if he keeps playing like this then why wouldn’t he opt out? if he can secure a 3 year … or gasp 4.,… why wouldn’t he take that?

I suppose the next question then is what would you offer him. It would have to be enough to get him to turn that option down, but not so much that it cripples us.

3 years is off the table for me. But… if we pick up two lottery picks this year, I’d be ready to start competing, and he would make everyone better. I’d offer him two years, $80mm, frontloaded as much as possible within cap restraints, with a team option for year 3.

That would likely open up a host of trade possibilities to add a more age appropriate superstar during the life of his short contract. I can see us ending up in a good place when he leaves, despite the overpay.

if cp3 keeps playing like this? 3 / 80? i’m not sure…

the larger question is that we have a window where we will have cap room before RJ’s extension basically…. if we’re not continually punting on randle and mitch or rj for that matter… if you think we should recycle everyone then signing anyone probably doesn’t make sense for you….

but if you want to keep this core around… it’s basically spend money next year or probably not playing the FA game for awhile… that’s why we should try to go up the win curve next year…

I don’t think Mitchell Robinson has much trade value around the NBA, but it’s not like he doesn’t provide value. He works well in a tandem with Noel, and it’s not his fault Elfrid Payton and Reggie Bullock are no longer NBA players. The issue I have with him is he doesn’t seem to have the focus every night to change team’s game plan at the rim, and he absolutely needs to be a defensive stalwart if this team is going to take the next step. Right now the plan should be to let him play on the team option next year and let him go to UFA. If he’s replaced by Drummond or Mobley this summer, then that’s just too bad.

chriskZIPCODE:
Let me preface by saying I cancelled my cable, so my takes so far this year are via box scores, the comments you guys make, and a little youtube.

So I was the one surprised yesterday that obi only can get 9 minutes.I hear that his D is weak.but, there has to be a way to get the guy some burn and see what he can do.I also can’t see the Bullock appear, unless he’s doing some non box score jarred jeffries / lance Thomas type shit.

I think IQ will start soon or at least keep gaining minutes…..over the last 5 he’s at 26 mins per.Bullock needs to sit and Frank needs to get some minutes, and Obi needs to play more….somewhere.either in a small lineup w/ Randle at C or as a big 3.

Bullock is a much better defender than Burks, but the offense when you run Bullock & Elf is non-existent.

I agree with Strat that you can hide Bullock if you have Quickley in the starting lineup. Maybe Bullock will be more selective with his 3s and get back up to his career average.

I think it’s a legitimate question whether Mitch is better than Noel. Mitch started out much better than Noel, but the last week or 2 I’d rather have Noel out there wreaking havoc on D.

It’s unfair to ask Randle to do more than he already does, but honestly I think he’s capable of scoring another 5-6pts a game efficiently.

djphan: if cp3 keeps playing like this? 3 / 80? i’m not sure…

no, I said 2 years, $80mm, with a team option for year 3 (so 3 / 120 if we pick it up).

the usual suspects will reply “35 years old blah blah blah” but that’s probably a good contract for us bc we can leverage him to get a real star.

Paul would be our LeBron, then we’d have to work to find our Anthony Davis. But we’d have plenty of assets to do it with.

Obi got yanked after he failed to box out and rebound.
Mitch’s rim protection is down I believe because he’s been told to back off instead of foul.
IQ opens up the court for Randle.
Frank needs to play some. He was hitting threes and playing fairly well before his injury.

2nd Unit:
Payton
Frank
Burks
Obi
Noel

As a big Mitch fan my feelings are, HOLD THE LINE!!!! (hopefully it will work better in this context than the stock market.)

Look, I can understand some frustration with him but I also understand his (obvious) frustration. This is a guy who just BROKE THE RECORD for all time FG% and averaged a very reasonable 15 points per 36.

He is not your average pogo stick. He literally posted some of the best numbers ever for his type of player, as a 21 year old sophomore.

And this year, despite playing better and smarter than ever on defense (to my eye), he has been basically completely cut out of the offense. Which impacts in a very significant way how much money he will receive in his next contract, after making very little in his first three years.

The Knicks have favored developing RJ Barrett over Mitch. Maybe that’s a good bet but I can understand Mitch resenting that.

I hope the Knicks and Mitch patch things up and sign a 4 year 45 million dollar deal.

Still Team Mitch but I am worried.

I still think we should resign Mitch but its gotta be reasonable. My main reasoning is he has shown he can be a capable starting Center on the defensive end and he is still so young. And at some point The Knicks gotta reinvest in their draft picks and extend them, right? Show some faith and give him a contract. Be reasonable about it. He’s still got A LOT of time. Remember he’s had Fizdale as his coach for half of his young career!

But man, we gotta just pull the band aid and start Quickley already. Payton is bad but I also think he’s in his head right now because of Quickley’s rise and he might regain some mojo moving to the second unit. I’d keep Bullock starting for the defense and also to keep Burks in the second unit so there is balance in both units with outside shooting. And if Elf responds poorly to the demotion, no big deal. We can trade him (he’d want out at that point and would probably waive the NTC) or we can just cut him and bring in someone else. OR give the back up spot to Frank. He’s done well in that role.

Even if long term Quickley is more of a 6th man, he has solidified himself as a part of the young core going forward. not that he’s untouchable but if we’re thinking about the future I think RJ, Quickley and Mitch all should be considered part of the young core. With one of Randle or Obi being part of it too. So Quickley should be getting that PT and experience with RJ, Mitch and Randle.

‘The RJ-Mitch PNR also seems to work pretty well whenever we go to it, but we don’t go to it much at all.’

This. With JR’s new-found ability to seemingly get to the rim at will, it feels like we should run this about every other play. The help either has to stay home to avoid the lob and JR scores, or the help comes and Pogo gets the lob. I mean, what’s the alternative — the Randle spin (and we saw WAY too much of that yesterday, speaking of Groundhog Day), or god forbid the Elf three?

Raven: This. With JR’s new-found ability to seemingly get to the rim at will, it feels like we should run this about every other play. The help either has to stay home to avoid the lob and JR scores, or the help comes and Pogo gets the lob. I mean, what’s the alternative — the Randle spin (and we saw WAY too much of that yesterday, speaking of Groundhog Day), or god forbid the Elf three?

JR is an unacceptable spelling mistake for RJ, mods please ban

Ntilakilla:
I know this is out of the blue but I have this particular bone to pick with Thibs. Can we please put to bed the assumption that Payton is in the starting lineup for his defense?

Def Rating
Elf: 113
IQ: 111

DBPM
Elf: -1.4
IQ: -0.1

and, of course, I will just throw in my favorite comparison that is besides this point in WS/48:
Elf: .005
IQ:.141

There’s the argument that starting PGs are much better than backup PGs and defensive numbers rely on the whole team, often misrepresenting a single individual.

But yeah, the only reason to start Payton is to avoid locker room issues at this point. IDK, Thibs plays IQ more than Elf often enough that I’m fine with it. Plenty of rookies don’t start full time even if they’re good. Not everyone is RJ Barrett. Stealth tank roll on!!

Also, 1yr DRAPM for 2021 is out on NBA Shot Charts. Extremely noisy at this sample level but:

IQ: -0.53
Elf: -0.76

ORAPM
IQ: 1.01
Elf: -0.56

RJ leads us in DRAPM this year (27th overall)!!!
Bullock is 2nd, so at least his D is real (blah, blah, blah sample). Overall Burks still better due to offense.

Mitch DRAPM: .98
Noel: .64

Not sure when last updated.

Ntilakilla: And this is a valid point. But the thing of it is that whether or not Immanuel is benefiting from playing backups doesn’t change the fact that Payton hasn’t been a good defender. He’s not helping us there and its clear that he’s hindering our offensive spacing and movement. So what really is the point of having him start at all, especially if Thibs is going to insist upon leaving in the game for long swaths of time while the offense sputters with him handing the ball?

It’s always possible that IQ just gets absolutely destroyed against the starters or starts fouling out too soon. But I agree with you, I’m mostly just paying lip service to a qualification of the numbers in a nominal defense of Thibs. I don’t actually believe it myself.

I really think Thibs either doesn’t want to deal with the locker room fallout or he wants to protect Quickley a bit. There’s no criticism thrown at Quickley if he’s backing up a player obviously worse than him. Thibs also just seems old school and starts the vets.

I believe Quickley is much better than Payton, but it’s fine to keep him as a backup for now. I don’t care about wins and losses this year, I care about IQ developing. Quickley plays enough to develop well. So, I’m happy enough.

Who would be the instigator of “locker room issues” on this team about Elfrid Payton other than Julius Randle? And if Randle’s the kind of guy who would piss and moan over Elfrid Fucking Payton, it’s time to move on from him, too. That would just positively scream, “Loser.”

I don’t subscribe to ESPN

howdy al…the last thing in the world i need is another subscription in my life; but, the ESPN one comes with a decent bundle including Disney + and Hulu…

i needed to get Disney + for the kids (yeah, nothing at all to do with me absolutely jonesing to watch season 7 of the Clone Wars)…

been thinking a bunch the last few days since you mentioned chilling with your son and watching a game together…the tone of “completion” within your words stuck with me and made me smile…

it’s looking more and more like i struck out with all three kids when it comes to watching sports…none of them show any interest in watching any kind of ball game at all with me, they’ll stick around for mma for a little bit, but that’s pretty much it…

it’s all good though, they’re usually down for chilling together to watch a movie…

E, all merc’d out: Who would be the instigator of “locker room issues” on this team about Elfrid Payton other than Julius Randle? And if Randle’s the kind of guy who would piss and moan over Elfrid Fucking Payton, it’s time to move on from him, too. That would just positively scream, “Loser.”

Uh, Elfrid Payton might have an opinion on his own demotion.

hard to win when neither your point guard or center can score – at all…

who knows, maybe thibs knows what he’s doing, but it’s becoming easier to question some of his decisions…it’s not enough anymore that the team “looks” competitive at times or is winning at a better percentage than in the past…

some stuff needs fixing now…elf needs to take a seat for a bit and we all need to see if mitch can hit a 10′ jump shot, or throw a hook shot up in to the air, or something…

disappointed so far in burks…

I binged the hell out of Clone Wars

hey early bird 🙂

we are you in the series?

the first 3 seasons where ahsoka is just a kid are not so great – from season 4 on though the series starts really taking off, you see anakin’s path more clearly in the Revenge of the Sith transition makes a whole lot more sense…by the end of the show the animation is insane…also fairly clear why the jedi came to an “end”…

the yoda arc from the end of season 6 is fantastic…also really enjoyed what they did with darth maul’s character progression…

there is some really good voice acting throughout the series…

As I’ve said, you can protect Quickley from having to play full-time against starters while also removing Payton from the rotation. Any of Burks, Rivers, or Frank would be an improvement, since Randle and RJ handle so much of the playmaking among the starting unit.

What’s interesting with Payton is that his TS% is in-line with what it was last year and his usage is actually higher than last year, but his assist rate has fallen through the floor – 21% this year compared to 39% last year and 34% overall for his career. I checked out of last year’s Knicks team pretty early to be honest – what was different about how he was playing last year? Who was exactly getting all of these assists? Or is he just shooting it now when he would have passed it last year?

If the Knicks do end up with two top 10 picks in the 2021 draft, then “The Moment of Truth” will have arrived for the team. Time to nail a lottery pick for once.

Assuming the earlier pick goes to the best PG on the board, then next pick would be the best shooter on the board. A sentimental favorite for me would be Keon Johnson b/c he goes to one of my alma maters, but he needs to start shooting better to be top 10 worthy, I’d guess.

geo: hey early bird 🙂

we are you in the series?

the first 3 seasons where ahsoka is just a kid are not so great – from season 4 on though the series starts really taking off, you see anakin’s path more clearly in the Revenge of the Sith transition makes a whole lot more sense…by the end of the show the animation is insane…also fairly clear why the jedi came to an “end”…

the yoda arc from the end of season 6 is fantastic…also really enjoyed what they did with darth maul’s character progression…

there is some really good voice acting throughout the series…

By binged the hell out of, I mean I watched the whole thing lol. It was the majority of my winter break activity.

Thought first 3 seasons were okay for episodic show with decent one-off stories, very hit or miss though. I did end up skipping several of these episodes (the academy arc at the beginning of season 3 I hated). Definitely a lot better when Ahsoka is older and starts making her own decisions and getting into some darker, more intelligent story lines. I like how it really starts casting doubt on the righteousness of the Jedi Order. I think the Yoda story you’re referencing does a good job of it.

Maul is absolutely my favorite character and his story makes the series for me. It continues in the Rebels cartoon show, the only part I really liked about that show. Stories w/ Clone Wars characters are worth it, the stories w/o the Clone Wars characters are very skippable to me.

Also really liked the story with the Clone Trooper figuring out the Emperor’s plot.

Alan:
As I’ve said, you can protect Quickley from having to play full-time against starters while also removing Payton from the rotation. Any of Burks, Rivers, or Frank would be an improvement, since Randle and RJ handle so much of the playmaking among the starting unit.

I am interested in this train of logic about protecting IQ from playing full time starters. If he’s as good as his metrics say all you’re doing is protecting full time starters from playing against him.

Igno-Bot 3000: What’s interesting with Payton is that his TS% is in-line with what it was last year and his usage is actually higher than last year, but his assist rate has fallen through the floor – 21% this year compared to 39% last year and 34% overall for his career. I checked out of last year’s Knicks team pretty early to be honest – what was different about how he was playing last year? Who was exactly getting all of these assists? Or is he just shooting it now when he would have passed it last year?

Thibs scheme is different and doesn’t use much PnR, last year we used PnR exclusively (not counting Randle 1-on-5 spins into the lane) It’s why both Payton & Mitch’s offensive numbers are down. It would improve the numbers of the 2 biggest deadends on offense if we ran Elf & Mitch PnRs.

Also, Payton is pretty good at running the PnR. He can kick to shooters or pass to rolling bigs. This year the offense runs through Randle, so Elf doesn’t have many opportunities for assists. Thibs likes using Payton the same way he used Derrick Rose, focusing on attacking the basket. Payton is not a good fit in that role.

The other problem we saw last year is the PnR is difficult to execute when you don’t have the shooters to prevent 5 defenders from collapsing on Mitch & Payton. I’d guess Thibs probably wouldn’t go to it anyways.

This year the offense is much more about getting RJ or Randle the ball in motion. The last few games I watched, the primary action seems to be handoffs at the top of the key with Randle or RJ running up to the ball and continuing in motion. They run a few PnRs but it’s definitely not the primary action and seems more to free RJ for the drive. You see it some for IQ because Randle is less likely to be on the court.

Thibs scheme is different and doesn’t use much PnR, last year we used PnR exclusively (not counting Randle 1-on-5 spins into the lane) It’s why both Payton & Mitch’s offensive numbers are down. It would improve the numbers of the 2 biggest deadends on offense if we ran Elf & Mitch PnRs.

It would also improve IQ’s numbers since I think the metrics show he’s our post productive PnR player.

I definitely think Payton should be benched, and probably Bullock as well, but I don’t think our offensive problems fall solely on the shoulders of our personnel. Our offensive schemes are pretty bad and we are constantly relying on iso play and hoping Randle or RJ or Quickley can create something out of nothing.

It would be nice to run a cohesive offense where we are running actual plays trying to get Mitch or Obi actual shots rather than just offensive rebounds or lobs that result from our other players going one on two and passing the ball.

Our team’s average shot difficulty is through the roof. We create so few easy opportunities. I don’t think Thibs knows how to run an offense if he doesn’t have an alpha ball handler to lean on. He’s trying to lean on Randle but he’s not that guy.

Also , our spacing is terrible, even when we put out four shooters our spacing is terrible. It’s not our lack of shooting ability it’s our lack of emphasis on the 3 point shot. We need to spread the floor and have everyone, even bad shooters let it rip from three to keep defenses honest but even our shooters are often turning down three point shots and I thinks that’s on Thibs.

nice early bird 🙂

yeah, the Mandalorian is just okay for me so far…

i’m really looking forward to the Bad Batch which’ll come out sometime this year…

Maul is absolutely my favorite character and his story makes the series for me. It continues in the Rebels cartoon show, the only part I really liked about that show. Stories w/ Clone Wars characters are worth it, the stories w/o the Clone Wars characters are very skippable to me.

the Rebels show took some time to grow on me…i never really found Ezra Bridger all that engaging…mostly i just watched for the “continuity” story lines…and when Vader would show up…

Also really liked the story with the Clone Trooper figuring out the Emperor’s plot.

by any chance – do you remember what episode that was?

Ben R:
I definitely think Payton should be benched, and probably Bullock as well, but I don’t think our offensive problems fall solely on the shoulders of our personnel. Our offensive schemes are pretty bad and we are constantly relying on iso play and hoping Randle or RJ or Quickley can create something out of nothing.

It would be nice to run a cohesive offense where we are running actual plays trying to get Mitch or Obi actual shots rather than just offensive rebounds or lobs that result from our other players going one on two and passing the ball.

Our team’s average shot difficulty is through the roof. We create so few easy opportunities. I don’t think Thibs knows how to run an offense if he doesn’t have an alpha ball handler to lean on. He’s trying to lean on Randle but he’s not that guy.

Also , our spacing is terrible, even when we put out four shooters our spacing is terrible. It’s not our lack of shooting ability it’s our lack of emphasis on the 3 point shot. We need to spread the floor and have everyone, even bad shooters let it rip from three to keep defenses honest but even our shooters are often turning down three point shots and I thinks that’s on Thibs.

yep…this is the issue…no apparent offensive scheme/creativity (not surprising) and relying on sub-optimal distribution through Julius “i am not magic” randle…I looked at each NBA team and maybe there are three that have a worse main distributor/ball handler than randle…however, it is good for the “tank”…

the quickley.. burks.. randle.. rj .. would have 28.. 22… 28 and 24 usg respectively.. so you have a usg crunch which would change a lot of what we’re doing now.. and i assume quickley and burks would take a hit on that front…

that’s probably why they are on the second unit plus some other reasons….. they get free reign and can buoy a second unit that would rely on austin rivers for offense… or you’re left with finding different pairs to split up the usg with which probably seems complicated for thibs at this juncture of the season…

in any case.. if you like seeing quickley shoot… being on the second unit isn’t terrible…

geo:
nice early bird 🙂

yeah, the Mandalorian is just okay for me so far…

i’m really looking forward to the Bad Batch which’ll come out sometime this year…

the Rebels show took some time to grow on me…i never really found Ezra Bridger all that engaging…mostly i just watched for the “continuity” story lines…and when Vader would show up…

by any chance – do you remember what episode that was?

Don’t know off the top of my head, but wikipedia says it starts with season 6, episode 1.

Sounds like we’re on the same page about Rebels, I’m probably overstating my dislike since I did watch the whole thing but I agree Ezra was kind of forgettable as a protagonist. The rest of the ensemble was more interesting to me. Definitely Vader was an awesome appearance.

Yeah, Mandalorian is another hit or miss show to me depending on the episode’s story, I find them pretty fun even when they miss though. But it does enough to get me really jazzed on the Star Wars lore and universe again to make me want to watch other stuff. Some really cool moments, other moments that should be cool but felt a little too flat.

Like a lot of people, I grew up watching the original trilogy constantly and I watched the re-releases in theaters when I was 9 or so.

The prequels came out and I was too much of an apathetic teenager to enjoy them (also, I’m pretty sure the 1st two are just bad). I enjoyed the sequel trilogy as pure big screen entertainment, but they didn’t really spark anything like the Mandalorian.

It’s been fun getting back into Star Wars a bit.

ptmilo: payton is getting about 80% of the front court touches and time of possession he did last year and is running more than 90% of the PNRs.

My intuition is that Payton gets 90% of the PnRs, but 90% of very few PnRs is still very few PnRs compared to last year when it was featured more prominently.

That said, I think your point about spacing with Mitch & Randle is a valid theory. Taj is full of flaws, but he could pass a bit and at least make simple post moves to the basket. If Mitch catches and doesn’t immediately throw it down, the offense stalls out. Maybe we’re missing Portis as a floor spacer more than we think.

Alan:
My son and I are early in season 4 of Clone Wars. (We just did the trilogy about Captain Ackbar and the Mon Cala civil war.) We’re enjoying it so far. Filoni has a much clearer sense of how to write Anakin’s gradual descent than Lucas did in the prequels.

Yeah, you’re right on the cusp of it getting really good. Hopefully we didn’t give anything away yet.

Anakin’s portrayal/foreshadowing definitely was one of my favorite parts in the early seasons. They continue creating a good dynamic between Ahsoka & Anakin as it goes on and Anakin’s influence is pretty important to Ahsoka’s character in the later seasons. I think that’s ambiguous enough.

Also, there’s several stories about the banking clan which I really enjoyed, partly because I can’t imagine many kids shows doing it. I assume it came out right around the financial collapse.

Raven:
Pepper, you’ve got me curious — which three teams/players did you decide have/are worse distributors than ours?

westbrook, twolves and pistons ( i was too lazy to look up who runs that offense just assumed it)

It’s been fun getting back into Star Wars a bit.

i keep forgetting to do it, but, i need to order the Son of Dathomir (4 issue consolidated graphic novel)…

holy cow, just checked online – looks near impossible to find at the moment…just found a copy on ebay, hopefully will get it next week…

My son and I are early in season 4 of Clone Wars. (We just did the trilogy about Captain Ackbar and the Mon Cala civil war.) We’re enjoying it so far. Filoni has a much clearer sense of how to write Anakin’s gradual descent than Lucas did in the prequels.

lucky, haven’t been able to hook any of the kids on clone wars or rebels…we do have a blast playing them on Disney Infinity from time to time – biggest gaming tragedy ever was them shutting that game down 🙁

matt lanter does a phenomenal job as anakin throughout clone wars…none of that whiney teen angst stuff from the movies…a lot more fury and life during wartime – and, the compromises war causes within people…

which was pretty much palpatine’s whole plan…

Wolves seem to have D Russell, Ricky Rubio (!), and Edwards at point.
Pistons have rookie Hayes and aged husk Rose.

I could see those groups struggling.

I was hoping this would make me feel a little better about the Knicks, but not sure they’re really worse…

JK47:
Lucas should have made the conflict between Anakin and Obi-Wan center around a love triangle with Padme. That might have given those steaming turds of movies some sort of emotional weight and might have made us give a fuck about Padme, who is in my opinion the worst Star Wars character of all time.

Good suggestion. It would’ve spiced things up. But Amadala wasn’t worse than Jar-Jar “racist stereotype” Binks or Qui-Gon “The dumbest Jedi ever” Jinn.

Padme, who is in my opinion the worst Star Wars character of all time.

she gets some good action/heroine stories in the clone wars animated series…i don’t really remember them focusing a whole bunch on their romantic relationship though…

But Amadala wasn’t worse than Jar-Jar “racist stereotype” Binks or Qui-Gon “The dumbest Jedi ever” Jinn.

well they can’t all be winners, can they?

ptmilo:
My intuition is that Payton gets 90% of the PnRs, but 90% of very few PnRs is still very few PnRs compared to last year when it was featured more prominently.

no.he gets 90pct of the per possession pnrs he got last year.

Wow, really? This is why the eye test sucks.

“…whether it’s time to give a lot more playing time to younger players.”

RJ gets tons of minutes. Quickley has played himself into significant minutes. I’m kind of okay with yanking Obi if he won’t play D or box out. I’d love to see him get more minutes, but I’d like to see him learn to play D and box out, and just maybe this is part of that learning — a little rough, but I like players who play D and dislike those who don’t, so hoping he’s embarrassed enough to really work at it so he can get more time. I’m also kind of okay with not playing Knox, although I am curious if he can just become Novak 2.0. But not so much that I’m sad about not feeling queasy watching him play. That leaves Frank, who most here agree needs one last run out of the shop, so I’m hoping that will come soon.

Alan: Mitch is a fantastic player to have on his current contract, and would be great to still have if his next contract was in, say, the $10-14 million range. Once it starts creeping above that, though, he’s a guy you can’t move as well as someone whose deal makes it harder to acquire other players to place around him.

And this is where i think Leon Rose has been doing fine, if it was on me i would have signed Mitch to an extension already, but he opted instead to check if the projected growth will happen or not. At this time it’s looking more likely that he is on the Nerlens Noel level, which would be a little step back for us, but let’s give him time because Mitch has improved each season. Either way, Rose’s strategy will prove to be the best, because at the end of the season the Knicks will decline the option and i’m having a hard time seeing a team willing to give Mitch more than 4/36M, and maybe he gets way less. At that time Rose will look like his saviour for giving him more money than anyone else. I wouldn’t be surprised if he re-signs on the cheap again, maybe 3/21M.

thenoblefacehumper: I don’t want to sound like I’m just making excuses for Mitch as I already said I think a lot of this is on him, but some of it does boil down to our offensive scheme (or lack thereof). Seeing as how our offense is 25th in the league, you’d be hard-pressed to convince me there’s a lot to lose by running ~10 more plays a game for Mitch.

My concern with our offensive schemes has reached anxious level. It affects Obi also, as i think him and Mitch would much prefer to have plays drawed for them, instead of playing in the flow of the game.
At first i understood we’d be good at defense first, but i thought the offense would be improving as the first half season went on. Now i think it’s more like, in the 1st half season we’ll only focus on defense, and then in the 2nd half season we’ll see what we can do with the offense. Ooph.

Already starting to think about guys we could draft in mid-late lottery

Have you guys seen the ridiculous numbers Corey Kispert from Gonzaga is putting up?
Yes he is 22 years old but 6’7″, looks reasonably athletic
Currently shooting 57.7% overall, 67.3% 2p%, 48.8% 3P%, 90% from the line
He has a 72.7 TS on 22.9% usage, 17 games and 213 FGA – not a super small sample

This honestly could be (is?) the greatest shooting season in college basketball history? It’s not ridiculous to think he might shoot 60/50/90.

The comp is Joe Harris, but Joe Harris never sniffed a shooting season like this.

Yeah, Obi is actually very explosive but then doesn’t use that explosion at the rim. A number of times he’s blown through everybody and I expect him to go up and two-hand slam the ball, and instead he winds up making a skip pass. I have little doubt he COULD do the explosive slam and I wish someone somewhere would tell him that. There’s way more there to get out of him.

As to the offense, it’s primitive and lame in every particluar. It’s been that way all season going back into last and it’s hard to see how it’s going to change. Mike D’Antoni or Kenny Atkinson aren’t walking through that coach’s door. Thibodeau is still the kind of 90s guy who gets furious at losing a game through bad defense but gives approximately zero fucks at losing one through bad offense. There’s some kind of neo-Puritanical thing going on there like defense is work and offense is pleasure and therefore losing by bad defense is some sort of mark on character or something. Meanwhile, his offense sucks. But I guess at least that’s not a sign of weakness or bad character anyway.

DRed:
Our offense is essentially just as bad as it was last season,

Well, at least Thibs said he’s been focusing on defense, so to stay the same when we’re not doing anything to improve it… makes sense! LOL

About the draft, and not counting on luck (cause we’re the Knicks, we never have luck on our side since Ewing), if we miss on the premier PGs (Cade and Suggs), are the next guys (Jaden Springer and Sharife Cooper, i think) any good? Would it be a good strategy to pick one of those two, and then in free agency try to lure Lowry here? The new guard rotation would be: (starters) Lowry and RJ , (backups) Springer and Quickley. And then we can go for continuity on the last 2 guard spots, with Frank and Rivers.

Z: Oh, hey, thank for reminding me. Ewing over Karl Malone is another hindsight draft failure probably worse than Weiss over Artest. (No arguments here, right?)

No way, Patrick Ewing is one of the reasons i am a Knicks fan.

the occasional early pocket pass against pnr drop coverage. is he really that terrible at these in practice? he doesn’t really look terrible at them the almost-never times he tries them. like look at the first play in this link against the bucks. they almost never try this, but he looks pretty frisky doing it?

MItch is apparently incapable of a 4 ft bunny based on never having taken one. And his handle is so bad that he can’t move with the ball at all unless he’s 24 ft away and alone. So if you don’t catch him in motion..

His defense seems much improved this year but he really needs to develop some ability to be effective from 4-6 ft out. And learn how to set screens young man! Not just pnr but an offball to free up RJ for a cut for example. Today, as you watch tape of last night, observe how the Bulls used that tactic to make Lavine seem better than he actually is.

Makes me wonder if synergy maybe count some dinky PnRs that aren’t really meant to generate offense.

My memory test is that last year’s threads involved a lot of “Run the fucking pnr you fucking morons!” So yeah, not doing it much this year. Didn’t actually do it much last year either.

On the other hand, in Mace Windu’s few appearances I find him a lot less charismatic than the movies. So kudos to the one and only Samuel L. Jackson.

i don’t know, maybe mace windu was only slightly less a sanctimonious, condescending dick in the movies than he was in the animated series…

no doubt windu and ki-adi mundi alone may have led me to the dark side…redacted (oops, plot giveaway) seem to be fairly good examples of jedi’s going dark..

although (more redactionating) have some interesting character growth in the other direction too…

I really don’t get the anguish that Quickley isn’t starting.

He’s getting plenty of minutes. I think it’s just another way of saying they want Payton glued to the bench. Because Frank will be better, somehow? Someone in this thread was bemoaning DSjr’s lack of minutes. A few others appeared to be taking shots at Randle playing so much. There’s some sort of community breakdown, like people are starting to realize that the Knicks are not that good and aren’t going to be a .500 team and are trying to come to terms with it.

I really don’t get the anguish that Quickley isn’t starting. It’s not like he isn’t getting a chance to play or to score points.

Because the issue isn’t solely about IQ. Everyone defending the decision to keep him on the bench operates on the premise of how he will individually play in one lineup vs. the other. But the issue is whether or our starting squad as a whole is better with him in it than with Payton. And the thing is that Thibs keep running out the same starting lineups in the 1st and 3rd which fall behind offensively because their spacing is trash and the ball movement is nonexistent. It’s just a really bad combination of players and always has been from the preseason onwards. Back then the argument was that the sample size was too small. Well, now around a quarter of season has been played and we know a lot about how poor Payton fits with Randle, Mitch, and RJ when team defenses go zone. It’s just time to make the switch already. Charlotte is starting LaMelo for crying out loud. We should do the same with our rookie PG.

hey it’s groundhog day – i got a question for everyone:

how many days did Phil Connors live over and over in Punxsutawney, PA…

if you haven’t already done so in the past – no new researching allowed, gotta go with whatever your memory tells ya…

damn räz, i guess that wasn’t really that interesting or difficult a question…

oh – goes back to work quietly dejected…

Yeah, it’s kind of early to know what to do about the draft. 😉
You follow NCAA a lot, right? Ever seen Utah State play? They have a center (Queta) that is a fellow countryman of mine (he’s portuguese), and i have the secret hope that we take him on the 2nd round to be Mitch’s backup (he’d be perfect in that role, imo). If you see him play, please let me know what you think of him.

he seems legitimately good… like maybe should get first rd attention kind of good… and i’m definitely gonna check out his games….

geo: i don’t know, maybe mace windu was only slightly less a sanctimonious, condescending dick in the movies than he was in the animated series…

no doubt windu and ki-adi mundi alone may have led me to the dark side…redacted (oops, plot giveaway) seem to be fairly good examples of jedi’s going dark..

although (more redactionating) have some interesting character growth in the other direction too…

Maybe, I haven’t seen the prequels since they came out. I think I just like Samuel L Jackson being a sanctimonious, condescending dick more than the voice actor. Which isn’t a knock on the voice actor, just Jackson is unbelievably good at it.

geo:
damn räz, i guess that wasn’t really that interesting or difficult a question…

oh – goes back to work quietly dejected…

Was this guess right? All I remember was him becoming a professional piano player, chiropractor, doctor, connoisseur of French poetry, and aware of every single thing that happened in Puxatawney that day…

All of that has to take decades to accomplish.

Re Quetta, I noticed him the other day because he was at the top of the DBPM rankings a d it piqued my curiosity. Read a little about him. Nice story. It’s a long way from Portugal to Logan, Utah. Although I met someone recently who had gone from Siberia to Starkville Mississippi,

Can’t believe Batum is out there schooling folks….

I don’t think the 10K hours is unhelpful at all.

10K hours amounts to one hour a day for 40 years. It’s useful bc it teaches people that to become truly great at something takes a lot of time and practice and most skills take a lifetime to master, which is true.

FVV has 46 in the third quarter

VanVleet might break the all time record for threes made in a game, he’s got 11 at the end of the 3rd, what the hell.

Bruno Almeida:
VanVleet might break the all time record for threes made in a game, he’s got 11 at the end of the 3rd, what the hell.

Earning that new contract all in one night…

ptmilo:
i post a link to this graph not because of its relevance to the great 3pt defense debate of 2021, but rather bc of the extremely perfect nyk placement on it

https://twitter.com/kpelton/status/1356712835103907841?s=21

got me, ahole

although you could argue that Thib’s defense is off the charts…

Grocer: I didn’t even know it was Gladwell.That guy’s the worst.I was thinking about it after and I think it’s wrong anyway.He doesn’t become a skilled piano player in general, he just gets really good at a single set of songs that people want to hear.Or is this a memory test fail?

I think Phil just becomes very accomplished playing the piano. The entire movie journey for him involves not taking shortcuts and just enjoying the moment, learning to live authentically and appreciate his eternally recurring moment. Phil learning a few songs to impress the crowd would’ve been cheating just like when he tried to learn whatever he could about Andy McDowell’s character to get her to bed.

That graph is, unconvincing, but the thread he links to is really interesting. Thankfully the Knicks hired ISM so we don’t have to be so concerned (our defense is going to look worse and worse going forward).

ptmilo:
i post a link to this graph not because of its relevance to the great 3pt defense debate of 2021, but rather bc of the extremely perfect nyk placement on it

https://twitter.com/kpelton/status/1356712835103907841?s=21

Take that, Masai Ujiri.

***hey it’s groundhog day – i got a question for everyone:
how many days did Phil Connors live over and over in Punxsutawney, PA…
if you haven’t already done so in the past – no new researching allowed, gotta go with whatever your memory tells ya…***

I never quite understood that movie, but I think the premise was that he relived the same day for 6 weeks (i.e. the length of time that winter extends for if the groundhog sees his shadow). So roughly 45 days?

(ps, Phil didn’t “master” the piano. He learned one boogie-woogie riff and faked his way through a muzak version of Rachmaninov’s 18th variation on a theme by Paganini — easily done in 45 days if all you’re trying to impress a girl, not the audition board at Julliard:)

Donnie Walsh:
***hey it’s groundhog day – i got a question for everyone:
how many days did Phil Connors live over and over in Punxsutawney, PA…
if you haven’t already done so in the past – no new researching allowed, gotta go with whatever your memory tells ya…***

I never quite understood that movie, but I think the premise was that he relived the same day for 6 weeks (i.e. the length of time that winter extends for if the groundhog sees his shadow). So roughly 45 days?

(ps, Phil didn’t “master” the piano. He learned one boogie-woogie riff and faked his way through a muzak version of Rachmaninov’s 18th variation on a theme by Paganini — easily done in 45 days if all you’re trying to impress a girl, not the audition board at Julliard:)

The people who made it have intimated in interviews that he spent decades in the loop, though your mileage may vary re: Death of the Author.

Damn, the 2020 draft looks ridiculously deep…are there even 5 guys drafted in the first round that don’t look like potential rotation players? (giving Killian Hayes the benefit of the doubt for now…)

Phil didn’t “master” the piano. He learned one boogie-woogie riff and faked his way through a muzak version of Rachmaninov’s 18th variation on a theme by Paganini — easily done in 45 days if all you’re trying to impress a girl, not the audition board at Julliard

I’m assuming that would take a fairly significant amount of time if his practice time was limited to an hour or so lesson per day with the piano teacher. (isn’t the performance kinda montage-y and suggestive that this is only part of his repetoire? It’s been a while since I’ve seen it)

if not for the 6 week “purgatory” period?

isn’t purgatory like thousand year plus “sentence”…

or, the last two decades as a knick fan…

Zach Lowe had Tim MacMahon on today’s Lowe Post to talk about the many things currently ailing the Mavericks, and I had an evil smile on my face as I listened to the whole thing.

Donnie Walsh: Well, that makes no sense. What ends the cycle for him? Why have the Groundhog’s Day backdrop at all if not for the 6 week “purgatory” period?

ahahahaha quality KB right here

geo: what’s the reader’s digest version on this skill development thing unreason: it’s how you practice, not how much you practice?

Yep. More specifically, repeatedly trying to do something in a way that’s known to work and then getting detailed expert feedback on how well you did afterward. Pretty simple straightforward difference from sheer time-on-task, but it leads to a big difference in the amount of skill gained from practice.

Seriously, a lot of those movies from that era of filmmaking don’t really hold up to scrutiny re: narrative or thematic consistency. If you dig too deep, you’ll find that Back to the Future revolves around a plot point in which Marty sets his mother up to be the victim of an attempted sexual assault; Home Alone is actually borderline torture porn with a child as the agent of suffering; Air Force One has a scene in which Gary Oldman, who is a fully-grown man, suggestively sniffs a child’s face after executing a guy in front of her, after which she exhibits zero symptoms of PTSD because she’s a take-no-prisoners bHaD BiTcH; and Robocop 3 somehow got greenlighted.

I think I’d like to max Fred VanVleet now.

If Bargs replaced Phil, would he have learned how to play basketball by the 10,000th year?

Isn’t it TRUE LOVE that ends the cycle, in a rom com kind of way? It’s a fun movie but my takeaway was a moral about how small town life is best and hokey mid-western versions of happiness are the ideal ones. It’s basically a really good version of a Hallmark Christmas movie.

oh no, groundhog day is whole lot darker than that…it’s down in a hole why am i even here dark – with a happyish ending…

If Bargs replaced Phil, would he have learned how to play basketball by the 10,000th year?

You now have me thinking of a Groundhog Day remake with Phil Jackson as the new Phil.

Brian Cronin: You now have me thinking of a Groundhog Day remake with Phil Jackson as the new Phil.

Phil was like Groundhog Day for all Knicks fans…except maybe strat

oh no, groundhog day is whole lot darker than that…it’s down in a hole why am i even here dark – with a happyish ending…

I said it was a really good version.. It’s also a really interesting time travel device. Like Quantum Leap, but he only ever goes one place.

It has a love story but it’s really him becoming a good person that breaks the cycle and getting the girl is the reward.

Which is a fairly standard rom com trope.

Ntilakilla: I think “Groundhog Day” was just a metaphorical setting to explore larger existentialist question of eternal recurrence

I’m not even sure it’s necessarily based on eternal recurrence, rather than say the repetitive nature of our lives, especially for a generation mired in the humdrum of 9-5s for 50 yrs. That said, it’s certainly an existential film with elements of RomCom & Bill Murray humor to make it more palatable.

And put me down for hundreds or thousands of years. If you want an exact number, 872 yrs & 47 days.

Anyways, I’m going to go to sleep. When I wake up tomorrow I’ll log onto Knickerblogger and argue about Frank Ntilikina.

okay, the fog is slowly starting to lift from my mind (i’m back home and working hard to get fuzzy again) – but, boom, this is it:

To me, Nietzsche’s hypothetical basically summarizes the movie’s essential dilemma. The idea that winter continues if a groundhog sees its shadow is analogous for what Phil experiences throughout the movie as a flawed man who indefinitely repeats the same mistakes again and again on an eternally recurring day because he’s ruled by the darker impulses of his unconscious, what Carl Jung termed the “shadow” mirror of the human psyche. At first he curses the divine forces forcing him to return to this endless day in a podunk town he loathes, but then he begins to appreciate the endless sequences he’s been relegated to perform, finding meaning and purpose in their smallest moments and tasks.

and there it is, missed your writing while you were away ras,,,,

it was Oldman in Air Force One (although I don’t remember the sniffing part). Although I absolutely loved The Professional, with Natalie Portman in her first role.

you’re right raven, i always get Air Force One and Executive Decision confused…

gary oldman has played a lot of terrific bad guys over the years…my fave though is probably drexl from True Romance, took me a while to even realize it was him…

his character Stan, from The Professional stands out for the physical (and drug taking) quirks included in the role…i think i remember him sniffing on the little girl when she was in the bathroom getting ready to deliver the pizza…

yeah, i’m pretty sure that’s just one of the lower levels in hell…

I kinda figure GD is a variant Elvis Costello’s vision of hell. Not the early dark bits, but the end day.

In Knicks Knews, Macri’s newsletter today has a couple of tidbits. The first is that we’re on JJ Reddick’s list of approved teams to be traded to, though Macri doubts that’s who we’d use our remaining cap space on. Instead, he suggests Rose/Aller could get assets to facilitate a JJ trade. The second is this:

Last thing: Seth Curry is a name I’ve heard the Knicks are keeping tabs on. With trade season about to heat up, there’s always a possibility that Philly needs to move Curry’s salary to facilitate a larger acquisition, and while New York (or any team) would have to pay a tidy cost to acquire one of the league’s best shooters on a fair contract for two more seasons, perhaps it won’t be as high due to the fact that there is so little free cap space available around the league.

Man, imagine if we replaced Bullock’s rotation minutes — plus some of Payton’s — with Seth Curry. He’s older, so not ideal for our timeline, but shooting is shooting.

I’m guessing that Seth will age pretty well as a shooter. We could definitely use a good shooter!

Gee and I thought Groundhog Day was just a fun movie.

I think I’d like to max Fred VanVleet now.

lol

Me too.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

“Creative risk-taking is essential to success in any goal where the stakes are high. Thoughtless risks are destructive, of course, but perhaps even more wasteful is thoughtless caution which prompts inaction and promotes failure to seize opportunity.”

“Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking.”

Deeefense: Quickley is still coming off the bench because the 2nd unit needs scoring.

Let’s face it, both units can use scoring.
I was thinking about this. We know Payton can’t score. The Knicks signed Burks and Bullock to be 3pt snipers and they have been anything but. Knox flashed but he’s solidified himself as the worst shooter in the NBA. That’s why IQ has been glorified – because he can score.

If the Knicks want to make the playoffs, which I think they do, they need to add someone (maybe two someones) that can put the ball in the hoop.

Is tonight our first must-win game of the year…? We just played Chi and we played so shitty… you have to think we’d re-tool a bit here and get our $hit together to the point that we should win… Don’t leave Markennan open… hit a few more 3’s… and win… A loss here would be a very bad look… Mavericks with another very losable game tonight as well…

Excellent Groundhog Day discussion. One of those movies you can watch and enjoy when you’re too young to think deeply about much of anything, and then come back to years later and have your mind blown. I loved it as a kid and continue to think it’s a great movie for entirely different reasons.

Is tonight our first must-win game of the year…?

The nice thing about this season, at least for me, is that just about all of the wins heavily involve guys we have a long-term interest in and our losses obviously have their own utility. At the end of the day, I still think it’s pretty important to get a good draft pick so I’m slightly partial to losses to be totally honest.

I’m definitely not all-out rooting for losses and getting furious about wins a la the Phil Era when guys like Courtney Lee were leading the charge (the 2016-2017 season was the least enjoyable of my life and you all know how much that says), but I still think the ideal scenario is our young guns performing well in a loss. The difference between now and the Phil days is if we win, it means our young guys basically played so well a loss was precluded and I’ll never be mad about that.

In other words, I don’t think tonight or any other night is a “must-win” game.

The nice thing about this season, at least for me, is that just about all of the wins heavily involve guys we have a long-term interest in and our losses obviously have their own utility.

Yeah, it’s entirely possible we could win a random game over the next few months solely because Burks or Bullock went off, but I doubt it. Both because Bullock is terrible and Burks has just been okay since returning, and because the most important guys in the rotation are either long-term pieces or potential trade pieces. And even The Alec Burks game would make it easier to flip him at the deadline if we want.

That said, a part of me didn’t hate the first Bulls loss because it increased our ping pong ball count.

Alan:
Phil had to learn the following:

* The names, personalities, and problems of everyone in town;
* The exact timing required to save the kid from falling out of the tree, prevent the mayor from choking to death, instantly replace the old lady’s tire, etc;
* Become proficient enough at piano (which he couldn’t play at all at the start) to jam with the band, and to mix classical and jazz variations when Rita comes in;
* Become a master ice sculptor

And that’s just the stuff we see on the final day, and in the preceding montage of Phil becoming a better person. There’s surely lots of other stuff he learned that we just don’t see. (I often think about him gradually figuring out the exact amount of money, for instance, he would need to bribe the piano teacher, just so he’d have enough cash remaining to buy Wrestlemania tickets and do whatever else he needed that day.) So it makes sense to me that he’d be in the loop for several years at a minimum.

And lets not forget the suicide montage – all the different clever ways they depicted his self demise. Love the toaster. From my perspective I thought he spent many years in purgatory. Not sure if he spent 10,000 hours per demonstrated expert skill.

Interesting that his body maintained muscle memory after each reboot. I suspect if I took up chainsaw ice sculpture, part of that skill is strength – weilding the chainsaw with finesse requires highly developed muscles to hold it at arms length with dexterity…am i nitpicking?

Ntilakilla: The fact that the film was a Harold Ramis/Bill Murray collaboration definitely made the film more palatable to general audiences. For example, imagine if Charlie Kaufman rewrote and directed Groundhog Day with a guy like Paul Giamatti as the lead? The film uses the same type of absurdist premises we saw in Being John Malkovuch or Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind but his interpretation would’ve definitely been way too offbeat and Kafkaesque to catch public attention the way it has since.

I think a good comparison that actually happened is the Swedish existentially themed movie, Force Majeure (a very good movie), getting turned into a Will Ferrell vehicle for US audiences, Downhill. I haven’t seen the Ferrell version, but I don’t think I need to. On the other hand, I can’t imagine Americans watching Force Majeure en masse.

But it shows how well Groundhog Day balances heavy philosophical concept with broad appeal. Bill Murray really nails funny & depressed.

But adding something to the starting unit and subtracting more than that from the bench unit would not be a good tradeoff.

i think the weakness in this argument comes from the implicit assumption that the starter and bench units can’t overlap. it’s not really about iq starting, in and of itself. starting another shooter with randle rj and mitch instead of the worst shooting pg in the nba is probably pretty close to a free lunch. you can start iq and still stagger your playmaker rest spots. so, for example, start by subbing rj and iq for payton and burks, still leaving two shooters and two playmakers plus payton. then swap randle and bullock for rj or iq and whatever shitty bench player (obi, rivers, knox, personally would go frank) you want, again leaving two playmakers plus payton and two or three shooters. it’s pretty easy to ensure you always have two of burks/rj/randle/iq playmakers on the floor without many minutes of payton/randle/rj and a center out there, while retaining plenty of defensive matchup flexibility.

i don’t think payton has suddenly become a guy who can’t at least get 10 assists per 100 if you put him with some spacing. i don’t think it’s the biggest deal in the world but it’s probably a better mix.

Macri

Per Coach Thibodeau at morning shootaround, the Knicks will trot out a new-look starting lineup tonight against the Bulls. The lineup will include an all-new starting backcourt, and one can only assume Immanuel Quickley will claim one of those 2 spots.

Oh, misread it, so as it is an “all-new starting backcourt” then it must be IQ+Burks over Payton+Bullock.

Could also be a Rivers/Burks starting backcourt, or something like that. I’m fine with anything that reduces or eliminates Elfrid Payton’s role on this team.

Elf is terrible but I don’t think this switch will make a huge difference. It will be a lot less lobs for Mitch too.

Owen:
Macri

Per Coach Thibodeau at morning shootaround, the Knicks will trot out a new-look starting lineup tonight against the Bulls. The lineup will include an all-new starting backcourt, and one can only assume Immanuel Quickley will claim one of those 2 spots.

Ok, I’m pretty excited about that. I assume that means Bullock and Payton go to the bench, RJ shifts to 3, and Quickley starts. Not sure who else would be getting moved into the starting lineup though I think Burks makes the most sense. So my money is on IQ-Burks-RJ-Randle-Mitch starter tonight.

Apparently that’s a fake Macri account. Why people do this shit I will never understand, but my guess is we’re getting the same starting lineup tonight.

thenoblefacehumper:
Apparently that’s a fake Macri account. Why people do this shit I will never understand, but my guess is we’re getting the same starting lineup tonight.

Well, the fake reality was much better than have to endure more games of the “Payton era”. :-/

strumming my pain with his fingers
singing my life with his words
killing me softly, unreason

ha, seems we all shine well when things get a little off track…

change has got to be coming soon, when you have julius telling folks post game that they need to improve their first quarter and third quarter play – seems pretty clear to him and everyone that we’re digging ourselves holes with the starting unit…

i believe julius makes an extra 900k if he’s an all-star…that ain’t happening with elf and bullock in the starting five…

who knows though, every time elf looks like he’s headed for the bench he balls out and has a good game…

fake Macri, twitter is a cesspit

elf was averaging double digit shot attempts for a while, that ain’t happening no more…he seems to have completely lost his mojo at this point in time…mojo kind of comes and goes for elf, mostly it’s gone but, it does re-appear from time to time…

at this point he doesn’t have the ball in his hand (cause they don’t want him dribbling or holding it to try to create) enough to get many if any assists, and, well he can’t shoot and doesn’t seem to be able to get to the rim right now…

like i said though – elf is due for a big game tonight…or not…

So what are the odds that this is an elfrid payton burner?

https://twitter.com/gilgemeth/status/1357041128571351046?s=21

Here’s the actual account if you want to look—it’s just posts about Payton, lmfao this is definitely a burner(or a troll pretending to be a payton burner) Time to find a new slant

https://twitter.com/knicksfan63?s=21

Owen:
My bad. Who the hell spoofs Macri?

Reub?

He could totally schedule a tweet in advance, or give a member of his entourage his credentials.

Owen:
Don’t know about Reub but I am definitely a rube when it comes to this Twitter thing. Have been rooked a couple of time.

I get caught napping once in awhile also.

This one fooled me briefly because someone I follow retweeted it, but then I saw comments about it being fake.

I cross my fingers for an IQ-F11-RJ-JR-Mitch starting Lineup

frank’s burner @classhandicapper

So nice

ptmilo: can’t be elfrid’s burner bc it doesn’t follow frank’s burner @classhandicapper 😉

lmao

Frank’s burner account was @lovethoseknicks, but he quit that ID out of frustration one day with all the political posts from Knicks fans and the basketball media he was following. At least that’s what I’m told by very informed sources. 😉

You should watch Broken Flower

thanks early bird, that looks really interesting…i’ll find it…

just received my copy of Justine and Odd Thomas that i recently ordered…can’t wait to get to them, god daughter snagged the copy of Darkly Dreaming Dexter i was re-reading, so good timing…

friend of mine whom passed away a couple of years ago was a big fan of the Odd Thomas series…i’ve enjoyed a bunch of other Koontz stories…they’re usually interesting pulp and occult stories…been missing my friend a bunch lately, it’ll be good to dig in to the book…

Very good NBA news re: Covid – zero players that were tested on Jan. 27 returned positive tests.

I was getting seriously worried a few weeks ago we might not have a season. Not out of the woods yet, but moving in the right direction at least.

“I know we’ve got a lot of great players on this team,” Knox said before Wednesday’s second straight road game against the Bulls. “The rotations can get tight.Coach [Tom Thibodeau] makes a lot of decisions.”

commenting on his demotion…poor guy….i wonder if he really believes that comemnt about great players….

Start spreading the news, I’m sitting today
I’m no longer a part of it: New York, New York.
These big clown shoes, will no longer stray
Right through the very heart of it: New York, New York.

If I can’t make it here, I can’t make it anywhere
It’s up to Thibs, New York, New York.

Also, there have been some mathematical models and theories out there that herd immunity would be reached sooner than conventional wisdom because of flaws in the generally accepted model. Those people were criticized, attacked, and even demonized by the mainstream because anything that lowered people’s willingness to wear masks and social distance was seen as a negative, but I didn’t see much criticism of the math they used. So maybe they were right.

I don’t remember any kind of ferocious condemnation of differing herd immunity estimates from mainstream media sources, nor do I remember hearing about any serious estimates that were far off from the consensus. Can you link to either of these things, or did you just kind of make this up?

The Knicks have lost 5 of 6 and 10 of the last 14. Show starts on offense have been a major culprit. The Knicks have gone 2-9 (h/t @TheCohencidence) when trailing after the first quarter this season. Now is the time to start IQ.— StacyPatton (@StacyPatton89) February 3, 2021

https://twitter.com/HornyHouseJr/status/1357098070916407297?s=20

I verified this to see if it’s accurate, and it in fact is. The email registered to the possible burner is el************@gmail.com

so it could be elfridpayton63@ gmail.com (or elfridpaytonxx, where ‘xx’ is presumably a number)@gmail

This is either Elfrid Payton or a master troll. Either way, it’s fucking hilarious

I did some gigs backing Scarlett Johansson. She was so gorgeous it was actually physically uncomfortable to be around her, it was like staring into an eclipse or something. She was very sweet and professional and tried to act like one of the guys but it was super nerve wracking. She’d make small talk and I couldn’t even hear the words. I’d just nod.

The first show we did was on French television and she got bad stage fright, and started sweating bullets right before we went on, started fanning herself with a magazine. It was next level adorable.

JK47: Scarlett Johansson… She’d make small talk and I couldn’t even hear the words. I’d just nod.

That’s a hell of a story, i envy you! 😉

Top 5 Jarmusch Films
1. Stranger than Paradise
2. Dead Man
3. Down by Law
4. Ghost Dog
5. Paterson

Also nice to see John Lurie back with Painting with John. I wish he still could play music- love The Lounge Lizards.