Comments on: 2020-21 Game Thread: Knicks vs. Future Knick Kyle Lowry’s Team

By: Z-man

Z-man — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 21:25:49 +0000

This is a monster game

By: Knew Your Nicks

Knew Your Nicks — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 21:09:30 +0000

After Leon and Thibs took over the team , Patience, Opportunism and Maximisation of our current roster’s value have been our “strategic habbits”.
Trying to get Lavine, Ball, CP3, Beal or whoever else’s possibly available may be sexy and fun but don’t seem as the kind of transaction we’re looking for.
When The True Opportunity comes up we’ll notice it like crocodiles woken up from the Splash of the water…

By: geo

geo — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:57:21 +0000

have fun d-mar 🙂

By: Z-man

Z-man — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:57:08 +0000

Go d-mar Go d-mar Go !

By: d-mar

d-mar — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:47:13 +0000

Going to the game tonight with my son. Can’t wait!

(But I plead with the blog – please don’t blame me if the winning streak ends! (-: )

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:30:56 +0000

Its funny how much clearer the path forward looks now. Feels like big sigh of relieft.

I
Randle’s ascension from “stat padder on a bad team” to “legitimate argument for 2nd team All-NBA” can’t be underestimated in how much it has changed everything. When you add in RJ’s improvement, IQ’s NBA readiness, and how much everyone has bought into the Thibs system, it’s hard to see this as anything other than real.

But as hard as it is in this league to go from bad to good, it’s even harder to go from good to great. Randle’s improvement is a mix of his obsessive work in the offseason and Thibs knowing how to use him better than Fizdale or Miller. But now we’re at the point where Rose, Aller, and company really need to earn their money. Even if IQ can become a starting NBA point guard, there’s a ceiling on this version of the team. But this isn’t exactly what the team will be in 2022, 2023, etc. There are many paths, and we’ll have to see both which one Rose takes and whether it’s the correct one. But this is sure as hell more fun than our old debates.

By: swiftandabundant

swiftandabundant — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:15:51 +0000

Yeah, my thinking has changed completely on this. Unless Kawhi becomes available, I think being conservative this summer and rewarding the vets that have worked their asses off this year is the way to go. IQ could take a leap to starting caliber PG next year and him and Rose with another player replacing Elf could be the way to go. We could be just as good or slightly better next year with largely the same crew if RJ, Mitch and IQ all improve.

Remember, the offense just went to the next level here at the end of the season after Rose recovered from Covid, IQ got through the rookie slump and the team had the season to gel. So if our floor is where we’re at now as opposed to the start of the season, we’re looking at us being the 3rd or 4th seed next year.

Add some draft picks. Maybe package the second rounders and Knox to move up a bit with them. Bring back the vets and reward them for working so hard. Then go big name hunting next summer.

I’m not opposed to Ball. I mean, he could be that guy who is getting ready to take a leap. But now I’m thinking we just find a cheaper improvement over Elf somewhere and roll with that, IQ and Rose at PG. Obi can play more minutes next year to give RAndle more rest.

Its just still crazy to have these thoughts right now.

Also, its really funny how much more agreement there is on this blog now that we’re good. Even the disagreements are just like “yeah, that could be one way to go” and not the drag out arguments. Its funny how much clearer the path forward looks now. Feels like big sigh of relieft.

Keep Obi, let Frank go, possibly include Knox in a trade up situation in the draft.

By: Hubert

Hubert — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 19:51:12 +0000

Lavine has definitely eclipsed Beal as my top target.

I see Alan’s point (Chicago didn’t trade for Vucevic just to turn around and rebuild). But I have an equally hard time imagining that, after that trade worked out terribly, Karnisovas will compound his mistake and let Lavine reach free agency.

He’ll likely talk to Lavine’s camp this summer. If Lavine is dissatisfied, then the smart thing to do is turn around and trade both Lavine and Vucevic for a boat load of assets to start a proper rebuild. It’s really unwise to risk letting Lavine walk just because you don’t want to admit you made a mistake.

By: airkent

airkent — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 19:40:08 +0000

From the ringer, the article isn’t great but i think this is a really interesting stat.
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/4/23/22398160/new-york-knicks-julius-randle-rj-barrett-playoffs
”
New York has outscored opponents by 84 points in 304 minutes when Quickley’s on the court with its two best players(Randle & RJ), scoring a blistering 123.4 points per 100 non-garbage-time possessions. By comparison, the Knicks are minus-10 in 1,118 minutes when non-shooter Elfrid Payton shares the floor with Randle and Barrett, scoring 14 fewer points-per-100—nearly the difference between first and last place in offensive efficiency.
”
The question becomes how much better can this team be with a cp3 or a lowry? 304 minutes is nothing but that’s why it was probably really crucial to see how much better we truly are with benching elf but at this point it’s probably not going to happen. I think we would have been fine with starting either burks or quickley and letting drose lead the bench with whoever isn’t starting.

It’s really hard to gauge djphan’s comment above about how much better we can be just replacing elf with a lead guard who can hit threes and run P&R. I agree we probably aren’t as good as the other top teams but cp3 just took a lottery team to potentially the number one seed. I think we got some comparable talent with that suns team minus CP3 of course.

By: djphan

djphan — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 19:31:03 +0000

also to add… that yes you are right about the urgency to make a move before the summer of 2022 for the reasons you described… it’s a freeroll with dolan’s money… it’s an amazing situation… but i think it’s more prudent to wait because a higher upside talent will probably be available in 2022 with lavine being only one possibility….