[exputer.com] — Friday, September 23, 2022 1:54:15 AM
NBA 2K23 New York Knicks: All Players Ratings eXputer
[thesportsrush.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 10:24:21 PM
“Klay Thompson could sail up the Hudson to Tarrytown for practice”: Knicks fans react to Sea Captain enjoying finals days of the off-season The Sportsrush
[www.si.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 6:50:17 PM
Could Knicks Give Obi Toppin Increased Role this Season? Sports IllustratedKnicks Bold Predictions Ahead of 2022-23 NBA Season Bleacher Report1 underrated Knicks player that should remain on the roster in 2022-23 Daily Knicks2 potential trade candidates for Knicks entering 2022-23 NBA training camp ClutchPointsThe 2022-2023 Knicks Rotation Roundup The Knicks WallView Full Coverage on Google News
[nypost.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 5:51:00 PM
Hold the MSG: Knicks, Rangers fans tell Eric Adams to keep hands off Garden New York Post
[bleacherreport.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 4:47:28 PM
Is Russell Westbrook the Missing Piece to Knicks-Jazz Donovan Mitchell Trade? Bleacher Report
[people.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 1:09:51 PM
New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson Gets Engaged on High School Basketball Court: ‘Forever’ PEOPLE
[www.si.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 11:00:00 AM
Knicks Preseason Profile: Jalen Brunson’s Leadership Key to Playoff Run Sports Illustrated
[www.forbes.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 10:55:12 AM
How Robert Sarver’s Asking Price For The Suns Likely Makes The Knicks’ James Dolan A Richer Man Forbes
[www.si.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 9:00:00 AM
New York Knicks Fill Final Roster Spot Ahead Of Training Camp Sports Illustrated
[www.postingandtoasting.com] — Thursday, September 22, 2022 9:00:00 AM
Four Knicks players named in ESPN’s Top 100 Posting and Toasting
85 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2022.09.23)”
Bo, I know the Apple TV games don’t require an additional subscription (this season, at least). I’m more talking about Judge’s milestone happening on what has been an awful telecast this season with really sub-par announcing. If he does it tonight, it sucks that this will be the clip people see forever.
To not be buried on the last thread, here’s my last idea to send Randle away. 🙂
Would anyone give a 1RP and Randle to grab Markkanen (sorry, Clyde! LOL) ? I think Markkanen would fit a lot better than Randle here, because his usage is around 20 and we need to give the ball to Brunson and RJ, not Randle.
Ainge would get a first for Markkanen, and then he can rebuild Randle’s value during the season to get another first next offseason. Seems like a good deal for Utah too. Randle allowed to do his thing on a rebuilding team would probably become dominant again.
Alan, gotcha. Usually, in these circumstances, I would mute the Applecast and play the radio cast instead, but I understand that John Sterling is pushing in and I cannot abide by his hammy style. Hobson’s choice
Not a fan of Markkanen’s defense but if it gets rid of Randle, sure.
But I doubt that Ainge would be interested and I think the Knicks will give Randle a shot to rebound from last year with Brunson on board before attaching assets to move him.
Sorry, Cyber. No way Ainge takes on that Randle contract for a protected first. Maybe OKC would do it, but neither of those teams want to accidentally win too many games. Sadly I think we are stuck with him for a while.
John Sterling always makes me so happy to be a Mets fan….
I think there could still be some suitors for Randle out there, especially if he gets off to a reasonably good start and other teams struggle. Dallas is really thin beyond Luka and DFS unless you believe in Dinwiddie, Kleber, Powell and Wood. I doubt Cuban wants to throw a Luka season away, Randle could work with Christian Wood as a small-ball C. Detroit is trying to hit the gas on a rebuild, maybe they’d bite for Bagley or Stewart or Hayes if we throw in a protected pick and a second. Charlotte has dumb executive extraordinairre Michael Jordan and might still consider a Hayward-Randle swap. ORL, SAC, LAL, LAC…
Re: Judge, by wRC+ the only players to put up a better offensive season than him are Bonds, Ruth, Williams, Hornsby, Mantle, and someone I’ve never heard of from 1884 named Fred Dunlap.
All of Bonds’ superior years came in seasons in which he’s, um, suspected of having received some outside help (2001-2004). I don’t have a super strong opinion as to how people should feel about that, just worth noting.
Ruth obviously was not exactly playing against the highest level competition. Segregation looms very large there, but he also hardly ever faced a relief pitcher. He got to rack up tons of PAs against guys he was facing for the third or fourth time. Same for Hornsby in 1924. Judge’s numbers in that now incredibly rare scenario have gone way, way up.
Ted Williams 1941 season (when he hit .406) was also pre-integration and most of the caveats that apply to Ruth still applied.
Both Williams and Mantle had great 1957 seasons (insanely impressive that Williams is on this list twice, sixteen seasons apart), and those might just take the cake in terms of the best combination of the best balance between production and fewest asterisks.
Still, pitching has become such a science in the modern era I can definitely buy that Judge’s season is the most impressive ever. The way he hasn’t seemed to feel the pressure of the 62 pursuit is particularly impressive to me–he isn’t chasing anything out of the zone and hasn’t seemed to change his approach more generally at all.
It’s a treat to watch him play and if the Yankees don’t re-sign him it’ll be my single worst experience as a Yankee fan.
“Owen says:
September 23, 2022 at 09:42
John Sterling always makes me so happy to be a Mets fan….”
Yeah, his stupid HR calls and annoying “Yankees win!” stuff got old like 20 years ago, let alone how many calls he botches. Good guy, though.
The Mets announcers on both TV and radio are excellent. I’ve never been a big fan of guys who have the same exact HR call every time, whether it’s Kay’s “See ya!” or Cohen’s “It’s Outta Here!” so I personally like Howie Rose better than Gary Cohen, but Cohen’s knowledge of Mets’ history and anecdotes, as well as his understanding of the game and rapport with Keith and Ron, make him a joy to listen to.
Michael Scotto is pretty plugged in and he was on the KFS podcast this morning. He made it pretty clear there are zero Randle takers right now. This remains the overwhelming consensus among every credible reporter.
I am not sure how much Randle can realistically change this calculus with improved play. Of course if he’s really, really good, the calculus will change.
But if he lands somewhere in the middle of last year’s catastrophe and his all-NBA season, I still think most teams would view him as not worth it. Relatively efficient scoring and good rebounding from the PF spot just isn’t a particularly unique skillset, so I think most teams would rather try to get those things on the cheap.
Randle is a legitimately good passer, but I don’t see many teams out there who would be willing to let him handle the ball enough to really avail themselves of that. Randle doesn’t seem interested in playing a role in which he could utilize his passing skills without being ball dominant e.g. Draymond.
Randle could change my mind on this by shooting well from 3 at high volume again. At that point you’re looking at a skillset for which teams will pay. I just don’t have a lot of faith in this happening, because he’s a career .332 3PT shooter and that’s with the smoke and mirrors season. Teams won’t be interested if he can only get to 30-32% at high volume or 34-35% at low volume.
The money isn’t overwhelming, but the years are a huge commitment. Even if Randle rebounds to an extent, my guess is teams would prefer to avoid the whole adventure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ5cTQYYbvM
And another:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00A8WYYTgck
“Still, pitching has become such a science in the modern era I can definitely buy that Judge’s season is the most impressive ever. The way he hasn’t seemed to feel the pressure of the 62 pursuit is particularly impressive to me–he isn’t chasing anything out of the zone and hasn’t seemed to change his approach more generally at all.”
I’ll push back a bit on this. Today’s hitters don’t have nearly as much fear of getting intentionally plunked by pitchers if they lean out over the plate. The mound is significantly lower. The bats are lighter and the weight is better distributed into the sweet spot.
Curious if people have thoughts on where they see us finishing on offense and defense this year.
We were 10th on defense last year and moving Burks minutes to Brunson is a downgrade but we will hopefully be healthier at the C position which is really the backbone of this defense. There’s really not a lot of defensive talent here outside of the centers though and we’re quite small on the wing. On the other hand we will play big 100% of the time and Thibs will obviously emphasize D. Right around the back end of the top-10 feels about right to me but more likely to slip down from there than move up imo.
The offense I think is more uncertain. 22nd last year and you’d certainly expect that Brunson is going to help that. Randle is certainly the most important variable here because he’s going to play a lot and probably have the highest usage and you wouldn’t think he has too much room to be worse than he was last year. RJ you’d also think there’d be just natural progression which is important because you know he’s also going to shoot a lot. Hopefully you get some more Rose minutes but who knows. Could this be an average offense? Seems like a bit of a stretch maybe but that’s probably the requirement for the team getting to 45ish wins. Right around 20th still seems the most likely outcome to me, maybe a bit higher.
This is the problem with tossing out statistical/numerical analysis. One person can interpret events that Obi Toppin can’t play because of his defense and it’s obvious because of how the coach reacts. But are they applying the same analysis to the guy who led the team in minutes played per game? This is not to say that Toppin is good defensively or is as good. But if the reasoning is that Randle’s superior defense is what’s keeping Obi on the bench…
That’s why we use stats, because the eyes are deceived by cognitive bias. Everyone does it, fans, players, even NBA coaches. I’ll admit I have my favorites watching. But then when I have to put pen to paper, it’s the numbers I have to rely on. I’m often surprised when I watch a game and look at the stats after what I’ve missed.
Sometimes cat owners (or parents) have one that is a devil and one that can’t do wrong. And sometimes the latter can get away with murder while the former has to walk on egg shells. So maybe Thibs’ brain doesn’t process Randle’s frequent defensive lapses as strongly as he does Obi’s. It’s certainly possible.
Yeah, but have you considered that we needed Randle’s offense in there? Who else could we have put in to score 5 more points on 8 more shots than Obi: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202201240CLE.html
I’m listening to Ben Taylor’s podcast on his updated top 40 players all time and there’s a very relevant discussion on Harden that just because you’re doing more on offense doesn’t necessarily mean you’re better on offense: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/143-top-40-careers-james-harden-and-reggie-miller/id1428290303?i=1000579695024
Stam, if I had to guess I’d say we take a minor step back defensively. Maybe 12th-13th or so. We got 72 games from Mitch last year which should probably be considered an above-median outcome. Brunson made the Mavs 3.5 PTS/100 worse defensively last year, which is obviously a number fraught with noise but does seem to comport with scouting/the eye-test.
Some possible factors that weigh in the other direction:
-Hartenstein could make me look really stupid
-It’s possible just shaking free of Kemba’s 1000 minutes makes a material difference
-Grimes creeping into Fournier’s minutes could help
-I have no earthly idea what the minutes distribution between Randle and Obi will look like, but it will probably have some affect on our defense one way or the other
Offensively we should definitely be better, but there’s going to be a very hard ceiling on our offense as long as Randle and RJ have carte blanche to take and miss a lot of shots. Even with Brunson and a healthy Rose, it’s pretty much impossible to get above 20th if you have two high-usage players with a TS+ in the 90 range.
So those guys either have to start hitting some damn shots, or take fewer of them.
Projecting our offense is really hard for this reason. You could tell me Randle is a 58-60% TS guy who is mostly beneficial or that he’s a one-man offensive saboteur again and neither would surprise me.
RJ has always been a really difficult player for me to project because he does a lot of different things somewhat well, but doesn’t really have a standout skill I’m confident saying he’ll build on. A reasonably good scenario for him would probably be him lowering his usage to accommodate Brunson and scoring ~17 or so PPG with a league average TS%.
Quickley hopefully not slumping for half the season and Thibs indicating he’s more willing to yank Randle for Obi should help, and Hartenstein should be light years better than the non-Mitch dreck we’ve had to trot out at center for years.
Weighing all of this, I’ll somewhat arbitrarily guess 18th.
Re-reading your post, seems like we’re mostly in agreement.
Diminishing Ruth’s numbers is popular but silly. Everything that is true about him (segregation, no relief pitchers, etc) is true for every other player of his era and no one did what he did.
I’m sure it’s true that if he time traveled from 1927 to today he might not be able to make contact with a pitch, but the man should be judged by how superior he was to the players of his era.
I think we try to diminish him (and Hornsby) bc we don’t know anyone who’s ever seen them play.
they must not be firing Udoka at this time for some kind of contractual/legal reason…
OAKAAK 😀
I think replacing Kemba with Brunson will make a big difference on offense and defense. Brunson is not a “good” defender but he’s fine one on one and Kemba was a disaster on that end. And while Kemba was still a good 3 point shooter, everything else on offense he couldn’t really do anymore.
Also, yeah Mitch played 72 games. But he was out of shape the first third of the season. So if he’s in shape and healthy all season, taht will be huge. Plus Noel was hurt basically the whole season. If Hart and Mitch are healthy all season (big if obviously) then that should be better too.
Then more minutes for Grimes, maybe a bounce back, at least effort and focus wise, from Randle.
I think we could end up top 10 on that end again. Honestly, how bad things started last year it’s kind of amazing we ended up top 10 last year.
The arguments vis a vis player eras are never-ending. In Ruth’s time, didn’t they all travel by train? Maybe not real long rides, but still. Didn’t he have to face guys throwing shine balls, spitters, and the like? Balls were left in play with all kinds of marks and gouges on them, no doubt making them harder to pick up right out of the pitchers’ hands. Also, all day games in the hot sun of the summer months. Etc.
But then again, there may not have been sliders back then, or split finger fastballs, or cutters. Players today have lighter bats, “juiced” balls comparatively, and launch angles of swings are now tweaked to maximize HRs (at the expense of batting average). Etc.
Kemba was definitely atrocious on defense but he ultimately didn’t end up playing that much. If you look at the minutes that Brunson is really replacing some of them are Kemba but more of them are coming out of the Burks pile and Burks is a pretty good defender and obviously offers a lot more size than Brunson.
“KnickerBlogger says:
September 23, 2022 at 10:10
You could see Thibs’ exasperation with Obi on that [defensive] end and how he would go back to Randle after a particularly obvious overmatch.
And another:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00A8WYYTgck”
So that’s how it works, you dig up the worst possessions for the season for a particular player and argue that it’s representative of a player’s overall defensive play?
Well then this guy must be the greatest PG of all time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbvAPFR0cPY
And this guy is the second coming of KD! How did we let him go?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZsafnl8Kz8
Randle was a head case last year, but that was an effort thing, not an ability thing. Arguing that he was anywhere near as bad as Obi was on defense is not a winner.
However, if the argument is that Thibs had a longer leash for a guy coming off of an all-NBA season that was newly signed to a lengthy and expensive contract extension than a second-year guy whose defense was widely criticized here at KB, including by some of the people defending him, that is totally factorial.
Diminishing Ruth’s numbers is popular but silly. Everything that is true about him (segregation, no relief pitchers, etc) is true for every other player of his era and no one did what he did.
Was looking at some stats to bolster Hubie’s premise (specifically Ruth versus the also rans in 1927) and was stunned…absolutely stunned…by how good Gehrig was that year.
Sure. And let’s see Judge or Stanton go back and not have advanced scouting on every pitcher, an iPad in the dugout, modern training facilities, or modern medicine
Judge: Hey coach, what does Walter Johnson throw?
Connie Mack: A baseball.
It’s hard to compare athletes from different eras because there have been so many changes to the equipment, field size, training, rules, nutrition, salaries, competition, ability to learn from those before you, reasons to dedicate yourself fully etc..
Ruth for example was overweight, drinking all night, and banging women 2-3 at a time before games. He played in different sized ballparks with dead balls but against lesser competition. It’s impossible to compare and normalize for all the monumental differences in conditions to now. Even comparing players relative to their own era can be very problematical.
Just watched the Cavs highlights Mike K posted. I can’t imagine what it must be like for a player to listen to Thibs preach and then watch him do nothing when Julius plays like that. Double standards tend to be a manager’s death knell.
Good call, Bernie. Gehrig was pretty great, too. I still don’t think that should diminish Ruth, or that Gehrig’s performance should be diminished, either.
I think it’s more likely that it’s a cop out move, like the Sarver suspension. They don’t want to fire him. I doubt they even want to suspend him. But they have to be seen as doing something. So they’re running this up the flagpole, trying to control the release of information, and hoping the backlash isn’t too much for them to bring him back.
Arguing that with you isn’t. I could try to find stats to show they’re similar (https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-defensive-rating-julius-randle-2022), but I don’t think stats would move you. Hence the problem with using the eye test — there’s no common ground in which people could have a discussion.
But I’d rather use stats than the perceived body language of Thibs to make the case.
you think they may be holding on to him for some kind of draft compensation should another team express interest in him later this season?
Someone like Ruth is hard to dispute. Big, strong, fast (until he got fat, sick and injured), great arm, great eye at the plate, great swing…I think he translates to any era if he didn’t become the grotesque caricature that he was in his later days. Still, Cecil (and Prince) Fielder, Big Papi, Manny Ramirez and our Mets’ very own Mr. Vogelbach are/were hardly svelt and fare pretty well.
I know the talent was watered down, but at the same time basebal was the premier sport by far…there was no NBA, football was in its infancy, no one cared about hockey…so it’s possible that athletes that would play other sports today were more drawn to baseball back then. Now there’s big money to be made in pretty much every sport and lots of young american athletes who would be excellent baseball players find baseball boring and choose other sports.
On the who sucks worse, Obi or Randle, I’ll weigh in and piss both of you off — I think Randle’s the better defender, when he tries; I think second-half Obi was better than not-trying Randle.
So there.
Randle was definitely worse than Obi on defense last year, and I say that as someone who has expressed concern that Obi’s defensive limitations might put a hard ceiling on him.
If you want to say Randle has the physical ability to be a better defender than Obi that’s one thing. I think there’s a lot to be said for Randle being a bit more mobile and probably a better rim protector when he’s actually trying.
There’s no argument for him being better last year specifically, though. Obi made the Knicks’ defense 5.3 points/100 better when he was on the court, Randle made it 5.6 points/100 worse.
If you think this is all a function of Randle having to play with the defensively challenged other starters, Burks-Fournier-Barrett-Obi-Mitch actually had an above average (53rd percentile) defensive rating. Replace Obi with Randle in that lineup and it plummets to the 32nd percentile.
Turns out giving a shit goes a long way.
“Arguing that with you isn’t. I could try to find stats to show they’re similar (https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-defensive-rating-julius-randle-2022), but I don’t think stats would move you. Hence the problem with using the eye test — there’s no common ground in which people could have a discussion.”
Well by that logic I guess this guy is a worse defender than Obi:
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-defensive-rating-lebron-james-2022
This guy is just as bad as Julius:
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-defensive-rating-clint-capela-2022
This guy is REALLY terrible!
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-defensive-rating-clint-capela-2022
Also terrible:
nba defensive rating myles turner 2022
BTW, Randle’s defensive rating largely against starters was more than a point better than Obi’s largely against bench players
I think Randle and Obi have different defensive strengths when they’re trying. Neither is especially quick on that end, Randle because he’s big and not athletic, Obi because his hips are so stiff. But Obi can block shots from the weakside, and Randle can body up PFs and Cs and make them uncomfortable when he’s putting the effort in. Neither is going to be the backbone of a great defense, but the 2020-21 Randle was not a problem at that end when paired with Mitch and Nerlens.
Lebron is 37, is always injured, and hasn’t given consistent effort on defense since he left Miami. He very well could have been a worse defender than Obi last year; he certainly wasn’t a good defender.
Capela was much worse on defense last season compared to the year before. His big drop in defensive production is a big reason why Atlanta finished with a worse record and a lower seed even though their team ORTG improved from 8th to 2nd.
I’m not loving Brad Stevens’ whole emotional bit about how the female staffers were going through some shit on social media because of this Udoka shit. Does that suck? Sure, but the Celtics actively contributed to it by leaking vague reports! If the story came out that Udoka was being suspended for unwanted comments to a female staffer that he previously had a relationship with, then the commentary would have been focused on Udoka. The Celtics, though, just leaked some super vague shit, with the truth taking 24 hours to come out.
Matt Barnes just released something saying that he found out what happened and it’s 100% worse than he thought it was. It’s actually kind of a hilarious tweet. What the hell is going on.
NBA sure knows how to spice up the offseason!
Randle in 20/21 was much better than Obi in 21/22. Randle actually moves his feet pretty well on the perimeter for a guy his size and works the defensive boards rather than looking for run-outs (not that looking for run-outs is bad necessarily- just that it impacts Obi’s defense). But if Randle’s not engaged, he’s pretty bad and Obi at least tries. And Obi came a long way in terms of his reads last year after being really, really bad as a rookie- maybe he’s still got room to grow there.
All I can say is if we’re having a conversation about Obi’s defense that isn’t about whether he’ll ever be better than A’mare on that end, I consider that a win.
And Matt Barnes tweeting anything about anyone’s relationship is hilarious.
My general impression on Obi’s defense so far is: holding my breath every time someone was trying to post him and searching for the champagne whenever he played a successful “one on one”.
Otoh with Randle on D the “One on One” feels more safe to me and his overall Defensive activity is more trusted than Obi’s.
Now when it comes to compare Obi’s and Randle’s offense it’s a whole different discussion….
Udoka or Thibs?
Pick a coach Now!
I just love how Barnes notes, “Yeah, maybe not a good idea for me to defend Udoka without the facts. My bad” with the undercurrent of “I’ll do it again next time, of course.”
Hey KYN, since you listen to some portuguese music, check this one out to see if you like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n35x4rM_PBo
Fun piece in the Athletic about Judge versus everyone else in baseball history.
https://theathletic.com/3621781/2022/09/23/aaron-judge-2022-season-babe-ruth-ted-williams/?source=nyt
I’m liking very much the summer of lolCeltics, for a change. At least Leon can take that victory, there’s no more lolKnicks coming from stupid actions by the FO.
We handed out $200M worth of contracts this Summer and there’s a significant chance we still finish under .500 and out of the playoffs. Plus, Dolan is still our owner. lolKnicks is very much still in play.
It’s perhaps worth mentioning that a modern-day Babe Ruth might be Shohei Ohtani who also happened to hit 60 HRs and push for a triple crown.
https://twitter.com/stevepopper/status/1573403198202806278?s=21&t=3F4i6B3tLSA5mSlIp5lYag
Here is the clip. Uninspired.
Great line by Popper below where he thinks Rose’s problem is that he hides all the time, so he hasn’t had a chance to get better as a public speaker in this role. In other words, if he just didn’t hide from the start, he’d probably be a lot better at this by now.
Alan Hahn has done some good work but participating in this state media routine isn’t a great look.
I don’t get particularly excited about this because team executives rarely say anything all that interesting anyway, but I do find it distasteful. Leon Rose might not literally be a public official, but a lot of people care about the decisions he makes. There’s an obligation somewhere in there to answer to real questions about them.
Hahn was always an excellent journalist, but then he went to work for MSG and has since become a propagandist. I don’t really begrudge the guy, as TV work is a lot cooler (and presumably higher paid) than newspaper work, but it is what it is.
Hey Cybersoze! Not bad!
Slightly commercial sounding Dreamy downtempo. Cool stuff
Here is the clip. Uninspired.
that shit was so smarmy alan just returned his car. someone shut off swift’s internet before he joins the republican guard.
Hahn in that clip was basically “Uh, Mr. McClure, I have a *crazy* friend who says it’s wrong to eat meat. Is he crazy?”
I definitely understand why Rose doesn’t speak to the media more.
Seems like they could just trot Scott Perry out to do this stuff since he’s still on the payroll.
went to the new york knicks youtube channel:
went to the new york knicks nba site:
went to the msg networks site:
no leon man, what’s up with that…
that dude is seriously low profile…watching him thumb wrestle himself, let’s me know – that individual did not want to be in that seat…
he must absolutely slay it in informal settings…
bad on alan for not making him more comfortable…
al, how would you handle some time to sit and speak with leon?
i think any serious discussion with leon, must include food on the table…probably whatever beverage he enjoys…talk about something else before jumping in with “actual” questions…
yeah, boo on the interviewer…
And just when i decided to say the FO wasn’t doing stupid things anymore, Leon said “hi!” with this stupid interview. I don’t think it’s acceptable that no one on the staff talks to the media. If Leon can’t, some other FO executive should do it. Scott Perry is the logical one to do this, and he should be allowed to do it. This way we look like fools. I don’t like this behavior not one bit.
“watching him thumb wrestle himself,”
yeah…right away…i saw that and was like…wtf…this guy is leading the ship…big problems right there…now it is pretty clear why this dude won’t get in front of a microphone in an unscripted setting…
Just bite the bullet and hold a goddamn press conference, Leon. Yes, Berman will ask troll-y questions, but the other guys on the beat are going to ask perfectly reasonable and fair things that the fans want to know the answers to, and will not do it in the way Company Man Hahn will.
Also, Brian, the proper Simpsons reference is “Mr. Burns, your campaign has all the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?”
that’s like asking for a hurricane to show up on your doorstep – hecks no…
as long as his boss is cool with it – leon can do whatever he wants…
keep hitting singles, take a walk, hopefully steal a base at some point (maybe mitch, maybe sims)…hope for someone else to make a mistake (drose)…sac fly (julius and RJ) – score, we’re in the playoffs again…without julius needing to touch the ball too much…
i actually give jimmy d credit for not forcing him out there…
i know he’s not doing it for leon, rather his own disgust for the media…whatever…
State media routine is perfect. My exact thought.
Not sure how fired up I can get about it but I feel confident Masai would sound a lot better
he must perform very well in more familiar settings…seriously though – i don’t think it would be that hard to get him to talk…
ugh, just had a flashback to when jimmy d did that interview with michael kay, i think – he showed up with this incredibly bizarre looking binder…
the interview was startling – i guess except for those folks who know the man…
at least leon doesn’t strike me as severely paranoid…
the image that mostly sticks is of him sitting in the stands with a family member i believe, both very comfortable…and also him sitting next to perry, and perry actually smiling…
i don’t equate poor public speaking to work ineptitude…unless of course you are being compensated to speak in public 🙂
These AppleTV announcers, well, they aren’t making Sterling too nervous
Start the season already!!!!
The absolute best part of the interview was, “By not making a move we are flush with draft capital, which is great currency in the market and something that will help us get better.” He actually fucking said that!
I thought he was going to click his heels together like Dorothy and keep repeating that draft capital mantra…
“With all of this draft capital, we might be able to trade for someone like Donovan Mitchell one day!”
Sheesh, Leon Rose makes Thibs look like Derek Zoolander.
I have no particular issue with the interview. He said the exact same thing every FO person would have said, he just isn’t very good at saying it. And there’s no necessary correlation between talking with the media and running a FO. But yeah that was painful to watch.
If Fizdale had said the same thing, then 90% of the fan base would’ve bought it.
Front office fluff isn’t my thing, so long as there aren’t ridiculous pronouncements.
I agree that Rose should not have any say over Thibs’ rotations. If he doesn’t want the coach to play a certain player, and the coach insists on playing him, or vice versa, he should get rid of either the coach or the player. It should be Rose’s job to provide Thibs with a roster and Thibs’ job to coach the team. Any cross-meddling is not healthy.
In a Knicksy kind of way, those who lamented passing on Udoka were right…he would have fit right in.
It sounds like everyone had a great summer working on their games and is coming to camp in great shape.
I’m getting more optimistic about this season by the day. Granted, I’m counting on Hartenstein to compete with Robinson for minutes and open the court a little for Randle, RJ, and Brunson, but that seems like a higher probability than some of the other ways we could get upside surprises. And I’m not discounting other possibilities.
I thought Rose was fine. There was nothing to say beyond what he said. He likes our young players (so do I), we’ll keep developing them, we have ammo for the future to be opportunistic and improve the team in other ways, and we’ll be aggressive if the right deal is available. On Mitchell, he could have just added the price was too high, but maybe that would be over the tampering line. So you just have to imply it. I’d throw in that he was a terrible fit, but he can’t say that.
I think we are going to answer a lot of questions this year and know exactly what we have to do going forward. Some of these young players are going to sort themselves out and show whether they can expand their games beyond good bench and role players to something more compete.
Wouldn’t the issue be that not only does he not think that, but that he was willing to give up a good deal of his ammo for him?
i wonder if albert pujols will become the second unanimous baseball hall of famer…
i imagine someone will hold his time with the angels against him…
I was just discussing that. If Mo is unanimous, how could Pujols possibly NOT be unanimous?
Jae Crowder making trade demands. What a country!
Now that Rose has suggested that our roster is set, here is my lists of 10 musts for the team to finish in the top 8 (assuming that some of the 9 teams definitely above them on paper (BOS, PHI, BKN, MIA, MIL, ATL, TOR, CHI, CLE ) underperform, in order of importance:
1. Julius Randle earns his contract (.560+ TS%, 3.0+ BPM)
2. RJ Barrett earns his contract (.540+ TS%, 1.5+ BPM)
3. Brunson earns his contract (.580+ TS%, 7+ AST/36)
4. Rose plays more than 50 games
5. IQ plays 1800+ minutes and averages 20+, 5+ and 5+ per 36 on a .570+ TS%
6. Grimes and Fournier play similar minutes and both have TS%s near or above .600
7. Obi plays 1600+ minutes and hits 34+% from
8. Mitch outplays his contract
9. Hartenstein significantly outplays his contract
10. If anyone gets injured, McBride, Reddish and Sims fill in and post positive stats
Even if we finish under the Vegas projections, it would be great if most of these things happen.
“Brian Cronin says:
September 24, 2022 at 03:53
Jae Crowder making trade demands. What a country!”
Not really surprising, Macri had a PHX media guy on recently discussing trade scenarios for Randle and Crowder’s unhappiness came up. The most viable scenario was Randle for Crowder and Shamet, with some tinkering to make it palatable for both sides. Randle would probably be a good fit in PHX and Crowder would work better here, both on the court and contract-wise.