[theknickswall.com] — Friday, October 14, 2022 7:15:35 AM
Division Preview: Boston Celtics The Knicks Wall
[hoopshype.com] — Friday, October 14, 2022 3:33:01 AM
Wizards vs. Knicks: Start time, where to watch, what’s the latest Hoops Hype
[www.bulletsforever.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 11:08:29 PM
NBA Preview: Wizards finish preseason on the road vs. Knicks Bullets ForeverKnicks Fall to Preseason Pacers: 3 Realistic, Reasonable Takeaways Sports Illustrated1 stud and 1 dud from Knicks’ discouraging loss to Pacers Daily KnicksKnicks’ offensive unselfishness may give fans reason to love them New York Post Game Rewind: Pacers 109, Knicks 100 (Preseason) NBA.comView Full Coverage on Google News
[nbaanalysis.net] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 10:47:02 PM
This 76ers-Knicks Trade Features Derrick Rose NBA Analysis Network
[www.si.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 7:40:03 PM
Knicks WATCH: Julius Randle’s Son Heartbroken Over Preseason Loss to Pacers Sports IllustratedPredicting Knicks’ Breakout Players for 2022-23 NBA Season Bleacher ReportNew York Knicks preview: Predictions and analysis for the 2022-23 NBA season The AthleticHere’s who will be the difference maker for Knicks this season Daily KnicksEuro version of Julius Randle is a boon to the Knicks Empire Sports MediaView Full Coverage on Google News
[nbaanalysis.net] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 7:37:34 PM
NBA Rumors: This Knicks-Wizards Trade Moves Kristaps Porzingis NBA Analysis Network
[dailyknicks.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 6:00:00 PM
Knicks Fans: Bet $5, Win $150 + NBA League Pass Free if RJ Barrett Scores 1 Point in Preseason Daily Knicks
[dailyknicks.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 5:00:00 PM
Knicks’ Cam Reddish is forcing himself out of rotation he already wasn’t in Daily Knicks
[www.nytimes.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 2:58:33 PM
Madison Square Garden Barred Lawyers Representing Clients Suing The New York Times
[www.nydailynews.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 2:16:52 PM
Knicks and Wu-Tang Clan team up for NBA Remix campaign, new merchandise coming Friday New York Daily News
[theknickswall.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 12:55:38 PM
Division Preview: Philadelphia 76ers The Knicks Wall
[www.nba.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 11:00:00 AM
Memphis Grizzlies announce festivities for home opener Wednesday night against the New York Knicks NBA.com
[www.nydailynews.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 9:40:55 AM
Evan Fournier’s unique work commute exemplifies his love for NYC New York Daily News
[sircharlesincharge.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 8:30:00 AM
NBA Rumors: C’s Williams, Knicks’ Reddish not expected to get extensions Sir Charles in Charge
[nypost.com] — Thursday, October 13, 2022 8:20:00 AM
Which members of the Knicks hold this season in their hands? New York Post
85 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2022.10.14)”
Only thing I particularly care about in this final preseason game is seeing how Grimes looks if he plays. Feels like everything else is settled, for good or for ill.
* Randle is making an effort to be part of the team concept and move the ball.
* RJ’s finishing has gotten better and the jumper looks wet so far
* Brunson has had a few off shooting nights but is still super crafty and gets to the line a ton
* Mitch not only seems fully healthy, but smarter about how to use his physical skills, and vastly better at the fundamentals than he used to be.
* Obi is Obi, and hopefully Thibs finds ways to play him more.
* IQ is IQ, which means there are some nights when he’ll just never stop shooting even when he doesn’t have it, but he’s also gotten better at going to the rack rather than settling for that floater.
* Second unit still relies a ton on Derrick Rose.
* Deuce is still all-D, no-O.
* Cam still clueless.
Etc. Not a high upside team, but a competent one. We’ll see how that works out this season, at least.
– Deuce is the new Frank to me
– If the Knicks cut Cam and signed z-man for his post-retirement career, I’d shrug my shoulders
– I really like what I’ve seen of Randle so far
Difference is that Deuce has a much more palpable impact in defense than Frank tended to, I feel. And I say that as a former Frank-ophile.
I don’t understand the new obsession with Reddish.
His story is rather basic.
He was highly regarded high school player with good size length and athleticism for a wing whose development has been interrupted by injuries straight through college and the NBA. The people that understand the injury issues are willing to be a little more patient given his ideal body and good athleticism.
IMO, the way to evaluate him is to look where he was last year and assume that whatever the development curve looks like for the typical player his age, he’s behind that and will probably develop a little more a little later.
The problem of course is that he wasn’t all that good on either side last year even though he has been slowly improving every year.
I don’t know what his ceiling is and neither does anyone else, but I think he’ll get better.
I’m not sure what to make of pre season. Obviously, his shot is not falling. So there’s nothing positive to say, but I don’t think it means all that much. It’s too small a sample and I have no information about when he started to work on his game again after the surgery at the end of last season. He could be working his way back into form off the layoff.
I see no urgency to any of it. He’s going to practice with the team, get playing time if there are injuries, and if he earns minutes Thibs will give them to him. If he’s not showing progress, not getting minutes, and is unhappy they’ll try to get a couple of 2nd rounders for him at the deadline and he’ll be gone.
They took a shot on a player with the physical attributes they want and need because they felt his development was stalled by injury and there was still good upside there (unlike some of the other reclamation projects we took on under Perry) . They were and probably still are hoping they can get him moving in the right direction and turn him into a solid rotation player at a position they need. If not, they trashed a mediocre pick on him. But teams trash picks in the draft every year too, including the Knicks.
Reddish is not a big deal in either direction.
I do like Deuce more than Frank
He seems more competent on offense, or at least less like a deer in the headlights.
“– Deuce is the new Frank to me”
There are similarities, but Frank has more upside defensively because his size and length gives him the ability to guard multiple positions, switch, disrupt passing lanes etc.. Deuce is undersized.
Deuce has more upside offensively as an individual scorer.
Unless it was a brain injury, Cam has no excuses
Deuce has a 6’9″ wingspan, he can guard 1-3 well enough.
Frank has a ridiculous 7’1″ wingspan, but I don’t think he’s guarding anyone Deuce can’t.
NBA.com has Frank listed at 6’4″, smaller than his rumored draft height at 6’6″. Likely a combo of never having been officially measured and using his height w/ shoes on.
But anthro measurements really don’t mean all that much anyway.
“– Deuce is the new Frank to me”
Well the word “deuce” derives from the Old French word “deus” so there’s that.
C’est la vie….
This is the Grimes Game. I know it’s only one, but we’ve gotten pre-season intel on everyone but him.
And, despite all the veteran-incumbent-blah-blah-hierarchy-talk, I still think E4 would be absolutely fine ego-wise with “leading” the 2nd unit if it comes to that. Question: Would E4, DRose, Obi, Hart, and IQ be any good as a unit? Or would the opposition drop 30 in the blink of an eye. Time will tell.
The Athletic’s over/under for the NBA East — Knicks section:
New York Knicks: 38.5 wins
My pick: Over
This is one of the more surprising lines on the board, since the Knicks had the point differential of a 41-win team last season (they only won 37 games) and added Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein in the offseason. They were clearly hoping for even stronger additions, but the Knicks have unusual depth for a team in the middle of the conference and some key young players primed for improvement, including RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes and Obi Toppin. An argument for the under is that, while New York finished 12th in defense last season, it was extremely fortunate in terms of opponents’ missed 3s and long 2s, which typically regress to the mean season-to-season. Still, the combination of Mitchell Robinson and Hartenstein should give the Knicks reliable rim protection, and we know Tom Thibodeau will push for every regular season victory he can muster.
There are reasons to be wary, but the Knicks’ over is still a reasonably clear call to me.
frank and them way way open and vulnerable eyes of his >>>>>>>> deuce
timing is everything…not so very long ago, frank was the best hope we had…by far easiest way for fans to attach/relate to the team…
yeah, ponder that for a moment…
This is very funny, Strat! 😀
No love for Hart, Alan?
I like iHart, Cyber. The team is still figuring out how to use him, it seems. And/or he is still figuring out his teammates. But for the moment, all of our “should we start Hartenstein?” talk seems to have been premature.
as the season begins shortly, roster is set, seen a few pre-season games…
I’m settling in at around 44 wins…plus/minus 4 (I would tend to favor the number going higher)…
I won’t say why (for like the fortieth time in the last month or so)…but, I’m encouraged heading in to this season…
just having an NBA starting point guard on the roster encourages me…
mitch, julius fitting a more focused role, depth in the roster…
low turnovers, rebounding, consistent defense…
our first unit is not gonna play pretty basketball, hopefully the starting unit can out muscle other teams (sans evian), and our second unit can use pace against other teams’ second unit…
fourth quarter mix the two units together and take your chances…
well, seems like I felt compelled to write out for the forty first time why I feel the team should win more than lose this season…
oh my goodness, I’m actually a bit tempted to figure out one of those online sport betting sites…nothing crazy, isn’t that always how it begins…
it would be for you Erin Dolan 🙂
Let’s be real, both seasons Thibs has been with the Knicks, we’ve been called fortunate on long 2s and 3s. Does it make sense to say it’s all luck? I don’t think so.
I just cannot fathom the perspective that pissing away first rounders, even late ones, is not a “big deal” for a team in our position. Again, we have deliberately chosen a path that allows for basically no margin of error. Pissing away first round picks is, uh, an error!
An extra first rounder could’ve been the difference between a Mitchell trade getting done or not. If we had Bones Hyland instead of Cam Reddish, everything about that trade would’ve been easier to navigate.
“This is unlikely to be the difference between us contending and not” starts to ring hollow when you have to say it all the time. Yes, it’s true that these guys seem reasonably able to avoid the Phil Jackson esque catastrophes that literally disqualify a team from contention, but being an affirmatively good front office requires a lot more than that.
I don’t understand the urge to harangue people who would prefer an affirmatively good front office, isn’t that what we all want?
Frank is way prettier, but I’d argue that Deuce is cuter.
Almost exactly a year ago, I was firmly in the “Miles can shoot the lights out” after summer league and pre-season, where he was basically shot-for-shot with Grimes. Then I was “Thibs tortures him so of course he shot badly” during the season. Now, I’m firmly in the “worried” camp, but still clinging pathetically to last year’s impressive G-League stats.
Cybersoze, the 2025 draft is three full seasons away. The Bucks core will be old and per that article they have no young players in the pipeline to take their place. They could be very mediocre by then and their pick could be pretty good.
With Giannis (age 30) on board? I’d bet against you, but i’m hoping you’re right. Although not so right that they’d be Top4.
Fully agree on The Athletic’s over argument. Too early for me to predict a win total, but difficult to see them worse than last year and a 2 game improvement is more likely than not. Burks is the only significant roster subtraction and he is replaced by Brunson. Don’t see potential regression in Mitch, RJ, or Fournier. Pre-season Randle already looks like not one of the worst players in the league so that is an improvement. On the second unit, the most likely to regress would be IQ but it is just as likely that he improves. Unlike last year, we aren’t reliant on a healthy Rose to keep us at the same level as the year before. The relative youth as well as the depth of the team are mitigants to the unexpected significant injury.
The biggest risk to the over is the tank pivot–we play a few months of close to but not quite .500 ball, the FO sees the team-is-going-backwards 35 wins as likely as 40, fires Thibs, trades a re-habbed Randle, etc.
Exactly, and that means he should be with Grimes on the players we care about for this game. 😉 And even more to me, because i missed last game’s 2nd half and that was the time when he started to show what he can do.
The first 4 games will tell a lot about this team. Memphis is an L, but if we don’t win at least 2 of the next 3 vs Detroit, Orlando and Charlotte (all home games) it’s gonna be a very long season.
Giannis will be 30 and will keep a pretty high floor for Milwaukee but every other major piece will be retired or is likely to be in serious decline.
—-
I think people underestimate the value Burks added
538’s RAPTOR predictions for the season are out: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/everyones-a-favorite-in-our-2022-23-nba-forecast/?ex_cid=538twitter
Has us 10th in the East with a 40-42 record, in between Charlotte with 42 wins and Chicago with 35 wins.
I would definitely pick the over if I had to choose one, but I wouldn’t exactly hammer it because, sadly, Alec Burks was arguably our best overall player last year and he is now gone. Another stinker from Randle on its own probably puts us right back in the ~37 range, and that’s before accounting for injuries, other underperformance, etc.
538’s RAPTOR has us at 40-42. I’m actually slightly more bullish as of now, but the low 40s sounds about right.
With the caveat that various circumstances beyond our win total will affect how successful the season is, I think the under 30/above ~45 shorthand is useful. I just don’t really see what winning 37-44 games really does for us going forward.
Any of our resident legal eagles want to comment on this? There was a short chat about it at the end of the last thread, but still. It’s funny how ‘legal’ and ‘evil’ almost rhyme…
A lawyer who has had Knicks season tickets since the 1970s represents clients who are suing Madison Square Garden. So it barred all 60 of his firm’s lawyers from every game, concert and other event at its venues.
I like the fact that the starting five of this team are all locked in reasonable long term contracts. So much easier to buy in a team first concept when everyone is paid. Also, Obi, IQ, Grimes and iHart are all locked in for two more years. Knicks haven’t had this kid of roster stability in decades. This will build both consistency and chemistry by default. Plus they all seem like they actually like each other.
“I don’t understand the urge to harangue people who would prefer an affirmatively good front office, isn’t that what we all want?”
But isn’t it you who is doing the haranguing? By constantly harping on how you would prefer an affirmatively good front office when a) we all know that because we’ve been reminded of it a million times and b) the FO is not going anywhere no matter how much you rage against it? I there anyone here who doesn’t know your position on the moves made by this FO?
You continually say stuff like “pissing away first rounders” which means that they are simply gone with no return. That is not really what happened, isn’t it? They are not pissed away, just repurposed, perhaps inefficiently, but still. You think it’s a dumb strategy on its face. Why resort to distortion to drive home that point?
You continually bring up Bones Hyland, as if the two choices were: trade the pick or pick the very best player available in hindsight. You ignore the much more likely probability that the guy selected couldn’t bring back the equivalent of the pick squandered on him, or the pick remaining after the trade.
You should know this since quite a few of the picks you loved and would have picked if it was your call turned out to be not very good. Which is fine! Even the smartest FOs (and KB analysts) whiff on picks! But the cherry-picking re: Bones, Ayo, etc. in this argument is really indefensible. There was zero probability of that outcome, given how the draft played out. I truly don’t understand why you keep bringing them up.
The FO chose to preserve much (but not all) of the “uncertainty” value of the pick rather than to gamble on the downside of making the pick that became relatively worthless in short order. For every Bones there’s a Kai Jones, Usman Garuba, Jalen Johnson, etc., none of whom would have moved the needle any more than the protected CHA pick in future trades.
As to the assumption that having Bones Hyland instead of Cam Reddish would have had any bearing on the Donovan Mitchell trade discussions, we were not going to trade 3 unprotected first rounders out to 2029. CLE did. That’s what made the difference, not that we couldn’t offer them Bones Hyland or Immanuel Quickley or both.
Hey folks… meant to comment a few days ago but this is my week back to work off a vacay/anniversary week. Lots going on:
-My wife and I took a “babymoon” (did I tell yall we’re having a son due in January? My first kid, her 3rd) last week via Carnival cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada. Very fun – and a MUCH needed opp for relaxation.
-You all are now talking to the first full-time Sports Information Specialist in the history of not just ELAC but LACCD! My reclassification was ratified by the district board Wednesday. The history of LA plucking talent/people/teams/etc from NY continues… right JK47? 😉
-We have a home football game next Saturday against Long Beach CC which is the annual Alumni Night game that the college’s foundation throws. The two school presidents have issued a challenge to each other, and there’s a bunch of different parties that are planning to do things for/during the game. Knowing a bit about said parties, my wife told me last night, “they don’t know what they’re doing – you’re going to have to help them” lol. So my task is basically to help grease the wheels while making sure the make sure they all remember that there’s an actual football game going on that needs to be the main focus. This will be a bit of a challenge… lol.
“With the caveat that various circumstances beyond our win total will affect how successful the season is, I think the under 30/above ~45 shorthand is useful. I just don’t really see what winning 37-44 games really does for us going forward.”
I think a 44-38 record is a success, given how competitive the EC is. It would mean that several crucial things went right, e.g. Julius and RJ siginificantly improved, some young guys stepped up, Brunson played to his contract, etc.
Anything under 40 wins would mean that there was significant disappointment somewhere. But 44? I’d sign up for that right now.
I just don’t really see what winning 37-44 games really does for us going forward.
TN, believe me we get it. But it is irrelevant to the discussion of betting the over.
Double congrats, CDiggy! 🙂 On the baby and the job promotion, you now have a fancy title! 😉
“but Frank has more upside defensively”
I think you have a typo here. Meant to type “had”
Knicks related – responding to TNFH from Oct 13:
Sorry but I have to wholeheartedly disagree here. Not in that the transactions weren’t mistakes, but moreso in context.
I get the sentiments behind people that disagree with the hybrid approach; for the record, I’m OK with it because I think it’s very fair to argue against the risks of pure tanking once the NBA flattened the lottery odds. The hybrid strategy is actually a form ofrisk mitigation (yes we can argue on how effective it its been). And as Z-man said, they are not pissing away 1RPs, just repurposed.
“Perhaps inefficiently” is a very fair criticism, but you know what? When you accumulate multiple 1RPs the way the team has, you’re building in measures of mitigation for when you do make mistakes, as every franchise does.
44 wins for a team that has mostly players 25 and under would be fantastic. It would mean we could see that win total creep up over the next few seasons with the exact same team just off of internal improvement from those players. Throw in free agent signings and possible trades and/or draft picks to upgrade the team and 44 wins with a team this young would mean our future is very bright.
“b) the FO is not going anywhere no matter how much you rage against it? I there anyone here who doesn’t know your position on the moves made by this FO?”
Well, no Knickerblogger post has ever had any impact on the play or inner workings of the New York Knicks. What a waste of time it was for Mike K to try to make the site better instead of just shutting it down permanently on these grounds!
“They are not pissed away, just repurposed, perhaps inefficiently, but still.”
Does this feel like an important distinction? “Pissed away” vs “repurposed inefficiently?” I don’t think you’re a blanket defender of the front office, but FYI dying on this kind of hill is the kind of thing that makes people feel that way.
“You continually bring up Bones Hyland, as if the two choices were: trade the pick or pick the very best player available in hindsight. You ignore the much more likely probability that the guy selected couldn’t bring back the equivalent of the pick squandered on him, or the pick remaining after the trade.”
I don’t ignore the possibility they could’ve made a shitty pick. I just continue to not understand why this is exculpatory in any way. I’ve never heard any other stupid move excused on the grounds that in its absence, another stupid move might’ve taken its place.
“But the cherry-picking re: Bones, Ayo, etc. in this argument is really indefensible.”
Again, it is not the case that the front office tried to find a good player at the slot and failed. That shit happens, and it can be perfectly excusable based on the information available at the time (it can also not be e.g. Frank Ntilikina and Kevin Knox).
They told the world there was *no one in the draft* worthy of a contract that is downright negligible in terms of its cap impact. We now know, indisputably, this was hilariously wrong. It’s not “cherry-picking” to point out that the front office made a bet that looked dumb at the time and looks dumber now. It’s just…what happened.
48 wins is my prediction. I’m rosy but trying to keep my swifty optimism in check (just a little bit).
My new rallying cry: 44 or more.
Congrats CDiggy! Hell of a life update.
Re: 44 if you think that’s too high to constitute a failure, that’s definitely fair. It would depend on exactly how the wins were accumulated I guess. Very minor improvements across the board, while welcome, don’t excite me too much because they don’t mitigate our glaring “no star” problem. A genuine leap from one or more of our guys would be a different story.
Thank you, Cyber! It’s indeed exciting times, and something I’ll be proud to tell my son eventually – not everyone gets an opportunity to say they were the first in something substantial. While I worked hard to achieve that, I’m also very grateful for the support I’ve gotten.
OK back to Knicks…
For one, a 7-game swing in the win column can mean an awful lot. But honestly, it’s not about the record itself, but how it was achieved. That’s why I push back at those who fear we’re gonna get stuck in a 3-5 year quagmire of .500 ball. There’s a lot we’re going to – and need to – find out this year. And forgive me b/c I know we’ve rehashed this in various incarnations; these are my top 4 questions:
1. Can Thibs find enough minutes for Randle to rehab his play AND for Obi to continue to develop into a fringe starter?
a. If Randle does rehab himself into good team play, can Obi show (or continue to show) you enough to justify trading Randle at the deadline? (I’m leaning this direction but it’s not without its risks)
2. Can RJ approach 3rd-tier All-NBA caliber play?
3. Is Grimes a legit starting 2?
4. Will IQ confirm being a legit 6th man combo guard?
Congrats on the gig! I think I’m getting League Pass this season, you should come over and catch a few games before your kiddo is born and you’re sleep-deprived and exhausted all the time LOL
Honestly the argument over the 19th pick is maybe my least favorite recurring argument on this blog. It happened. Let’s move on.
I just don’t get that upset by it. I don’t know. We have lots of picks still and we have lots of young players. Was it dumb in hindsight? Sure. But unless we draft a super promising player at 19 we’re most likely having some of our picks playing in the G-League right now, which isn’t really optimal. I don’t know.
There are just so many bigger things to worry about with this team than that pick.
Just my two cents.
“2. Can RJ approach 3rd-tier All-NBA caliber play?”
I will go on the record and say if this happens I will drop all my grievances about literally everything else
You got it JK! I’ll even bring the libations…
I’m sure there’s a meaty discussion waiting on what constitutes “approaching” 3rd-tier All-NBA play, but that debate would be a “good” problem to have.
Fun piece on the Knicks kid questions in the Athletic. Since I’m in with others that arguing 19 is my very least favorite discussion, here’s the Quickley section, germaine due to the questions by CDiggy (congrats!) and others.
Will the real Immanuel Quickley please stand up?
Topical music references aside, the Knicks must be wondering about Quickley’s shooting. They know he’s good at it. But might he be great?
At times, it appears so. Quickley carries himself like a dynamite shooter. He has never flung a jumper he didn’t believe was bound for swishness. But he’s also prone to long slumps, like the one he had last winter when he shot only 27 percent from the floor over a 17-game stretch.
There’s an odd inconsistency to Quickley’s game over his first couple of seasons. For example, he couldn’t miss as a spot-up shooter during his rookie campaign when he drained 47 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, according to Second Spectrum. That’s an elite number; we’re talking in the league of CJ McCollum, Kawhi Leonard and Chris Paul. But in Year 2, for some reason, that figure sunk to 33 percent. He shot better on pull-up 3s than he did on spot-up ones.
There are two ways to look at that. The first is with the glass half full — something along the lines of, “Quickley made 35 percent of his pull-up 3s in 2021-22 and he’s only 23! If he gets that up a little higher, he’s with the elite of the elite! Hooray for the Knicks!” Pull-up 3s are big-time shots that can drive defenses into madness.
But this isn’t about if Quickley can hit those off-the-dribble jumpers when he comes around a screen. We know he can. It’s about if he can hit every kind of 3 at a top-notch level. And thus, the other way to look at this is, “Can Quickley consistently be a sniper at all types of jumpers?”
That question is more up in the air. If he can, the Knicks have a real gem coming off their bench.
Congrats Diggy!!
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Conservatively I’m right around 42-44. If Randle is even decent, I’d probably say 44-46. Might need to do some math to figure out how many points are added if Randle is at a .530 TS%.
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I’m also wondering if the depth of the East is being overblown:
* CHA takes a step back w/o Miles
* CHI & CLE feature a lot of chuckers
* ATL’s Dejounte & Tre pairing??
* BK’s stars are made of glass
* Lowry & Horford still age… right?
Cdig, congrats on the baby, job and especially the snazzy new avatar
Congrats CDiggy and nice post on IQ by Raven. I love him but there is definitely some volatility in the projection.
You know, it’s much more exciting to be a Knicks fan, with all of our question marks coming into the season, than of other boring teams like the Bucks and the Warriors. Giannis will dominate both ends of the floor and probably lead his team to the NBA FInals? Yawn…. Steph is still the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA? Boooring..
I mean, what would we have to talk about if we had those guys on our team? (-:
We would be talking about the FO’s ridiculous failure to surround Giannis with the right complementary cast obviously and how Frank would be a perfect fit next to him specifically….
and how it was actually Phil who laid the path to get Giannis
Cdiggy!!!!
To me Grimey is a pretty big linchpin for the future of this team. The Platonic Ideal version of Grimey in which he shoots well, is a plus defender and also offers secondary playmaking would fit in oh so nicely in our starting lineup. I mean, honestly, a player like that would fit in nicely with pretty much any lineup.
Going forward this teams main needs are:
1. True first option scorer
2. More two-way wings
3. Competent backup and third string PG for when Derrick Rose departs
4. Stretch four
Platonic Ideal Grimes (the acronym there is PIG but let’s not use that) definitely fits the #2 category and could maybe even play some Alec Burks-style PG.
There’s a Quick fix for that one
I suggest Defending Assisting Wing Grimes, or DAWG for short.
Or we could do Grimes Optimized for Assists and Threes, or GOAT. As in, he’s the GOAT!!!
Congrats CDiggy for your great personal and professional news!
I assume that the annual wins-prediction poll is waiting in the wings…
Can’t wait!
🙂
This is far and away the top priority. It is also, of course, the hardest one to get. Brunson and RJ can each do passable impressions of this kind of player — Brunson more naturally than past RJ, but we’ll see if his efforts to improve his finishing has really paid off — and Julius was able to fake it for a season, even if it was clear this was not his best role. An efficient high-volume scoring option at the 2 or 3 would solve so many problems for this team, sliding everyone else down into a more fitting place in a roster hierarchy.
I just don’t know how we get that guy without so thoroughly gutting the team that there’s no point to it. I guess we have to pray for more Walt Perrin mid-late round draft magic — and for Leon to have not traded away our picks for short-term help in Thibs’ quest to make the 7th seed at all costs.
Awesome news, Cdiggy!
Fournier can be a reasonably high-volume and efficient scorer in a good year. Three balls are always fickle, but the issue last year was inside the arc for him.
A lot of our season depends on Mitch being able to get out of the way on offense and Randle hitting enough 3s to keep a defender on him.
Mitch looks like he’s in motion more often so far.
So RJ Barrett.
I admit that I’ve quietly felt that RJ was a bit of a bum, but have been silent as there are a lot of stans here, and there is, if one squints, ways he could improve substantially. Plus I kind of like the guy. And he’s Canadien.
I was also put off by his effort to be 20 ppg last year, which reminded me a bit too much of that line from Hamilton, “I’m a general, wheee!!” We know where that ended up.
The Athletic’s piece on young Knicks did a rather surface cover of Barrett, but two things stood out to me. One was this line, after noting his horrific efficiency: ‘But “Can RJ Barrett make more shots?” is hardly an interesting question, so let’s delve into something better.’
That’s a line I vehemently disagree with, as it is The Thing. But the author then goes on to say this: “Barrett turned himself into one of the world’s premier slashers last season. Sure, he could use a few more moves once he gets to the hoop, and he needs to up his free-throw percentage, but in terms of dribbling the ball toward the paint and getting to the rim to shoot a layup, almost no one in the NBA does it better or more.”
I’ve never heard RJ described that way, and it made me think. The guy then goes on to say RJ needs to pass out of his drives more, although he disingenuously fails to give RJ credit for saying that himself this offseason.
All this, combined with the pretty damn good play so far this preseason, is making me reconsider that maybe there is a real path to — as someone said above — at least third-tier all-star.
Here’s some interesting stats:
Usage gm 1:
RJ: 31%
Randle: 26.4%
Brunson: 21.9%
Fournier: 12.3%
Usage gm 2:
RJ: 23%
Randle: 23.7%
Brunson: 25.4%
Fournier: N/A
Usage gm 3:
RJ: 26%
Randle: 18.5%
Brunson: 22.4%
Fournier: 17.7%
It’s been a pretty evenly distributed attack for the big (slightly above medium?) 3. Fournier’s usage is taking the biggest hit so far.
Thanks, Bird, interesting. FYI, last year it was
Evan 20%
Julius 28.7%
RJ 27.6%
Jalen 21.7%
So. Tonight’s opponent. The Wiz.
Beal and Porzingis are the two centerpieces of the lineup. The unheralded but perfectly cromulent Monte Morris runs the point, and the other two starters, Kyle Kuzma and Will Barton are below average, should probably be bench players.
The actual bench looks like this:
Delon Wright (competent veteran)
Johnny Davis (rookie that I like but has stunk in preseason)
Deni Avidja (young player who hasn’t been very good)
Rui Hachimura (empty calorie scorer)
Daniel Gafford (rim runner dude)
Corey Kispert and old friend Taj Gibson are also hanging around.
Not an overwhelming amount of talent on that roster. I would be depressed if this was the Knicks’ roster. We got it better than these jamokes.
I think he brings it up bc it’s problematic when there is a zero probability of us doing the smart thing and a very high probability of us doing a clearly stupid thing.
The Wiz are one of the few teams I legitimately believe are in a worse position than the Knicks. Just nothing going on there at all, and Beal’s full NTC will likely blunt whatever return they get on him if they ever decide to move on from this mess.
Agree about the Wiz but I’m hoping they have one decent season in them otherwise we’re never going to get that pick.
Congrats, CDiggy!
Hey, they got me, too! Part time, anyway. I’m going to see a band with Geo on Nov 12th, maybe we’ll swing down and watch Coach Diggy, too.
This playoff performance by Judge may end up costing him 0 dollars on his next contract.
For the record, this Mets fan would like to say:
Go Yanks.
Ok sorry Yankee fans, I will stop spreading my bad Metsy juju to you.
I swear it was 2-2 when I posted above.
:/
The all-too-familiar ALDS blues. For most of the 21st century, the Yankees either play the Twins in the ALDS, or they lose. It’s probably a very good idea to bet a large sum of money on Cleveland tomorrow.
That game sucked.
A couple of Guardians’ lucky bloopers, Yanks’ sloppy defense and Judge terrible series (so far) are more than enough to lose a game against a good team…
As an aside, pitch-clock will never come too early, sometimes the BORING pause between pitches is unsustainable…
Grimes will play tonight.
Nice!
I hope James Akinjo plays tonight.
Rockets cutting Derrick Favors. He’d be a guy I wouldn’t mind as an emergency big man option, I guess. I would just be afraid he’d cut into Obi time.
Overall, they did a nice job with in the 2020 draft. They came away with Grimes, who was obviously their first choice of the players on the board, Rokas, a nice draft and stash, McBride, who many of us thought was a first round talent, and Sims, a promising young big. I doubt Dosunmu or Hyland would have seen the floor very often. To keep harping on that one pick for more than a year has to be the definition of haranguing. Where is Susan Powter when you need her?
Who is Akinjo?
And Congrats Cdiggy. It’s morning here and I just read your news. Family is a wonderful thing
Another Exhibit 10 guy whom they’re briefly putting on the preseason roster so they can pay him more when he goes to Westchester. I know nothing else about him and don’t expect him to see the floor tonight.