[news.google.com] — Saturday, January 21, 2023 2:00:03 AM
Hawks face Hornets, looking to extend season-best win string to six Sportsnaut
[news.google.com] — Saturday, January 21, 2023 1:16:00 AM
Knicks Looking For Second-Round Pick For Cam Reddish, Heat Remain Intrigued RealGM.com
[news.google.com] — Saturday, January 21, 2023 12:45:00 AM
Knicks look for answers on defense with Mitchell Robinson sidelined by injury Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Saturday, January 21, 2023 12:27:52 AM
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson: One shy of double-double CBS Sports
[news.google.com] — Saturday, January 21, 2023 12:16:21 AM
Knicks’ Julius Randle: Scores 32 in loss CBS Sports
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 10:37:38 PM
Knicks Called Out by NBA Twitter for Abysmal Defense in Loss vs. Trae Young, Hawks Bleacher Report
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 10:13:14 PM
Atlanta Hawks Beat New York Knicks 139-124 Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 10:12:00 PM
Knicks unravel in fourth quarter as they fall to Hawks for third straight loss New York Post New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks Prediction, Preview, and Odds – 1-20-2023 Winners and WhinersNew York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks odds, picks and predictions USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 9:58:01 PM
Hawks Clip Knicks Thanks to a Brutal Second Half Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 9:55:00 PM
Clint Capela with an and one vs the New York Knicks Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 9:55:00 PM
De’Andre Hunter with a 3-pointer vs the New York Knicks Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 8:55:01 PM
Knicks Trade Proposal Brings Homecoming, Interior Depth Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 8:10:30 PM
NBA: New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks | Fieldlevel | mdjonline.com MDJOnline.com
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 6:43:26 PM
NBA Rumors: Knicks Make Bold Trade For Bulls’ Zach LaVine NBA Analysis Network
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 4:09:00 PM
Knicks Notes: Toppin, Reddish, Quickley, Hartenstein hoopsrumors.com
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 3:02:14 PM
Knicks have opportunity to unleash best offensive lineup with Mitchell Robinson out Posting and ToastingMitchell Robinson injury opens door for Obi Toppin to see more Knicks minutes New York Post Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson in ‘good spirits’ after surgery: Tom Thibodeau New York Post
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 2:27:00 PM
Obi Toppin knows what he has to change with Knicks needing a lift New York Post
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 2:24:29 PM
New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks spread, odds, picks and … NorthJersey.com
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 12:23:00 PM
Knicks have perfect chance to trade for NBA Champion, All-Defense veteran Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 12:21:50 PM
Knicks Visit Hawks, Look to Snap Brief Skid The Knicks Wall
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 10:27:14 AM
New York Knicks announces multi-year partnership with cruise … planetattractions.com
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 9:17:00 AM
Lakers Reportedly Targeting This Young Knicks Star HotNewHipHop
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 9:11:55 AM
TRADE RUMOURS: The Milwaukee Bucks are interested in New York Knicks forward Cam Reddish Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 9:00:00 AM
Ep. 186 Shock Jacques Knicks Podcast Posting and Toasting
[news.google.com] — Friday, January 20, 2023 8:00:00 AM
New York Knicks may trade for this Pacers veteran per NBA Insider 8 Points, 9 Seconds
51 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.01.21)”
I guess some of us missed the part about investing the $50M saved in salary and “massive” draft haul we received in a trade in good players at other positions…I’m assuming that now that we know that, we won’t have to endure these kinds of poorly-informed comments for the next month?
After watching the game this morning through my hangover, I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that the Knicks really fucked up when they didn’t shoot 70% in the 2nd half.
* Sims is incredibly fun to watch. He’s playing slamball on a wood court.
* Murray only got to the basket once, where he was blocked by Brunson. However, he did shoot over 70% in the midrange on 18ish shots. He’s good from there but that was ridiculous. The bigs needed to step up on him in the PnR. Deuce is maybe too small there.
* Let’s call that a learning experience for Grimes, Trae torched him drawing fouls at will. A welcome to the league game for a player who never really had one before.
* Obi remembered he’s allowed to dunk the ball. Nice to see a pulse.
* Hawks went to Hunter a couple times who can just shoot over Brunson. That’ll be an issue in a play-in game.
* Thought the Obi/Randle lineup looked like hot garbage.
Hartenstein also showed on the PnR a couple times in the 1st half and looked very good doing it. We need more of that and less drop.
I think Mitch’s absence is going to be an evolving story. But giving up 139 points is an interesting first datapoint.
ATL is just starting to play like they were expected to, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up in the 6th spot.
More generally, I’m expecting all non-tanking teams to take it up a notch. We’ve had lots of injury luck thus far and other teams are finally gelling in time to make late season runs. If we don’t step it up, this could be a very rough stretch. And I don’t know where the stepping up can come from, we might have hit our high water mark already…
My take after last night’s game..
Sims is fine whether you start him or give him consistent minutes off the bench. Thibs might wanna start Hartenstein in hopes of using his skill set early on. Thibs’ inability to unlock Hartenstein and Obi on that 2nd unit is killing any hopes of sustainable offense. Hear me out. Our starters play consistently well together. Way more often than not at minimum. And we have 3 20ppg starters- so when that happens, you’ll win your fair share of games. Then we go to the bench, and only Quickley is given any rope. We’ve all seen Obi be really good, and we know what Hartenstein can do. If we know, then Thibs sure as hell knows. So..where is the disconnect between Obi/Hartenstein and Thibs? Why can’t we seem to unlock them? Is it really as simple as letting them play through mistakes a bit more? Whatever it is- it’s frustrating. Also, I really think keeping Sims on that 2nd unit unlocks our transition game since the starters don’t play at a fast pace. I’ve never coached, but even my dumb ass can see that LOL.
What exactly is Thibs doing? Even with Mitch out..he has the depth to try new things without breaking away from the core of what he wants to do. This is next level stubbornness and it makes no sense. It’s great when it works and we reel off 8 straight wins, but it’s also the reason why we win a few then lose 3-4 straight. Maybe he tweaks some things over the all star break, but by then it could be too late.
Mitch doesn’t make $50M AAV actually
I thought it was pretty obvious that I meant his total contract
I missed the game last night, but all I have to see is 139 points to know that either teams have adjusted to the defense we were using successfully during our win streak or we aren’t playing defense with as much intensity.
Zman, sorry but Mitch’s contract is the least of our problems. Not sure why you’d want to try and save money by not having him when there are other spots on the roster (mainly Fournier, Rose and cam but also to some extent RJ) where we are not getting our money’s worth.
Poindexter, my largely ignorant take is that both Obi and Hart need to play in a motion offense with constant cuts and off-ball motion. That is antithetical to Thibs-ball, so he’d need to create, teach, and implement a completely different offense for the second team. I’d love to see that, but on the other hand I’m not aware of any other coach that has a completely different offensive system for their second team. But the system they have (which I tend to think of as hand-offs at the three-point line followed by drives to the basket for short shots, layups, or kick outs), which works for Randle and Brunson (not so much for Barrett) is not going to let Hart and Obi shine.
On the other hand, he shut down Trae and was absolutely burned by the taller Murray, but Deuce had an otherwise reasonable offensive game — 8 points and 4 assists in 16 minutes, 3-5 shooting, no turnovers. I wouldn’t call it a breakout, but he didn’t make them play 4-on-5. Fingers crossed going forward…
One other semi-cheery note from the otherwise abject disaster of a game last night (which I fully expected to lose, given the Hawks were finally at full strength). Randle’s passing. He always got a decent amount of assists, but historically it seemed always to be driving into double or triple teams, realizing he’s screwed, and panic-passing out to a teammate for a hurried three-pointer with time expiring.
Lately he’s been tossing interior passes to the big man or a cutting Grimes. It only works about half the time so far, but I applaud him for trying. It’s a nice addition.
i think we need to switch and/or blitz the pnr if we’re going to start sims. his feel for playing halfway in drop in the mini 2 on 1 is just too poor against the higher level pnr combos. unlike hart he has fantastic feet so he’s not equally screwed either way. admittedly we are not built to switch bc most of our non randle defenders can get beasted, and randle is a terrible secondary help defender when they do, but literally anything is better than watching sims try to play drop against a tough 1/5 pnr.
Good points Raven. This puts the FO in an excruciatingly painful predicament. Either they come out and say Thibs is the man moving forward and build a more Thibs-centric team by getting rid of Obi and Hart, let him go mid-season, or add players that don’t fit what he likes and still let’s him coach them til the season ends. That’s terrible. I’m ok with keeping Thibs or replacing him. But they’ve gotta plant a foot in the dirt and make a move on it. If Rose wasn’t in charge, it wouldn’t be such a painful predicament considering his ties to Thibs. Cam is proof that you can’t just force a non-Thibs type on him, and so far- so is Hartenstein. And even Obi. They don’t necessarily fit the Thibs template. But..they add versatility to it if they are used properly. Personally I think Leon did the team a disservice by letting Thibs bring his guys onto the coaching staff after Woodson and Payne moved on. Keeping Bryant was fine, but the coaching staff lost the balance that led to us getting the 4th seed. I think Leon’s in a helluva catch 22 and he really has no clue what to do about it. Brunson was gonna be a Knick with or without Rick being added to the staff. I’d rather the team have added a free thinker with a connection to the players than bring Rick to the staff. Not because he’s not a good assistant coach, but because it tilted the balance wayyyy too far into Thibs’ stubborn tendencies. Woodson and Payne were invaluable when they were here. But you can’t and shouldn’t want to stop progress so we had to allow them to move on. The problem is how we replaced them
Yeah I’m a pretty strong thibs suppoeter but I do see where it might be getting close to the time where we move on.
But even if we do move on, I’d like us to do it after the season and I also would like us to somehow get Sri thing back for Cam and Rose at least.
i can barely remember what happened yesterday…earlier this season wasn’t mitch out for a while…then the team got together, realized mitch wasn’t around and started playing better defense with sims…
i know mitch has some seriously gaudy defensive stats – is the team and thibs really this dependent on mitch’s defense…
maybe we can bring back nerlens…he’s sub 30, only 28…doesn’t really play much for the pistons, has butter stumps for hands – he’s a pretty solid defender at the rim though…
right now i’d prefer him over hart…
i remember how much the whole team and crowd would get a bump from his blocks…
i’m actually optimistic for sunday’s game…i think we play desperate…which really just means they figure it out defensively – particularly around the rim and with defensive rebounding, they won’t turn the ball over much…
yep, tomorrow’s game is in the bag…
I looked it up earlier, I think the defensive rating in the sans Mitch games was a little over 116 which is bottom 5 in the league.
Thibs is gonna need to adjust the defense. With Mitch out longer I think he’ll make bigger changes.
It takes time to learn a new defense so for that stint it probably wasn’t worth changing too much.
I think this is part of the appeal with Bullock too, he can jump into a game day 1 with minimal adjustment.
i’d just like to share these words of wisdom from our esteemed critc – al
Don’t be an asshole.
yes, i need to constantly remind myself of this…oh well, i’m trying…
also mister tv – i’ll say this, i too watched Night Court at some point in the past…i remember it was pretty goofy with a moral point (kind of like kid’s cartoons) thrown in to the episode…
i’m in no rush to get to The Last of Us…i still have season 3 episode 8 to watch of Barry…
what a great bingeable show…
i think next up is the second season of Reservation Dogs…
i remember when i was 12 i got the choice between a new bike or a tv…really it was no choice at all…there’s a lot of good content out there…
Swifty, my point is that we are committed to upgrading our roster with true stars via the hybrid method. If Mitch can help you get one of them by getting assets in return for him, or as part of a salary match for one, you do that every day of the week and twice on Sundays. There should be only two untouchable players on this roster at their current salaries: Brunson and IQ, and even that is a stretch. (every competitive team in the East other than the Heat have a better PG than Brunson, and some
like ATL and CLE have 2) Maybe Grimes too, maybe not.
Pogo-stick C is the most fungible commodity in the NBA, you fill that spot AFTER you have filled all the others and live with the dropoff from Mitch, whatever it is. The notion that he’s a foundational piece to build around is very misguided, in my view. He should be continually shopped and if the right deal comes along (like what SAS is asking for Poeltl) you jump at it.
With our small backcourt (plus non-vertical RJ), we really need Mitch even more than other teams would.
I guess you could argue I’m favor of moving him for Turner, but that’s about it imo.
I still think our biggest problem is our forward positions, as Jayson Tatum isn’t walking through that door, sadly.
I think we should be open to trading everyone on the roster except maybe Brunson (given our history trying to get a legitimate starting PG).
There’s no need to overthink things.
The idea is to develop players, accumulate assets, upgrade positions, and draft well depending on availability.
Of course the best time to do that is if you have a surplus of quality at one position. Then you can trade away an attractive piece that’s being underutilized for an upgrade somewhere else or an asset. I’m not sure we have anything like that.
Guys like Fournier and Cam are being underutilized. but Fournier’s contract is not attractive and Cam is not going to bring back anything significant.
Still, there’s no one on this roster that’s an untouchable except maybe Brunson. It’s a matter of finding deals that improve the team using current players and preferably excess picks.
IMO this forum is way too moody.
The Knicks are approximately a .500 team give or take as presently constructed. We knew that coming in. Nothing has changed. With that comes inevitable ups and down, injuries, disappointing losses, occasional winning and losing streaks, players that get hot or cold etc… It’s all NOISE to observe and learn from, not to overreact to.
This is not a finished product. The idea is to develop players, accumulate assets, upgrade positions, and draft well depending on availability. So let’s see if they can find anything worth doing at the deadline.
Yeah, Mitch is a huge loss, but you simply have to give Thibs some time to adjust the defense to get a proper sense of what the team looks like without Mitch on defense.
Thibs has had ample opportunity to see what a mitch-less squad looks like the last couple of years…if this is stumping him defensively…well…i’ll stop there cuz someone will say i’m trolling…
The last couple of years Thibs had “McDonalds at home” Mitch in Noel, who could approximate Mitch fairly well, plus Taj, who Thibs had a Vulcan mind meld with. He doesn’t have that now.
I looked it up earlier, I think the defensive rating in the sans Mitch games was a little over 116 which is bottom 5 in the league.
Thibs is gonna need to adjust the defense. With Mitch out longer I think he’ll make bigger changes.
It takes time to learn a new defense so for that stint it probably wasn’t worth changing too much.
I think this is part of the appeal with Bullock too, he can jump into the system day 1.
last year noel played like 1 game so not sure that is valid and taj isn’t really a cornerstone of a defense at age 62 but I guess that might have some merit…i.e, he needs a couple of weeks to go diagram up some new x’s and o’s…
I don’t think it stumps him it just takes time to implement and for players to learn one another’s tendencies. When Hartenstein shows or Sims switches other players need to make different reads and position themselves differently than in drop. Other teams play against these schemes all the time and have an advantage against a disorganized group.
There will also be tweaks when Thibs sees what different players can and can’t do within that system.
Whether Mitch is literally untouchable in a trade has never, ever been subject to debate. Obviously he’s not one of the 10-20 players in the whole damn league to whom that applies.
But denying his immense value is becoming an untenable position, and we can safely put to bed the idea that we would’ve been better off not using his Bird Rights to go over the cap to re-sign him. The value he returns on that deal is one of the main reasons spending so much money on guys who do not play hasn’t tanked us. The guys who provide 80% of his value for 20% of the cost are rookie-scalers.
Yeah not saying Mitch is untouchable in a trade for a legit superstar. Just that he should not be first on the list to try and move if we’re making a non superstar trade type move.
Okay, Knicks Quiz. Only one player had a positive +/- last night. Who was it (without looking, you cheater).
Hint: Played 36 minutes, was 5-5 from the field.
didn’t cheat…but I would say the guy with the naturally curly locks…
Good luck today Giants fans!
That was still cheating, Pepper. Just differently.
It was IQ.
Curly locks? Really? I guess I didn’t realize that:
I don’t really understand the Mitch argument. He is making 15 million and has the best EPM on the team. He is one of our best three players at worst and is making the least.
Why are we talking about Mitch?
He doesn’t have “immense value.” Come on.
If he does, the Knicks should flip it from unrealized to realized tomorrow — but he doesn’t.
He should NOT be first on the list to trade for a non superstar trade.
*** The guys who provide 80% of his value for 20% of the cost are rookie-scalers.***
Yes, exactly. You can draft tall physical types in the 2nd round that can come in and provide immediate value for very little cost. It seems every team has one, including the Knicks as, despite the “aging like a fine wine” comment from last night, Sims managed to put up a Robinsonesque 12 and 8 on 6-6 shooting while getting paid 9% of what Robinson made for the game.
Cool. So centers should never get paid then. After their rookie contract is up, just let them retire.
If this is true then why isn’t every team as good defensively as the Knicks are? If it’s so easy to find elite defensive centers in the second round, then every teams interior defense should be as good as ours. And yet…..
Except Sims doesn’t play defense like Mitch.
I agree you can find a bunch of serve bots who can make the third round at Wimbledon. Mitch is at least a level up from all those guys.
But I like Sims
Sims managed to put up a Robinsonesque 12 and 8 on 6-6 shooting while getting paid 9% of what Robinson made for the game.
joe lies when he cries donnie
Cool, I’ll edit it!
Mitch cost $3.4M in cap space this year. That’s less than 16 rookies are making this year. We could have signed him for the max and it would still have only cost us his cap hold. Unless you care about Dolan’s bank account, Mitch’s salary is irrelevant. If it becomes relevant we can argue about it then.
***joe lies when he cries donnie***
Supposedly.
But that reminds me, Diane’s dad knew she could get 80% of Lloyd Dobler for 20% of the cost. Hence the pen.
Also I love this you get 80 percent of the production at a fraction of the cost.
I’m that 20 percent can be the difference between winning and losing a lot of games.
I got a shooting guard that shoots 8 three’s a game. But hey I can get another shooting guard who costs less but shoots them 20 percent worse. It’s just 20 percent production! No big deal, right!
If someone averages 10 rebounds a game, 20 percent less is 8 rebounds. That’s potentially 2 possessions every game. Potentially 6 points. Over 84 games that’s 168 less rebounds.
The extra 20 percent is the difference between shitty and average and average to good.
***Cool. So centers should never get paid then. After their rookie contract is up, just let them retire. If this is true then…***
Whoa, whoa, hold on, I didn’t say this. After their rookie contract they shouldn’t “just retire”.
They should go to Europe, or China, or join the Globetrotters.
pretty sure mobley just became the first guy in 25 years so score 35+ without a 3 or a free throw. not totally unrelated: seems like we might be entering stage 2 sengun.
I didn’t even know that Nathan Knight existed when I said earlier that every team seems to have an impact center playing for peanuts.
Vorkunov:
“Since Dec. 27, no team has received fewer minutes and points from its bench. The Knicks have four players in the top 18 in minutes per game in that span, including Nos. 1 and 3. When Thibodeau loves, he loves hard.
That has been to the benefit of Immanuel Quickley. He is playing the kind of minutes Knicks fans have pined for during his first two seasons in New York. He had 17 games of 30 or more minutes played over his first two seasons but is averaging nearly 36.8 a night over his last 12 games. He has played 30-plus minutes 13 times already this season. Quickley’s been productive too, averaging 18.3 points and 4.2 assists.”
Nathan Knight is a poor man’s Paul Reed
“…we can safely put to bed the idea that we would’ve been better off not using his Bird Rights to go over the cap to re-sign him.”
Did anyone on KB actually express that idea? Certainly not to my recollection…