That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

As far as whatever Jared Jeffries GF was hinting to me, it barely registered because I was having trouble listening to her. She was pretty stunning.

“He’s so cute — he has these little ears that stick straight out. And he can’t make a layup to save his life.”

That is an interesting stat. I've been thinking about it, but it's not clear.

There's probably some noise.

A very small part could be because he's been told to hit the offensive boards hard (career high per 36) and the shots he's taking off those OREBs may be more contested than the ones he gets in the normal flow of the game.

Some of his floaters (being asked of him to generate more OREBs) may have fallen into the 3 foot range.

He may be facing better defense in his role now than he has historically. He's had 7 starts for us and 6 for the rest of his career (much of it 3rd string garbage time until last year). He may not be as good a finisher in traffic or against tough defense as his former shooting from that range suggested, but I'd give that more time.

He's been playing hurt and may not have the same lift.

She was like “I’m not going to say who he is or what he does for a living, but my boyfriend earns $500,000 per basket.”

They are worse with Hart on the court because they are so much better with Mitch on the court. If Kareem was the starter, the team would be worse with Mitch on the court. I'm a huge fan of long term on/off over years, but short term is very volatile and dependent on lineup combinations. So it takes a little more analysis to figure out what's going on.

Also, the boxscore cannot and does not tell you what a player's role is, whether he is doing what is asked, and how well he's doing it. People are focusing on his TS% and assists, but IMO that's misleading and missing the whole point.

If Brunson was on the court with John Stockton, his assists would decline sharply, not because he was playing worse or being used incorrectly, but because it's preferable top have the ball in Stockton's hands way more often.

Hart has not shot the ball well, but he's shooting a different shot distribution with a specific goal in mind that's helping the TEAM but also contributing to the lower TS%.

Stepping back and looking at these situations, I’m reminded of talking to a Brooklyn staffer a decade ago in the midst of the Nets’ mess of trading future picks and pick swaps, one that chilled the trade market for future picks for years. (The Nets, unbelievably, dealt picks that became Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Damian Lillard to build a roster that topped out at 44 wins and won one playoff series.)

Amid all the scheming to burn future assets for expensive veterans, he wondered, “What if we just … built the team?”

You can kind of make the case that the Knicks are just building the team.

Thanks for the research pt, sort of counterintuitive but the numbers are what they are I guess. I wonder if we give up shots more quickly after made baskets…is it because guys like Brunson (falls down a lot) and Randle (complains to refs) are out of defensive position?

“The only disappointment I am aware of is from boxscore fans.”

I’m not a box score fan but I am a Knicks fan and as I told you the other day when you did this shtick, the Knicks are worse with Hartenstein on the court. Their offense in particular is significantly worse, which is a pretty big red flag considering Hartenstein 1) gets to play against backups and 2) is theoretically more offensively skilled than Mitch.

Yes, Hart can do some things that Mitch and Sims cannot do, but since *we rarely have him do those things* we would probably be better off with a wing in his place.