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Knicks Morning News (2023.02.01)

  • Pregnant Naomi Osaka spotted in New York City as she attends Knicks vs Lakers NBA game at Madison Square Garden – Sportskeeda
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 6:08:15 AM

    Pregnant Naomi Osaka spotted in New York City as she attends Knicks vs Lakers NBA game at Madison Square Garden  Sportskeeda

  • LA Lakers 129 – 123 New York: Final OT | 2023-01-31 | National Basketball Association – Yahoo Sports
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 6:02:17 AM

    LA Lakers 129 – 123 New York: Final OT | 2023-01-31 | National Basketball Association  Yahoo Sports

  • LeBron James jabs at referees again after the game against the Knicks – BasketNews.com
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 5:09:57 AM

    LeBron James jabs at referees again after the game against the Knicks  BasketNews.com

  • LeBron edges closer to scoring record with triple-double at Knicks – Yahoo Eurosport UK
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 4:12:00 AM

    LeBron edges closer to scoring record with triple-double at Knicks  Yahoo Eurosport UK

  • Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau benches RJ Barrett during crunch time – New York Post
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 2:12:00 AM

    Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau benches RJ Barrett during crunch time  New York Post

  • Butler, Heat take on the Knicks – WABC-TV
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 2:08:07 AM

    Butler, Heat take on the Knicks  WABC-TV

  • Butler, Heat take on the Knicks – Kansas City Star
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 2:07:00 AM

    Butler, Heat take on the Knicks  Kansas City Star

  • Knicks Fall to Lakers in OT, Connor Rodgers on Aaron Rodgers & the Jets – The Ringer
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 1:48:47 AM

    Knicks Fall to Lakers in OT, Connor Rodgers on Aaron Rodgers & the Jets  The Ringer

  • NBA roundup: LeBron James’ triple-double sinks Knicks in OT – Reuters
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 1:33:00 AM

    NBA roundup: LeBron James’ triple-double sinks Knicks in OT  Reuters

  • Michael J. Fox joins his wife Tracy Pollan to cheer on the New York Knicks – Daily Mail
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 1:12:29 AM

    Michael J. Fox joins his wife Tracy Pollan to cheer on the New York Knicks  Daily Mail

  • Knicks Interested In Saddiq Bey – RealGM.com
    [news.google.com] — Wednesday, February 1, 2023 12:48:00 AM

    Knicks Interested In Saddiq Bey  RealGM.com

  • Pete Davidson shows off newly shaved head at New York Knicks – Daily Mail
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 11:44:00 PM

    Pete Davidson shows off newly shaved head at New York Knicks  Daily Mail

  • NBA fans on Twitter react to Lakers’ win over the Knicks in New York City – Yahoo Sports
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 11:38:00 PM

    NBA fans on Twitter react to Lakers’ win over the Knicks in New York City  Yahoo Sports

  • James has triple-double, leads Lakers past Knicks in OT – Torrington Register Citizen
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 11:27:09 PM

    James has triple-double, leads Lakers past Knicks in OT  Torrington Register Citizen

  • Knicks’ Julius Randle draws ire of Stephen A Smith vs Lakers – ClutchPoints
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 10:59:00 PM

    Knicks’ Julius Randle draws ire of Stephen A Smith vs Lakers  ClutchPoints

  • Thomas Bryant with a dunk vs the New York Knicks – Yahoo Sports
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 10:40:00 PM

    Thomas Bryant with a dunk vs the New York Knicks  Yahoo Sports

  • L.A. Lakers 129, N.Y. Knicks 123 – SFGATE
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 10:30:53 PM

    L.A. Lakers 129, N.Y. Knicks 123  SFGATE

  • LeBron James Makes NBA History THREE Times In Lakers-Knicks Game – Sports Illustrated
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 10:30:36 PM

    LeBron James Makes NBA History THREE Times In Lakers-Knicks Game  Sports Illustrated

  • LeBron James moves within 100 points of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, into 4th all-time in assists in win over Knicks – Yahoo Sports
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 10:24:00 PM

    LeBron James moves within 100 points of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, into 4th all-time in assists in win over Knicks  Yahoo SportsLeBron James racks up historic triple-double and moves to within 100 points of all-time scoring record  CNN

  • LeBron James breaks Steve Nash record amid scoring chase – ClutchPoints
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 9:34:00 PM

    LeBron James breaks Steve Nash record amid scoring chase  ClutchPoints

  • NBA: Los Angeles Lakers at New York Knicks – Rockdale Newton Citizen
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 9:09:17 PM

    NBA: Los Angeles Lakers at New York Knicks  Rockdale Newton Citizen

  • Pistons’ Saddiq Bey on Knicks’ radar as trade deadline approaches – New York Post
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 9:09:00 PM

    Pistons’ Saddiq Bey on Knicks’ radar as trade deadline approaches  New York Post

  • Dennis Schroder’s half-court buzzer beater for Lakers vs. Knicks leaves NBA Twitter in awe – ClutchPoints
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 8:54:00 PM

    Dennis Schroder’s half-court buzzer beater for Lakers vs. Knicks leaves NBA Twitter in awe  ClutchPoints

  • Russell Westbrook has exchange with Gary Vee during Knicks clash – ClutchPoints
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 8:47:00 PM

    Russell Westbrook has exchange with Gary Vee during Knicks clash  ClutchPoints

  • Pete Davidson Shows Off Newly Shaved Head While Leaving … – Just Jared
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 8:39:22 PM

    Pete Davidson Shows Off Newly Shaved Head While Leaving …  Just Jared

  • LeBron James closes on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as Lakers edge … – NBA.com
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 8:37:31 PM

    LeBron James closes on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as Lakers edge …  NBA.com

  • Russell Westbrook exchanges words with New York Knicks fan – Sportsnaut
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 8:35:57 PM

    Russell Westbrook exchanges words with New York Knicks fan  Sportsnaut

  • FINAL UPDATE: Anthony Davis’ Injury Status For Lakers-Knicks Game – Sports Illustrated
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 6:54:43 PM

    FINAL UPDATE: Anthony Davis’ Injury Status For Lakers-Knicks Game  Sports Illustrated

  • James Dolan Hires Hope Hicks For MSG PR Help – Report – Mediaite
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 5:50:13 PM

    James Dolan Hires Hope Hicks For MSG PR Help – Report  Mediaite

  • Knicks’ Quentin Grimes headed to All-Star weekend as Jordan Rising Star – New York Post
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 5:26:00 PM

    Knicks’ Quentin Grimes headed to All-Star weekend as Jordan Rising Star  New York Post

  • Knicks’ James Dolan turns to former Donald Trump PR guru – ClutchPoints
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 5:17:48 PM

    Knicks’ James Dolan turns to former Donald Trump PR guru  ClutchPoints

  • BetMGM Bonus Code: HANDLETOP – $1K First Bet Offer for Lakers … – Sports Handle
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 5:07:33 PM

    BetMGM Bonus Code: HANDLETOP – $1K First Bet Offer for Lakers …  Sports Handle

  • NBA G League roundup: Westchester Knicks look to build on win streak – Daily Knicks
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 5:00:00 PM

    NBA G League roundup: Westchester Knicks look to build on win streak  Daily Knicks

  • NBA Trade Deadline: Pistons Saddiq Bey headed to New York Knicks? – Detroit Bad Boys
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 4:39:48 PM

    NBA Trade Deadline: Pistons Saddiq Bey headed to New York Knicks?  Detroit Bad Boys

  • New York Knicks targeting sharpshooter ahead of NBA trade deadline – Sportsnaut
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 4:16:44 PM

    New York Knicks targeting sharpshooter ahead of NBA trade deadline  Sportsnaut

  • OG Anunoby: Perfect offer Knicks must make Raptors ahead of 2023 NBA trade deadline – ClutchPoints
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 3:35:50 PM

    OG Anunoby: Perfect offer Knicks must make Raptors ahead of 2023 NBA trade deadline  ClutchPoints

  • Lakers vs Knicks NBA Odds, Picks and Predictions Tonight – Covers
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 1:24:00 PM

    Lakers vs Knicks NBA Odds, Picks and Predictions Tonight  CoversNBA Top Five Performers, Jan. 31: LeBron James’ Triple-Double Leads Lakers Past New York Knicks  Sports Illustrated

  • What Tom Thibodeau has done well, where he’s failed with Knicks – Deadspin
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 11:59:00 AM

    What Tom Thibodeau has done well, where he’s failed with Knicks  Deadspin

  • Trending Topics: Picking East All-Star reserves – NBA.com
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 10:35:11 AM

    Trending Topics: Picking East All-Star reserves  NBA.com

  • James Dolan enlists former Trump aide Hope Hicks for PR help – New York Daily News
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 10:00:00 AM

    James Dolan enlists former Trump aide Hope Hicks for PR help  New York Daily News

  • Los Angeles Lakers at New York Knicks odds, picks and predictions – USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 9:41:00 AM

    Los Angeles Lakers at New York Knicks odds, picks and predictions  USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire

  • Do Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle Merit All-Star Spots? – Last Word On Sports
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 8:08:21 AM

    Do Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle Merit All-Star Spots?  Last Word On Sports

  • 2 Knicks players that are likely ending final full month in New York – Daily Knicks
    [news.google.com] — Tuesday, January 31, 2023 8:00:00 AM

    2 Knicks players that are likely ending final full month in New York  Daily Knicks

  • 111 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.02.01)”

    Not much to say that hasn’t already been said — purgatory.

    They aren’t going to be allowed to do a teardown, which means it’s going to be “empty the draft asset chest” and in lieu of waiting around and doing it for some overrated 30 year old kinda star, I’d offer the team that gets the 2nd pick in this summer’s draft the Knicks 23 and 3 unprotected 1s for Scoot Henderson.

    This team needs more than a tentpole superstar, but it desperately, desperately needs a tentpole superstar.

    In terms of the relatively meaningless day-to-day:

    RJ — still inefficient, still just have to wait and hope, draft pick spent/wasted on him is now a sunk cost; he’s not Zion or Ja and will never be
    Grimes — at league average efficiency with 14 usage and a skillset that confirms, not an association starting 2 guard.
    Randle — just when I got on the Ju train, two Bad Julius stinkers in a row. Hope this wasn’t just an all-star push.
    Brunson — awesome
    Thibs — time to move on, laughably awful last-second play design

    I started watching the game, had a bad feeling, went to bed.

    This morning I watched the rest and concluded I did the right thing sleeping.

    JB, IQ and I-Hart had a great game,
    Grimes did something (but 5-25 3FG, basically all open looks, in the last 4 games is no bueno).
    The others, including the Coach*, crapped the bed, some of them very badly.

    * 112 regular season games to go.

    Apparently RJ refused to speak with the media after last night. Said something to the effect of “I’ve got nothing to say.”

    Not really the attitude you want to see from a guy who sucked during the game, has mostly sucked for the season, and quite frankly hasn’t proven he’s so much as an average NBA player in general.

    Probably getting sick of the weirdo coach and the generally purgatorial, mediocre nature of his employer.(*) Can’t say that I blame him too much — so am I!!

    (*) And his ultimate boss confirmed his Trumpist credentials by hiring Hope Hicks to help deflect criticism from the facial recognition evictions. Not a great day in Knickland.

    Wow, glad I missed this one. Everyone seems rather gloomy after it. Two quick fixes:

    1. trade for and start Anonouby.
    2. start Quickley.

    I like that starting defense, especially once Mitch is back.

    RJ has always struck me as someone who, like Melo, has an overinflated sense of his abilities and his stature within the league. And at least Melo was an incredible (if boring) one-on-one scorer. His irrational confidence can be really valuable at times, but I’m also not the least bit shocked that he would seemingly feel hurt at being benched down the stretch of a game where he had been playing like garbage.

    I’ll let you guys get in your daily RJ bashing; as a player he drives offense at a young age which is a valuable skill and all that can be done is to wait around to see if the efficiency ever gets there. It might, it might not. I’ve made my peace with it.

    It’s essentially like sitting around watching paint dry. We need something to occupy the time, sure, of course — but that’s what it is.

    I’ll say what I said the other day, it’d be one thing if RJ gave you anything in any other part of the game. But when his shot isn’t falling you get absolutely nothing from him.

    If IQ shoots poorly, then you’re still getting passing, defense, and plus rebounding for his position.

    RJ sucked for sure… we have other players… I was upset he was playing so poorly last night, but so be it, someone else could step up. But Thibs with another fire-able offense notch in his belt… the ball should ALWAYS be in Brunsons hands… ALWAYS… we live and die by his shot making or decision making… thats why he’s here… he is paid to think that way…

    it’s not the first time RJ hasn’t played down the stretch nor was it the first time this year… and not saying anything doesn’t necessarily mean he’s pouting… it’s a tough loss…

    the thing that’s obviously the culprit for these losses is missing mitch.. our defense has sucked really bad… and we weren’t awesome with mitch to begin with…

    young bigs can do some things but what they almost universally don’t do is provide good defense… the nba game for a center is a lot like playing quarterback… it’s a lot of reading and reacting to a lot of moving parts and being a split second too late is all the difference in the world… it happened to mitch as we’ve all remembered but it’s also happened to a lot of the best bigs in the association…

    that’s kind of what you’ve been seeing with sims out there unable to contest a lot of shots that mitch usually does on top of actually having to handle one of the league’s best bigs…. and ihart’s the same way only he probably has an innate and perpetual problem with that…

    the problem is that this type of stuff doesn’t ping the emotions like missed buckets… we are #6 in the league on offense… largely because of Brunson and whenever good Randle shows up…. so even when Grimes hasn’t hit a three in a week or RJ having one of his bad games… that’s generally not why we’re losing these type of games….

    If the points and the wings are *that* dependent on Mitchell Robinson, then you have to wonder how good they really are on defense to begin with.

    That kind of dependency on a “rim protector” — assuming the theory is even valid — won’t even survive a coaching change. To the degree it’s even a thing, it’s an unsustainable gimmick. I’m losing patience with unsustainable gimmicks.

    So to cheer us up, if you have access to The Athletic, an excellent piece on IQ and his Draymond-like defensive intellect, with a number of examples of how he jumps others’ offensive plays to disrupt them and calls out his teammates to move them around. Here’s a nice quote/stat:

    “Heading into Tuesday night’s action, the Knicks defense was 13.8 points per 100 possessions better when Quickley was in the game, which gives the third-year guard by far the most impressive differential of any player in the NBA, according to Cleaning the Glass. Think about it in this context: 13.8 points per 100 possessions is the same as the difference between the Memphis Grizzlies’ currently No. 1-ranked defense and the defense of a nonexistent team that would have the worst defense of all time if it existed.”

    Which makes it even more freaky and bizarre that Tom Thibodeau eschewed him his rookie year in favor of alleged defender Elfrid Payton.

    Oh E, is it going to be like this all day?

    Maybe, you know, he got better.

    If RJ Barrett was named JR Rabbett, he’d be glued to the bench right next to Mac Derrish.

    Think about it in this context: 13.8 points per 100 possessions is the same as the difference between the Memphis Grizzlies’ currently No. 1-ranked defense and the defense of a nonexistent team that would have the worst defense of all time if it existed.”

    Guess which team has a DRTG that’s exactly 13.8 points worse in games after the one Mitch got injured in compared to the games before the one Mitch got injured in?

    It can’t be that both the wings (and Deuce McBride) are great defenders and the team’s defense collapses when they lose their starting center. That’s a logic fail.

    The team’s DRat is 17th in the league now, and Cam Reddish hasn’t even the seen the floor in two months so it can’t be his fault.

    The team’s D has obviously been worse since Mitch went out, but how much of that is correlation and how much is causation? If it’s all him, he’s holding together a house of cards.

    Some thoughts from last night. It’s interesting how actually going to the game is different from watching on tv. It’s almost a fog of war situation. So much harder to track what is happening while dodging the t-shirt cannon.

    RJ clearly believes that NBA games are an important part of building his brand. It could not have been more obvious that he wanted to have a big night against Lebron and the Lakers and was trying to force the action in the first half. It was a big part of why he sucked so hard. People can say whatever they want about him but the need he feels to integrate his Maple Mamba Mentality (MMM) into his playing style to shape the narrative is pure bullshit.

    I was surprised how little was said about Grimes in the game thread. Looking at the box I get it but in real time he absolutely lit up the crowd in the second half with two baseline drives and that fast break dunk. He really does have an obscenely quick first step off his pump fake. He does need to hit more threes but he played good defense last night and is always within the team concept. He also had a terrific assist. I’d rather be patient with him.

    Hart was fantastic. Just a warrior performance.

    Lebron and AD are otherworldly physical specimens. You know Lebron is big but when he stands next to Randle you really appreciate it. And Davis looked like Edey at times last night. He’s a giant who can also cover point guards without much issue. It’s incredible how much useful length he has at his disposal.

    Brunson is a magician. Chris Paul is the only guy I can think of who does a better job of creating and exploiting tiny cracks in the defense with small tempo shifts and random changes of directions. He had a sequence where he hit a fadeaway off the right block and the next time came back, faked the exact same shot, and then slipped past the defender for a layup.

    IQ is really an amazing basketball player and if we lose him because we signed RJ I will be really pissed off. He’s not going to be a star but he could absolutely be the fourth best player on a championship team.

    The Lakers have such a trash team. I kind of like Thomas Bryant in the efficient garbageman category. Hachimura was a good pickup if the defense is as good as people say. But as Brian said last night, how any GM could decide to put Westbrook and Pat Bev and all the other assorted detritus they have on the bench next to Lebron and AD is beyond me.

    I’m still pissed about that last play in regulation. 4 seconds left and we don’t even get a shot off.

    I think the last time we won a game on the last shot was RJ’s miracle banker against Boston. Hard to credit that to Thibs’ play calling.

    Also, I said it several times last night, but hack-a-Russ should have been utilized. He’s a complete mess at the foul line, and the Lakers were scoring every time down the court.

    But I think a macho guy like Thibs would never do such a thing.

    “Two quick fixes:

    1. trade for and start Anonouby.
    2. start Quickley.”

    I agree.

    1. Quickly has a different skillset than RJ, but he’s better on both sides of the ball and is a better fit next to Randle and Brunson because he can shoot. He plays off the ball well and can be a secondary playmaker. RJ can still play 20 minutes off the bench and would probably be more efficient against bench units anyway.

    2. OGA gives us a legitimate starting SF that will upgrade the defense and be a bit more consistent on offense.

    3. Just try to stay competitive and win some games until Mitch is back.

    4. Longer term, either Grimes will develop into a higher level 2 way player or that’s the position we will probably eventually upgrade. We also need an upgrade at backup PG unless Deuce learns to shoot.

    “RJ clearly believes that NBA games are an important part of building his brand. It could not have been more obvious that he wanted to have a big night against Lebron and the Lakers and was trying to force the action in the first half. ”

    This is exactly the kind of stuff that causes me to whine about him.

    He thinks he’s WAY better than he actually is, is more interested personal stats and accolades than winning, is too focused on PPG etc… and that adds a negative to the fact that he’s not very good on either side to begin with.

    Who could be more patient than me?

    I still check the boxscore for every youngish player that ever passed through MSG after every game to see who’s getting better as a player. But I’m not patient with this nonsense.

    When RJ has a good night for him, we don’t necessarily win, but when RJ has a bad night we almost always lose because he shoots us out of games, plays no D, and makes too many mistakes. And a lot of it is unnecessary.

    “I’m still pissed about that last play in regulation. 4 seconds left and we don’t even get a shot off.

    I think the last time we won a game on the last shot was RJ’s miracle banker against Boston. Hard to credit that to Thibs’ play calling.”

    It’s a definite weakness in Thib’s repertoire. If he hired D’Antoni to just draw up inbound plays we’d probably win an extra 2-4 games.

    I was surprised how little was said about Grimes in the game thread.

    I was going to praise Grimes during the game, something like “this Grimes kid might be really good if he could shoot at all” but didn’t want E to make a big thing out of it like he always does when someone mentions him. Of course E went ahead and did that anyway…

    “It can’t be that both the wings (and Deuce McBride) are great defenders and the team’s defense collapses when they lose their starting center. That’s a logic fail.”

    At times in previous years, RJ’s defense was encouraging, but imo right now it sucks. So we have negative defenders at PG and SF, Randle is inconsistent but I’d say a negative. It’s not so much that Mitch is a great defender, but he is a problem for the opposition in the paint and cleans up a lot of the mess that Hart and Sims aren’t. I don’t want to be too harsh on Hart because he’s playing a lot better the last few games.

    RJ is at a crossroads. Thibs is starting to lose confidence in him. I’m sure not closing games is a big blow to his ego. Let’s see how he responds. I hope he figures it out, because right now he is the linchpin of the team. If he fails, then we need a new sf. I don’t see it happening until the offseason though. Signing him to that extension before they had to is Leon’s biggest blunder so far, except for passing on Haliburton.

    Quickley is our best shooting guard, but he’s also our defacto backup point guard. For that reason, he has to stay sixth man, but should get starter minutes and close games. He is also our best perimiter defender.

    E made a single one word comment during game action and a single, six-ish word comment not long after the game.

    Watching that game in person and thinking Quentin Grimes was some kind of standout warranting big mention kind of explains a lot, though.

    Here’s a more physics than basketball thing, but it has basketball applicability — you tend to look fast when the person you’re being compared against is moving fast in the opposite direction.

    Quickley could be the league’s best sixth man combo guard — that’s his role. Vinnie Johnson/Lou Williams.

    This isn’t a defense of him at all, but RJ shouldn’t even *be* a small forward. He’s a 2 guard. But the Knicks have a strange coach who often does strange things.

    “Probably getting sick of the weirdo coach and the generally purgatorial, mediocre nature of his employer.(*) Can’t say that I blame him too much — so am I!!”

    His weirdo coach has probably, without a shred of exaggeration, given him more minutes and usage than literally any other coach would have during the time RJ has been an NBA player.

    If Thibs made a mistake here, it’s in not doing this sooner. The fact that RJ seems to feel entitled to more than 27 minutes on a night he’s sucking on both ends probably has something to do with the 1,000 foot leash he’s been given to this point.

    Coaches don’t “give” usage.

    He’s probably sick of Thibodeau. Who isn’t at this point?

    I don’t care about his ego, I care about whether he can continue his pretty decent play at pretty high usage that he’s shown over the last 27 games. Or even improve on it. All the rest is noise.

    Trying to pin RJ’s struggles on Thibs is E’s biggest stretch yet and that’s saying a lot. Dude has been allowed to do whatever he wants. There’s no good way to utilize a player who struggles at the rim and struggles in the mid-range and struggles from 3 and struggles to make plays for others and struggles on defense. In fact, a valid if arguable criticism of Thibs vis-a-vis RJ is that he hasn’t just downsized RJ’s role across the board.

    I’m not fully out on RJ, but it’s *entirely* on him to get it together. There are other players I think Thibs has had a negative impact on e.g. Obi so I’m not closed off to the idea, but again, we’re talking about a guy in RJ who has been allowed to play with basically no restrictions whatsoever.

    A few random thoughts:

    Randle played with no urgency last night, which is shorthand for trash. He’s still so talented he can put up 23-12-5, but something was off.

    Hart’s so weird. Flailing and clumsy and still tipping rebounds to the other team on a regular basis, but it was a really good game for him, even if it was a bit hard to watch.

    Grimes is fun. He does need to rediscover his three-point shot, however.

    Brunson recovered from a brutal start to drag us toward a win. It’s perhaps unfitting to complain about someone who scored 37 points, but even very early on I felt like the team would do better if he focused more on distributing the ball rather than shooting each time down. It’s a bit of chicken-and-egg (did he shoot every time because nobody else could make a shot?), but I’d love to see him focus a bit more on helping others take open shots.

    Others have covered Barrett well, I’ll leave it at that.

    IQ makes me very happy.

    Miles really, really, really needs to make a basket. Just one. Soon.

    since the RJ , thibs, grimes et al bashing has been covered pretty good this mornin…i’ll put one more name into the group…obi “i’m over here in the corner guys…pass it to me….see my hands are waving in the air” toppin…at halftime I looked at the boxscore and saw he had 5 boards in 6 minutes but other than that it was nada…he is freaking invisible…you just see him run to a corner on the offensive end and then he disappears from the screen…what a waste…i can’t imagine he is happy with the way they use him…but this is another indictment of this staff that they can’t figure something out with this dude….put him in different positions/run a play or two for him…..he’s an embarrassment right now…

    Goalpost change. I was addressing your (TNFH) amateur psychology re the media availability, not anything on the floor. Media availability would have been a bunch of tabloid gotcha questions and swallowing words about his weirdo coach. Pointless.

    Grimes would be way more fun off the bench. The bench all year should have been Grimes/Quickley/Reddish/Hartenstein/Toppin. Grimes or Quickley in for RJ or Fournier if they’re sucking. Best bench in the league. Extremely fun.

    “If RJ Barrett was named JR Rabbett, he’d be glued to the bench right next to Mac Derrish.”

    I know Reddish is a lightning rod here, but imo, for a good stretch of time he was outplaying RJ on both sides of the ball. IMO, he also still has more upside than RJ because he’s taller, longer, more athletic, and has had repeated injuries that slowed his development.

    He probably said or did something stupid, but if I was Reddish or any number of other players on the Knicks I’d be pissed off about the double standard with RJ/Randle and everyone else too. That goes double if I needed minutes because I wanted to get paid.

    This is a problem.

    They drafted RJ 3rd, hyped him as the next big star in NY, and Thibs has given him carte blanche to take whatever shots he wants, get lazy on defense, or make dumb critical mistakes and rarely does anything about it except for a single game. Everyone else (except Randle) is held to a different standard. He’s a bench player that’s been getting star treatment. It’s going to be hard reverse course on that.

    “RJ sucks because he’s sick of Thibs.” This is some of the most egregious motivated reasoning I think I have ever seen on this blog.

    Look, I know RJ is young and theoretically has potential, but you think by now you’d see at least SOME development from the guy. We always hear “RJ worked on XYZ this offseason” and then the season starts and he plays the exact same brand of bad-to-mediocre basketball that he has always played.

    He always starts out by not being able to throw the ball into the ocean for a month, then will regress to the mean, leading us to say “hey maybe he’s turned the corner, he has a .575 TS% in his last 19 games” but then that always turns out to just be some arbitrary endpoint squinting and he inevitably goes back to stinking it up again.

    The ceiling is rapidly contracting on my guy. I think the ceiling is somewhere around “shorter Rudy Gay” right about now.

    I wonder how long the RJ Barrett sample size gerrymandering will last. Will people still be pointing to promising 17 game stretches when he’s 32?

    On the bright side, hard to say enough about Quickley. He’s developing a semi-reliable midrange game and IMO it raises his ceiling–he can be a legit secondary creator. A guy who can post an efficient 17/5/5, limit turnovers, and compete for all-defense teams is worth his weight in gold, and it seems like we’re almost there.

    It’s hard to know exactly what to make of Grimes because I don’t think we have enough data to confidently say the 3PT shot will inevitably come around. It’s definitely good to see him developing offensive weapons outside of it, though while the up-and-unders look cool he needs a few more moves at the rim.

    It’s probably just not gonna happen here for Obi. People can apportion the blame for that as they see best fit, but at this point it’s hard to argue against a trade for a similarly out-of-place young player like Duarte or Bey. I think there’s upside there that might be unlocked elsewhere but I can’t be too harsh on anyone involved right now. Randle is legitimately playing like an all-star and Obi isn’t forcing the issue with his play (there’s probably some blame apportioning to be done on that front, too).

    My biggest concern with RJ right now is that he doesn’t look good playing with the 2nd unit. That’s his time to shine and he doesn’t, instead it’s been IQ & Hartenstein looking like standouts.

    Grimes has a collection of skills that ALMOST adds up to a nice player, but there are frustrating caveats to all of his strengths. Good point of attack defender BUT a little on the small side. Promising three point shooter, form looks good BUT doesn’t have the 3PT% you need from him. Good burst with the ball BUT doesn’t have great ball skills so the burst is limited in its effectiveness. Reasonably efficient scorer BUT with low usage.

    He was a pretty solid pick for a late first rounder, and should be in the league for a good long while but I don’t think our search for a quality starting 2 is over.

    Really vexing to watch Randle, who is ostensibly campaigning for an all-star spot( and was endorsed by Knick disliker Hollinger)on national TV play in such a fog.

    I’m way less worried about Grimes than some. I agree he’s a bit on the small side, and may never be a truly high-end quality starter at the 2. But he’s also extremely young and inexperienced, and he is adding skills at a slow but noticeable rate.

    The fact that he can be clanking his threes and still brings clear upside to the game is a sign that he’s a keeper. No clue what his ceiling is, but his floor is pretty shiny.

    On a related note, I feel similarly disinclined to worry about Sims. I keep thinking back to Mitch and what an amazing and idiotic athletic marvel he was early on. Sims is a slightly different animal, able to guard 1-5, and already has taken (and missed) more jump shots than Mitch ever has. But what he has can’t be taught, and what he’s missing can.

    It was a bad game, but hey it’s only one game, so let’s keep going. And let’s win against the Heat, if we want to battle for the 6th seed.

    The Pistons’ blog listed above, among other things, says this about Bey and a trade with the Knicks.

    Would it be as simple as Cam Reddish for Saddiq Bey and the rights to Detroit’s heavily-protected future first-round pick back? Is that too much for Bey?
    Would the Knicks want more than Bey just to stock up their cupboard? Would the Knicks want some more bench depth they’ve used previously? The vibes I get are that they don’t love Isaiah Hartenstein. Would they swap Noel, who has a team option for next season and played 20 minutes per game for New York last season for Hartenstein and his two guaranteed years remaining on his deal?

    Missed the game. Checking the box and threads here.

    Happy to hear of IQ and Hart’s success. Not really surprised by our mercurial RJ.

    Sims? Started. 13 minutes and four fouls. Oof.

    Can’t wait for Mitch to return.

    I wasn’t saying Grimes had a great game but he put a floor under his performance with four really dynamic plays. 3 point shooting is high variance.

    Randle was not good on defense last night. AD dwarfs him. It’s kind of remarkable.

    One thing not mentioned is Sims. Thibs put him into cold storage last night and I can understand why. He seemed lost on defense in the first half. Undisputed physical gifts – he won the tip with ease against AD – but hasn’t learned how to anchor a defense quite yet.

    Also, it’s hard to have perspective but I thought the refs were distinctly unhelpful last night. I could not believe they reversed the goaltending call. The ball looked on one angle to be clearly coming down.

    Obi had a bucket and three and an incredibly stupid foul on Lebron. He’s just not a good defender. I honestly think he could average 20/8 no problem if you gave him 30 minutes and some leash in an uptempo offense. What’s that worth exactly I don’t know. He is the guy to trade clearly but we seem to have destroyed any value he might have.

    Edit: Didnt realize Sims had four fouls. We clearly couldn’t use him again with four fouls.

    Well, we can’t trade for Noel for the same reason we can’t trade for Burks, so that one is off the table.

    Don’t know that I like Bey enough to give away even a protected 1st for him. I don’t have a good sense on what he’s worth though.

    Hartenstein is of the table unless we find another C, even if he cools off.

    ———————-

    I do think Sims figures it out eventually and has 3 or 4 good years, but he’s starting much later than Mitch did and I don’t know if his athletic gift baseline translates as well as Mitch’s shot blocking did.

    Last night’s loss was frustrating and all, but we are still 2 games above .500 and just beat BOS and CLE. Say what you want about the Lakers, they were desperate, have 3 HOFers, and some of their scrubs like Christie, Brown and Hachimura hit big shots in an overtime loss. I would guess that fans of some other teams are largely doing the same hot-take after every excruciating loss tango.

    Obviously the drop-off from Mitch to Hart/Sims is pretty steep, and our defense is very Mitch-dependent. Randle is a #2 trying to be a #1, and so is Brunson…which means we are going to lose lots of games when the other team’s #1 is way better than our #2s. RJ is maddening in multiple ways, but we’re stuck with him for now. We lack size on the perimeter. We lack scoring off the bench. We lack a coach with an imaginative approach to offense.

    It’s frustrating, for sure. But we have LOTS of company around the league in many regards, and while some of those teams have the advantage of a true star e.g. DAL, POR, we have a reasonable combination of stability (Randle, RJ, Brunson, Mitch all signed for several years on “reasonable” deals), young players with upside (IQ, Grimes, maybe Obi) and flexibility (draft picks, ways to create cap space in a pinch.)

    Four of the biggest stumbling blocks heading into last offseason have been overcome. 1) Randle is playing over and above his contract; 2) Brunson was acquired at minimal cost, ending our forever quest for a legit starting PG; 3) Mitch was retained on a descending contract that can be kept or easily moved if necessary; 4) Grimes and IQ are getting major minutes while Fournier and Rose are getting none.

    The RJ extension seems like a setback, but he’s 22 and maybe this benching is a wake-up call for all involved.

    IQ has been a revelation. Grimes has shown signs. Hart is disappointing but showing some signs that he can become valuable as a backup down the stretch when Mitch comes back. Deuce and Sims are whatever, but fine as second rounders go.

    If we can go 4-4 in the 8 games pre-ASB, then get Mitch back, we should be well positioned for a stretch run. Tomorrow’s game vs. the Heat should be a good measuring stick. They’ve been on a nice run and we’re pretty desperate for a home win.

    Well, we can’t trade for Noel for the same reason we can’t trade for Burks, so that one is off the table.

    Yeah, you’re right. The guy from the Pistons’ blog doesn’t know the CBA rules and i need some coffee, it seems. 😉
    Would that pick net us Bojan? Fournier, Cam and the DET pick for Bojan and Saddiq works, money wise.

    Re: Grimes, one encouraging thing for me is that on that late reverse he finished adeptly with his left hand. He almost always finishes with his right even when he goes left, so that move gave me hope that he can develop his left.

    “Would that pick net us Bojan? Fournier, Cam and the DET pick for Bojan and Saddiq works, money wise.”

    I doubt it. Bojan is a great shooter and someone would probably outbid us on that protected pick.

    Kelly Olynyk and Saben Lee landed Bojan earlier this year, then Saben Lee was cut. So, maybe?

    But the bigger issue is that Bojan is 33 and another terrible defender.

    I doubt it. Bojan is a great shooter and someone would probably outbid us on that protected pick.

    The pick is valuable to the Pistons, exactly. It becomes an unprotected 2023 pick instantly, and lets Pistons deal picks in 2025 and 2027 that weren’t available because of the protections. They switch from being able to only trade their 2029 pick, to be able to trade all their future picks (max: 4).

    For all of Ainge’s savvy, that Bojan trade confused the hell out of me. I mean he got basically nothing, and now the Pistons seem poised to get a legit first without Bojan having done anything unexpected. He’s good now and he was good when Ainge traded him.

    But the bigger issue is that Bojan is 33 and another terrible defender.

    He goes to the bench, just like Saddiq. Maybe allowing us to move Obi for something, and Saddiq/Bojan become the reserve forwards behind RJ and Randle. It also allows us to get back to a more sane 10-man rotation.

    “For all of Ainge’s savvy, that Bojan trade confused the hell out of me. I mean he got basically nothing, and now the Pistons seem poised to get a legit first without Bojan having done anything unexpected. He’s good now and he was good when Ainge traded him.”

    Same. He must really love Olynyk.

    RJ seems like the next Caris Lavert where teams are convinced hes the missing wing piece for a contender but actually isnt that good.

    anyone else notice that the percent of plays where randle throws a you left the toilet seat up again look at a teammate seems to have gone from like 10pct to 70pct? only brunson (and presumably rose) are immune. i can’t help but wonder if some of them are starting to hate him a little. maybe it’s not as bad as it looks on teevee, though it was def salient in the one game i saw irl.

    I wasn’t close enough to Randle to get a sense of the body language. That last play of regulation definitely caused some body language on my end though.

    I don’t think Randle is ever going to be the guy that other guys dream of playing with. Seems pretty clear.

    Randle kind of gives me that Demarcus Cousins vibe, always pissed off at the refs, his teammates, etc.

    My guess is he wouldn’t finish very high in the Mr. Congeniality pageant

    Randle fancies himself a leader. He’s pretty much the polar opposite thereof.

    “But the bigger issue is that Bojan is 33 and another terrible defender.”

    “It also allows us to get back to a more sane 10-man rotation.”

    Another way to think about this is to consider Deuce and Fournier. Fournier is an excellent shooter and is relatively good at some other aspects of offense, but is a terrible defender. Deuce is a fantastic defender, if a tad short, but (at the moment anyway) literally cannot hit the ocean from a rowboat with a basketball.

    But Deuce plays, and Fournier sits.

    That tells you everything you need to know about Thibs’ proclivities.

    Rohan Nadkarni, excellent SI.com NBA writer, has an OGA story today about six “fun” potential destinations, ranked. Knicks rank 4. Top 3 — Grizzlies, Suns, Warriors.

    “The Knicks are reportedly interested in Anunoby and have the draft capital to make things interesting. Would this be the best destination for O.G.? I would personally rather see him on a team closer to winning a championship. The strategy of trying to acquire good players is a solid one for the Knicks, though. The Jalen Brunson–led squad has been frisky, and watching Anunoby and R.J. Barrett get after it defensively would be fun. (*) Would this move get the Knicks out of the first round of the playoffs? I’m not so sure.”

    (*) When we get outside various factional components of the Knick fanbase cocoon, this is in fact RJ’s reputation and it’s quite proper. An RJ/OG 2/3 combo at least gets the positions and the size/length rightsized.

    Saddiq Bey isn’t going to save the franchise or anything, but he’s not a bad player. He’ll help the team more than Cam Reddish, who has racked up dozens and dozens of DNP-CDs from a multitude of coaches since entering the league, while Bey has played in every single game that his team has ever played. That has value in-and-of itself.

    Hey E, the excellent writer says RJ is good, so he’s right about that. And what about him saying our strategy is solid? Is he also right on that one?

    The amount of commentary about OG is wildly disproportionate but he must feel amazing lately.

    Yeah, it’s like going fishing. OG is the fish we caught, but he is being talked about like he is the fish that we SAID we caught. 😀

    In Katz’s article, the paragraph immediately after the one about IQ’s defensive rating differential being league best is the following:

    “The numbers are extreme for reasons beyond his abilities. He often subs in for a subpar defender, which contributes to the giant swing. He’s particularly important for the way the Knicks scheme, too.”

    That subpar defender most likely being referenced is RJ, which is who IQ most often subs in for. It could be Brunson as well, but mostly it’s RJ. Although obviously being on the court with Deuce rather than Brunson must also help his defensive numbers…

    “The strategy of trying to acquire good players is a solid one”

    Yeah, I much prefer that to the strategy of acquiring bad players

    The thing I like most about THCJ’s less-frequent posting is that I don’t have to look at his ugly avatar as much…

    Me when Z-Man expresses concern about having to at the Livia Soprano avatar:

    “Poor you!”

    I know Brady says he’s retiring again but since my sports fandom is doomed I just know Mark Davis and Josh McDaniels are going to trade two first round picks for him, it’s a virtual certainty

    “That subpar defender most likely being referenced is RJ, which is who IQ most often subs in for. It could be Brunson as well, but mostly it’s RJ. Although obviously being on the court with Deuce rather than Brunson must also help his defensive numbers…”

    If you notice, both RJ and Brunson don’t have particularly good on/off numbers. The Brunson numbers are disappointing. If you look at Brunson, he had good on/off numbers for Dallas where he was often substituting for Doncic (another suspect defender).

    Multiple things are probably at work, but my eye test tells me Brunson tries hard but guys can shoot over him, RJ has just been bad, Quick is a plus on multiple level, and Deuce is plus by hounding guys and taking seconds off the clock.

    Gotta say. I’m a little torn on RJ sitting to end the game and I can kind of understand why he’s pissed.

    Yes he played like crap and probably lt needs his ego to get checked a little bit.

    But also he shot poorly in the Celtics game too and then hit the go ahead three and sank two free throws to win the game for us. So he should have the coach’s trust to some degree to close our games.

    Twitter generally seems to think it was the shitty defense that got him benched. Also hard to to argue with.

    I don’t think RJ’s 3 against the Celtics should outweigh the 4 years of data indicating he’s not that good. Your point would be stronger if it were actually the case that the law of averages indicated his shitty 27 minutes were anomalous, but there was in fact every reason to believe he would continue to not play well if given more time.

    I’ll repeat that I’m not fully out on him, but I’m not sure how many “development” minutes he’s entitled to after 4 years of subpar play with *younger* players who play the same (or at least a similar) position on the roster.

    Looking at the situation objectively, 27 minutes seems like plenty.

    Funny thing is I had no idea who that “guy” was…

    Oh, Z-Man. Oh, no. My kingdom for the ability to post a dozen Sopranos gifs right now!

    Twitter generally seems to think it was the shitty defense that got him benched. Also hard to to argue with.

    This is the play before RJ got pulled:
    https://go.nba.com/rq4h5

    In case the link doesn’t work, because Ive had issues with NBA.com short links, it’s RJ getting caught on the same Anthony Davis screen at least 3 times before letting Westbrook get into the middle of the paint and dish to Brown. He spends the whole play at least 5 feet away from Westbrook.

    ________________________________

    For good measure here’s RJ earlier in the quarter letting Russ blow by him:
    https://go.nba.com/8e33s

    At least he manages to recover and make it all the way to the FT line by the time Russ is at the rim making the layup.

    If RJ is going to be a negative defender (which he is this year as far I am concerned) I think you have to try to trade him.

    If we go back to before he was drafted, the main questions about him in my mind were related to outside shooting and defense. IMO, he looked like a plus passer and rebounder to me for a guy playing SG/SF and also a pretty good scorer inside.

    Then when started playing, his defense was better than I feared, he seemed to be taking it seriously, and was improving. That was a major risk that looked to be behind him. So I was sitting here waiting for the playmaking/rebounding to blossom quickly while we waited several years for his shot and shot selection to improve.

    But a funny thing happened along the way.

    His shot selection didn’t improve.

    He wasn’t able to finish as well against taller, longer, more athletic players as I thought.

    His passing skills (which I still think he has) took a back seat to him getting his shots off and stupid goals like 20 PPG and being an all star .

    His defense slid back to negative.

    Right now he’s be a bench rotation player for most other teams in the NBA. The only reason he’s getting the benefit of the doubt in NY is because he was drafted 3rd and you can see some talent there, but without good D, I’d move on.

    While I’m going over video I reviewed, here’s RJ’s 2 assists last night:

    (1) https://go.nba.com/eqgoi – This one has RJ throw a pass to Randle in the high post, Randle proceeds to casually square to the basket, make a soft jab step, and then hit a jumper.

    (2) https://go.nba.com/rd3qn – And here RJ makes the right read but throws the ball at Brunson’s feet.

    So yeah, even the things RJ did right were uninspiring.

    The first one, I don’t know, doesnt seem that egregious. AD is a lot of man out there. But the second one he kind of seems like he is moving in slow motion.

    i’m sorry why wouldn’t you want to be 5 feet away from westbrook at all times? that’s commonly how he’s guarded…

    for reference here’s a bunch of plays from some of our ‘stronger’ perimeter defenders:

    grimes burned on a routine swing:
    https://go.nba.com/rfbut

    IQ obliterated by westbrook on a complete iso (which is what happens when you get in his grill)…
    https://go.nba.com/ihb74

    and there’s more…. when the opponent scores 127 points there’s going to be lots of lapses and things not happening on defense because that’s generally more than one guy being deficient… if you need to blame one person you should be looking at both sims and ihart.. and to an extent randle because they are going to see the lions share of challenges close to the rim…

    more or less though this is pretty normal… you can probably point to a dozen or more times this happens to the lakers the other way too… defense is hard in the nba especially with the rules now…

    which is why picking out these plays for RJ is a bit unfair to him… if you shine the same light on someone else you will see very similar things if you pay attention…(and that second replay isn’t even bad defense)

    All the OG talk is interesting. The Knicks are going to give up a lot for him. Question is, what’s his ceiling? The baseline is that he’s a top-notch perimeter defender that can nail a 3 point shot. Is he an all-star? Can he be? Frankly, if we replaced RJ with OG this team is much better than before. I’m fine with RJ being on the 2nd team at this point. Mitch, Randle, OG, Grimes, Brunson. I guess you can improve but how much without an all-NBA type player.

    I didn’t see last nights game. I do sense unwarranted anger. The Knicks took AD, LeBron and Westbrook into OT. The Knicks are not as good as any team with those three – no matter how discombobulated they are right now. I chalked this one as a loss before tip-off.

    LeBron and AD are great, Westbrook is a shell of himself and the entire rest of the roster is hot garbage.

    No excuse for losing to that group at home.

    Someone mentioned RJ got pulled for bad defense… and those weren’t exactly great. I wouldn’t pull him for either one individually. But add those on top of not hitting shots and IQ having a very good game, then it makes more sense.

    I don’t think being 5ft away from Russ is a bad thing. I do think being 5ft away from him and still letting him get into the paint is a bad thing.

    Two fun facts about two of our centers, courtesy of a story on the Blazers in The Ringer:

    “Eubanks ranks second in field goal percentage (83.8 percent), behind only Jericho Sims (84 percent), according to Second Spectrum.”

    and

    “In contrast, Nurkic ranks second to worst at the rim (60.3 percent), ahead of only Isaiah Hartenstein (57.7 percent).”

    The yin to our yang…

    if you noticed RJ has been on the 2nd unit part of the rotations ever since he came back…. he played a chunk of the 4th against the nets.. of which he was probably our best player that game… and then sat until the last 2 minutes….

    similar thing happened yesterday only he didn’t get put back in… thibs tends to ride the hot hand… it’s not the first time it happened to rj… in fact with as many stinkers he’s put up this year and in any given year it’s happened quite frequently….

    i know why folks thinks it’s a big deal.. and want to read tea leaves and such… but it’s really not… IQ was having his own difficulties against westbrook early on but was making shots in the second half so he got the call… it’s not the first time that happened either….

    The team that beat us in Brooklyn the other night just gave up 79 points to the Celtics in the first half.

    Draft Kings odds are -500 that OG gets traded by the deadline (implying 83.3% chance). Second most likely only to Crowder.

    Great pieces, Alan. You had me at “Columbo” – and your smart line about the calcification of the series format storytelling. (With a few obvious exceptions)

    My 82 year old mother told me I needed to buy a TV and watch Poker Face on it.

    I watched the first episode last night and have been on the fence whether to watch another or not. But since Alan seems to have hit Rolling Stone’s Ted Nelson character limit on it, I will match a fraction of his time and watch episode two.

    I’d also say I’m on the fence about Poker Face. I enjoy parts of it but I don’t know how I feel about the reveal before the detective work. I know it’s a tried format, I just don’t think it grips me the same way.

    I’ll also agree with Alan’s take that the binge release of 4 episodes did it a disservice. The anticipation and allowing time to process each mystery would add a lot. When there’s a new episode immediately, you don’t get a chance to appreciate the nuance of when she’s able to call BS and when she can’t call BS. Some of them are more subtle than others.

    So I’m gonna see how the weekly releases hit me.

    I’m still generally high on RJ and the season he is having, but it’s frustrating when he puts together a goose egg like he did against the Lakers.

    LeBron and AD are great, Westbrook is a shell of himself and the entire rest of the roster is hot garbage.

    No excuse for losing to that group at home.

    We will disagree about that.

    That shell of a player put up 17 Pts, 6 Reb and 8 Ast in 16 minutes off the bench. Westbrook is not a fit in the Laker starting lineup. Yes, he’s not what he once was.

    If you think that the Knicks (who have trouble winning at home) should have beaten the Lakers then you are irrationally valuing the talent on the team.

    walker kessler has started 16 games and has as many blocks as rudy gobert and clint capela combined

    Apparently Cam was complaining about his role before he got perma-benched. Based on how he dogged it that last game he played, he doesn’t seem willing to play the 3&D role.

    If he’s not willing to play that role, I think it makes a lot more sense to keep him on the bench. He’s never shown he’s capable of being more than a 3&D player… and he’s barely shown he can do that.

    I believe Begley broke the story.

    Go Ny Go – we were 2 point favorites vs the Lakers. Not overwhelming, but the oddsmakers obviously don’t think much of the Lakers either.

    Chat openai.bot weighs in on RJB
    There is data to suggest that RJ Barrett should not be starting for the NY Knicks at this time.

    Firstly, his offensive efficiency is lacking compared to the league average for shooting guards. In the 2022-2023 season, he is shooting just 42.2% from the field and 30.6% from beyond the arc, while the league average for shooting guards is 45.1% and 36.3%, respectively.

    Additionally, his advanced metrics are not supporting his case for a starting role. His player efficiency rating (PER) of 12.3 is well below the league average of 15 for his position. His value over replacement player (VORP) of -0.4 also indicates that he is not providing significant value to the team compared to a replacement player.

    Furthermore, his defense has been lackluster as well. He has a defensive real plus-minus (DRPM) of -1.36, which ranks in the 27th percentile among shooting guards, per ESPN.

    While Barrett has potential and has shown flashes of being a solid player, the current data suggests that starting him may not be the best decision for the Knicks.

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