[news.google.com] — Monday, February 13, 2023 6:00:00 AM
Disgruntled Boston Celtics guard could be shopped for disgruntled Knicks big in offseason Hardwood Houdini
[news.google.com] — Monday, February 13, 2023 5:14:00 AM
Josh Hart’s addition to Knicks lineup comes at expense of youngsters New York Post
[news.google.com] — Monday, February 13, 2023 3:47:41 AM
Nets vs. Knicks: Start time, where to watch, what’s the latest Hoops Hype
[news.google.com] — Monday, February 13, 2023 3:23:14 AM
Knicks vs Nets Pick ? NBA Predictions & Odds 2/13/23 Sports Chat Place
[news.google.com] — Monday, February 13, 2023 2:06:00 AM
Nets vs Knicks Picks & Odds (Feb. 13) Sports Betting Dime
[news.google.com] — Monday, February 13, 2023 12:24:02 AM
Nets at Knicks Prediction – NBA Picks 2/13/23 Pick Dawgz
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 9:30:00 PM
New York Notes: Rose, Robinson, Hart, Brunson, Thomas, Simmons hoopsrumors.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 8:27:00 PM
Knicks’ Josh Hart credits baseball days, link to Yankees legend for rebounding skills New York Post
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 6:10:57 PM
Super Bowl Sunday: Jalen Brunson is the enemy, for one night only Posting and Toasting
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 5:42:17 PM
Hart’s Hot Start: Newest Knick Sees ‘Home’ in New York Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 4:41:53 PM
905 Return to Win Column with Victory over Knicks OurSports Central
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 4:02:58 PM
Brooklyn Nets vs New York Knicks Prediction, 2/13/2023 Preview and Pick Doc’s Sports
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 4:02:10 PM
Knicks seeking first win vs. Nets since 2020 | Fieldlevel … Gwinnettdailypost.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 2:55:12 PM
Mikal Bridges ready to face former Villanova teammates in new twist … AMNY
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 2:46:26 PM
Brooklyn Nets vs. New York Knicks Prediction, Preview, and Odds … Winners and Whiners
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 11:02:00 AM
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson dominates again after All-Star snub New York Post
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 10:47:00 AM
Knicks Notes: Hart, McBride, Grimes, Brunson hoopsrumors.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 9:50:06 AM
Knicks’ Isaiah Hartenstein: Secures 14 rebounds CBS Sports
[news.google.com] — Sunday, February 12, 2023 8:00:00 AM
Surefire to Long Shot: Ranking chance of 7 NBA stars landing with Knicks Daily Knicks
56 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.02.13)”
Tonight should be interesting. The revamped Nets are deeper and more versatile than we are, and Cam Thomas could go off yet again. But we have arguably the two best players on the court in Randle and Brunson. Would like to get at least one of these last two games before the break.
It’s a big, big game. We haven’t beat the Nets in forever and they are 3 games up on us in the standings.
More generally, the 6 spot is there for the taking and the 5 spot is well within reach and we play Miami 3 times after the break. Atlanta is crawling up our ass, so a loss will really hurt. It would suck to go into the all-star break in 8th place, which is what will happen if we lose these next two. OTOH, if we can win both and then get Mitch back after the break, that would be huge!
At the very least, getting this one tonight would be massive.
BTW Alan, how’s your health? Hopefully 2023 is unfolding better than last year.
Ups and downs, Z-man. Thanks for asking. I will continue to say, though, what an extraordinary break it was to be hanging on a Knicks blog where another regular works with the exact surgeon I needed to deal with the problem. So thanks once again, Frank! And thanks, perpetually frustrating basketball franchise!
Glad to hear about the ups, not so much about the downs! Sounds like your recovery is paralleling the Knicks season! Hopefully both will enter the spring on a sustained positive run. PS it’s pretty impressive how much work product you have put out under the circumstances.
Seems like Portland committed a significant bargaining infraction in the GPII swap by not disclosing the extent of that injury. I wonder if the league will a) force POR to give an second rounder or something to GSW and b) will heavily fine POR.
Agree with Z-Man and my best wishes for continued progress.
Very interested to see how the game goes tonight. The Nets have almost too many decent players. The rotation is kind of unwieldy. Lord Sumner didn’t play in the last game. Yuta seems like a useful player and he got 5 minutes. Sharpe isn’t as good as Claxton but I would think he would rate more than 3 minutes. I know very little about the team but it has to be one of the more interesting coaching challenges in the NBA right now.
My grandpa always said “we must have a doctor in the family at all times”, being that he was the one until my aunt/godmother followed his steps. This probably means that KB is indeed a family and Frank is our saviour. 🙂
Like Z-Man said i hope you and the Knicks can go on a positive run, Alan, but if i had to choose only one, i’d choose you. We’ve just endured 20+ years of dreadful basketball, what’s one more, right? 😀
Re: Nets, I agree that they have lots of difficult decisions, but once they gel they could be a handful for anyone. Here’s the main 9-man rotation they used in their loss to PHI:
Starters: DFS, Cam Johnson, Mikal, Claxton, Dinwiddie
Bench: Royce, Simmons, Harris, Cam Thomas
That rotation matches up well with anything we throw out there, and if they want to go bigger they can fold in Sharpe and Wantanabe. Maybe Jacque does some mix and match stuff to stave off resentment until after the ASB. But they have a ton of versatile wings who can go en fuego on any given night…including Dinwiddie who is more like a small wing than a PG.
It’s a nice toolkit for a creative coach…not sure about Vaughn but they have at least a chance to retool very quickly and to be a handful for anyone in the first round or play-in, wherever they wind up. And next year could be a banner year for them if they make the right moves.
Would really love to see Yuta (or Max Strus) in a Knicks jersey next year at the MLE…
Yesterday Doogie asked me “@Poindexter re: As a Marylander, the Knicks have made my inner Old Bay Seasoning smile- as I just noticed that Hart is also from MD like Quickley is. I actually once lived maybe 7 minutes away from where Hart went to high school at in MD.
Which high school are you referring to? I imagine you mean Wheaton. He also went to Sidwell Friends in DC.”
Sorry I missed it. It was me and my son’s birthday on Saturday and I was still running around like a madman on Sunday lol. I was talkin about Wheaton. I used to live in Aspen Hill around the time my sons were born. Good ol’ Georgia Ave lol. Well..I lived off of GA Ave anyways. I also lived in the infamous Mayfair Mansions in NE DC when I was a student at UDC a lifetime ago lol. What a time to be alive then. Go-Go shows at the Armory…NE Groovers and R.E. pool parties. My sons’ mother went to school with one of Sugar Bear’s daughters so I went to a few of his cookouts and whatnot too. Good times. Because of my time in DC, I still love NB 574’s to this day bruh
I have to imagine this will not be close to the Nets roster next season. They’ll trade off several pieces in the summer — rumor has it, NOLA offered them 3-4 first round picks for Mikal, which might be too much to pass up, given all the other wings on the roster — bring in a real point guard, etc. But for right now, they’re fascinating. It’s obviously not a better team without the two superstars, but it’s also a team that seems like it’s going to be handful every night. Marks did really well for himself under terrible circumstances — just like he did when he took the job.
i dont think the connection really means much… at this juncture at least…. that connection would’ve been in place in the offseason too… it’s just we have the privilege to pay whatever market rate is without having to clear contracts and we’re actually just more committed to that outcome at this point because god forbid we change our minds and decide that jae crowder or bruce brown was a better deal…
sean marks is the rare breed of gm that has earned the right to rebuild that squad twice…. and that’s cause they do value every decision no matter where they are on the win curve…. and i know we like to yuck it up at their past and recent misfortunes… but they’ve had more success than us despite getting more buried by a prior regime than anything isaiah did….
what they have right now are some interesting pieces but i dont’ think it’s going to be easy converting those into something meaningful…. simmons being the elephant in the room…. and not controlling any of their draft picks being another but it’s going to be fascinating seeing this rebuild….
At anytime during the last few decades, what would our reaction have been if someone told us that Knicks roster consists of the following:
Pros:
* 28yr old 2X All-Star and All-NBA talent locked up on a cheap contract
* 26yr old All Star level guard locked up on a cheap contract.
* 22yr old 20 point a game scorer extended on a cheap contract.
* 24yr old top ten defensive center extended on a cheap contract
* 22yr old starting NBA level 3&D guard
* 23yr old swiss army two way guard who can create own shot, defend and shoot at an elite level with evident talent to be our best player.
* 24yr old backup center who can be a starter on most teams.
* 24yr old elite open court athletic wing
* 27yr old high character guard that leads the NBA in rebounding, is ready to do all the dirty work and whatever is necessary for team success.
* ~6 1st round picks in the next three years.
Cons:
*Roster lacks a 3&D wing sniper with size.
*Entire rotation is young and lacks experience on winning close games down the stretch.
*Roster lacks a true top ten alpha player to finish games in absence of experience.
Think it’s time we just enjoy being fans, root, cheer, talk smack, and dare to hope for a Cinderella playoff run.
* 22yr old 20 point a game scorer extended on a cheap contract
Quite a bullet point!
Excited for tonight’s game. Some players I am looking to see how they do include Grimes, Hart, and RJ against those Net’s wings. Tough test for them. I hope Grimes starts to shoot better!
Alan: meant to say great article a few weeks back on Cunk on Earth. What a hilarious show. Pump up the Jam.
Director, love your list, but outside of Owen’s point, who’s the backup center who can start on most teams?
Also, a pretty big con is: Two extremely low-IQ starters who frequently stupid the team out of leads and into deficits.
(Although kudos to Randle for being half as stupid as he’s been; although Barrett is working hard to make up for that…)
I’m still struggling with the cognitive dissonance of being near the top of the league in low turnovers with those two on the team. It must be that nobody else ever turns the ball over!
I would posit that you think Randle is low IQ bc of last season and you’re probably honing in on his mistakes more because of it.
Other all-stars on other teams turn the ball over too or argue calls or make boneheaded plays from time to time. It’s part of being the main usage guy on a team.
We gotta make the playoffs first but a cinderella run is totally within our reach. And by “run” I mean winning one series and being competitive in the second round. But if we face Miami, Cleveland and Philly, I think we got a shot with them. Bucks and Celtics would be much harder, obviously.
But the thing is…Brunson has been on that stage before and proven he belongs. Randle will be hungry to prove the doubters wrong. And as much as RJ has struggled this season, we’ve seen him put together a streak of games where he’s looked really good. If he can time that for the playoffs and everyone else plays to their abilities, we could surprise some teams. Conversely, though our record right now isn’t much different than our record was 2 seasons ago, I like this team’s chances of making noise in the playoffs much more than that team’s.
One person’s “cheap contract” is another person’s “market value contract.”
We don’t have a lot of guys vastly over performing their “cheap contracts” which is why we’re hovering around .500. If we had so many productive players on “cheap contracts” we’d be a whole lot better than we are.
I will say this about this year’s team: this year’s team seems much less smoke-and-mirrors than the playoff team from two years ago. The talent base of this team is better.
Walkeretc., I think you’re partially right. But I also think there’s a real high quality (if absurdist humor is your standard) to the Randle turnovers that make them stand out. There’s “Ooh, well that could happen to anybody” turnovers, like seeing Thybulle reach in and pick Brunson’s pocket on a drive. And then there’s unforced errors like jump-passing to the other team. Where you get a jump pass, AND a pass to the other team. Like a two-fer.
But as I mentioned, last year it seemed to happen 4-5 times a game, and this year it seems 1-3 times. (That’s a made-up eye-test stat, for those who thought I might have done some real research…)
And honestly, given Randle’s otherwise pretty spectacular season, I can live with that.
I don’t think of Julius as a low IQ player in the traditional sense eg newly departed Cam, DSmithJr, etc. I think he reads the game well on the whole until the emotions take over his judgement. Keeping them in check most of the time has been the key to his resurgence. But do agree that he probably has the most low IQ plays on the team by a considerable margin.
***Seems like Portland committed a significant bargaining infraction in the GPII swap by not disclosing the extent of that injury. I wonder if the league will a) force POR to give an second rounder or something to GSW and b) will heavily fine POR.***
Wasn’t it written here that acquiring Payton was going to cost Golden State $70,000,000 in luxury tax?
I can’t see how Portland giving them a 2nd round pick balances that out. Or a league fine.
The trade should have been rescinded, but because it involved two other teams and completed so close to the deadline, I see why it couldn’t be. Seems like the only fair recourse is to not charge Golden State the $70,000,000 in tax if Payton can’t play. (And then deal with punishing Portland separately).
Bernie, 100% agree. Spot on. Randle is not necessarily a low IQ player but rather low on emotional intelliegence (EQ). Once he gets rattled, the propensity to error magnifies. This is just lack of experience. Same with all the other players. It’s why we have subpar to terrible offensive and defensive posessions in a heghtened emotional enviroment down the stretch. Coaching hasn’t been helpful but adding jHart will help as hustle often overcomes mistakes.
Brunson has only played two half seasons as a starter in this league. While he has played on highest NCAA stage and WC finals last year, JB is a little on the green side too.
I think Brunson, Randle, Mitch, IQ, and Grimes are all outperforming their contracts to varying degrees. The reason we’re not better is because we counterbalance that with contracts in the gutter value wise.
Whatever one thinks of RJ’s future, I don’t think anyone would make the case that he’s not presently a value drain. Then of course we have the 7-9 year max slot going to Rose and Fournier, who do not play.
BernieEarnie and Director, great analysis, and I stand corrected.
I won’t try the same dive with RJ, because he just makes me sad.
I think Hartenstein could start for teams in this league. He’s been good lately.
IQ apparently is leading the league by a wide margin in Defensive Raptor. I don’t know what the stat is worth but if we lose IQ because of RJ it will be a very heavy price.
https://twitter.com/IQfor3/status/1625183021887373327
I can see us fielding a 46-8 win team. Which isn’t terrible! But we are a long way from contention.
Hi Raven, I was refering Hartenstein. Kid struggled early with new limited offensive role and health but clearly figured it out now.
Similar to IQ. His tool box versatility is elite at the center position. IMO, he’ll be an average starting NBA center, if he’s not already there. Thibs just being Thibs with starting Sims, who btw is also a decent center in current role. I don’t have any rim protection stats for last ~15 game since he got healthy to back my eye test but his offensive rebounding has been elite all season.
https://twitter.com/mikeygrogins_/status/1624565325256687618?s=20
One of my favorite things he does in this role are his screens to prevent the big shot block help defender on those JB and RJ drives to the rim. Its often clumsy looking in part by JB herky jerky movements but very very effective. IQ has been benefiting from it too now. This is why they often lay it in unconstested.
Also, the weakside close out back screens for open corner threes on drive and kicks often go undetected and underapricated by most journalist & fans.
“The trade should have been rescinded, but because it involved two other teams and completed so close to the deadline, I see why it couldn’t be.”
Actually it seems like GSW could have backed out or at least litigated it but chose not to because GPII legitimately did not pass his physical, which is required for trades to be approved. Also sounds like they are pushing the league for additional compensation. However it turns out, I can’t imagine that the league isn’t going to penalize POR in some way.
I have noticed Hartenstein setting some really effective bone-crunching screens in recent games. I love a good screen, it’s one of the reasons I have an irrational love of Al Horford.
i think the sustainable part has a large part to do with Brunson… who’s breakout was mostly inline with anyone who’s been following his career… altho to this extent was probably beyond anyone’s imagination…
some of the other parts do seem ‘smokey’ to me tho…. Randle in particular concerns me as some numbers have been getting out of whack (unassisted 2pfg,.. 3par) and some particularly hot shooting in floater range… it sort of points to what the eye test has been showing.. that he’s been reverting to some old habits but is shooting well in some high variance areas to mask some of that…. we’ll see if the other shoe drops.. if ever… he might be just mastering that turnaround and hook shots in the paint area but i’m a bit dubious….
Mitch has been great and another cornerstone and reliable player… IQ has mostly been fine but he has similar concerns with floater numbers which could absolutely continue the rest of the year but maybe not beyond that… Grimes has shown exactly what an overreliance on 3pt’ers can bring when you don’t shoot those well enough… and we all know about RJ’s struggles…. everyone else has mostly been vaporware…
the main difference is that folks like burks… noel… bullock and payton/rose are not doing the heavy lifting anymore which is a step up but you have to ask yourself if the hart deal signals a shift in that thinking….
I think keeping Hart with the reserves is the smart move. At least for now. Hopefully Grimes can start hitting 3’s more consistently and be a good fit with the starters. But, having Hart’s energy off the bench can help the team! I would like to see some plays for Grimes coming off screens, etc.
I think that you can make a “glass half empty/glass half full” argument for every player and contract on our roster, except maybe for Brunson although his D is not a plus.
For example, Randle is vastly outperforming the $24.7M he’s getting paid this year and there is little reason to believe that his production is unsustainable (unless you think his floater game is an illusion…I dont, he was documenting specifically working on them all summer.) But it’s not unreasonable to think that his value in a trade is limited by both the PTSD of 2021-22 and his questionable value as an alpha or co-alpha.
Still, the larger point of Director’s bullet-point analysis is that:
1) we are pretty good and generally playing inspired, drama-free team basketball.
2) we are devoid of contracts that hamper further improvement and have contracts that could be assets
3) there is further room for internal development of young players
4) there are considerable assets for opportunistic trades and cap maneuverability
As to what that means, these next 24 games will say a lot about where we are positioned relative to our future, barring injury of course. If we go:
14-10, we end up at 45-37, probably a 5 or 6 seed.
10-14 we end up at 41-42, probably a 9 or 10 seed
12-12 we end up at 43-39, probably a 7 or 8 seed
The most outlier (but not impossible) outcome would be to finish 17-7 like we did in 2020-21 for a 48-34 record where that #4 seed might hinge on the game @CLE on 3/31.
Somehow I think we are going to hit that 14 win mark which would surpass that defining line as to whether this was a satisfying season or not in terms of moving forward with the hybrid strategy. The acquisition of JHart is a big reason for my optimism. He makes our bench a more sustainable energy unit rather than one dependent on RJ’s plodding or Deuce’s jumper.That should allow Randle and Brunson to be more rested in 4th quarters.
I am also hopeful that JHart is the loose-ball magnet that he looked like vs. UTA which will help us win those 50-50 loose ball games like the one we lost to LAC.
***Randle is vastly outperforming the $24.7M he’s getting paid this year and there is little reason to believe that his production is unsustainable***
You can chart Randle’s growth on a chart and be reasonably comfortable taking the under on his production for next year. He is the most consistently inconsistent player to amass 20,000 minutes. He’s as predictable as my mom’s biennial tangerine tree. You can circle a big year from him in 2024-25 and plan accordingly.
He’s as predictable as my mom’s biennial tangerine tree.
Hands down post of the day!
“He’s as predictable as my mom’s biennial tangerine tree.”
Does she also have a sour grapes vine?
“10-14 we end up at 41-42”
Pardon the typo, s/b 41-41
Wow, pretty funny, boy’s high school basketball game with no shot clock ended 4-2 after one team just passed it around all game.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/sports/basketball/shot-clock-high-school-basketball-oklahoma.html
Spurs waived Stanley Johnson. He’s only 26 and after being all defense no offense for the first 5 years, labeling him a bust, it looks like his offense has come around last year. And he had a strong stint this season with SAS. He’s 6’6 and fits a need for us.
***Does she also have a sour grapes vine?***
She raised me a Knicks fan.
“Spurs waived Stanley Johnson. He’s only 26 and after being all defense no offense for the first 5 years, labeling him a bust, it looks like his offense has come around last year. And he had a strong stint this season with SAS. He’s 6’6 and fits a need for us.”
lol just what we need…another scrub from the notoriously deep but actually not really 2015 draft…
Stanley Johnson is the Frank Ntilikina that stratomatic never cared about.
Remember when Danny Ainge offered like 6 picks to move up so that they could draft Justise Winslow? And were rebuffed by the Hornets so that they could take Frank Kaminsky at #9? Followed by Winslow at #10? While Stanley Johnson was already off the board at #8? Just after Mudiay at #7? And WCS at #6? And Mario Hezonja at #5? And we had lucked out by KP dropping to #4 after Okafor went #3?
The pre-draft hype before that bust-filled lottery still makes no sense to me. I remember being psyched that we traded TH2 for the pick that became Jerian Grant. Bizarre!
“Stanley Johnson is the Frank Ntilikina that stratomatic never cared about.”
I mentioned Stanley Johnson favorably a couple of times a few years back, but I didn’t get to see him play much and he never seemed to sustain good play for long. If he’s playing well, I’m happy for him. Justise Winslow was another player I kept waiting to break out, but he’s had even more injuries than Frank.
You could do worse than taking a flyer on Stanley Johnson on a buyout contract. We had Svi Svivnmmaskans and Ryan Arcidainnacnaniono on the roster for most of the year
Director NYC
After reading that list of “Pros” I can only repeat the words of the great Sam Kinison in one of my favorite movie scenes of all time.
“Good answer. Good Answer. I like the way you think. I’m gonna be watching you”.
Think the only young player that underachieved this year is Obi.
Go figure that the 25th pick (IQ) we got for a three month Morris rental is 10X more valuable than our own #8th pick from the same draft thanks to World Wide Wes.
Luck is an important but often underated part of both life and sports.
We now have the 6th toughest schedule remaining according to one analysis I saw. So we got through a really tough period in relatively good shape.
It would be really nice to win this Nets game. I think we have the better closers (which is something I never expected to say this season), but they have some very good defenders and shooters. If they get hot from 3 early we are probably in deep doo doo.
Zman, that draft was so hyped that some people still act like KAT is a super star worth tanking for
That draft class wasn’t good, but the rookie class gets a bump for having an all-time great in it.
[edited to add: I see Okafor came in 5th in ROY voting, haha]
[edited to add some more: who is the actual 5th best player in that draft class? Probably the undrafted Christian Wood, huh]
I think what happened is that the league worked out a deal where the Warriors agreed to let the deal go through in exchange for them being allowed to go after Portland later on. So as to not screw over the other two teams, the Warriors just did it that way.
the 2015 nba draft was not deep because of the lottery which was filled with landmines which most close observers on this site recognized (yes okafor vs kat was an actual thing)… it was deep because of guys like delon wright… bobby portis…. tyus jones… devin booker… richaun holmes… kevon looney… larry nance jr… terry rozier… montrezl harrell… and norman powell… the strength of the draft was the quantity and the depth of nba level talent that went deep into the second rd and not for it’s quality at the top which was filled with players with questionable upside beyond KAT…
if you go back to any draft related thread back then most of those observations have been proven true….