[news.google.com] — Friday, March 31, 2023 6:20:08 AM
With Julius Randle out, what’s next for Knicks as NBA playoffs loom? The Athletic
[news.google.com] — Friday, March 31, 2023 5:01:00 AM
Cavs game vs. Knicks: Odds, preview, injury report, lineups, TV cleveland.com
[news.google.com] — Friday, March 31, 2023 5:00:00 AM
Cavs ‘locked in’ ahead of ‘big game,’ potential playoff preview with New York Knicks cleveland.com
[news.google.com] — Friday, March 31, 2023 5:00:00 AM
5 Knicks stats that could determine a potential playoff series against the Cavs cleveland.com
[news.google.com] — Friday, March 31, 2023 3:45:13 AM
Knicks vs. Cavaliers: Start time, where to watch, what’s the latest Hoops Hype
[news.google.com] — Friday, March 31, 2023 2:11:47 AM
NBA preview: Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks meet in possible playoff sneak peek Sportstar
[news.google.com] — Friday, March 31, 2023 12:53:00 AM
Three-way tie with Nets, Heat would send Knicks into play-in New York Post
[news.google.com] — Friday, March 31, 2023 12:44:00 AM
Cavs: Jarrett Allen’s injury status vs. Knicks, revealed Cavs Nation
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 10:50:02 PM
Knicks ‘Collectively’ Ready For Life Without Julius Randle Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 10:04:00 PM
Derrick Rose (illness) questionable Friday for Knicks numberFire
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 8:35:00 PM
Knicks Notes: Will Obi Toppin start with Julius Randle out? Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 7:30:00 PM
“Please Tell Me..” ? Ryan Reynolds Begs New York Knicks Fan and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Star Ben Schwartz to Join Wrexham After Impressive Basketball Skills EssentiallySports
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 7:00:00 PM
NBA Playoff Picture: Where do Knicks stand after critical win over Heat? Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 5:34:00 PM
Julius Randle’s playoff status in doubt after brutal Knicks injury update New York Post New York Knicks forward Julius Randle out at least 2 weeks with sprained ankle NBA.comKnicks’ Julius Randle Out 2 Weeks with Sprained Ankle Injury Ahead of NBA Playoffs Bleacher Report
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 5:28:00 PM
Julius Randle injury update: Knicks star out at least two weeks with sprained ankle CBS SportsKnicks’ Julius Randle out at least 2 weeks with sprained left ankle: How it affects their playoff push The AthleticJulius Randle’s playoff status in doubt after brutal Knicks injury update New York Post
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 4:30:00 PM
Knicks superfan won’t be allowed into MSG for playoffs under … Gothamist
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 4:02:29 PM
Knicks Ex Tim Thomas Returns to Tri-State Area Alma Mater – NBA … Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 3:38:33 PM
Knicks: 3 reasons New York will shock world and win 2023 NBA Finals ClutchPoints
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 3:00:00 PM
Lucky Number 25 Posting and Toasting
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 2:44:00 PM
Former Knicks star wants to run for governor NJ.com
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 2:29:45 PM
Cavs: Donovan Mitchell, Isaac Okoro get injury updates ahead of Knicks game Cavs Nation
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 2:00:48 PM
Stay in the moment, Knicks fans Posting and Toasting
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 1:49:36 PM
Blockbuster Trade Proposal Sees Knicks Land Luka Doncic, Create New Big 3 Heavy.com
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 1:45:09 PM
New York Knicks vs Cleveland Cavaliers Prediction, 3/31/2023 Preview and Pick Doc’s Sports
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 1:00:12 PM
NBA Playoffs sleepers: Why the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves could make some noise The Athletic
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 12:00:49 PM
Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks are Proving Everyone Wrong | SLAM SLAM Online
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 11:14:29 AM
Draft Strickland: Season 3 Ep. 9 The Strickland
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 10:47:08 AM
Josh Hart Eyes Long-Term Deal With Knicks Heavy.com
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 10:15:36 AM
New York Knicks have major reason to be thrilled about Dallas Mavericks’ recent struggles Sportsnaut
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 10:03:05 AM
Knicks’ Josh Hart gets left hanging by Jimmy Butler, hilarious Lakers … ClutchPoints
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 10:00:00 AM
Knicks News: JR Smith talks Sixth Man Award, Julius Randle gives … Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 9:32:26 AM
Knicks 101, Heat 92: “Praise Be” Posting and Toasting
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 9:17:27 AM
Hypothetical Knicks Trades to Boost Pursuit of 2024 NBA Title Bleacher Report
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 8:25:00 AM
Knicks’ Josh Hart honors great-uncle Elston Howard’s legacy New York Post
[news.google.com] — Thursday, March 30, 2023 8:21:09 AM
Jalen Brunson’s Health is the Knicks’ Wealth The Knicks Wall
26 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.03.31)”
Thanks Early Bird, I didn’t remember that.
Macri newsletter today throwing cold water on the idea of Obi’s Big Opportunity:
Alan, I’d only answer Macri with the last five games of last year where he went for 20, 20, 19, 35, and 42.
But yeah, I’m not holding my breath on this one.
Raven beat me to it. Getting more minutes could help him get into a better rhythm offensively. Also, it is a good way to up his trade value if they decide to move him this off-season.
These last five games will hardly be a simulation of playoff-like basketball, so much like last year, it will be hard to draw any conclusions about Obi from them.
Raven, that was a lost season where Thibs basically had nothing to lose and a bunch of injuries to our highest usage players. But, yes, I would love it if the switch could be flipped on for Obi again. Just not banking on it.
Randle being out is more an opportunity for RJ and Hart at the 4 than Obi. But I hope Obi does well for whatever minor trade value he can generate.
You guys are nuts. Thibs is clearly going to take the Obirossa out of the garage and take it up to 220.
Or maybe I agree with you all. One or the other.
Quentin Grimes continues to lead the league in matchup difficulty.
I think Obi is better than he has shown so far this year. I’m sure breaking his leg set him back a bit, but we’ll see. I’d play him over Barrett with one leg!
I fully support Randle and think if he’s out for the first round we probably lose. But I also see a scenario where the team does well and wins without him and that opens up a whole “trade him or not” discussion this summer.
Lineups with Brunson, Quickley, Grimes, Hart, Hartenstein/Mitch could be sneaky good. If IQ can maintain and Grimes can continue his recent good offense there might be enough there. It’s an excellent D lineup as well.
Ps: was at the game Weds and Mitch was noticeably gimpy.
I’m not sure why these debates about Obi still occur on Knicks Twitter and elsewhere . At this point we know he has a limited offensive skill set. He’ll occasionally be able to leak out or cut to the basket and get some easy points, but those are not the kinds of opportunities you can count on. His 3 point shot is not good enough to make him a spacing option, especially when they defend him, but he’ll have some nights where he’ll hit a few and look great. What he needs to do is keep developing his 3 point shot and ability to create something (anything) off the dribble. In the mean time, if he’s going to play a lot of minutes we should at be trying to get him the ball inside where he can do some damage against the right matchup. We should also pick up the pace with him instead of Randle. There’s not much value to him just standing outside the 3 point line. Some of this is on Thibs. He’s the coach. Figure something out.
Don’t agree about Obi being limited. Give him the ball in motion with a little space and he will do damage.
I understand why it’s been memory holed because Obi has been such a one-to-zero trick pony this year, but last year he scored an efficient 19 PTS/36 with a pretty diverse shot profile. 33% of his shots were 3s and 58% of his shots were at the rim, both of which were above average figures among bigs.
And no, this was not all racked up in the last 5 games of the season. Those were obviously very good, but even if you exclude them entirely (which is arbitrary as hell, but whatever) he still scored 17.5 PTS/36 with a .597 TS%. That is what it is, but we could undoubtedly use it with Randle out. It’s also not like it was fueled by anomalous shooting–just the opposite, he shot .258 from 3 in these games!
The idea that the guy has skills that can be deployed effectively is not theoretical, again we are talking about *last year.* To be sure it’s mostly on Obi to bring them back out, but no matter whose fault it is he really should not be in the Bertans role.
I’ve been a proponent of Randle’s play all year and to make anything resembling a “run” in the playoffs we’ll need him. Our ceiling is exponentially higher with Randle.
That said, I think there’s some short-term Ewing Theory potential here. Randle is essential to our offense as a high-usage, average-ish efficiency guy, but it doesn’t take much in the way of hot shooting by others to replicate or even beat his efficiency with the extra shots. I don’t think we’d be able to do that over the course of a full season, but it’s doable for 5 games.
Again I’m not saying we’re better off without him, we’re decidedly not. Just wouldn’t surprise me if our record for the next 5 games isn’t markedly different that it would be with him.
As for what this means for the playoffs, I have no clue. Conventional wisdom says guys who can score decently in isolation are essential in the playoffs. I think that’s mostly correct and Randle is obviously one of our main isolation scorers. He has the highest isolation frequency on the team at 20.5%.
It’s worth noting that Randle’s efficiency in isolation this season has been fine but unremarkable–0.97 PPP, 61st percentile. Very similar figures to RJ’s actually, which surprised me. It’s mainly the fact that his decent efficiency has held up over so much usage, both in isolation and in general, that makes him so valuable on offense.
So basically *a lot* of isolation looks will be redistributed to Brunson (1.16 PPP, 12.9% frequency), Quickley (1.01 PPP, 9.3% frequency), and RJ (0.95 PPP, 6.4% frequency).
If they can maintain their normal levels of isolation efficiency with the extra looks, we may be no worse for wear. I think the more likely scenario is they can’t quite do that, but it’ll be interesting to see.
i remember last season and i do think obi could put up much better regular season stats than whatever this has been. but i am squarely in the obi is in fact pretty limited and pretty uninteresting as a rotation piece on a good playoff team camp. i think even optimized he loses some lobs in the playoffs and hurts you on defense. his handle hasn’t come around.
From the glass half empty point of view if Randle is really not able to go in the playoffs it pretty much wrecks everything about this opportunity. Not because we were ever going past round 1 but more because Julius loses important playoff reps and we lose the full picture of what we are as a team with him as a top 2 guy right now. So it’s very important data point that gets lost.
The biggest issue with Obi taking Randle’s minutes is that in the playoffs he’ll be hunted relentlessly on defense. For all his warts Randle moves his feet pretty well on the perimeter. Obi is a turnstile. My guess is that once the playoffs start if Randle’s not available Obi might start but I doubt he gets more than 20 minutes a game.
Hilarious Fred Katz piece today, looking back on the April Fool’s Day prank MSG pulled in the late 90s suggesting Clyde was about to come out of retirement to join the team: https://theathletic.com/4368220/2023/03/31/clyde-frazier-knicks-april-fools/
Here’s the video, in case you never saw it or (like me) forgot about it until now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHXb1zY-SS0
LaMarcus Aldridge officially retired. Does he qualify as OAKAAK, since it was our draft pick — from the Eddy Curry deal — used to take him? Probably not, no. I just like to periodically remind myself of how bad the Isiah era was, so I can appreciate the relative competence of Leon’s team of rivals.
With Randle out, and Mitch and Brunson at less than 100% the playoffs look a lot less promising. Let’s see how it goes tonight.
Mitch has managed the gimpiness pretty well but he doesn’t look right. It may actually help his development a bit to understand how to use his height without jumping.
Obi is a limited player because he is bad on defense but I am still a believer in his offense.
I don’t think Obi has been the same since returning from the knee injury. Yes even prior it felt like he was taking too many 3s but it seems even more exasperated since returning and doesn’t seem like he even tries to get out and run as much anymore.
“With Randle out, and Mitch and Brunson at less than 100% the playoffs look a lot less promising. Let’s see how it goes tonight.”
All I know is things can look great and turn bleak real quick and vice versa.
The NBA season is a slog. And yes, it would be nice going forward if Thibs could do a 10 man rotation next season. Hopefully McBride has earned some of that trust to get back into the rotation.
But we got 2 weeks before the first playoff game and that includes 5 days of rest after the last regular season game. Randle, Brunson and Mitch could all be good to go by then.
Early in his career Obi was doing well leaking out and cutting against teams not prepared for his energy and athleticism.
Later they took some of that away but were leaving him wide open from 3.
He started making them pay at times and then they started at least closing out and forcing him to side step or get the shot off quicker.
What he can’t do is get the ball on the perimeter while defended, put the ball on the floor, and use his handle to create something like say Brunson, Randle, Quick, and even RJ can (though we’d rather RJ pick his spots better).
Until he can do that, imo all the points per 36, usage, and other stats from last year are misleading.
He was getting those shots because the defense wasn’t focused on him. He’s the same guy this year. But this year he’s being defended better and doesn’t have the skillset to adjust back and add new things yet. Our PGs and coach have to help him.
As long as all the first round games are played on Toppin Tuesdays, the Knicks should be fine