[news.google.com] — Thursday, April 20, 2023 6:14:03 AM
Cavs’ Evan Mobley bounced back vs. Knicks in NBA playoffs Game 2 Akron Beacon Journal
[news.google.com] — Thursday, April 20, 2023 6:00:00 AM
Sargeant’s Orders: It’s time for the Knicks to bench RJ Barrett UConn Daily Campus
[news.google.com] — Thursday, April 20, 2023 6:00:00 AM
3 predictions for Cleveland Cavaliers-New York Knicks Game 3 King James Gospel
[news.google.com] — Thursday, April 20, 2023 1:44:00 AM
Knicks’ RJ Barrett slapped with harsh Cavs reality by Stephen A. Smith ClutchPoints
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Sneakers of the week: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum … Hoops Hype
[news.google.com] — Thursday, April 20, 2023 12:00:00 AM
Knicks return to Garden to resume playoff battle with Cavs – New … Amsterdam News
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 10:18:00 PM
Knicks must apply lessons learned from Hawks playoff defeat to beat Cavaliers New York Post
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 8:32:00 PM
3 adjustments Knicks should make ahead of Game 3 against Cavaliers in 2023 NBA playoffs Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 8:00:00 PM
Giving 4 2022-23 season NBA awards to the Knicks who deserve it Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 7:29:00 PM
Knicks’ offense needs to find answers vs. Cavaliers’ stingy defense New York Post
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 6:10:14 PM
Molly Qerim puts head in hand and says ‘it’s killing me’ as Stephen A Smith ‘goes wild’ during First Take a… The US Sun
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 5:17:00 PM
The best NY Knicks jerseys and gear to order for the 2023 NBA Playoffs New York Post
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 4:40:18 PM
Knicks Named Top Team To Lure Damian Lillard Out of Portland Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 4:20:30 PM
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks predictions: Who wins … The Arizona Republic
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 3:08:11 PM
Cavs’ Evan Mobley is Julius Randle’s kryptonite in Knicks series Cavs Nation
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 2:00:00 PM
Knicks locked into chess match with Cavaliers after Game 2 loss New York Post
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 1:50:37 PM
Knicks Fans Were In HELL Last Night Barstool Sports
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 1:38:00 PM
New York Knicks playoffs gear: Where to buy 2023 NBA Playoffs hats, shirts online syracuse.com
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 1:22:13 PM
NBA Player Who Voted Knicks as Worst Fans: ‘Maybe the People Are Too Rich That Go’ Bleacher Report
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 1:21:00 PM
‘LET EM KNOW’: Cleveland Cavaliers 2023 playoffs fan guide for … Cleveland 19 News
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 1:00:00 PM
The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New York Knicks 107-90 to take … WKYC.com
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 11:56:51 AM
Knicks have crucial adjustments to make before Game 3 against … AMNY
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 11:56:03 AM
Charles Barkley Calls Out Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau Heavy.com
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 11:21:00 AM
Boomer: Knicks can’t let Donovan Mitchell become Reggie Miller or … WFAN
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 10:04:47 AM
SI:AM | The Suns Get Back on Track With a Win in Game 2 Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 9:34:00 AM
The Knicks Spent A Quarter In Hell Defector
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 8:28:44 AM
Eastern Conference Recaps, April 18: Darius Garland Helped Cleveland Cavaliers Even Series With New York Knicks Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 7:54:59 AM
NBA Playoffs 2023: Suns vs Clippers, Cavaliers vs Knicks, Celtics vs Hawks scores and results WION
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, April 19, 2023 7:40:00 AM
No NHL, NBA playoffs drama as Rangers beat Devils, Cavs top Knicks New York Post
59 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.04.20)”
The series is long and it was only one game, but If the Knicks at full and healthy roster weren’t able to manage the Grizzlies without Morant, Adams and Clarke I’d be angry.
Fuck the Lakers.
The Cavs are being crowned in the media. I think it may be hard for them, especially as a young team to keep the intensity level from game 2. All things being equal I’d go with the Knicks for game 3.
Hart’s health will be the biggest x-factor in terms of whether the Knicks have a chance in the series. His defense is crucial against Cle’s two small guards. He had 5 offensive rebounds in game 1, and that advantage was probably the most important for the Knicks. He is also critical to the Knicks’ chances of being able have a more flexible offense that can punish the Cavs for being aggressive and trapping.
You need wings and guards who can cause problems off the dribble if the defense doesn’t give them attention. To some extent, the Cavs want you to drive with their two defensive bigs protecting the paint, but the only way to get them to stop forcing the ball from Brunson’s hands is to win that 4 on 3 you get for a few moments after Brunson gives the ball up.
If Hart is out, then we have to hope Quickley gets hot because while I think McBride worth giving a chance, he also sort of plays into the ball pressure strategy since his offense stinks. Maybe Derrick Rose deserves a chance alongside Brunson, replacing Barrett, (with lots of defensive cross matching) as a counter to Cleveland’s pressure.
Randle tied for second and Barrett tied for 8th in an anonymous poll of players asking who is the most overrated. https://twitter.com/TheAthletic/status/1648303227257905157
You know, coming into this series, we all knew that RJ Barrett sucks, and that going up against Mobley and Allen would be a problem.
But I was hoping against hope that he’d somehow rise to the occasion. Instead, he’s putting up those awful prayer floaters in the lane and bricking 3’s.
There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that if he got a DNP we’d have a much better chance of winning any of these playoff games
That overrated list is pretty silly. Jimmy Butler’s #4 on it. He had a career year this year and wasn’t even selected as an all star. That’s how overrated he is.
It’s strange but I think I actually like Dillon Brooks more than I did before but that may be because I disliked him so much.
This turn to the ridiculous is kind of bracing.
Yeah, agree with Donnie, the list is silly. Most players in the league would be happy to be included in it.
It’s kind of weird too that this overrated players list and this coaches players don’t want to play for poll are both released at the same time when the Knicks are good and in the playoffs.
That coaching one is a total joke. 55 players voted in it. Who are these players? Is it Cam Reddish and Austin Rivers and other players that played for Thibs but couldn’t crack his rotation? We don’t know./
Most players who play for him and are in his rotation love him as a coach. But I guess since he demands players play hard some don’t like that?
And, how, exactly is Randle “overrated”? He’s a 2 time all-star but he’s not some out of his prime dude who keeps getting voted in by fans. HE’s literally picked by the other coaches. Wouldn’t they know?
Just seems suspect to have these both come out right now.
I think it’s fair to say that Randle is somewhat overrated (RJ is woefully so) and that Thibs is not a preferred coach to play for. Beyond that, this best, worst, most BS is totally subjective.
https://theathletic.com/4428870/2023/04/19/warriors-kings-possession-battle/
Really interesting Hollinger piece on how the possession battle, i.e. offensive rebounds and turnovers, is playing an outsized role in these playoffs compared to shotmaking.
Too early to say if it’s an emerging trend or small sample size theater, but it has obvious implications for the Knicks and their bizarro good offense.
is playing an outsized role in these playoffs
MONEYBALL LOL.
Swifty, I don’t think there is any anti-Knick agenda going on here. Both Brunson and IQ made the underrated list. But the sample sizes are so small that they tell you virtually nothing–out of 54 people, 2 thought RJ as most overrated so he is tied for 8th? 4 said Julius so he is 2nd?
But the Thibs number is probably a fair reflection given the distribution of answers. Makes perfect sense–if you haven’t played for him you look across and see a coach barking at someone or something the whole game with a semi-permanent look of disgust.
I like that Austin Reeves made the top 10 overrated list too. That guy makes the league minimum and almost nobody outside the league knows who he is. Couldn’t possibly be a race-based answer, no way.
Yeah the Thibs one insn’t that surprising. I just find it funny bc the players that have played for him all pretty much love him with a few exceptions.
KAT would be at the very top of my most overrated list.
Maybe Quin Snyder for most overrated coach?
i am not a laker fan…but I hope lebron dunks on brooks and the ball breaks his nose as it comes through the hoop….that would be karma…
“KAT would be at the very top of my most overrated list.”
Which is funny cause you know he was one of the ones who voted for least wanting to play for Thibs.
And KAT would be one of 3 who voted for Jimmy Butler as overrated…
“And KAT would be one of 3 who voted for Jimmy Butler as overrated…”
This poll was just players who played for the TWolves when Thibs was coach plus Cam Reddish and Austin Rivers.
Won’t happen now but i think we should start Hart and Grimes and put RJ on the bench. Put Hart on Garland instead of RJ and Grimes on Mitchell. Bring RJ off the bench with the second unit. IQ, RJ, Hartenstein, Obi. You balance out shooters vs non-shooters for better floor balance, you have better defensive matchups and you’re better able to manage RJ’s minutes depending on his effectiveness. Seems like the obvious thing to do but politics…
politics certainly plays a role in RJ still being considered one of the top 3 but it does feel like that time is slowly coming to an end.
I have a feeling if we lose tonight and RJ plays poorly again, a move like that might be in the cards.
I guarantee we don’t lose tonight
Looks like that move isn’t in the cards, then. We only play tomorrow. 😛
@Z-Man 😉
Ha. I just want this game to be here already.
I do think if Thibs thought that was the right move after we lose game 3, he would do it politics be damned.
It’s one thing to stick with a player because of politics in the regular season but if he really thinks that’s the right move, is Thibs going to not do it because of “politics” if he thinks it might cost us a playoff series? This is a franchise that has won exactly one series in the last 2 decades. Guarantee you politics will not be a factor when it comes to potentially winning a playoff series or losing one.
The question is would Thibs think that’s the right move? Cause personally if I was going to make a big change like that, I’d probably move both IQ and HART to the starting line up and move Grimes and RJ to the second unit.
The Knicks on social media wished Allan Houston a happy birthday, the majority of comments were fans saying they wished he was playing instead of RJ lol
The RJ Barrett extension remains the dumbest thing this front office has done. A completely unforced, unnecessary error that could have massive consequences. The thought process seemed to be that we could Jedi mind trick other teams into believing RJ Barrett is good if we paid him like he was good. I don’t think it’s going to work.
That said, IQ and Grimes haven’t exactly been tearing it up either so I can’t get on Thibs for sticking with RJ…yet. But if/when even one of those guys gets it going, there’s basically no justification for playing RJ at all.
RJ is Elfrid 2.0
***The RJ Barrett extension remains the dumbest thing this front office has done. A completely unforced, unnecessary error that could have massive consequences. ***
Let’s pretend they hadn’t extended him last summer. What would the realistic outlook be? He’d be an RFA and some team with cap space would sign him to an offer sheet that could start as high as $30mil per season? Hard to see the Knicks just letting him walk away, even if it would be the right move.
“I guarantee we don’t lose tonight” – Mark Messier
RJ is Elfrid 2.0
Z-MAN, after a legit hard to watch tank season that took to land him, we’re all disapointed in our 3rd pick who was supposed to be our own drafted star but he’s far far from Elfrid 2.0.
Feels like RJ replaced Julius with typical NYC fan overeaction…lets all just take a chill pill on RJ. It is what it is but its not Elfrid 2.0.
Kawhi out tonight with a right knee sprain.
As much as I’d love to have him on our team, the guy is never ever healthy.
This is such a fun series in part because I have literally no idea how good this team is or isn’t and each piece of new evidence seems so convincing.
Game 1 felt like a big deal, then it wasn’t.
Game 2 felt like a big deal. And maybe it was, but if we win 104-90 tomorrow, it gets thrown into the irrelevant category pretty quickly.
Reminds me a bit of when the 99 team traded blowouts with Miami for 4 games in round 1.
I’m genuinely asking this because the NBA media ecosystem has become so revolting (hot takes, shitposting, drama, gambling fetishism) that I rarely consume the metanarrative outside of this site:
We know that RJ is horrifically bad at basketball relative to other starting wings, and even to many reserves, but is his contract really that unmoveable without sweetener?
He’s not yet 23 and if there’s anything history has taught us, it’s that bad franchises love them some young lottery-pedigree talent. (Maybe the analytics era has changed that?)
This is probably a dumb heuristic, but of the 30 players drafted R1 in 2018, only a handful have failed to play past their rookie contract, and some of them are only out of the league because of personal misconduct (Miles Bridges) and injury/conditioning woes (Z. Smith, Spellman).
It would seem that there could be an easy market for RJB just because of his age, even at that price. You might not be able to get a useful player for him, but dumping him shouldn’t be costly, no?
He probably shows up in much better shape and has a better season, as players often do in contract years.
“Z-MAN, after a legit hard to watch tank season that took to land him, we’re all disapointed in our 3rd pick who was supposed to be our own drafted star but he’s far far from Elfrid 2.0.”
Although I meant it more in terms of the outcry to bench him prior to playoff game 3, the overall comparison is not all that far off. Here’s a comparison over their first 4 years:
https://stathead.com/tiny/UBcGO
Elfrid was drafted 10th overall. He had a much less bad BPM than RJ over his first 4 years, and subsequently never signed a contract paying him more than $3.3M until some moronic team offered him $8M and then re-signed him for $4M.
I want to be optimistic about RJ but he has literally shit all over the bed of my hopes.
It should also be noted that Thibs played Elfrid a total of 16 minutes overall in games 1 and 2 before benching him for the rest of the series. RJ deserves the same treatment, but as TNFH pointed out, IQ and Grimes have hardly been more deserving, and Randle isn’t doing all that well either.
I don’t buy it.
I buy that RJ Barrett sucks, sure. And that he’s going to be overpaid.
But it was a reasonable gamble, in my opinion.
It’s not easy to get a 21 year old #3 pick who averaged 20ppg to a non max extension.
I also have no idea what RJ’s market value is.
Giving him that contract was the logical extension of RJ’s own fake-it-till-you-make-it Mamba Mentality. Part of being on good terms with players is entering their reality but you do it at your own peril.
Overpaying RJ was so predictable that I predicted it three years ago after we drafted him. I still think he can level out as an average NBA player but it’s definitely been the one disastrous move that balances out a lot of good moves like IQ, Grimes, the Mitch extension, Brunson and the Hart Foundation.
Piggybacking on what Jowles said, it’s not hard to envision RJ being repurposed during the life of his contract and being overpaid but useful.
RJ Barrett is shame on Thibs, IMO. Not shame on Leon. It’s the coach’s fault for enabling this Maple Mamba bullshit.
It’s mind boggling, too. Because RJ is everything Thibs doesn’t like in other players. But he’s one of “his guys”, like the anonymous player said. So the coach is blind.
Well a lot of people were predicting that RJ would get a full rookie max extension so it’s not like John Wall bad…but the extension hasn’t even kicked in yet! Yikes!!
I do think that at worst he would be salary filler in a deal for some sort of a star. His contract never gets over $30M and the cap is going up. I also think he’s prideful and will try like hell to turn the narrative around like Julius did. He has improved his FT shooting and his 2pt% is at a career high by almost 40 points. The 3pt% has cratered, and maybe that’s an aberration. But the issues on the defensive end are more troubling. It’s almost as the game has sped up for him rather than slowing down.
RJ really seems like a non-Thibs kind of player: he’s a spotty defender who makes lots of bad decisions with the ball. It’s kind of weird that RJ gets an infinitely long leash to play such bad basketball for such a supposedly demanding coach.
Problem is the harder he tries the more he shoots.
Yeah but didn’t you think he’d be overpaid on a 5 year rookie max extension? I know I did.
It’s a bad extension but it beat expectations.
Yeah I mean Randle had some history of being a good player. RJ doesn’t. Banking a lucky three pointer buzzer beater last year aside, he can’t turn it around bc there isn’t anything to turn.
Yeah, that’s a good point, I was mildly surprised by that aspect of it, as well.
Barrett’s so weird. For years he hid the fact that overall he’s not very good (i.e., bad) with short stretches of good play (in-game, over a short stretch of games) that periodically convinced people he was about to turn the corner and, you know, become good.
Lately though there’ve been no flashes of good, just a long slide into the abyss. He can’t shoot at all, he’s lethargic and moves like he’s in quicksand, he loses the ball or throws it away. It’s almost like he’s giving up or something. I’d feel bad for him if it weren’t so enraging to watch.
I’m happy we got three day between games instead of two this time. Hart and Randle need time to recover their form
Actually Raven, I was encouraged by RJ’s play in game one. He did some things besides score that were useful to the team.
What’s dumber putting Osman on Brunson, or putting RJ on Garland? It’s like Thib’s saw Bickerstaff’s blunder and said “hold my beer”. I totally agree with TNFH, this is the worst move the front office has made so far. I honestly don’t think he would get more than $20 million in the open market. People were saying IQ won’t get more than $20 million. Who would you rather have? The only way I see us moving him is as salary filler, hopefully for OG. Even then we will probably have to throw in an extra pick or player to make it happen.
I have no intention to defend RJ, but maybe his terrible season, his apparently unstoppable downward spiral is clouding our collective memory a little bit.
For the reasons expressed by Raven, at the end of last year the non-max extension was considered fair by a number of people, other criticized it, but very few thought this would become a disaster.
And after his usual bad start, he was playing better in december and january before his injury in Dallas (remember when he was one of the league leaders in corner threes from one side of the floor?)
From then on the avalanche never stop, and the maddening thing is that our coaching staff was rarely able to take him accountable and cut his minutes (it happened, but in a very few instances).
And as bad as the shooting has been it’s his defense and overall basketball acumen that has really collapsed!
He’s been a maddening player for years, now he’s just a bad one, but his lack of steady development, his persisting Mamba mentality, his frequent zombie-like state are mistakes for which our staff must share a part of responsability.
IQ finished second in 6MOTY, Brogdon took the hardware.
Uff.
@Max I’m not one to go back and check my posts, but I thought it was a horrible contract from the beginning, done to distract from not getting Mitchell. I don’t think he had done anything to distinguish himself from our other young wings. I wanted the Knicks to let it play out. Sure, if had a great season he would have gotten a bigger contract, but it was worth the risk. In our worst-case scenario, he still would have been a restricted free agent. He’s had his moments, but so far he’s given us 9000+ of generally crappy basketball. There was no good reason to extend him.
Tough luck for IQ but maybe it helps us in negotiations
Wow, Harden ejected.
Hate to say I agree, Owen, but yeah. Bad for IQ, helpful for us.
As for RJ, last summer I posted repeatedly, loudly, and clearly that we needed to trade him ASAP, because he isn’t consistently good, showed no evidence he’d become consistently good, was still seen as an asset, and would never be valued more highly because he had a year left on his rookie deal and was a #3 pick that people would talk themselves into having star potential. I was completely convinced by numbers and the eye test that the best case was a moderately better than replacement player. I didn’t get a lot of engagement on it, neither nay nor yea, and then we extended him for an absurd amount. “Under market value” maybe, “way too freaking much” definitely. I hope to hell he shows some flashes this playoffs so at least he’s moveable. But it was an obvious mistake before we did it, and I immediately lamented it as a huge unforced error.
Edit: and even with all that I didn’t expect his defense to fall off a cliff!
That being said, he didn’t kill us in game 1.
Tyrese Maxey, the player we hope IQ can become, is having quite a 4th quarter.
That in-bound pass was…something.
Crazy finish to the 76ers Nets game. On a side note I know their regular season might’ve been a bit disappointing but the Rangers look scary good so far in the playoffs.