[news.google.com] — Monday, July 17, 2023 7:00:00 AM
‘Energy and Effort!’: Knicks Summer League Star QJ Peterson Reflects on Vegas Adventure Sports IllustratedKnicks: 3 summer league standouts that could crack G-League roster Empire Sports MediaKnicks: 2 biggest things learned from 2023 NBA Summer League ClutchPoints
[news.google.com] — Monday, July 17, 2023 1:18:55 AM
Knicks Trade For Raptors’ OG Anunoby In Proposal NBA Analysis Network
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 10:11:27 PM
New York Knicks Make Contract Decision on Jericho Sims Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 8:59:00 PM
Knicks make final decision on Jericho Sims’ future ClutchPoints
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 8:18:00 PM
Knicks expected to tab Jericho Sims as center insurance New York Post
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 6:45:31 PM
Draymond Green, Trae Young Rip ‘Delusional’ Knicks Fans Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 5:00:54 PM
Latest James Harden-Sixers report could be exact chaos Knicks are … Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 4:35:08 PM
Michael Jordan ‘Craftily’ Deceived Bulls Owner With the Support of Knicks to Negotiate $30,140,000 Paycheck … The Sportsrush
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 2:15:59 PM
Why Knicks Traded Obi Toppin Heavy.com
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 12:15:18 PM
What Warriors Ex Donte DiVincenzo Brings to Knicks Perimeter Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 11:24:19 AM
Knicks Mock Blockbuster: Acquiring Jaylen Brown from the Celtics Empire Sports Media
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 10:16:03 AM
What does NBA In-Season Tournament mean for the Knicks? BVM Sports
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 10:00:44 AM
What does the NBA In-Season Tournament mean for the Knicks? Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 10:00:00 AM
Update: Knicks miss out on landing Cam Payne, Spurs acquire Suns guard Posting and Toasting
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 9:36:34 AM
Knicks fall 89-86 to Nuggets in Summer League finale after second-half comeback falls short Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 9:30:04 AM
Julian Strawther Pushes Nuggets Past Knicks RotoBaller
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 8:00:42 AM
3 Former Knicks fan favorites who are still available in free agency Daily KnicksKnicks Eye Veteran Big in Free Agent Market: Report Heavy.comKnicks Trade For Pistons’ Bojan Bogdanovic In Proposal NBA Analysis Network
[news.google.com] — Sunday, July 16, 2023 8:00:00 AM
New York Knicks: Michael Jordan-Patrick Ewing superstar duo is “certainly an interesting thought” Sportskeeda
60 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.07.17)”
I just noticed that Duane Washington Jr wasn’t on the summer league roster. As I understand it he had a two way contract last year but does not have one this year. Instead he is a restricted free agent and has the same contract status as Keels. I would have expected him to play but he didn’t and there is no news to be seen. Does anyone know what’s going on with him? If he’s not injured, it sounds like he is no longer in the Knicks’ plans.
Here’s my non-basketball piece for the day:
Entering Sunday, Arraez had missed on just 7.7 percent of his swings this season. No one else’s percentage was in the single digits. The major league average is just less than 26 percent.
He struck out in 5.1 percent of his at-bats this year. The second-best number — Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz’s 9.6 percent — was nearly double that.
Macri speculated the opposite: that Washington and Jaylen Martin are the two guys the Knicks are highest on from this group, and thus they didn’t need to get as long a look (or a look at all) from them in Vegas.
Macri was also took a very glass half-full view of Trevor Keels:
I watched none of Vegas action, so I can’t speak to whether Keels actually showed signs, or just chucked a lot. But I assume he’ll be back with Westchester. And since I also imagine Deuce will be with the big club full-time, or close to it, Keels will get a whole lot of runway, to either crash or take off.
It’s hard for me to generate enthusiasm for any of these summer players. The Knicks already have a lot of depth. They don’t need another role player coming off the bench. They have to either upgrade one of the starting positions or one of them has to break out (namely either RJ or Grimes).
IMO, the Cavs probably have the most internal upside and did the best job of addressing their weaknesses in the east.
I like what the Celtics did because I like KP and think he adds a weapon they will try to use as effectively as the Wizards, but I think they have a couple of holes to fill before the start of the season.
I couldn’t find news about Washington Jr.
I’m more impressed by Martin than Keels and I’m less optimistic about him than Mr. RosySunshine, but Keels is still only 19 (until the end of august) and he did start the SL badly but improved along the road (caveat: the best players tend to disappears from the rosters after the first 2-3 games, see Wemby).
He’ll probably play a lot in Westchester and he has room for significant improvement.
On other news, as someone already noted Bradley Beal has been appointed Suns’ starting PG, positionless basketball here we go… 🙂
Thanks Alan.
I did watch two summer league games and Keels looked pretty good. I thought he made a lot of progress compared to last year’s summer league. It’s worth keeping him another year. That sounds right about Martin. He only played a couple of games and then they shut him down. As for DWJ, when I went to the web to see his status I found this:
https://www.si.com/nba/bucks/news/point-guards-who-can-shore-up-the-milwaukee-bucks-bench
The Knicks apparently aren’t the only ones who think he is a legit NBA player.
By the way, I didn’t understand what this meant “as if he represents a deviation from the norm for the Knicks’ Front Office”. Do you think it means the norm for the Knicks front office is picking good players with late draft picks and he might not be such a player? If not, what do they mean?
Darius Garland is younger than IQ and Grimes’ same age, Mobley and Okoro are even younger, but for some reasons many expects only our youngsters to improve… 😉
I have to say that, except for Sims and maybe Roby, all our promising young players are guards and we already have a bunch of good guards on our roster. Maybe one reason deals like Keels and Washington are not completed is that the Knicks are trying to fix that.
Question to the Yankees’ fans of this blog:
Can a “low and lowest” season like this finally cost the job to the worst manager in the history of the sport?
Assuming that if the season started tomorrow, the rotation would be Randle, Mitch, RJ, Grimes, Brunson, iHart, JHart, DDV and IQ…what would a good over/under be for how many of these players will NOT be in the opening day rotation? 0.5? 1.5?
It’s an even harder exercise if you push the date out to the February trade deadline.
It feels like a consolidation deal is coming and will take place likely prior to opening day, and certainly before the trade deadline. The guy who I can most imagine being the centerpiece of that kind of deal is Zach LaVine. I just don’t see OG being dealt in a “fair” deal, and beyond that, nothing all that exciting is our there beyond the Embiids, Doncics and Giannis’s of the world.
Well, if they add Zach LaVine and give up Quickley as part of it, the Vegas under/over will probably rise but the team will probably be worse. So at least I’ll get a good bet out of the deal.
The Bulls seem to be in win now mode instead of tear down mode. If they trade Lavine it’ll be to get someone like Lillard, not to get picks and such, which makes it unlikely he’s coming to the Knicks. See the link below for some trade speculation.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10082526-bulls-trades-to-consider-after-1st-wave-of-nba-free-agency
Hey Alan – just finished Season 2 of The Bear and then went back and read your excellent recap in RS. Great job!
What an amazing show, I honestly had a little trouble with the constant chaos of Season 1, but the character development and flashbacks in Season 2 made every episode a gem. I was sad to see it end.
Lillard to the Bulls is a pipe dream, he would never want to go there and he wouldn’t make them a contender…he would be way better off just staying in Portland.
Whether they plan to be competitive this season or not, if they took something like IQ and Fournier plus a couple of firsts for LaVine, that would not only give them a very good (perhaps better?) player and expiring money, it would open up possibilities for near-future trades. I think deep down they want to get off of that contract and could see Leon being tempted. If he does that deal, his grade from me goes down into the C’s from the B’s. I’m just not a LaVine fan.
I think Macri meant that the Knicks have generally gotten good value on the draft picks they’ve actually made under Rose, with the major exception of Obi. It’s hard to argue with that, and it makes the series of moves that indicate a kind of indifference to the draft that much more frustrating.
It’s glaringly obvious the Knicks want to make a consolidation trade, but I think the odds one materializes before opening day are rapidly decreasing. The Bulls don’t seem to be operating with any urgency when it comes to LaVine, and there doesn’t seem to be much smoke on the OG front.
These things may well change quickly, but I think the best bet is we start the season with a relatively crowded rotation and see what happens. I don’t subscribe to the notion that Grimes and/or DDV occasionally having to settle for 19 minutes a game represents some kind of failure, so I’m fine with that.
With Embiid starting to sound antsy and Milwaukee’s future looking uncertain, I bet Leon doesn’t want to make a move that would take the Knicks out of contention for a big kahuna.
I feel bad for Fournier and hope we can get him somewhere he’ll play eventually, but the contract is just too potentially valuable from a business perspective to cut him or trade him without assets coming back. He might have to wait until after the deadline.
On the backup PF front, doesn’t JaMychal Green seem like the perfect candidate? He doesn’t really need minutes and might be available with what’s left between where we are and the hard cap. He also might be someone who could be part of a deal at the deadline.
“I feel bad for Fournier and hope we can get him somewhere he’ll play eventually, but the contract is just too potentially valuable from a business perspective to cut him or trade him without assets coming back. He might have to wait until after the deadline.”
If we traded him in a way that netted a trade exception (see: the proposed Cameron Payne trade) would that kind of deal mitigate that concern?
Thanks, D-Mar!
Re: Keels, I think the point Macri is making is that we’ve not only done well with the later picks we’ve made, but that the Rose administration seems to have a type, opting for guys who played at least two years in college (in Sims’ case, four) and have more polished games overall. Keels played one season at Duke, was young for his draft class, and is much more of a lump of clay than even somebody like Deuce. It was a gamble on upside, rather than an attempt to find yet another plug-and-play college vet.
Glad to hear he looked better overall in Vegas. I still have extremely low expectations for him, but as our only draft pick of the last two years (sigh), he’s in some ways the only real “kid” we have left.
Unfortunately those 2 aren’t exactly young either. Roby is 25. Sims is 25 in October.
Keels & Martin aren’t going to ve coming off the bench anytime soon. I’ll guess they’re at least 2yrs away from being NBA players, maybe 3 for Keels, if they make it at all. By that point we may need roleplayers.
Duane Washington hasn’t signed anywhere yet, he may just be looking around for better deals and doesn’t want to get injured.
We have 3 two-way spots and 1 big boy spot for DW, Keels, Martin, Charlie Brown(?), Baby Obi, and anyone else we like.
(Assuming Roby & DaQuan don’t get cut)
Unless I’m forgetting something about the new CBA, the trade exceptions doesn’t help. We can’t add salary to a trade exception to bring back someone more valuable. We’d be stuck getting a player that costs Cam Paynes value
More literally a lump than I’d like
Thought he looked kind of bad early and when he played more PG. At times he looks too slow, even just having someone else bring the ball up helped him, imo
Didn’t watch the last game but he generally looked okay in games 3 & 4, or when he plays more of a SG role from the corner.
He makes good decisions with the ball (3.5 A:TO in SL) and he’s got a feel for the PnR. Knicks are trying to make him a PG (or were for a bit in SL), which is part of his SL struggle.
Fwiw, I’d be way higher on Martin than Keels despite being undrafted
A Fournier sized trade exception would still help, because there are a lot of good players who make around his salary or less. Hell, if we got a TPE of that size we could trade for OG without having to send out any salary.
So yeah, if we could get a TPE for his salary I think it’d be worth trading him for that alone. It could amount to nothing, but there’d be upside.
I don’t see anyway we could do that now though. The cap space around the league has dried up.
Re: Green, I’ve felt all offseason that he’d be perfect for the Obi “stand in the corner” role. A little surprised there’s been no smoke on that front. The front office might be committed to forcing Thibs’ hand when it comes to more experimental lineups, which may well be a good thing.
this is like saying randle might occasionally play 30mpg… it’s just not true… they are going to average something like 18-24 mpg which means they actually might occasionally play 30minutes some nights but also occasionally play like 6 or 10…
the problem isn’t inherent in the minutes allocation… it’s the level of commitment on an investment that doesn’t actually add wins or losses and the minutes allocation is reflective…. ddv is taking minutes away from guys like he’s already roughly as good as…. and probably takes some minutes away from the more productive players like brunson and randle…
that’s the problem… and we traded all that for a 4 year injury or trade insurance that could have been executed when those risks were realized…
keels is young but you still need something at such a young age in order to make it…. you can’t just have next to zero nba skill and then all of a sudden develop them….
making it in the nba… is like climbing a wall.. and you can climb over that wall many different ways but you need to be on the other side of that wall by a certain age in order to be considered nba material….
keels is on the outside looking in…. things would look better if he was a great defender… athletic who got up and down the court and got to every ball…. if he had decent passing vision… or if he like many others on the fringes had a decent catch and shoot 3pt shot….
keels has none of those…. and every guy his age that got some shot in the nba had something about them to get nba teams to keep investing.. this is like how teams invested in guys who were simply 7ft tall hoping they might develop something else too…. only keels isn’t even that….
the easiest path is for him to become a knockdown shooter.. which was sort of in his history but it’s not anymore… if he can’t get anywhere close to that he wont make it and he’d be better off overseas developing those things like many around his skill level…
DJ, I think you’re selling Keels short in certain areas. Not that he is great at anything, but his passing is pretty good. It wasn’t just get rid of the ball like a hot potato, he often passed to open guys who could shoot. You also mentioned that he needs a good catch and shoot shot, but it was hard to tell about that since, at least in the games I watched, his threes came off the dribble, mostly when the defense didn’t close on him. Since he was usually playing point, it makes sense he didn’t get catch and shoot opportunities. He was really erratic at making the threes he did take, but apparently his summer league three point average was 0.33, which isn’t horrible for a young guy shooting off the dribble.
Keels seems like a decent secondary passer and a generally active defender… those are nice things for a 19 year old.
He is definitely not a PG yet and may never be. I get wanting to start him on that route early, but like someone said above, I just don’t think he’s quick/fast enough.
That said, he’s got that thicc boi power to get past many SGs and his shot doesn’t look broken… idk, he’s fine as a long-term project with the caveat that he just might never pan out.
Djphan, first of all I’ll take the under on 0.5 DDV/Grimes appearances of 6 minutes or fewer if they’re healthy.
Second of all, I am once again asking how we could’ve gotten similar injury and/or trade insurance once the injuries and/or trades happened. The MLE goes away once you’re a taxpayer, which we’ll almost certainly be in 2024-2025. It’s totally fair to critique the DDV signing on the grounds that there were better MLE targets (not sure I agree, but there’s a case), but I don’t understand for the life of me the argument that we should’ve pocketed it.
Lastly, I think DDV will take virtually zero healthy minutes from Brunson and Randle.
We’re saying RJ will break out at 23. Maybe we should be a little more patient with Keels
i mean… maybe i am.. but being 19 doesn’t give you a license to be invisible in these games…. there’s plenty of young guys in these summer league games who are straight terrible in the nba but can make things happen here…. jabari smith being an extreme example…
keels doesn’t gotta be that… but you gotta show SOMETHING…. he’s not some multiskilled do everything guy… he’s deficient in multiple areas… and that’s meaningful even at such a young age….
we went thru this discussion with frank…. it’s very hard to work on EVERYTHING once you’re in the nba… it’s much easier to already be skilled in a few areas and then work on the one or two as you develop….. the type of things he needs work on really only come if he had a total athletic overall that comes with a growth spurt or a total physical transformation… that to my eye hasn’t exactly happened either…
I suspect this is correct. Odds on either ever amounting to anything aren’t particularly high. Gotta find something minor to obsess over, though, and it’s more fun when the rest of the team is good than in those days when dreaming on Toure Murry becoming a surprise All-Star was all the hope we had.
i’m really really good at the superficial stuff…i got that nailed down pretty darn well…
i don’t know whether he is fit or not, every glance of him out on the court screams – not in shape, not serious about the game, lack of discipline…
granted – there are plenty of folks whom overcome that stuff, start treating their bodies as a business…
i don’t know, he doesn’t really look that special…
at this point – going in to the season, i’m hoping that:
a). sims is now healed up
b). sims has also taken the time to learn to shoot from 10′ from the basket
c). we acquire a backup power forward, i’m not wholly opposed to calling in taj
d). brunson and jhart make it safely through world cup action
i was trying to get confirmation on this but based on what i know we could’ve easily avoided the tax until next year and we might pay the tax in 2025 but we’d still have the MLE then…. we’re not even paying the tax now by moving obi and signing donte so i’m not sure why this is some impossibility…
in your own minutes breakdown you were taking at least 5 minutes on average from them….
Call me crazy but I believe even if a consolidation trade doesn’t happen, we can use DDV, Grimes, Hart and IQ.
I could care less about who gets how many minutes a game during the regular season. IQ can play PG. Grimes can play 3. RJ and HART can play the 4. Yeah it would be a good to have one more traditional 4 to back up Randle but I think come playoff time, it will be very useful to have all of these dudes.
Even a good 3 point shooter will get cold. I saw Ray Allen hit like 7 three pointers in a row in one finals game only to go ice cold the next game. Over those 2 games he shot 50 percent from 3 but he made them all in one game (they won) and missed them all in the other game (they lost).
So come playoff time, there will be a game where some of our dudes are cold. If thibs has another wing/guard on the bench he can trust on defense to throw out there, that might be the dude who is hot that game while others are cold.
Stars win some playoff games. Role players win some other playoff games. It takes a team effort.
And the same is true on defense. You can say “oh they’re all 6’6″ or under guards/wings who are all plus defenders” so all of them are the same. But that ain’t true either. There might be some role player on another team in a playoff game that Hart can defend but Grimes cannot or DDV has their number but IQ does not.
To me it’s less about the regular season now than the playoffs. We’re contenders. We need options.
and this is another thing…. you cannot just optimize your rotations by who is hot and who is cold… there’s no way for you to predict that…. are you just going to banish josh hart completely because he just missed 5 open 3s in a row? was donte instead going to hit those open 3s and be the savior ?
real life doesn’t operate that way! he’s not even historically that great of a 3pt shooter… in fact he has about the same 3pt% as all the others who he would be replacing…. so what option do you realistically have?
Position Player Team
F Paolo Banchero – Magic
F Mikal Bridges – Nets
G Jalen Brunson – Knicks
G Anthony Edwards – Timberwolves
G Tyrese Haliburton – Pacers
G Josh Hart – Knicks
F Brandon Ingram – Pelicans
F Jaren Jackson Jr. – Grizzlies
F Cam Johnson – Nets
C Walker Kessler – Jazz
F Bobby Portis – Bucks
G Austin Reaves – Lakers
Date Opponent Time (ET)
Saturday, Aug. 26 – New Zealand – 8:40 a.m.
Monday, Aug. 28 – Greece – 8:40 a.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 30 – Jordan – 4:40 a.m.
some site was highlighting banchero as a significant addition to the roster…
needless to say – if it’s banchero to save the day, we are in trouble…
interested to see kessler and jjj work together…hali, edwards, mikal, jjj and kessler out there should be very competitive…
makes me smile to see bobby portis’ name on the list…
Since Chet was a topic, here’s a piece from The Athletic regarding the overall team, but with a good section on Chet. This is a paragraph that I’d like to see RJ Barrett read every single day before every single game:
https://theathletic.com/4686382/2023/07/17/thunder-offseason-review-chet-holmgren/
“Not trying to drive the trigger when somebody is loaded,” Holmgren said. “(That’s) the middle of the floor. Especially when we’re five out and there’s a bigs standing at the elbow. So, I just got to recognize that sooner and understand to, you know, get off the ball (and get the) action to the opposite side or just figure out something other than, you know, drive through two people.”
coaches are kerr, spo, lue and mark few…
Wait, DJ. You’re saying you can’t ride the hot hand in a game of playoff series? This is exactly what coaches do. If Josh hart is struggling in the first half and bricks threes then yes, absolutely you might give his second half minutes to DDV or Grimes especially if he’s also getting burned on defense. Will that always work? No but if the next game Hart is struggling g again and losing that game means you’re down 3-1 vs tied 2-2 you absolutely would make that change. I’m pretty sure thibs would have done that if Fournier was a good defender.
Role players step up and role players whiff it in the playoffs. Riding the hot hand is absolutely what a coach should do. It’s a gamble, of course. Hart could miss 5 ina two and then hit five in a row. But that is where a coach should be able to read a players body language to see if it’s just a bad stream or if the player is shook and not going to be useful.
I really don’t get what is so controversial about this.
Well, the Giants held the line in these Saquon contract negotiations. So now he either has to play on the franchise tag or sit out for most or all of the season. And then potentially go through this again next summer.
On the one hand, I respect Joe Schoen for not overpaying the guy, given the market for that position. On the other, it’s amazing how quickly and thoroughly running backs have been devalued, from one of the sports’ glamour position to something treated as totally fungible.
Once again, great work from Dave Gettleman!
‘riding the hot hand’ is a lot like switching roulette tables cause you’re losing…
if it’s matchup related… then yes having options for different lineup configurations is great… but donte does not give us lineup flexibility… he’s the same size and mostly the same skillset as others in the lineup (more or less)…
what you’re trying to do is predict the future and figure out who’s going to hit 3pt’ers… and that’s pretty much a fool’s errand….
I think “hot hand” is a real thing. We all go through ups and downs physically and psychologically day to day. The problem is that there is a lot of variance in outside shooting (especially 3s) that has absolutely nothing to do with how a player feels or the matchup involved. It’s random noise.
If two players are basically equal and one of them is struggling, it probably makes sense to try the other. Same with sticking with a hot hand. But if one is better (even marginally) and you take him out because of hot/cold I think the majority of the time you are probably responding to noise and taking the worst it by playing the mildly inferior player. I would feel way better about riding a hot hand and substituting out a player that’s cold if I had a legitimate reason to think it was real and not just noise.
Since the “hot hand” can change in the middle of a single game, I don’t think the ability to ride it does much to justify the DDV signing.
What does justify it, and I think quite strongly, is the fact that there is an 82 game regular season followed by a physically and mentally demanding playoff schedule (hopefully). I hope all of our players play 82 games and every playoff game. I also know that’s not going to happen.
I mean, we all would’ve killed to have Donte DiVincenzo on the roster by the end of the Heat series. I don’t think it would’ve changed the outcome, but also won’t rule that out.
We don’t know who will be available next year or if they’ll want to come here.
He’s an upgrade over Obi, or at least a better fit with Brunson & Randle.
Idk what Obi’s next deal will look like but we don’t have to worry about it anymore.
DD can’t be played off the floor in the playoffs. It’s why Denver went out and got Brown and KCP last year.
We have a word around here for turning an asset into zero value… why would we want to have done that with the MLE?
I don’t know where the “RJ can play the 4” idea comes from, but I’m not sure I buy it. I mean, I’m sure he can play the 4 badly, but I don’t see how he’s going to guard any marginally competent opposing 4.
RJ isn’t quick, but he’s strong. He might actually do better at guarding PFs?
I don’t know if the hot hand exists, but some guys might be better against certain defensive schemes or matchups.
We lost game 6 to Miami because Josh Hart didn’t shoot that one 3, so DDV might have got us to game 7.
There just aren’t that many offensively competent 4s. Most of them stand in the corner and shoot.
And yeah, it’s not like RJ was guarding 2s or 3s or that Obi was a defensive juggernaut.
I shouldn’t say RJ can guard 4s, but I suspect he’ll be fine partnering with Hart.
There’s a number of moving parts that may determine this.
The actual cap number and what we do with Fournier’s $18M contract matter the most
But deals for Quickley and Hartenstein could vary enough to matter
Where our picks land matters (in theory we’re allowed to actually draft players) but not too much
Assuming Fournier expires, Hart $18M, IQ $20M, and iHart $10M(?), we’re $4-5M from the Spotrac projected lux tax before signing rookies. We’re well over if we trade Fournier for a longer deal.
But the Spotrac lux tax is based on the cap going up $6M instead of the full ~$13M.
So who knows.
how exactly would it have been zero value? it’s negative value with the signing when all the people losing minutes are in your playoff rotation already and the best argument we can come up with is that he’s injury insurance…. it’s not that hard to do better than that within the next 2-3 offseasons….
wasn’t that grimes with the turnaround fadeaway 3? that would’ve been better with donte? really?
i get we were crying for other options… but those other options should be APPRECIABLY better than the ones you do have… and besides.. fighting the last war is usually not a good idea anyway…
Most power forwards are a ton bigger and a ton wider than RJ. The idea he can contribute there is ridiculous to me. He can’t defend or rebound at an NBA power forward level. Remotely.
RJ has the same wingspan as Niang, Nesmith, and Cam Johnson, who all play PF. He’s maybe a tiny bit shorter than Cam and Niang but seems stronger than either of those guys. In short, I think he can play “small ball” 4 at least and is a better option than Hart who is shorter and smaller.
RJ’s actually lighter than I thought yet basically has Grant Williams’ measurements but 20 lbs lighter. Maybe not ideal, but he could make it work.
Owen, I was also feeling this was a ridiculous take, given how good the top 30 or so power forwards in the league are, but then I considered that in most cases he’d be playing backups since it’s to fill in for Julius when Randle’s on the bench.
but then I was nah, it’s still ridiculous. He’s short, he’s slow, and he has terrible defensive IQ. Consistently in the wrong place or just ball watching. It’d be a dunkathon. And it’s ridiculous with Hart, too. He has hart, and he knows what he’s doing, but going against guys who are 4-7 inches taller than he is? Maybe Draymond (point forward) or Kuzma (pinhead) types. Maybe. For a few minutes.
taj taj taj taj taj taj
I wish we had Bobby Portis backing up julius or maybe mitch…
a big guy that hustles, shoot threes and can humble quinn snyder in a staring contest…
more and more it seems to go that you don’t know what you got til it’s gone
I agree with your latest post except that I think DDV is more trade insurance than injury insurance.
They don’t update weights once players are in the league. RJ weighs more than what’s listed.
Mitch is still listed at 240 when he’s closer to 280
He’s less than 1.0 dreb/36 worse than Obi