[news.google.com] — Wednesday, August 9, 2023 6:52:03 AM
NBA News: Former Bucks Fan Favorite Regarded as Top Summer … Wisconsin Sports Heroics
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, August 9, 2023 5:30:00 AM
Former NBA Star Claims Luka Doncic Would Be a “God” if He … EssentiallySports
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, August 9, 2023 1:34:15 AM
Team USA stars teach Jalen Brunson a lesson after Knicks guard forgot his wallet Larry Brown Sports
[news.google.com] — Wednesday, August 9, 2023 12:11:42 AM
How a last-minute CBA change allowed the Knicks to sign Dylan Windler Boston Herald
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 10:30:42 PM
Knicks’ Josh Hart Sits Out Of Team USA Win – What Does It Mean? Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 9:18:32 PM
Danny Green says he was “left in a weird space” last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers Fear the Sword
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 7:49:43 PM
‘People Will Hate,’ But NBA Trainer Lauds Knicks’ RJ Barrett Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 7:06:41 PM
Cavs head coach offers optimistic outlook from team’s surprising loss to Knicks in playoffs Cavaliers Nation
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 6:36:00 PM
Mock trade has Nets trading Mikal Bridges for Knicks’ RJ Barrett Nets Wire
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 5:00:07 PM
Former Knicks fan favorite hilariously takes credit for RJ Barrett’s development Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 3:57:47 PM
VIDEO: ‘Criminals’ Haliburton, Ingram ‘Steal’ Knicks Star Jalen … Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 3:27:52 PM
Bold Trade Proposal Sends Donovan Mitchell To Knicks, RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes To Cavaliers Yardbarker
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 2:47:55 PM
Knicks’ stud defensive center could be primed for a big leap Empire Sports Media
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 1:24:17 PM
“I Wanted to K*ll Charles Oakley!”: Charles Barkley Was ‘Out for … The Sportsrush
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 12:47:44 PM
Exec Suggest Knicks Trade Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby Heavy.com
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 12:12:20 PM
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson shines in Team USA’s exhibition win over Puerto Rico Yahoo Sports
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 11:51:31 AM
Blockbuster Trade Proposal Sends Damian Lillard To Heat, Brandon … NBA Analysis Network
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 11:47:24 AM
Knicks’ Brunson Sets Career Landmark in Team USA Exhibition Win … Sports Illustrated
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 11:42:22 AM
Ex-Knicks Coach Derek Fisher Taking High-School Coaching Job Heavy.com
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 11:31:03 AM
Knicks’ Evan Fournier Continues to Rebuild Trade Value Heavy.com
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 10:00:07 AM
When will Josh Hart be eligible to sign New York Knicks extension? Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 8:00:23 AM
4 Statistics the Knicks must improve to not disappoint next season Daily Knicks
[news.google.com] — Tuesday, August 8, 2023 8:00:00 AM
Hip-Hop 50: The soul-stirring power of Jordan, J. Cole and ‘The Lion King’ – ESPN ESPN
33 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.08.09)”
That Pinson and Harper is hilarious..and totally believable too. I have no doubt they were givin RJ that work in practice. That ended up being his best defensive season.
Here’s a podcast featuring former P&T writer Alex Wolfe and Warriors podcaster Cyrus Saatsaz on the topic of Dante DiVincenzo. Saatsaz raves about DDV and believe that there’s not a single Dubs fan who wasn’t sorry to see him go. In particular, he raves about his ball-handling and defense. He doesn’t seem concerned that his poor playoff performance is any kind of red flag…more like “the shots just didn’t fall” take similar to how many of us feel about IQ and Grimes.
While I still believe that DDV’s main value is as insurance as a depth piece should a trade for a stud wing require losing one or both of IQ and Grimes, even if the rotation stays as is, it will be a blast to know that any two of Brunson, IQ, Grimes and DDV makes for a formidable backcourt combo in one way or another.
Here’s another podcast featuring Drew Hanlon, who has been training RJ for several years and also trains folks like Jayson Tatum, Bradley Beal, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, etc. He discusses at length the things he’s working on with RJ. Some things he points out:
-He is NOT trying to change RJ’s shot…he’s trying to get him back to where he was before others on the Knicks staff screwed him up.
-He’s NOT currently trying to make RJ more shifty…tried that, didn’t work…so now focusing on using his strength more by just getting defenders into a position (outside their hips) where he can attack without overly relying on shiftiness. Working on finishing better at rim once he gets there.
-He is working on RJ’s midrange game because baling easy on balance 8-12 footers opens things up more at the rim because defenses can’t anticipate meeting him there. He cites Brunson as a master of this skill.
Here’s some video of the work that RJ is putting in. He also says that RJ will work on these things during international play.
One thing he brings up at the end is that nearly every team that has won a championship in the last 30+ years has had a player that finished in the top 7 in MVP voting in that season.
(apologies if any of this stuff has been previously posted…)
So, basically the most Hart could get, right?
Yeah, a bit too rich for my blood but not surprising. Sounds like this year’s $13 plus $17M-19M-21M 23M, wonder if it’s balanced, ascending or descending…obviously descending seems best, but maybe with Fournier off the cap it would be best to have the $17M year up front for tax purposes…
Because Hart “did Leon a favor” by opting in at $13M next year rather than testing the market, one way of looking at it is to divide $94M by 5…which makes Hart an $18.8M AAV player over 5 years. That’s sort of Evan Fournier money….not ideal but hardly an albatross.
I hope Hanlon can get RJ going. The Knick staff should just stay out of the way and let him work on RJ.
It’s certainly fair to wonder whether Hart would have been offered that much if he opted out and became a UFA. Maybe more money but less years, like 3/$75-80M or something like that?
Leon built a deep team of starting NBA talent level players. With only Quickly and iHart not yet paid means, the opportunity for animosity and resentment between players is limited. Increases the odds of role players sacrificing and starring in their roles without constantly seeking more responsibility. This is a ~55 win team over next 3yrs. Lets enjoy it for what it is because it’s nothing to sneeze at.
RJ has been working with Hanlen for many years, starting before he even went to Duke. His reference to undoing problems inserted by the Knicks’ staff is presumably to Keith Smart from RJ’s rookie year, who is a lifelong adherent to the church of straight and high elbows. The Strickland did a video recently sort of arguing that RJ’s shot looks different in Hanlen’s latest video, and comparing his shot over the years. I have crazy shooting theories and it isn’t really the way I like to think about shooting, but it does a good job of pinpointing his rookie year form as an outlier.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jfTGnI8WahM
Simmons and Russillo did a “fake expansion draft” recently assuming that Seattle and Vegas may get teams in the next couple of years – which sounds not very interesting but actually was pretty fun as a way to look at the ~8th/9th players on the depth chart across the league.
Their take was that we’d have to give up Grimes or iHart (with McBride and Sims just behind) figuring we would certainly protect Brunson, Randle, RJ, IQ, Hart, Mitch and DiVincenzo (out of 8 total protected slots).
Of course if you really wanted to get out from under one of those contracts, you could expose them – but there are risks with doing that. As much as I’d like to upgrade at the starting wing, I don’t think I’d want to lose RJ for nothing. And it’s pretty likely that any of those players would get selected in an expansion draft, I think?
It is a good, deep team – and I love that Hart is sticking around. It’s not cheap for a 6th-man but he plays big minutes and has the versatility to fill a lot of gaps.
one underrated thing about dolan that science ignores is how his money makes you ambidextrous
https://twitter.com/nba/status/1689325238482346006?s=46
Leon: We need more lefties
Brock: We don’t have any more roster spots
Leon: What makes you think we need more roster spots 🤨
If the Knicks average 18.3 wins between now and 2027 I will give you the W on this (assuming you actually enjoyed it).
I had to read that three times before I got it. Jesus it’s a slow August day. At least in my head.
Here’s my prediction, which is not much of one. But I do think the team as constructed is easily a 47-50 win team, even with no more movement. (55 I’m not so sure. But hey, maybe.)
My prediction though, is that if we do win ~50 they’ll be very tempted to run it back with only minor tweaks like this summer.
On the other hand, if Quick and Grimes and RJ don’t make significant improvements and injuries hit us badly enough so we only win say 38-42, which is always a very real possibility, they’ll be cornered into making a haymaker of a trade.
Which I suppose would at least give us more to talk about than Donnie’s excellent math.
At my age the last thing you want is for time to move faster, but this off season has been way too boring. I can’t wait until this season starts.
At least my family problems are back under control as of yesterday. It was nice going for a walk today without feeling all stressed out and angry.
KP reportedly has a foot injury that will keep him out of FIBA:
https://twitter.com/rupertfabig/status/1689320942177067032?s=20
Overly tall guys just break down.
The Hart contract is fine, I guess. I’m curious to see how I feel when he isn’t hitting 52% of his 3PAs.
I think I like RJ Barrett at 4 years/$107mm more than I like Josh Hart at 5 years, $94mm, though.
KP kept it together for one season, got traded to Boston, signed a huge deal, cost them Marcus Smart, and then immediately got injured.
Best Knick draft pick of the century.
Not to mention the Knicks trading KP to the Mavs got us the pick that turned into Grimes, and we’ve got a first rounder coming (almost certainly this year, right? the Mavs made some good moves and won’t be tanking out of the play-in this time)
Hated the KP move for Boston (by which I mean I loved it). Soft-ish team trades heart-and-soul player for always-injured Porzingis? And the Jaylen Brown extension… yikes. Guess they had no choice there but they are going to be feeling the mega-cap crunch once they extend Tatum for even more cash.
18.8/5 seems like market value for Hart (if he’s not shooting 42% from 3.) You can question the wisdom of market-rate contracts for veterans at our stage on the win-curve, but I think we were basically locked into this option once we traded this year’s first for him (not because Hart is then a sunk cost, but rather because we’re committed to building a perennial top 5 team in the East while waiting for our 1A star.)
Like with the RJ contract, it’s going to look a lot less bad when the cap rises. But also like the RJ contract, we’ve sacrificed roster flexibility for wins now (likewise with DDV).
The proof will be in the pudding! For now, I’m just happy that we have another year of good basketball in the offing.
I love watching Hart play. I love his personality and interplay with Brunson. I wish he could shoot better/more, but if he could do that, he would be way more than a $20 mil/year player.
We have a whole lot of depth now. So either IQ, RJ, and/or Grimes makes a leap this season, or we make a big trade next summer. (Or, if one of those guys makes a leap, it makes the big trade even easier to pull off.) Regardless, we’re heading for what should be a fun season, even if we’re still a step or two away from real contention.
Anyone know if the deal is ascending/descending/flat?
I was hoping for at least one more move this off season, but we’ll see what happens. It’s possible something could happen at the deadline also after they get to see who made progress and how much.
Nothing to add on Hart. Happy to watch him for five more years. Feels like a bit of an overpay but he is the most 90’s Knick guy we have acquired since the 90’s. No complaints.
Owen, for some reason your comment made me think of Mase-one of my favorites. Not that they are very much alike, in overt temperament or skills, but maybe there is a similar balls/competence/confidence/winner factor. I guess we can only hope.
He was my favorite player growing up!
Similar Jack-of-all-trades energy no doubt.
The Hart deal definitely accounts for the fact that he opted in to leave us with the MLE. It’s best looked at as a 5/$94M deal.
Like Silky said, we’re in the business of winning games and Leon will be vindicated or trashed accordingly. In any event, Hart’s been traded for value enough times that I’m not really worried about a market rate contract for him even if things really go belly up.
so, the only contract business left is quik, and – barring a trade – this is the team for a few years…
someone mentioned ihart – what’s his situation?
iHart is in the last year of his deal and we only have his early bird rights, so he could walk after this season for more money or a team that offers him a starting gig.
In theory we could extend him but he probably wants to test the market and get out of Thibs system.
He’s the one major piece that could leave for nothing in the next couple years.
Worth mentioning that Hart turns 30 in the second year of this deal. Even with the rising cap, there’s a solid chance this contract will be an albatross for multiple seasons.
DARKO’s longevity projections estimate 35 as his retirement age
They slow down after 30 but aren’t immediately kicked into the garbage bin.
Shit happens and he’ll probably be overpaid but the majority of the time you expect him to be a rotation-level player.
I simply cannot believe that Garth Hudson, who looked like an old man in the Last Waltz, is the last surviving member of The Band.