Since no one has started the day off with “What’s the greatest Kazoo solo in rock history?” I’ll just post some RJ eye candy.

I can’t believe that worked. Well played.

Back on topic, though, Weird Al Yankovic gargles the solo on Lasagna.

I can’t agree the the trade with the Pacers gave no indication of value. Maybe there is uncertainty about exactly how much value it indicates and he is worth slightly more than we got, but clearly he wasn’t worth much.

I have to say, I am unfortunately learning that I am a better predictor Knick fortunes when I am a pessimist instead of sn optimist.

But two things can still be true simultaneously.

Personally, being that I was not one of those who made the above prediction, I can cut Thibs some slack for not spending much time figuring out how to run more plays in line with Obi’s and iHart’s special talents.

I don’t think it would ‘wreck the team’ to throw a few wrinkles in there.

And in fact we did see Thibs throwing more wrinkles in (e.g., running in the second unit), just not enough different stuff for my liking.

1. It was a bad unforced error to draft Obi over Hali, especially because we desperately needed a PG at the time.

2. Obi wasn’t versatile or good enough to be used as anything other than a energy backup PF.

3. I still have no idea why playing time was an issue. If you are a backup PF (which he would be on any very good team), you get around 12-15 minutes a night. That’s what he got.

4. We got absolutely trash for him in that trade.

5. If it was up to me I would have kept him.

I’m not sure what was going on behind the scenes. Maybe there was a personality issue with Thibs. The one legitimate argument for any of this was that he may have felt he wasn’t being used properly in Thib’s offense. With his skillset he certainly shouldn’t be standing in the corner shooting 3s. But you can’t blame Thibs for that either. You don’t build your offense around your backup PF. Your backup PF has to develop the skills to fit in your offense.

Keldon Johnson was pretty much as bad as RJ in his only year as a high usage player. His TS% was .020 higher, his WS48 was actually lower (030 compared to RJ’s .043) his BPM was a lousy -1.7 compared to RJ’s putrid -3.1. If RJ puts up KJ’s numbers from last year, I’d hardly be doing a happy dance.

So if they waited they could have gotten what? You can fantasize about what they would have gotten it they waited, but the fact is that they got shit for him and could have generated cap space in other ways. It’s also known that he had very little value to Ainge during the Spida negotiations. But hey, if they got back a single unprotected second instead of the two “lesser of” picks we got, I suppose that would qualify as a “much better” return. If you think anyone was giving up a protected first for him if Leon waited, well, whatever.

“Second, the Pacers were looking at trading for a star PF, not any PF. ”

All that definitively means that they don’t view Obi as a starting-caliber PF and are actively looking for a better option than the guy they just traded for. Here’s proof of that.. It’s kind of telling that the “stars” they are looking into include Tobias Harris and Harrison Barnes.

“Do you think them chasing a star PF means they don’t like Walker as well?”

Jarace Walker is a 19yo rookie and very few rookies that are legitimate starters for competitive teams in their rookie years. Obi has been in the league for three years and is 25 years old. It’s a ridiculous comparison.

“I know you need to cling to the idea that Obi has no value and never will because you need to defend Thibs and the front office but the Obi trade did nothing to really determine his value either way.”

Kind of a dickish thing to say…I don’t “need” to defend Thibs or the front office. I defend them when I agree with them, and I criticize them when I don’t. In fact, it’s ironic that you said what you did in a context where I’ve consistently opined that picking Obi over Hali was one of the very dumbest move this FO has made. I have also agreed with Obi’s stans that he should have played somewhat more and that Thibs should have used the Obi-Randle small lineup more. Where we differ is that I think Obi would have been a huge liability as a consistent starter. I’m sticking with that opinion until he shows me otherwise, either with Indiana or elsewhere.

Also, even though I was very disappointed that the Knicks picked Obi over Hali, I hoped for the best. I have mentioned multiple times that Obi is from the town next to me and I have a sports connection to his family. No one here wanted to see him succeed more than I did. Sadly, I believe that he would be an absolute disaster on defense as a starter and mercilessly targeted in that role, and for that reason, the few bright spots in his offensive game are not enough to convince me that he is anything but a 15-20 minute energy guy off the bench on a good team. The way I feel about him is independent of how Thibs feels about him, but I mostly concur with his opinion on what Obi’s role has been on the Knicks.