[New York Post ] — Monday, October 30, 2023 7:23:32 AM
Cavaliers eyeing Knicks revenge after playoff exit stung ‘a pretty long time’ New York Post
[Posting and Toasting] — Monday, October 30, 2023 7:00:00 AM
P&T Interview with Knicks Legend, Rory Sparrow, Part 1 Posting and Toasting
[Sports Illustrated] — Monday, October 30, 2023 6:30:00 AM
This Day In Cavs History: LeBron James Re-Debuts In Second Stint Sports Illustrated
[Sports Illustrated] — Monday, October 30, 2023 6:00:00 AM
New York Knicks’ Quentin Grimes Destined for Contract Extension? Sports Illustrated
[New York Post ] — Monday, October 30, 2023 2:57:00 AM
Jalen Brunson is Knicks’ latest to get fined in NBA flop crackdown New York Post Knicks’ Jalen Brunson Fined $2K for Flopping Violation in Win over Hawks Bleacher ReportKnicks 126-120 Hawks (Oct 27, 2023) Game Recap ESPN
[HYPEBEAST] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 8:58:46 PM
MARKET x NBA Knicks Lakers Raptors Heat 76ers Trailblazers HYPEBEAST
[New York Post ] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 8:05:00 PM
Knicks’ Julius Randle ‘not making excuses’ for poor shooting start New York Post
[Newsday] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 7:02:57 PM
Julius Randle’s turnover binge isn’t entirely his fault Newsday
[Daily Knicks] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 5:00:54 PM
Julius Randle has right mindset amid Knicks-Joel Embiid trade rumors Daily Knicks
[Pinstripe Alley] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 4:00:00 PM
Yankees Social Media: Aaron Judge visits Knicks, Madison Square Garden Pinstripe Alley
[hoopsrumors.com] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 3:50:00 PM
Knicks Notes: Mitchell, DiVincenzo, Rest, Toppin hoopsrumors.com
[Posting and Toasting] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 12:30:00 PM
Predictions for the Knicks’ upcoming week, Oct. 29-Nov. 4 Posting and Toasting
[FanSided] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 12:17:16 PM
NBA rumors: Knicks’ Embiid offer nixed, Grizzlies reinforcements … FanSided
[Sports Illustrated] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 11:15:48 AM
Knicks 2023-24 Player Preview: Two-Way Players and Others Sports Illustrated
[Daily Knicks] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 10:00:57 AM
Stephen A. Smith’s rare positivity could jinx Knicks in pivotal season Daily Knicks
[Duke Basketball Report] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 8:00:00 AM
Brotherhood Watch: A New Orleans Showcase Duke Basketball Report
[FantasyPros] — Sunday, October 29, 2023 7:38:00 AM
Brandon Ingram leads offense in Saturday’s win over Knicks FantasyPros
81 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.10.30)”
Austin Reaves confirming the “FIBA takes a lot out of you” hypothesis last night.
Wasn’t there a song called I Got the FIBA
Wemby’s combo of length and skill is crazy, but he simply can’t move an NBA player right now. Might take 3-4 years for that body to catch up before he can put up consistent numbers on offense. I still have visions of Marcus Smart completely shutting down Porzingis at times early in his career. Wemby is going to have to figure that out. He’s not the 3pt shooter that Chet is, so it seems like the defensive strategy should be be to keep him from catching the ball too low, stay in front of him with a smaller, stronger, quicker guy, body him up, force him to either dribble or take tough shots, and box him out.
Portland fans should be patient with Scoot. PG is the toughest position to learn, and he’s going to have lots of rough games. But the kid can play and has an NBA-ready body.
It’s probably going to take a while, but my guess is that this rookie class is going to produce lots of exciting players when all is said and done. That kid Hawkins on NOP looks like he can really shoot.
Does anybody have a copy of the latest 2K and can you tell me if their scheduling software is dumb enough to ever schedule a back-to-back where both are away games?
Just a random musing on RJ but I was kind of shocked that his WS is only .118. TS Plus is at 104. Turnover rate high. Blocks and steal below his career average.
I have said for a long time that I expect RJ to end up a slightly above average player on high usage. That’s exactly where he is through three games. It feels a lot better than that, maybe because his teammates have struggled, but mostly I think it just shows how insanely difficult it is to play at a true star level in the NBA.
If RJ makes a significant leap this year, there really isn’t any reason to doubt that he can continue to improve. Alternatively, if he doesn’t improve this year, there really isn’t any reason to think that he will improve.
I’m pretty firmly in the camp that his game will continue to round out and become more efficient for the next 2-3 years. What impresses me the most is how diligently he has worked on his shooting form. It’s never going to be Allan Houston-esque, but seems like he has settled in to something that is simple, repeatable, and comfortable. You can just see it at the FT line, where he seems very confident.
In general, I don’t really care as much about RJ’s aggregate numbers as I do about his ratio of good games vs bad games. If he has a clunker every 4-5 games or so that tank his numbers, but plays good to excellent in the other 4, that’s good enough for me. Sort of like the way I think that Jaylen Brown is better than his aggregate numbers would indicate. His career BPM is 0.3 but I think he’s a much better player than that…not worth the supermax he just signed, but easily better than the RJ contract.
It’s striking that my concerns right now are way more about Brunson and Julius. Both have had one good game and two bad games. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for them to become more consistently good…and it better happen soon if we are going to stay above .500 during the next two months.
I do care about RJ’s aggregate numbers.
And I think Brown’s contract is a nightmare but he does play defense pretty well.
It’s just three games. I hope RJ has improved and can improve more also. We will see.
If RJ can play to Jaylen Brown’s career numbers on offense I will be very happy with that.
The biggest hurdle to get there is his 2pt%. Brown has never had a season below .500 and is 54% for his career. RJ has never even reached 50%, and even with his good start is only at .514. I think he will settle in from 3 at around 35-37% and in the high 70s for FT%. But the 2pt% is an open question.
Here’s what I wonder: is RJ capable of playing at a true star level in the NBA, however we define it? Or is his ceiling as a great third banana, or even just a great role player, akin to Iguodala on the Warriors? He’s not the athlete Iguodala was, nor the defender, but his profile to me still screams “jack of all trades, master of none.” The difference between this stretch from last year’s playoffs through now is that he is starting to actually look good at the various trades, where earlier in his career he did a lot of things, but few of them well.
I’ve mentioned Randle earlier, it seems like it’s either a newish offensive scheme that he’s not used to yet, or that he’s either still tentative or not yet as explosive as usual (or both) coming back from his injury. I’m expecting the old Randle to surface in a week or two, regardless. Which means being patient, something we’re super-good at here.
Brunson is on some level more inexplicable. Bad decision-making and bad shooting. Maybe trying too hard to replicate last year, rather than letting the game come to him? As our good friend TS would say, perhaps he just needs to calm down.
RJ seems like he finally figured out that he doesn’t need to attack the basket like a missile at mach 3 to score. He’s playing slower and under control on his drives, which actually lets him finish.
I think it also lets him do more from the midrange because he can actually stop to pull-up, stepback, or just gather the ball better for a small floater/push shot.
His shooting form also looks a lot more natural than last year’s mess. Sample size disclaimer, but he’s also at 82% from the line compared to 74% last year.
“Here’s what I wonder: is RJ capable of playing at a true star level in the NBA, however we define it? Or is his ceiling as a great third banana, or even just a great role player…”
That’s quite an upgrade from the question many here had going into the season: is RJ capable of being at least an overpaid but non-detrimental player, or is his most likely to remain a vet’s minimum deserving inefficient chucker who is bad on D and who would be benched if he weren’t drafted at #3 or playing for a coach with a massive blind spot?
Jokes about the FIBA effect aside,I do think mental fatigue is an underrated aspect of the game. It takes ferocious focus to be the best, or even among the best. Most people need down time after the season as much for their minds as their bodies.
It’s a very welcome upgrade, for sure, Z-man. I just think a lot of Knicks Twitter is again getting over its skis with the “Star-J” stuff.
Also, re: Randle, either Macri or his co-host pointed out on today’s podcast that Julius couldn’t work out like usual this offseason because he was recovering from the ankle surgery. He’s a guy who clearly feeds off of the work he puts in over the summer. So in that light, it’s perhaps not surprising that he’s off to a bad start. Hopefully, it’s just a bad start.
Wemby has a unique combination of size and skill. He could develop into something really special, but there’s a LOT of hype going on now based on what he is in in this snapshot in time. I think that’s mostly to promote ratings, sales etc.. The best thing that happened to him was ending up with Pop. If anyone can get the best out of him it will be that organization. It’s probably going to take a couple of years because I think he’s too thin now.
To me an excusable bad start means his shot is still a little off, not at his best weight yet, not 100% fit yet, and things like that related to recovering from surgery.
The thing that triggered me the other night was bad decision making.
RJ started off hot last year on his ft’s(~77%) before he had a couple of bad months… altho if he’s over 80% for a 100 more attempts there should be high confidence that he’s improved….
he’s much more comfortable on his midrange pullups…. which normally is not so positive thing but if he’s trading out of his really bad attempts near the basket then it’s a net gain….. seemingly small tweaks lead to huge gains… andrew wiggins and derozan are proof positive… that midrange shot will also be very valuable and will serve him well as he progresses…. but if it results in a lot less free throws it could torpedo everything… so far so good tho….
overall this is the best he’s shot out of the gate…. as he’s started off the season with some memorably bad games basically every year previous…. so this is a much more welcome sign….
Randle has taken 23% of his shots within 3ft of the basket. He’s hit zero of them. He’s actually hit 60% from the 3-10ft area. Definitely points to an athleticism issue.
Although I do wonder if teams are just packing the paint against us. Randle, Brunson, and Hart are all struggling to get close to the basket/score when they get there.
Spacing is going to be an issue for this team for as long as Mitch, Randle and RJ are together in the starting lineup. I’ve been saying this for a few years now.
Just saw this 2025 consensus #1 overall Cooper Flagg committed to Duke. Watched some tape on him. Looks like a 20-30 pick to me. Can’t believe he’s getting #1 overall hype.
We’re still dealing with tiny sample sizes here, so I want to see some more data before I make judgments about any of these guys. 3pt shooting volatility has been severe so far.
RJ seems like a lot better player when the shots are going in, and he hasn’t shown he can sustain that over a long period so I’m not too excited just yet.
It is a little concerning that this team had so much continuity from last year, and that they still look a little ragged and unprepared out there. Maybe continuity is a little overrated.
I had the same reaction to watching clips of Flagg. He just didn’t seem that dynamic an athlete. He’s certainly got the frame but the clips are kind of generic.
I suppose a major point in his favor though is that he’s still only 16 apparently. A lot of guys who rate out as the #1 have already turned 18 at this point in the cycle.
If he works out great. If he doesn’t, will be happy to see Duke struggle.
And JK, all the usual sample size warnings apply. Felt pedantic to say it. I don’t remotely believe in RJ yer. Really was just saying that what he’s done before feels extraordinary but really is nothing like that for a genuine NBA star.
why EB, i do of course 🙂
i haven’t played it much though…finally got around to upgrading the memory for the ps5 and bought a few games: nba2k24, spiderman 2 and ghosts of tsushima…
all i’m really playing though is the ghosts of tsushima and elder scrolls online…
haven’t done so yet, but at some point i’m gonna need to pick up a shinai and practice some kendo…
are you a gamer EB?
Cooper Flagg needs to quit basketball immediately and become a wide receiver.
it’s really tough to scout high school with just highlight vids… and even in full games it’s tough as there’s so much variation in the level of comp…
but just remember that whatever film you’re watching… the kid is only 16years old… and he put up some ridiculous numbers in the eybl u16s… we won’t really get an indication of how good he can be until he plays older comp… and the defense is way ahead of the offense which is probably why he looks soso…. but in his age class… there’s maybe a handful vying for that top spot and it says a lot that he’s probably leading that very special group so far….
Exactly. In one clip I saw, he gets beaten badly by a guy who’s probably 6’1″ and Flagg seems to know he can trail and get an easy block on the recovery, which he does. Barely jumps. Good luck against D1 players with that, and D1 players don’t even play the same sport as NBA guys.
One of my concerns about RJ is that his game doesn’t lend itself to an Iguodala role. Since he doesn’t provide much off-ball value offensively and has never proven to be an impact defender, It almost feels like either Star-J has to come to fruition or he’s just not going to be a good player, period. That’s probably overstated, but it’s not easy to think of players who aren’t stars, don’t provide offensive spacing, don’t make a big defensive impact, and are still worth $20M+ AAV.
In the very, very, very early going, RJ has beaten this allegation by 1) legitimately being our best on-ball player and 2) hitting 38% of his 3s.
If the first thing lasts, we’re in big trouble because it means Jalen Brunson is having a disaster of a season (I am nearly certain it will not last). The second thing lasting would be a game changer though.
I am still very much in wait-and-see mode personally. If he had his 3 of his 16 threes instead of the actual 6 of 16 his TS% would be .504.
Speaking of empty calories…
“LaVine had zero assists with his 51 points, marking the 33rd time in history someone dropped 50 without an assist.”
Sixteen of those were by Wilt Chamberlain, but of course he went and led the league in assists in ’67-68. So we know he COULD pass.
I keep waiting for RJ to break out in some area other than scoring (rebounds, assists, defense) to make up for the efficiency weakness, but so far it hasn’t happened. It would be a lot easier to swallow meh efficiency if he was giving us 5 assists off his drives, added an extra rebound, and upped the D. It’s going to be hard to add rebounds now given we have so many above average rebounders, but assists seem like very fertile grounds.
Knicks had a 6 pt lead with 4 mins left vs Boston and lead wire to wire in Atlanta. That loss to New Orleans is a schedule loss if there ever was one.
The Knicks still have a very difficult schedule coming up, they have a 5 games in 7 days stretch in a couple of weeks too that culminates in a 5 game road trip. Even if they’re just a .500 team by Thanksgiving they’ll be fine.
Interesting tweet about the Knicks 3P shooting quality:
https://twitter.com/Shot_Quality/status/1719063364859519177
The problem was that the shots didn’t go in, not the looks.
RJ is not the same player as iggy was…. he’s more like what derozan and wiggins are…. high usage… ok efficiency with one good secondary skill… with wiggins its defense.. derozan it’s passing… iggy was never really a good scorer but very good in the other areas….
RJ can be more like derozan.. from the sounds of things he seems to want to model parts of his game after him…. and he’s also ok at distributing the ball already… so that’s probably where it’ll come from….
the mega superstar ship has passed tho…. sky high efficiency is probably not in the cards but there’s still a lot of room to be a valuable player…. if he can take a step up to be a positive contributor this year he’d be ahead of the pace of guys we’d probably kill to have on our squad….. and would probably be more worth it over a guy like OG….
Derozan is a career 84% from the line and has been over 87% lately. That would be a fantastic improvement for RJ, although off to a good start at 82%. Derozan also draws more fouls.
But that is the number one similarity score.
At this point in the season, the book on how to defend RJ (and more generally the Knicks or any player or team) is subject to revision based on new information, game film, etc.
If RJ starts making 3’s and floaters at a higher percentage, defenses are going to adjust. The great players make defenses pay for such adjustments by adjusting right back.
I dont think we can tell whether RJ can do that based on 3 games. He certainly hasn’t been great at adjusting his game in the past…and he’s not really suited for an entirely off-the-ball role. So we won’t have enough info to accurately judge him for a while, meaning until after those adjustments are baked in. But if his numbers can stay somewhere in the neighborhood of where they are now, which doesn’t seem far-fetched, that would be pretty nice!
So far it looks like Tyrese Maxey has taken another step forward and can be seen as a legitimate 2nd option behind behind Embiid. If that’s the case, they don’t have to get back much for Harden to be back in the serious contender column. That doesn’t bode well for Embiid asking out.
It does appear the Ben Simmons comeback is happening. That’s an interesting development, even given his remaining limitations.
Take the breaks you can get, you know?
The racial profiling on this site disgusts me!
I love BTBs when opposing team are decimated by injuries,
great work NBA’ Chief Of Scheduling! 😉
But all joking aside, Flagg may not be the #1 guy, but he’s the terrific, big 2-way wing that Strat has been listing after.
He can score at three levels, rebounds ferociously for a skinny guy, and even moves the ball nicely.
And I think I like his fast hands as a steals guy even more than his shot blocking.
Listen to your friend Sam Vecenie, Jowles, he’s a cool dude! He’s trying to help you out: https://twitter.com/Sam_Vecenie/status/1649605203744952320
The only bad thing about all those guys being out for CLE is that the game becomes sort of a must-win affair against highly motivated scrubs, i.e. a classic trap game. It probably helps that we are coming off of a humiliating loss.
I used to be. Haven’t really played too much in the past few years but there’s a growing list of games I’m keeping an eye on
Let’s trade a pile of picks to move up and get him!
Seriously, I watched about 15 minutes of highlights. I can’t tell much given the competition, but he’s very aggressive and has some skills on both sides. I can see why he’s highly regarded as a prospect. He was overwhelming the guys he was playing against.
The Cavs are running scared!
The Celts are hurting the Wiz’ feelings.
ahhh, things are getting interesting now…
the mechanics, load times, audio/visual and depth of games has really jumped in the last few years…
heck, gaming is always moving ahead quickly…
any titles in particular you have your eye on?
it would be totally cool for you to be able to catch up on a series you used to play…
any interest in the VR suff?
Ingram out with knee soreness…alas…
TWolves punishing the Hawks in Atlanta.
Looks like Thibs isn’t the only coach that holds Obi back.
“TWolves punishing the Hawks in Atlanta.”
Maybe that was a bit premature…
I was never much of a LaMelo Ball guy when he came into the league, but man he has been horrific so far this season
3 games – 11 for 44. Yikes.
Hali will unlock him any day now…any day now….
Man, DeJounte went nuclear in the second half…meanwhile, the TWolves continue to mystify.
Despite losing at home to the Blazers the genius Masai has put together a great team in Toronto….
Cam Thomas has put up 30 in all 3 of his games. Nets might be dangerous
Toppin had the best +/- on the team tonight, but yeah, he’s clearly terrible after 3 games.
Randle, though!? He’s been TERRIFIC.
Randle >>>>>>>>>>>>> Obi
“Toppin had the best +/- on the team tonight, but yeah, he’s clearly terrible after 3 games.”
If I recall correctly, the +/- argument was strat’s go-to in his perpetual defense of the woefully misunderstood Frank Ntilikina…
Tonight in the fourth quarter, Obi entered the game at 8:35 and exited for good at 6:40, even though the Pacers outscored the Bulls 6-2 during that stretch. On his way off the floor he was heard yelling “Yo Rick, Rick…”
Obi will be in Indiana exactly what he was here. He’ll have his games where he scores 20 pts and electrifies the crowd while the majority of his games will be what he mostly had here and has had in Indiana so far.
Great kid, fun to root for and I hope he has a long NBA caree. But it’s just hilarious how some here wanted to blame his pedestrian numbers on Thibs and his system thinking playing with Hali and the Pacers would immediately unlock all this amazing potential that Thibs was somehow depressing.
Obi could not be in a better situation than he is right now. He is playing with the best uptempo PG in the NBA that plays to his strengths, and has been given the starting job PF because there really isn’t any serious competition. He is playing in a small market that will give him every bit of patience he deserves.
I agree that 3 games is not enough to form any firm conclusions…and like BBA I like him and wish him the best. But if he doesn’t start playing better, and I mean a LOT better, the Pcers are going to start looking at alternatives. He’s there on a low-cost flier, so they have nothing really invested in him other than hope.
Tbh I care about Obi’s stats as much as those of any other ex-Knick, and that is very little. I just think it’s funny you guys are already rubbing a minuscule 3-game sample size in people’s faces on an off night. Hats off to you!
the g-men still have not traded saquon, what would he get – like a 3rd round pick and “a player”?
good luck getting rid of daniel jones’ contract…i don’t know, that is a position of constant need in the league…
just lose them all coach, lose every single close game that you can, we are going to trade every worthwhile asset on the team – AND START OVER AGAIN and again and again…
Since some people here after just 3 games are already panicking about Hart, DDV and Randle I figured I’d bring up a former Knick who I’m sure if he were off to a great start we wouldn’t hear the end of it.
DRose with 1 point on 4 shots in 14 minutes tonight. Thats 32 points on 37 shots this season. He’s looking pretty washed.
The Grizz are now 0-4 while the Mavs are 3-0. Dillon Brooks must be loving it.
“I figured I’d bring up a former Knick who I’m sure if he were off to a great start we wouldn’t hear the end of it.”
No doubt about it.
They don’t need much help with that part
laughter helps generate the chemical: endorphin, which is sorta kind of actually causes you to not feel pain as much…
there’s some other stuff you can do to address pain – exercise, listen to music, do some creative stuff…i got these posters all over the home…daughter said it makes the whole place look like a junior high counselor’s office, in a good kind of way… that made me laugh…
I could be an even bigger dick and ask how’s Cam Whitmore’s ROY campaign going so far 🙂
But then guys like Jalen Johnson and Jalen Duran would be brought up and I’d say you got me there!
On another note I can’t imagine Cam will continue being a part of the Lakers rotation much longer.
i will say, it bums me to have to keep that “inspirational” nike lance armstrong poster in the closet…the one where he answers the question of his PED use (What am I on?) with the “statement”: he was just working really really hard…oh yeah, and after like 10 years of questioning – he finally admitted to eating little chocolate doughnuts, force fed to him by his disloyal teammates and doctors…
truly, he was the victim there…
it was cool back in the day…very defiant…ha…followed the tour de france a bunch while he was winning…crazy races…pretty much anything and everything can go wrong…maybe crash a few times…weather, spectators, other riders/bikes, your own equipment, your body falling apart…probably rare to find a “soft” spot to land while going down…
maybe in the garage next to the bikes, out of plain sight…no one need not know…
Cam has made two hilariously bad plays in this game so far
“no one need not know” is the name of my next band.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38784569/philadelphia-76ers-agree-trade-james-harden-la-clippers
That’s a straight salary dump of Harden, as LAC sent back nothing of value in return. Robert Covington was probably the best player that Philly acquired. The four guys acquired by PHI are all expiring contracts so I guess they’ll try to reload next year. Makes sense for LAC as they have a tiny window with their stars all getting into their mid-30’s and they basically get Harden for free.
I wouldn’t say for free. The Sixers are getting two first round picks and a pick swap. That’s not a superstar haul, but it’s not nothing.
They’re getting the Clippers’ 2028 1RP, pretty far out in advance but that’s unprotected and the Clippers might really stink by then. So that’s a good asset. The other 1RP is getting routed to Philly via another team and hasn’t been announced yet, so I wonder if that’s a protected pick.
The other pick is 2026 via OKC, which projects to be an unexciting pick to say the least.
An unprotected pick in 2028 is a really good get, as is the 2029 pick swap. They did better than I thought.
If you’re excited about protected picks from Washington and Detroit that are never likely to convert, I can’t imagine why you would thumb your nose at a 2026 first from OKC.