[ESPN] – Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:34:00 GMT
- Taj Gibson agrees to nonguaranteed deal with Knicks for rest of season
- Taj Gibson rejoining Knicks, reuniting with coach Tom Thibodeau
- Knicks sign veteran big man after Mitchell Robinson injury
- Knicks bring back Taj Gibson on a one-year contract
- BREAKING: New York Knicks Reportedly Sign 14-Year NBA Veteran
[NBA.com] – Thu, 14 Dec 2023 01:27:53 GMT
New York Knicks vs Utah Jazz Dec 13, 2023 Box Scores
[Sports Illustrated] – Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:55:53 GMT
- BREAKING: New York Knicks Release Former NBA 1st Round Pick
- New York Knicks Make Roster Move Following Raptors Game
- Dylan Windler: Let go by Knicks
- Kevin Durant: Welcome back Bronny.
- Knicks’ Dylan Windler: Recalled from G League
[New York Post] – Thu, 14 Dec 2023 05:13:00 GMT
- Ugly stretch dooms Knicks in disappointing loss to Jazz
- Jazz 117-113 Knicks (Dec 13, 2023) Game Recap
- “Stayed Locked in” 5 Things to Know Following Utah’s Win Over the Knicks
- Utah Jazz beat the Knicks 117-113
- Jazz 117, Knicks 113: Scenes from a brick wall standing in the way of a comeback
[Posting and Toasting] – Wed, 13 Dec 2023 16:00:00 GMT
Knicks Immanuel Quickley on Point Forward podcast
[New York Post] – Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:10:00 GMT
Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle in the mix for limited All-Star Game spots
[hoopsrumors.com] – Wed, 13 Dec 2023 20:06:00 GMT
- Warriors, Knicks, Lakers Top Latest NBA Franchise Valuations
- NBA Team Values 2023: Warriors, Knicks, Lakers Top $7B
- Sporticast 305: Inside Sportico’s Latest NBA Valuations
- Warriors, Knicks, Lakers Headline Sportico’s 2023 List of NBA’s Most Valuable Teams
- NBA Teams Worth $4 Billion On Average, Up 33 Percent From Last Year
[Covers] – Wed, 13 Dec 2023 15:15:00 GMT
- Knicks vs Jazz Picks, Predictions & Odds Tonight – NBA
- Utah Jazz vs New York Knicks: start time, channel, injury report, preview
- New York Knicks vs. Utah Jazz Prediction, Preview, and Odds – 12-13-2023
- Collin Sexton scores season-high 26 points, Jazz beat Knicks 117-113
- Utah Jazz vs. New York Knicks live stream info, start time, TV channel: How to watch NBA on TV, stream online
[Posting and Toasting] – Wed, 13 Dec 2023 12:00:00 GMT
Sims City
[Deseret News] – Thu, 14 Dec 2023 06:21:00 GMT
Keyonte George injury is the latest blow to the Jazz
[Bleacher Report] – Wed, 13 Dec 2023 16:47:55 GMT
- Donovan Mitchell Trade Rumors: Nets Linked if Knicks Can’t Close Deal for Cavs Star
- NBA Trade Rumors: Knicks, Nets Eyeing Donovan Mitchell
- NBA rumors: Nets racing for Mitchell, Toronto chooses forward to trade, Draymond facing another suspension
- New team emerges as potential Donovan Mitchell suitor
- Donovan Mitchell trade rumors to Lakers/Clippers meet with NBA fans’ ire: “Source, I made it the f*** up
[New York Post] – Thu, 14 Dec 2023 06:25:00 GMT
Immanuel Quickley not concerned by limited minutes in Knicks return
[Basketball Network] – Thu, 14 Dec 2023 01:04:00 GMT
“He tricked all of the New York fans” – When Stephon Marbury bashed Mike D’Antoni after he left the Knicks
[Sports Illustrated] – Thu, 14 Dec 2023 05:06:24 GMT
Julius Randle Made New York Knicks History – Fastbreak on FanNation
128 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.12.14)”
Not for nothing but when does Randle say “Damn, this team is just too mediocre” and want out…
Bench was dreadful … Grimes … wow …
Brunson and others short on a lot of open looks… RJ wasn’t short, just throwing up incredible bricks for an NBA player.
I know Mitch is out, but this roster (with coach) is expiring. Something off. I dont see a lot of love for each other out there. Just me, maybe.
Didn’t read as many Josh Hart victory laps this morning. 0 for 29 minutes? Hard to get that kind of production from a first round pick.
DDV is a good player, but the minute crunch his signing causes at guard is killing the team chemistry. With IQ and Grimes in contract year, you cannot significantly cut their minutes or shots and expect them to be ok with it.
The 3 headed ISO monster of Randle, Brunson and RJ is also terrible for chemistry.
With IQ and Grimes in contract year, you cannot significantly cut their minutes or shots and expect them to be ok with it.
Agree with IQ. But Grimes is more responsible for cutting down his shot attempts than the roster construction.
Good night for Walker Kessler fans. Although Taylor Hendricks was plus 25. Never heard of him but I guess he was a high pick.
I watched but somewhat sporadically. For a four point loss where he had two shots to tie the game in the last 30 seconds, it felt dreadful.
RJ has reverted like a mother$$#%#^.
Will join the chorus. IQ playing so few minutes is ridiculous.
Brunson really didn’t look right, between the missed bunnies and the missed fts.
That was a brutal game to watch. So many missed 3’s and free throws and very little effort in the 2nd and 3rd quarter.
Gotta say…getting really tired of RJ’s act. He strings together a few good games and then inevitably puts in like 10 in a row where he sucks only to be good again for a few games. It’s his 5th season. This shit is getting tiresome.
I mean Randle has a bad game or two and half the fan base wants to trade him for nothing. But RJ gets so much leeway why? Cause we drafted him? Cause he has a cool demeanor? Cause he did “ok” in a few playoff games?
Brunson is clearly not 100 percent but even in a “bad” game from him he still manages to score more points than shots he takes. But RJ continues to put up these putrid stat lines while giving us nothing else. No defense. Minimal rebounding. Minimal passing.
WE don’t need 3 ISO scorers in the starting line up.
Call up the Raptors. RJ plus 3 first round picks and we drop the lawsuit for OG.
Will OG make us contenders? No. But he will balance the roster. He will greatly improve our team’s defense and give us the long wing we desperately need. He will open up shots for him and Grimes or DDV in the starting line up. BRunson and Randle is enough iso scoring. After that you got scoring options from IQ, DDV, and OG plus whatever Hart, iHart, Mitch can contribute.
Brunson will always be a weak point on defense. Randle won’t kill us but can’t really help once the defense breaks down, Mitch and Grimes or DDV can’t do it alone. OG would help us so much.
If we trade RJ and 3 picks, we should have enough left over for other moves. Maybe not a superstar move but we will still have room to improve the roster.
Do it.
RJ needs to go.
good news… randle has righted himself after a poor start and he’s had a real incredible stretch of games…. almost seems like brunson and randle are alternating good/bad stretches… we absolutely need both at their best tho… he’s probably on his way to split the difference between last year and the year before which still isn’t good but we’ve averted disaster for now…
bad news… is just about everything else is trending downwards… even brunson after a real hot 3pt shooting which is regressing is seeing down numbers from last year… maybe he’s playing hurt but in order to repeat last year’s success we need repeat performances and if randle and brunson are coming up short… even by just a little bit.. that will doom our season….
same with josh hart who’s still good… but he’s not hitting 3s at the same clip as he was last year for us.. which nobody expected… but what you have is a nice but ultimately limited player which isn’t moving the needle much….
rj is a bit worrisome…. and has reverted to old habits after his return from migraines…. the shooting is still good which is nice… but the huge breakout doesn’t seem to be in the cards…. i do think he will improve and have a solid year but he’s the one hope where we could break out of this range…
IQ is putting up an ok year but he isn’t playing that much and also because of that some of his midrange shooting numbers seem to be elevating his numbers a bit…. when it’s all said and done he likely will also have a worse year… but he also should be playing more so we can find out…
for anyone still holding out hope for a 50 win season…. these are the guys that need to improve/meet their performance from last year… if they’re all falling short then it’s going to be a tough year….
I thought I had resolved the question of whether to trade RJ or Randle in my mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvzdehnJA9k
Now I feel like this about of them again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRxaXmXvjnU
We really need 2 out of 3 of Brunson, Randle and RJ playing well to beat the weaker teams almost every night, but less than 2 and we can lose to anybody.
We had an “everything go right” kind of year last year. Randle and Brunson played at the top of their range of outcomes. The nuts and bolts players all produced how you’d expect.
That’s all great, but the idea here is to incrementally improve if I understand the hybrid method correctly, and it’s hard to see where the incremental improvements are going to come from if you just run back the same roster. We brought in one new player, DDV, and he has played well, but he has also eaten into the minutes of one of the very few players we have who had potential to give us internal improvement.
In my opinion we’ll be hard pressed to match either last year’s win total or playoff success. We’re treading water and we need to make some sort of move. I can’t say I love our long-term position. It feels like this is kinda it.
JK47
That’s the way I felt after what I considered a disappointing off season. That’s why I became a little pessimistic on the season. They’ve actually been playing better than I expected because I thought a lot of teams in the NBA would make more progress than we did either through players retuning from injury, development or getting lucky in the draft.
IMO they have to consolidate one of our extra 2/3s plus Fournier’s expiring into an upgrade at 2/3 since I can’t see them trading Randle. C is kind of set, and Brunson is the PG.
I still like the idea of OG, but I like it more when I see RJ playing like crap and he’s the one being included in the deal.
JK,
I get what you’re saying but this could also just be a temporary holding pattern or slight step back while the next big move comes.
What is weird about this season so far is that I feel like in some ways the team is better/more talented but the overall vibes and team chemistry is a little off.
I do think the DDV signing is maybe messing with IQ and Grimes. Because not only does it create a logjam but now the “Villanova connection” is the dominant energy in the locker room. I could see the rest of the team, especially IQ and Grimes, maybe not digging that so much.
But if the idea is that one of those guys eventually goes out in a trade, then maybe this is just a necessary holding pattern until that happens?
Also wondering if Taj can have a positive impact on the culture besides just being an emergency big. The team just doesn’t seem to be vibing as much as last season and it makes sense. You got the continuing Fournier situation. You got Grimes and IQ in contract seasons (especially IQ). You got Thibs who maybe is starting to wear out his welcome or his try hard all the time approach is no longer yielding the results it does when he first takes over.
I don’t know. It’s not time to panic. Missing Mitch is huge. but that was a demoralizing loss for sure and the next stretch of games is going to be brutal.
I wish Brunson could just take a few games off and we just let ourselves chalk up the losses. I also wish Thibs in situations like last night would just throw McBride out there for a few minutes to see if he can shake things up. He is way to rigid. THen again we did almost win last night but maybe in the third when Brunson is clanking shot after shot and looks clearly not 100 percent, you throw out your defensive spark plug PG to see if he can light a fire under the team.
And I still wish McBride got some minutes. Jalen needs more rest. IQ works better as a combo guard. Maybe this happens if a trade goes down.
Surely we can sell Toronto on the idea of taking RJ. He’s CANADIAN. Throw in picks. OG could walk for nothing. RJ does have his moments and is still young. Drop the lawsuit? Surely we can make this happen
I wouldn’t say what I’m feeling is panic, just a sense that the uber-conservative Leon Rose approach to roster building is really not the approach we need at this point in the curve. Unfortunately he is not a proactive or creative GM. I mean we just “solved” our big man depth problem by taking Taj Gibson out of mothballs. That’s fine, but it’s so predictable it’s genuinely amusing.
With the RJ breakout now showing itself to have been a mirage and everybody’s numbers more or less stabilizing it’s becoming clear that there isn’t much of a path for this group of players to exceed what they accomplished last year. To even match it they’re going to need pretty much everybody to play at the top of their range of outcomes.
Another nut or bolt isn’t going to change that. This team needs to make some sort of move, or this is going to be a disappointing year.
Last year at this time Knicks were 10-13 so they’re 3 games better this year! Of course last year they won 8 in a row to get to 18-13 and with their upcoming schedule I’ll be shocked if the Knicks are as good as 18-13 this year.
Schedule lightens up big time in January so I don’t think we can get a real good feel for this team until February when the trade deadline is approaching but like JK said it does feel like they’re treading water a bit this year.
I still believe they’ll finish in the Top 6 and as long as they avoid Boston or Milwaukee in the 1st rd they should be able to win another playoff series. But it will be very interesting to see how active they’ll be at the trade deadline.
It’s not about the hybrid method, it’s about a roster of good young players, who you hope will improve and make you a better team.
So far it happened with Mitch, and we were hoping it happened with RJ, and maybe Quickly. But now Mitch is hurt, RJ regressed, Quick is not getting minutes, and Grimes is not getting any shots, and is out of rhythm, or just not as good as we hoped.
(There’s still time for some of this improvement from within to actually happen).
3 firsts and RJ for OG is a bit much, but I guess that’s the going rate in trades these days. A savvy GM would sell Toronto on the fact that RJ scores better, and has the pedigree being a fairly recent top 3 pick. Personally, I think RJ would do much better on a team with better spacing and without 2 other iso scorers in the lineup. Would he work on the court replacing OG? Who knows..but he’s more of a natural guard than OG and Barnes..so maybe Leon could also sell them on that fact. Even still- while I’d be ok with swapping RJ for OG, I’d only give them 2 firsts at best. Both protected, preferably
https://twitter.com/KnicksMuse/status/1735349292032737791?s=19
Damn, can’t even be number 1 in this list!
Dame must be pretty happy about how his offseason turned out
Hubert, that’s pretty lame considering the game before vs Toronto he was 6-8, 18 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists and was a major factor in closing out the win.
Haven’t seen many late first rounders putting up numbers like that, but maybe I’m not paying attention
For the nth time this year, I felt relieved that I had missed most of a Knicks game. That’s not a good sign.
I’m glad the Knicks are a respectable organization again, but frankly, I’m losing interest. The team has gone from “very little” upside to “practically zero” at this point.
We have a group of rootable players, which is nice but not many ways of achieving championship aspirations. I guess that magic “star trade” is still a possibility, but there are plenty of teams that can offer more than our meager war chest.
I’m not going to use the M-Word, but I’d like to move closer to the main stage before I die…
Knicks are the day-old bagels of association rosters.
And the coach likes his toasted.
Taj will save us with his mystical powers of vet leadership
And then we lost the following 5 games to be 18-18 at game 36. Then we were 25-23 at game 48 and 28-26 at game 54. So this is a process. We usually get better as the season goes on.
Maybe it’s because i didn’t watch the game, but my reaction to this thread was like Mitch’s to Berman… RELAAAAAAX !! 😀
First, they ignore the mezzanine, then they laugh at the mezzanine, then they fight the mezzanine, then the mezzanine wins.
Looks like we’re approaching the end of that sequence. Just wondering, does anyone here still believe a consolidation trade that nets us a superstar is plausible? If so, please name the targets you feel are realistic, and please account for the fact that we are tanking the value of our best young trade asset by cutting his minutes despite our demonstrable need for him to play more…
Meanwhile, has anyone else noticed that more than 25% into this season we have 0 wins against any team that features a stretch big? Even one of the worst teams in the league just has to run Lauri Bird out there and he’ll just own us for 23 points on 13 FGA.
I know I said twice in yesterday’s thread, but people seemed to have missed it. There is a pretty good chance that Quickley only played 18 minutes last night because of his bum knee. He was out the game before and he was a late decision yesterday. So the compromise may have been a minutes limitation just to see how his knee would react today. We’ll see how many minutes he plays in the next game. I agree with the greater point that he should be playing more in general.
This team was a bit stale even when fully healthy due to its hard ceiling, but with Mitch we were legitimately good enough to keep me entertained while we awaited the next move.
With Mitch out, RJ Barrett returning to the back of his basketball card, and no leaps from other young players we have the hard ceiling and do not seem to be all that good, so I don’t blame anyone getting antsy. Indeed, I am getting antsy.
Sure. “Plausible” is a fairly low bar. At the drop of a hat, we have the ability to offer:
-Four unprotected firsts
-Four protected firsts of varying quality
-Three unprotected swaps
-Salary filler that doesn’t detract much from the current team in RJ and Fournier
-Reasonably intriguing young players in IQ, Grimes, and Mitch
We can put together a damn good offer if we want. Or course whether we should depends entirely on the target player.
Are there teams who can top our best offer if they so choose? Almost definitely. Is it plausible they won’t because they’re unsure the target player wants to play for them? Sure.
I have been extremely consistent on this point: I don’t like the strategy because whether any of this materializes is totally out of our hands, and though there is some denialism on this point there is absolutely some level of urgency to get it done.
But plausible? Sure.
First, they ignore the mezzanine, then they laugh at the mezzanine, then they fight the mezzanine, then the mezzanine wiins.
To the extent I care, will point out that every post from this clown starts with a classic troll.
Strat,
You might be right but then if Brunson was questionable the game before, why play him 39 minutes?
I just don’t get why Thibs won’t give McBride some burn. He did ok in his minutes against the Raptors. He was put into the rotation last year when we first turned it around and he is a defensive spark plug. I’m not saying he’s some diamond in the rough guy who needs heavy minutes but when IQ and Brunson are hurting and we’re struggling in a game to get stops, why not put in a defensive PG for a few minutes, give Jalen some rest and see what happens?
walkerandbendercornerstones,
I’m going to guess that Thibs sees Quickley/DDV as more interchangeable than Brunson/McBride in terms of productivity. But I’m speculating on the injury minutes limit. I don’t know. I’d like to see more Deuce here or there also, especially when Brunson is clearly struggling on both ends.
I don’t think there is going to be a “star” trade at the deadline. I think a move like that is more likely in the off season, but we could see an upgrade given the surplus at SG/SF and Fournier contract that I’m sure they would like to use somehow.
In all seriousness, it was a terrible loss, but this team hadn’t had a terrible loss all season, so I think we can forgive them the occasional terrible loss.
It’s if this stuff becomes more consistent than we should be more concerned about their regular season prospects.
The NOLA loss was pretty terrible, Brian, but yes.
I’ll worry more if it becomes clear that we just can’t properly function without Mitch, or if Brunson continues to seem un-Brunson due to the ankle. For now, I’m just writing this off as one dispiriting loss. Or trying to.
I know I said twice in yesterday’s thread, but people seemed to have missed it. There is a pretty good chance that Quickley only played 18 minutes last night because of his bum knee.
quickley himself said flat out he had no limit. according to ben ritholtz, thibs said the same, although i didn’t see that directly.
Then I’m going to have to call Thibs an idiot. Quickley was shooting well and Brunson didn’t look 100%. So you play him even less than usual?
The only legit star that seems plausible – as of now – is Donovan Mitchell, and that wouldn’t happen until the offseason. A few younger guys could demand out of their situations, like Zion or LaMelo, but those would be offseason moves, too (at the earliest).
So few teams WITHOUT a 1A star – like us – have winning records… idk if that’s impressive or problematic. Teams like that are mostly bottom-feeders waiting for their kids to get better or tanking for a top pick. Orlando is the only other one that comes to mind. Maybe Houston?
You wouldn’t consider consecutive games where we looked completely uncompetitive vs. Milwaukee and Boston and gave up checks notes 279 total points to be terrible losses? I’d be surprised if that’s ever been matched in our entire history.
Hence my pessimism. The hybrid method virtually rules out the real superstars of the league, who are generally unavailable at any price. The best we can target is marginal max players, who are significantly less valuable than the Jokic/Giannis/Embiid/Doncic tier of guys who provide excess value on a max deal.
Mitchell is a terrible fit alongside Brunson, and if Thibs were willing to run a backcourt consisting of two small combo guards he’d be doing it now instead of burying Quickley.
I guess LaMelo is big enough that he could slot in at PG and let Brunson play SG while guarding the opposing SG, but what’s CHA’s motivation in giving up a young star they could potentially build around? Young potential superstars are the one thing you don’t trade for picks.
Zion at least has the talent to be a true superstar, but none of the other necessary inputs. Like RJ, he peaked in year two and his most plausible outcome as a Knick is to become the next Eddy Curry.
I vote problematic. Other teams without a 1A tend to know where they stand, either tanking to get a shot at their 1A or banking on developing high-ceiling talent they already possess.
We take the unique approach of 1) not having any superstar talent 2) not putting ourselves in position to acquire it and 3) not developing what talent we do have.
Seriously, the growth curve of our young players has been minimal — RJ and Grimes have shown negative development, and the one guy who is measurably better than he was two years ago gets his minutes cut. Who was the last player to show significant growth for us? If we had drafted Hali I’m not sure he’d be half the player he is now.
So even if a true superstar does become available, we need him to want to play for us so that his team doesn’t simply take the best offer from OKC/SAS/HOU.
How did that work out for Lillard’s attempt to force his way to Miami?
And why would anyone possibly want to play for a mediocre team with the most unpopular owner AND coach in the NBA, instead of OKC’s dynasty in the making or two teams packed with young talent in a state with no income tax?
Beyond that, can you identify a realistic target that changes our fortunes? Best I’ve heard so far is Donovan Mitchell, whose credentials as a 1A are at best murky.
Cyber, that was an AWFUL game. Not sure if Max couldn’t watch it, or couldn’t take it, but I do miss his grades on this one. As I mentioned last night, pretty much everyone including the coach deserved an F, outside of Julius, IQ, and DiVo. Well, iHart maybe gets a C for trying. Yuck.
RJ deserved a grade worse than F. That might well have been his worst game ever. And he’s played some stinkers. Between his hideous offense, embarrassing defense, and then hideous attitude (Must find way to break out scoring-wise, don’t care about the team), it was truly putrescent.
I mean, wash your hands and move on, but you have to wash your hands twice with industrial level soap for that one.
The only guy that fits the superstar trade template is Zion and even he is a risky, maybe even conditional, superstar. None of the other usual suspect guys — Spida, et al. — are superstars. People like LaVine aren’t even close.
So it’s really either get Zion or tear down and start over. Everything else is deep purgatory as far as the eye can see. (The other option is firing Thibs and modernizing things on both sides of the ball and see what happens with an open lane, but I’m considering that unpossible under current circumstances. I’d prefer it to a tear down.)
Sorry guys, I can’t watch western games live (this one started at 4:30 AM local time) and I had a busy day, so I watched it on “extended delay” (and immediately threw up my dinner).
It was brutal, until now we feasted on bad teams (and were lousy against good ones) but this was ugly.
Randle played great on offense (as usual) until the 4th, were he went shootless from the field in 8:14 of play.
Why? Airtight Utah’s defense on him (no)? Exausted energies (maybe)? Frozen out by the Villanova Connection (both DDV and JB took 6 shots in the quarter*)? Make your choice!
DDV was good and so was IQ, in only 18 minutes (yes, his minutes are shrinking in a contract year, he must be happy).
I-Hart tried, but I think in some countries his end-of-quarter foul on Lauri’s 3-pointer could earn him jail time.
The others were terrible**, with a special mention for RJ and, ca va sans dire, Thibs.
In my preseason prediction I expected a bad stretch at the end of december, but Utah was one of the few wins I’d count on.
I’m not panicking*** but I’m definitively worried, something doesn’t sound right.
* But ehi, even Grimes took 4!
** I don’t care too much if J-Hart and Grimes had a bad game, they are complementary players, we have 3 “spearheads” (JB, Julius, RJ). If two of them suck in the same game we’re fucked.
*** I’ll keep panic for the last week before the trade deadline and keep acts of irrational violence for the draft, where we could punt our two 1st rounders for cap space… to re-sign Taj Gibson on a 2 years guaranteed contract! 😀
I was ready to ask you to change your name to Sandman (because you read my dreams)…
Then you woke me up… 😉
We currently own the 15th, 24th, and 31st picks in the upcoming draft. There’s plenty reason for optimism if we simply pivot from this dumb, self-limiting strategy we’ve employed under Leon.
We’d be in so much better shape if we didn’t belly flop in the draft every single year, that’s for sure. We have a few picks this year: go for a high upside play with one and a conservative safe pick with the other one, then with the 31st pick just go BPA.
Just please no more of the cutesy paper clip bullshit.
Leaving aside the likelihood that Leon will turn these into next year’s 20th, 29th, and 40th picks, that isn’t a terribly impressive set of options in what appears to be the worst draft in recent memory.
What actions do you propose be taken with them that will materially improve our team’s ceiling within our window before the apronocalypse?
Take the best player available three times.
There’s a very slim chance that we end up drafting a Giannis or Kawhi or Jokic. But slim is better than zero.
It was that bad? Ok, now i’m understanding the mood of this thread.
If this is true, then…
…this would be a good move!
Giannis broke the club record for points in a game and got in a fight over the game ball because he wanted it for Dame, who is now fifth in career threes.
I think his run of All NBA appearances still has a decent runway
Pretty epic rant about Quickley’s minutes
https://twitter.com/NeilYC123/status/1735346599415456142
No matter which path a team takes it’s a multi year process.
You are allowed to sign free agents, trade players, trade draft picks for players, draft young talent, consolidate picks to move up and so on trying to get better.
We are in the middle of our “process”.
It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to land the kind of player that moves the chain forward significantly last summer, but landing Brunson the year before was very significant. Adding Hart, Hart and DDV were not chopped liver either. You need good role players too.
We have to be patient and let this all play out.
IMO the bigger issue is Thibs overvalues Randle and RJ, but wildly undervalues Quickley. That leaves us open to making some huge mistakes and imo calls into question his ability to value our players correctly. IMO there are few GMs in the league that would rather have RJ over Quickley but RJ and Randle get away with everything and Quickley is still struggling to get minutes.
If I was Quickley I’d be asking for a trade privately. No way I’d be putting up with this BS, especially in a contract year.
That is a classic diatribe….make that kid GM…
..
Where’s the bot at?
Looks like the game was really really bad… and the bot gave up, Alan! 😉 😀
New player! No one would’ve guessed it! 😀
https://twitter.com/nyknicks/status/1735676527163933140
Mariah Carey: “I don’t know him.”
It’s completely irrelevant that this is the worst draft in recent memory. Even if true, such judgements are always about the quality of talent at the top of the draft. The judgements of draft quality are never about picks twenty and on. Picks twenty and on could be hood or bad. There is no way to tell.
Does anyone here watch 7PM In Brooklyn? Mero and Melo are so entertaining together. The sage wisdom of Melo was on display when they talked about Zion in the last episode. To see this side of Melo is super enlightening. I love it. Anywho..I recommend Zion links up with Melo immediately. Somebody has got to teach him to lock in even more. It seems like he locks in like a normal athlete would. But he is not a normal athlete- at least body type-wise. He can play..but like Melo said- he needs a different type of discipline to make good on his promise
It’s amazing to me how many people still believe pundits when they say “this is the best/worst draft ever.” Like how many “good” drafts do we have to experience in a lifetime where 5 years down the road you realize there’s not really any great players in it or vice versa before we realize nobody has a real clue about this stuff.
The draft is full of 18 to 22 year old prospects. No one can predict what will happen to most of these prospects once they sign an NBA contract and go through the rigors of being in the NBA. Many promising players never rise to the challenge and many “weak” prospects bust their ass once they get to the pros and surpass expectations. It literally happens every year.
Which is all to say…I hope Leon FINALLY makes a few picks this year.
Insane proposition that I’m not really serious about.
Knicks should make a play for Draymond Greene.
He’s a distressed asset at this point that we could probably pick up from Golden State for next to nothing.
We need a back up 4 (sorry Taj). Dray would also allow us to do some Randle at the 5 with Dray at the 4. He’s a good defender (maybe not as good as he used to be). He’s a good passer. Is he a good outside shooter and scorer? Not really. But I don’t think that is what our team is missing right now.
Why do I propose this? Only because one time a long time ago the Knicks picked up a Golden State Warrior who had anger control issues and was persona non grata in the NBA and that move ended up catapulting the Knicks to the NBA Finals.
We obviously need a star and we need to consolidate some of our players and picks for a serious upgrade. Dray would NOT be that move. But what he could be is the chance to get a guy who has A LOT of plus skills for next to nothing.
Just sayin.
Brunson/IQ
DDV/Grimes
RJ/Hart
Randle/Dray/Taj
Mitch/iHart/Sims
The Suns, missing some role players (Gordon, Allen) are suddenly shaky while it looks like the Clippers have found their footing.
Insidious B2B for which we need to be really focused…
Draymond Green isn’t going to play backup PF on a 46 win Knicks team without punching someone.
“Knicks should make a play for Draymond Greene…”
Sure, and while we’re at it, let’s make a play for Miles Bridgese and Kevin Portere Jr.!
I mean, if you oppose the idea that is fine. Like I said, it’s a crazy idea. But this logic is flawed.
The Warriors are 10-14 right now. They are on the decline. If we’re in the mezzanine, they’re in the 400’s at the end of the court and their seats are behind a pillar. They’re going nowhere.
And if it’s his best way to get back to playing games, you damn well be sure he will play back up PF.
Plus, who is to say that is what he would end up doing. He’s 6′ 6″. Maybe he plays SF too. He’s a good enough defender to play the 5 too.
I mean, does he want to compete or does he want to not make the playoffs?
We got to the 2nd round last year. We have picks and young players that we can use to further upgrade the roster. It’s not like Greene would be the final move or that he would permanently be stuck only playing 10 minutes a game as back up PF. Things change quickly.
Serious question cause I don’t know. Has Green every been involved with a domestic violence case? Has he ever gotten a DUI? Has he ever had any run ins with the law involving guns or violence or assault or anything like that?
What I’m asking is have all of his issues been solely related to the basketball court? Because I think if that is the case, then he should be given a chance to redeem himself. What he did was not cool at all. But Latrell Spreewell fucking choked his coach and we embraced him with open arms.
The Draymond idea is probably something that works better in NBA2K than it would in real life. It’s hard to imagine him not being incredibly disruptive if he was to somehow end up here as a reclamation project.
swifty, come on. You can rationalize it all you want but it’s a terrible idea. Not to mention that it has no chance of happening.
And honestly, as I’ve said before, if we are going to moralize about off-court stuff, then we are rooting for the wrong franchise. It is run by a world-class scumbag who has not only looked the other way when it comes to things like domestic violence (see: Derrick Rose, Damyean Dotson), he’s hired (see: Rosas, Rick Brunson) and defended (see: Isiah) guys with bad off-court reps.
Draymond is not that, but he is a worse idea in the sense that he is an irreverent on-court disruption. If he can’t get it together for the classy GSW, how will he do under Thibs? How long would it be before he and Julius or another teammate get into it? What’s the chances that he would be suspended in a critical stretch? Or somehow revive the clown show rep that they have tried so hard to get past?
It’s a bad idea… and in my book, just as bad as buying extremely low on Miles Bridges. We don’t need to win that badly.
Really great Katz article mostly about Randle’s passing his year. Katz has been talking a lot about this on podcasts recently, and it’s been a very noticeable part of Randle’s resurgence.
Read it, subscribe, etc. but here’s a tidbit:
This is pretty much the polar opposite of “empty calories” when it comes to box score stats–he’s making his assists count.
I’m not a fan of arbitrary endpoints and I’m thus not saying there’s any reason to believe this is the “real Randle,” but since his first 8 games in which he was maybe the worst player in the NBA: 25.5/9.7/5.5 with 3.4 TOs per game and a .608 TS%. Monster numbers.
If we have any hope of not sinking sans Mitch we’ll need him to keep it up. Been really fun to watch, especially since for all of his faults as a basketball player I’ve always liked Randle the person a lot, so it’s fun seeing his devoted haters get sent into a tizzy.
Draymond has a guaranteed contract through 2027.
Is it a good idea to acquire a 3/75 contract for a backup PF?
Swifty, I think you pose an interesting idea, but I am with JK’s line of thinking. It is not the Gobert and Nurkic incidents but the video of him clocking Poole in practise that makes me think the disruptive risk is just not worth it.
Yeah I mean I’m not really serious about this. It just occurred to me that we got Sprewell after he had violence issues and it was one of the best moves we ever made and honestly, what he did was pretty fucking awful too, right?
There’s a throwaway line here about Kenneth Lofton Jr. potentially being waived. That dude would be a blast to have as our backup PF.
He is 21 years-old, averaged 25/10/3 with a .653 TS% in a large sample size in the G-League last year, and is probably 300 pounds.
I’m half-serious about the basketball merits–I presume he has conditioning issues, so letting it rip for 12-14 minutes per game on occasion might be his ideal role.
I mostly want it to happen because it would be really fun and not cost us anything though.
So…….no new thread today? Do I have that right?
Empty calories is almost always about defense, but things like this matter too.
We know he draws double teams and make plays. But in this particular case the stat is not measuring all the times he dribbles into a double team and loses the ball or jumps in the air and throws it away. It’s only counting the times he got the pass off successfully and we scored (with a little help from the shooter knocking it down). I can almost guarantee we are going to see more of those bad decisions.
One of the problems with boxscore metrics or even the more advanced non boxscore metrics available now is they still don’t capture everything and how and why it’s all happening.
There are just as many problems with on/off, adjusted plus minus etc.. (just different ones), but the goal is to figure out whether the team is playing better or worse with this guy on the court, with what lineup combinations, and why. IMO that going to involve informed observation and subjective common sense to get more accurate than any stat.
Randle is playing better lately, especially compared to his injured start. Let’s see him sustain it and start impacting winning.
But there is a box-score stat for these events called “turnovers,” and we know Randle has kept them down as of late.
We also know Randle is currently leading the team in EPM and is 39th in the NBA, which is pretty incredible considering he started the season playing like a sleeper agent for our opponents.
I’ve been plenty Randle-critical over the years and still have plenty of questions about his role or lack thereof on a contender, but not being able to give the guy his flowers right now is a sign that one cannot think rationally about the guy.
I consider him punching Poole to be one of his most forgivable incidents. 🙂 Poole is a clown.
Let me know at the end of the year how his Assist to TO ratio compares to other heavy ball handler/play makers and when the data suggests the team is actually much better when he’s on the court with the starters vs an alternate.
He’s playing better the last few games, but how many times have we seen this guy go off and then start sulking and stop playing defense when things aren’t going well. It’s like watching RJ, but with RJ it’s mostly a skill/decision making thing and with Randle it’s more of a decision/mental/emotional thing.
I’m not buying it from Randle. I have more faith that RJ is actually a little better this year despite the recent poor play than I do that Randle is suddenly a pillar of good decision making and emotional strength.
Strat is an irrational Randle hater, just like he was an irrational Frank lover. He will never be able to backtrack on the silly hills he chooses to die on, no matter what the data screams at him.
It’s decidedly not
I’m with you..back in the day, I’ve punched a two “Pools” myself after they shoved me.
Randle isn’t a top tier superstar but he is asked to play like one. Sure he makes some dumb plays and gives some of his production back on defense, but the “empty calories” argument is nonsense. You win this game by throwing the ball into the basket, and after his rough start Randle is above a .600 TS% with usage around 30 and is also an excellent rebounder and the team’s best playmaker.
Some people cling onto narratives with a death grip. We’re not gonna kick clinging onto narratives with a death grip to the curb. Clinging onto narratives with a death grip is a big part of what we do around here.
Strat, for a guy who spends a lot of time talking about spreadsheets, you’re one of the most emotionally biased decision-makers I’ve ever seen. Truly impressive.
Swift, that is an insane idea, but I actually kind of like it. If it weren’t too many picks so that we could still make one more move, I think I’d do it. Being traded would be a real wake up call, and I don’t think Green is dumb, just has issues, so it’s possible he could deal with himself (with help). And he is still a very good player who creates interesting alternatives in the lineup.
I loved the 90s, but that era is now very far away, in time and in how players act and the rules. Coaches were more physical too, back then, which in part explains Spree’s behavior. To act like you’re in the 90s now, as Dray has been doing, is not acceptable. He just has to adapt or he’ll be out of the league sooner than he thought. No need to say i’m totally against the idea of Dray on the Knicks.
As I get new information, I adjust my thinking about the probabilities of something being true.
I’m less forgiving of Randle because I’ve seen this song and dance before. He may be becoming a more efficient scorer in the post and a better decision maker with his passing, but at 29 and with a very inconsistent long term performance record, I’m skeptical.
I didn’t get overly hyped about RJ’s good start and I’m not overly pessimistic about this down streak. I’ve seen this song and dance too, but he’s young, the FT improvement looks real even if not this good. I think overall he’s a bit better, but he still drives me nuts.
I have very little patience for lack of effort or bad decision making. You don’t have to be a great player to try hard or know when not to shoot.
And the team is still barely better with him on the court based on on/off even of we totally toss the terrible year.
There’s a reason we hear about interest in some of our other players but Randle’s name is never mentioned. IMO it’s because other teams believe like I do that he’s a good player, but he doesn’t contribute as much to winning as the boxscore suggests and he’s emotionally erratic. He’s also not a good fit with RJ and Brunson.
It’s exactly the opposite.
I’m simply placing more value on different things than you guys. I look at boxscore numbers like everyone else here, but we all know they are not a complete picture. As things change, my opinion slowly adjusts and changes.
What I value says Randle is overrated. A few good games doesn’t change my opinion much.
I thought Frank was better than his boxscore metrics suggested (and still do). I thought he just needed to add a consistent 3 pointer to be a very useful player. He did not develop that shot and may never have, but he has also constantly been hurt. Shit happens.
So now he’s not a good fit with RJ AND Brunson?
So basically Randle isn’t a good fit with a point guard? Is that what you’re saying to me?
How about RJ isn’t a good fit with Randle. Until RJ sniffs at an all star bid and puts up CONSISTENLY the numbers Randle has, RJ is the one who isn’t a good fit with Randle, not the other way around.
And from what I can tell…Brunson and Randle work just fine. Fine enough to snag us the 5th seed last season.
This is good news. I want nothing to do with LaVine despite the efficient scoring. That would be true even if the salary was in the 25-30 million range. There’s a reason no one is clamoring for him either and it’s not just salary.
Strat, stop with the nonsense about “I’m simply placing more value on different things than you guys.” You are using gross distortions of what is actually happening based on simple-minded and/or debunked interpretations of stats. It is such a blatant case of “I formed a conclusion based on my personal eye test so let’s manipulate (in stratspeak, *value*) numbers however I want to to support my narrative no matter that there isn’t a single serious analyst that wouldn’t laugh at my methodology.”
You are (mostly) dead wrong about Randle, just like you were (mostly) dead wrong about Frank.
“What I value says Randle is overrated. A few good games doesn’t change my opinion much.”
Nothing would change your opinion because what you value is nonsensical and will continue to be. The problem is with what you value. You are unwilling to actually consider that, aren’t you?
I’ve been saying Randle, RJ, and Mitch are not a good fit since they have been together. IMO all of them would operate best being able to get to the basket in space but none of them are consistent from outside. Brunson alleviated some of the spacing issues from the even worse Payton era, but IMO we still need better spacing and there are too many weaknesses in the perimeter defense for Mitch (or whoever is playing C) to cover them all.
There are several options for fixing this.
I tossed around the idea of Myles Turner (that’s out now, but Embiid would surely work too), OG replacing RJ, and getting a more defensive oriented PF to replace Randle and subsequently or simultaneously upgrading our wing scoring. My preference is moving Randle because he’s the oldest, most erratic, least proven in the playoffs, and IMO overrated.
Somehow that translates into hate even though I was one of the few that defended the signing to begin with.
Strat, you’re going all-in here with on/off data, which is a badly flawed metric that is more noise than signal. The same metric absolutely loves RJ Barrett as a player this year. Is RJ a secret superstar?
I don’t think there are any real numbers guiding your opinion here, you simply found one that seems to agree with your preconceived notions and you’re going with that. There’s a vague whiff of some “plays the game the right way” that also informed your, uh, let’s say idiosyncratic opinions about Frank Ntilikina and Phil Jackson as well.
I would consider it except that looking at boxscore, looking at on/off, looking at personality attributes, looking at what I see, looking at lineup data, and subjectively interpreting all the reasons for the numbers has served me better than any other alternative in financial endeavors.
I’m not going to change what to do to appease people that disagree with me. I’ll change what I do when I find something that works better for me.
First of all, I would never just look at on/off alone and second I agree it’s laughably ridiculous over short periods. It’s useful over years if you also include a subjective analysis of starters vs. backups, lineups, strength of team etc… See my previous post.
Adjusted plus minus was supposed to solve many issues with on/off. The problem with it is that it LACKS the ability to look at specific lineups, injuries, development, decline etc.. that can impact the results.
The old saying is that i’d rather be approximately right that precisely wrong.
Okay so far so good
Okay now we’re going off the rails
You don’t know the guy and your assessment of his “personality attributes” is worthless
Meaningless. You’re not a basketball scout, you’re a layperson
Inherently noisy data
Meaningless
Appeal to authority argument in which the authority is yourself
I don’t hate the idea of acquiring Draymond I just think it’s crazy to expect him accepting a job as Randle’s backup.
If you want Draymond you swap Mitch for him. It’s a major risk but not a terrible idea. You could even do a sign-and-trade for Klay in the offseason.
Everyone knows we run a 3-on-5 offense in the starting unit. Draymond and Klay could actually fill those two extra roles pretty well.
This is such a stupid hill to die on, because as has been noted a million times there is truly nothing that stands out in Randle’s raw on/off numbers.
In his first two seasons they were bad, then he had four consecutive years in which his teams were better with him on the court, then he had a year everyone agreed was a catastrophe and they were bad again, and last season and this one the differences are completely negligible such that drawing any kind of conclusion from them is moronic.
It’s a ridiculous stat to try to develop narratives around due to all the noise, but even if it weren’t there would be no narrative to develop here.
On the other hand, I hope Mike Dunleavy buys into Strat Thought and trades us that bum Steph Curry for nothing. He’s a -8.5 this season, so if Dunleavy knows the Right Things to Value™, he knows Steph’s a scrub.
Welp looks like the Cavs season may be done, Mitchell possibly traded by the deadline?
JK47
You mean watching a guy sulk on the court, argue with refs instead of getting back, not giving full effort every game, reports of locker room issues or punching teammates in the face, problems with coaches, talk of excessive partying vs. everyone loves the guy, everyone loves playing with him, there is already talk of him becoming a coach some day, he’s a well known gym rat etc.. are not things consider?
I have no desire to convince you I am right. I am expressing my views on players based on my experience. You are allowed to disagree, but I’m not changing what has worked for me to something I think won’t work because the consensus disagree with me.
It’s all noisy. Every bit of everything we are looking at it is noisy. That does not make it useless. If something makes basketball sense based on what is known about the sport and it’s working in a specific lineup, you’d have to be an idiot to stop using it because it’s noisy and might not be correct 100% of the time. (same vice versa). It’s all evidence. You just want to be right more often.
If you told me you were going to start Chamberlain and Shaq together and I said, “They are two great players, but there could be some issues” and then I saw them having trouble defending some plays and and getting run off the court, it would not likely not be noise if the problems were what I anticipated.
I’m not a scout, but I can see obvious things when I’m watching a team a lot like a suspect handle, can he shoot off the dribble, can he create his own shot, is his shot selection OK, is he athletic, can he stay in front of players, does he get lost on defense often enough to notice. A scout with film is going to do that way better than me, but that doesn’t mean I should exclude what we see from our opinions.
Randle has his flaws like any player but he’s very freaking good at basketball.
I don’t want to get into a long discussion about noisy data and my subjective thinking. I never said he was a bad player. I’ve been saying he’s a two time all-star and 2 time NBA player but there’s plenty of evidence in on/off that he’s not nearly as impactful as other players with similar accolades and he’s not a good fit on this team as constructed.
That’s NOT irrational hate or saying he’s bad.
You obviously aren’t even reading what I am saying because if you were you’d know I would look at the on/off for his entire career, look at his age and development, look at the injury years, his coaching change, boxscore stats, teammates, watch him play a bit, and everything else and come to a more complete subjective assessment of where he likely is right now as a player and how impactful he was at his best.
Jared Dubin has an article on Randle up on Substack
You need to be a paid subscriber to read the whole thing (which I am not) but you can watch the video as a free subscriber. He basically agrees with Katz- dumping threes for quality post-ups has changed his season and compliments his passing but adds that Randle’s launch angle on jumpers was unusually poor early and he’s righted that recently.
Have a good one guys. I have to go. Knicks tonight! Let’s GO!
The core of being a good basketball player is making good use of possessions. That means taking high quality shots, either near the rim or from 3. It means getting more possessions by rebounding well. It means not wasting possessions with turnovers. Those elements are all quantifiable, and Julius Randle is good in all of them except turnovers.
You can certainly point to his defense and say, hey, the numbers aren’t really catching how weak he is there – except that the team had a top ranked defense with him playing the most minutes on the team. So you’re essentially letting your frustration with his typical lapses cloud your judgement of the whole player, just because you can see those lapses and they are frustrating.
But to say “he doesn’t help winning” disqualifies you as a serious thinker on the matter.
Yes, you have. But your solution to this problem is to get rid of the best and most diverse player of the 3.
you talk about Randle stringing together a few good games but ignore that RJ is the one who strings together a few good ones and then puts up stinkers for a month straight. Randle will have stretches is amazing play that can last 10 to 20 games at a time. He’ll then put up one or two bad games and you immediately say “LOOK! Reverting to bad Julius!” And you hold the finger incident from 2 seasons ago against him. Just wonder how you would take it if you signed a team friendly contract after making your first all-star game and dragging a team that hadn’t been the playoffs there for the first time in only a decade only to get booed by fans for half a season because Kemba Walker can’t play defense.
You talk about his defensive lapses. From what I see, Randle stays in front of his man. He’s just slow to help when the defense collapses after a guard or wing blows past Brunson or RJ.
Your solution is idiotic. let’s get rid of the guy who is most likely going to be a 3 time all star and is on the most team friendly contract in the NBA and keep the dude who we way overpaid for simply because we drafted him at 3 and were playing chicken with Danny Ainge.
If you want to solve the Randle, RJ, and Mitch spacing issues the easiest way to do that without hurting the team in other areas is to get rid of RJ. He’s a far worse player. And Randle has never not played with him the entire time he’s been a Knick. HE’s been carrying RJ for 4 years now. But hey, RJ looks cool and one time banked in a lucky game winner against Boston and played marginally better for 5 playoff games (after sucking for an entire season). So let’s stick with him.
So smart.
Feel sorry for the Cavs. One thing to have a good roster with injury prone players but that was not what they built.
He’s not a good fit with anyone. Can’t play a normal role, empty calories, etc.
It’s the franchise’s biggest current problem.
He’s got a .550 TS% as a Knick, covering his age 25-29 seasons — a/k/a his prime. He’s been terrible in the playoffs. He’s lazy on defense. He’s a turnover machine. His attitude in down times is shit.
He’s not the solution to anything. He’s the problem.
Why people pick a decent pocket of play by him to take victory laps is one of Knickerblogger’s (if not life’s generally) enduring mysteries.
He’s never been as good with the Knicks as he was with NOP in his age 24 season. The only difference between his Knicks time and then is he’s chucked more here and scored more pointzzzz. He’s literally a quintessential example of the pointzzzzz illusion.
I get not trusting Randle but who does a guy with a career 91 TS+ and a 25.5 usage rate plus about the worst stock/deflection numbers in the league and thoroughly mediocre assists/rebounds fit in with? Having a wing who can’t shoot messes with your spacing far more than a big who can consistently draw doubles. Yes, Randle is worse on defense but they aren’t even in the same stratosphere on offense. You want to get rid of both? Okay, but given that it’s probable that RJ’s trade value is a lot closer to Randle’s than his production is if you’re trading one or the other RJ seems a much better guy to get rid of even with the age difference.
Yeah Randle has only had a decent pocket of play as a Knick, it’s not like he’s been a 2 time All-Star who was also named All-NBA twice as well…
Let me know when RJ Barrett cracks a 0 BPM. Or at least pass a note to my skeletal remains.
Even Randle’s biggest fans know he’s not an elite player and can’t be the best player on a championship team but JFC he’s a very good player and has been a great Knick regardless if you like his style of play or not.
Knicks need to save a couple of those 2nd round picks to pay for a tampering fine in ~7 months.
Just realized that Leon’s son Sam Rose is OG’s agent. Can’t make the shit up. Massai is sure to pull a Marc Cuban when OG signs with NY as a free agent on July 1st 2024.
Can’t make the shit up
Who is OG’s father?
Yeah, let’s bring Anunoby Sr as an assistant coach.
Dolan picked a bad time to sue the Raps…
In other news, my preseason predictions are right on the money except that Orlando and Cleveland needed to switch with each other. I really didn’t think the Magic would make the leap without better guard play, and I thought the Cavs would be solid with the roster additions. And now there’s no shot for them to finish top 4. Huh.
The original OG?
lol we have a starting center who shoots under 40 percent from the free throw line and can only score within one foot of the basket. We got a starting SF who we way overpaid who can’t shoot or defend and doesn’t pass the ball and thinks he’s a superstar. And our arguably best young player we might lose at the end of the season bc we don’t want to pay him bc we overpaid for that SF.
But yeah. Our two time all NBA all star player who has taken us to the playoffs twice in the last three seasons and regularly puts up 25 and 10 a night is our worst problem.
I guess all those coaches who voted him to be an all star are fucking idiots and love empty calories. And Brunson must be an idiot too for choosing to join a team with a player who can’t play with anyone.
You’re a fucking clown who still thinks frank could be good and Phil Jackson was a great GM. Go home.
Donnie, strong work there.
I guess I am forced to be Team Randle if you make me.
Judging all the players on the team by the standard we apply to RJ seems wise.
I’m not a big Randle fan but he’s clearly better than RJ who literally has never been good in the NBA for any extended period of time. I would much rather we trade RJ and try and make something work with Randle and Brunson then try with Brunson and RJ.
I heard Alan is already thinking about his next book, this time about the Knicks… Welcome to OG !! 😀
Randle is in the middle of a hot streak… but for the most part… that’s likely all it is…. a lot of is hot shooting in floater and mid range which evens out the early part of the year but putting it all together is likely the real randle…. if he keeps that up it would be stupendous but he’s never actually shot at this rate anywhere with this shot diet and he’s not going to start doing it at age 29…
the comp starts getting better and he’s had a tough time whenever he’s had competitive guys guarding him like early in the year…. he’s also been getting away with a lot of pushoffs which he has his fair share in the past but he’s definitely dialed it up this year…. sooner or later it will get called…
he’s not really passing all that much more but he is drawing attention… which was evident from the beginning of the year… and the early season assumptions about team’s adjusting still remain true… we’re still in the bottom 5 at the rim and in floater range… that’s really what’s fueling these kickouts…. guys are being left open because folks are bulldozing their way to the rim and we have inconsistent shooters…. we were/have been from hot from 3 and so that’s really all that is…
and Randle himself is not a ‘problem’ per se… he is a decent player… it is a problem when you rely on him so much for offense…. it’s a lot like those old wizard squads with arenas and jamison…
jamison was a solid player.. a pretty solid starter…. but if he’s your second guy that’s going to put a cap on what you’re doing…. randle has had some really good years… but the normalized version of randle who’s not shooting lights out from 3 or his fadeaways… is a lot like jamison…. he’s a fine player and there’s plenty of reasons to like him but you can’t do much if he’s your second guy…
that’s not randle’s fault…. but we all know who’s job it is to get those kind of guys….
Celtics kicking Orlando’s ass without Porzingis.
I fear this might be the year they hang a banner, clearly the best team in the association right now.
I do think Randle has really improved his mid-range game- he’s much better at squaring himself on his fadeaway than he was when he got here. He’s not going to keep putting up these super-high efficiency games but I’m guessing that at year’s end if you throw out those first 6 games his scoring numbers are going to look a lot like last year’s.
And one a totally minor point- Antwan Jamison? I get the overall point but Jamison was never not a complimentary player- his peak usage was 25.5 and he always had a good number of assisted 2’s plus he did nothing in the way of playmaking. The Knicks have been vastly more reliant on Randle to get his own shot and create for others than anyone ever was on Jamison. Randle’s more like Joe Johnson- a guy who is skilled enough to get mis-cast at the alpha dog but wouldn’t provide nearly the same value if you pulled him off the ball.