[New York Post] – Tue, 09 Jan 2024 01:25:00 GMT
Quentin Grimes rediscovering his groove after demotion to Knicks’ bench
[Blazer’s Edge] – Mon, 08 Jan 2024 22:23:12 GMT
- Trail Blazers vs. Knicks Injury Report: Deandre Ayton to Return?
- Deandre Ayton’s Injury Status For Trail Blazers-Nets Game
- Trail Blazers Deandre Ayton rejoins team in New York, upgraded to doubtful for Tuesday at Knicks
[The Athletic] – Mon, 08 Jan 2024 15:30:56 GMT
Giannis Antetokounmpos heated words about Bucks were correct. Plus, Knicks, Lakers highlight NBA stock market
[NBA.com] – Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:48:15 GMT
Jalen Brunson, Alperen Sengun named NBA Players of the Week
[Posting and Toasting] – Mon, 08 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT
Preview of the Knicks week, Jan. 7-13
[Sports Illustrated] – Mon, 08 Jan 2024 15:57:00 GMT
RJ Barrett Has Turned Hollywood Star into Raptors Fan
[Daily Knicks] – Mon, 08 Jan 2024 22:00:01 GMT
- Pros and cons of a New York Knicks-Dejounte Murray trade
- Should Hawks Dejounte Murray be one of the Sixers top trade deadline targets?
- NBA Trade Rumors: Hawks fire sale? Warriors linked to 2 stars, Celtics eyeing center
- 76ers’ Rival Report: Hawks Are Willing to Deal Stars at Deadline
- NBA Rumours: Potential Dejounte Murray Trade Destinations
[USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire] – Tue, 09 Jan 2024 00:29:00 GMT
- New York Knicks vs. Portland Trail Blazers odds, tips and betting trends | 1/9/2024
- Portland Trail Blazers vs. New York Knicks Prediction, Preview, and Odds – 1-9-2024
- Submit Your Questions for the Trail Blazers vs. Knicks Game!
- Jerami Grant Player Prop Bets: Trail Blazers vs. Knicks | January 9
- Trail Blazers vs Knicks Picks, Prediction Today | Tuesday, Jan. 9
[Yahoo Sports] – Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:43:19 GMT
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson wins Eastern Conference Player of the Week
[The Philadelphia Inquirer] – Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:00:00 GMT
Inside Sixers: Tyrese Maxey’s lessons, a special introduction for Marcus Morris Sr., and more from a clunky week
[ClutchPoints] – Tue, 09 Jan 2024 00:31:00 GMT
Should Knicks explore a Bojan Bogdanovi and/or Bogdan Bogdanovi trade?
104 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.01.09)”
We now have 16 games before the ASG, and with the Hali and Ja injuries, 12-4 seems doable but probably a tad overly-optimistic. 11-5 would put us at 32-20, which is a 50-win pace.
I’d feel a lot better about things if we fortified the bench a bit but if they decide to roll with the current roster, I’d like to see Sims out there at C with the second unit with Precious at PF. See what a Deuce-Grimes-Hart-Precious-Sims unit can do defensively for a few minutes, or if you need more offense, play DDV as the 2 and slide Grimes to the 3. That might just give Randle, Brunson, iHart and OG the extra minutes of rest they need before Thibs grinds their bones into dust…
Another option would be to pull Fournier out of mothballs and play him at the 2/3 with Deuce, Grimes/DDV, Precious and Sims. Alas, our stubborn-ass coach…
Good Ben R post last night…
I completely agree, and it’s why I think the idea of adding Mitchell is madness. We have to be wary of the “rimrock” moves (I’m going back to my rock climbing analogy since E hasn’t co-opted it and made it triggering like my architecture analogy).
Seriously… why not Jalen Johnson?
1. Atlanta has a glut of wings and needs picks. We have a glut of picks and need a wing.
2. He’s on the ascent. (He is having a better year than Bridges.)
3. You can slot him into the Obi trade exception.
4. He’s the perfect fit. (He and OG can defend the entire court together.)
He’ll be expensive. Atlanta probably isn’t shopping him so you have to pay a premium. But you won’t have to pay the “dealing with Brooklyn” premium or the reputation premium that comes with Bridges.
hubie you are the martin dressler of knickerblogger. the hawks aren’t trading jalen johnson. you keep asking for a castle in the sky, but the holidays are over and you weren’t actually that good last year. the basketball gods say no to mikal or jalen johnson, but all is not lost. they have not ignored your predilections, and they favor compromise.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/johnske07.html
Hubert, I don’t think Jalen Johnson is it.
1. You would have to pay the “This is the only guy on our team we consider completely untouchable” tax, which could be worse than the Brooklyn tax. As in, they obviously want to get out of the DJM business. Capela or Okongwu could be moved because they’re redundant. (Though they seem to prefer Okongwu.) Bogdan is almost certainly going to be moved. And there have even been rumblings that Snyder is already sick of Trae. Johnson seems to be the one guy they definitely want to build around. So we’d have to empty a good deal of the pick war chest to get him, which will make a star trade much much harder. (Previously, we could have offered IQ and a slightly smaller pick haul. That option’s gone.)
2. Johnson is too good to come off the bench, and he’d be a bench piece for us. I don’t like the idea of OG at shooting guard, on top of the cost of taking DDV out of the starting lineup when he seems to fit perfectly with the other four guys.
3. With OG here, the need for a wing is much much lower than the need for either a backup PG or a backup C. Hart was miscast as our only “big” wing, but a roster with OG and Hart as our two combo forwards works just fine. Whereas none of us is sure that Deuce is actually a point guard, and nobody seems to trust either Precious or Sims, especially if iHart goes down for a while due to overuse.
I love Johnson, and remain exasperated we didn’t just take him in 2021. But the fit doesn’t make a ton of sense for us right now, on top of my skepticism that Atlanta would be willing to move him.
“hali might be hurt, involuntary split”
G-d, that just sounds awful. I hope he lives.
Why would Atlanta entertain moving Jalen Johnson?
Looked awful too. Hopefully he isn’t seriously hurt.
Oh wow, Morant done for the season with a torn labrum.
Are the Nets trading Mikal Bridges?
I thought we opened up the door for dreaming when we started with that.
Also, the Raptors aren’t going to trade Anunoby to us because of the lawsuit. Oh, wait.
Grizzlies going into tank mode in 3 2 1….
Right now it does. I remain skeptical about Hart’s ability to command enough respect to be guarded in the postseason.
Marcus Smart would be a hell of a Thibs player, but we definitely need to target a more offensive oriented player.
Smart’s contract is a disaster. He is clearly diminished from what he was three years ago when he still couldn’t really shoot, and has given virtually nothing to the Grizz in their time of need. He’s also very volatile. I would prefer to stay away unless there was a peachy asset or two attached.
Mikal is not the final piece so I’d be reluctant to pay the enormous price in picks the Nets would want even if they were willing to trade him to us.
I think there’s a least some chance Mikal will want to join his buddies and try to force his way to the Knicks towards the end of his contract if there’s a spot at SG/SF for him.
Mikal made a lot more sense when we didn’t have OG. I mean, yes, a starting lineup of Brunson / Mikal / OG / Randle / iHart would be badass. But like Z-man, I don’t think he puts us over the top, and I’d rather save all our remaining ammo for someone who could.
Yeah, Alan, I agree that if we had Mikal I would think he’d slot in as a SG and DDV would come off the bench. That would be pretty awesome!
We’d go into 2024-25 with:
Starters: Mitch, Julius, OG, Mikal, Brunson
Second unit: JHart, DDV, Deuce, Grimes, iHart
Seems like a must to upgrade from Deuce, but beyond that, You’d have a pretty scary team.
All we really need to do is to upgrade to Jay Wright as coach.
The thing I’ve been thinking about a lot but that we’re not discussing, really, but that’s bubbled up to the surface with Hali and Ja, is injuries. We’ve been quite lucky so far, only Mitch has gone down (okay, lucky maybe isn’t the right word, that was horrible, we were ‘lucky’ that iHart turns out to be a brilliant replacement). But we are truly skating on thin ice with nobody really behind our two stars.
I mean, it’d be impossible to really replace Brunson or Randle, but we literally have ashes on the bench behind them right now.
I don’t see adding a wing as a huge priority anymore. It definitely was before we traded for a really good two-way wing, but now we have a lot more flexibility in terms of who we can add. Of course, we still can add a wing because you can play 2-3 of those guys at any given time. It’s just not something we need to be specifically targeting.
The stars seem to be aligning for Brogdon. He seems to be the best balance of clearly immediately beneficial while not unduly expensive, though the latter could change if a bidding war develops.
I am Precious-curious, but this seems like a terrible idea unless we’re talking about a victory lap lineup. I do not know how this group could score against an NBA defense.
We definitely need to find ways to give iHart more rest, though Thibs is in a bind because the margins in the standings are incredibly slim and iHart is so essential. My preferred as of now is to just do everything you can to coach Achiuwa up to the point where you can reasonably hope he doesn’t kill you in his 16-18 minutes.
Easier said than done though, so we should definitely still try to nab a more reliable backup C.
“I mean, it’d be impossible to really replace Brunson or Randle, but we literally have ashes on the bench behind them right now.”
All you had to do was leave the word “literally” out of it. Why would you go out of your way to add a word that causes a sentence to be incorrect when it would have been fine without it? LOL
I think the superstar trade is overhyped or perhaps more accurately yesterday’s news. When we were chasing Mitchell at all costs we were a non-playoff team whose best player had become a head case with a contract that most likely would need a sweetener to move, the second best player’s potential to be an above average player was questionable since he made zero progress from the previous season, and the third best player was injury-prone. We are no longer that team. But what we are is a team that is one really good (ie all star or likely all star, 3.5 -5 BPM expected potential) roster-fitting player plus whoever that turns out to be, likely a better roster-fitting rotation player away from being a 50 plus win, no one wants to face us in the play-offs, we can beat anyone on any given night, team. In other words, legitimately in the contender category.
Which brings me to Mikal. I don’t buy that the Nets would never deal with us. He is not the face of the franchise, and if in the short time he actually is, he is the face of the franchise that got swept in the 1st round of the playoffs and currently fronting a team seriously underperforming. They are another medium bad stretch of games away from a considering blowing it up. They say they want to build around him, but what else could they say? An offer stuffed with draft picks would surely get their attention if indeed they were blowing it up. From an optics standpoint, they would not be trading the Knick’s future star (Brunson has got that locked) and going into multiple drafts saying “with the Knicks pick we traded for we select…” has a certain cache.
Doogie, that’s hysterical. My son does that literally every day and I slap him for it (not literally, at least usually). Apparently it’s catching.
If either Brunson or Randle goes down, we’re screwed. But this is the case for almost every team, even the contenders. I mean if Jokic gets injured the Nuggets wouldn’t even make the playoffs. Bucks without Giannis are a fringe playoff team (Dame could carry them that far but not much further).
I actually think now that we got OG, we could probably muddle through a Randle injury. Don’t get me wrong, we’d be screwed long term but if we down for a week or two, we could probably be ok because OG could play the 4. So the starting 5 would just have to rely on Brunson going nuclear and kicking out to open OG and DDV for 3’s.
If Brunson goes down, we’re FUCKED. Last year we did ok cause we had IQ but no more. This is why a Brogdon trade does make a lot of sense on some levels.
Brogdon and a back up C are the easiest moves we could make right now that would probably still leave us enough for that last big move, which I feel like we will probably do this off season or mid-season next year, not this season (unless we get Dejonte).
I
All you had to do was leave the word “literally” out of it.
Doogie you are literally showing your age. Literally no longer has the narrow interpretation you are telling people it has (though literal still does).
@Raven: Yep, it’s pretty popular, even with adults. 🙂
@walker…….:
Dejounte.
You
@BE: I was never attempting to hide my age. I’ll be a very, very young 60 at the end of April. And the fact that many, many people use something incorrectly doesn’t make it correct. As a noun, it is still “invitation” instead of “invite,” too (“invite” is only a verb), but that doesn’t stop anyone anymore, either. Yeah yeah, language changes, blah blah blah…….. 🙂
If that dismays you Doogie, look at what’s happened to the definition of factoid. I literally don’t know how much more abuse our language can take.
I confess I have been guilty of saying “the invite” for a while now. Invitation may be correct, but four syllables seems excessive when you can get your point across easily in two.
@ Doogie — cf. Words on the Move: Why English Won’t – and Can’t – Sit Still (Like, Literally), John McWhorter.
😉
Jeez we’re 12 1/2 point favorites tonight.
That almost scares me more than reassures me…
If you’re going to correct people’s grammar and word choice you could at least be correct.
ha, too funny doogie…
interesting that you consider yourself a “young almost 60″…
as soon as i hit 55 i was already 60 in my mind…could be though cause I’m in such a rush to move forward…
got no patience for peace of mind
so tell me doogie, you ain’t afraid of turning to dust one day are you?
We could survive a period without Brunson or Randle if we had Brogdan.
If Brunson gets hurt Brogdan would take over the starting PG position and we’d get both playmaking and scoring.
If Randle gets hurt, OG takes over the starting PF spot, raises his usage from where it has been with the Knicks so far, and Brogdan can pick up a lot of the remainder.
Neither would be deal, but neither would be an epic disaster for the season as long as the injury wasn’t season ending.
I think “literally” is often used to stress a point.
I literally fell of the chair when I DM’d a joke to Dua Lipa and she wrote back dead. I was so stoked I shot back an invite. Did I do it right?
@Chicanery: You’re free to agree with what that Web site says, but I’m free not to do so. 🙂
@geo re: becoming dust: I’m literally unafraid of it happening anytime soon.
@darules: LOL
I really *would* love to get Jay Wright. What’s he doing these days? (Odd that he is only three years younger than Thibs, who I like for the most part. I would just like having Wright quite a bit more.)
This thread about grammar is so mid.
I wouldn’t really say that this thread is *about* grammar. It’s more just kind of hanging around within it.
kb currently streamlining from alternating between haphazardly funny petty squabbles and indulgent basketball nerd fanaticism by dropping the ‘haphazardly funny’ and ‘basketball’ frills
Am I alone in being more annoyed by the incessant misspelling of Brogdon than excessive use of ‘literally?’
Wow, just noticed we are in a 5-way tie for the 4th seed at 21-15, meaning this is a high stakes game! If we win tonight we are the sole 4th seed. If we lose we’re in the 9th, ‘barely in the playoff picture!’
Anyone know what the maximum amount of teams to end the season with the same record is?
But was I right to chance it? Do I stand a chance? (ok I’ll stop now)
“That Web site” is Merriam-Webster and it’s showing that using literally as figuratively and/or for emphasis has been done for centuries. There is no agreement or disagreement with facts, they just are.
Also, it’s “web site” or “website”, you don’t capitalize the “w”.
Yes, since people have also been discussing Bogdan at the same time.
Was scouring rosters for backup PGs bc lunch break… what happened to Davion Mitchell? The numbers are awful. Is he worth a flyer? It’s the Kings, so I don’t want to hear they wouldn’t trade him. That team could literally do anything.
I’m not sure you will all agree, but the Athletic’s weekly NBA power rankings puts us in the tier “On the brink of contention” this week along with New Orleans, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
https://theathletic.com/5173972/2024/01/09/nba-power-rankings-week-12-trade-deadline/
East standings are crazy right now. 2nd and 3rd seeds each have 12 losses, 4th thru 8th each have 15 losses and 9th thru 12th each have 21 losses.
@darules as the great Wayne Gretzky said, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Keep in mind she’s currently single, so she prob has hundreds of guys flooding her DMs. The fact she responded to you should say something…
I am “literally” way too busy to worry about spelling, grammar, missing words etc… I proof read about 1/3rd of the time. I just hope to do a good enough job on the first pass that people can at least understand it.
I guess there’s not much to talk about when we’re this good except grammar and Ms. Lipa.
Well there is *some overlap. The erudite Ms. Lipa hosts a robust book club. Previously, “we” read JUST KIDS together, and her current pick for “us” in January is THE GUEST.
Find Dua here
You’re worried about Brogdan, literally? 😀
This is scaring me a little KBA lol
Well, i can take a bet that if it’s the latter, E will dominate tomorrow’s thread!
Hahahahaha. Join “us” 😉
Is KBA having kids with Dua Lipa? 😀
I am not in the trade for a bench player camp.
We do not need a backup center. Next year Mitch will be back and we don’t need to give up draft equity for a one-year rental. We have Precious and Sims in the meantime. As for backup PG, we have Duece and Arcidiacano and next year we should have Rokas.
For both positions, we can always grab someone from G-League or pick someone up after the trade deadline when all the roster cuts happen if our depth isn’t good enough.
We should not trade our picks for marginal improvements around the edges. We need to either use them (novel idea) to build our depth with cost-controlled rookies or trade them in a bigger deal that will really move the needle.
Is it greedy/risky to ask the basketball gods for a blowout, so our big-ish three can rest?
I agree. We now have a strong starting 5. The problem is that in the meantime we lost one of our strengths (the best backup team of the league).
Davion Mitchell is 25 and can’t shoot, he’s probably not an upgrade on Deuce.
@ Cyber: Hahaha. No kids. Too soon.
@BenR: +1 to your point, sir. No trades. Too soon.
“Is it greedy/risky to ask the basketball gods for a blowout, so our big-ish three can rest?”
Thibs says, “This literally won’t happen.”
Yeah, i think Leon won’t waste draft capital to make small adjustments. And he’s probably right, now we’re a good team and we’ll be an interesting option for players that’ll hit the buyout market. There’s a good chance we can solve our weaknesses that way.
“‘That Web site’ is Merriam-Webster and it’s showing that using literally as figuratively and/or for emphasis has been done for centuries. There is no agreement or disagreement with facts, they just are.”
Me: I always knew that it was Merriam-Webster’s. I just don’t care.
“Also, it’s “web site” or “website”, you don’t capitalize the ‘w’.”
Me: They’re both acceptable, and you won’t be surprised to hear that I still do it the “old school” way.
“Am I alone in being more annoyed by the incessant misspelling of Brogdon than excessive use of ‘literally’?”
Me: No, you are not alone. It’s really annoying and dumb.
“Yes, since people have also been discussing Bogdan at the same time.”
Me: Then you mean, “no, since…….” instead of “yes, since…….” The fact that people have been discussing Bogdan at the same time means that the answer is “no” (that is, Pags is *not* the only one who is more annoyed about that) specifically *because* of that fact. I said as much last week.
Sigh.
I only post on KB so I can date pop stars also..
I wonder what it would cost to trade for Andre Drummond. I think he’d be a great fit here– he still rebounds as well as anybody and gives you a little bit of size and rim protection. He makes peanuts and his contract is expiring.
We use words figuratively, why not ‘literally’?
Because they are two different words with two very different (some might even go so far as to say opposite) meanings, which is why they are two different words in the first place. LOL
I’m with Doogie. I don’t know who considers what usages of the word “literally” correct and I don’t really care. The word has a specific and useful meaning and those other usages erode that. To give an example, if I write “I am literally pissing in the wind” it should mean I’m actually standing outside on a windy day with my zipper down doing it, not just emphasizing the fact that I am blathering on Knickerblogger.net
until al does his weird jedi mind trick on us all and gets us talking tv or movies – i think KB might be stuck in purgatory for a while milo…
Nobody complains when I say “Time is money” even though that’s not literally true. Nobody tries to tell me that’s not what the word ‘is’ means, and that I’m trying to make it mean something else. No, in that sentence I’m using the same definition of ‘is’ I’m just speaking figuratively.
We’re using the word ‘literally’ figuratively, not to mean figuratively.
Ben, I literally don’t think anyone wants to trade draft capital that might be consequential with regards to our A1 trade package for Malcorm Brorgdon or any similar non-needle mover.
Thing is, the team may well be good enough to make it hard to justify not sending out a protected first or some seconds to see what it can do with the easily pluggable holes (i.e. bench usage soaker, better backup center) plugged.
I’m with you in that we should give Deuce and Precious a chance since the deadline is a few weeks out anyway, but if we’re trading for a non-expiring, useful player like Borgdoan that may wind up helping our star pursuit more than anything else.
She wrote back that she’s a literary aficionado and loves that we’re discussing grammar and basketball at the same time because when things are thematically apart creativity arises. I am not letting my imagination run with it.
I thought the quote was “you miss literally 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
And then RJ said “yes, but I miss 56 percent of the shots I do take!”
And as the great Bill Walton once said on an NBA on NBC telecast, “It’s not [most important] how many shots you make, Marv. It’s how many you take!”
EB, But the quoted link talks about it actually meaning figuratively.
Time may be money, but time is not literally money. It’s a very simple distinction to understand, and not at all nuanced. 🙂
da rules, I pay little attention to Dua Lipa most of the time, but oddly enough this morning I watched her get drunk with Seth Meyers here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/arts/television/jimmy-kimmel-aaron-rodgers-apology.html
Not all that exciting, but more fun if you’re sober to watch people get drunk than stoned (sorry, Geo…). To keep it sports-focused, some great Kimmel take-down of that idiot Rodgers in there, too.
i like that notion a lot darules…it sounds very true…
just noticed, your avatar looks like a penis…cool…
Words don’t have inherent meaning, their meaning comes from how people use them. It’s why literally sometimes mean figuratively (something that’s been done for literal centuries) and why when someone uses the word website or web site (but not Web site) we all understand that they’re not talking about a spot that a spider lives in.
“just noticed, your avatar looks like a penis…cool…”
Not sure why that would be at all cool…….
hey raven, honestly getting high is pretty boring…it’s mostly just oral satisfaction taking place…
was thinking yesterday about smoking with swifty, unless you are used to it – all the pre-roll “joints” (they mostly look like cones these days) and blunts that are infused (cannabis flower/tincture/hash), would probably really stress most folks out, or put them to sleep…
weed ain’t what it once was, but, then nothing else really is either though…
finally finished watching Nomadland, it was just about as scary and sad as i thought it would be…great acting, great story, some genuine moments of joy…
however, a good bit of underlining mental health issues and despair…that stuff rattles me a bit…
i think that’s one of the things i find most jarring at times when i read KB – the sound of despair…
what is fun though – to watch weed smokers get a death grip on their lighter, and never wanna let it go…only set mine down to type…
sarcasm doogie…low key, pathetic use of the english language, sarcasm none the less…
it is better though than looking at livia’s ugly mug when jowles shows up…
tell me – who else is angry that jowles has got a good life, seemingly happy and at peace and has now pretty much ditched us…it’s not fair…
From Dua to my inbox (just now):
“tell me – who else is angry that jowles has got a good life, seemingly happy and at peace and has now pretty much ditched us…it’s not fair…”
@geo (which nicely rhymes with “NatGeo”): I’m not angry at it. In fact, I am in the same boat in terms of having a good life and being deliriously happy for the first time in a while. But I only ditch you on weekends, for the most part.
And maybe…….just maybe…….I am indeed Benjamin Dreyer. Or maybe not.
I’m in the camp that we’re now one notch below contender and should only make a trade that legitimately makes us so. I think it’s extremely unlikely we could do this, but since I thought there was no way Toronto would trade OG to us, and yet it happened,I want to speak this into reality: Mikal Bridges is worth the haul it would take to get him as the final piece. Grimes, salary (Fournier), and all the picks for the next three years. It’s much harder to build a starting 5 than to find literally cromulent backups, and Bojangles is just messing around the margins. We should not be concerned with insurance; that’s a luxury. We should focus on the last piece in starting 5 that can compete with anyone in the league. I believe that Mikal is that piece – with obvious synergies with his Villanova crew.
Brunson/Deuce
Bridges/DDV
OG/Hart
Julius/Precious I guess
Mitch/iHart
That is a formidable team. Yes, it lacks shot creation on the second unit, but that can be addressed later. Our first team would have the best net rating in the league, with complementary skills on O and D. We would be ferocious and have more than a puncher’s chance of going to the finals.
OK, I’m literally *not* Benjamin Dreyer. He has more sense than to engage in such incessant nonsense.
Dua Lipa has now leapfrogged over the nearly vaporous Jowles as my favorite Knickerblogger (and sorry I ignored you before, Dua!).
not to recklessly jump in to this debate, BUT, language evolves, it is not a stagnant thing…
it’s also very location dependent…
I literally didn’t know she existed until someone here mentioned her a time ago. Now we are engaged to be well read and people are comparing my avatar to a penis. I’m humbled.
@Rama — Adding Mikal is a great idea, for sure, but would/could Brooklyn *ever do us that favor? Bc rivalry, envy, bragging rights, etc. (Of course, I’m not saying anything you don’t already know).
More generally, I *want to wait and hope some of our guys show out, but an uncomfortable question lingers: For how long will Brunson and Randle be this good? I’m thrilled at the moment and convinced this season will be wonderful, but, like everyone, I’m curious how soon we must go for a “last piece.”
Age-wise Brunson and Randle should be okay for a couple years, right?, but I have a (bad) feeling (prolly b/c Knicks PTSD) that we are seeing their absolute best selves at the moment. Something about the *way they both score always seems stoppable by the right move from an opposing coach.
IMO if Julius and Jalen lose even a step, this team is done. That’s not some outlier opinion, of course, and I hope I’m wrong, but if we really are in “Peak Overachieving Brundle” this year, then maybe we should indeed go for a deal like the Mikal idea above.
I think Brundle are 95% of what they can be now, with a window of maybe 3-4 years at that level. With Mikal, that entire window would work for us – an older team than with Grimes, IQ, and RJ, but with the defense to legitimately contend today.
It’s crazy to think Brooklyn would deal with us, but 1) they’re going nowhere, 2) Mikal is great, but not a cornerstone, 3) we have a lot of picks and a player with real upside in Grimes. And I truly thought there was no chance to get OG even before the lawsuit – once RJ signed, I felt the ship had sailed.
And yet here we are. So, I’ll believe in magic, because who knows? If the Raptors could trade OG to the team that is suing them for RJ – RJ! – and IQ, anything is possible.
Also, Brunson losing a step is meaningless – he’ll be faking dudes out of their shoes till his mid-30s. Randle, not so much…
The thing about bringing in another player to play alongside Brunson, Randle, and OG is that OG is an unrestricted free agent this summer. He was already unhappy with his offensive role in Toronto and his shot attempts and usage have gone down in his first few games here (11.9 FGA to 9.8 and 18.2 USG to 13.4). What happens in free agency if we bring in another player that would expect 10+ FGA and 20+ USG?
People said the same thing about Melo and he fell off a cliff after he turned 30.
I really like Mikal but he is having a pretty bad season so far (one of the reasons Brooklyn is doing this poorly). I don’t think he is worth all of the picks. Grimes and two firsts, sure, but not all of the picks.
Is Grimes valued that highly elsewhere? I’ll give him that amazing fourth quarter the other day, but this season he still looks lost to me, less a true building block than just giving someone sporadic success off the bench. With IQ, one could see the future. With Grimes, it’s more data, more data, please.
I’m coming around on the Murray concept. The 3pt shot is there, and Thibs should boost his D back. He’s also the same age as the rest of the core and would give us 5 above-average starters. And it would give us two guys who can run the point again.
It would take some adjustments, for sure. Murray would become the traditional PG and Brunson would take on the Iverson-ish 2-guard role. I’m sure we’d have to send Grimes to ATL, so the bench would be Deuce, DDV, Hart, Precious, and maybe another body from the Hawks. Maybe we have to throw in Deuce, idk…
I don’t think it will happen, but it could be interesting.
Marechal is right. Bridges is having a bad season. But he’s struggling bc he’s miscast as a #1. I think he’d be fine back as a #3. Maybe this struggle is what we need to buy low on him.
ThisChicanery raised a great point, though. I would not add anyone til OG signs the extension.
I think the bad season may be causing Brooklyn to reconsider whether he’s a cornerstone, and is the reason I think he’s gettable. It seems like he is miscast as a 1A… But that doesn’t change my thinking about how valuable he would be on our roster. He’d be back in his Phoenix role, maybe with more time running with the second unit. Technically not worth the picks, but if like OG he’s a missing piece that creates a contender, you pay it to take that last step.
OG wants touches in part because he wants to be paid. We’ll pay him. EDIT: his agent is Leon’s son, Hubert. I don’t think we need to worry about signing him.
Q may not be rated as highly as IQ, but he’s clearly got potential. The shot and defense and athleticism are real. He’s under control for a couple years. It’s a plus situation for sure… How much so I don’t know, but then it comes down to picks.
Never thought about it this way, but it makes sense, maybe he’s not impossible to trade for.
I wouldn’t trade Grimes if possible. I’d move DDV or Hart before moving him. He is a better defender than DDV and a better shooter than Hart and younger than both.
I think we have enough picks that we can probably keep all of them when the big trade happens.
As for stop gap centers, if we don’t think Precious and Sims can hold the fort, what about bringing Noel back? He was good for us when we had him and he’s young enough I don’t think he’s lost a step.
We can’t trade Hart this season. DDV’s contract becomes tradeable later this month, I think. But I also find it hard to believe the FO would flip DDV so quickly when he’s played so well in the role he’s been assigned (and a role this team needs), and when he’s also part of the Villanova crew. I’m not saying he and Hart are untouchable so long as Brunson is on the team, but it feels like we would have to be acquiring a capital-G Great player for Leon to put one or both into the package.
The MSG cameraman man made a horrible choice on that iHart touchdown pass