[New York Post] – Wed, 24 Jan 2024 14:39:00 GMT
- Knicks fans rip Candace Parker for Jalen Brunson dig: ‘The disrespect and lies’
- Candace Parker Caught Spewing Lies About Jalen Brunson During NBA On TNT Broadcast
- Parker Clarifies Brunson Comments to Hart, Knicks Fans
- Knicks player takes swipe at Candace Parker over recent comments
- Candace Parker Made Up a Postseason Narrative For Jalen Brunson
[The Athletic] – Wed, 24 Jan 2024 16:31:30 GMT
Knicks are not a perfect team, but they shouldnt mess up what is working
[hoopsrumors.com] – Thu, 25 Jan 2024 03:59:00 GMT
- Knicks Notes: Grimes, Sims, Achiuwa, Brunson
- Tom Thibodeau wants Quentin Grimes to tune out Knicks trade chatter
- Knicks leveraging Quentin Grimes, draft picks for potential trade deadline upgrade
- Knicks are looking to deal young guard for a big time addition at the deadline
- Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau Sends Strong Message to Quentin Grimes Amid Trade Rumors
[New York Post] – Wed, 24 Jan 2024 08:29:00 GMT
- Knicks backup big men come up big in Isaiah Hartenstein’s absence
- Achiuwa, Sims Stand Up For Knicks With Hartenstein Injured
- Knicks provide update on Isaiah Hartenstein
- Knicks Bulletin: Update on Hartenstein, Thibs advice for Grimes, Randle on Nets
- Isaiah Hartenstein OUT vs Brooklyn Nets – New York Knicks Injury Tracker
[Sports Illustrated] – Wed, 24 Jan 2024 22:41:13 GMT
Magic Johnson Thinks The New York Knicks Need To Make A Trade
[Sports Illustrated] – Wed, 24 Jan 2024 19:06:49 GMT
New York Knicks Trade Rumors: Could Kelly Olynyk Hold Down Center for Isaiah Hartenstein?
[New York Post] – Wed, 24 Jan 2024 16:05:00 GMT
Tyra Banks was surrounded by Furries courtside at Knicks-Nets game
[New York Post] – Thu, 25 Jan 2024 02:05:00 GMT
- Nets’ home loss to Knicks ‘felt like a friggin’ away game’ at times
- Josh Hart Sends Message to Mikal Bridges After Not Fun Comment About Knicks Fans
- Nets star Mikal Bridges complains about pro-Knicks chants during home loss
- Mikal Bridges: ‘It’s not fun when you feel like you’re at an away game at home’
- Nets’ Mikal Bridges gets brutally honest about Knicks fans taking over Barclays Center
[Heavy.com] – Wed, 24 Jan 2024 23:49:28 GMT
Shaq Compares Knicks Star Jalen Brunson to Ex-NBA MVP
[New York Post] – Thu, 25 Jan 2024 06:14:00 GMT
- Red-hot Knicks facing 2023 NBA finalists in next two games
- Denver Nuggets vs. New York Knicks Prediction, Preview, and Odds – 1-25-2024
- Nikola Jokic Player Prop Bets: Nuggets vs. Knicks | January 25
- Preview: road-weary Nuggets travel to the Big Apple to face the Knicks
- Nuggets vs Knicks Prediction NBA Picks 1/25/24
[New York Post] – Wed, 24 Jan 2024 23:22:00 GMT
- Jalen Brunson’s elevated Knicks play is certainly All-Star worthy — but might not be enough
- Knicks Media Roundup: Brunsons dishes, Hartensteins injury, Begley trade news, and NYC a Knicks Town again
- Forget All-Star: Knicks Jalen Brunson could be starter in All-Star Game
- BT & Sal: Knicks have a No. 1 star in Jalen Brunson, regardless of what doubters say
- P&T Player of the Week for January 14-20: Jalen Brunson
103 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.01.25)”
“One thing that really cements my questioning of Randle is how Barrett has been absolutely flourishing in an offense not crushed by the space Randle takes up. That makes me wonder how much Randle’s ball dominance and lack of space hurts other players.”
While I think it’s fair to point out that RJ is probably benefitting by not having Julius operating in the same lefty space that he is best suited for, there’s probably some other factors at work here. These were pointed out by the Toronto guy on the KFS pre-game pod last week. One thing was that they are scheming to get RJ out in transition more, where he as always been a strong finisher.
But he’s also taking 3 fewer shots per 36, essentially one fewer 2PA and 2 fewer 3PA per 36. His usage is down to what it was during his best statistical season with us (year 2) at 23.4. So it seems like a better shot profile for him.
Personally, I wouldn’t bank on him continuing to shoot 63% from 2. But it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it stabilized at 52% or so and if his 3pt% stayed in the mid-high 30’s.
Even so, there are a host of issues with RJ’s game that are not Julius or scheme-related. At the end of the day, I am happy that it is someone elses job to figure out how to unlock his gifts on both ends.
IQ is a different story. I really, really miss him and feel sad to see him in that ugly Raptors uniform playing for a losing team in front of non-MSG crowds, or on the road where Knicks fans often made it feel like home games. I think that deep down he’s pretty bummed.
In any case, the idea that Randle might be holding other players back sounds pretty dubious to me unless it’s outside the context of winning. I mean, was LeBron holding Chris Bosh back? Is Embiid holding Tobias Harris back?
Yeah maybe they just aren’t a good fit together. Why does it have to be Randle’s fault?
I don’t know that it’s ever foolish to trade for a younger, more two-way player on a better contract.
Creation isn’t actually that hard to get in the NBA. It’s very hard to get for us in large part bc we have to keep the limitations of Randle in mind every time we make a move.
It is possible – smart, even – to be a Randle stan and wonder when the clock is going to strike midnight. We have him on a good contract this year and next year and he is likely going to be great the next 1.5 years.
But then he can opt out, right before his age 31 season. At that point you’re probably looking at a 4 year max extension carrying him to age 34. And he’s not the kind of player that projects to age well.
So there’s not a lot of time until you either trade up or go all in for the life of Brunson. Bridges is a step back this year but he’s a good bet to be the better player for 4 or 5 of the next 6 years.
“843rd Bomb Wing Strategic Air Command: Peace is our Profession
it’s good to remind yourself every so often about the danger of fluoridation…”
Me: Huh?
Downtown Doogie Brown or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dangling Modifier
The Athletic’s Pistons beat writer with some somewhat relevant to us intel on what Detroit does and doesn’t want to do by the deadline:
1)They consider Cade, Ausar, Duren, and Ivey to be basically untouchable.
2)They spoke with Atlanta about DJM and with Chicago about LaVine, but talks went nowhere because those teams wanted one or more of the untouchable guys.
3)Most importantly, there is this regarding their two wily old veterans:
So it sounds like the price for Aleksander Burghoff is more than we should pay. And also that the Pistons are really in love with all the players on a historically bad team.
Speaking of historically bad teams:
Interesting pregame pod from Andrew Claudio about the Nuggets today… and how much success the Clippers and their switch everything defense has had against Jokic….
11/14/23 – Jokic 8/23 from the field although 14/14 from the line, still ended up with 32/16/9 which is nuts. Nuggets win 111-108.
12/6 – Jokic 9/32 from the floor, ends with 22/15/10, Clippers win 111-102.
Re: Randle – I do think he has matured a lot over the last couple years. It hasn’t always shown up in individual plays on the court, but I kinda feel like overall his effort has been better than last season. In terms of his playoff disappointments – I am still willing to reserve judgment on that one. Clearly was impaired by the ankle this past playoffs, and was not ready for his first playoff run back in the We Here year.
Re: moving on from Randle – which I’ve been in favor of in the past — so many people who would know (opposing coaches/players etc) really emphasize how physical games are against the Knicks and that that is a big part of the team’s identity. Randle/Hart/Mitch/iHart are probably the ones that bring that the most. I would not want to lose that “dawg” identity unless there is a true upgrade. And when you’re talking about a guy who has been all-NBA 2x in the last 3 years, there are very few clear upgrades from there.
The Pistons seem to be better lately. Their last six games have all been pretty close and they have two wins. Admittedly those wins were Washington and Charlotte; but still, if they are actually better than those two teams now, that is an improvement for the Pistons. They were close with Milwaukee for the whole game with Milwaukee pulling away just a little at the end. I can see them wanting to wait a bit and work with their current players rather than just trading for more draft picks. They are going to get another good pick this year anyway.
Knick fan, it’s not so much about their version of a Core Four as about the reluctance to let go of Bojan or Burqs. I can see the argument for keeping one, maybe, since having at least some shooting on the floor really helps Cade, and in general helps the younger guys develop (and shows you which may be long-term keepers). But keeping both of them is dumb for a team in Detroit’s position. Get more assets.
First of all, I’m obviously not anti-Brunson. I love the guy. That doesn’t make him perfect. I think the way we are playing is not optimal for the “TEAM” and it’s partly on him and Randle.
There is statistical evidence that a more balanced attack leads to better results.
There is statistical evidence that ball and player movement leads to easier shots.
One of the main reasons for running the “triangle” and the offense Popovich/Kerr have often run is that if your entire offense is driven by a PG, all you have to do is stop or at least slow down that PG and the offense suffers badly. They want to avoid that.
Take that logic to the playoffs and there will inevitably be matchups and game plans that bother Brunson in the same way some have bothered Randle. If so, IMO, our offense will decline more than if we had a more balanced attack.
When an offense is driven by a lot of purposeful ball and player movement (like the triangle or the typical Pop/Kerr offense), it’s harder to stop and creates better shots for lesser players that can’t create for themselves. IMO, that’s preferable.
Brunson and Randle can still score they 20-25 efficiently, but if they break away from that “I’m going ISO and scoring on this possession” mentality except when we really need a basket or it’s the last couple of minutes, we will get more efficient results from the OTHERS and have a better overall offense (not to mention happier role players).
I’m not sure why we’ve been talking about Randle for Bridges other than in a fantasy sports way. Randle is not going anywhere anytime soon and certainly not for Bridges. In the event the Nets trade Bridges, that would probably mean they are shifting to a total reboot. They won’t want Randle. They will want young players and picks or expiring contracts and picks.
I mean, this whole Detroit thing could also just be a strategy to try to up the value of those guys.
On the Randle thing, I don’t know, really. I’ve been a big proponent of trading him in the past, I thought he had a fluke season during the no crowd year and would never be productive again, and he has proven me wrong.
It’s still maddening to watch him sometimes, he makes so many clumsy mistakes and his effort varies wildly even from play to play, but I think he has done enough to be given a chance in the playoffs with a better team around him like we’re building.
If he completely shits the bed in the playoffs then yeah, I’ll probably be back in the trade Randle camp, but I think there’s enough moves we can make around him first to see how they go before we look into trading him.
I think two 2nds for Burks is fair enough. I also think Thibs would really like to have him back. He’s probably the least sexy trade target out there, but he does tick a few boxes for us as a bench scorer/ball mover.
As for Randle, he’s like one of those bumpy-ride friendships we all have. Maybe you see a few drunken incidents in the beginning and think “fuck this, I’m out.” But the guy is so damn endearing at times and there when you need him, so you decide to stick out the friendship on multiple occasions. Then, after a few years, you’ve got this committed friend, and you’re willing to look past his social gaffes and rowdy behavior because he’s loyal and keeps showing up.
That’s sort of how I feel about Randle now. He finally hit the tipping point for me after finding his game again this season. He’s clearly not perfect, but, as a fan, I would like to see this team keep winning with him.
It’s not so crazy that the Pistons fell in love with Alexis Borges, grate granddaughter of the famously mysterious writer. I would want to keep her too.
Wow, it looks like the Lakers might even need to throw in a pick to unload Russell in a Murray trade… if that is the return package, I would definitely consider it.
As a bench piece, Russell is a great fit offensively. Plus, getting an extra pick for a future all-in move would be gravy.
I’m skeptical about Randle’s ability to continue bringing that physical edge in his 30s, though. Hence the need for a sound exit strategy before he can hit free agency in the summer of 2025.
The purposeful misspelling of Alec Burks’ name is getting beyond silly, especially considering that 1) it is such an easy name to spell correctly and 2) even Clyde doesn’t mispronounce it (not that I’ve ever seen that as a valid reason for misspelling Lauri Markkanen’s name, either). Don’t you guys like your name to be spelled correctly? The vast majority of people do, as it is one of the things that (in general) make us unique.
After sleeping on it the other night I made a bet on the Clippers at plus 1,000.
Denver is still the team to beat, IMO, but if they stumble I like the Clips to take it. In a matchup with Boston, for instance, I would expect Kawhi and George to evicerate Tatum and Brown.
(Also just noting those two pairings is sufficient to call out everyone who thinks OG alone is enough defense on the wing; you don’t have to go all out to get Mikal Bridges but we are definitely not in a position to sell out for a guy like Mitchell.)
Whoops, sorry DDB.
Yeah, I know, Hubert IV. I let it slide. 🙂 If I corrected even the mistakes on here that weren’t egregious, that’s all I’d be doing all day. LOL 🙂
Doc Rivers might be the greatest of all time at getting people to pay him to coach basketball
That’s a great skill all by itself. I certainly don’t possess it.
Trading for Alex Bhurks is problematic because of the contract. I don’t think the Knicks can make it work without adding Grimes, and that’s way too much to give up. There’s also the issue that he’s an expiring and it makes their life more difficult over the summer.
The lack of talk about Brogdon – even Katz failed to mention him in his latest article – is weird. Maybe it’s a stealth move for him? The fit is just too good.
Stupid.
Brogdon could still be traded. It’s not like pundits and various rumor sources have a good record of predicting things. Look at our trade for OG. It happened without any notice even though lots of people thought he was a good fit for us.
If the cost for Alec Burks includes Grimes, then please pass on that.
“The purposeful misspelling of Alec Burks’ name is getting beyond silly…”
Personally, while I respect the opinions you share regarding the Knicks, I find your entire grammar police routine to be beyond silly, well into the realm of tedious and immature. Which is fine, maybe others are amused by it. But your reaction is sort of like that “awkward” kid in middle school that can’t read the room and is annoyed when other kids mock him/her.
But hey, you keep on doing you!
I have the same name as my father and grandfather but a spelling of Ali Baba that’s mine alone
I was going off the report that Burks would cost two 2nds… adding Grimes would be a no-go. For salary, you could swap Fournier for Burks plus Monte Morris, both of whom are expiring.
Randle is exactly what they would want.
They gave all their picks to Houston and want to avoid transferring high picks at all costs.
They already have a massive haul of incoming picks from Philadelphia, Dallas, and Phoenix.
If we trade Randle I think it makes us immediately worse, but I’d rather have Mikal alongside someone like Donovan
But that really makes it hard to improve the team in the offseason when you don’t have the Fournier contract or a replacement for it. The only real salaries you’d have would be for core rotation players.
You’d have Bird Rights on Burks. You could re-sign him for 1yr @ $20M or on a 1-and-1 team option.
Downtown Julie Brown hasn’t complained about the butchering of her name here, so that pretty much says it all.
Got it, thank you. That makes it a little more palatable then.
I assume if it might have to be a sign and trade, which could make it slightly more difficult, but I doubt he would say no to a 20m contract.
Alessandro Brookstein can be traded for without using Grimes. It’d be a little complicated, but doable. Evil Donte can’t be aggregated with another player, but that only applies if both players are going to the same team. So we can make it work by sending Evil Donte to the Pistons, and Sims/Archie to anyone who might want one of them.
In order to pull that off without having to compensate the third team for taking on Sims or Archie’s pittances, might be smart to see if we can just tie this into a larger trade.
Combine all the trades!
I don’t know about you guys but I can literally see in my midjourney eyes Alexis Borges and Ali Baba falling for a personal grammar master like Downtown Boogie.
I will say this, though, Ben R… the more I think about this trade that will never happen, the more it becomes apparent to me that the Knicks would need to receive modest pick compensation in this fictional swap. We definitely shouldn’t send anything else out.
The TEAM has a 126 offensive rating with Brunson on the floor since the trade. The TEAM’S passes per game have gone from 272 to 281.7 since the trade. The TEAM’s assist rate has gone from 56.7 to 60.7 since the trade.
I don’t know what to tell you regarding your newfound focus on this besides you seem to be seeing something that is not there, and I don’t mind that in a harsh way! It happens to everyone, the eye-test is flawed.
Post-trade, Brunson is elite, the team’s offense with Brunson on the floor is elite, and the team’s ball movement has increased meaningfully.
“I don’t know about you guys but I can literally see in my midjourney eyes Alexis Borges and Ali Baba falling for a personal grammar master like Downtown Boogie.”
They already have.
Boogie. LOL
Whoa, you can get 14-1 odds on the Heat winning the East. That seems broken. I’m definitely taking that.
So Clips and Heat. Those will be my bets this year.
Doogie you’re one of my favorite posters ever.
Re: RJ and Randle, we’ve been over this before. After four years there was a pretty decent sample size of RJ on, Randle off minutes. RJ wasn’t one iota better in those minutes, and to the extent there was a difference he was actually worse.
If RJ has flipped the switch in his homeland, more power to him. Nothing against the guy whatsoever. But his failures here were not due to shadowy external forces, they were his own.
For Alexis Burks, can we just offer some of Dollan’s money..i.e. cash considerations and package evil Donte with a trade exception.
Troy Weaver gets $3m in clean profit to add to bottom line and books a small win with Tom Gores.
Still fading RJ’s breakout. If he is a 63% ts% player for the rest of his career I will eat one of his game socks.
how about sitting out the Brogdon/Burks/Brown market altogether and trying for Lowry or Gordon Hayward in the buyout market?
Assuming that happens – these teams are over the 1st apron and so cannot sign either of them:
Boston
Milwaukee
Miami
Clippers
Suns
Nuggets
Warriors
Assuming they want to go to an upper tier playoff team, that leaves NYK, Philly, OKC, Minnesota, and Cleveland. I’d have to look to see who has a BAE or part of MLE left (we have BAE and could use it without going into tax). Would be interesting!
I don’t think RJ has all of a sudden become an elite offensive player I just think it’s interesting how much better he has been. It makes me curious what, if anything, was holding him back here and if that same thing is affecting any of our other guys.
As for trading Randle, I think we have a window to trade him right now where his value is high and he can be a real asset in a trade. That window will close as he gets older and approaches a massive payday. If we sign Randle to a four year $180+ million contract for his age 31-34 seasons I think we will regret it.
RJ has been assisted on 70% of his 2fgs in Toronto. Kudos to the coach for making that happen, but he still isn’t a creator.
RJ will be better playing the shooting guard spot and bullying people with his brute force physicality. (aka mini Randle). We didnt use him optimaly but he also sucked.
He’s a perfect tanking franchise player…gets you a ton of loses but still generates fan excitment and effects ticket sales. From that perspective, he did his job in NY & will do even better for Toronto. Ujiri knew this and that’s why I’m pissed about that Detroit 2nd round pick.
What was holding him back here was talked about in real-time for multiple years using primarily the eye test, but also basketball context and numbers, and was met with primarily guffaws by the hate boner faction.
Everyone paying attention saw it.
I really don’t care about if RJ figures it out or not, just like I didn’t care about Porzingis. When I’m commenting on players on the Knicks I’m doing it within their current context, it’s not meant to be an indictment on whether they are good or bad or whatever. RJ was bad for us, and having Anunoby instead of him on the starting lineup has made us a much better team.
I hope he has a long and successful career, it just didn’t work out with the Knicks and with the information we had on him, it was the right move and I’m still happy he’s gone.
The Knicks front office and coaches should know their players and how they fit in various contexts better than amateur commentators.(*)
It’s fine to focus on what’s here, but unfortunately, in terms of future prospects, we have to note the squandered value in both the Porzingis and Barrett/Quckley departures. As far as we know the delta in that squandered value is the current delta between where they are and actual championship contention.
The best of the other teams are run by cutthroats — as we see yet again in the firing of Adrian Griffin. You can’t squander asset value and compete with them.
(*) Of course, it’s possible they do but are still driven by other factors to ignore those things.
IQ’s 2pt FG% has fallen off a cliff playing with the Raptors.
Congrats to RJ for being efficient in 12 games for an awful basketball team!
RJ is clogging the spacing
As far as I’m concerned, we absolutely fleeced Toronto. OG looks like he was severely undervalued by the Raptors and the rest of the league.
We’re 10-2.
Sounds like you’re very confident that he’ll maintain a TS% above .600, or even .580, over the course of a full season. I’ll go ahead and note that!
This is why you pay a 1st to get Hart 😉
I see the same current stats you see over the last 10-12 games against some “meh” teams under regular season conditions.
What I am “seeing” hasn’t happened yet because we aren’t playing playoff basketball against top teams making game to game adjustments yet.
I’m throwing out the warning that if we keep playing like this, smart coaches with excellent defensive teams will focus on slowing down Brunson and Randle and our offense is going to suffer more than is necessary. We are too reliant on both of them to score close to 30 every night. They aren’t going to be able to do it almost every night. We have to get other players more involved. The only way to do that is to move and pass because they can’t create well enough on their own. (unless we trade for someone that can)
The guy who comes on here with no other agenda other than to bitch about Tom Thibodeau really should shove the “hate boner” term up his ass.
i hope all is well for everyone today…
i’m not sure why folks may think julius’ game will deteriorate due to aging…
if anything, he seems to be becoming increasingly more efficient…
so, just wondering, what is it about julius’ game that folks think will decline?
how long before the decline begins – 5 years, maybe 8?
There’s no doubt we are better off with OG than RJ. But it’s also possible that spacing was one issue holding back RJ, Brunson and Randle like I’ve been saying almost endlessly for years. That was one reason I wanted OG to begin with (size and defense being the other obvious ones). It appears that all 3 are benefitting a little from the trade, which is what should have been expected.
had i not just spent x number of years watching RJ play basketball, I might be more curious as to what happens next with RJ…
as of right now though, just super happy not to have him on the knicks any longer…
You love these 2 guys precisely because they make you pay for helping off them. They can shoot or attack the closeout. You force opponents to stay home or you concede open looks to great shooters.
If opponents want to leave DiVo & OG open in order to focus on Brunson, by all means let them.
I think you’re overstating this. Both DDV & OG move well without the ball and we run a couple curl plays every game for them too. We don’t run as much iso as everyone claims.
E pretending he was offering some sort of analysis showing the correct way to use RJ instead of endlessly shreiking about hustlebunnies in the mezzanie is a good bit, I have to tip my cap
I really can’t believe we’re still talking about RJ. He always seemed like a good kid with a solid work ethic, but as Brother Love said above, I really do enjoy NOT watching him night after night.
God bless him if he somehow turns into a high efficiency star, but I honestly don’t care.
I think quickness and athleticism declines faster with age than shooting and strength. LeBron can still power to the net despite his age, for example, even if he isn’t quick enough to defend like he used to. Given that strength and physicality is one of Randle’s big assets, he could hold up pretty well with age.
My favorite is that E finally declared that RJ sucked, and that they were done with him, followed almost immediately by the trade, and then E’s attempt to present as an RJ true believer who believed our stubborn coach was always the problem with Rowan Jr achieving his full potential.
Slow clap.
I’m just sad we don’t get the nightly Cam Reddish updates anymore. How’s that guy doing? Must be killing it, free from the clutches of Tom Thibodeau and all.
This has got to be the only place where the team we’re all here to discuss goes 10-2 since a trade and the sky is still falling for some people.
Slowly but steadily I’ve been coming to terms that I respect team permanently optimistic position more and more, because that saves me so much time that would be spent discussing the basketball merits of goddamned RJ Barrett.
Since it’s a slow day, here’s a question:
Assuming we keep both of this year’s 1sts (big assumption), would you take Edey with one of them as center insurance?
Are we ever going to progress to discussions befitting an actually good team? By that I would mean things like (1) talking way more about the team’s playoff readiness; and (2) downgrading (massively) these relatively meaningless tos and fros in the regular season — the “we’ve won nine straight since putting Deuce and Jericho in the rotations” and the “we’ve won nine straight since the Josh Harts.”
Good association teams don’t really even care that much about the regular season, much less granularly evaluate it so much.
These aren’t Isiah Thomas’s or David Fizdale’s Knicks anymore. Progressing dramatically from that is no longer news.
The regular season question that I’m interested about right now is whether the Knicks can catch the Bucks or the 76ers. I’m somewhat optimistic about their ability to finish ahead of the Bucks, which have a really tough schedule.
Getting the 3 seed of course makes reaching the conference finals a less far fetched possibility as it avoids the Celtics in the second round. It’s a shame that the Knicks are already 1-3 against Milwaukee.
No idea, haven’t started binging draft info yet. I’m gonna wait and see if we have draft picks after the deadline first… not that it mattered the past couple years anyway.
I’m skeptical of Edey, but boy do you feel dumb when you pass on the giant who dominated college if he goes on to dominate the pros. I feel like you need to take him with a late 1st at least, maybe with our earlier pick too.
Be the change you wish to see: are we going to win a playoff series this year?
Haven’t done a draft deep dive yet either, but lean towards agreeing EB that taking a plodding center, even one that puts up Wilt numbers, with a first would be a waste.
For better or worse, it’s hard for me to shake the impression we’re gonna draft Justin Edwards.
We’re all talking about the Knicks prepping for a playoff run (or about spelling and grammar), you’re the one talking about RJ’s 12 regular season games for a crap Toronto team.
We’re simply dismissing whatever dumb RJenda you have.
Nice
As a longtime Team Pessimist member, what’s been eye-opening to me is the realization that to some people Team Pessimist is genuinely an identity as opposed to one’s evaluation of the short and long term position of a basketball team.
When said position obviously improved, I became less pessimistic accordingly. That this is the way this whole thing should work seems so obvious it almost feels patronizing to have to explain it, but to some people Team Pessimist is obviously more akin to a bit than an analysis.
I would take Edey. He’s not as lumbering as his reputation. But he is a scorer. That isn’t a drawback in my opinion.
I don’t really know who Edey is so my opinion is obviously very low value but someone who is 7-4 and has played in college until he’s a senor is probably not a great prospect
A fair reading and interpretation of “Optimism” and “Pessimism” is that they were both playoff-centric terms at a bare minimum and, really, both championship-contention-centric terms.
i must say mister hubie, for a relatively young guy, you do seem to know an awful lot about old folks’ stuff…
hmmm, you haven’t been involved in any mrs. robinson situations in the past have you young benjamin…
I’ve always been on Team Optimist and so take this with a grain of salt, but I think we are in pretty darn good shape in the current state of things. Since I think it is probably incontrovertible even on Knickerblogger that losing IQ is detrimental to the Knicks on-court play, it means that the sheer awesomeness this team has been since the trade is due to the difference between OG and RJ.
The other reason i feel good?
our closing lineup is most likely going to be Brunson, Hart, OG, Randle, Hartenstein.
That lineup happens to be +56.8 per 100 poss with an ORtg which is quite good at 133, and a mindblowing DRtg of 76.5, which is basically incomprehensible. Yes it’s small samples (87 possessions), but at a certain point when it’s THAT much of an outlier, it’s probably at least a little bit true.
The 3-man lineup of JB+JR+OG – also 99th percentile in offense and defense over 515 possessions with a +24.6 net.
by the way – almost the exact same sample size (535 possessions) – KD/Booker/Beal is a +25.1 net. That is how good this NYK 3 man lineup has been. And also why PHX is a team to watch out west.
Anyway – big test tonight. Hopefully Denver is exhausted at the end of their road trip.
Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
Going to the candidates debate
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you’ve got to choose
Every way you look at this, you lose….
preach pepper, preach…
i will say one thing that sticks out with me about my all too brief time together with hubie was how some of the ladies’ eyes would glaze over a bit while speaking with him…it was neat to see…
no doubt going out with hubie means you are likely playing for second with any ladies around 😊
Looking through old threads from 2022 for my OG comments, I was struck by how right Frank was most of the time. It really jumped out that he didn’t post a lot, but was usually on the money. So I’ll take his optimism without any grains of salt.
The numbers Frank brought are what has been so exciting to me. Of course we understand it’s a small sample size, but when the numbers are so absurd you have to think that even if they do come back to earth you still probably end up with a very good lineup.
That’s why pretty much 100% of my focus on the Knicks lately has been what to do with the bench, and how to get guys to cover for potential injuries, either trade targets or buyout candidates. If we can find that one more piece without emptying the assets, we’ll be in a great position.
My personal dream would be getting Brogdon for just the Fournier contract + a pick, then finding a big man in the buyout market, someone like Drummond would be the perfect fit. If this happens, I’ll be very, very excited about this team.
There’s really just 1 resident pessimist.
I feel like I get thrown onto that team bc I’m critical but my predictions have consistently been among the more optimistic on the board.
Like, I don’t like Josh Hart, and I hate burning draft picks. But I also thought we’d go 16-0 in January, and I’m still driving the Giannis to NY bus even though no one is on it.
As a card-carrying member of team pessimist and certified troll, I don’t think it’s reasonable to deny that there is at least some hope of a window of 5%+ championship equity.
We have the best SRS of any Knicks team since 1994, and figure to be trending up based on recent indicators. If we had somehow kept Quickley I would even call us a contender.
Still, all indications are that we are trending up, even with significant pieces injured. We have some lineup combos that appear to be dominant. We figure to have a legitimately great defense, possibly the best in the league with a healthy Mitchenstein.
Our offense has not looked significantly worse since the trade at least, and there is some capability to improve that.
I’m skeptical that we have enough to land the next available true superstar, but if we can swing another base hit type move, we could be the kind of team that expects conference finals and can steal a ring with some lucky breaks.
I’d still rather we had torn it all down and gone the OKC route, and still would be in favor of doing so if that were possible given the priorities of our management. But as consolation prizes go, this is decent as long as we don’t stick with this group too long once the window shuts. After all, that was the original sin that landed us in the muck 20+ years ago.
Ok I forgot about Pags. There’s two.
Djphan is pessimistic at the moment but he’s also optimistic about certain things.
What strikes me as odd, honestly, is why anyone would be optimistic or pessimistic 100% of the time. That’s weird to me.
Is the draft so terrible this year? Is there anyone special worth trading up for? Looking forward to the KB-hive’s draft analyses once the time is right.
Theirs not allot to talk about about playoff readyness, its only January. They’re is to much regular season left, we dont even no who wheel bee playing yet.
Watch out or you could be indicted for murder, Donnie. I think I just heard Dougie’s head blow off.
iHart’s out again tonight. Denver’s not unbeatable, but I’ve already got visions of Joker carving up Sims and Precious. It’ll be a tough one.
“Donnie Walsh says:
January 25, 2024 at 17:22
Theirs not allot to talk about about playoff readyness, its only January. They’re is to much regular season left, we dont even no who wheel bee playing yet.”
No recess for you, Mr. Walsh….
OG can and should guard Jokic.
I’d put Randle on him before I went to Sims or Precious
Randle does seem to play with more energy against good players, so I’d put him on Jokic and turn to OG if it doesn’t work.
Dame got the starting spot next to Hali on the All-Star Team. He’ll definitely be a reserve, but that’s a bummer.
Curious if Randle makes it, too.
Game thread?
Defending champs MSG Opener?
Brunson snubbed as usual. He’ll joke about it at the parade.
Jalen deserves to be an All Star but if he takes multiple charges during the game I will regret pushing for his inclusion…