[New York Post] – Sun, 25 Feb 2024 11:30:00 GMT
- Knicks need to clear three obstacles to make big playoff run
- Why New York Knicks Will Be ‘Dangerous’ Once Healthy
- 5 huge questions facing Knicks as they enter final stretch of season
- NBA Futures: Target This Knicks Bet
- Bleacher Report’s ‘biggest question’ for rest of Knicks season is an obvious one
[New York Post] – Mon, 26 Feb 2024 04:04:00 GMT
Quentin Grimes to face Knicks for first time since trade to Pistons
[Us Weekly] – Sun, 25 Feb 2024 18:14:28 GMT
Amy Robach, T.J. Holmes Cuddle Courtside at New York Knicks Game
[New York Post] – Sun, 25 Feb 2024 10:12:00 GMT
Carmelo Anthony glad Knicks, Klutch Sports mended relationship
[New York Post] – Sun, 25 Feb 2024 22:54:00 GMT
- Jalen Brunson continues to fall on sword for struggling Knicks teammates: ‘I got to be better’
- Knicks Bulletin: “Our team awareness has to be better.”
- Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau drops truth on harsh reality of facing Celtics after 3-point barrage
- Knicks Bulletin: “Gets you well paid. So that’s just something I take pride in.”
- New York Knicks: Current roster can’t hang with Boston Celtics
[Posting and Toasting] – Sun, 25 Feb 2024 20:00:00 GMT
- Preview of the Knicks’ upcoming week, Feb 25-Mar 2.
- Knicks vs. Pistons odds, score prediction, time: 2024 NBA picks, Feb. 26 best bets from proven model
- Detroit Pistons game today vs. New York Knicks: Injury report, lineups
- Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks Prediction, Preview, and Odds – 2-26-2024
- Pistons vs. Knicks prediction, odds, pick, how to watch – 2/26/2024
[Hardwood Houdini] – Sun, 25 Feb 2024 16:29:02 GMT
Proposed Jayson Tatum-Jalen Brunson trade scenario leaves Boston Celtics fans in disbelief
[New York Post] – Sun, 25 Feb 2024 14:00:00 GMT
Kristaps Porzingis would love a playoff showdown vs. Knicks
[The Action Network] – Mon, 26 Feb 2024 07:55:45 GMT
Pistons vs Knicks Odds & Live Scores – February 26, 2024 | The Action Network
63 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.02.26)”
Strange to feel this way in the middle of the season where I don’t care much about the actual games, the direction of the team…just about health updates which isn’t exactly the most exciting thing. Shades of 97-98 when Ewing went down in December, expectations were lowered, and the only thing that mattered was if he would be back for the play-offs.
It’s a shame bc the month of February was chock full of games we probably would have won.
Looking more and more like the 4 v 5 matchup is a lock for us. I suspect either Indiana or Miami will pass Philadelphia to get in there.
Agreed Hubert
I’m really hoping for the wheels to at least wobble for Cleveland for the rest of the season though. They look good, but I’m still not sure just how good they are relative to our Knicks. They’ve played fewer games and I’m thinking that’s the reason why they’re higher in the standings more so than our injuries. As far as Milwaukee and Philly goes, I just hope we can take advantage of their relative turbulence as guys start coming back for us. And of course- we need to watch our for Indy and Miami’s inevitable steadying of the boat. We should be able to stay ahead of them though.
Macri, usually the most glass half full guy out there, opened up todays podcast saying that he’s starting to worry a little about us landing in the play-in if reinforcements dont arrive soon, because it seems like everyone else in the east just keeps winning while we’re scuffling.
I don’t think we’ll land in the play-in but I am preparing myself for a first round exit this year. I just don’t think Randle is going to be anywhere close to full health when he comes back and will play timid or won’t shoot as well, etc. If he needs surgery, he can rest it for awhile and come back but he’s not going to be 100 percent and without a healthy Randle, we aren’t going far.
OG I feel more confident about and maybe just his defensive presence alone will stabilize things for us and if Brunson gets hot, we could win a series or even 2. The ECF is still a possibility. But I just feel like with Randle (and don’t forget Mitch) being not 100 percent, it’s going to be tough. Especially if iHart is also not 100 percent. We dominated Cleveland mainly because of Mitch and iHart. They’ve gotten better and we won’t have that advantage if we face them. Miami is turning things up. Orlando has been a problem for us all season.
I’m trying to keep the long view. This team, healthy, is a really good squad. But the injury bug has really derailed our chances I think.
I’m not too worried about the play-in. OG should be back at some point next week, which will make a huge difference. Most teams competing for the 5-6 seeds have harder schedules than the Knicks, too. We have enough easy games on the schedule that I think it will help them stay afloat (2 against Detroit, San Antonio, Portland, 2 x Brooklyn).
It’s a shame, though, because a healthy Knicks would be a clear 2 seed at this point in my view.
I’m not concerned about the play-in, but I’m at least slightly concerned about the #4 seed (but not that concerned).
The best thing for me is that Embiid will never be healthy, so there’s no need to worry about what kind of team Morey can put around Embiid next season with all of that cap room. If Embiid wasn’t so cursed, I’d be worried about the Sixers joining the Celtics as “super” teams right when Leon finally uses all of his assets to add someone next season for the “all in” Knicks.
I wonder if the Hawks can even tank out of the play-in, the #11 and 12 seeds are pretty bad.
I think that any of the Bucks, Cavs, Heat, and Pacers will be very tough even if we are at full strength. If Embiid comes back, you can add them to the list.
And we almost certainly will not be at full strength.
I love me some Jalen Brunson but other guys are going to have to step up big time for us to advance. I don’t see us punking anyone like we did the Cavs last year.
Okay, so our Question of the Day:
If you assume we won’t be healthy enough in time to make a push for the 2 or 3 seed, would you rather land in 4-5 and be in the Celtics’ side of the bracket, or would you rather slip down to the 6th seed?
I didn’t really wanna bring this up because it worries me, but I saw a short video of Randle putting shots up. Dunno if he was being serious or not, but his form looked like he was overcompensating for that shoulder injury. Has anyone else seen it? I came across by randomly browsing articles that popped up on my Smart News app. In any case..if he was serious, Jules is probably gonna have a repeat of the end of last season where he’s hurt and nowhere near right for the playoffs. I’m wondering if he should just get the surgery now and maybe Leon can kick the tires on Mook Morris for the rest of the season. Regardless, I’d like to see the team add Poku on a cheap 2 year deal to add depth up front with the caveat that he focuses on the weight room for the rest of the season and plays for Westchester for a while.
Great question, Alan, and I’ve been thinking about it. My gut reaction is that I’d rather sink down, but it’s sort of a “be careful what you wish for” thing. I remember being very pleased that we got the 4th seed in 2020-21, and that didn’t turn out so well.
I don’t think we have much of a chance to beat the Celts, but would rather catch them in the ECF’s after they have hopefully gone through a couple of grueling rounds and are banged up. OTOH, the only thing that would make this season seem like an abject failure to me is if we don’t make it to the second round at all. As such, I care more about our first round matchup and going into the playoffs with momentum than about avoiding a second round matchup with the C’s.
100% stay in 4 v 5.
I’ll take it a step further, even: I think all this talk about not being on the Celtics side of the bracket is completely misguided. It’s all built on one flawed assumption: that it’s better to lose to the Celtics in the Conference Finals than to lose to the Celtics in the Conference Semi-Finals.
I don’t get it.
It’s more fun to make it to the conference finals. I get that. It means two more weeks of basketball, and we get to bank some good times together.
But it’s meaningless. There’s no prize for advancing because you got a favorable matchup. And frankly if we’re not going to win the East, I want to lose to the Celtics. Losing to the Bucks in round 1 or to the Cavs in round 2 would be much more disappointing.
I think both this last specific trade and bringing Randle back even though he’s probably going to need off season surgery is telling you they want to compete this year. I’m not so sure it’s very smart either, but I don’t know the probability of Randle being close to 100% for the playoffs (by 100% I don’t mean his shoulder, just his ability to play through it and be as productive as usual).
“I didn’t really wanna bring this up because it worries me, but I saw a short video of Randle putting shots up. Dunno if he was being serious or not, but his form looked like he was overcompensating for that shoulder injury. Has anyone else seen it?”
From what I saw, it seemed like he was not yet cleared for full overhead extension with his right arm, which seems logical. It’s a day-to-day progression with ultra-careful monitoring and strength testing. When he passes certain benchmarks, he’ll advance to whatever the next phase is. Tomorrow makes it a month, so nothing seems alarming yet, given the severity of the injury.
Here’s the scenario I’m envisioning as a reasonable optimist:
We get the 4 seed. We play Miami. We win in 7 games. We get to the second round. We lose to the Celtics in 7 games.
That’s completely fine to me.
Why would anyone want to fall to 6 and risk losing to Giannis & Dame in round 1? That’s one of the worst case scenario outcomes for this season.
Considering the parties involved (Thibs and Randle), it seems we are on the fast train to this outcome.
We really to get Bojan in the starting lineup ASAP. 19 minutes off the bench behind the shooting-incapable frontline of Josh Hart, Precious Achiuwa, and Isiah Hartenstein can’t be what we gave up Grimes and two picks for.
Once (if) we have Bojan and OG at the starting forward spots (with Precious backing up the 4 and 5), things will look up.
I’m actually fine with leaving Bojan on the bench so that he can play mostly bench units that are not as capable of exploiting his defensive shortcomings. At this point, Brunson is an offense onto himself, so they have handled those lineups without shooting generally ok. And once OG comes back the spacing will be fine.
The idea that OG, Mitch and Randle will be rusty or not 100% by the 2nd round of playoffs is silly. They need between 5 and 10 games playing for Thibs to be in shape and sharp.
Based on KPs track record there is at least a 30% chance that he gets hurt and misses a buch of playoff games. Without him, they loose rim protection, offensive spacing and more importantly, – they’re way too small for us. Mitch, iHart, Randle, Achiuwa and Hart will crush them on the boards and take their will. Avoiding them early, increases the odds of injury. If we can draw it up you want them to play Miami the series before not us. I want to avoind Miami becuase even when you win they’re bruise you so bad physically so that you cant win next series.
Keys to playoff success:
1) enter them in full health and playing best basketball of the season. Preferably winning 8 out last 10.
2) Avoid Miami completely.
3) Avoid Celtics till ECF.
I REALLY hope that is worst case scenario for his recovery at this stage because that would mean he’s going to get better and not need surgery at all. But..if that is the case, it makes me feel a smidge better. I had shoulder surgery on 1/30 where they anchored my bicep tendon to my labrum, removed scar tissue, and repaired my rotator cuff. By the time I had my stitches removed on 2/8, I was already lifting that arm in front of me maybe about 75% percent on the way to overhead. Probably me being stubborn and curious, but my doctor was happy about that while cautioning me to not to try anything else for a couple of weeks so that the anchor remains intact. I’m still not lifting anything more than 5-10 lbs with that arm on its own, but I have been doing medium resistance band work for a week. I’m 5’8″ 180 and prior to the surgery, I had been doing morning workouts with 25 or 30 lb dumbbells (depending on how I felt in the morning because I did it around 530am) 4 or 5 days a week. Before the actual “workout” I would also incorporate exercises and stretches I picked up from physical therapy from previous shoulder surgeries into my short stretch routine. That has been my weekly routine for about 2 years. Clearly I’m not Randle, and his injury is different- but one might think that a man his size and with his work ethic might be able tohave more range of motion by now. That being said- I can also see where the medical staff might be taking an extra careful approach given Randle’s importance. So..I hope I’m just overreacting to that Randle clip
I think that regardless of the opponents involved, getting to the ECFs vs. losing in the second round is a HUGE difference. In that sense, I think that avoiding the Celts until then would be equivalent to avoiding the LeBron Heat teams back in the day because these Celts are that good. So ideally we get the #2 or #3 seed. If we don’t, then I don’t really care all that much, so long as we avoid the play-in.
I understand having Bojan with the bench to give them offense but man that final few mins of the 2nd quarter at Philly with Brunson, DDV and Bojan out there together was awesome to watch.
Seeing all 3 together more often is tantalizing from an offensive standpoint.
I think you’re being wildly optimistic.
OG, sure. That surgery is not major and it’s not one where you’re expected to miss a ton of time. So once OG comes back, I think 5 to 10 games is reasonable for him to shake off the rust.
But Mitch had major surgery on his foot. And he’s coming back mid season. It’s not like Randle last off season where he has an off season when no games are being played to recover, a training camp and then early regular season games when teams are just starting to play together. He’s being dropped in late season right before the playoffs after missing 2 or 3 months.
And it’s being reported Randle will most likely need surgery, which means he’s putting it off right now, which means he’s not going to be 100 percent when he plays.
Hubs,
You’re right. It’s not really different per say to lose to the celtics in the 2nd round vs. ECF but we live in a world of perceptions, especially in sports and the perception of The Knicks making the conference finals, being one of the last 4 teams standing, first conference finals appearance since the year 2000…perceptions matter. It matters to fans, to the media, to players on other teams that maybe want to play for us, etc. I would say it even matters to the players as far as them feeling like they’re progressing forward towards the ultimate goal.
A lot of that might be bullshit but I think it still matters to some degree.
PJ, best of luck with your recovery, sounds like things are going well!
I think there’s some radical differences between your situation and Randle’s. Your injury was clearly more severe as you needed a tendon reattachment, whereas for Julius, if it was as severe as yours, he’d have had the surgery already and all of this would be moot. So he’s in that gray area, where it’s possible that a lay person might not need surgery or might, but as a professional athlete playing an overhead sport, he has to consider the impact on his profession. He’s risking losing out on a playoff opportunity, and as we know, NBA careers are short and there are no guarantees. In that context, he is getting continual state-of-the-art evaluation and care, and has nothing else to do but focus on the health of that shoulder. So the fact that they are even giving it a shot and that the reports have been “encouraging”, plus that he is a physical monster and probably has the infrastructure to tighten up that joint way beyond what a lay person could, leads me to believe that he will be back in a month or so, but probably with a heavily taped shoulder that will not be 100% until either has off-season surgery (more likely) or has several months of rehab to fully tighten things up to where a slight labrum tear can be shrugged off.
In short, I don’t think your situations have any predictive value in either direction.
Just aim for the optimum w-l record, taking into consideration your own players’ health, potential home court advantage but completely ignoring matchups. Sends the wrong message to the team, doesn’t factor in the health of the other teams which might change suddenly, nor the pressure “better” teams face, especially against our playing style when we are injury free enough to exert our physical game. No one is going to want to face us in the playoffs, not the other way around!
Jeezus……. It’s “per se.” It’s *never* been “per say,” and never will be. It’s a Latin phrase, not an English one.
We don’t need Randle & Mitch back to win regular season games, just a game shape iHart & OG.
For seeding, I’d rather play Boston in the ECF. It’s entirely possible that Mitch & Randle are still playing their way into shape during the playoffs. We don’t know their recovery timeline and their legs/lungs/whatever are going to be subpar when they first return. The more time we can give those 2 to recover prior to a matchup with the Celts, the better.
It’s funny, a couple weeks back me and Noble had a spirited debate about whether or not we could afford to start Precious or Hart, with each of us arguing that the other’s offensive ineptitude made him too much of a detriment playing next to a non-shooting center.
Now we actually have capable alternatives, and Thibs is starting Hart and Precious next to a non-shooting center!
Both of these guys have been critical innings eaters during the shorthanded times, keeping us competitive in games with outstanding effort. They’re great team players and this is no criticism of them. But playing them together with a center when it’s not necessary is foolishly worshipping at the altar of defense and rebounding, and it’s not working.
Yeah, I am pretty sure it doesn’t.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
LOL
You’re wrong, but that’s ok. You’ve been wrong before.
This is a legit reason to face Boston later. Randle and Mitch could be better the further we go. Games are more intense but there is more time off between games, so the longer we stay alive, the higher chance those dudes can contribute something.
what a wonderful way to start the week – with the pistons on the schedule tonight…
Evan revenge game
ha, thibs better watch himself on the sidelines when evian is out there…’ol evian might just give him a little shoulder block while running up and down the court…
Doesn’t it increase the odds of injury for us, too?
After all, we are actually the team that’s injury prone, not them.
Please tell me what lasting and tangible impact making the conference finals had on the 2022 Mavs & the 2021 Hawks.
This kind of thing that only matters to talking heads and internet trolls.
Please tell me what lasting and tangible impact making the conference finals had on the 2022 Mavs & the 2021 Hawks.
They went all in-kinda supports your premise.
I’m neither and it matters to me.
You’re wrong because you think since it doesn’t matter to you, it doesn’t matter. But that’s not true. It matters.
And your examples are dumb because you left out every team in the history of the NBA who made the conference finals one year and then built on that to eventually win the finals.
Getting to the conference finals mattered to all of those teams.
Is it an arbitrary acheivement? Yes. Does it still matter? Yup!
More playoff revenue, which means Dolan more likely to poney up in a luxury tax bill.
more games played in the playoffs, meaning more experience for the players and the team and more chances to see what they need to work on/fix for the next year.
The Knicks haven’t been past the second round since 2000. For a franchise that was a laughingstock not that long ago, these arbitrary benchmarks are still important even if they’re largely symbolic.
I mean, by your logic winning the Conference Finals doesn’t really matter either nor does making the finals.
You’re basically arguing for championship or bust.
I’m with Hubert that independent of any other considerations, there’s no reason to go out of your way to try to avoid the Celtics in the second round. I think getting the best record possible maximizes our chances in the playoffs in general. It’s not like we can take the first round for granted.
That said, this season there is the distinct possibility that we’ll have healthier players by the ECF than we will by the semis. So you could argue all other things being equal we should prefer putting off the toughest matchup.
But all other things aren’t equal here, trying to engineer specific matchups in the playoffs involves strategic losses that I don’t think we can afford. Any approach other than trying to maximize our seed just seems too cute by half for my tastes.
I’d much rather be favored in the first round than not. Obviously, we’ll have to beat the Celtics at some point if we want to make the finals anyway.
You’re putting words in my mouth.
I think winning in the first round of the playoffs is pretty big.
I think making the finals is huge.
In between those two mile markers, though, I think it’s all the same if you’re one of the three second round teams that didn’t make it to the finals.
The idea, then, that we should tank so we can be the 2023 Lakers instead of the 2023 Warriors sounds pretty silly to me.
I find that deterring bad faith internet & Stephen A. Smith trolls had its own value
The 3rd and even the 2nd seed are easily within reach thanks to Doc and an injury-prone Cavs team. I’m not thinking about the sixth seed just yet.
If anything the Boston game showed that even arguably the best backcourt in the league can’t stop Brunson. He was sharing the floor with one shooter (DDV) for a lot of his time and still they couldn’t stop him. He’s incredible.
Give me a healthy roster, and I think they have a real chance.
On a separate note, this Roommates show with Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, and Mikal Bridges is very entertaining.
If you recall last year the Infatuation posted Jalen Brunson’s favorite restaurants in NY and some of us (or maybe just me) teased him for his bad taste. That came up recently when Josh Hart was giving him shit for choosing to go to Scarpetta for dinner.
10/10 would recommend*.
* Roommates, not Scarpetta. Seriously, Jalen, stop letting NYC nightlife promoters choose your restaurants for you.
An interesting question while we await various medical updates is what our rotation should look like if Randle can’t play through the injury.
This invites jinxes, but it seems like OG should be 100% by the playoffs, while Mitch seems like better than 50/50 to be able to give us something. With Randle though, both common sense and the tea leaves have me way less confident and we know from experience we’re probably better off with no Randle than seriously hobbled Randle (to be clear, I am a strong believer that healthy Randle is, by far, the best option of the three).
I’m somewhat partial to starting Bogey in Randle’s stead. The starting lineup is a little low on shot creation if it’s Hart or Precious, and we can always put those guys in quickly if Bogey’s defense is a problem.
The bench unit’s offense would be pretty iffy, but in the playoffs I’d much rather try to survive 10 bench minutes than trot out a suboptimal starting lineup. Deuce/Burks/Hart/Precious/Mitch (?) might be able to be stout enough defensively and offensively rebound enough misses to make those 10 minutes survivable.
This scenario lowers both our floor and our ceiling of course, but I think that team could still win a round if everyone but Randle is close to 100%.
Playing an extra playoff round is important because it gives E a few more games to draw broad and concrete conclusions about moxie, shrinkge, and other je ne say quoi.
Man, only if we had a wing that could play good defense and still be a threat from 3 that we could start until Randle gets back. Maybe one that capably started 66 games for us last year.
Good thing we brought in Bojan and Burks to not even be trusted enough to start over Precious or Hart when we clearly need shooting in the starting lineup.
As for seeding questions, avoiding Boston in the first round should absolutely be a priority. Unfortunately, if we don’t right the ship soon we won’t have the luxury to do anything but grind to avoid the play-in so it is probably a moot point. We will end up where we end up. But I think avoiding the 4-5 would be preferable.
Thibs would never let us throw a game anyway, it’s all academic
It proved Cam Reddish was a playoff ruff rydah?
I don’t really care who we play in the playoffs in any round (assuming we avoid the play-in). I’d just like to see us get healthy and everyone playing close to their best even if Randle can’t be quite as physical over shoulder concerns. If we go far, that’s great. If we get KO’d in the first round against a tough team, so be it. I just want to get a good line on where we stack up now and what’s missing (besides a backup PG).
Then depending on how successful we are and how players look, we’ll have a good line on what we need to do in the off season. It’s going to be harder to tell if a couple of players are missing or well below their best form.
Maybe Bojan will still be around until the trade deadline and it’s possible Burks comes back cheap just to stay on a winner with Thibs, but I think it’s also possible both are gone to start the season.
DDV will get a good chance to show whether this year represents a permanent improvement or one off peak regular season. That’s important because if it’s sustainable he can be viewed as a starter long term and maybe we’ll look to upgrade C and if not then SG is the position to upgrade.
We still have questions to answer besides backup PG. I’d like to get all the answers now, fix any holes in the off season (or at worst the next trade deadline) and then really GO FOR IT next year even if this year ends prematurely.
Ben R, you’ve convinced me with your bearish case for the Grimes trade. It’s not because B&B are bad defensively, for me the key is that even as shorthanded as we are, Bojan hardly gets minutes and doesn’t start. It’s clear QG would be helping us right now more than B&B were, and if it’s at all close in terms of present value, it’s a loser, because the future value all points towards QG.
Sigh.
I remain bemused by the Quentin Grimes fetishism that goes on around here.
You can fool a lot of people I guess if all you do is stand in the corner and wait for somebody to pass you the ball, only shooting it if there’s nobody within a mile of you, then not even being particularly good at that.
We coulda been something if only we had Quentin Grimes!
i feel like we’ve gone back to not even looking at a player’s stats anymore…
and a sample size of one eye test tells all…
Feelings, nothing more than feelings
Trying to forget my feelings…
JK47, it’s not that the guys we got aren’t better players than Grimes, it’s that it doesn’t matter because Thibs won’t trust them enough to show it, and the things he does trust them for don’t make sense.
Burks is trusted to run backup PG, but he sucks ass at it. Bojan is a good enough scorer to start and give Brunson some spacing, but that doesn’t seem to be on the table, and getting Fournier’d seems like a more likely outcome.
Grimes would have been better spent on getting us a competent backup PG, and Bojan wasn’t worth bringing in. If he only plays 19mpg even with our entire starting front line injured, he’ll be the new Fournier when they’re back. We turned a dime into what for us is turning out to be a nickel, regardless of whether it’d be a quarter for another team.
IHart showed up with a Big Ragu hoodie. You have to love this team.
You’re assuming that Quentin Grimes had a bunch of value. That’s a pretty big assumption.
Who was this competent backup PG that we were supposed to acquire for Quentin Grimes? Seems like the Knicks shopped Grimes around pretty hard and the offers were not all that great.
Grimes has scored 5 points since we traded him
We didn’t even need to move Grimes, simply use Fournier’s salary and we could have gotten Monte Morris for a couple 2nds (he was traded for a 2030 2nd), Dinwiddie for cash or a 2nd (he was released), and maybe even Tyus Jones for a couple 2nds or a protected 1st (he wasn’t traded but was supposedly shopped).
We are not overrating Grimes. He was a very good player last year and after struggling for the first two months of this season was playing better in January.
Even if Bojan or Burks are as good or better, they are not in my opinion, it doesn’t matter because Thibs is willing to start Grimes and seemingly unwilling to start them. If we want a fourth or fifth option who plays defense and cannot be abandoned at the 3 point line Grimes is better than anyone on this team outside of Brunson, DDV, OG, and Randle.
If the Knicks could get two 2nd round picks for Obi Toppin, they could get a minimum of that much for Grimes. The rest of the league is not focused on what he did in a handful of games where he was basically frozen out of the offense completely by our 3 musketeers of usage. They know what Grimes is capable of. He’s a young lower usage 3&D rotation player with some upside.
So basically, at a minimum we gave up four 2nd round picks for two old guys.
Bojan is a bad defender. He will get targeted in the playoffs.
Burks looks like his days of doing anything other than spot up 3s on offense are close to over and his best days as a defender may also be behind him.
It’s not about Grimes.
We had months of whining over rolling out 1st round picks that at worst lost a couple of pennies on the dollar to gain better long term trade positioning, but people are being very accepting of this trade as a good deal when at imo it deserves a lot more scrutiny by “long term” thinkers.
To be clear, I don’t totally hate the deal. Maybe there are teams out there that will actually value and want Bojan next year for more than just salary filler. I just would not have done this deal.
Um, yeah, two second round picks aren’t gonna be super useful to us given that we’re pretty clearly at the “win now” part of the curve. This whole line of argument does not make a lot of sense to me.
It was pretty clear that the Knicks were shopping Quentin Grimes. I’m not aware of them turning down a better package than what they got. It seems what is going on here is that some KBers have a bad case of the endowment effect with Quentin Grimes, which was thankfully not the case with Leon Rose. We had a relatively similar player to Quentin Grimes named Miles McBride who we just extended on a very cheap contract to play the not-very-pivotal “low usage bench guard” role.
The “long term thinking” part of developing the roster is over. We should be looking to win as much as possible this year, and next year. It is clear that if we get healthy, we can do some serious damage. At full strength we are an actual contender. Grimes was redundant with the other bench pieces we have at full strength. The bench was far too defense-oriented. We swapped out one of our many low-usage defense-oriented players for a guy who can actually create some of his own offense (Bojan) and another guy who can still shoot the 3 quite well and get his own shot off in Alec Burks. Burks has not looked great so far, but Bogdanovic’s shooting would probably come in handy if we could ever get back to somewhere near full strength.
We may not get back to full strength this year. Hell, we *probably* won’t. It was still worth upgrading the bench, because even at full strength our bench before the trade COULD NOT SCORE. Like, not even a little bit. It was Miles McBride, Josh Hart, Quentin Grimes, and Precious Achiuwa. That bench unit ain’t scoring shit on anybody.
Bojan Bogdanovic can throw the ball into the basket. That matters. Our rotation is a mess right now because everybody is hurt, but the players we have make perfect sense if we ever get through the injuries. Again– that might not happen!
But I’m willing to pay the opportunity cost of Quentin Grimes’ upside. Not seeing Quentin Grimes’ upside is something I’m willing to live with. I don’t personally believe there is very much there.