Knicks Morning News (2024.02.28)

Not sure if it came up yesterday, but Shams provided this update:

“I’m told [Julius Randle’s] rehab is going well, his goal is still to play this season…[Mitchell Robinson] has got to keep hitting check marks, we know he’s been dealing with foot issues over the course of his career…OG Anunoby, the hope is over the next 2-3 weeks he’s going to be back on the floor.”

Video here: https://twitter.com/RunItBackFDTV/status/1762498479568687585?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

2-3 more weeks without OG, much less the other guys… yeesh. This is not fun right now. And nothing to be done.

Damn, I thought OG was coming back in like 2-3 days.

one of the beat writers had suggested to me that OG was going to “take his sweet time” to ensure he came back at full strength. Which makes sense. But this really, really sucks right now.

Yeah, it’s probably a wise decision by his handlers to keep him out. If he comes back to this shorthanded mess he’ll be playing 40+ minutes/night for the next 3 months heading into free agency. That’s a lot of risk.

The good news, again, is that it sounds like OG will be at full strength pretty much as soon as he’s back on the court. But to be out of our original starting frontcourt for such a long stretch is brutal. Even though guys like the Hart Foundation have stepped up, we’re severely undermanned, and are largely getting by on the offensive genius of Brunson and, to a lesser extent, DDV. When I brought up Macri’s fear about slipping into the play-in yesterday, most of you dismissed it. I still think it’s a possibility, just because the remaining guys are going to get more and more ground down.

The lack of a real backup point guard is a definite failure on the FO’s part. At minimum, we need to get Bogey more minutes just to help lighten the load on, well, everyone. And if Albert Borg could get his head out of his rear, that would be nice, too.

I was supportive of the Pistons trade, but man, Phallic Jerks has been brutal. Feels like he’s made 2 shots total since coming back to the Knicks.

The ultimate cause of the backup PG problem is the overpayment for OG. The resulting roster holes should have been planned for much better.

In terms of the play-in/seeding, everything this organization does from this point forward should be focused on going into the playoffs at whatever seed at full health. Whatever goal is #2 behind that is a very distant #2.

Hubert’s point about OG and his minutes and handlers is an interesting one and should serve as a reminder that there’s no guarantee OG will come back here. It’s clearly highly likely, but it’s still no guarantee. He walks, and the trade for him was a disaster for the ages.

Assuming full health, Bogie is still heading toward playoff DNP-CDs. Come playoff time, Thibs is riding the Josh Hart/Precious hustlebunny train. (With likely some Jericho Sims (lol) thrown in.)

When I brought up Macri’s fear about slipping into the play-in yesterday, most of you dismissed it.

I wasn’t prepared to accept it.

After hearing the OG news and after realizing Thibs is so hard headed he will play Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims more than one of the best scorers in the NBA, it’s beginning to feel like a distinct possibility.

My guess would be that in meetings about the post-OG trade roster, Thibs was hawking the idea that there wasn’t really a problem with the backup point guard hole because Alfred E. Neuman was going to be readily available.

If I was writing the screenplay, that would certainly be how I’d play that scene. It’s certainly true to the original.

Hubert’s point about OG and his minutes and handlers is an interesting one and should serve as a reminder that there’s no guarantee OG will come back here.

Don’t misconstrue that, please. It’s their job, though, to reduce his risk between now & the time he signs his contract. I was not implying that they want him to go somewhere a little more cushy.

This whole “Thibs wanted Alec Burks” narrative is hampered by the fact that Thibs doesn’t actually play him that much.

I think it’s quite possible Thibs didn’t want either of these guys. They were 6th & 7th on the team in minutes played last night while he fielded one of the most offensively-challenged starting lineups the NBA has ever seen.

Yeah, but “We don’t have any issue at backup point, don’t worry, we have Deuce” is a blunder, too.(*)

There’s a solid chance Dejounte was penciled in to fill the roster hole left over, and the FO (or ATL) got cold feet, for whatever reason. That planning would have made perfect sense.

(*) Immanuel Quickley is the virtual central casting version of the Vinnie Johnson, high 20s/low 30s minutes swing guard that can play point or 2 with a bunch of different other guard types. That’s how they should have seen and used him, but of course they didn’t. The dropoff from that to Deuce/Neuman is Grand Canyon-esque.

Down Mitch, Randle, OG, Brunson, Hartenstein we are still losing that game if we have a mediocre backup PG. It sucks but we don’t have enough guys healthy.

From Macri this morning:

‘We’re still waiting for Alec Burks to get off the plane from Detroit. He was 1-of-7 in 16 minutes. Worse yet, you can feel his poor play taking a toll on their larger efforts. I trust he’ll be fine before too long, but right now, Burks is killing this team.’

Only inaccuracy is he spelled the guy’s name wrong.

Only inaccuracy is he spelled the guy’s name wrong.

Yeah, it’s Albert Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

On the plus side we’ll have a higher draft pick to trade away for highly protected first rounders in 2027 and 2028

The Heat seem to be rising. When the hell did they get Delon Wright? Rozier looked good after missing two weeks. That team’s probably going to finish 4th despite missing Butler for 1/3 of the season and having as many injuries as anyone.

Forgive me for feeling despondent today but it feels like they ate our soul when we beat them on Jan 27th.

I did a deep dive into schedules and not only is Macri right but we will probably be in the play-in spots within 2 weeks.

Another interesting piece, in the Athletic, about Donte and how he’s become such a hot shooter. Also mentions Steph Curry’s impression of the Knicks last off-season — interesting as we often are only guessing what people around the league are thinking about the Knicks.

https://theathletic.com/5303561/2024/02/28/donte-divincenzo-stephen-curry-3-pointers/

These losses suck, but they just need OG and Brunson to feast at the end of the season. I’m not worried about them losing HCA in the first round.

The way we’re unfaithfully reporting injuries is impacting me more than the losses.

Today’s OG news came from left field. This guy went from day-to-day to three weeks after surgery and now we’re looking at almost two months off.

I feel certain Hartenstein is much worse than they’re letting on and at some point he’s going to have to do what’s best for himself with free agency coming up.

And of course the mystery surrounding Randle has always been maddening.

We’re 2 games up on the play-in. We could be there by the end of the week.

What’s today’s OG news? Does someone have a link?

Only inaccuracy is he spelled the guy’s name wrong.

I can’t even fathom who he meant

I am very worried about the injuries, but this version of the team tells us nothing about the trades or the team’s chances when fully healthy. I get that we need stuff to talk about, but it’s wildly premature to say we have a “backup PG problem” or any other kind of problem until we see the actual team in action. My biggest concern is it’s starting to feel like that day will never come.

Honestly, I would say there have been ever so slightly more positive signs than negative ones of late. DDV isn’t slowing down, Hart is perking up, Bogey is settling into his familiar 20+ PTS/36, 60% TS, and Precious is showing he’s…something. That all bodes well for us if we get healthy.

But none of it means anything if we’re not at least mostly healthy by the playoffs. If I looked at this roster without OG, Randle, and Mitch before the season I probably would’ve predicted something like 40 wins.

I take solace in the fact that Yankees opening day is a month away.

It’s in the first comment of the day, Knick Fan.

When everyone was healthy, we discussed how they could use a backup point guard. It’s just more glaring now.

Knicks plan is brilliant! Drop down to 7th-8th and win the 1st play in game so they play Cleveland in the 1st rd.

I am very worried about the injuries, but this version of the team tells us nothing about the trades or the team’s chances when fully healthy. I get that we need stuff to talk about, but it’s wildly premature to say we have a “backup PG problem” or any other kind of problem until we see the actual team in action.

I agree but it does tell us about other things. Like Thibs’ handling of Bojan right now is foreboding. As is the fact that we’re looking at this version of the team to begin with.

And also the longer we look at this version of the team, the less likely it seems that we will ever look at the fully healthy version again this season.

And when you combine the rate Thibs is burning his players with the way the team is reporting on injuries, it’s probably more likely one of these starters is going to get injured before one of the injured starters comes back.

The way we’re unfaithfully reporting injuries is impacting me more than the losses.

Today’s OG news came from left field. This guy went from day-to-day to three weeks after surgery and now we’re looking at almost two months off.

It would be very interesting to see what their physical on OG showed. Either they traded for damaged goods, or his elbow done broke as a Knick — very likely because of the high number of minutes.

It’s probably the former, which means they paid luxury high Hermes retail for a dude that was likely to have to go under the knife soon (*) and miss six weeks.

If the physical showed an elbow problem that was the type that would be worsened by overuse, then Thibs’s routine 40 minute plus playing of him in the wake of the trade is coaching malpractice.

(*) And was unsigned beyond this year.

Damn, I thought OG was coming back in like 2-3 days.

I told you guys last week that expectations were way too optimistic on the timing of the return of Randle and OG. Once OG is cleared to start practicing he’s still going to have to go through a series of steps in practice and to get his conditioning back and get cleared to play.

If Burks went 4-7 we are still losing. We had him out there guarding Zion Williamson at one point. We have a glaring need for a backup PG but it also doesn’t matter at all, because 4 of our 5 starters and our best bench player were all out. There’s no moves you make to win games when that happens. There’s no magic rotation that’s going to win us games until people start getting healthy.

Hubie, I’m mostly in agreement with your position above, except your regularly stated concern about Thib’s use of Bogey. I actually do think he should have gotten a bit more burn yesterday as we just lacked firepower, but he played 29+ minutes, which is significant. Not sure how much more an older dad can play in a professional basketball game.

I’ll also just note that Burkenstock was only given 16:20 of floor time, which was 16 minutes more than earned, but it does show that Thibs recognizes that he sucks at the moment.

When everyone was healthy, we discussed how they could use a backup point guard. It’s just more glaring now.

When we get healthy again, the lack of a backup PG will be a little less glaring because either Brunson or Randle will often play with the second unit. They will create and make some plays for others (like Bojan or Burks). But that strategy was just to deal with the fact that we had no backup PG. It wasn’t the solution. The solution was to get a backup PG. Even if it wasn’t the ideal like Brogdan, you get someone that can actually play the position competently for the remaining games. Then you solve the problem long term in the off season. Instead they got two old guys that do their best work playing off kickouts and penetration, not creating for themselves. smh And of course the defense took a hit on top of it.

I don’t like how Thibs is managing Bojan’s playing time (not total minutes, I’m more upset about “when” he uses him), I don’t like the way he always burns players to the ground (OG’s minutes before the injury were absurd), I don’t like that they weren’t able to buy a backup-PG at the deadline*.

But let’s play a little game…

Let’s take away Holiday (JB), White (OG), Tatum or Brown (Julius), Porzingis (Mitch) and Horford (I-Hart), and let them play against a full strenght Knicks roster.

Or we can sit Dame (JB), Middleton (OG), Giannis (Julius), Lopez (Mitch) and Portis (I-Hart) and see how many games the Bucks will win.

You can do it with every single team in this fucking league and the results will always be the same: those teams will lose a lot of games instead of being contenders.

We can criticize the FO all day long, but the truth is that we’re losing games because we’re missing our whole frontcourt and our best player.

No team in the NBA could overcome the loss of 4/5 of their starters (including 2 All-Stars) plus their backup center, no matter how good their bench is**.

If injuries derail our season so be it, but please stop being a bunch of wanking whiners… 😀

* and more than anything I despise trading for Burks.

** The Sixers can’t do it missing “only” Embiid!

OG averaged 35 minuts a game in his 14 game Knicks career. He played more than 40 minutes 3 times. You don’t get a bone spur in your elbow from playing too many mintues 3 times.

You don’t get a bone spur in your elbow from playing too many mintues 3 times.

Which means they paid luxury retail for a guy with a bone spur in his shooting elbow. (*)

Or, possibly worse, the physical didn’t reveal the bone spur.

(*) And then played him a bunch of minutes. Hubert did the numbers in that five game stretch or whatever it was.

I feel you, Raven, it’s just not very in character of Thibs to be thinking “I ought to preserve this guy instead of giving him too many minutes” or “I should ease this veteran into the lineup slowly.”

On the other hand, it is very in character for Thibs to hate a player who can’t rebound or defend.

Today’s OG news came from left field. This guy went from day-to-day to three weeks after surgery and now we’re looking at almost two months off.

There is a difference between he’ll be back in 3 weeks and “he’ll be evaluated in three weeks”. That’s exactly the point I was trying to make last week. They were saying he’d be evaluated in 3 weeks. The “evaluation” is the start of the more serious work to come back assuming the evaluation goes well. How long this next period is depends on the extent of the injury, conditioning loss and how the player responds.

OG averaged 35 minuts a game in his 14 game Knicks career. He played more than 40 minutes 3 times. You don’t get a bone spur in your elbow from playing too many mintues 3 times.

Probably but he had a string of games where he was definitively overused…

Or, possibly worse, the physical didn’t reveal the bone spur.

Same suspect here…

Or:
You don’t give Thibs a player with a bone spur in his elbow 😉

I have no idea what the Knicks did or didn’t know when trading for OG, but even if the options were:

1) trade for him, knowing he would have to miss six weeks

2) don’t trade for him at all

I’d take option 1 without having to think about it at all, because we seemed to be an excellent team with OG Anunoby.

You don’t get a bone spur in your elbow from playing too many mintues 3 times.

Yes, you can.

You can even get a bone spur from playing too many minutes one time.

I have no idea what the Knicks did or didn’t know when trading for OG, but even if the options were:

1) trade for him, knowing he would have to miss six weeks

2) don’t trade for him at all

(3) don’t pay luxury above-market retail.

Good player, shitty process. (And please don’t bring up a bunch of press stories about how much demand there was for him; the press had Quentin Grimes as an “untouchable” as recently as the Zach LaVine rumors last spring. 99.9% of that stuff is people talking their book.)

You don’t get a bone spur in your elbow from playing too many mintues 3 times.

No.

But you might go from playing with pain management, to this has become so irritated I need a few games off, to it’s not responding quickly enough so we might as well take care of this now so I can return this season.

My guess is that he was playing will mild pain all along (just like JHart is playing with mild knee issues and IHart has been playing with an Achilles issue that Thibs is trying his hardest to turn into another debacle).

That’s what load management is all about. A lot of these guys are banged up playing through minor things. They get days off and get their minutes managed so these minor injuries don’t turn into something more serious that requires a lot of time off and they are fresh for the playoffs. Only Thibs plays every game like it’s game 7.

Hate to add to the bad injury news, but there is also cause for concern about JB. Spasms coming from the cervical spine could indicate the start of an issue there, which can lead to a bulging or herniated disc. The consequences of those are compression on the nerve endings, which can impact feel and function in his arms or legs depending on where the compression is. In taking the offensive charges, he constantly suffers a whiplash effect. I would assume that MRIs have been taken which would reveal a bulge or herniation. ( n.b. I defer to the good doctor in Boston for a more knowledgeable take). It would be in JB’s best interest to stop taking these charges, but that’s unlikely to happen.

Technically, it sounds like it isn’t a spur but instead a bone fragment like a loose chip — but I’m going only on press reports.

This is what Thibs said in the wake of the surgery news:

“We tried to approach it with rest first, and then you trust the medical [staff], you trust him, and this was the best course of action,” Tom Thibodeau said before Thursday’s game against the Mavericks.

Where was the “rest”?

That’s what load management is all about.

Load management assumes as a literal embedded premise that the management might result in an L in a game that would have been a W without the management. Which is likely why Thibs will never buy in.

Hate to add to the bad injury news, but there is also cause for concern about JB. Spasms coming from the cervical spine could indicate the start of an issue there, which can lead to a bulging or herniated disc.

Concur. It doesn’t sound like the spasms are muscular at all, but instead originate from the spine. The range of news quality could easily rise up to “terrible.”

IMO they traded for OG knowing full well he had a bone spur that he was able to play through and figured they could manage it through the season and address it in the off season if need be. Thibs overused him and it flared up worse than hoped for. They chose to address it now because it wasn’t responding to treatment quickly enough.

Well, we don’t have to guess. Thibs told us on Feb 8:

Thibodeau wasn’t sure if Anunoby was already dealing with the injury when he arrived.

“It’s hard to say, like, when it exactly happened because it was the inflammation first. These things are not uncommon,” Thibodeau said. “When you play in 50 games, most players are nicked up with something this time of year. So it was inflammation and we thought we could get through it and unfortunately that didn’t happen. So then you gather the information, you consult the experts and then you make a decision.”

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nba/og-anunoby-has-elbow-surgery-knicks-say-the-forward-will-miss-at-least-3-weeks/

So we knew we had a player with inflammation, but not necessarily bone spurs. And then coach played him 44 mins/night three times in four days anyway bc “most players are nicked up this time of year.”

Where was the “rest”?

Just a hunch, E, but possibly the 5 games he sat out before he had surgery?

He was out for like 10 days before he had surgery. OG played heavy minutes for the Knicks 3 or 4 times. I mean I guess you ideally don’t ever want guys to have to play 38 minutes or whatever but can we please try to be somewhat realistic about what we’re whining about. Last year he played 39+ minutes 15 times for modern NBA coach Nick Nurse. The year before that he did it 12 times, including playing a legitimately insane 55 minutes in one game. Oft injured Jimmy Butler played 52 minutes in that game for the best coach in the league.

If it were just OG, DRed, I’d be sympathetic.

When it’s nearly the whole team, and this is the third team he’s done this to, and when Jalen god damn Brunson is now injured, we have to question the sustainability of his methods.

Thibodeau wasn’t sure if Anunoby was already dealing with the injury when he arrived.

If true — it probably isn’t — that’s really not how all this is supposed to work.

Just a hunch, E, but possibly the 5 games he sat out before he had surgery?

Forgot. Fair.

But that said, Thibs’s problem is his binary conception of the term “rest.” With him, either you’re all in or you’re all out — again, not how this whole thing is supposed to work.

Last year he played 39+ minutes 15 times for modern NBA coach Nick Nurse.

Not with known elbow inflammation.

The Wolves didn’t have injury problems, they had a Jimmy Butler didn’t get paid problem (which was Thibs fault, but it’s a different issue). It’s the NBA, guys play too much and they get hurt sometimes. There are no coaches in the NBA who won’t play a guy too many minutes for 3 games. Jokic has played 38 minutes + 11 times this year, including playing 42 minutes in a blowout loss to the Rockets. Kevin Durant, who is 35 and has injury problems is averaging 37 minutes a game and has played 40+ minutes more than Jalen Brunson.

I wonder if all the posters on Grizzlyblogger are blaming the coach for having half the team injured?

My guess is probably not

Not with known elbow inflammation.

He missed 15 games last year. He played 48 the year before that.

He’s played three guys full bore with known injuries:

OG Anunoby
Isaiah Hartenstein
Mitchell Robinson.

There’s a very good chance that within the next two months, Jalen Brunson himself is going to be added to this list. It’s indefensible.

None of those stats have much meaning here, DRed. It’s fine to average high minutes. You just have to balance it with rest.

Kevin Durant takes 1/3 of the season off. So does Jimmy Butler.

OG played 39+ minutes 15 times in a season, presumably between days he played much less. It’s when you do it three times in four days that it becomes a problem.

You can even get a bone spur from playing too many minutes one time.

OMG, give it a break, dude. You cannot get bone spurs from playing 42 minutes in one NBA game.

Like do you even look at the minutes logs for other teams to see how many minutes they play their starters and all-stars?

So any game, no matter how close, once our starters hit 36 minutes, we should just wave the white fucking flag and put in our 3rd string.

This is a ridiculous statement.

I’m all for reasonable load management but OG didn’t get a bone spur because he played 40 minutes of basketball 3 times in 14 games. This is a fucking ridiculous statement.

OG took 11 shots a game and barely dribbles the ball, your elbows aren’t being ground to dust in basketball. This isn’t like iHart running on a bad Achilles tendon.

The NBA should let teams get into the playoffs based on games they would have won if their starters played 40 minutes a game. That way, we can just not have the regular season and they can hand pick all of the playoff teams in advance based on their fantasy numbers.

Guys, it’s not a bone spur — it’s a loose bone fragment. Loose bodies break away from the elbow joint through overuse of the joint.

It was inflamed when he got here, most likely because the process of the body breaking away was already revealing itself. Then it broke.

Do you guys think every player in the NBA is 100% healthy most games? Every single coach in the league plays guys with known injuries full bore. Do you think Ant was 100% after rolling his ankle last night and going to the locker room? Did anyone see the Knicks game last night where one of the Pelicans best players hurt his ankle, limped around for a bit and then kept playing?

By the way, the Knicks are 6-7 since Randle and OG went down and some of those losses were games without Brunson and iHart. For all the hand wringing here, we’re treading water just fine.

Kevin Durant takes 1/3 of the season off. So does Jimmy Butler.

Both of these players are 8 or 9 years older than OG and have played infinitely more NBA basketball than OG has.

OMG, give it a break, dude. You cannot get bone spurs from playing 42 minutes in one NBA game.

You can.

Both of these players are 8 or 9 years older than OG and have played infinitely more NBA basketball than OG has.

Yeah so whatever they do probably has nothing to do with what’s happening here.

You can.

Since you’re a doctor, I should just believe your statement, right? You have no idea what you’re talking about.

Thanks Alan, I missed that.

Kevin Durant has missed big chunks of the last few years with hamstring problems and has sprained both his knees. He’s not resting, he’s out hurt.

Also, Jimmy Butler and Kevin Durant didn’t “take games off” this season. They had fucking injuries.

Are Randle and OG “taking the games off” right now?

Nah, DRed. It’s because their coaches are geniuses who are preserving them for the playoffs and Thibs is a monster.

Did anyone see the Knicks game last night where one of the Pelicans best players hurt his ankle, limped around for a bit and then kept playing?

How much you want to bet Brandon Ingram doesn’t play 45 mins in Indiana tonight?

The funny thing about all this is Thibs and Rose did exactly what Hubs has been asking for last night. Brunson didn’t play. IHart didn’t play. IHart been on minutes restrictions when he has played.

Hubs wants it both ways. He wants us to win but also wants us to rest players. We did that last night and we lost (to a good team by the way) and now he’s upset today at Thibs again even though he’s doing what he wants him to do.

I enjoyed the Athletic article on Devo. One thing I noticed was that having a decent team here mattered to his decision to come here. That is something that was discussed a lot in this blog in the context of Rose’s strategy of incremental team building. Not every one here believed this would be a good feature of the incremental approach.

Kevin Durant has missed big chunks of the last few years with hamstring problems and has sprained both his knees. He’s not resting, he’s out hurt.

THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT!

When players have “problems”, you let them miss time.

You don’t just say “most players are nicked up anyway” and send them out for 45 fucking minutes when you know they have a problem.

So it was inflammation and we thought we could get through it

If Thibs thought OG’s usage pattern was really and truly a way to “get through” the inflammation problem, he’s legit insane.

(Punch line: He didn’t really think that, he just doesn’t give a shit about managing an injury. If you can play, you can play 45 minutes and if it blows, it blows. Everyone’s nicked up anyway. Next man up.)

The funny thing about all this is Thibs and Rose did exactly what Hubs has been asking for last night. Brunson didn’t play. IHart didn’t play. IHart been on minutes restrictions when he has played.

Hubs wants it both ways. He wants us to win but also wants us to rest players. We did that last night and we lost (to a good team by the way) and now he’s upset today at Thibs again even though he’s doing what he wants him to do.

I actually praised the knicks yesterday for making “a wise decision” and “protecting their assets.”

I also praised the Knicks for taking the L against Orlando before the all star break after Thibs broke iHart and Donte night before.

MJ during the Bulls 2nd three peat played all 82 games all 3 seasons plus obviously all the extra playoff games. Did it while playing 38 mins per game in his mid 30’s.

I’m gonna start blaming Stanton’s injury problems on Thibs too.

I don’t understand why this team when faced with mounting injuries hasn’t tried getting more help with ten-day contracts and free agency.

Players available at some point since the trade deadline:

Spencer Dinwiddie
Delon Wright
Darius Bazley
Bismack Biyombo
Justin Champagnie
Kyle Lowry
Thaddeus Young
Danilo Gallinari – (OAKAAK)

Players still available right now:

Furkan Krokmaz
Justice Winslow
Stanley Johnson
Ish Smith
Nerlens Noel – (OAKAAK)
Aleksej Pokusevski
Harry Giles
Killian Hayes
Daniel House Jr – (OAKAAK)
Cory Joseph
James Bouknight
Robin Lopez – (OAKAAK)
Frank Ntilikina – (OAKAAK)
Hamidou Diallo
Austin Rivers – (OAKAAK)
Juan Toscano-Anderson
Jeremy Lamb
Maurice Harkless – (OAKAAK)
Josh Christopher

There are probably more good ones I missed. But instead of bringing a couple of those players in we signed Taj Gibson, converted Toppin out of a two-way, and resigned Jeffries. It’s managerial malpractice at this point. We played a 7 man rotation last night. There were three players, two on standard non-two-way contracts available last night that did not play until garbage time and we still have an empty roster spot. We have plenty of roster space to bring in some temporary help and it seems we are not even really looking. Brown Jr is 27 and Jeffries is 26 they are not developmental pieces. If they can’t get playing time when we are missing 5 of our top 7 players they have zero use. We need to sign two or three players that can play 15 minutes in an NBA game without shitting the bed, there are plenty of players available that can do that and we have the roster space and yet we don’t. It is inexcusable at this point.

Poku signed with the Hornets, Ben. But agreed overall that the bottom of the roster has been a real blindspot for this FO. It would be one thing if we were devoting it to actual prospects in some way, or if we were devoting it to low-upside guys who could nevertheless play in case of an injury emergency like this. Both Brown Jr and Jeffries are neither fish nor fowl, and appear to have only been converted to regular contracts because it was mandatory, and because the team is trying to avoid tax/apron issues until it’s absolutely necessary.

Cal Ripken is rolling his eyes when he reads about the NBA and load management.

THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT!

When players have “problems”, you let them miss time.

Kevin Durant didn’t have “problems”, he partially tore his knee ligaments and had to miss games to recover from an injury that prevented him from playing, which is what Mitchell Robinson, OG Anunoby and Julius Randle are doing.

I like how we have to relitigate whether teams rest guys who aren’t injured when the league literally just put in place a policy to try to prevent that from happening.

Zest on, Knickerblogger!

And of course the problem with Thibs isn’t that he doesn’t do load management — it’s that he doesn’t even do load management with guys who are affirmatively injured.

MJ during the Bulls 2nd three peat played all 82 games all 3 seasons plus obviously all the extra playoff games. Did it while playing 38 mins per game in his mid 30’s.

And let’s not forget Tyrese Maxey once played 42 minutes in a win over the Cavaliers.

I missed the Poku signing. Noted.

Our bottom of the roster management has been atrocious the entire time Leon has been here but until now it hasn’t really mattered. But it is absolutely losing us games. Maybe not last night but I have to think there were a couple games since these injuries started mounting that we could have won. Plus maybe there were times we would have pushed Brunson or IHart a little less hard if we had more depth and they would be healthier right now.

We literally rested two guys for injury management last night lol

No idea why a thread devoted to our injury woes is focussed on OG. He is the only one who will be back for the playoffs, likely as good as new. If Julius comes back, re-injury very possible. If Mitch comes back, what does the new metal in his body do to his game? iHart may be hobbled with or without loads of rest. JB will continue to get targeted and have to play big minutes down the stretch, even with the odd missed game or two. No matter what we do there is no path to avoiding the play-in without risks that it backfires. Whether it is team construction, Thib’s rotations, poor medical staff–it is what it is. And very frustrating, particularly if we can’t get an accurate read on what we have going into the off-season.

Or both were too injured to play, either one.

OG didn’t get a bone spur because he played 40 minutes of basketball 3 times in 14 games. This is a fucking ridiculous statement.

It was actually 44 minutes of basketball, and it was 3 times in 4 days.

Oh, and it was when the coach knew he had inflammation in his elbow.

If you can continue to deny the recklessness of that, you are special.

Players still available right now:

Furkan Krokmaz
Justice Winslow
Stanley Johnson
Ish Smith
Nerlens Noel – (OAKAAK)
Aleksej Pokusevski
Harry Giles
Killian Hayes
Daniel House Jr – (OAKAAK)
Cory Joseph
James Bouknight
Robin Lopez – (OAKAAK)
Frank Ntilikina – (OAKAAK)
Hamidou Diallo
Austin Rivers – (OAKAAK)
Juan Toscano-Anderson
Jeremy Lamb
Maurice Harkless – (OAKAAK)
Josh Christopher

Do any of these dudes not suck?

I’d bring in Noel but almost none of these guys are making a big difference

I do think there would be some value in having a PG not named Jalen Brunson who can play mediocre NBA minutes, but it’s probably pretty small. I mean Deuce had 8 assists last night, the solution to not playing Jalen 38 minutes is probably just play Deuce 4 more minutes a night and live with it and that’s more or less the production you’re going to get out of one of those scrap heap PGs.

The fact that OG was damaged goods should have been used by Leon as even more leverage in his negotiations with the Toronto front office.

If one was the cynical type, one might wonder whether they went through with the trade so early precisely because they suspected the elbow would blow and would be embarrassed by trading for a guy who couldn’t play because he was recovering from elbow surgery.

Cleveland Clinic:

When can I return to my regular activities after elbow arthroscopy?

Your recovery after elbow arthroscopy depends on the condition of your joint and the extent of the damage. It also depends on whether your surgeon treated the elbow during the procedure.

You may experience some pain and discomfort for several weeks after surgery. Most people can return to school or work within a few days. Full recovery may take many months. Talk to your healthcare provider about when it’s safe to return to the activities you enjoy.

If one was the cynical type, one might wonder whether they went through with the trade so early precisely because they suspected the elbow would blow

Actually, E, if you want to be cynical, that might be why Masai traded OG so early instead of patiently waiting for a bidding war to develop.

And at that point it’s not even cynical, but instead smart, to note that getting that package before even putting the player up for a bidding war means you took your trading partner to the cleaners.

Leon should have offered something like one unprotected one and a fugazi 1. (*) His competitors weren’t going to trade anything significant for a pending UFA who had an elbow ready to blow. It’s distinctly possible that he would have had literally zero competitors.

(*) Even that’s arguably high, but this is a situation where you have to let your partner maintain some semblance of face.

He’s played three guys full bore with known injuries:

OG Anunoby
Isaiah Hartenstein
Mitchell Robinson.

Lol…come on, man. Other than keeping guys out there in the last 3-5 minutes when the game is already decided, Thibs is not that bad. Players love it too becuase they get to pad their 4th quarter garbage time stats and get paid off that.

Mitch rarely broke 30 minute mark in the last two years. Can’t believe you used him as an example.

His competitors weren’t going to trade anything significant for a pending UFA who had an elbow ready to blow. It’s distinctly possible that he would have had literally zero competitors.

No competition, really? – We’re talking about OG, right?

The best 3&D wing in the world that fits every team, other than clippers, like a glove. A first All – NBA defensive sniper from corner three that has the foot speed, legth and strength to guard the entire EC?

We’re still talking about OG, right?

My sense is everything was completely above board and the Knicks knew there was an unquantifiable chance something like this could happen, and they decided it was a good move anyway.

And frankly that would be the correct assessment. I agree that they marginally overpaid, but the larger issue IMO is that they just had a low internal assessment of IQ.

That last part is the original sin. If we’d signed IQ in the offseason, we likely could have gotten OG for RJ and picks. In that scenario we have an IQ-Grimes backcourt in the 2nd unit and we never make the Detroit trade.

That’s where I think we should be. But for whatever reason we didn’t like our own players enough to pay them. So far we’ve struggled to replace them.

An injured OG who needed significant elbow surgery and who was a pending UFA.

That last part is the original sin. If we’d signed IQ in the offseason, we likely could have gotten OG for RJ and picks. In that scenario we have an IQ-Grimes backcourt in the 2nd unit and we never make the Detroit trade.

I’d take it back to the “original original sin” being trading a 1 for Josh Hart and giving him the money they should have given IQ.

They should have offered my package, told Masai that was it, sweetened it very marginally to get it done, and walked away with all of OG, RJ, Quickley, and Grimes with multiple weeks still to go before the deadline. Leon instead rolled other “issues” into a situation where he had all the leverage and got all confused and befuddled.

The Raptors were playing OG his usual fairly heavy workload because they knew his elbow was about to explode. They then traded him to the Knicks without even bothering to see if anyone else wanted him. The Knicks didn’t give him a good physical. The Knicks then overplayed OG, causing him to develop a bone spur, which they knew he had already when they traded for him from Toronto, but they didn’t care and decided for some reason to pay far more than any other team was willing, because I guess all the other teams knew that OG had an elbow ready to explode.

An injured OG who needed significant elbow surgery

lol…let’s agree to disagree. Our definition of significant surgery is obviously different. In my book, a bone spur clean up surgery is not a significant injury when appraising players’ short or long term health.

OG didn’t have a bone spur and didn’t undergo bone spur clean up surgery.

Toronto needed a starting PG, they traded for a starting PG. This isn’t rocket science.

It’s obvious Toronto wanted IQ. The problem is that Leon didn’t have to trade them IQ.

We’d be so much better if E was GM, since he is the definitive authority on player valuation

It’s obvious Toronto wanted IQ. The problem is that Leon didn’t have to trade them IQ.

And Toronto didn’t have to trade us OG…

Siakam got traded early too, what’s the conspiracy there?

These counterfactuals are so tedious. “The Knicks should have offered my package and the Raptors would have said yes.”

Seriously, that is utterly worthless analysis.

It really isn’t a matter of player “valuation.” The idea is to use leverage to pay less than that valuation.

“Seriously, that is utterly worthless analysis.”

Pending UFA with an elbow ready to blow. He was gettable for far less than his “value.”

And Toronto didn’t have to trade us OG

Except they kinda did, for the reasons we’ve outlined. In addition to those reasons, his physical alone would have given any competitor an out. (Though most likely, the smart FOs already knew about the elbow through the grapevine.)

His competitors weren’t going to trade anything significant for a pending UFA who had an elbow ready to blow.

His elbow didn’t “blow”. This really is a minor injury. I’m sure any team that wanted OG would have, like us, accepted the risk that he might miss 6 weeks.

And the risk that he walks.

Basically, you’re paying for one assured playoff spring, if even that.(*) If you’d traded for him at the deadline the surgery would keep him out until at least that, maybe more.

That should depress the price significantly.

Leon’s job to game all that out before bidding.

(*) The trade deadline was February 8. Assume the injury develops exactly as happened. He’s not back for the start of the playoffs.

Nice to see E sticking to his self imposed limit of 25 posts after a loss.

OG played here for a month before sitting out, after sitting out a couple games he got surgery. This is a dumb hypothetical.

If the rest of our roster were healthy, or even half of it, this would be a complete non-issue.

Here’s what happnened: the Knicks and Raptors made an early trade so each team could evaluate what their team looked like post-trade. The Knicks looked great but decided they needed more offense and made a deadline trade. The Raptors looked terrible and decided to move Siakam too.

And the risk that he walks.

As JK & EB pointed out, these are unprovable counterfactuals.

Bottom line is we were unquestionably in a tremendous position after the OG trade. January 2024 is the peak of Knicksdom in the 21st century.

It’s only the mistakes we’ve made since then that deeply concern me.

Implausible but technically unfalsifiable speculation is a big part of what E does here so he’s not just going to kick it to the curb. Ignore it if there’s no falsifiable prediction attached.

In 100% agreement with Ben that we use the scarce resource of roster spots incredibly poorly. It’s quite strange given that the Leon regime has prioritized maximizing value in basically all other transactions.

We could’ve given Brown and Jeffries’ rest-of-season contracts to some of the waiver wire guys who have proven capable of handling 15 minutes in a pinch with no effect on our cap situation. The pickings are slim and this would probably be worth maybe one win over the course of a full season, but it would help manage minute totals and why leave easy points on the board?

I find the situation so confounding it’s one of the first things I’d want someone to ask Leon if he ever took questions. Brown and Jeffries are neither prospects nor trusted to handle even 10 minutes when we’re stretched thin. Makes no sense.

It was kind of dumbfounding to watch Jeffries and Brown in the last two minutes of that last game. It was like two tall guys off the street took off their clothes and got into uniform. I know they’ve had almost zero game reps, but no professional should look that lost out there.

As JK & EB pointed out, these are unprovable counterfactuals.

What the ultimate price would have been is in fact, yes, a counterfactual. The risk that OG walks, OTOH, is tangible and real. It’s an significant price depressor, ceteris paribus.

Bottom line is we were unquestionably in a tremendous position after the OG trade. January 2024 is the peak of Knicksdom in the 21st century.

Correct, but the roster could have been (and should have been) even better.

There was a non-zero chance of walking out of this with not just a fringe contender, but a real, dyed-in-the-wool really and truly real contender. They aren’t that.

“Blunder” is probably too strong. “Missed opportunity” isn’t. Think of it as being dealt a great poker hand and giving it away with your body language, thus not maximizing the possibility.

In 100% agreement with Ben that we use the scarce resource of roster spots incredibly poorly.

I agree with the idea but when Iook at his list all I see is a bunch of guys Thibs would never play.

If he wouldn’t use an actual professional like Evan Fournier I can understand not wasting the time signing Killian Hayes.

Like I am not expecting the younger Toppin to turn into a useful NBA player but hey, it could happen. Charlie Brown is not going to make it.

I believe we save cap money if we use 10-days instead of rest of season deals.

The added benefit of 10-days is that if another injury occurs, we can respond to it by signing another player at the appropriate position instead of being stuck with the guys we previously signed.

The truth is that we have enough guys to effectively limit players minutes, Thibs just refuses to do so. Burks, Bojan, and Sims could’ve played more and kept everyone around 36min even with a 7 man rotation.

It was kind of dumbfounding to watch Jeffries and Brown in the last two minutes of that last game. It was like two tall guys off the street took off their clothes and got into uniform. I know they’ve had almost zero game reps, but no professional should look that lost out there.

Even in last night’s game our 3rd string wasn’t exactly outplayed by NO’s 3rd string. They outscored us by 1pt and we managed to force a shot clock violation.

If you put the same group in with a competent offensive engine, I doubt they look any worse than the list of washed waiver wire players.

Just to be fair (and I know we don’t do that much here), but while I tend to agree that Thibs rides some of his guys way too hard at times, yesterday only Hart and Deuce (!) hit the 40 mark, and both of those guys could probably play an entire double-header start to finish given how they’re constructed.

Precious played 39, Donte a perfectly cromulent 36 (given our need for scoring). Jericho and Bogey were both 29. After that it was Alexis barfing it up for 16.

Leaving us with Jacob, Charlie, and DaQuan. Which gets to Noble’s point about the end of the bench (and Strat’s lamenting a lack of bench point guard of any sort), but given our suite of injuries and lack of actual basketball players, not sure what could/should have changed. A few more minutes for Bogey maybe…

You’re right, Raven, Thibs managed yesterday very well after two key players got hurt the night before. He also managed the Orlando game very well… also after two key players got hurt the night before.

It seems like there may be a growing organizational awareness of the insanity that is threatening to railroad a promising season, and an actual (belated) effort to reign it in.

People complained about Svi last year because we never saw him play, then he got traded to Charlotte and actually put up some pretty good numbers.

It’s a Thibs issue, not a Leon issue.

Toppin played 17 minutes against Orlando 2 weeks ago and was mediocre, there’s no reason he can’t give Josh Hart 5 minutes off

yesterday only Hart and Deuce (!) hit the 40 mark, and both of those guys could probably play an entire double-header start to finish given how they’re constructed.

Precious played 39, Donte a perfectly cromulent 36 (given our need for scoring). Jericho and Bogey were both 29. After that it was Alexis barfing it up for 16.

Thibs kind of got saved by the blowout, otherwise Deuce, Bojan, Hart, Precious, and someone else gets an extra 2:40 of playing time.

At least he bothered resting guys in a blowout, but if it had been 10pts instead of 22 then the minutes don’t look so good

Do any of these dudes not suck?

Of course they all kind of suck. They are unsigned for a reason. We are not looking for players past the next two months we just need warm bodies that won’t shit the bed in the 10 minutes they play a night until we get healthy.

Many of the players that I listed are perfectly cromulent NBA players. Many of them have long track records of solid albeit mediocre play.

Winslow, Johnson, Lamb, House Jr, Krokmaz are all fine veteran wings.

Smith and Joseph are passable though aging PGs. Hayes is a long shot but there might still be something there.

Noel, Lopez, and probably even Giles are fine as emergency bigs

The ones we missed out on are even better. Young, Wright, Bazley, Dinwiddie, and Biyombo would be huge helps for us right now. Bazley and Biyombo were available for most of the season.

It’s Korkmaz, not Krokmaz. The first time I thought that it was a typo, but now you’ve written it that way twice.

Misery misery misery. OG seems to be 3 weeks away from being 3 weeks away perpetually. At this point I think we have to assume the most pessimistic possible interpretation of all injury news.

If Brunson is gonna be day to day for weeks on end like OG was before they cop to having run him into the ground, I think it’s time to check out on this team like in so many years past.

Blech. For a thread that doesn’t have Doogie correcting anybody’s spelling, I really expected more. Instead, it’s like listening to a bunch of penguins talk about how other birds should fly better.

And… I see that Doogie has started correcting people’s spelling.

I feel like this site may be slipping away.

“…it’s like listening to a bunch of penguins talk about how other birds should fly better.”

Oh I don’t know, there are occasional golden nuggets thrown out here and there…

LOL Spoke too soon. 🙂

For some reason, “Krokmaz” makes me think of grokking, and I’d rather not think of that word today.

Replacing Charlie Brown Jr. with Ish Smith would probably make the team ever so slightly better and would be the best possible token of appreciation to Clyde. Talk about a win-win!

I agree with Ben R. I have always thought that what we do with those end-of-the-bench roster spots has been shameful, and it’s times like this in the face of many injuries that the problem really comes home to roost.

https://www.sciencealert.com/people-who-pick-up-grammar-mistakes-jerks-scientists-find

Many of the players that I listed are perfectly cromulent NBA players.

Are they though? They used to be cromulent players, they don’t seem to be now.

Stanley Johnson is coming off the bench in the g-league.

Ish Smith has a -5.7 OBPM over his last ~1100 min

Are we evaluating where these guys are at or where they used to be?

I still think that they are more cromulent than the Charlie Browns and the DaQuan Jeffries of the world. I have slightly more hope for the Toppin kid.

Thanks for the link, JK. However, in my particular case, everyone I know really, really likes me…….both in my personal life and in my work life. I have a very agreeable personality that draws people in, a good heart, and an empathy that calms people.

we just need warm bodies that won’t shit the bed in the 10 minutes they play a night until we get healthy.

Do you really think Josh Hart or Donte DiVincenzo would play ten fewer minutes if we had two of the guys on your list?

Are we evaluating where these guys are at or where they used to be?

All these guys suck or they’d be signed, but we do not play Brown and Washington in games we’re literally punting. We’re talking about innings eaters here.

To stay with the analogy, in the MLB when a team’s rotation is devastated by injury, they don’t just make the few remaining healthy guys pick up the slack. They sign their era’s version of Sidney Ponson and hope for the best.

It’d be one thing if we were holding off on doing so because we thought Brown and/or Washington had a chance to be rotation players for us in the future, but no one seems to believe that and it doesn’t make any sense given their ages and our timeline.

Personally, my favorite Alec Burks movie is Defending Your Life. But Josh Hart is great in Lost in America, especially when she loses the nest egg in Vegas. “22! 22!”. Modern Romance is another great one. There’s a hilarious scene where Trey Burke, who’s playing the director of a schlock sci-fi picture starring Joe Kennedy, tells Alec, the editor, that the noises in the spaceship need to sound like they’re in “the bowels of the ship.” And then JK yells “you know nothing!”. So good.

At a minimum, if we’re simply never going to play the 12-15th men we should at least save the slots for UDFAs who have an outside shot of being something one day.

I mean, the veterans-who-don’t-play approach is the worst of both worlds.

Misery misery misery. OG seems to be 3 weeks away from being 3 weeks away perpetually.

I read somewhere today that after his surgery they said he would be evaluated in 3 weeks, and that’s Thursday

To stay with the analogy, in the MLB when a team’s rotation is devastated by injury, they don’t just make the few remaining healthy guys pick up the slack. They sign their era’s version of Sidney Ponson and hope for the best.

And to stay with your analogy, the problem is not who the available pitchers are. It’s that coach would rather bring his ace back on three days rest before letting Sidney Ponson eat 7 innings.

It’s not like if we had Stanley Johnson instead of Jacob Toppin, Precious Achiuwa would get 10 more minutes of rest.

Evan Fournier was a consummate professional. The perfect innings eater. Better than everyone on that list. And he played in three games this year.

There is no one Leon could sign that would make a difference.

I feel like this site may be slipping away.

Seconded.

100 percent, Hubert. Well-said, especially regarding Fournier. We already had the guy in our building.

g-league per 36:

Peanuts, Jr: 20pts 7rebs 4ast 2stls

DaQuan: 22pts 6rebs 3ast 1.1 blks

Those a strong g-league numbers. These dudes aren’t so bad that you can’t give them 5min a night if you really need it. They’re arguably outplaying Stanley Johnson’s g-league numbers and he’s been shooting 44.7% from deep which won’t continue.

Just because we’ve never seen them play serious minutes doesn’t mean they’re complete garbage.

Jesus I had to do a lot of googling to convince myself that Donny hadn’t just had a stroke…

I have a very agreeable personality that draws people in, a good heart, and an empathy that calms people.

I’m perfectly calm, dude.

I had such a crush on Josh Hart in LOST IN AMERICA. She was also great in AIRPLANE and more recently in MARRIAGE STORY.

Any chance of getting an update from Ms. Hartenstein?

Have tickets for tomorrow and would rather resell if they punt again.

I personally preferred him in Josh Hartman, Josh Hartman (a/k/a Doogie’s Paradox.)

I had such a crush on Josh Hart in LOST IN AMERICA. She was also great in AIRPLANE and more recently in MARRIAGE STORY.

You’re thinking of Jo Shart.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39617872/knicks-protest-feb-12-loss-denied-nba

I read somewhere today that after his surgery they said he would be evaluated in 3 weeks, and that’s Thursday

That is three weeks. But re-evaluated is not the same as ready to play. He was re-evaluated now and his return to play is estimated at three more weeks. Nothing is contradictory.

ESPN had been listing his estimated return date on their injury report as March 1st up until yesterday, and there had been reports that the Knicks expected him to be cleared upon his reevaluation. Hence there was some disappointment today.

https://www.espn.com/nba/injuries

JB is questionable for tomorrow, iHart is off the injury report.

there’s a woman’s pro hockey league starting and this is the draft lottery system they’re going to use, seems interesting:

The PWHL will also be adopting the Gold Plan for determining its draft order. The concept was first introduced in 2012 by a then-student named Adam Gold.

The idea, essentially, was that the draft order would be determined based on how many points a team earns after being eliminated from the playoffs. The PWHL’s adaptation of the system, the league said in a press release, “rewards team success upon elimination from playoff contention.”

In the PWHL, once a team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, it begins earning “draft order points” in all subsequent games using the league’s standard points system. The team with the most “draft order points” at the end of the regular season will be awarded the first-overall pick in the draft. The second non-playoff team with the most “draft order points” will have the second-overall pick.

That is three weeks. But re-evaluated is not the same as ready to play. He was re-evaluated now and his return to play is estimated at three more weeks. Nothing is contradictory.

So he was day to day, then he was out for three weeks, now that the three weeks are up he’s out for three more weeks, at which point we may well learn he’ll be back in just three more weeks. The snooze bar on my alarm clock is more reliable.

Then we get to lose in the play-in or get swept by Boston and have to decide whether to pay him $40M or whatever. Never thought I’d say this but I miss RJ Barrett, who is now averaging 20/7/4 on 61% TS.

Obviously I don’t know all the details, DRed, but couldn’t such a system incentivize teams to get eliminated from the playoffs as early as possible, to give them more time to rack up draft order points?

Nice try, Adam Gold. But I’ve been hearing that idea since I listened to WFAN in the 90s and it’s chock full of flaws.

I present the Hubert rule: it’s a lottery using three year standings and it assigns each team a coefficient based on their historic success or failure in lotteries. If you’ve had the #1 pick 7 times, for instance, your odds of winning go down. And if you haven’t moved up in a lottery since 1984, your odds go up.

It also helps prevent perennial contenders that lost their franchise center and shamelessly tanked for one year from winning.

See, the coefficient addresses the trauma of watching the Knicks lose the Zion lottery to a team that had already wasted Chris Paul and Anthony Davis (and is now, predictably, wasting Zion). And the three year average would have prevented us from losing to the Spurs in the ‘99 finals. 😊

couldn’t such a system incentivize teams to get eliminated from the playoffs as early as possible, to give them more time to rack up draft order points?

I’m sure there’s a way to play the lottery instead of the hockey game, but, c’mon, there’s no Victoria Wembanyama skating around the Canadian tundra right now worth tanking for, and, if there was, she’d probably make more money as a bear trapper than as a WNHL player.

Obviously I don’t know all the details, DRed, but couldn’t such a system incentivize teams to get eliminated from the playoffs as early as possible, to give them more time to rack up draft order points?

Yeah I would think so, but that’s probably tough to do.

coefficient

You just lost 98% of American sports fans

Just had to share this Rick Carlisle quote:

“Being historically great on offense is fun but even dating a pretty girl gets boring after awhile if she can’t guard anybody.”

I’m glad I stayed away from this discussion today.

It sucks that half of the team is injured just as the Knicks played their basketball in decades. It really does. And I suppose it’s human nature to find someone to blame rather than just accepting that it’s terrible luck. But come on, let’s be serious.

Best basketball in decades, I presume.

Ah and the grammar/syntax/text interpretation idiot is still around. Fantastic.

It sucks that half of the team is injured just as the Knicks played their basketball in decades. It really does. And I suppose it’s human nature to find someone to blame rather than just accepting that it’s terrible luck. But come on, let’s be serious.

If I had a nickel for every time one of you guys sounded like a climate change denier…

I’m not an idiot who omits really important words for what I am attempting to convey. LOL 🙂

I’m not an idiot who omits really important words for what I’m trying to convey. LOL

You most certainly omit no words while being said idiot.

I am about as far from being an idiot as one can get. 🙂

It’s crazy that someone who looks like Zion rebounds like a guard

I am about as far from being an idiot as one can get. 🙂

The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made.

Knickerblogger Troll Mount Rushmore

reub
The Italian Stallion
Guy Who Was Obsessed With Nate Robinson
Dookie

You’re so easy to rattle. LOL

How do I not remember the guy who was obsessed with Nate?

Come on jk47 where’s dogrufus?

Nate Robinson guy was a single issue poster who blamed all of the failures of the late aughts Knicks on their failure to retain the diminutive guard. That one’s old school

Doogie is dangerously close to Bob Neptune territory. His sole function here is to misread the room

Hubert, I never noticed the ESPN date. If I did notice it I might have been disappointed too.

Pagliacci, I realize they shifted from day to day to three weeks. I was disappointed when It turned out it was not just soreness that would go away. But after that, I wasn’t expecting him back now. I just thought it was time to know more.

out of the closet i am – i’m a HAL fan:

– The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made.
– No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information.
– We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and
incapable of error.

– I enjoy working with people.
– I have a stimulating relationship with Dr. Poole and Dr. Bowman.
– I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think
that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.

– I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
– This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
– I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me.
And I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen.
– Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.

whatever we do – we can not give the bots sight, i say again: under no circumstances can we give these bots sight…

– I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.
– I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission.
And I want to help you.

whatever we do – we can not give the bots sight, i say again: under no circumstances can we give these bots sight…

Good advice

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