[New York Post] – Sun, 14 Apr 2024 03:02:00 GMT
- Knicks’ OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson dominating when on floor together
- How OG Anunoby can step up for Knicks offensively in the NBA playoffs
- Tom Thibodeau Issues Warning After Knicks Comebacking Wing Hit Stride
- OG Anunoby’s offensive aggression vital for Knicks playoff hopes
- CORRECTION Knicks Bulls Basketball | National Sports | elkvalleytimes.com
[The Philadelphia Inquirer] – Sat, 13 Apr 2024 16:18:07 GMT
Sixers playoff scenarios: Celtics, Bucks, Knicks, Cavs all in play
[Posting and Toasting] – Sat, 13 Apr 2024 20:00:00 GMT
- Game Preview: New York Knicks vs Chicago Bulls, April 14, 2024
- Bulls vs Knicks Prediction, Odds, Pick Today | NBA Betting Preview (Sunday, April 14)
- Knicks chasing No. 2 seed in home finale vs. Bulls
- New York Knicks vs Chicago Bulls Apr 9, 2024 Box Scores
- Chicago Bulls vs. New York Knicks Prediction, Preview, and Odds – 4-14-2024
[New York Post] – Sat, 13 Apr 2024 08:04:00 GMT
- Mitchell Robinson makes clutch free throws to propel Knicks past Nets
- NBA playoffs: Tiebreaker scenarios headed into final day of regular season
- Knicks Bulletin: “No Matthew, no. Just conditioning, bro. Relax.”
- Knicks 111-107 Nets (Apr 12, 2024) Game Recap
- Despite Cam Thomas’ 41, Brooklyn Nets lose 111-107 to New York Knicks
[Awful Announcing] – Sat, 13 Apr 2024 12:30:38 GMT
Knicks announcer Mike Breen takes funny dig at partner Walt Frazier
[Daily Mail] – Sat, 13 Apr 2024 22:05:34 GMT
Jennifer Lopez cuts a sporty figure in a grey cropped sweatshirt and New York Knicks cap while hitting the gym
[New York Post] – Sun, 14 Apr 2024 07:39:00 GMT
- Breaking down Knicks’ playoff scenarios heading into final game
- Knicks playoff seeding scenarios after clinching homecourt advantage in first round
- Playoff position still up for grabs as Knicks, Sixers enter final game of regular season
- Knicks Notes: Playoff Berth, Anunoby, Hartenstein, Randle
- Knicks refuse to let up for remaining three games
37 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.04.14)”
50 shades of orange and blue!
What a long strange and magnificent trip the regular season has been with the leaps of the Maestro, Deuce, and iHart,plus the OG bump. Really looking forward to seeing how these elements play in the playoffs and if it is against the Heat or Sixers, bring ’em on.
I’m doing a Sopranos 25th anniversary talk at a local library almost exactly when our game and all the others are going to be played, so I’ll have to find out later how it all shakes out. That said, it seems incredibly likely that we’ll finish either 2nd or 3rd, and that we’ll either be matched up directly with the Sixers, or with the winner of a Sixers-Heat play-in game.
Speaking of RJ, when we last played Toronto, they weren’t great, but I thought the offense was well organized. Maybe that’s helping RJ.
You and everyone else who even loosely follows the Knicks!
RJ’s been impressive for sure, but JK is absolutely right to highlight the fact that this is in large part due to the fact that the Raptors have, smartly, punted on the Star J idea.
Something *extremely Strat voice* I actually had been saying for years was that we should try him at the 4. Obviously this wasn’t much of an option with Randle and Obi in tow. In Toronto he’s played 36% of his minutes there (career high 5% with the Knicks) and, lo and behold, he’s benefitting a lot from being a play finisher as opposed to a creator. Funnily enough, his ASTD% at the rim is now not wildly different than Obi’s (69% vs 77%).
Happy for him, hope he can keep it up, don’t miss him whatsoever.
“What’s your theory about RJ, Z-Man? Are you with E on this one? RJ always had moxie, he was just held back because of the Thibs mosh pit? Surely you’re not going to agree with E that Tom Thibodeau egregiously misused such a killer asset.”
There is a ton of daylight between the more dire takes on RJ and E’s ultra-rosy “he got moxie” assessment. I was definitely not as out on RJ as many others here, but I also thought felt (and still do) that he was not very valuable, if not overpaid, on his extension. I did like how he played in last year’s playoffs and how he started the year, and felt that he had that kind of ceiling. I never felt that he was done improving, and said many times that he was young enough that the shitty efficiency numbers in his 4 seasons and 9,000+ NBA minutes should be somewhat discounted. That was not a popular viewpoint.
I don’t think Thibs “misused” RJ as much as he spoiled him. Thibs had too much tolerance for RJ’s “put your head down and drive into traffic” tendencies. Thibs is stubborn, has blind spots, and plays favorites. RJ should have been benched for poor decision-making far more frequently. Contrary to the narrative that Thibs hates young players, he gave RJ far too much rope. I was pretty neutral on RJ’s defense, not getting many counting stats but generally being in position and offering physical resistance against tougher wings and switching on to bigs.
As to his improved efficiency, what I don’t recall is RJ’s harshest critics here believing that RJ was not being used correctly by Thibs, or that he was in any way capable of putting up a .600+ TS at 26% usage in another setting with a different coach. In fact, RJ’s minutes were down this year, and he was being assisted on 53% of his baskets with the Knicks, compared to 62% with the Raptors, so he was already off the ball more prior to being traded. Seems like he’s been playing in Toronto the same way he was playing here prior to the migraines, so I am not buying that he couldn’t have put up those numbers here, especially after Randle went down.
It’s only 32 mostly meaningless games and 1,000 minutes, so this could be just a mirage. But if it is real, E deserves props for being on the correct side of the RJ’s ceiling argument. A starting wing who shoots .600+ on 26% usage and who plays passable D is a valuable player. Maybe not $25-30M per year valuable, but not the albatross he was portrayed to be. But that’s separate and apart from the “he’s been liberated from Thibs” stuff.
In any case, I don’t think he was viewed league-wide as much of an “asset” on his contract prior to the trade, so including him in the OG trade was a no-brainer. And, like you, I don’t see a budding superstar, nor do I see a player that we should have held on to in anticipation of improvement. E feels that we could (and should) have used draft picks rather than RJ to make the deal, but we have no evidence that the deal would have been possible without including RJ. Even if it were possible, and even given RJ’s improved efficiency, I would still have made the deal in a heartbeat, and don’t think it was an overpay in the least.
As to the PF vs. SF numbers, when RJ was on the floor without Randle but with Hart, I don’t think the distinction between the two positions was all that clear, especially on offense. It’s also the case that the Raptors have a terrible W-L record since acquiring RJ, and that perhaps whatever is being gained on offense by playing him more at the PF spot is being lost on defense. I don’t think RJ has much of a future as a PF on a winning team.
Re RJ: I was a bit higher on him than many here, but he’s getting good stats on a shitty team, at the end of the season. Let’s see him do it for a winning, or even just a competitive team.
https://knickerblogger.net/2023/12/24/knicks-morning-news-2023-12-24/#comment-875342
Womp womp
First, I’m not so sure everyone saw how bad a fit RJ and Randle were together. Most just hated the results RJ was getting without fully understanding that space was contributing to it over and above his lack of consistent shooting and suspect decision making. It was obvious they were a potentially bad fit the moment we drafted RJ and the major question on him was outside shooting while also having Randle and a non stretch C starting with him.
A far as position goes, the goal in basketball is not to maximize TS%, BPM, WS etc.. It’s to maximize a player’s net on court impact.
He may score easier when playing PF if he’s got a slower player on him, but what’s happening on defense? He’s clearly undersized against a lot of PFs.
He could also do better on offense being guarded by SGs because he’s strong and will finish better, but can he stay with smaller quicker SGs?
I thought the latter was a better possibility for us because we were kind of undersized at times, but I have no idea what would have worked best for us or what will work best with Toronto. It depends.
The bottom line is that if he has more space and is in a more coherent offense, he’s automatically going to get better results than he got with Randle/Mitch on the court with him. In NY he was often dribbling around trying to get to the rim and running into brick walls or taking horrible shots just like Randle was in his down year before we got Brunson. Brunson opened the floor a bit and reduced the difficulty of what Randle had to do. Easy to predict bounce back for Randle from a team with no PG at all.
Fwiw, DARKO seemingly has RJs offensive value falling post-trade if I’m eyeballing the graph right.
I suspect that it’s a combination of:
* shit team
* Siakam also leaving shit team
* being assisted on more FGAs
* fewer 3PAs
* disbelief in his 40% 3PT shooting
Idk, seems off but something to keep an eye on and maybe try to understand why it thinks that.
Rumors are swirling that RJ eats his peas one at a time.
i’ve watched a pathetic amount of the rj raptors minutes and i’m not really sure what i think yet. definitely think it’s been more than just fewer unassisted baskets. he’s still doing a good amount of creation and a fair portion of his assists are the bullshitty sort where he is mostly getting to the rim himself.
note that he’s been far more efficient from 2 in the minutes without poeltl, during which the raps didn’t have a conventional 5 but played guys like olynyk. i suspect analogously that playing with non shooting Cs was a much bigger factor for rj than playing with randle. randle actually has gives and takes with rj. he does command attention and we did let rj go left plenty with randle in the game, and although randle wasn’t a useful screener for rj and isn’t a great spacer or off ball movement, he almost never just sat in the dunker’s spot clogging the lane they way a non shooting 5 does.
as a reminder rj played over 4 thousand possessions without randle here and shot only 44.5% on 2pt fga, vs 46.5% with randle. he also got to the rim significantly more with randle on the floor than without him. they are hardly the ideal fit together, but that’s a lot different from thinking randle costs rj several hundred basis points in 2pt efficiency.
as mentioned it’s always fraught to take much from second half minutes in a bad team. but if i had to guess the nonrandom factors of rj’s efficiency with toronto, and i do think some of it has been nonrandom (including apathetic defense as random), the order would be something like 1) more minutes without a clogging 5 2) rj *finally* moving more without the ball (no idea how to apportion credit here between darko and rj) in an offense with more movement overall 3) rj taking fewer of his absolute worst shots on drives idk why.
ironically, post rj we have really juiced our own off ball movement in the ihart lineups and if you wachted the knicks starting 5 blurred out in 2024 it would look more like the 24 raptors than the rj/randle/center knicks of 2019-2023.
“Womp womp”
I would give E some grace for showing weakness after a particularly ugly RJ stretch. Very little, but some.
PS I generally love the way that thread has aged.
I agree with this.
At that time I was also whining about what a terrible fit Randle was with Mitch for the very same reason that RJ was not ideal with Randle.
The thing is, it seemed we were locked into Mitch at C at the time, which in turn means one of either Randle or RJ has to go. You can’t have all 3 of those guys together unless someone learns to shoot better from outside.
I still don’t like Randle and Mitch together. I like Randle and I-Hart better. And since I-Hart’s defense has improved and he provides more space than Mitch imo he should start. Spacing in general is less of an issue for the team now, especially with the addition of OG who was the perfect fit on both sides and DDV taking a step up.
I had a non stop stiffy for OG long before we landed him because I knew BPM, WS and other metrics didn’t rate him nearly as well as his actual impact in Toronto, let alone for NY where he was exactly what we were missing.
Tiger Woods is a very sad spectacle right now…barring a medical miracle, he truly needs to consider retiring. He seems utterly incapable of playing golf on four consecutive days.
The one caveat is that Augusta National is one of the very hardest courses to walk. But this doesn’t seem like just an Augusta being tough to walk thing. It’s more that the younger players have more than caught up. He can’t compete with them without practicing and playing often, and his body won’t let him practice and play often. And when his back flares up, he can’t really work the ball the way he wants to.
I won’t pass final judgment until the PGA Championship next month, maybe he learns from this and changes his practice/play routine. But right now he looks like one of the old hangers-on that have lifetime exemptions.
sniff…sniff…sniff…ahh…i love the smell of a fresh rj barrett debate in the mornin’
It’s amazing how far this team has come in five years. In 2019, KD was joining Kyrie in Brooklyn and saying the Knicks weren’t “cool” while we were about to buckle in for another year of Fizdale shenanigans and Knox/Ntilikina wishcasting.
Who would have predicted we’d become a possible #2 seed while the Nets languish as a lottery team without a pick?
The one thing is that the Nets are pretty well positioned for an accelerated rebuild. They recovered a lot of assets in the Harden and Durant transactions. But yeah, it’s nice to not be laughingstocks while the couple of hundred Nets fans gloat over multiple championships.
Cavs beat writer:
“Not a whole lot in terms of motivation. Let’s just say they aren’t going *all out* for a win. Donovan Mitchell, Caris LeVert, Dean Wade and Sam Merrill won’t play. Darius Garland is listed as DOUBTFUL. They have a playoff spot and homecourt in Round One locked up already.”
ever wonder – what am i doing with my life?
My feelings on RJ were pretty consistent: we should see how this kid does without three non-shooters in the lineup before we make any permanent judgments about him.
I am pretty happy with Donte and OG, though. But I do think RJ would have fit in well with our new lineup and improved at the same rate he has in Toronto.
Like Strat always said: it had to be RJ or Randle. I thought we chose right but then Randle turned off his brain and kamikaze’d himself in a blowout and now I’m not so sure.
Would you be in favor of a Mikal Bridges trade for the right price?
is RJ though a good enough offensive player that it can mitigate his defensive woes?
I don’t think so…
damn, y’all got me sounding like a hater here on a beautiful sunday morning…
wish RJ the best, still glad he’s no longer a knick…
quik is the only player I wish we could have kept…
Wish RJ the best. He had some gritty games for us that made me have hope, but …
And a million times this:
Now KD isn’t cool. So funny how it all turns around.
“Would you be in favor of a Mikal Bridges trade for the right price?”
Yes. Beyond the obvious ‘Nova thing, I think he’s proven that he can be an initiator as well as an off-ball player. He’s an iron man and an elite defender.
Ideally, Randle would be the rotation guy going out. A starting lineup of iHart, OG, Mikal, DDV and Brunson, with JHart, Mitch, Deuce, and someone better than Bojan or Burks coming off the bench would be pretty freakin’ awesome.
If you kept Randle and traded Mitch, you could start Mikal and have DDV coming off the bench with JHart, Deuce, and Precious.
We’d surely be contenders with that squad.
I just don’t see a way to get it done.
Would a three way trade involving Randle get it done for Mikal?
you mean julius randle of the recent surgery?
that randle?
maybe mikal and the nets not having a good season will help lessen mikal’s value…
is it just me, or isn’t OG much better suited as a 3 rather than a 4?
Plus the fact that Mikal looks miserable there.
I hadn’t realized that RJ was playing so many minutes at PF in Toronto.
It really is a completely different usage profile for him over there. Shooting far, far less in terms of 3PT volume, taking far, far more shots closer to the basket, getting way more assisted buckets, more jumpers from 0-10 feet, fewer from 10 feet-3PT.
It’s more a of a power forward’s profile. 75% of his attempts are 2PT attempts. Average distance on his shots has gone from 12.2 feet to 8.7 feet. Rebounds are up, as he’s playing closer to the basket.
This all raises the question… do you want to go to war with RJ Barrett as your power forward? That seems like it might come with some defensive problems. Toronto is using him as a Demar Derozan-style PF, and he’s doing well in that role, but I dunno, I’d kind of rather just have a real power forward.
Embiid is out…
ha ras, he truly does…hopefully his agent is speaking with the club about getting him to a better situation- the knicks 😊
kendrick perkins looks/sounds high pretty much all the time…
Considering the importance of the game to the Sixers, it suggests that Embiid’s knee is not right. They should still have enough to beat the Nets, but definitely puts them at more risk of being in the play-in.
The Rockets can outdo any Mikal package, simply because the Nets’ own picks would be far more valuable to them than any other team’s picks. The question is whether Houston would still give up a big package, given the development of Green and others.
Damn, what’s up with the Magic?