Knicks Morning News (2024.05.20)

Now that the season is over, I think every aspect of this team and its construction is subject to review.

However, it would be helpful if the discussion was mostly restricted to some given parameters. For example, if you think that Brunson should be traded, that’s just not going to happen, so why bother?

Personally, I think it is a near certainty that Thibs gets a lucrative extension. Does he deserve one? Absolutely. He’s going to be our head coach next year, period. Now that said, it’s absolutely fair to discuss whether that is in the team’s best interest in the short run and long run. But it one is to do that, one should also suggest available alternatives, or at least affirmatively state that virtually any coach that Leon might hire would be better. Spo, Pops, Carlisle, Finch, Daigneault, etc. ain’t coming. It would either be a second-level retread or an untested rookie. But that would not occur until either the team woefully underperformed or crashed in the playoffs again.

As to the current team, it is a near certainty that the team retains Brunson, DDV, and JHart. It is highly probable that OG is re-signed and that every effort will be made to retain iHart. It is definitely worth discussing for how much.

So for me, the most pressing questions that involve proactive moves by Leon are:

-What will happen with Randle, Mitch, Deuce? There is no reason to feel that any of them are “likely” to be moved, but all three are probably trade bait if the “right” player(s) become available.
-What will they do in the draft?
-What will they do with Bojan?
-What will they do with Burks?
-Which star should they actively pursue with the mother lode of draft picks?

Anyway, as always, folks can discuss whatever they want however they want, but I fervently hope that things don’t devolve into a few cynics repeating the same shit that has no chance of happening over and over. Things are always best when those folks stipulate that we know how they feel and then go on to add constructively to the conversation rather than trolling away.

As someone who sometimes posts prolifically, I don’t really have a problem with the volume of E’s posting. It’s all about the reversion to abject repetitive trolling based the same two or three talking points.

“My stance really isn’t that “hardline” or “binary.” I think Thibs is a fine coach who has done a fine job, but isn’t the guy to take you the distance with all that entails.”

It’s also weird that you spend so much intellectual effort conversing here, given that, in your mind, no one really gets you. I say that because it is widely perceived that you are the most “binary” poster on this site. You continually try to lawyer your way out of that perception, but even the KB lawyers like TNFH see through your duplicity. Just own your schtick as a more eloquent version of Educate_the_weak and stop with the “I ain’t binary” stuff. Nobody is buying it.

That’s impressive, Donnie! Congrats! I’m assuming you’ll be able to surpass the 5:45 I ran at age 58.

“DDV getting a C- for his playoffs performance is super strict.”

That’s an understatement. It’s an absolute joke. As a $12M AAV player in an outsized role for him, he played to a 2.0 BPM overall in 36mpg. We would have lost in the first round if it weren’t for him, and probably one of the first two games of this round. He was the only guy to show up in game 7. He absolutely deserves at least a B, and we could quibble over whether it should be a minus or plus.

I would be all for a Mikal for a Bojan + Deuce picks kind of trade. A starting lineup of iHart/Randle/OG/Mikal/Brunson with a bench of DDV/Burks/Hart/generic backup C/generic backup PG would be very exciting.

Love today’s discussion. It’s fun to discuss things that are actually, you know, possible?

There are very few players who could carry Brunson’s post-Randle workload through a full regular season at “alpha” minutes through a regular season and multiple playoff rounds without breaking down. He clearly needs help.

re: ptmilo’s critique, I don’t think Randle and Brunson need to be all that synergistic, they just need to make each other fresher. When Brunson is being doubled at the point of attack, or hounded by a bigger wing for 84 feet on every possession, having a guy like Randle who can play point forward-ish and draw doubles and get to the line would allow Brunson to get breathers on the court while playing 36+ minutes. Ideally, between Brunson having a decent backup (someone better than Deuce) and having Randle playing #1 option when Brunson is resting will allow Thibs to rest Brunson more without worrying that the game will go sideways.

I don’t have a strong preference for who we acquire, or whether it comes at the expense of Randle or not. I’m kind of out on Spida because I am not a fan of small backcourts and feel that he and Brunson would just cannibalize each other. But that, along with all of the ideas expressed, including standing pat and just drafting a couple of players, are supportable.

“So my conclusion is that Brunson and no Randle will get us at least 3 months of strong regular season play and 1.5 playoff series until the wheels fall off.”

Well if Randle was replaced with some kind of an analog, would you still feel this way? I don’t think anyone is suggesting that we just salary dump him (not this year, anyway!)

One thing that should be crystal clear to any objective observer is that DDV and Josh Hart were not brought here to be starters on the idealized version of this team. You can get away with one of them as a nominal 5th starter, but obviously not both.

Randle and OG being healthy would push one of them to the bench….probably Josh Hart.

But ideally, we would acquire a player that would also push DDV to the bench.

If that is the line of thinking, guys like Spida and Booker make sense, but you would probably have to give up more than just draft capital and non-top-6 salary to get them. I just don’t see it working unless Randle goes out, and that is problematic for other reasons unless you trust a starting front court of (pick one of iHart and Mitch)/OG/Hart. I just don’t see that as an answer.

However, if Mikal or DeJounte could be had for just excess players and draft picks, now you have a pretty menacing starting lineup. But with ATL winning the lottery, I don’t see them selling DeJounte, at all, and certainly not for a reasonable price.

That leaves the Nets, and they haven’t done a deal with the Knicks in like forever. But if somehow the Knicks can wrangle him for a reasonable picks package and none of the V-boys, Randle, or iHart, you just have to explore it.

Along with that way of thinking is the notion that we would have 3 players who can play multiple positions interchangeably (OG, Mikal, Hart), and could mix and match with those who really can’t (Brunson, Julius, iHart, Mitch, DDV).

Mikal is really the guy IF the above scenario can play out, i.e. without trading Randle. I never thought the OG trade would happen, so if that was possible, maybe this can happen as well.

Chris Paul for Westbrook?

“Cam Thomas is a high usage player who will possibly be available this summer. I have no idea what his market would be because he vacillates between being unstoppable and being unplayable, but if a usage foil for Brunson is what you need, he may be able to provide it, maybe not as a replacement for Randle, but as insurance for if/when Randle gets hurt or has a season-long bad-Randle spell.”

Cam Thomas would make Thomas Thibodeau blow a cam…