[New York Post] – Mon, 24 Jun 2024 23:18:52 GMT
- OG Anunoby becomes free agent after Knicks contract opt out
- Knicks’ OG Anunoby declines player option, becomes unrestricted free agent: Report
- Knicks’ Top Draft, Free Agency, Trade Options After OG Anunoby’s Contract Opt-Out
- OG Anunoby To Decline Option, Become Free Agent
- OG Anunoby declines player option with Knicks, will be an unrestricted free agent
[New York Post] – Tue, 25 Jun 2024 04:38:00 GMT
A transformed Julius Randle can close Celtics gap after Knicks’ playoff success: Kenny Smith
[hoopsrumors.com] – Tue, 25 Jun 2024 02:52:00 GMT
Fischer’s Latest: Redick, Lakers, Valanciunas, Knicks, Jazz, Rockets, Bridges
[sny.tv] – Mon, 24 Jun 2024 21:35:09 GMT
2024 NBA Draft Notes: Nets optimistic about acquiring pick, Knicks working out of one this year’s top risers
[hoopsrumors.com] – Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:18:00 GMT
- Scotto’s Latest: Hartenstein, Knicks, Kuminga, Holmes, Missi, Lakers, More
- Knicks Interested In Signing Goga Bitadze
- Goga Bitadze could draw interest from Knicks
- In other Knicks free agency news, the team is expected to offer Isaiah Hartenstein the full four-y
- 4 Potential Isaiah Hartenstein Replacement on Knicks Radar: Report
[The New York Times] – Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:19:11 GMT
- Eastern Conference executive evaluates seven Knicks’ NBA Draft prospects
- Decisions, Decisions
- Knicks at the Draft: 5 Historic Gems at the 38th Pick
- 2024 NBA Draft: Knicks need wings and bigs, and the draft has plenty
- Jay Bilas talks ‘unusual prospect’ Bronny James, Knicks’ options, 2024 NBA Draft storylines
[Sports Illustrated] – Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:35:07 GMT
- New York Knicks Get Another Former Dallas Maverick
- New York Knicks Hire Respected Athletic Trainer Casey Smith
- Marc Stein: The Knicks have hired Casey Smith, longtime athletic trainer for both the Dallas Maveric
- Knicks Hire Casey Smith As Vice President Of Sports Medicine
- Dallas Mavericks Lose Well-Respected Staff Member to New York Knicks
[Posting and Toasting] – Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:59:52 GMT
- Knicks Offseason Details
- Teams that could spoil Knicks’ plans in NBA free agency
- 2024 NBA Offseason Preview: New York Knicks
- Knicks Left Out in Top 10 Franchise Ranking
- Knicks rising payroll a likely factor in OG Anunoby, Isaiah Hartenstein free agency discussion
[Bleacher Report] – Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:45:00 GMT
NBA Trade Rumors: Knicks, Rockets, Jazz Eye Nets’ Mikal Bridges Ahead of 2024 Draft
[The Knicks Wall] – Mon, 24 Jun 2024 11:48:10 GMT
Tyler Smith Is One Of Few Remaining G-League Ignite Gems
[Empire Sports Media] – Mon, 24 Jun 2024 14:55:04 GMT
Knicks could jump on opportunity to trade for former All-Star sharpshooter
[Basketball Network] – Mon, 24 Jun 2024 13:56:00 GMT
“We didn’t even know who was starting with 30 minutes left on the clock” – Channing Frye calls the 2005-06 Knicks the most dysfunctional team ever
237 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.06.25)”
“I get that most of that, too. But 33 year old PG13 wasn’t oft-injured, and played extremely well.”
I’d be mortified but with the caveat that I’d also be intrigued. A healthy Paul George is a top-10 player in the NBA, and he would fit perfectly WITH Randle. But it would need to be both for me to get really excited. And it seems like it wouldn’t work unless Randle is included.
My preference would be to not make that deal. If it happens, so be it, I will come around on it when the games start. But I think we’d be getting an aging player who is likely to be what he was in his other 4 Clips seasons or worse, and then that contract becomes an albatross.
Give me Iron Man Bridges any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
There is a need to improve, though, because the OG move made us very good but not good enough, and the clock is ticking.
I’m not into the PG stuff. He’s too long in the tooth for me.
The Bridges cost is exorbitant but so was the OG cost. And if we’re going to build around Randle and Brunson we need guys who can make the team better without the ball in their hands.
If we can re-sign OG, which is mandatory to not have a stepback on the team’s growth, i’m not getting why there’s a panic around here to make a move now. We should wait.
Let’s say we waste a lot of assets to get Mikal, and then at the deadline or next summer, Giannis asks out. What can we do to get him if we already traded our stash of picks?
Macri newsletter today wondering if the way to make the salary cap math work to bring in Paul George is to just let OG leave. Which sounds absolutely insane to me. Yes, OG is an injury risk, but he’s a decade younger than Paul George, who is also an injury risk! The healthy PG-13 is better, but I would bet on OG being healthier, more frequently, not only this coming season, but over the life of their respective next contracts.
Oh, also, I forgot to mention yesterday that I have a new book coming out next year: https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/saul-goodman-v-jimmy-mcgill_9781419777196/?utm_source=author+social+media&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=BetterCallSaul_BookAnnouncement&utm_id=bettercallsaulannounce
Thinking could be PG as a sort of consolation prize if OG is determined to walk. Honestly if OG chooses Philly, that’s a top team, IMO. He might like it.
In such an event PG could surprise us with health and quality. Who knows.
Overall, signing an old top ten vet whose rep was firmly established elsewhere and may be in the decline just seems the opposite of Leon’s m.o. for the Knicks.
PS — A good Knicks fan give away next season would be Alan’s new book. Jimmy (Dolan) should buy it in bulk ;-). My order is going in right … now.
Not liking the PG13 idea at all, especially as an OG consolation prize.
If OG walks, Leon should do a pivot and look to trade Randle, Bojan and Mitch for whatever expiring contracts, young players or picks he can get. Resign iHart, hold on to DDV, Hart and McBride for now. Make the draft picks and do a little mini-hybrid rebuild.
Brunson is young enough we could waste a year while we reset. We’d still be competitive probably.
If OG walks it will be a huge setback but IMO going after PG13 at this stage in his career would only be doubling down on that mistake. These all in type moves when you aren’t fully ready to go “all-in” usually fail.
I wouldn’t say there is a panic. But a deeper understanding of our salary structure and the upcoming apron situation means waiting isn’t as easy as you think.
For example:
If Giannis asks out next summer how are you going to assemble the $54MM in matching salary needed to acquire him if Bojan is gone and Randle has a player option?
One year of waiting can make a huge difference.
Paul George as a “consolation prize” for OG Anunoby *really* isn’t the right way to be looking at this.
Best thing to do is see if the Clips would be interested in OG in a S/T, thus minimizing the assets that would have to go the other way. Turning last years’ overpay into Paul George would go a long way toward redeeming the move.
Awesome, Alan — do you anticipate that signed copies will be part of the rollout?
Their contention window is now.
Yeah, to be clear I’m not *advocating PG as consolation prize. Just divining the mood of MSG.
Totally agree that OG walking would be a terrible blow to Leon’s momentum. That suggests an overpay is in the works.
In a sense, for negotiation purposes, Leon needs to float a hypothetical of what could be *good about OG leaving. It’s just not a very promising hypothetical, unfortunately.
If they aren’t “fully ready” to trade for a guy like Paul George, this is a teardown.
E, there will probably be some kind of preorder giveaway (where you show your proof of preorder) involving signed book plates (aka stickers), but we’re a long way off from that. I announced this early because it came up on an appearance on the Blank Check podcast, in conjunction with the movie Midnight Run.
@Alan — Signed or not, my copy is ordered. Best of luck with it.
(And I look forward to your explanation in RS of why I dislike House of Dragons or why I should be liking it bc, man, I hate all those people — except Sonoya! — and I miss Tyrion energy so badly. Hahaha.)
Thanks, KBA! And here’s what I wrote about House of the Dragon a couple of weeks ago: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-review-1235033109/
tl;dr too many boring, interchangeable characters
I was referencing getting PG13 if OG leaves. To me that is a lateral, short term move at best. Although I admit PG13 is “better” it’s very hard to say for sure at this point only because of the huge age difference.
I think we’re contenders with healthy OG and Randle. Obviously not on Boston’s level but that applies to everyone else too. So I guess that puts us in the mezzanine of the mezzanine, lol.
But all in for PG13 seems like a short sighted move to me mainly because of age and injury concerns. It shortens the window considerably.
Or to put it another way. Brunson is still young enough that we could “waste” a season or two and still potentially win it all with him as one of our tentpoles. But we probably couldn’t waste a couple of seasons AND a bunch of assets on PG and then still be able to compete with Brunson if that didn’t work out, if that makes sense.
It’s why if OG walks, Leon should NOT go all in on PG13 but look to do a little mini hybrid rebuild where he trades Randle, Mitch and Bojan and makes draft picks.
I don’t think OG walking is on the table. Leon can pay more than anyone else and he can’t afford to say no. So the worst case scenario is OG coming back at a price that locks our ceiling in too low.
This is the second worst case scenario but if it happens we just gotta hope that OG’s desire to have a larger role in the offense can become a reality because he becomes better. He is still young enough that if he stays healthy he could become better on offense.
We don’t actually know this. That team was healthy for a month and it was awesome. But it was only a month, so it might not have been that good (it probably wasn’t). But maybe it was actually almost that good, we can’t know and we will never know, because even if the same guys are back next year it’s a different year and they’ll be a bit different.
OG Anunoby is going to be 27 in like a week. He’s not young.
Age 27 is generally considered “peak” in the NBA. No, I don’t have the analytics on that.
OG shot the ball well from 3, the ft line, and at the rim, but was dreadful in the midrange, and, as such, can’t set the table for teammates out of drives either. Honestly, I don’t see him getting much better at those things at his age. He’s the ultimate 3&D guy + rim running, but I fear he’s pretty much hit his peak as an offensive threat.
I’ve been trying to think who we’d be targeting if we moved up into the teens (which seems like the sort of thing we’d like to do instead of being smart and staying put) and it’s tough because this draft seems to have so many pretty good prospects but no really obviously good ones out of the top 7 or 8 projected picks. Maybe we’re hoping someone like Collier falls lower than projected?
He has very little offensive game outside those (albeit important) things. It’s beyond a little weird that he’s still insisting he does and still apparently bitching about having to take a more secondary offensive role.
Giving him the benefit of the doubt, his complaints may have been aimed at generating numbers and getting paid. While a bit annoying, that’s at least understandable. If he really and truly from a basketball sense believes his game warrants a bigger offensive role, that’s a problem, especially if getting paid doesn’t mellow him out on that front.
OTOH, to his credit, he’s played very professionally through his “issue.” So we’ll see. Probably not a problem. But it’s very weird.
Yes, but there are people who think we shouldn’t consider this. We shouldn’t only consider the January run but the idea that it shouldn’t be considered at all is also foolish.
I’m guessing it’s Collier or Edey but who knows. Maybe Scheierman is going earlier than we think?
Anyone have thoughts on the Reddick hire in LA? My knee jerk reaction is that he’s gonna get murdered and I’m there for it. If they have good health they may be able to keep him out of harms way but an injury or two and he may not last a season. I just can’t see him making adjustments in the playoffs if he gets that far. Of course, I don’t know shit. Is he a savant genius or something? It’s like Nash in New Jersey (see what I did there, lol) Even Kerr is overrated in my unhumble opinion. I could coach Steph but GSW were always sloppy as fuck and shouldn’t have lost to CLE. Why are we against expertise in this country? Cue the Dr. Fauci discussion lolol
We’re not sign-and-trading anyone to the Clippers because they’re not hard capping themselves, as I presume they don’t want to let James Harden walk for nothing.
I’d also be shocked if we let OG walk to make the PG math easier–seems to me playing the two together is a large part of the appeal of acquiring PG.
I think the Knicks and Clippers can both avoid hard capping themselves at either apron by dumping small salaries on a third team in a PG trade, and thus both slightly reducing their cap burden.
Jeremy Cohen mentioned the possibility that the Mitch/Wizards rumors are connected to the Knicks/PG rumors, and I think, with the caveat that I have less confidence in my cap fluency than ever before, this framework works salary wise without hard capping anyone but the Wizards, who probably don’t give a shit:
Knicks get: PG, Avdija
Clippers get: Randle, Bogey
Wizards get: Mitch, Kai Jones, Jericho Sims
Obviously, there’s still a ton to hash out in terms of pick compensation. But I don’t see why this would hard cap either the Knicks or Clippers, so if you assume there’s some amount of draft compensation that could satisfy everyone involved, this seems like the framework.
I kind of understand flipping Randle for PG if Randle doesn’t want to sign a non-max extension, because you don’t want to max him or let him walk for nothing. But it would have to be very modest draft compensation, as they’d need to keep enough draft assets for a big trade later on if a top 5 player becomes available (with PG likely going out). It would have to be a 3-team trade though (the Knicks Film School guys suggested involving Washington for Avidija as neither NY nor LA want to be capped at the first or second apron).
You lose some of OG’s flexibility with him at the 4, but you slot PG at the 3, which compensates for it.
Brunson-DDV-PG-OG-IHart works really synergistically I think. And you solve the creator issue off the bench by staggering PG and Brunson.
PG’s contract is too rich, but if you have enough assets, it could be useful in a larger superstar trade given the CBA limitations on aggregating salaries, etc.
Edit: TNHF just mentioned the Washington three team trade I refer to above.
My other guess would be Bub Carrington
I think they are targeting a higher pick so that they can trade it for someone they are targeting who is currently playing on another team’s roster.
Katz anonymously polled execs about what contract they think OG should get, and what he will: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5589801/2024/06/25/knicks-og-anunoby-free-agency/
As always, I advise you to click and read the whole thing, but here’s a notable excerpt:
We should consider it but we should also consider how common it is for ordinary teams to have spectacular runs.
The Cavaliers had an 18-1 stretch.
The Clippers went 25-5.
The Rockets went 13-1.
The Magic went 13-3 and 9-0.
Remember last year the Pelicans were the #1 seed in the West before Zion got hurt?
of course, that’s why we don’t know if it was real
Like others, I struggle to see PG as an OG Plan B. They will pay OG. PG is an alternative to Randle deciding to play out his contract year. It’s the FO being risk-averse and wanting an asset/contract they control.
No, they went 26-10. And before they, then went 0-6. Also 2-3. And 0-2. 3-6 at one point. But then they turned that around by going 3-0. Technically, I guess they went 6-6 to finish the season, but also 1-0 in their final game.
Dang, the draft is tonight already? Cue the gnashing of teeth I guess.
There is absolutely 0 chance that Washington trades Avdija for Mitch (Kai Jones and Jericho Sims aren’t even worth mentioning).
If by tonight you mean tomorrow night, then yes it is.
My thought is that it’s inevitably not going to work but it doesn’t matter. For him, he gets the guaranteed money even if he’s fired after one year. He gets his foot in the NBA coaching door and the experience of coaching a team. People thought Kidd was a horrible coach when he coached The Nets and now he’s considered decent and guided a team to the finals. Unless he just embarrasses himself, most people will be smart enough to realize that the Lakers aren’t really going anywhere right now, so I don’t think the stench of an unsuccessful season and firing would hurt him that much.
Ok see Randle for PG flip with OG playing the 4 I could kind of get behind.
Hart is a great back up for PG and you can limit some of PG’s injury concerns in the regular season by playing Hart more during the regular season.
Oh yeah today’s the 25th. One more day until the gnashing
I was also thinking of Collier, but who knows… maybe it’s just to have an overall better shot at getting someone higher on their list? And yes, they’d also be creating a better trade chip.
KB is going to be on fire for the next 10 days–Mike please take note! With all the variables, anything will seem like a left-field move, even if it is just drafting 3 players at the designated draft spots. Looking forward to each post. Everyone needs to be on top form and be willing to see their posts spat back at them years into the future. It probably is also the most important 10 off-season days the team has had since KB began.
I might just come on here once a week until he’s traded (or not) to lament the fact that nobody here (or elsewhere, see Macri) seems to recognize Mitch’s value to the Knicks anymore.
Macri says he’ll likely go but ‘for a return we’ll all like.’ I call bullshit. Yeah we survived his injury because iHart finally played the way he should have been enabled to from the start. But I argue that the combo platter is actually much more, that 1 +1 does not equal 2 but 3 in this case.
Mitch is limited, but what he can do are things almost nobody else can. And with iHart balancing that, it’s a perfect fit. You don’t replace Mitch, and I will also argue that it is very hard to find 80% of Mitch. And without Mitch, if iHart goes down for a while, you’ve got bupkis.
‘A return we all like’ — Part of a Giannis grab, sure. An elderly wing? Not so much.
Okay, back to your regularly scheduled arguing.
The draft is tommorow, but the hottest ticket in town is Yankees/Mets and it starts tonight.
Gerald Bourguet
@GeraldBourguet
Got a bad feeling these new tax apron rules are going to zap the NBA’s offseason. Basically 1/3 of the league has to jump through multiple hoops to try and get trades done, and trading with other tax apron teams will be a struggle. Still can’t believe they agreed to this
I’ll wait to see, but I do think the new CBA will cause major issues with player movement going forward.
Macri basically never liked Mitch until I think the begining of last year. Sometimes his podcasts are good but he’s not really insightful as an analyst
Mitch has always been overrated around here — he’s “efficient”!! — that said, Joel Embiid anchors one of the team’s biggest rivals and Mitch covers Embiid far better than the other center does.
He’s tradeable, but if he’s simply thrown overboard because of aprons, that’s a big blunder.
Most first coaching gigs are with teams like Detroit or Washington. Starting out with LeBron and AD is pretty nice.
You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about this since the lame finals. the NBA has tried so hard to create parity that now we’ve had 6 different Finals winners in the last 6 Finals (from 2019 to 2024) and only two teams have gone to the finals more than once in that span (Heat and Warriors, who were a left over dynasty giving it one last hurrah).
And I gotta say as much as I see why they were wanting to discourage super teams and dynasties controlled by big market teams, I wonder if this is going too far in the other direction.
And this is happening at the same time that we’re going through a star transition period where Lebron, Curry, Durant, etc…are all aging out and that era of stars were WILDLY popular. I just don’t get the feeling that Luka, Jokic, Giannis, Tatum, etc…are at that level as far as casual popularity.
But what could help them become more popular would be if there were real rivalries between real dynasties or dynasty contenders.
Now Celtics are good enough to repeat next year but these new apron rules, etc…are now making it harder for the other teams the next level down to level up. Minny got to the conference finals and might have to trade their second best player because of cap issues.
I don’t know. Casual fans watch the finals to see superstars and all time great teams. The Warriors kind of blew everything up being able to form a big three for cheap and then add Durant but can anyone see a situation where we have a Finals like 2016 again? A rematch against an all-time great regular season team vs. the world’s best player in his prime paired with another young superstar? Even if the Celtics Boston series had been a good one, feels like it would have been like Pistons Spurs where no one really cares.
Don’t really know what the answer is. Just find it interesting. There’s now maybe too much parity?
Please let the January 2023 Knicks team play next season. Add a Brogdon type player, sign another bench piece for the MLE, and let them do their thing. If it’s not good enough by the trade deadline, make your move.
“Please let the January 2023 Knicks team play next season. Add a Brogdon type player, sign another bench piece for the MLE, and let them do their thing. If it’s not good enough by the trade deadline, make your move.”
I’m not sure why this keeps happening (or why it ever happened in the first place). The January that we are so hoping to emulate is January *2024*, not January 2023. It was just a few months ago, and it was *this* calendar year!
I like Julius better than PG at this time with half the pay and with these teamates. Here is an interesting data point.
Knicks 3P% WITHOUT Julius Randle ➡️ WITH Julius Randle:
Jalen Brunson | 37% ➡️ 43%
Donte DiVincenzo | 38% ➡️ 44%
OG Anunoby | 36% ➡️ 43%
Josh Hart | 30% ➡️ 33%
Miles McBride | 39% ➡️ 53%
Corner 3 shot freq:
OG | 17% ➡️ 39%
Donte | 17% ➡️ 22%
Hart | 7% ➡️ 18%
JB | 4.4% ➡️ 4.3%
OMG, play Julius and Deuce together and we’ll never lose!
Director,
Thank you for pointing out those stats. I get frustrated that Randle is constantly diminished because he isn’t a great 3 point shooter as if the only way you can be a good player now in the NBA is with good 3 point shooting.
Of course it would be nice if he shot a higher percentage from 3. But it’s not like he’s some inefficient chucker (well, most of the time). He gets and 1’s all the time. He rebounds really well. HE is a good man to man defender. He scores 25 a game pretty much with ease every game. He is a load and he draws double teams and can kick out and create open looks for his teammates.
Like I get the new emphasis on efficiency and the three point shot being the best shot, yada yada but sometimes people really lose sight of a player’s complete game with this shit.
I’ve been a Mitch truther since his rookie year but this was a very disappointing season. I don’t know if it was just a down year for him and he’ll just bounce back next season or if all the injuries have taken a toll on his body.
He’s never been a good offensive player but he’s always been an elite finisher at the rim; over 70% every season except 2020-21 when he shot 68%. This year he shot 60% at the rim.
Most of this downturn can probably be attributed to fewer dunks. In 2020-21 he played 31 games, just like this season. That year, he had 84 dunks; this year he had 45. For his career, 54% of his FGA were dunks; this year, it was only 40%. On top of all that, his FT% gets worse every season. He actually shot 60% on FT his rookie year and he was down to 40% this season.
He’s still a great defensive player (even if his blocks and BLK% have gotten worse every season) and a dominant offensive rebounder, but a rim runner who can’t finish at the rim has little value to an NBA team.
Don’t we, though? We had 5 guys playing ~4.0 bpm basketball at the same time for 4 weeks while Deuce McBride & Quentin Grimes shot lights out off the bench. Shouldn’t we just go with probability?
Like when we traded for Josh Hart and he shot 52% from 3 for 2 months, did we need proof that wasn’t real?
Hey, don’t try to claim Mitch’s island all to yourself, i’m still here! 😉
Not to nitpick but it actually was real. He did do it.
Obviously they’re using “real” and “sustainable” interchangeably.
Obviously they are. Good callout, Chicanery.
Those are impressive numbers, Director. I guess Randle’s gravity effect when on the court has a cascading effect on the other players.
Mitch only played 31 games this year — and was still 34th in the entire league in offensive rebounds.
About the draft, i didn’t even try to analyze prospects because i have bad news to all you draft junkies. We’re going to trade our 1st round picks. Maybe we can collect another 2nd and select 2 players, but it has to be 2nd rounders because that’s not a guaranteed salary on the books.
(From my houseboat moored off Raven and Cyber’s Mitch Island.)
I honestly think the Knicks give Mitch his best chance to succeed, so I want to keep him for his and for our sake. Maybe that’s false, and the Wizards (?) will unlock something we can’t, but who will care, really. It’s Washington. At the end of the day, if a center dominates but there are no Knick fans to watch, does it really happen 😉
Seriously, though, Mitch had some monster games for us, and, until his body broke, he alone did good work on Embiid (a rival who is not going away). A much better story for me would be that Mitch is getting elite free throw coaching this off season and is adding a sky hook, all under the watchful eye of our new physio guy/s.
Yeah, we know that team is probably not the best team in the NBA. But we don’t really know if they were like reasonably close to Boston or not. Outside of Deuce on low volume shooting and sort of Donte nobody was shooting insanely well in January
Our record with OG is 26-6. There’s no 50 game stretch of mediocre ball like there is for the teams you listed.
Doesn’t mean we’re that good, but it’s fundamentally different than arbitrarily chopping the season into good looking and bad looking segments. We don’t know how good we are and that’s pretty important in determining our next move.
Thanks for pointing it out. So much has happened since then.
I am ready to assume they are reasonably close to Boston. I just think that means you pay up to get better now.
Well then, I will hold seats at the tiki bar for KBA and Cyber. Since it’s just us it’ll be self-serve, but there’s lots of fruit and little umbrellas and a drink menu is under the bar…
Guys, 26-6 projects to 66 wins. There is a 0% chance this team gets to 66 wins next year if OG plays 82 games. It is the flukiest fluke of all flukes. Give it up.
Apparently we worked out Enrique Freeman, who I think is one of the more fun prospects in this class. This is of course distinct from thinking he is a good prospect–the odds are stacked quite heavily against any 24 year-old coming from the MAC.
But look at this tape! He’s got a fun little post game and uses his long ass arms to gobble up rebounds and blocks. Plus his jumper doesn’t look…terrible.
The numbers speak for themselves, realistically someone his age should be dominating that conference. Still, with a second-round pick or UDFA flyer I would love to be in the Enrique Freeman business.
hi swifty, i think “eyes”/marketing dollars are going to go to Antman, SGA, and Wemby…and hopefully/maybe the ladies…
they’re the future for younger fans, who still love steph, lebron and whatnot…
soooo sad to hear of Cameron Brinks season ending with an acl injury…
i hope this continues to be a great season for the wnba, attendance is up 7.5% this season…
ha, julius’ gravity effect can mostly be attributed though – to players coming to steal the ball from him, because they often can…
ha, as long as it works though, who cares…
again, how old is julius?
We have been working out a lot of 2nd round/interesting udfa guys.
Early Bird favorite Jonathan Mogbo has had TWO workouts with us.
Early Bird favorite Jonathan Mogbo has had TWO workouts with us.
mogbo kinda reminds me of faried if faried could pass
as usual i have fallen in love with the undersized tryhard guards, but i guess they are going too high this year. i like devin carter and jared mccain, even though both seem two inches too small for who they are.
We know we kicked ass with OG in January. We know we struggled without him the rest of the season (but also no Randle). We know that before we traded for OG we were a 500ish (little better) team.
We know that we were able to beat Philly in a playoff series with OG (but no Randle).
The January run isn’t just an arbitrary set of games because it’s specifically the games where we had healthy OG and Randle. If we had been 500 all season with OG and Randle and then suddenly got hot for a month, taht would be a different story.
It’s incomplete data but it is data that points to the possibility of us being good. If we look at that data plus beating Philly plus being up 2-0 against The Pacers before OG got hurt, we can reasonably assume we’re a pretty good team with OG and we’re even better with Randle.
it’s going to be annoying if the pistons get a first from the mavericks for grimes and taking th2
It’s going to drive salaries down, and enrich the billionaires that pay out for them. That’s not “zapping the offseason” to rich people. That’s what makes their tiny, decrepit, festering, withered penises rock hard. Rock fucking hard. That’s cold hard cash, baby. Money. It’s why they buy politicians and donate their savings to Leonard Leo for a good ROI on the tax code. Big savings. Great GMROI. That’s how they keep wiping around their hemorrhoids with hundred dollar bills. Well, not them. The servants they pay to wipe around the hemorrhoids so they don’t get their hands dirty.
We were on our way to beating Indiana, when OG (and eventually Brunson) got hurt, so even at mostly full strength we were a conference finals caliber team. That ain’t too shabby. Our performance in the playoffs while at near-full strength is a better data point to me than our record in January.
I agree. That would be a terrible idea.
I think the probability that OG works on his handle in the off season and comes back next year as more complete offensive player is pretty good. I don’t think we’ll see magical improvement, but it’s an area to work on that I think he’ll be able to make progress on.
I think I-Hart has a chance to be better next year also. I would not be shocked if he started shooting corner 3s here or there and does a little more in the mid range besides his floater. He’s not a terrible shooter. There’s something to work with there.
It’s going to drive salaries down, and enrich the billionaires that pay out for them. That’s not “zapping the offseason” to rich people. That’s what makes their tiny, decrepit, festering, withered penises rock hard. Rock fucking hard. That’s cold hard cash, baby. Money. It’s why they buy politicians and donate their savings to Leonard Leo for a good ROI on the tax code. Big savings. Great GMROI.
mama told me to never ever yeah, but jowles slam poetry. but you know it’s probably not gonna make a dent to owners p&ls writ large. last few years average team salary has run ~25% over the cap. guessing it’s going to be roughly the same under the weird apron rules. probably be some winners and losers within the players and tax dollars reshuffled among the decrepit.
Unfortunately, the most important number here is “31 games.”
I’m a bigtime Mitch enjoyer, but realistically, he will always let you down with injuries. I would like to think of him the way Boston thought about Time Lord last year this time. He still has value because he CAN be awesome, so if we’re realistically thinking about trading anybody, he should be near the top of the list. Pay Hartenstein, find a good value C to back him up, try to improve somewhere else.
Tell me about it.
BTW, the OG stuff – this is just the classic negotiation game. Why would he leave us unless we dramatically low-ball him? He has to claim he’s open to leaving so he can try to nudge our $35M / year number up (or whatever), but we can offer more term so… given his injury history, he’d be crazy to take fewer years, unless he just LOVES Philly for some reason. And we basically have to pay him. Just going to be some boring nonsense in the press for the next week or two until it’s over.
(And if I’m wrong… fuuuuuuuck)
Don’t quote me on this. I’m too lazy to look it up, but I remember reading a Raptors article early in the season as part of my own due diligence on how OG was playing and the reporter was saying the Raptors were so much better when OG played they couldn’t afford to be without him. That was prior to the decision to start tanking and blow up the team. So there may be more evidence of OG’s value to winning this year beyond the Knicks record with him and his incredible on/off numbers in NY.
To be clear, Swift, I’m agreeing that most data points to us being very good. DRed’s assessment was “reasonably close to Boston”, and I’m cool with that.
What I don’t believe is that we’re some latent 66 win juggernaut bc of our record with OG.
Both Embiid and Halliburton were significantly less than full strength during the Knicks playoff games.
The Knicks were obviously banged up worse in a general sense and so this isn’t a full-on “You are what your record says you are” situation — that’s silly — but I’m not sure the haircut from that rock-solid principle is as big as some seem to think it is.
The 2022-23 Raptors weren’t any worse with OG out than with him in. 8-7 with him out, 41-41 overall.
They played the entire postseason their championship year without him.
If you buy OG’s “I want a bigger role” thing (and there’s really no reason not to; it’s been a thing now for like three years) that’s a non-monetary reason to go somewhere else where you rightly or wrongly think you’ll have a role more commensurate with your skills and hopes.(*)
According to Fischer, OG’s camp is literally naming names of people who he’s frustrated taking a backseat to — the “Villanova triumverate” — and as Fischer notes OG’s camp noting, that’s before dealing with a Randle return. If the dude’s naming names, that’s a pretty telling sign.
(*) And if he’s this delusional about his offensive game, there’s no reason to think the same delusions might not lead him to think there will be a bigger role someplace that there won’t actually be, but will still be a sufficient illusion to make him jump ship. As professional and good as he is on the court, he’s not really seeing things clearly on the role/business side, and that always adds a wild card element to things.
But E, I think it’s a little bit disingenous (although I don’t think that you’re doing that on purpose) to say that OG was not that valuable to Toronto in terms of overall winning percentage/record—although it is a true statement, it’s simply irrelevant. I think the point that many here (and I include myself among them) are making is about OG’s value to *our specific* team in terms of fit, and therefore his resultant effect on winning.
That kind of thing is at best temporary, at worst accidental. Players change, systems change, coaches change, basketball time moves on. I put very little stock in it. It’s old news at this point.
He’s not as good as Paul George. If they swapped him out for Paul George, everything else being equal they’d be a better team.
The article was from this year.
It was probably a reference to his on/off because he didn’t miss many games for Toronto this year, and when he did, they were playing teams they might have lost to anyway.
IMO, it’s obvious he’s a solidly plus player overall, perfect fit the Knicks, and was a huge upgrade from RJ because he’s both better and a better fit. I get all the concerns about aprons and flexibility, but IMO paying this guy is just as big a no brainer as my salivating and praying that we would trade for him to begin with. Can he get hurt? Sure. But he is critical and very very good. Throw in a minimum games/minutes incentive and sign the guy.
So what did we win 50 games last year?
We had more injuries than the average team and added a very key piece mid season that missed a ton of games. All else being equal we are damn good. We definitely aren’t Boston good, aren’t Denver good, and there are quite a few other teams that are very close that we are among. Some of the others have more internal upside, but we have weapons to get better externally and can inch a little internally.
We are right there. We need a move.
If true, this might have Leon leaning away from the OG table. The one constant of the Leon regime has been no drama and no intrasquad sniping.
Hypothetically, if OG walks, is there a reasonable trade folks could support to bring in PG or similar?
For me, the worst case scenarios are 1) signing OG for too high and too long a contract. 2) trading too much for an old vet.
Maybe there’s a third path if OG is not here (despite the inevitable and justified complaints that we would have lost IQ and RJ for nothing).
I should add, especially since I love OKC’s trade for Caruso. They are probably my favorite out of the west over Denver as things are today.
lmao
Brunson is going control the ball. I don’t believe they/he could possibly be complaining about that. In fact, it’s so preposterous it makes me question the entire article. Actually, I do question the article. The reason he wanted the ball and to shoot more often in Toronto was because he wanted to get paid. He knows elite defenders don’t always get paid what they worth. They have to score. Well, he’s getting paid because in NY we see his value.
That said, he should have more plays run for him than Josh Hart.
Josh can handle it and make plays better, but more should be done to get OG involved because he can shooter better from 3 and he’s stronger around the rim even if he doesn’t always finish.
Between he and DDV it should be a matchup thing. Whoever has the best of it should get the ball more that night.
In the mean time, if OG works on his handle and non dunk finish this off season, he’ll force them to give him the ball more because he’ll be a terror on both sides.
“League sources indicated that the New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings both offered draft capital to the Bulls in packages they felt were superior to the one-for-one deal. The Athletic previously reported the Kings’ offer that featured the 13th overall pick in this week’s NBA Draft.”
https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/nba/chicago-bulls/bulls-introduce-josh-giddey/571876/
I have not seen this anywhere. Can you provide a link or an exact quote please?
(And please watch that triumvirate spelling sez Doogie)
The OG chatter is kind of annoying. All indications were that he was going to stay with the Knicks, perhaps on a richer deal that he deserves, but with him joining CAA and Leon’s son as part of the negotiation team it just seems illogical for him to wind up elsewhere. So I’m just going to ignore all the smoke until something actually happens.
And to tell the truth, I just don’t think he’s worth a deal starting out in the $40M’s. It would suck to lose him, but having an injury-prone guy holding you hostage for that kind of deal doesn’t mean you just roll over and give it to him.
In either case, meaning if we sign him to a risky bloated long-term deal with a player option in year 5, or if we lose him for nothing, it will certainly not be Leon’s finest hour.
And to be honest, I do see why someone outside the ‘Nova Triumvirate would find them kind of annoying. Not that OG deserves a bigger role in the offense, just more of the inner circle thing.
Took a fair bit of googling but I found this: https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/former-toront-raptors-wing-og-anunoby-still-searching-for-bigger-offensive-role-with-new-york-knicks
Apparently a quote from a Yahoo podcast.
Another thing that I find kinda annoying is that there is a sense that breaking up the ‘Nova trio is a non-starter. I would 1000000000X rather include Josh Hart in a deal for Paul George than Julius Randle. But that might hurt Brunson’s feelings, so it probably won’t happen.
In a larger sense, I hope that this shit doesn’t get in the way of making smart deals that include either or both of DDV and especially Hart, whose contract is no bargain.
I refuse to believe there’s a real person anywhere who thinks the Knicks offense is too Josh Hart centric. He doesn’t even want to shoot
You really have to take into account that the cap is going to spike several years in a row. It was $141M this year and should be something like $225M by the last year of OG’s contract.
When I saw the words “Julius” and “triumvirate” in this piece, I was looking for Pompey and Crassus next….
This is one reason that piece doesn’t pass the smell test.
“You really have to take into account that the cap is going to spike several years in a row. It was $141M this year and should be something like $225M by the last year of OG’s contract.”
My understanding is that there is cap-leveling in place that only allows for 10% increases, is that not the case?
@ThisChicanery — thx for the link.
I wonder if OG might also think Philly is closer to the championship with him than we would be, perhaps even comparing Embiid’s fragility favorably against our injuries to JB, Randle, Mitch, even iHart’s tweak. Add in whatever might have gone on bts as OG’s elbow was handled by our medical. Plus Thibs’s rep for grinding players, deserved or not. All of this is leverage at the table with Leon.
But let’s stay the course. Move along now. Nothing to see here.
PS — we (some of us) keep referencing January as a streak that made obvious we are a very good team with OG and he should see that, too, and want to stay. He might rather interpret that as himself being really good and worth a max deal to deliver that same bump to anyone who signs him.
It works if it’s a 5 year deal.
There is but I miscounted the years. Should be looking at $206M in the last year of a 4 year deal.
A 10% increase a year over four years from $141M gives a cap of $206M. A year later and another 10% boost gives $226M. This is pretty close to the cited figure.
I don’t know if that Fisher report is true, but let’s be honest: a very long list of players has been unhappy about standing in the corner of Thibs’ offense.
I agree with everything you’ve been saying, but I think “hostage” has a tad too much of a negative connotation to it. Unlike Randle, who may have negotiated while keeping the team’s flexibility and winning a championship a consideration, OG seems to want full market value. He’s going to test the market, get an offer, and force the Knicks to top it. But fair market value is true of Brunson and J-Hart too. Brunson looks underpaid now, but his salary was more than fair when the deal was made. You just argued that J-Hart is still no bargain and I’m not going to argue with you. It’s seem fair to me. So OG wants fair also, which will be determined by the market.
I think people are keying in a bit too much on “triumvirate”. It’s easier to say he’s annoyed at the Nova trio when he really means Brunson and DDV
Hopefully there will some internal development from our coach also.
Yeah, I don’t do “Nova Triumvirate” either. If it’s a thing, it’s yet another thing that doesn’t have anything to do with basketball.
I honestly never thought OG would leave until I read that. And I still think it’s like 90% likely he stays.
But holy shit. For the first time this summer, it really hit me what a knife’s edge we’re on.
There’s certainly a case to be made that it made sense from a basketball perspective, but it’s also the case that once the two quality players left here and OG got here, Brunson and Randle started chucking something fierce.
Would any of you bet money that OG is gonna bolt?
I’d only need about 2-1 to take the bet. They’ve had over a week to get a deal done (Siakim took like five seconds) and it’s been crickets and complaints from OG’s side about both money and role.
They still have a few days before he can talk to other teams … if it’s not done by then and he truly hits the market, even odds he’s gone.
A lot depends on whether they think they can get PG.
While I think OG is somewhat delusional about what he brings to an offense, he wouldn’t even be close to the first player that didn’t want to be just a secondary “glue” cog. Right now from his perspective, he didn’t really like his secondary status and now he’s seeing that Randle is going to be added to that issue going forward.
At the very least, they’re going to have to salve his concerns with extra money.
Maybe “Anxiety” from Inside Out 2 is running rampant in our brains 😉
But I would def prefer to be on OG’s side of this negotiation.
I remember when people over analyzed Mitch’s tweets like he was also going to bolt. It’s kind of funny that we keep doing the same things over and over. I’d bet a lot of money OG is staying.
So if he leaves, and the Knicks suffer a major setback, I could be like.. $100 richer? Seems like a raw deal.
Jalen Brunson usage Dec.: 30.4
Jalen Brunson usage Jan: 31.4
Julius Randle usage Dec.: 29.3
Julius Randle usage Jan.: 30.8
wow!
“A 10% increase a year over four years from $141M gives a cap of $206M. A year later and another 10% boost gives $226M. This is pretty close to the cited figure.”
If we are starting him at $42.3M and giving him 8% raises, his salary is pretty much keeping pace with the cap raises. He’d be getting paid around $53M in year 4 and 57.5M in year 5. That’s hardly a bargain.
Givony’s mock draft from today has us landing Collier (!), Shannon Jr. (blech), and Mogbo (!).
I have Collier ranked in the top 7 (I think people are waaaaaay overreacting to some uneven play on a mess of a team, the talent is there), so I’d be ecstatic even if I didn’t like the other picks or lack thereof.
Would you bet a lot of money that you will like his contract?
Well the Yankees sure feel like they’re coming apart but at least the Commissioner’s Cup is about to tipoff
That seems like a pretty fair position for him to take 🙂
Hollinger put out his top-75 today. I always like his because it diverges pretty significantly from others.
Some players we’ve discussed that Hollinger has outlier takes on:
9) Filipowski
12) Collier
21) Mogbo
Worth reading through his takes on the players you like. More stat driven, as you’d expect.
I like that Hollinger has Risacher relatively low, he screams bust to me. Or at least high bust potential.
OG is not comparable to Siakam in contract negotiations because the Pacers offered Suakam more than what any other team could offer under the CBA rules. Rose obviously didn’t do that. He probably made what he claimed was a market offer and OG then said he wanted verify that.
Can Mogbo defend wings at all?
No, i wouldn’t. And this is the question we should be talking about. How much money do we think OG will get and if said money will prevent us from getting to contender status (or upgrade the team, for those that think we’re contenders already).
I hear some guys saying that Enrique Freeman is moving up draft boards. Looking at his film, I can’t imagine why. He looks terrible.
I enjoyed Hollinger’s recent comment that the Knicks have an “issue” with their draft picks now. The “issue” is that teams used to covet Knicks picks because they expected the Knicks to be bad and the picks to be good. But now it’s the opposite and Knicks’ first round picks just aren’t worth as much as they used to be.
Here’s O’Connor’s negatives on Collier:
Not what I would be looking for from a guy with a 6’5″ wingspan. Is he any better than Shead? His film is exciting, but just doesn’t seem like a heady player. But if they take him, I’d be intrigued.
Seems weird that Leon would move up for a guy like Collier who basically wouldn’t be ready to contribute next season—unless they want to use him as a trade chip this summer or at the deadline.
I’m not very good at 4-D chess, but maybe he has a whole bunch of moves planned out that I cannot comprehend yet?
I think the assumption was that Collier would fall to us. I would definitely not move up for him.
Collier is almost 3 full years younger than Shead, 3 inches taller, and played a lot better against tougher competition. So there’s that.
Shead is 2 years older, and more experieced, but he was the best player on the best team in the best conference in the country.
I own a significant stretch of beachfront on Mitch Island but I am at peace with whatever happens.
I think an OG deal will get done but this kind of brinksmanship does feel ominous. Good vibes were a big part of what we did around here last year.
OG has to know that any team he has a large offensive role on won’t be very good. And you would think he should be happy to take a relative backseat for 35-49 million. If you are making 3x DDV isn’t that kind of the point? Is he really worried about his next contract already?
Athletes are proud people though. I don’t know, I hope it’s just posturing.
holy shit
HOLY FUCK ABSOLUTE WOJ NUKE
wow
WTFFFFFF
too many picks for my taste but not putting in Deuce is a big plus
It’s a lot of picks, but we didn’t give up anyone. Fucking SQUAD.
We’re maxing everyone now. Holy fuck.
Yeah just pay OG whatever he wants at this point
Apparently Bridges asked Brooklyn earlier this week to be traded to the Knicks.
Well, hello….
OG might have a point about taking a backseat to Villanova now
Shead is 1.5″ shorter but had a 3″ higher vertical and might be the best pound for pound defensive player in the draft. He averaged 8.1 assists to 2.3 turnovers. I don’t know what you mean by “tougher competition, the Big 12 is an excellent conference with teams like Kansas, Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas, and he was the Big 12 player of the year. They were a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament and lost to Duke in the sweet 16 by 3 points. Meanwhile, Collier averaged fewer rebounds, assists, and steals per 40 and had barely better than a 1:1 ast/to ratio.
We’re also talking about taking Shead at 38 vs. Collier at 24 where he is unlikely to still be available. If he falls, sure, why not? But I’d rather go with a wing or big and take Shead.
The Nets are probably going to cut Bojan I imagine?
Holy shit!!!
I’m midway through my delayed flight back to LA when i saw the Woj nuke. My jaw literally dropped…
Never in a million years would i think the Nets would trade us Mikal.
LET’S
FUCKING
GOOOOO!!!!!
That’s a fuckload of picks. Damn.
Yes! Apron shmapron! Sign OG, IHart, and kick Boston’s ass!
Doubt it unless he asks. They’ll want someone who can score some baskets and I’d imagine he’ll be a valuable trade asset for any contender looking for scoring punch off the bench.
Please tell me we’re keeping OG 🙏
That is a craaaaaaaaaaazy amount of picks. But I’d rather spend them on him than on Spida or PG13.
Just max everyone now.
I suspect they’ll trade him to a team in the lux tax and that team will cut him.
So yall got your wishes
I’m just waiting to see exactly which picks they get. It would be nice if 2 of the unprotected ones are this year’s. I think..
Also..what does this mean for Randle and OG? I would think we can only keep one now..beyond this season at least
O.M.G.
Per Woj, they’re our unprotected picks starting next year and going every other year.
AND we can still draft players tomorrow!
Seems like Knicks keeping their 1st rd picks this year.
The picks in this draft have no value, I would rather move them
So if they’re sending more money than it’s coming back, aren’t they hard capped at the 1st apron?
The Nets got their first back from Houston they are going to tank to an incredible degree next year
Begley says this doesn’t change anything with OG, which makes sense. Get him back, get iHart back, and holy FUCK let’s do the damn thing.
“Also..what does this mean for Randle and OG? I would think we can only keep one now..beyond this season at least”
I think this was our last move. We can pay everybody now. Cap be damned. Is Bojan in the deal?
I like Mikal, but he’s a role player. Seems to have a ton of fans here and obviously in our front office. It’s also clear who is in charge of this team [Villanova]
Collier gets to the rim and that’s a pretty damn important skill.
The Knicks value rim pressuring PGs, having previously tried to trade up for Ivey. Or just think of D Rose under Thibs’s system. Collier isn’t Rose, but he does the kinds of things Thibs seems to like in his PGs.
What a wing defense we are going to have!!!!
Leon is the man. He stockpiled picks, rolled them out, jumped through hoops and got us the best possible player for this team.
It was worth it all.
We are a legit contender
Yup! NOW let’s see what they do tmrw!
That’s way too many picks for Bridges. He’s a damn good player though, I’m happy with rolling it back with the rest of the crew now. DDV to the bench after that season feels wrong…
We sent out 25/27/29/31 unprotected, MIL 2025, our ’26 swap, and two seconds.
It’s definitely steep as hell, but I also didn’t think there was anyway we could do something like this without sending out a good young player. This is pretty much the team we have now, plus whatever picks we make tomorrow (and it seems much more likely we make at least 2 picks tomorrow now).
No pressure Leon but nailing the picks tomorrow now becomes pretty essential…
Dolan is going to be paying major tax bucks over the next 5 years.
I’m not sure we are done.
I think there’s one more move to strengthen the bench.
Apparently Bridges requested a trade to the Knicks earlier this week per Begley.
Do tomorrow’s picks go out in another deal or do we keep them in order to deflate the payroll?
Trading picks 7 years out is bad. But the player they are bringing in is good. It’s hard to really dislike this move now, but I’ll check back again when my kids are all grown and I’m semi-retired to see how this one turned out.
Yeah I’m with you on that, but others see it different
I mean, to get a 2-way star iron man stud in his prime that fits the team perfectly for a washed up scrub and a million picks? Seems like an overpay, but the kind of overpay that makes sense at this point in time.
I am literally stunned.
FUCK. This escalated quickly.
@IanBegley
NYK free agent C Isaiah Hartenstein is expected to be a top target for several opposing teams in free agency. With the offers that Hartenstein is expected to command on open market, it’s become increasingly unlikely that NYK will be able to retain Hartenstein, per SNY sources
well that sucks
We paid a very very steep price, but if we wanted Bridges from the Nets we were always going to have to overpay because plenty of other teams also wanted him. To trade him cross town was going to take an offer that no one else could match.
NBA offseason is such a roller coaster
He’s tired of the Villanova love fest
That was always the hope.
Begley saying looks like iHart is gone.
I guess we’ll need to trade a pick or two for a center now.
Edit: Hey, isn’t Walker Kessler sort of on the block?
I don’t understand the point of educate the weak
iHart had bad tendons anyhow, we should get a healthy center from somewhere
I hate losing IHart. Damn.
It’s fine. We’ll just start Arcidiacono at C:
Brunson
Donte
Hart
Mikal
Archie
Don’t go on Twitter unless you want your head to explode from all the people that think it’s impossible to sign OG and iHart now.
Mitch(?)-Randle-OG-Bridges-JB
C-PF-Josh-DDV-Deuce
I guess we can work some things with PF on the bench, but we could use some bigs now
Yeah, now it feels like we traded iHart and a zillion picks for Mikal, although it sounds like we didn’t really have a way to keep him anyway.
Do we have enough picks left to trade up for Edey?
Could Randle for KAT could be back on the table if I-Hart is gone?
Not sure about cap considerations
KAT, OG, Bridges, DDV, Brunson.
That’s 5 out like Boston with two elite wing defenders to guard Brown and Tatum and KAT to handle KP.
I’m expecting the OG 5 year deal to be announced soon.
Also seems like a major gamble on Mitch’s health…
We’ll have to see how everything shakes out before we know for sure, but we should have the taxpayer MLE and it sounds like we’ve been talking to Goga. Would support that for sure, but very bummed about iHart from both a basketball and human perspective.
Julius at the 5!
JB-Donte-Mikal-OG-Julius.
“Randle for KAT could be back on the table if I-Hart is gone.”
That deal would probably require picks going out and we don’t have any left to trade.
i like this trade….I think Bridges has more upside to come…but what is the starting five assuming Randle is still here?
Zach Edey: Come on down!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i9zGlGB3mxo
Jeremy Cohen thinks it’s possible the Knicks could trade Randle now to recoup some picks..
For some reason I’m very worried about the OG deal. Anyone else? Seems like he’s got his own agenda (not in a bad way) and might not want to be part of the Villanova thing.
Okay, so if we trust Ian — and we should always trust Ian — and if the team re-signs OG, then our rotation at the moment is something like this:
STARTERS
C: Mitch
PF: Julius
SF: OG
SG: Mikal
PG: Jalen
BENCH
PG: Deuce
SG: DDV
SF/PF: Josh Hart
Big: TBD, with Precious, Sims, a draft pick, a free agent, or a veteran we acquire with one of this year’s picks all in contention.
We almost certainly have to make at least two picks this week, just to make the salary structure manageable at all.
That is just a massive, massive haul of draft picks we gave the Nets, with high potential to blow up in our faces down the road. But holy shit, that rotation!
cgreene, to your concern, I offer this bit of wisdom from another beat writer we should pretty much always trust:
Let’s Fucking Go Nova Knicks reunited
“We’ll have to see how everything shakes out before we know for sure, but we should have the taxpayer MLE and it sounds like we’ve been talking to Goga. Would support that for sure, but very bummed about iHart from both a basketball and human perspective.”
Me too. But Goga would be an excellent 80/20 consolation prize.
All the beat and national writers are saying signing OG is still Knicks top priority.
I’m not sure the Knicks are done.
1. They had to know they wanted Bridges and that it was at least possible.
2. if they got him, keeping I-Hart would be way more difficult.
3. They were talking to teams about Mitch.
4. If you think you have a shot at Bridges and may lose I-Hart, you don’t talk to multiple teams about Mitch.
IMO something else is brewing.
Yeah we should really keep our picks tomorrow, unless like we’re trading into the teens to get Edey
Wow. If we keep OG and iHart on top of this we are a top 2 team, and true contenders.
If we don’t, we just mortgaged our future and locked into the mezzanine til 2030.
Looking like it’s the latter, which means it’s incredibly dumb to have made this move with no assurances those guys would be back. Why couldn’t we just wait a bit? With both those guys gone for nothing it makes more sense to tear this down than push all in like we just did…
Another thought. A team that thinks it will most OG would trade away 4 picks so they can replace him with the next best player.
If OG had a different agent, I’d be more worried.
As to iHart, I love the guy, but if he gets paid like $25M AAV that seems like too much. I’d pay it, but he’d definitely be on an above-market contract.
I’m a little freaked out. Everything I advocated for over the last few years the Knicks have now done. I pray we can keep iHart too… But if not, we’re still gonna have a 4-5 year window of contention.
New thread up
Are there any teams we can move Mitch to that have cap space and won’t have to send money back?
I think If we can open up some money, we can keep I-Hart. I don’t think the issue is that we are getting outbid. It’s that we need to move some contracts.
By the way, not having I-Hart would not a disaster if iMitch was able to stay healthy. Maybe our new hire Casey Smith in medical/training can help with that.
I just got back from dinner. Any news?
Voltron
Ian Begley
@IanBegley
Mikal Bridges’ side made it clear to Nets he wanted to be a Knick. But Nets didn’t have to trade him. Knicks made an offer BKN couldn’t refuse. More on that, why Isaiah Hartenstein is unlikely to be back & what it means for OG Anunoby & more here https://x.com/IanBegley/status/1805802384607650289
@IanBegley
Even though BKN knew Mikal Bridges wanted to be a Knick, Nets certainly didn’t have to trade him now. He had 2 years left on his deal. So NYK had to make an offer BKN couldn’t refuse. They clearly did that. Fair to assume the NYK offer was by far the best BKN received for