by saying his takes were “laughably dumb”?

With defenders like these, who needs bullies? : )

Anyway, Presti v Rose discussion aside — JK, you think it’s worth catching Tedeschi Trucks band at the Greek this weekend? Little Feat is opening, apparently Bill Payne is not only still alive but still in the band. I’m on the fence.

“I’d personally trade our situation for OKC’s”

And that’s the rub, isn’t it? Doesn’t this really boils down to “I’d personally trade Leon for Presti!”? If so, guess what? No one here disagrees with that! Not even Strat!

The larger and more enduring disagreement is strictly about methodology, not execution. You stated above in no uncertain terms that the “full” rebuild is the “correct” method. There are some semantical interpretations in what “full” and “correct” mean, but taken at face value, a full rebuild involves foregoing winning for one or more seasons in order to improve draft position, renting out cap space, and hoarding assets until one’s position on the win curve merits bolder moves, barring obvious opportunistic moves. Is that not what you essentially mean, beyond the obvious “win transactions” platitude that applies to all methods?

Strat’s position has always been that a great GM can make a variety of strategies work equally well, perhaps even better than abject tanking, i.e. that it’s less about the strategy and more about the execution. (feel free to correct me on this, Strat.) His position seems to have been proven out with the Knicks since Leon’s hiring, given Leon’s rookie mistakes and (according to detractors) bumbling of some situations. In other words, if Presti was constrained to Leon’s methodology, isn’t it imaginable that we’d be even better off than we are?. Maybe we have Hali instead of Brunson (which objectively seems like a wash, and that in and of itself balances out Leon’s big “hybrid” coup!) but we would also have made better draft picks at the positions we drafted, plus fewer trade outs, no 2021 merc run-back, etc. (Although maybe he dumps Randle, whiffs on iHart, Hart, and OG…who knows?)

And that’s the point…there really isn’t a “correct” method at all, is there? Whatever one wants to think about OKC’s situation vs. the Knicks, there are lots of examples of non-Presti “full” rebuilds that have not left the Knicks and their novice POBO in the dust (see: Sixers, Magic, Cavs, Rockets, Kings), or that have actually gone sideways (see: Pelicans, Pistons, Hornets, Blazers, Suns.) Then there are teams that have largely gone hybrid but benefitted from opportunism and luck (Mavs, Heat, Raptors) or “full” rebuild team that seemed to hit home runs but have been cursed by bad luck (Grizz, Nets.)

So at this point, I don’t see how there can still be any strong opinions regarding which methodology is “correct” beyond some marginal probability.

Is that the “right way” to rebuild? Well, judge for yourself. I’d personally trade our situation for OKC’s, as they have more young and controllable talent, more future assets and what appears to me to be a higher floor and ceiling than us. They should be contenders essentially forever. YMMV. I like our team too.

And honestly I quite like Strat and agree with him more than I disagree. His takes, other than a few blind spots, are reasonable. It’s just a bit rich for me for him to claim that he’s vindicated by OKC’s success because they got where they are by “winning deals.” That’s how EVERY team gets better. You don’t get to retroactively apply that standard to every team that is good. OKC did an asset hoard and rode it to glory. There are no Josh Hart type trades in their trajectory, no free agent signings. If what they did is the “hybrid” method then there is no such thing as a rebuild.

Just defending the resident punching bag from some bullies. That’s kind of what I do!

But that isn’t the point, is it? Out of one side of your mouth, you say that you were wrong, and out of the other you say that “well, I was still right that the “full” rebuild (whatever that is) is the “correct” method.

In that defense, you say ridiculous things like “Every single player in their rotation except Isaiah Joe was a player that they drafted…” conveniently forgetting that the single player that actually makes them a contender is SGA.

And again, you were at the front of the line in criticizing Leon’s decision-making, whether in the draft, in signing mercs, in extending RJ, etc. Yet despite those mistakes, we are at the point where you are sort of admitting you were wrong; yet you still feel compelled to be dismissive of the guy who has been 100X more right than you all along.

And of course, by calling you out on that, I must have some sort of grudge or whatever. There’s always something, isn’t there?

And PS, I’m not a big fan of Strat and his takes on Phil, Frank, the media, or politics. I have called him out many times on those things.