[Posting and Toasting] – Mon, 29 Jul 2024 17:31:09 GMT
Former Knicks are all over the 2024 Paris Olympics
[Sports Illustrated] – Mon, 29 Jul 2024 17:00:00 GMT
- Analyst Urges Knicks to Make Pistons Trade
- REPORT: Knicks could “intentionally overpay” Precious Achiuwa
- 5 potential Knicks trades for a center ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season
- Knicks Land Hawks Center in Trade Projection
- Why the Knicks backup center issue doesnt have to be solved right now – The Athletic
[Posting and Toasting] – Mon, 29 Jul 2024 10:37:17 GMT
- Knicks Media Roundup: Diesel hating, Dray on discounts, Spicy rhymes
- NBA Legend Shaquille O’Neal Makes Blunt Statement About New York Knicks
- Knicks ‘Nowhere Close’ to NBA Championship, Says Shaq: New York Tracker
- Shaquille ONeal Sounds Off on Villanova Knicks: Built on Hype
- NBA legend shoots down Knicks as legitimate championship contenders
[Sports Illustrated] – Mon, 29 Jul 2024 20:16:45 GMT
Knicks Guard Signs With European Team
[Empire Sports Media] – Mon, 29 Jul 2024 13:28:52 GMT
Knicks’ top center trade target seemingly taken off the table by Bucks GM
[Posting and Toasting] – Tue, 30 Jul 2024 10:00:00 GMT
Carmelo Anthony reveals he scored Knicks-record 62 out of anger
[Sports Illustrated] – Mon, 29 Jul 2024 13:00:01 GMT
New York Knicks Could Target Former Celtics Center
[Sports Illustrated] – Mon, 29 Jul 2024 11:00:05 GMT
Will Knicks Rookie Crack Rotation?
[Sports Illustrated] – Mon, 29 Jul 2024 16:53:51 GMT
New York Liberty Coach, Australia Fall in Olympic Upset
72 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.07.30)”
In the above article re: Kolek, I don’t see any way that he is in the rotation early on UNLESS Thibs has a revelation and starts doing some load management stuff.
The main reason I feel that way is the emergence of Deuce McBride.
I sort of go up and down on Deuce, especially in the context of whether he is trade bait for a C, but an ever-increasing part of me believes that we are only scratching the surface of how good he can be, including as a lead guard. I just see an extremely smart, grounded, talented, and physically gifted player who has a tireless work ethic and is unbothered by playoff-level pressure.
It has really been a pleasure to see him develop year by year. His game seems to have grown so much in his 2,500 minutes. He has gotten much better at getting to the rim with both hands, and with a running lane he has real explosiveness, throwing it down with authority. He uses advanced dribble moves to get to that nice looking mid-range jumper. While he doesn’t have Kolek’s court-vision and passing gifts, he keeps his head up and makes solid decisions. I could see him being a 20-25 AST% guy with the right players around him. But most importantly, on defense he plays 3-4″ bigger than he is, while Kolek will probably play smaller than he is for at least a couple of years and be mercilessly hunted on defense.
I see Kolek more as a guy who will fill the 2022-23 Deuce role IF, IF, IF there isn’t a gaping chasm between him and Cam Payne. 400-500 minutes, mostly on nights where Brunson or Deuce sit…or even DDV, Hart, or heaven forbid, Bridges. How he does early on, especially compared to Payne, will adjust his minutes upwards or downwards.
BTW if there was ever a case for the 80/20 rule applying to a guard situation, it’s Deuce vs. IQ. I still can’t believe that Quickley is making anywhere close to what Brunson is making. I just don’t see him as a $32.5M AAV player…maybe by the end of his deal, but not this year.
IQ making more money than Brunson next season is wild, isn’t it?
I think it speaks to a couple of things — one, the stupid amount of money the NBA makes. We’re going to see the first $500 million contract by the next CBA. Two, Toronto has to pay a premium to retain its own free agents and is paying IQ based on star potential.
I’m sure Raptorsblogger can’t believe OG Anunoby got paid as much Scottie Barnes.
I would expect OG to have a greater impact on winning over the length of their contracts.
I wonder if bagels, farting in airports, and pool floats are discussed on Raptorsblogger. Thanks to CB for bringing that wonderfulness to our little corner of the Internet.
Are you blocked from reading it or something?
Off topic threads are a tradition here, and they’re great. Some of the best food, and movies and TV recommendations, for example. Or life ideas. Or even quantum mechanics. Farting in airports is indeed an original; my girlfriend was on the floor laughing when I told her.
Like Z-man, I have been very impressed by the development of Deuce. He has gotten better each year and is on a bargain contract. If he is going to make it here, it will be as a backup pg. I don’t see many minutes available at sg. The fact that they drafted Kolek and signed Payne means he will be in a dog fight for minutes. I guess that’s the life of a professional athlete, but if he gets off to a slow start or one of the others gets off to a hot start, he could easily become this years Grimes.
Maybe we limit OGs minutes this year like we do with Mitch, something under 30, which will help give Donte more minutes:
Rotation
Brunson 32 – Deuce 16
Mikal 24 – Donte 24
OG 12 – Hart 28 – Mikal 8
Randle 32 – OG 16
Mitch 24 – Precious 24
Totals
Brunson 32
Randle 32
Mikal 32
OG 28 (or less)
Hart 28
Donte 24
Mitch 24
Precious 24
Deuce 16
I like that minutes distribution, EB. I wonder if they can squeeze out a few extra Donte (or Deuce) minutes by not going a full 48 with Mitch/Precious at C? Would love to see Thibs at least experiment with it.
Deuce’s 3p% took such a huge leap forward last year, it would not shock me if he takes a small step back there even if he’s improving as a player.
So, EBW, you really think that Payne/Kolek are going to be in the dungeon and never get off the bench? I really don’t see it going that way. (Plus, I’m hoping that since we actually have 12 playable players now rather than the Charlie Browns of the world, Thibs will actually…….you know…….play them.)
And I’m pretty sure that Precious is better than Fernando already, so there seems no point in picking Fernando up.
There aren’t many players in the league who can shoot .410 from 3PT every year, so sure, there may be some regression to mean variance on McBride’s 3PT%. The thing that’s most encouraging to me about his season though is that Deuce added 115 points of TS% despite increasing his usage and getting fewer assisted baskets. Deuce was only assisted on 37.5% of his 2 point baskets, meaning he was creating his own shot a lot of the time. His 2P% went from .457 to .511, and his assisted basket percentage actually went DOWN by quite a bit too. I was actually surprised to see those numbers.
He just seems to have gotten flat out better as an offensive player all around.
There just aren’t enough minutes. I can’t see any of those guys accepting less to accommodate a rookie or Cam Payne. They’ll get minutes if/when someone gets hurt, a mid-season trade goes down, or if the 2nd unit struggles with Deuce at the helm.
Thibs has been using a 9-man rotation since he got here, it’d be a break from the past to work extra guys in.
Bruno would be an option if he clears waivers… sign him and Precious.
Eddy Curry has been in the news lately. Maybe he wants to make a comeback. 😉
Boo.
Speaking of Bruno’s, what about Bruno Caboclo? Supposedly he is looking to return to the NBA. He had a great year in Europe last year and has been great for the Brazilian national team over the last two years. He seems like a better third stringer than Sims. Another international option to be the 3rd stringer is Usman Garuda. He has also been great in international play for Spain and I believe has a lot more to show than what has been displayed so far in the NBA.
Garuba is more of an upside pick and Caboclo would be a great depth piece. He could even challenge Precious for the backup job. Caboclo has 3pt range.
https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1818373928445997201
Mikal’s got a locker, is gonna wear number 25.
And I’m still coming to terms with how cool it’s going to be to have him on this team. If he’s just Phoenix Mikal, that’s still an incredible addition. But if any of the immediate post-trade Mikal was real, then boy, we’d have something.
It’s not clear that Kolek is an NBA player yet. Deuce turned into quite a nice nBA player last year and could be better with a couple more playmakers to share the floor with. Precious at around 16 minutes max can be very useful. How’s your brother, Mortimer?
What did you find out Doogie? Is it boring over at raptorsdoblog? Do they talk about farts? Inquiring minds and whatnot.
International RJ is still a thing.
Quickley’s contract was definitely eye-popping, but I’m still of the belief it’s damn near impossible to overpay good, young players with his skillset. I think they’ll be able to trade him for value at any point during his deal if the need arises.
I think EB is right about the opening night rotation (the names anyway, the OG minutes are righteous wishful thinking), but sadly we know damn well Payne and Kolek will be heard from before the season ends.
I could maybe see one of them squeezing in as a semi-regular tenth man eventually even when we’re fully healthy, perhaps on nights we’re looking a little stagnant offensively. But I highly doubt we start the season that way.
First lobster roll of the summer. Hot drawn butter style. Sublime.
Precious is back. Finally.
Also: hello Mortimer!
[extremely fake Gollum voice]
MY PRECIOUS!!!!!!
???
Ahhhh…. Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
Precious Achiuwa has agreed on a one-year, $6 million deal to return to the Knicks, his representative Raymond Brothers tells ESPN. https://x.com/ny_knickspr/st
Good piece of business. We have a cromulent backup center and/or a nice tradable salary. Still would like a better backup but if we go into the season with the roster as it stands we can make it work.
I think if this is the roster we have going into the season, then we’ll get at least 4-5 minutes a night of smallball, with OG at the 5. Especially since Precious isn’t any more a classic rim protector than OG is, might as well give more time to a lineup where everybody can shoot.
Phew, Doogie can finally get a good night’s sleep.
I’m hoping Precious can come back and show some improvement. He’ll only be 25 and was reasonably useful despite being inconsistent.
I’d like to see Thibs experiment with it, at least during the preseason. He’ll be forced to do it unless hell freezes over and Mitch plays 82 games.
Man… we’re really going into this season as an all-in team with maybe the worst C rotation in the league.
This team isn’t better than last season’s group. This is gonna be ~3 SRS and 48-52 wins with no championship equity, if we’re lucky enough for JB to have no lasting effects from breaking his shooting hand, and the same for Randle with the shoulder…
I really feel like you should have previously shared your concerns about the team, Pags. This is a wildly out of left field tone from you.
By my count we now have fourteen players under contract plus Hukporti on a two-way. I haven’t heard of McCullar being signed and I don’t know if Jacob Toppin is coming back or not. Am I missing anyone?
Who’s the best remaining free agent you’d use the taxpayer mid level on? Even if it’s just to combine his salary with Precious for a mid season trade?
I never said that I was going to check out the blog for fans of the Raptors, whatever it might be called. I never had any inclination or desire to do so, and I definitely don’t have the time.
But I definitely know that lobster rolls suck mightily.
My sincere hope for the upcoming season is that the dumbest, shittiest, most attention-seeking posters on this site find new people to annoy.
If the Knicks insisted on this (and they must have for a bit of extra juice salary wise), that means they are still attempting or will attempt to upgrade at C using his salary as part of the deal.
So are the Knicks still gonna get fined for giving Precious an outrageous salary?
They just can’t do it right away, Strat. Would have to be a trade in December or January at earliest.
GALLOOOOOOOOO aka “The Cock”
I’m struggling with the compare. I’ll leave out injuries because I can’t project those from year to year.
1. Full season of OG compared to Quick/RJ for part of the year
2. Addition of Bridges
3. Loss of Hartenstein
I think this nets out to a better team, but maybe not by as much as we would like. The loss of I-Hart was pretty big. The addition of Bridges is an upgrade to the starting lineup. The bench is stronger with DDV there, but maybe it’s not as huge as we think given how well DDV played last year (at least on offense).
If we still had I-Hart I think we could argue we would have been the 2nd or 3rd best team in the NBA. Now, I think we are good but still in that second tier that contains quite a few teams.
Need a move at C.
“My sincere hope for the upcoming season is that the dumbest, shittiest, most attention-seeking posters on this site find new people to annoy.”
Same, JK! Same.
Very happy about Precious, indeed.
That’s probably the plan.
They want to take a look at this group and see what works and what doesn’t.
Can they get away with trading Randle or do they need his scoring?
Is Mitch healthy? Does he hurt spacing?
Can Mikal carry a bigger load and remain highly efficient or are we better off keeping him as a lower usage highly efficient 3a or 3b option with OG?
Will OG take a step up? (not impossible)
Then they’ll make a move for what they need.
David Stearns sure does love shopping in the bargain bin. Let’s see how this plays out. 🙂
Who is David Stearns? Isn’t he deceased?
Google is your friend, Doogie.
PG
1. Brunson
2. Deuce
3. Kolek
4. Payne
SG
5. Bridges
6. Donte
SF
7. OG
8. Hart
PF
9. Randle
10. Diop
11. Dadiet
C
12. Mitch
13. Precious
14. Sims
Empty
15. ???
2-way
1. Hukporti
2. ???
3. ???
(Presumably McCullar and Toppin)
I said a week ago we wouldn’t be able to pay him $10-12mm without drawing attention for circumvention…
We sign him for $6mm…
BBA does a victory lap 🙄
Anyway, this is an unfortunate development for our trade flexibility. It limits our shopping to the $11/12mm range without giving up a top 7 piece.
“So are the Knicks still gonna get fined for giving Precious an outrageous salary?”
The Knicks would not have gotten fined no matter what they paid him. But the resident asshole felt it was necessary to point out that he wasn’t proven wrong because he’s the resident asshole.
Never change, asshole!
Jazz my favorite Yankee wearing number 13 since Jim Leyritz.
“My sincere hope for the upcoming season is that the dumbest, shittiest, most attention-seeking posters on this site find new people to annoy.”
But I just got here!
Dumb question: if we don’t sign McCullar this Summer, do we lose his draft rights?
I agree with Hubert, the salary is actually pretty low. I was expecting $7M or maybe more. Given that he earned $4.6M and had what I think was probably his best NBA season and was a needed and useful player, a raise to $6M seems fully earned to me. Of course, salaries for role players (think, for example, of Gary Trent Jr.) have been coming in low this summer, so it’s still probably more than he would get somewhere else.
I wonder if Leiter Jr. takes the closer spot from Holmes…
We paid him the most we could pay him without losing access to the TPMLE.
Wait, are you actually agreeing that if the Knicks had paid Precious the maximum that they could have given current constraints, the league would have investigated the Knicks for salary cap circumvention? Just to be clear, that laughably stupid point is the only thing I take issue with.
I’d love that, too, but it seems unlikely. Ever since he retired he just has too much time.
The TPMLE ship has probably sailed. It’s not very valuable since it was reduced to $5MM. I think I read recently that Denver was the only team to use it this summer.
It could prove useful in the buyout market, but the value of having a single $11mm salary to use in a trade would have been significantly greater than the ability to offer an extra 1.8MM to someone like Bruno Fernando.
You know, I could lay a big line on you and we could do a lot of role-playing, but the simple truth is, is that I find you very interesting…
If we want to have that much matching salary, we can just sign literally anyone with the TPMLE and trade them. We’ll have the salary if we want it.
“I’d love that, too, but it seems unlikely. Ever since he retired he just has too much time.”
Nah, attention-seeking is saying stupid shit that is unverifiable because it is so stupid that it never made sense in the first place. Just take the L and learn, asshole, and stop with the lame “victory lap” bullshit. The blog would be better for it.
I get the unhappiness with Holmes, but tonight two swinging bunt infield hits, another hit too slow to turn two and then Torres muffed the transfer on a second dp ball.
Yeah but with an extra player.
That presents no problem if you’re trading for someone making $10-11MM. You just do a 2-for-1.
Let’s say we want to trade for a center making $15mm, though.
Now you’re combining Precious, the TPMLE guy, Cam Payne, and Jericho Sims to get over $15mm. That’s a 4-for-1 trade with three guys the other team probably doesn’t want, and they have to cut three players to make it work. Probably not gonna happen.
Having the single salary would have been useful. IMO more useful than having the TPMLE.
Take the L.
And the girls take gold.
In which event did some country’s woman take gold?
No, not at all. I wrote that we paid him less than we could have and less than I expected (but still probably more than he would get from another team). We could have paid him a lot more and the league wouldn’t have cared.
By the way, I don’t understand why paying more would have blocked the TPMLE, but I believe TNFH when he wrote that it does. That could certainly be the reason we ended up paying what we did. But I’m not sure any useful players will be available for that amount.
I’d give Precious re-signing his own thread, except I gather he might not be long for the team?