I think the strategy now is to ride with this roster for the first month or two

Agree and I like the idea of finding out what we really have before we change it. But I’m worried the team won’t be at full strength to start getting that data until Jan.

Makhtar Ndiaye, Knicks director of International and Pro scouting, is leaving the organization to join the Mavs’ front office. With NYK since 2015-16, Ndiaye most recently played a pivotal role behind the scenes in the acquisition of OG Anunoby and Donte DiVincenzo. pic.twitter.com/lRaNhP2i34— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) August 18, 2024

I guess we’re fully a poaching target now.

So to make up for losing iHart we need the Bridges to replicate an extreme outlier performance relative to the other 95% of his career in which he roughly approximated prime Kawhi Leonard…

That is quite the false dichotomy, even for the prince of darkness. They don’t need Bridges to be anything but himself. They lost 25 minutes of excellent production from IHart and gained 35 minutes of production from Randle and Bridges which they didn’t have the last half of last season. I don’t see that swap as anything but a net big positive.

It immeasurably helps the production of the second unit having DDV and JHart not in the starting line-up assuming something like MR/Randle/Brunson/OG/Bridges and Precious/JHart/DDV/Deuce/Payne rounding out the top 10 rotation guys. Then you’ll see if Dadiet, Sims, Kolek, Hukporti, Diop can earn significant playing time with or without the absence of injuries.

Would I like to have Sven Nater as my back up 5, sure… but this roster is deep, it has a real star and a large group of B to B^+ players….

The other half of the equation is that iHart on a 12% usage was good enough to be, at worst, around net neutral on offense. Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims are not net neutral, they’re outright detriments. Just because iHart may not be an offensive superstar doesn’t mean we aren’t losing ground on offense, especially when it causes us to move our best shooter to the bench.

And maybe an opportunity does arise at the deadline. But following the Mikal trade it’s not clear to me the Knicks have the requisite purchasing power to convert the opportunity into a deal.

No, it does not. I think that will be Randle’s job, especially in clutch time. Our centers will be in the dunker’s spot under the rim on the weak side or maybe Julius will be at Center surrounded by good shooters. We could even bring Mitch in for defensive possessions in clutch time.

And yet, it’s very hard to square some of the fatalism with his 12% usage rate last season. I’m not going to bother to respond to Pags doing his bit, but I think the good-faith posters who are understandably concerned about this will be pleasantly surprised by our ability to maintain a very good offense in his absence. Adding an additional bonafide, albeit low-ish end, shot creator, will do more for our offense than losing iHart will take away.

This is all predicated on Mitch’s health though–offensive rebounding still figures to be an important part of our offensive portfolio, so we’ll need center play that consistently brings it. We absolutely need to shore up the position. I just remain cautiously optimistic that between now and the deadline an opportunity to do so will arise.