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Knicks Morning News (2024.09.28)

  • Sources: Towns to join Knicks, Randle to Wolves – ESPN
    [ESPN] – Sat, 28 Sep 2024 02:30:00 GMT
    1. Sources: Towns to join Knicks, Randle to Wolves
    2. Karl-Anthony Towns trade grades: Knicks and Timberwolves both win in mutually beneficial blockbuster
    3. NBA Rumors: Karl-Anthony Towns Traded to Knicks; T-Wolves Get Julius Randle, More
    4. Leon Rose, Knicks still deserve trust after Karl-Anthony Towns stunner
    5. Knicks go all-in with Karl-Anthony Towns, but are they really all that much better?

  • Knicks Mailbag: With Mitchell Robinson out, will NY add a center before season starts? – sny.tv
    [sny.tv] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 20:43:41 GMT
    1. Knicks Mailbag: With Mitchell Robinson out, will NY add a center before season starts?
    2. Why Mitchell Robinsons injury update might be a blessing in disguise
    3. Knicks Must Bolster Center Depth amid Isaiah Stewart, Nick Richards NBA Trade Rumors
    4. Knicks Mitchell Robinson out until December or January after ankle surgery: Sources – The Athletic
    5. Whom could Knicks target to fill in for Mitchell Robinson? Exploring 3 trade candidates – The Athletic

  • Video: Paul Pierce Shades Knicks, Says NY Won’t Win NBA Title ‘in My Lifetime’ – Bleacher Report
    [Bleacher Report] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 23:52:54 GMT

    Video: Paul Pierce Shades Knicks, Says NY Won’t Win NBA Title ‘in My Lifetime’

  • NBA Champion Calls Out Lakers Following Timberwolves-Knicks Trade – Sports Illustrated
    [Sports Illustrated] – Sat, 28 Sep 2024 06:45:43 GMT

    NBA Champion Calls Out Lakers Following Timberwolves-Knicks Trade

  • Paul Pierce says Knicks won’t win an NBA championship ‘in my lifetime’ – New York Daily News
    [New York Daily News] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:51:20 GMT

    Paul Pierce says Knicks won’t win an NBA championship ‘in my lifetime’

  • New York Knicks May Have Major Hidden Gem – Sports Illustrated
    [Sports Illustrated] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 17:00:00 GMT
    1. New York Knicks May Have Major Hidden Gem
    2. New Three-Team Trade Proposal Helps Fix Knicks Center Problem, Hawks add Young Shooter
    3. The Knicks should refuse to trade young sharp-shooter
    4. Knicks’ Miles McBride: Set to reprise secondary role
    5. Knicks Trade Pitch Swaps Miles McBride, Pick for No. 2 Shot Blocker

  • Knicks have done background work on possible trade for Blazers star center – Empire Sports Media
    [Empire Sports Media] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 17:17:23 GMT
    1. Knicks have done background work on possible trade for Blazers star center
    2. New York Knicks Forward Can Make NBA’s Biggest Impact
    3. New York Knicks’ Mikal Bridges Trade Most Impactful Move of Offseason?
    4. Knicks reportedly ‘interested’ in former No. 1 pick for potential trade target
    5. New York Knicks insider adds to speculation they could target former No. 1 overall pick to replace Mitchell Robinson

  • Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart Are Using the New York Spotlight to Expand – Complex
    [Complex] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:29:33 GMT

    Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart Are Using the New York Spotlight to Expand

    • 31 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.09.28)”

    Details are still up, especially from a salary cap POV, and the trade isn’t official yet but here are my two cents after the earthquake that finally put an end to this endlessy boring summer…

    – First of all, we’re now definitively a title contender and I can’t wait to watch this team play.
    At the same time this is “the move” we were waiting for and this will probably be the main group for the next 3-4 years (with moves to do around the margins to strenghten the bench).
    With this both the chances to win the chip and the ones of crushing to earth have raised a lot.
    I’d have really loved to give last year team a chance (see below) but I’m okay with it.

    – For years KAT has been one of the few real candidates to the Knicks’ “star chasing” and Julius was the obviuos chip, so that part of the trade isn’t surprising.
    I’ll let for later a more proper fairwell to Julius, when emotions would retreat.

    – Add the questions about Julius’s full recovery and KAT’s offensive arsenal and it doesn’t look so insane.
    Doubts about our defense are understandable, but Thibs is a renown defensive genius, he’ll probably find a solution.
    Also, the move put Mitch back in the tactical weapon/backup center role whom I think he’s better suited for…
    … If he’s not traded (but from a salary cap perspective he has a very good contract, IF HEALTHY)

    – On the other end, I’m painfully hurt about DDV.
    He and Benedict Hartenstein were two of my personal “boyz” (and Donte still is). Losing both of them stings, a lot.
    I know we had a potential PT crunch at the wing position, but the guy gave us some incredible clutch shooting and unforgettable moments last year. We’ll miss you Big Ragu.
    Also of note: never break the Knicks single-season 3-Pointers record, it brings you nothing good (see also Fournier, Evan).
    We can call it the Starks’ Curse.

    – This front office has well sized balls and is incredibly tight lipped, no one saw this coming and it makes all our collective conjectures very funny*.
    Also, look at what they do with the secondary/minumum salary signings, every small move has a purpose and Aller is a cap genius.
    We weren’t accustomed to this.

    – KAT contract is insane (as many others**) and Bridges still has to extend.
    Even if Mikal does it at a discount we’re going to be a very top-heavy team for at least the next 3-4 seasons.
    That’s why contracts like Deuce’s are a blessing, we need more of them to replenish our bench.

    – The “butterfly effect” started with Hartenstein betrayal.
    If healthy, last year’s team plus Mikal’s would have been a real contender but I-Hart spurned the greatest city in the world and choose less guaranteed money (despite his wobblyng achilles) only to later whine in all the following interviews about how hard it was to leave his “brothers”, the fans that showed him so much love and the city.
    Fuck you Benedict Hartenstein.
    And please Knicks fans make his ears bleed with boos in january, when the traitor’ll come back.

    * The sequence in the last 10 months:
    – No chance Masai does trade with us because of Dolan’s cause
    – No way Brooklyn will trade Bridges to us.
    – He’ll never break the Nova Boys

    Nice streak! 😀

    ** I know I’m fairly naive but sooner or later we must start a discussion about the morality of paying a player half million a game or more (no matter the sport) when all the “western democratic countries” struggle to sustain a decent welfare (health, education, pensions) or workers salaries, job security and health safety in many environments.

    So who starts now?

    PG Brunson
    Wing 1 Bridges
    Wing 2
    PF OG
    C Towns

    Who’s the second wing? Hart? Deuce?

    I expect Thibs to go with Hart, his rebounding skills will cover a bit for the loss of Randle and I-Hart/Mitch, but the the coach bearded version is different so who knows… 🙂

    So who starts now?

    PG Brunson
    Wing 1 Bridges
    Wing 2
    PF OG
    C Towns

    Who’s the second wing? Hart? Deuce?

    Well, Deuce brings better shooting (even if he’s not as reliable as DDV), but that’s a very small backcourt for a lineup where KAT is your center. Hart brings more size and versatility, but teams won’t guard him as a shooter. On the other hand, if the other four guys in that lineup are Brunson, Mikal, OG, and KAT, does that matter?

    So I would guess Hart starts, and Deuce comes off the bench with Precious, Kolek, and… Shamet? Mook? Chuma Okeke?!?!?! Dadiet?!?!!?!?!!?!?

    At least until Mitch is back, and maybe even after, we’re pretty thin. Though now it makes slightly more sense that we had multiple vets sign for what seemed to be one end-of-bench spot. The FO knew they’d need some kind of depth pieces.

    (For those who missed it, Bates-Diop is going to Minnesota in the deal, DaQuan Jeffries is going to Charlotte, and we may need to send out one more slightly above minimum free agent to make the math work with the aprons.)

    So out of the 9 rotation players that began last season, 3 remain. And I predicted 50 wins last year, and will top that this year. Extraordinary.

    Precious is our backup big man for now. Or him and Mook together.

    We’re a bit thinner at the moment on the wing, though you have to assume that, when healthy one of OG and Mikal will be on the floor at all times. And maybe there’s lightning in a bottle from one of Shamet, Dadiet, or Okeke as the ninth man?

    But certainly, the “we don’t have enough minutes for all these guys” problem has been alleviated. High-risk, high-reward move.

    Honestly, I don’t see how you can dislike this trade unless you’re a Randle superfan. KAT’s shooting and ability to play the 4 and 5 are going to open up the offense. And for all of KAT’s defensive deficiencies he’s probably a little better than Randle on that end.

    We all love DDV but post-Bridges trade we had a huge logjam at guard and wing and I can’t imagine DDV was going to be happy playing under 20 MPG which was what was probably going to happen this year.

    On the Minnesota side, I’ve read some reports that they’re not actually interested in Randle and plan on moving him again within the week.

    The “butterfly effect” started with Hartenstein betrayal.
    If healthy, last year’s team plus Mikal’s would have been a real contender but I-Hart spurned the greatest city in the world and choose less guaranteed money (despite his wobblyng achilles) only to later whine in all the following interviews about how hard it was to leave his “brothers”, the fans that showed him so much love and the city.
    Fuck you Benedict Hartenstein.
    And please Knicks fans make his ears bleed with boos in january, when the traitor’ll come back.

    This is legitimately, 100% unhinged.

    So out of the 9 rotation players that began last season, 3 remain. And I predicted 50 wins last year, and will top that this year. Extraordinary.

    Wow, that’s wild! It’s 4 if you count Deuce but still. I guess that’s what happens when you make 3 blockbuster trades over the course of what, six months?

    I fell asleep reading you guys on baseball and woke up to WTF?!

    Lions and tigers and KAT, oh my!

    Welcome to the strange new world, KBA!

    One thing’s for sure: Knickerblogger is going to be a lot busier over the coming weeks than it was for the last couple of months.

    Haha. My brain is blinking “recalculating … recalculating.”

    Do we think Randle or KAT plays more games this season?

    Gonna really miss DDV, but clearly no “Nova lock” on Leon.

    never break the Knicks single-season 3-Pointers record, it brings you nothing good (see also Fournier, Evan).

    LOL. Deuce beware?

    PS – did we somehow become less “rootable”?

    One of Macri’s commenters raised an interesting point: we probably could have gotten Kessler or another good starting center for DDV, once we were willing to put him on the table. So then it’s a matter of which is more valuable for our particular roster: Julius + Kessler, or KAT?

    Wait. If/when Mitch plays *with KAT. Twin towers re-dux?! Are we allowed to do that 😉

    But … January-Platonic-Ideal-Knicks, we hardly knew ye …

    From Zach Harper’s trade analysis:

    “Towns is too aggressive going for blocked shots and not timely enough to actually affect the shot. That leaves the offensive boards open for the opponent. He also struggles with help positioning and rotations when he’s the primary defensive big man. That’s the biggest part of Thibodeau’s defense with his big men.”

    You could easily substitute “Towns” and replace with “Mitchell Robinson”. The fact that Thibs has said on multiple occasions that he loves KAT might signal that he thinks he did something wrong with KAT the first time around, learned and applied that to Mitch, and thinks he can do it to KAT as well on defense.

    And offensively- forget it. KAT at the 5 is going to make this team unguardable. Porzingis is great at the 5 but KAT is a much better offensive player than KP is.
    We can literally put 5 40% 3 point shooters on the floor at once if we put Brunson Deuce Bridges OG KAT on the floor. The rebounding might be iffy with that group (Donte’s rebounding was huge for us too) so you could substitute hart for deuce and it would still be amazing offensively.

    Shew! Alot to unpack for me since I crashed early. Long week. But let me first try to go through the negatives IMO, then put a positive spin on it.

    I like KAT as a player, I just question the fit with the roster as it stands. For starters- even though I felt like DDV would get traded in a possible big move after his breakout and us adding Bridges, I did not want to break up the Nova Knicks. And as Hahn Solo pointed out, we lost alot of toughness in this deal. Alot. KAT has to be the starting 5 now, and that brings into question who starts at the 4. Do you trust Anunoby as a full time 4? And if you do, who plays the wing with Bridges? Hart? Deuce? Either way, we have lost our awesome bench. Or..dows Thibs start Achiuwa at the 4 now, and will he be a consistent enough defender to make up for KAT at the 5? I like the player a helluva lot more than I like the trade. Now the positive spin…

    KAT should be back to his pre-Gobert days on offense with this move. And this means he will be destroying opposing 5’s all season. I’m here for it. It creates a super intriguing dynamic for us on offense. This definitely puts us right there with Boston on offense if we scheme properly. Or damn close at minimum. KAT seems to be a player who naturally passes more than Randle, but I still give the slight edge to Randle in the playmaking department. I think the fact that KAT gives the ball up a little more often bodes well for the offense. If Achiuwa starts and plays the same switchable D he played last season, Thibs’ scheme could be better this season. And what we lost in DDV’s shooting, we have made up for with KAT’s ability to stretch the floor and pull opposing bigs away from the rim- thus possibly making up for the offensive rebounding we’ve lost when Hartenstein walked and Mitch’s rehab got stretched out. DDV leaving opens up more minutes for Deuce and Hart, and I think this is a good thing. Especially If Deuce keeps playing free and takes another step. I expect Mitch to be the backup 5 permanently at around 20mpg when he returns. With his injury history, that maximizes his time on the floor and creates a big and versatile lineup when we want to overpower teams for stretches with Mitch/KAT/OG/Bridges or Hart/Brunson. Thibs can use that when guys like Embiid, Giannis, or Banchero are getting the best of us. So..KAT gives us another offense mismatch on most nights with more reliable shooting and floor spacing. That’s gonna be great for Brunson, Bridges, and Anunoby. I really think our offense will be largely unstoppable- especially with this trade being made before camp and giving the coaching staff time to work our the kinks. Hell- maybe Mark Bryant can do for KAT what he did for Ayton’s growth. If so, that is SCARY.

    Overall, I’m still a ‘meh’ on this trade. Intrigued, but still ‘meh’. Too many questions right now. Also, does this mean we are in the market for another 4? Or does Mook and KBD both make the team now? Shamet too. Does he now make the team as emergency shooting? There’s a bunch of options now, I just don’t know if they’re all good and if Thibs is gonna be flexible enough to explore them all

    Oh! I do wanna credit Leon for not giving up a bunch of good 1sts in his 2 big offseason moves. He improved the team without seriously overpaying

    … and creates a big and versatile lineup when we want to overpower teams for stretches with Mitch/KAT/OG/Bridges or Hart/Brunson.

    I’m now left with a glut of useless posts in my notes app ready to demand “small ball” this season. I’m furious. Hahaha.

    At the end of the day, Julius leaves NYC with a Knick TS% of .553 and some of the most godawful playoff displays you’ll ever want to see. He never worked for me as a key part of a really good team.

    I’d always advocated for him to be the main piece in these “superstar” trades but never actually thought Leon could or would pull it off. Massive kudos to him for pulling it off.

    I expect the Wolves to move Julius before season’s end. I don’t see him making much sense there. He didn’t make sense here with the new Brunson and Ant is even more ball-dominant than Jalen.

    Hah. Just occurred to me: once the deal is finalized, we’ll almost certainly have an open roster spot, and THEN we can use the TPMLE

    Just from a pure talent perspective, I’m honestly shocked KAT was gettable for this package. I’m aware his salary is insane but we’re still talking about one of the best scorers in the NBA who is not yet 29. We thought we were all out of ammo and instead we reeled in an incumbent all-star fresh off a very good playoff run.

    It’s hard for me to find any critiques on our end as long as we’re willing to foot the bill. I will miss Donte and Randle as people and wish them well, but KAT is a pretty massive upgrade on Randle and all it cost us was a guy we were having trouble penciling in for more than ~22 minutes a night (and the DET pick, which, “our 2022 draft wasn’t that bad” gang, we’re up today).

    A lot of people will understandably be worried about the defense, but…are we sure it even got worse? Is KAT any more exploitable than Randle? Randle is a little more mobile but it’s not like we trusted him to switch anyway. KAT is of course coming from the #1 defense in the NBA and YES I AM AWARE RUDY GOBERT EXISTS but in 1,176 KAT on/Rudy off minutes from the last two seasons the Wolves’ DRTG is a perfectly solid 112.8. I think he’s just gotten much better since the reputation set in. I may have talked myself into the idea our defense is better than it was yesterday.

    It’ll be fascinating to see how we decide to deploy the roster, but all the options look pretty damn good to me! Brunson/Deuce/Mikal/OG/KAT? Sure. Brunson/Mikal/OG/Hart/KAT? Also sure. I guess I’m somewhat partial to the latter because I think Hart’s shooting is passable at the 4 and we might want Deuce’s shooting off the bench, but I don’t feel super strongly. We have a ton of really good players.

    When Mitch gets back my guess is we move KAT to the 4 in the starting lineup, but continue to deploy him at the 5 regularly. Again, sure. There are no bad options here.

    Vegas watch: our O/U improved to 54.5, and your New York Knickerbockers are now in sole possession of the 3rd best title odds at +750, and a hair away from 2nd (OKC at +700). The money men think we did very well and I agree.

    I wonder though- what kind of reception is Randle gonna get when he returns to The Garden? I know DDV is gonna get a huge reception, but NY fans can be very cynical? Do we think he’s gonna get the thumbs down when Minny visits? lol

    The “butterfly effect” started with Hartenstein betrayal.

    It started with Jacquez taking out Julius. That was maybe the sliding doors moment of all time.

    There’s a little bit of sadness on my end bc I really liked (and believed in) Randle. But also bc I believe that January Knicks formula was the way to build a championship team around Brunson and Randle (RIP Brundle). This is not that formula. Maybe it’s better but I don’t know… largely because I don’t know about KAT. He’s better than Randle but do the pieces fit as well as they did with that old formula? We gain immense offensive ability but we lose the rim protection and the offensive rebounding.

    I don’t doubt this is a good move, I probably just need to see the pieces fit first.

    Random thoughts:

    I know this trade means Thibs is ok with KAT but are we sure KAT is ok with Thibs? He definitely seems like one of the guys who voted for Thibs in that poll.

    I know we have the culture to do for him what Boston did for Porzingis. But it’s up to KAT to be willing. If it is at all possible for him to grow up, it should happen. But we can’t rule out obstinance on his part.

    KAT can bang with the 5’s. As a one-on-one defender he’s pretty good. No doubt who’s guarding Embiid. And perhaps he’s a big enough star in his own right to not pick up those ticky tack fouls iHart accumulated so easily.

    This makes us really thin and opens us up to the player overuse of last year. We’re going to see game 7 rotations in January again, and all the cascading woes that come with that. I had no such concern with Josh and Donte on the bench.

    FWIW I think we kept the better of the two Fugazi picks. The Washington pick converts to two seconds. The Detroit pick only converts to one.

    I just realized: we traded both guys on this roster to inspire a Mike Breen double-“bang.”

    we’ll almost certainly have an open roster spot, and THEN we can use the TPMLE

    Not much left on the market. Fultz could be a rehab candidate but he likely wouldn’t get any playing time. Jae Crowder makes sense from a need perspective but is getting up there in age. Biyombo might help a bit in case Towns is a sieve at center.

    I’m gonna go on record as saying I don’t like this deal. I’m not sure how much better KAT is than Randle. I have serious defensive concerns, and concerns about playing under pressure (even more than with Randle). I thought this was an at least ECF team with the previous construction. Now, i have doubts.

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