[CBS Sports] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:27:42 GMT
- Three ripple effects of Karl-Anthony Towns trade that will be felt by Knicks, Wolves and entire NBA for years
- Trade official, KAT pens goodbye to Wolves ‘family’
- Knicks hope Karl-Anthony Towns is the piece to push them past the Celtics in Eastern Conference
- Minnesota Timberwolves Acquire Forward Keita Bates-Diop, Guard Donte DiVincenzo and Forward Julius Randle from New York Knicks
- NBA Rumors: Towns-Randle Trade Terms Revealed for Knicks, Wolves, Hornets 3-Team Deal
[Yahoo Sports] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 13:54:58 GMT
- New York Knicks 2024-25 season preview: Big-time moves bring big expectations to Big Apple
- With Karl-Anthony Towns trade official, Knicks can start putting pieces together
- Knicks Bulletin: Quotes from a training camp away from New York
- Knicks Notes: Tom Thibodeau talks roster improvement, health heading into season
- Shorthanded Knicks enter training camp with familiar obstacles
[New York Post] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 20:04:00 GMT
- Jalen Brunson is the King of New York with one goal left to finish
- Why the Knicks are equipped to compete with the Celtics but are also more vulnerable to other teams
- Knicks Notes: Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Towns, Anunoby
- In New York, this is Jalen Brunsons world the one he created – The Athletic
- Welcome to the new age
[CBS Sports] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 06:04:00 GMT
- NBA Power Rankings: Where league stands as training camps open after Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns trade
- Wolves now have league-high seven top-100 players folowing KAT trade
- NBA Power Rankings: Knicks join Celtics, Thunder as top contenders following Karl-Anthony Towns trade
- Preseason NBA Power Rankings, Part 1
- Where Does KAT Rank in Top 100 Player Ranking?
[New York Post] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 20:24:00 GMT
- Julius Randle’s wife Kendra opens up about ‘the hardest part’ of Knicks trade right before camp
- Julius Randle’s wife Kendra discusses ‘shocking’ trade that sent NBA star to Timberwolves
- Julius Randles Knicks Tenure Was Exhilarating And Infuriating
- Miami Heat Could Land Julius Randle in Blockbuster Trade
- Julius Randle’s Wife Welcomes Minnesota Trade, City Life Was Difficult
[Bleacher Report] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 21:00:49 GMT
- Knicks Rumors: TJ Warren Agrees to Exhibit 10 Contract for Training Camp
- Knicks Signing T.J. Warren To Exhibit 10 Deal
- Knicks make flurry of training camp signings now that KAT trade is official
- REPORT: Knicks sign TJ Warren to Exhibit 10 contract
- New York Knicks Sign Former First Round Pick
[New York Daily News] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 22:42:11 GMT
Tom Thibodeau on Knicks depth: I actually like our bench a lot
[hoopsrumors.com] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 23:20:00 GMT
- Knicks Re-Sign Chuma Okeke
- Knicks Cut Former Celtics Forward After Karl-Anthony Towns Trade
- Knicks Rumors: Marcus Morris Declined Camp Contract After Being Waived for KAT Trade
- Knicks Trade Places Former Pistons Veteran Back in Free Agency
- Marcus Morris declined to join Knicks on camp deal
[New York Post] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 22:05:00 GMT
Tom Thibodeaus Knicks load management stance isnt changing
[Empire Sports Media] – Wed, 02 Oct 2024 13:51:53 GMT
The Knicks’ secret weapon is not so secret anymore
[Sports Illustrated] – Thu, 03 Oct 2024 07:16:46 GMT
NBA Champion Critical Of New York Knicks Blockbuster Trade
81 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.10.03)”
Sam Quinn’s analysis (first article in today’s News Bot) is quite good–especially the last section (“The Knicks beat the CBA, can the rest of the NBA learn from them?”).
It’s pretty interesting to me to think about the difference in perception of this KAT trade in comparison to the Celtics getting Porzingis.
Without a doubt, Porzingis unlocked some things on offense for the Celtics (in addition to them getting Jrue Holiday) – their offensive rating (which was already 2nd in 2022-23 at 115.7) increased to 120.2 – I think it’s notable that it wasn’t just adding KP but also subtracting Marcus Smart from the offense, one of their less efficient and ball-hoggy players. But KP has never really been thought of as a great defensive center (blocks/game notwithstanding). Pretty good rim protector, not a good rebounder, completely exploitable on the perimeter. Washington’s defense was 21st in the league with him at center and Dallas was middle of the pack with him playing mostly center. Now you surround him with elite defenders and put a good scheme around him that asks him just to do what he’s good at (be very tall) and the sum total is that the team is amazing defensively.
Now you look at Towns, who is objectively a far superior offensive player than KP – I mean, they are not even in the same stratosphere in terms of shooting ability even though KP is a pretty good shooter. Defensively you can say much of the same things about Towns as you would say for KP — perhaps KP is a better rim protector but Towns is probably a little less vulnerable on the perimeter and is a vastly superior defensive rebounder. yet people are really questioning whether this makes the Knicks better.
Money sentence in the Quinn article: “A less creative or prepared team might have been forced, for instance, to include Robinson in the Towns deal and Deuce McBride in the Bridges trade.”
Of all the improvements we have seen in the last couple of years by far the most mind-boggling is having our FO talked about in glowing terms.
BE yes, that is refreshing. The perpetually shortsightedness of the cynics and haters has been largely silenced, although there are a few holdouts here and there.
That’s not to say that the road has been perfect…or that this largely finished product is some kind of dynasty in the making. It is still a flawed team in several regards.
-Can a team with an undersized alpha win a championship?
-Can we truly match up with teams like the Celts in the EC and OKC/DEN/DAL in the west?
-Is Thibs a coach with a less-than-championship ceiling?
But compared to where we were when Leon took over, or even in offseason 2022 when a broad swath of the KB hivemind was shitting on Randle, Thibs, and Leon….this is a pretty cool place to be. The last 9 months…meaning since the OG trade…have been a whirlwind of bold moves that stretched the limits of the CBA in ways that even caught capologists by surprise, and were literally down to single dollar calculations.
I’m going to preseason game 2 with my two girls on Wednesday vs. the lowly Wizards…and am as excited as if it were a critical midseason game. I truly can’t wait to see this team in action!
“Now you look at Towns, who is objectively a far superior offensive player than KP – I mean, they are not even in the same stratosphere in terms of shooting ability even though KP is a pretty good shooter.”
Not sure I agree with this take…KP has played just as well offensively as KAT and is probably a better defender. Plus he makes half the money and cost the Celtics nothing. His shooting range is phenomenal, I think his average length of 3PA with the C’s was among the longest in the NBA. And he doesn’t need to create his shot at all…KAT will not have that luxury here.
“The perpetually shortsightedness of the cynics and haters has been largely silenced, although there are a few holdouts here and there.”
To be clear Z-man, I was not referencing anyone on this blog but thinking about the “less creative” eras of Layden and Mills and “less prepared” (or more accurately I know what I am doing so why prepare) eras of Zeke and Phil.
I often read Quinn’s work and I think is underrated.
CBS has a bunch of sneaky good writers (hello Mike Axisa, you’re always the best!): Fuck Stephen A. Smith.
Solid points, Frank. But it’s all about price.
Boston traded Smart (a problem both for their offense and cap sheet) for Porzingis and picks.
If we had traded Randle for Towns and picks, there would be no consternation.
Conversely, imagine if the Celtics had traded Smart, Brogdon, and a pick for Porzingis. That would have precluded them from acquiring Jrue, and their team would have been:
Pritchard-White-Brown-Tatum-Porzingis, with Hauser, Time Lord, Horford on the bench.
They would have been all in with a team full of question marks instead of putting a juggernaut on the court every day.
Price matters. It’s why we’re fun but short and they’re champs.
Even compared to Leon’s first two years, where there was definitely a learning curve, there has been substantial improvement.
I’m intrigued to see Achiuwa play the 4. He’s a better matchup there defensively, and with Towns the paint won’t be so clogged. Hopefully he’s learned to shoot a little bit though.
The problem with that lineup is the opposing C, or at least somebody, gets to linger in the paint while Brunson & KAT run the PnR. Alternatively, you open the paint by putting Achiuwa as the screener to draw his man further up, but you relegate KAT to serve as a spot-up shooter.
I’m still somewhat ambivalent about this trade, but it’s mostly because I am not sure the Knicks will maximize its value. You have to play KAT at the 5 for it to make sense, otherwise I think it’s an expensive lateral move.
I’m with Frank on the optimistic side. You echoed my thoughts about how the Porzingis addition was perceived but somehow there is consternation about the Knicks adding a better version of the same type of player. And let’s not leave any doubt. KAT is better than Porzingis. And if you could create in a lab 2 wings that you would have defend Tatum and Brown it would be OG and Mikal. As for the Jrue part of it. Josh Hart is basically our version of Jrue in the starting 5. Below average shooter, above average defender, great glue guy. I think these teams are very evenly matched. Remember. The Celtics weren’t tested in any series in last year’s playoffs. Let’s play ball!
Do we need a win predictions thread or do we all just agree it’s gonna be 60+ 😉
“I’m with Frank on the optimistic side.”
Well I expected you would be–seeing that the trade papers over the void created by your abject failure with Mrs. iHart.
frank,
I agree with the entire premise of you post, but I think you are selling KP a little short on offense. He has been way better since having a full healthy summer to work on his game, escaping from Dallas, and being used effectively in DC and Boston. He’s not the 3 point shooter that KAT is, but he has become very effective in the post and shooting over smaller players.
All that said, I can’t see how this isn’t going to make the Knicks offense much better even if we lose a bit with the loss of DDV. It’s going to help KAT also. There won’t be a Gobert clogging up the lane on him anymore except if we play him with Mitch.
I like Achiuwa’s energy and I guess he’s young enough to take another step or two forward, but I’m not as high on him as some others here based on his play last year. I’m not even entirely convinced I love him as a prime backup 4 or 5 unless he takes a step forwared. He’s OK as a backup and looked good at times, but he wasn’t very consistent.
Player A scored 25.6 pts/36 on a .627 TS% on his previous team.
Player B scored 24.0 pts/36 on a .625 TS% for his previous team.
One of these 2 is a good defender at the most important defensive position, the other is a bad one.
The better defender also costs one less all-star and your team inexplicably gets two 1st rd picks.
Which one do you take?
I think KP is being underestimated here. In the last couple of years when healthy, he has been every bit as good as KAT.
Last 2 years:
2022-23 WAS: .627 TS% on 27.4% usage, 4.3 BPM
2023-24 BOS: .647 TS% on 25.1% usage, 5.1 BPM
I’ll leave it to others to parse the defensive differences, suffice it to say that they both have strengths and weaknesses that I think balances them out.
This is not to disparage KAT, only to point out that KP has played like a superstar since leaving Dallas, and has vindicated a lot of Strat’s takes on him. The injury-proneness is the main issue with him, but he’s been every bit as good as KAT.
I actually think (when healthy) the KAT/Mitch combo at center is kinda perfect. It still gives you elite rim protection when you need it, and with KAT’s ability to play both big positions, we now have insane lineup flexibility. Even the Celtics should have a hard time with one of those lineups… Thibs just has to figure out which one and exploit it.
Minutes played, last 3 seasons:
KAT – 5459
KP – 5291
I think there’s a general overestimation of KAT’s health. He has missed a ton of games.
KP is also Boston’s 5th best starter and everything he gives them is gravy.
No doubt zingus was good last year, but the advanced stats can be misleading when comparing him to KAT.
Look at their 2024 playoff stats: KAT scored close to 20 ppg and 9 boards compared to Kristaps’ paltry 12 ppg and 4 boards.
Porzingis was rightly used as a 4th option in that offense and he was perfect in that role, but KAT has always been a #1 or 2 guy on a playoff team. The fact that his efficiency is even close to Porzingis’ is impressive. And yes, I know zingus was injured in the playoffs, but that’s just another strike against him.
That said, Porzingis was a great pickup for them and I wish we had inquired about him at the time! I just don’t think he’s proven to be on KAT’s level offensively as a go-to guy.
A few tidbits from Macri’s newsletter. First, this stat that exemplifies what we’re leaving behind:
For those of you who don’t want to open the tweet, we were dead last in 2023-2024 when it came to the amount of distance we were able to pull rim-protectors away from the basket. In other words, there was pretty much always an opposing rim protector in the paint. To tie this in nicely with the KP conversation, the Celtics were first.
Relatedly:
Seems to me there’s essentially free extra scoring efficiency to wring out of KAT, who has already put up 8 consecutive 61%+ TS seasons, by simply telling him to bomb away some more.
The dude is just an insanely skilled basketball player, and I’m optimistic about the cascading effects on everyone else.
And yet Brunson prospered. Wow. KAT *should make it easier for him.
Bombing away might also contribute to better health for KAT over the long season.
Porzingis was 3rd on the Celtics in usage. He’s their 3rd best by epm, 2nd best by darko, tied for first by BPM. He might be less important because of their roster, but he’s pretty clearly one of their most effective players.
On the flip side, Karl scores more efficiently at center and doubles his FT/A rate compared to playing at the 4, so his scoring efficiency the last 2 seasons is probably depressed by him playing in a less than ideal position on offense.
a slight amount of cold water on some of the comfort people have taken from kat’s recent defensive numbers without rudy.
the recent on off stats tell a superficially comforting story, but are much thornier than meets the eye. it’s true that the wolves were still a pretty good defensive team with towns on and gobert off, allowing 112.87 / 100 over the last two years (including playoffs) in 1487 minutes. but you can’t look at that sample quite the same as you would as if it reflected the minutes of a primary 5. gobert was healthy for almost all of that run. finch was able to use kat at the 5 selectively and intentionally, picking and choosing the opponent lineups where it would be least vulnerable. and he very obviously did.
this does show up in the numbers. if you just take the 841 of those 1487 minutes where kat played 5 against 3 or more opponent starters, the wolves gave up a very much not good 118.32 / 100. and remember, these are still 1719 possessions where KAT was (as he will be here) surrounded by excellent defensive wings, with mcdaniels, edwards and naw occupying most of the lineups. in those 841 minutes opponents shot 32.1% of their shots at the rim and hit 68.3% of them, both well above league average.
it won’t be a disaster but my guess is we are not a top 10 defense even with thibs and so many excellent perimeter defenders. the offense should be elite.
Just realised we are batting .000 when trading for a still in their prime late 20s C/PF who only played for 1 team prior to the trade and was an overall number 1 pick. Fuck. Is it too late to undo it??
I look at it like this:
We’re about as good as the Celtics were after they traded for Porzingis.
But we still have to make our Jrue trade to finish the job.
We get it. We’ll never beat Boston. Might as well not play the season!
True but the last 3 times Minny has traded one of it’s franchise players, it has led to the other team winning a title the next year or the year after.
Wiggins to Golden State
Love to Cleveland (took a season but they got it in 2016)
Garnett to the Celtics
What KP has done the last 2 seasons KAT has done for all 9 seasons of his career.
My kingdom for Healthy Mitch.
Ok..I feel better about the bench- ESPECIALLY if Warren and Okeke are healthy. If those guys are healthy, they can contribute and even spot start if OG sits a game here and there. I’d still rather have Mook for the toughness because we don’t have an enforcer on this team. Maybe Mitch, Achiuwa, or Hukporti becomes that. But as of right now, I’m not sure we have a player who will get in the oppositions face when there’s a dirty play or unnecessarily hard foul. We have a bunch of tough minded players..you know- quietly tough. But there’s no…there’s no Donnie G to our LOX lol.
“What KP has done the last 2 seasons KAT has done for all 9 seasons of his career.”
And so what is your point? Certainly you are not saying that KP’s recent 2-year sample is a fluke, are you? That would be absurd.
The KP of today and tomorrow is just as good as the KAT of today and tomorrow. KAT’s biggest advantage is durability, although he has issues there as well. At full health, it’s largely a wash, except that KP is at $30M AAV and KAT is at $50+M AAV.
It will be interesting to see how much KP makes on his next contract…he expires this year. Can the C’s even afford to keep him?
Yes — because the offense was pre-modern. Kind of noted quite a bit along the way.
The roster has now been modernized. One would assume that would lead to the offense on the floor being modernized; if it’s not … well, if it’s not there are going to be problems.
I’m also glad they’ve dispensed with the hustlebunny and the Moneyball, in lieu of bludgeoning with pure talent. Now that Josh Hart is no longer a synedoche (*), he registers as the pure baller that he is. Good stuff.
(*) Not his fault.
TJ Warren was a very dynamic and effective two-way wing before the foot injuries derailed him. He only just turned 31, and it was not a degenerative injury, so maybe with enough reps he gets back to something close to what he was. That player would be an excellent emergency rotation player. I think giving him a shot to make the team is a smart move.
I thought this was a pretty interesting read about Precious:
https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2023/12/06/precious-achiuwa-needs-to-give-the-raptors-more/
This piece makes the case that Precious is an excellent switch defender, one of the better switching bigs in the league, but a pedestrian (although not terrible) drop defender. This is actually kind of encouraging to me. We should be able to do a lot of switching on pick and rolls with our personnel. The question is whether or not Achiuwa can be coached up to be a better drop defender. He has slightly improved every year he has been in the league, so maybe there’s still more room for growth with him.
“Hart is no longer a synedoche…”
Where’s Doogie when you need him?
E, I agree that this is a pivotal year for Thibs, and that if he mishandles this transformed roster, he should be replaced.
I always felt that Precious’ effectiveness depended largely on two things:
-his offensive game becoming more reliable and efficient. If he can get over 30% from 3 and a bit more polished around the rim and on the late-in-the-clock pull-up 2, that would help!
-not asking him to be a “pure” C in more than in a strictly backup role.
I like the idea of him next to KAT in a sort of hybrid 4-5 role which would depend on matchups and our own lineups.
Makes sense… in November and December we had RJ, Grimes, and Mitch in the starting lineup.
In February and March we were starting Hart, Precious and Hartenstein.
I’d be curious what the number was for January. When surrounded by Donte, OG, Randle, Hartenstein seemed very effective at pulling defenders away with his screens.
I don’t think we need 5 shooters to kill with this offense.
Do we know that those lineups had their 3 wing defenders on the court for all of those 1719 possessions or are we just assuming they were out there for some or most of them?
My theory has always been that you can get away with one minus defender, but if you have two the negative impact can be greater than -1 + -1 = -2. It might be -2.5.
I think OG, Bridges and Hart are so good on/off ball as a group we may do better than our worst fears, but I think it’s going to be tricky for Thibs because having Towns, Brunson and another weak defender on the court IS worrisome. Maybe Mitch has to stay to protect some of the weaker units even if they don’t play together too often!
KAT’s got jokes!
that’s funny…
KAT may just shine oh so bright for us…
part of it is bringing the right people in to the situation, part of it is having the right situation set up for those folks when they get here…
we’ve now seen numerous players have career seasons as a knick, let’s hope KAT will experience the same here…
I think most will agree that being able to defend the three-point line is the most important aspect of modern defense, and, well, Leon addressed that. OG and Mikal are obviously elite, it sounds like KAT is pretty good, Hart and Precious are both better than average, and Brunson… tries hard.
It’s good to have Mitch in case we are getting killed inside, but overall, I think this will be a positive change. Ultimately we could rank lower in team defense, but it will be worth the bigger bump we get from a fully modernized offense.
Do we know that those lineups had their 3 wing defenders on the court for all of those 1719 possessions or are we just assuming they were out there for some or most of them?
the lineups varied as you might guess. the two most popular of those lineups by far were kat/ant/mcdaniels/naw/reid and kat/ant/kyle anderson/naw/reid. the wolves didn’t have a lot of traffic cones on the perimeter.
My theory has always been that you can get away with one minus defender, but if you have two the negative impact can be greater than -1 + -1 = -2. It might be -2.5.
i tend to agree that defensive lineup mereology can sometimes turn on a seemingly marginal difference or interaction involving the 4th or 5th guy, at least when it’s not overwhelmed by a dominant player.
Quotes from Towns and Thibs, both today and a few years ago, about how their relationship has changed since Thibs left Minnesota: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5813572/2024/10/03/karl-anthony-towns-tom-thibodeau-knicks-trade-roster/?source=emp_shared_article
The quotes in the Athletic piece are a little more than pro forma – interesting that Towns reached out to Thibs, not vice-versa. But we’ll see how things go; Thibs was direct that knowing him socially and having coached him years ago is totally different from having him as a player now.
The predictions piece for the Eastern Conference was actually pretty decent – pretty close to what I think is going to happen, anyway. The one difference is that I expect the Bucks to fall further…Giannis can only do so much, and everyone else is soooo old…..
I was prepared to short the Sixers until I heard Embiid is showing up in shape for the first time in his life. His olympic experience may have been a career catalyst like it’s been for other stars.
I think we still match up very well with Philadelphia, though, bc we can play Hart at the 4 with impunity. It’s the teams like Indiana with the big 4’s that worry me.
Here’s KAT’s full media availability: https://x.com/nyknicks/status/1841939278861107468
Best shape of my life season officially here
https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1841955837041942558?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Having had some time to settle down…
I’m back to pessimism. We now have no NBA caliber PF, which is a better problem to have than having no center for sure. However, DDV was our third most valuable player last season. He alone put up a higher VORP than Towns. He is a significantly better shooter than Bridges.
Both Towns and Bridges peaked 2-3 years ago and have looked much worse since. We’re really banking on them returning to that form. If they don’t, we mortgaged our future and lost our 3 of our 5 best players in exchange for a borderline All-Star and an average starter.
We have minimal depth with 7 viable NBA players when healthy. Of those 7, every player over 6’6″ (Towns, OG, Mitch) is virtually guaranteed to miss 25+ games. This could easily go very, very badly.
I think our median outcome is about 48 wins and the 5th seed. One good aspect is that we are higher variance now, and with great injury/ISM luck we have a shot at 55+ or a magical playoff run.
We got pretty close but ultimately BOS and OKC are significantly better in terms of top-end talent, depth, and future prospects. OKC was better last year than our ceiling is this year and had a massively better offseason, adding iHart for nothing and Caruso (who I’d rather have than Bridges) for just Giddey.
I kinda wish we didn’t do the Bridges trade and used some of the assets saved to get the Minny trade done without DDV and put the rest towards a viable starting PF…
Career 3pt%
DDV .376
Mikal .375
“Significantly better shooter” my ass
Last two seasons:
DDV: .400 (on 9 attempts/36)
Mikal: .377 (on 6 attempts/36)
That is a large difference in both volume and efficiency over 1000+ shot samples. DDV’s ability has clearly trended upwards while Mikal’s hasn’t.
One of these guys is a slightly above average 3 point shooter, while the other is close to prime Klay Thompson.
“Last two seasons.” Arbitrary endpoints. Why not look before that, when Mikal was in a similar role to the role that DDV played last year, before he moved to an on-ball role with the Nets?
One guy stands in the corner and does little else, and the other guy was the main on-ball shot creator for his team. Park Mikal in the corner like DDV and let other people create for him and he’d probably do okay.
Pagliacci in mid season form and opening night is still 3 weeks away smh.
I watched a lot of Nets games last year since I have league pass and I like to throw some cash on NBA and I can tell you Mikal had to take a lot of shitty 3s and shots last year for that garbage ass team. I’d be surprised if his numbers didn’t improve this year.
Choosing the most recent large sample of data isn’t exactly arbitrary. Players tend to improve over time. A recent sample is a lot more meaningful than one from several years ago. If we stick with just data from last season the gap is similar, so you’d actually have to pick some weird arbitrary endpoints to show Donte isn’t a much better shooter.
This doesn’t reflect reality. Ast% on 3pt:
DDV 92%
Mikal 88%
That isn’t exactly the difference between Steph Curry and Bruce Bowen. If anything Donte’s degree of difficulty on threes would have been significantly higher due to his higher volume and developing rep as a sniper. Do you think Mikal has a shot at our franchise record for threes in a season?
The point is, Mikal is forced to expend lots of mental and physical energy being an all-around player. Guarding the other team’s best wing and doing a good job of it. Creating offense. That’s a harder gig than standing in the corner and being a three point specialist.
Pags, man, they could be hoisting the banner and you’d be saying “the rafters aren’t strong enough to hold that, and besides the fabric is starting to fray already”.
“They shot their wad on this championship. They’ll never win another.”
I’m actually expecting “more” from OG offensively than I am mikal next season…
mikal seems more the glue guy…OG seems more likely to want to put up points this year…
I think the Donte we saw last year is for real. The suggestion that his role was to “stand in the corner” seems odd to me.
Interesting tweet TNFH
I also am in the best shape of my life. Joel and I should hang out.
70% of Donte’s FGA were three pointers. That was the main thing he was tasked to do. He did an excellent job of it. Mikal is asked to do a lot more, because he CAN do more, because he is a better player than DDV.
If he was asked to mostly lurk on the perimeter and take 70% of his shots with a 90% assisted basket rate, and rarely asked to create a shot for himself or others, that would probably help his efficiency.
Mikal had a high assisted basket rate on his threes, as do most players. But only 45% of his FGA came from 3PT. More than half of his shots came from 2PT, and he had to create his own shot on about half of those. Back of napkin math says that Mikal was creating his own shot 25% of the time.
DDV was assisted on about 2/3 of his TWO pointers, and only shot two pointers about 1/3 of the time. Same back of napkin math tells you Donte was creating his own shot about 11% of the time.
I don’t think you can compare those two players in a vacuum and say “Donte is a way better shooter.” Give Donte’s role to Mikal— don’t think all that much about creating offense, mostly look to bomb away on catch and shoot 3’s— and it seems to me like his efficiency would go up. Task Donte with Mikal’s job description, and Donte’s efficiency would probably go down.
Ηoly shit that was special
LGM!
DDV can’t shine Mikal’s shoes.
One was the 3rd best player on an NBA finals team and was treaded for Kevin Durant. The other is a lifetime reserve mid-level exception player who had the best half season of his life.
Would like to think this’ll stop all the trade Alonso endless prattle, but it won’t, I suppose.
LFGM!!!
I have no idea how I’m getting to sleep tonight after that. I am fucking wired!
Somehow Lindor’s home run against ATL was not the most impactful HR the Mets would hit this week
How. about. those. Mets.
I remember back in June, thinking that it was going to be a long, boring slog until Knicks basketball started again. I’m very thankful to the Mets for all the excitement that they have provided to bridge that gap. They are one gritty bunch and are incredibly fun to root for.
Sick play at the end by Lindor, incredible awareness. He realized that flipping to 2B might not get the DP, so he sprints to the bag, tags it, and gracefully rifles a laser to 1B. This comes of course after he walked a crucial 8 pitch walk to lead off the top of the inning. What a brilliant player.
In Lindor’s first year with The Mets I was very worried that he would become one of those big albatross contracts that did not age well. Now I think he’s underpaid!
This is certainly the greatest week in Mets history since 1986.
Apparently the Alonso go ahead home run in a clinching game was the first of its kind in mlb post season history.
https://x.com/slangsonsports/status/1842022399786811714?s=46&t=VKW92NA00jy7y0xaioGz0w
Insane week to be a Mets fan. My 10 year old son loves Alonso. And my 13 year old daughter who turned 13 today, loves Lindor. Great birthday for her. And a great day for our family.
Very happy for you llcoolbp. I definitely wanted this win more for my son than I did for me. He is a loyal fan of all of my shitty teams… The Knicks Mets and Jets. I just want him to get one championship!
As a naturalized Angelino who only started following baseball again over the past two weeks thanks to Ohtani, I think it would be cool if his path to the championship went through both Queens and the Bronx.