Knicks Morning News (2024.10.12)

It’s pretty mind-boggling that the Knicks are not only under the 2nd Apron, they aren’t even allowed to go over it this year…and have totally transformed the roster including three blockbuster transactions for players that have been coveted by various posters for a long time, but who were deemed unavailable, partially due to cap circumstances. What a stupendous job by Leon and his team, especially Brock Aller, for putting them in a position where they still have a bit of flexibility to tinker.

And I do sense that there will be another move before the deadline to address any resitual depth issues. I’m not sure whether they will look for a quality big or a better DDV replacement at the shooting wing than Shamet. A lot depends on the following:
-Mitch’s health
-How well the current backup C’s play
-How well they do in the first few weeks
-How the bench unit plays
-KAT’s defense

Ideally they will wait until things gel before doing anything. In a way, being limited by the 2nd apron will keep them from doing anything rash and shortsighted. I am totally expecting that even at full health, a significant issue is going to develop that any remaining trade flexibility is going to be essential to addressing. I also think that prices will come down as other teams are squeezed either by the aprons or roster crunches. Finally, when Precious’ salary slot opens up in January, that will only add to the flexibility to make an impactful trade.

Here’s a thread from just after the 2022 draft just when we acquired Brunson and Hartenstein in free agency and re-signed Mitch.

While the purpose of posting it is not to take victory laps (well, maybe a little!) I just found that that 3-day window was one of the most consequential for the Knicks in their history in particular and for the NBA in general. There was a chain reaction that really shook things up league-wide. OKC drafted two stars and a solid bench player, setting the stage for iHart to become a finishing touch. BKN blew it up, eventually leading to Mikal becoming a star and being available to us. Gobert goes to MIN for a king’s ransom, facilitated by Minny acquiring the draft rights to Walker Kessler. That, and Naz Reid’s becoming a star-level player at KAT’s position, ultimately leads to KAT becoming available to us. That also lead to the Spida sweepstakes which might have derailed the entire rebuild for the Knicks.

I don’t think anyone anticipated that as of the end of June, 2022, not a single player currently on the roster was officially under contract with the Knicks. Mitch and Brunson were still UFAs, Sims was still on a 2-way deal, and only Trevor Keels was drafted. Sims became official on July 9th and the FAs became official on July 12.

In other words, in just over two year’s time, Leon has a completely new 14-man roster compared with what it was at the start of 2022 free agency…other than Sims and Mitch.

I don’t think anyone saw that coming.

That RJ story seems bogus. I don’t care much either way, but it seems like an extortion attempt or an angry jilted hanger-on.