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Knicks Morning News (2024.11.09)


  • Knicks’ rout riles Giannis: Didn’t compete at all – ESPN
    [ESPN] – Sat, 09 Nov 2024 05:19:00 GMT

    Knicks’ rout riles Giannis: Didn’t compete at all


  • Is RJ Barretts Start to This Season Fools Gold? – The Ringer
    [The Ringer] – Fri, 08 Nov 2024 13:20:16 GMT
    1. Is RJ Barretts Start to This Season Fools Gold?
    2. Former New York Knicks GM Praises Traded Pick
    3. NBA Betting Tips: RJ Barrett, Cade Cunningham Stats and Player Props
    4. Four Best Bets For A Jam-Packed NBA Card On Election Day Eve From An Analyst On A 9-3 Run
    5. RJ Barrett NBA Player Prop Bets Today vs Los Angeles Clippers 11/9/2024


  • Matt Ryan hopes to make most of hometown stint with Knicks – New York Post
    [New York Post] – Sat, 09 Nov 2024 05:13:00 GMT
    1. Matt Ryan hopes to make most of hometown stint with Knicks
    2. Knicks signing former Celtics sharpshooter (report)
    3. How Ariel Hukporti, Matt Ryan contracts impact cap-strapped Knicks payroll
    4. Knicks Officially Complete Three Roster Moves
    5. Matt Ryan could play a Donte DiVincenzo-type role for Knicks, former coach says


  • Milwaukee Bucks vs New York Knicks Nov 8, 2024 Box Scores – NBA.com
    [NBA.com] – Fri, 08 Nov 2024 23:46:39 GMT
    1. Milwaukee Bucks vs New York Knicks Nov 8, 2024 Box Scores
    2. Knicks 116-94 Bucks (Nov 8, 2024) Game Recap
    3. Karl-Anthony Towns torches flailing Bucks in emphatic Knicks win
    4. Bucks vs. Knicks Game Thread, Starting Lineup, TV Schedule & Injury Report
    5. Back at center, Karl-Anthony Towns having a strong start to season for Knicks: ‘I feel Im a better version of myself’


  • ‘Precocious neophyte’: New York Knicks legend Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier likes rookie Tyler Kolek – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
    [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] – Fri, 08 Nov 2024 11:24:25 GMT
    1. ‘Precocious neophyte’: New York Knicks legend Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier likes rookie Tyler Kolek
    2. Knicks rookies have real shot to earn Thibs trust | NY Got Game Live (Video)
    3. Can the Knicks rookie class find room to contribute under Tom Thibodeau?
    4. Atlantic Notes: Kolek, Queta, Dick, Barnes
    5. Jalen Brunson raves about Knicks backup Tyler Kolek: Hes gonna have a long career


  • Milwaukee Bucks vs. New York Knicks Live Score and Stats – November 8, 2024 Gametracker – CBS Sports
    [CBS Sports] – Sat, 09 Nov 2024 02:51:29 GMT

    Milwaukee Bucks vs. New York Knicks Live Score and Stats – November 8, 2024 Gametracker


  • Doc Rivers Put on Hot Seat by NBA Fans as Giannis, Bucks Get Crushed by Towns, Knicks – Bleacher Report
    [Bleacher Report] – Sat, 09 Nov 2024 03:22:30 GMT

    Doc Rivers Put on Hot Seat by NBA Fans as Giannis, Bucks Get Crushed by Towns, Knicks


  • Jalen Brunson not happy with his uneven Knicks start: Havent been satisfied – New York Post
    [New York Post] – Sat, 09 Nov 2024 07:25:00 GMT

    Jalen Brunson not happy with his uneven Knicks start: Havent been satisfied


  • Beatdown from Knicks calls for Bucks to make drastic, unorthodox rotation change – Behind the Buck Pass
    [Behind the Buck Pass] – Sat, 09 Nov 2024 04:25:45 GMT

    Beatdown from Knicks calls for Bucks to make drastic, unorthodox rotation change

  • 109 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.11.09)”

    Not much to add about yesterday:
    I like wins, KAT’s very good, the Captain played better, 35:7 AST:TO is very nice, 35 assists on 43 made baskets is great, the Bucks right now are a poor thing and Doc Rivers is the worst (and lazier) coach in the Association.

    The game was mildly boring, so while waiting for sunday’s titanic clash with the Pacers let me digress with…

    League Pass Extravaganza induced thoughts:

    – The 4 best teams (CLE, BOS, OKC, PHO) are a combined 34-4.
    Traits in common:
    same rosters as last year and two of them put better coaches on the bench to use it properly (another coach, Steve Kerr, was doing marvels with a misfit roster… until yesterday).

    – Teams with winning records: East 2 West 11.
    The Knicks at 4-4 are currently the East 3rd seed LOL.
    Yesterday during our game the italian announcers cited a stat, saying that in the 30-teams timeframe only 3 teams ended up in the playoffs after starting the season 2-6 or worse, but this year’s quagmire allows for teams like the Bucks and Phillies more hopes than usual if they change coach and/or get healthy.

    – The Detroit Pistons after losing with the Knicks are 3-1 and their only loss was on a buzzer beater putback, otherwise THEY would have been the East 3rd seed at 5-5 🙂 .
    Cade tied Grant Hill for the franchise record with his 3rd consecutive triple double and yesterday against the Hawks he had the go-ahead basket and the game saving block in a span of 8 seconds (Fuck Trae Young).

    – This time the Utah Jazz aren’t even trying, they’re tanking from the start.
    Ainge forbade Hardy to coach and put his cardboard silhouette on the bench…

    Having Fun with SSS Theatre:

    Note: BPM from BB-Reference, filtered for “qualifiers” (no garbage time bench warmers), current or former Knicks avoided 😉

    Buddy Hield: 19.1/4.2/2.2; 50.8%/49.4%/85.7% (.667 eFG/); BPM +7.6 (leads GS)

    Norman Powell: 25.7/3.4/2.3; 51.6%/49.4%/86.1(.637 eFG%); BPM +6.2 (leads LAC)

    Royce O’Neale: 10.4/6.4/2.3; 532/526/889 (.694 eFG%); BPM +4.1 (leads PHO)

    Victor Wembanyama: 17.7/9.6/2.7; 41.3%/22.6%/91.2% (.464 eFG%); BPM +2.1 (3rd on Spurs after Paul and Collins)

    Tyrese Maxey: 27.6/3.0/3.9; 40.6%/28.6%/82.2% (.473 eFG%); BPM 0.0 (3rd on Sixers after Lowry and Yabusele)

    Will this lines hold all season long? Beware the SSS! 😉

    As I’ve said before, I think our defeat of the Pistons was a wake up message for them.

    And Kerr definitely knows how to make three point shooting work so I’m not surprised Hield is putting up numbers. Maybe if they can’t afford to resign him the way they couldn’t keep DDV, we can get him next season.

    “We have basically added the best wing defender and the best pure offensive talent of my lifetime in the last year“

    I know it’s early but I agree. I’ve never seen games from a Knicks C like I’ve already seen from Kat.

    PS love Breen’s Odd Couple references

    *no politics, please

    Yes, please. If we go back to that, I may just need to take an extended break from here. This is one of my few online oases from that right now.

    Yeah, OG is great. And KAT too. He solves a lot of problems we had with Randle, but also presents some problems we didn’t have. But i think it’ll be a good trade in the end.
    My problem is Mikal, we paid like he was prime KD and are getting low value for what we paid. I’m assuming this will always be a bad trade, but right now the trade is a disaster. We could have got a player capable of doing what Mikal is doing, for one third of the price.
    And as you liked OG’s defense on Dame, i noticed Mikal letting Dame use the baseline to score… even Clyde didn’t get mad because i think we now don’t believe Mikal is capable of defending anyone with success.
    He was 2nd for DPOY once, it’s baffling that he plays like he’s been playing. Somehow i’m hoping he is playing through some injury or something. I’d really like to have an explanation for his current play that can make us believe he’ll turn it around.

    I disagree on Bridges. He’s gonna up his efficiency and I’m not sure anyone is going to have much luck if Dame gets it going. His shot looks fine. Yes, we gave up a lot to get him but we upgraded the position. He’s a more well rounded player than Donte. I don’t see where your critique is really coming from Cyber. Upgrading positions costs resources

    Thx, Owen for the OG clips! A joy to behold. That wide stance. No one is getting by. Haha.

    KAT is otherworldly (at least last night). My only (irrational?) worry about him is that he still looks too heavy on all his joints. I wish he could get leaner somehow, but I’m prolly a bad person for wanting that. I just hope his machinery holds up.

    I don’t think Mikal is ever going to be the player I expected, but my expectations were likely too high based on the price. Nevertheless, he will be a solid piece.

    Last night’s game looked exactly as Leon drew it up. Let’s get better so we can beat stronger teams.

    Looking at KAT’s game logs, I see the following:
    3 sensational games (MIA, ATL, MIL)
    2 solid games (IND, DET)
    3 subpar games (BOS, CLE, HOU)
    Folks can make of that what they will. Personally, I’d like to see more consistency, especially against teams that throw smaller defenders at him like Jrue and Dillon or crafty bigs like Sengun and Mobley. I am also interested to see how he fares against elite bigs like Embiid and Jokic. He destroyed Giannis and Lopez last night, but there was a malaise about the Bucks that played into it. But I like the way he has been dominating smallish defensive bigs like Bam and Turner.

    Beyond the lofty TS% numbers, some things from his B-R stats page stand out compared to his career numbers:
    -his advanced stats shooting profile (TS%,3PAr,FTr) looks a lot like it did under his first all-star stint with Thibs, especially his 3PAr, which at .275 is lower than it was for the last 5 years.
    -his TS% is being buoyed by an unsustainable 55.6% from 3. However, he is at a career low 51.6% from 2. So there’s room for growth in the 2P range to grow when his 3P% comes down to earth. Or does he just increase his 3PTr?
    -his usage is up 5 points from that first Thibs all-star stint. I remember folks criticizing Thibs then for diverting usage away from him and towards towards Andrew Wiggins and Jamal Crawford. Not happening now.
    -his rebounding numbers are at career highs and really jump off the page as well as the TV screen
    -Despite the usage, his TOV% is at a career low.
    -his fouls per 36 rate is still too high

    “Maybe we overpaid but I don’t think so and if we did it was only slightly.”

    I don’t think we overpaid for him at all…mainly because I think RJ is fool’s gold, IQ is not worth his new contract, and no firsts were involved. I DO think his salary is too high, but that was expected.

    “My problem is Mikal, we paid like he was prime KD and are getting low value for what we paid.”

    I know this was not meant to be taken literally, but I think there’s a modicum of truth to this. I don’t think there’s any question that it was a significant overpay. The only way that anything close to what we paid could be justified is if he consistently plays at a 3+ BPM, like he was as a role player in PHX in the bubble or in his post-trade to BKN stint in 2022-23. One thing that stands out negatively is his FTr, which is at a career low by a mile. Between that and his subpar (vs. expectations) defense suggest that he’s going through something. Hopefully it’s more about adjusting to a new team and role rather than anything permanent.

    One of the side benefits of a blow out that started early in the first quarter is it let me appreciate just how good a player Giannis is. Sorta like when we played Denver in January and got to take in Jokic.

    Love the way KAT played. Could’ve easily gone for 50, yet he tried to get other guys involved once he showed Milwaukee he was in a killing mood. No shade to Randle, but this offense compared to last season is like night and day. Once Brunson gets totally in sync…bye bye bye to the rest of the EC(see what I did there?)- except Boston. I am now 2000% out on trading Mitch. We need ORB and rim protection in the worst way. I guess the only question is who starts between Achiuwa and Hart once Mitch is back? If Achiuwa can make his jumpers more consistently, then he’s fine as the backup 4. Right now OG is playing more minutes than I want to see given that he too is coming off of injury. I’d like to max him at around 30 a game.

    Maybe we overpaid but I don’t think so and if we did it was only slightly.

    Draymond Green made ~14% of the salary cap for the Warriors. OG makes ~28%.

    If the Warriors paid Draymond what we pay OG, they never would have been able to add Andre Iguodala or Kevin Durant, which probably means no titles for them in the era of peak LeBron.

    That’s why it is important.

    We have the equivalent of Curry, Klay, Green, Barnes, Bogut, and Lee. We’ll never be able to get our Iggy & Durant (or our Jrue & Porzingis) bc of how much we overpaid for Bridges & OG.

    That was the origin of the mezzanine comment years ago. Overpaying will get you to the second round, maybe even the third if you get lucky. But you won’t go all the way giving superstar money or trading superstar pick packages to non superstars without some miracle. And we’ve actually received a miracle (Brunson), and we’re still short bc of how bad all these overpays have been.

    After last night’s game we rank as a middle of the pack defensive team, 17th overall in the league. We’re #1 in defensive FT/FGA, meaning of course that we don’t foul a lot. This jibes with my personal eye test, which says we are not a very physical defensive team. We’re a decent but not great defensive rebounding team, and our defensive eFG% is below average (ranks 20th) but climbing.

    So overall, we’re regressing to the mean a bit on defense. Last night we were playing a downtrodden opponent and we routed them. We have a bunch of winnable games coming up, so let’s see if we can build on all of this.

    You can see how we’d be pretty good with Mitch anchoring the defense at C and Brunson playing better.

    The Durant Warriors were the beneficiaries of an unprecedented one-off cap spike that coincided with Steph, Klay, and Draymond all being on criminally pitiful contracts. It’s not a situation anyone can really look to emulate.

    The choice was between paying RJ and IQ ~$59M AAV, or OG ~$42.5M AAV.

    I miss IQ dearly, but the latter still strikes me as the superior option.

    17th in the league in defense is pretty decent, if we can get that to like 12 with some precious and some more practice maybe we’re in good shape.

    We barely remark on it anymore because his play has become so steady, but Deuce McBride is a major feather in the cap of this regime and his development allowed us to make a number of beneficial trades.

    Of course, 99% of the credit goes to Deuce himself, but hat tip to the front office and coaching staff for identifying and developing him.

    I’m hoping there’s one more step to take wherein he brings back the defensive intensity we saw back when he was Ntilikinian on offense. I think there’s a something of a trend wherein defensive stalwarts scale back to an extent when they start taking on more of an offensive load, though I admittedly haven’t exactly studied the idea.

    Not picking guys up for 94 feet is understandable when you have a real offensive burden, but I’d like to see him lock in on key possessions.

    If the Warriors paid Draymond what we pay OG, they never would have been able to add Andre Iguodala or Kevin Durant, which probably means no titles for them in the era of peak LeBron.

    The Warriors traded for Iggy and won a title while Draymond was on his rookie deal.

    It’s a situation you have to emulate bc the Celtics were the second team in 8 years to pull off an unprecedented once in a lifetime talent grab, and the Thunder are probably going to be the 3rd.

    If you’re not trying to emulate that, you’re aiming too low. Perhaps one might say you’re aiming for a level that is higher than most but lower than the highest level.

    If the Warriors paid Draymond what we pay OG, they never would have been able to add Andre Iguodala or Kevin Durant

    Iguodala was already there via a sign-and-trade that sent out matching salaries, and they’d already beaten peak Lebron without Durant.

    Also, OG isn’t at all like Draymond, so following the Golden State fiscal model is already a losing proposition, even if it was remotely possible. He’s more like the Iguodala character than the Green character.

    The Warriors traded for Iggy and won a title while Draymond was on his rookie deal.

    So what?

    I’m not sure what people are expecting from Bridges.

    I keep saying this because it’s obviously true, but imo it’s not being considered enough. On this team, Brunson and Towns are the 1-2 or 1-1a high usage scoring options, OG is an efficient 3rd option and Hart is going to get open looks because of the strength of 1-4 on top of his transition, cutting and other opportunities.

    Bridges is probably going to settle into the 3 or 3a option with OG. That means he’s going to score in the teens. That doesn’t mean he’s incapable of scoring 20 or more per night. It means we are so good at 1-2 there are better options than him scoring 20 or more per night.

    What we paid for him to do is be efficient at his current usage level, space the floor, make some plays and then do a little more when he’s on the floor with the 2nd unit or if either Towns or Brunson is out or injured.

    There seems to be a bit of an issue with his form at times on the non corner 3s, but it’s early.

    The issue is entirely on defense. We paid for him to be a consistent plus defender next to OG but so far he’s been in and out. Personally, I think he’ll be fine, but we’ll see. Maybe his defense was overrated.

    As to the cost, imo we overpaid, but that’s what you do when you are getting as close to contention as we are and you have an opportunity to upgrade a position. Mikal is a better player than DDV on both sides. The cost may not be so terrible anyway. Assuming no disasters, 2 or 3 of the 1st rounders will probable late 1st rounders. Only the 2031 pick looks shaky. If we are rebuilding then that one could be costly, but it won’t be the end of the world.

    We need to stop nitpicking. Bridges made us better. We need more consistent defense from him because we don’t have strong defense at the C position, but that trade is no debacle.

    Hubert – getting both Dray and Curry on huge bargain contracts was smart I agree!

    Everyone should pick up two hall of famers on the cheap….

    I think there’s a something of a trend wherein defensive stalwarts scale back to an extent when they start taking on more of an offensive load, though I admittedly haven’t exactly studied the idea.

    Bridges said that on one of the Brunson/Hart podcasts a month or so back. He said that when he was asked to take on more responsibility on offense it was tougher to play defense because he’d be exhausted. Then he and Brunson started poking fun at each other.

    Iguodala was already there via a sign-and-trade that sent out matching salaries,

    That’s incorrect, Donnie. They had to salary dump three players to create the cap space to sign Iggy outright, at which point all parties agreed to a sign-and-trade. It’s the same way Miami acquired LeBron & Bosh, and it would not have been possible if Draymond was making 28% of the salary cap like OG is (hence DRed’s point is pointless).

    https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/9467997/andre-iguodala-golden-state-warriors-randy-foye-denver-nuggets-trade-completed

    Everyone should pick up two hall of famers on the cheap….

    Or just manage your win curve.

    When you’re out of tradable picks, a hair away from the second apron, and two full tiers below the Thunder & Celtics, it seems like all these overpays mattered.

    That’s incorrect, Donnie. They had to salary dump three players to create the cap space to sign Iggy outright, at which point all parties agreed to a sign-and-trade. It’s the same way Miami acquired LeBron & Bosh, and it would not have been possible if Draymond was making 28% of the salary cap like OG is (hence DRed’s point is pointless).

    When the Warriors got Iggy and then won their first title Draymond was on a 2nd round rookie deal and was making less than 2% of the salary cap. Signing Draymond to a good value contract in restricted free agency isn’t what allowed the Warriors to acquire Iggy and become a contender, they already had Iggy and a championship.

    The thesis was that “the Warriors could not have acquired Iggy if they were paying Green what we pay OG.” The thesis is factually accurate, and nothing you have said refutes it.

    Nothing about what happened with the Warriors can work as model going further because the specific circumstances of what happened with Curry are just never going to happen again. A team drafting this guy who’s pretty damn good over his rookie contract, but is injured enough to have question marks around him, then gets extended to a below average contract and proceeds to stay healthy and become a MVP level, best shooter ever kind of player. He won two MVPs while getting paid 12 million a season.

    The Warriors obviously did a ton of things right around him, but that specific set of circumstances was what enabled everything else.

    I mean sure, it’s an aspirational goal to assemble a roster that is comparable to one of the greatest teams ever assembled, but that’s kind of a big ask. Steph Curry is probably the greatest point guard of all time and probably a top 10 player in the history of the NBA. Give Leon Rose a prime Steph Curry and he’d probably do ok.

    If you find yourself paying Steph Curry like a good-not-great middle reliever, you admittedly have a lot of options available to you. Just don’t think it’s a plan that really works at scale.

    Again, it was a binary choice between paying RJ and IQ ~$59M AAV, or OG ~$42.5M AAV. Consolidating the assets allowed us to get Bridges (which, TBD) and KAT (any remaining holdouts on this one?).

    In on-the-court basketball terms, OG and Mikal aren’t worth close to RJ, IQ, and five ones. In basketball finance terms, the $16.5M delta in salaries isn’t worth close to five ones.

    Y’all are plainly ignoring the fact of an oak tree to gleefully quibble with one of its leaves.

    We lack the ammunition, flexibility, and time to bridge the gap between us and the Celtics/Thunder tier bc we used it all up on guys who only get us almost there.

    Yeah, while the basic point isn’t wrong, spending a lot of time bemoaning that we’re not the Warriors during their immaculate run seems like time not terribly well spent. I mean maybe we’re screwed, but that’s why they play the games.

    Kolek is earning trust — that’s exciting. And Sims went from 25% of an NBA player to 50%. Fingers crossed on that one.

    If Brunson ever recovers from having a baby (or whatever), we could definitely have the #1 offense in the league.

    If you find yourself paying Steph Curry like a good-not-great middle reliever, you admittedly have a lot of options available to you. Just don’t think it’s a plan that really works at scale.

    Yeah I guess it only works if you have a superstar PG on your roster making 18% of the salary cap like Jalen Brunson.

    In Steph’s best season he was a 12 BPM player. His second season he was a 10 BPM player. That is Michael Jordan-level production. In his best seasons he was literally TWO Jalen Brunsons.

    We’re actually 6th in net rating despite being .500, that’s pretty promising. And we’re up to 13th in 3PA per possession, which is also encouraging after the first few games of the year.

    Brook Lopez being washed seems to be a significant source of Milwaukee’s problems. He was completely unable to even momentarily slow down KAT on defense, and is giving them nothing on offense on a nightly basis. This is a guy who was quite a good defensive player not all that long ago. Right now he’s just a $23M black hole.

    spending a lot of time bemoaning that we’re not the Warriors during their immaculate run seems like time not terribly well spent.

    Exactly. Perfect being enemy of the good and all that. How can this team improve is the question.

    There was a short sequence last night with KAT out where Brunson became Playoff Jalen again, head down, scoring “impossible” baskets, getting pumped. Someone on the board rightly said his best offense often comes at the expense of involving others.

    BUT — before that, Jalen *was* involving others, racking up assists, and KAT was playing unconsciously well. We had the best of both worlds last night, and, IMO, if/once the Knicks integrate these two different aspects, we may have something special. In fact it may be smart at times to have Jalen off the floor first for an orchestrator like Kolek and have him return when KAT sits to punish the opponent’s 2nd unit.

    Overall, Jalen’s short run last night plus his playoff performance might mean he could be a 6th man of the year candidate some day, putting up Vinnie Johnson numbers for a team that just needs his offense when nec., especially if he gets much worse on D.

    I’m not bemoaning the fact that we’re not the Warriors. I’m using a famous example to illustrate the impact of overpays on team building.

    We can do the entire exercise with today’s Celtics instead:

    – If they paid Marcus Smart what we paid OG they couldn’t have traded for Porzingis.

    – If they’d given up 5 picks for Porzingis they couldn’t have gotten Jrue.

    – without Porzingis & Jrue they’re just… us.

    The Oak Tree remains unscathed: we have paid too high a price for a team that is undeniably beneath today’s championship standard.

    Last night’s game was the first game in which it really seemed like Brunson and KAT were playing well in the two-man game. I saw some stat somewhere that said Jalen had more assists to KAT in last night’s game than he had accumulated in the entire season to that point.

    Last night’s game was the first game in which it really seemed like Brunson and KAT were playing well in the two-man game. I saw some stat somewhere that said Jalen had more assists to KAT in last night’s game than he had accumulated in the entire season to that point.

    A thousand times this. It is exactly what “~20 games or so to gel” means, IMO. Sure Lopez being washed helped us out in this respect, but that’s what the lesser teams are for. right? We get to enforce our A plan on them and perfect it before we play the better teams. Keep going.

    And congrats, JK, on the Grammy noms. Now you’ve got me rooting against Nick Cave 😉

    The Oak Tree remains unscathed: we have paid too high a price for a team that is undeniably beneath today’s championship standard.

    Your famous example didn’t actually happen and it’s 8 games into the season.

    “undeniably”

    You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

    Funniest sports headline of the day, from the Athletic:

    ‘How to watch Bronny James’ G League debut Saturday’

    I mean, really?

    I’m not sure what people are expecting from Bridges.

    Something better than a bench-caliber player?

    He’s TS’ing .561 on low (18.9) usage. He’s shooting .351 from downtown and abysmally from downtown ex-corners. Per 36, he’s averaging 15.7 points. He doesn’t rebound (3.0/36), or create for others (eye test and 3.3 AST/36). Giving him every benefit of the doubt, his defense has been average. (The on-off defense numbers for him are abysmal.)

    He doesn’t create, he shoots below league average, he doesn’t rebound, he can’t hit a 3 outside the corner, his shooting form remains fugly, and he doesn’t really defend well. Looking at it objectively, the better question is — what does he do well? He’s a walking virtual definition of meh.

    If — underlined if — they move Precious into the starting lineup, Mikal should go out before Hart. It could be of course that Hart doesn’t give a shit whether he starts and you could keep Mikal in to save face, but the minutes cut should come from Mikal not Josh.

    What about floor spacing? Mikal is shooting for shit other than in the corners. If you’re a defense paying attention, you move him out of the corners and then shade off him when he’s behind the 3 line anywhere else.

    He’s looked this way from the first few possessions of preseason.

    The Oak Tree remains unscathed: we have paid too high a price for a team that is undeniably beneath today’s championship standard.

    Without question.

    Funniest sports headline of the day, from the Athletic:

    ‘How to watch Bronny James’ G League debut Saturday’

    I mean, really?

    Should be a one word article:

    “Don’t.”

    Even a healthy Zion is an overrated player. No ability to shoot from the perimeter, and is a non-entity on defense, and also is an okay not great rebounder.

    He’s more of a 1980’s style player. Not a cornerstone player in the modern game. The constant injuries make him a player you don’t even really want on your roster.

    Only on Knickerblogger can you find people trying to make “I would take the field over the Knicks for the championship” a Bold Truth Telling take.

    At the end of the day we chose the certainty of the team with the 3rd best championship odds over sitting around and getting older and more expensive, hoping Giannis or whoever else would demand a trade to us and only us.

    There were missteps along the way (Jalen Johnson should be a Knick, or on a team we traded with), but if you put together the team with the 3rd best championship odds, you really have to stretch to say the process suffered from fatal, fundamental flaws.

    Really the only concern early on could/should be Mikal, but there isn’t much to do about it except hope he figures things out, or that Thibs finds a way to use him better. But mostly it’s on Mikal to contribute in ways he simply isn’t right now.

    The thesis was that “the Warriors could not have acquired Iggy if they were paying Green what we pay OG.” The thesis is factually accurate, and nothing you have said refutes it.

    The thesis may he factually accurate, but it is poorly presented and is of no practical use whatsoever.

    Threads like this make me miss politicsblogger.

    I guess we aren’t waiting 20 games before breaking the glass on the hot takes…

    Things seem fine. When Mitch and Precious are back we will be a very good team. Yes, we won’t be better than the Celtics and that sucks. But not sure what else we could have done.

    The RJ plan is pretty laughable. He’s one of the worst defenders in the NBA. Everything else seems pie in the sky.

    I was diehard team tank for many years but you can’t argue with the team they have put together. It was skillfully done and if we fall short every year I can deal with that.

    It’s better than dreaming on Mudiay.

    If the Celtics lose Tatum or Holliday and/or Porzingis we will have a shot

    He’s one of the worst defenders in the NBA.

    No evidence of this at all. Major wing minutes for several top defenses, major wing minutes for the best playoff defense in the 2023 NBA.

    Certain factions are going to go down with the “RJ sucks” ship in much the same way they went down with the “KP sucks” ship. Is what it is.

    RJ sucks on the box score. He sucks on the eye test. He isn’t athletic enough to be an NBA star.

    But whatever, you can die on that hill….

    Just want to say how I’m super impressed with how strong OG is. He’s cat-like quick with his hands and has great timing, and is always down in a crouch (those thighs!); but his ability to body up on monsters like Giannis, without giving an inch, is really incredible. Guys a good deal bigger and heavier can’t do that.

    The Raptors figured out how to get some value out of RJ by taking the ball out of his hands and using him as a finisher. They did this last year.

    This year, by necessity, they have put the ball back in his hands, and he’s right back to scoring inefficiently.

    .540 TS%, 95 TS+
    .508 eFG%, 95 eFG+

    His contract is something like $27M AAV.

    I mean, maybe he starts to play better, but that is not a $27M player. Pass.

    I guess we aren’t waiting 20 games before breaking the glass on the hot takes…

    How long do you have to look at your kid’s art project to know it’s not the Mona Lisa?

    Yes, we won’t be better than the Celtics

    It’s already a rather obvious self evident truth. And yet you called it a hot take in the same post.

    you can’t argue with the team they have put together

    Literally both the hottest and dumbest take posted in years. Even the coach of this team would argue with the team they have put together.

    Just want to say how I’m super impressed with how strong OG is. He’s cat-like quick with his hands and has great timing, and is always down in a crouch (those thighs!); but his ability to body up on monsters like Giannis, without giving an inch, is really incredible. Guys a good deal bigger and heavier can’t do that.

    And yet some will continue to question both the trade and his contract

    He’s the best defender we’ve had since maybe Camby? Watching him in person last night made me appreciate him even more – he rarely gets beat off the dribble, always stays in front of his man and is a menace in the passing lanes.

    I’m thrilled to have him on the Knicks

    Jason Kidd on what Quentin Grimes has to do to play more: “He’s gotta make a shot, he’s gotta just relax. Understand we’re missing layups, we’re just doing stupid stuff right now and that tends to happen during the season so we’re not gonna panic over that, but he’s not a plus.”

    I hadn’t really been paying attention to the Mavs but I thought Grimes was playing alright

    I thought Mikal was much better defensively yesterday? He got the Dame assignment most of the times, and did fine. Him and OG didn’t have any obvious miscommunication plays like against the Hawks.

    I thought the defense was great last night, I much rather have Lillard killing us with baseline fadeway jumpers than casually stepping into easy 3pters. Giannis too can go ahead and take a bunch of mid range shots while taking forever to score in the paint not being able to kick out to open shooters.

    Knicks have actually really cleaned up the 3pt defense past few games except for disregarding the Hawks rookie a few times.

    Literally both the hottest and dumbest take posted in years. Even the coach of this team would argue with the team they have put together.

    Our two best interior defenders haven’t played yet and we have a 6.55 SRS. It seems totally fine so far. I don’t know, people seem to be jumping the gun a bit in my book but whatever.

    Apropos of nothing, Cardi B was sitting across MSG from me in celebrity row, and literally never looked up from her phone.

    I guess the point is to be seen but still kind of ridiculous

    She looked up once, when she was highlighted on Celebrity Row. To, you know, look into the camera and wave.

    Had to look up QG in bref, and yes, it looks like he’s playing like ass so far, at least by the numbers. Still, that was an especially harsh take-down by a coach. Kidd seems to like motivating through cruelty.

    Still surprised that Deuce has broken through but not Grimes. I was hoping that would happen, but would have bet the reverse back in the day.

    Re Grimes: quick search returned this from Oct 2024 —

    “After talks with Dallas on a new deal, Grimes elected not to accept the Mavericks’ three-year offer,” Stein said. “Believed to be in the similar range as Dallas’ three-year, $27 million offseason deal with Naji Marshall — in hopes that a strong debut season alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving can lead to a richer deal in restricted free agency.”

    I never really saw Grimes’s appeal as a player, but I do hope he didn’t miss out on his best chance to get paid. Seemed like a decent guy.

    Jason Kidd on what Quentin Grimes has to do to play more: “He’s gotta make a shot, he’s gotta just relax. Understand we’re missing layups, we’re just doing stupid stuff right now and that tends to happen during the season so we’re not gonna panic over that, but he’s not a plus.”

    I do hope he didn’t miss out on his best chance to get paid.

    lesson to be learned for most…

    Apropos of nothing, Cardi B was sitting across MSG from me in celebrity row, and literally never looked up from her phone.

    And you never looked up from her.

    I do hope he didn’t miss out on his best chance to get paid.

    Maybe he read “My wrong financial choices”, Nerlens Noel’s autobiography, but missed the point…

    P.S. To be fair Nerlens’ agency didn’t help.

    It’s a long season, I think Grimes will get better as it goes on. He should’ve taken the deal though.

    Injuries are wrecking the league as KD, Ja and Zion went down like domino tiles. They’re all fragile subjects but it still sucks…

    P.S.
    I just watched the Spurs-Jazz game, despite Chris Paul it was an horror show of BB-IQ dumbness, keep the kids away from it 😀

    Grimes would certainly make me feel better as the eighth/ninth man than Matt Ryan. I assume there’s too much bad blood there with him and Thibs, even if it were possible to do such a deal, Director. We’d have to send them Deuce to make the math work under the second apron.

    They’re in their 6th season and I wouldn’t know who to pick if I had to guess who the most productive player from the 2019 class will be when they’re all retired.

    Our two best interior defenders haven’t played yet and we have a 6.55 SRS. It seems totally fine so far. I don’t know, people seem to be jumping the gun

    “If only we had Precious Achiuwa we would be just as good as the Celtics and Thunder”???

    That’s a great take, Owen. All that stands between us and two of the greater teams ever is Precious & Mitch. You’re totally in position to make fun of people who think we went all in too soon.

    Jumping the gun a bit doesn’t really sound like making fun of anybody. Even if you take off the a bit part. What sort of reaction are the broken record eeyore takes supposed to elicit?

    The lament here is that we’re not as good as “two of the greater teams ever?” It wasn’t all that long ago that I was squinting my eyes at Alexy Shved and thinking that maybe Noah Vonleh was a good upside play.

    This is fine for me, for now. There’s actually a reason to watch the games. This was not the case for literal decades.

    That’s a great take, Owen. All that stands between us and two of the greater teams ever is Precious & Mitch. You’re totally in position to make fun of people who think we went all in too soon.

    aside from you spending the early part of the offseason saying we should go all in it’s a bit early for crowning the celtics and the thunder. The Cletics obviously were a really great team last year, they’ll probably be one this year. The Thunder are off to a great start, were good last year, and ooze talent. But the Thunder depend entirely on one player with a dodgy injury history for their offense. The Celtics have a bunch of old guys. Maybe some shit happens. We’re 8 games into the season, if you thought in the off season the Knicks ould take a while to gell well maybe you were right

    I agree that it take’s time for a team to feel. Doc Rivers agrees too.

    From Ian Begley (according to Twitter)
    “Doc Rivers on NYK: “I know the Knicks coach and I know that he’s going to get it all together. I’m sure of that. Tom’s a phenomenal coach. And they made changes. They made changes to their core guys. And you don’t just…. chemistry is an amazing thing. They had it last year and they’ll get it back. You don’t just wake up and have it. It takes time. It will come for them, I guarantee it.”

    I’m friends with some guys from Cleveland, and I occasionally talk with them on Facebook about the Cavs, and the dreaded algorithm now keeps showing me Cavs content. One was a meme about all of the Cavs fans who wanted the team to make major changes, and instead, they “Doubled down,” and now they’re 10-0 (and they then won again last night).

    But…like…they JUST hired a new head coach, right? How is that “doubling down”?

    I guess the newsbot is having a lazy Sunday.

    Hubert, not sure what I can say here. I think we are a 7+ srs team when Mitch and Precious are back and can provide the team with a modicum of rim protection.

    I take your argument as, capping ourselves out for OG and trading too many picks for Bridges wasn’t worth that.

    And you know what, that’s a perfectly valid opinion.

    I am pretty content though. Leon didn’t have a mandate to do a full rebuild, which was my preference. For him to get us here without drafting a star player seems kind of remarkable. We tried to build through free agency for years and could never crack 40 wins.

    Again, this seems fine. But reasonable minds can disagree.

    Yeah Owen, I’m with you. This hasn’t been the perfectly executed rebuild, but I think we are in a pretty awesome place right now, and that there is still some maneuverability.

    I think OG is on the high side of a market value deal which balances out Brunson, who is pretty close to a supermax player and getting woefully underpaid. Deuce is woefully underpaid as well. Mitch is woefully underrpaid if healthy-ish. The theoretical Mikal is on the low side of a market level deal. KAT is widely perceived to be a max-level player.

    We essentially traded Randle, DDV, RJ, IQ, Grimes, and all of our legit firsts for KAT, OG, Mikal, and Precious. Up until recently, most thought KAT on his own would cost a king’s ransom package or players and picks, so it seems to have balanced out somewhat. We lost iHart to free agency but that was not preventable and triggered the KAT trade. Randle’s and IQ’s contract situations were ticking time bombs and it’s nice to not be worried about overpaying them. That’s the kind of stuff the hybrid method requires. Sitting on those picks until better deals came around was one way to go, and I would have been fine with that, but quibbling that we did not max out our opportunities due to salaries doesn’t resonate with me. I am much more concerned with how these guys play than what they cost or what they are getting paid. And again, it won’t be until May that I can fairly judge that.

    Even though the Giants should embrace the tank, Daniel Jones should never step on the playing field again.

    Golden State’s road trip goes from Boston to Cleveland to Oklahoma City. Trial by fire.

    I should also mention that we have 4 guys at key positions on rookie deals who all might either contribute or have trade value in years to come. We were able to find guys like Payne and Shamet on the cheap as rotation filler. Sometimes it’s these little things that put a team over the top.

    In on-the-court basketball terms, OG and Mikal aren’t worth close to RJ, IQ, and five ones. In basketball finance terms, the $16.5M delta in salaries isn’t worth close to five ones.

    At a certain point, team building stops being about good contract values (which you need for trades and space) and instead starts becoming about having the best player possible at each position. That’s what the OG and Bridges and even Towns moves were about. It’s OK to overpay people as long as you have your starting 5 or a little flexibility to add 1 player. We have our 1 and 1a and 3 and 3a. It might be nice to have a 3&D PF that was a rim protector/rebounder and then move Hart to the bench, but Hart is doing a good job rebounding, making plays and being efficient. And personally, I think we still have the assets to add the kind of player we might need.

    Grimes not taking that deal in Dallas was pretty crazy. I like Grimes, but maybe his lack of self awareness was a problem in NY.

    I’m not sure what people are expecting from Bridges.

    Something better than a bench-caliber player?

    So you are going to judge him after 8 games as the 3a option on a brand new team with several new players and a reworked shot?

    What you are doing is TRYING to make a case against him instead of looking at the whole story and trying to come to balanced view of what the long term might look like.

    The Raiders are in good position to tank for Cam Ward, until they fire their coach with five games left in the season and go 4-1 in meaningless games. This is like annual ritual for Raider fans

    While the Bridges trade was an overpay I don’t think it hurts us that much. If we had managed to keep a couple picks out of the trade we probably would have had to move them in the KAT trade. Our lack of resources is most likely one the reasons we got KAT so cheap.

    We are all in and have a shot at winning a championship if things go well. That is amazing because we did not draft any of our best players and we didn’t have to rely on draft luck to team build. Almost every champion of the last 30 years has drafted their best player and most of the time used a top 3 pick to get him.

    Leon has made a lot of mistakes especially early in his tenure and around the draft but these last three trades are not part of that and has completely turned this team around and in my opinion it was time to make a move.

    If you don’t have one of the 2-3 best players in the world simply being in the conversation for competing for a championship is about as much as you can hope for unless you get really lucky and build a super team like Boston, who while not top 3 still has two superstar homegrown players. Saying the Knicks should have kept their powder dry until they can be a championship favorite is silly. That probably would have never happened. Simply being one of the top 5-6 teams in the league that could easily make the finals or win if they get a couple lucky breaks is a great outcome and probably the best this team could hope for.

    We were never going to outbid other teams for Giannis and Jokic, SGA, Wmby, Doncic, Edwards, Tatum, etc aren’t going anywhere. Neither is Embiid, most likely, but I don’t want him anyway.

    This team is probably our best case scenario without a true teardown and lots of lottery luck.

    Maybe it’s just me, but that Prates-Magny knockout sure looks like a swing and a miss.

    Couldn’t happen in the fight game, though.

    They have a clip on the ESPN home page…

    Ben R – that’s a really thoughtful and rational take on the state of the Knicks.

    Leon has had some whiffs, but we are now in a position to make a deep playoff run with a pretty stacked team. The Celtics will always be in the way, but in the 90’s it was the Bulls and I still enjoyed the hell out of those seasons even though we never won a title.

    Unfortunately since we probably won’t win the rest of our games, we’re gonna have to endure the second guessing and hand wringing on this site after every loss.

    Even after the Knicks win by 22 pts there is still hand wringing about the team by the usual suspects.

    we probably won’t win the rest of our games

    Wait. What? 😉

    PS — for anyone interested, the New Yorker magazine has taken an interest in the Cavs.

    https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/the-cleveland-cavaliers-are-dialed-in

    “There is a sense of direction across the floor, on both ends. No one is waiting anymore. It is perhaps natural that the team is showing more cohesion this season than last. Players learn each other’s tendencies, play off their strengths, find where they align. A good team can seem like a contraption of intricate interlocking parts, and so far Atkinson seems to have good ideas for how to scheme it and when to let it run.”

    I hate Jalen Hurts for not handing the ball off to Saquon Barkley for the 1-yard TD there, and instead taking it himself.

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