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Will the Knicks make a trade this season? Karl-Anthony Towns at the 4?: Mailbag – The Athletic
11/18/2024 10:03:05
Washington Wizards vs New York Knicks Prediction and Betting Tips | Nov. 18, 2024 – Sportskeeda
11/18/2024 10:32:08
Knicks vs Wizards: Injury Report, Depth Chart, and More Amid Karl-Anthony Towns’ Uncertainty After Scary Fall – EssentiallySports
11/18/2024 10:33:00
Washington Wizards vs. New York Knicks: live game updates, stats, play-by-play – Yahoo Sports
11/18/2024 09:42:57
How to watch Knicks vs. Wizards: Live stream info, TV channel, game time | November 18 – USA TODAY Sports Wire
11/18/2024 08:38:00
Towns’ big impact helps Knicks defeat Nets again – Newsday
11/18/2024 06:42:16
Knicks’ ball movement, led by Karl-Anthony Towns, reaches new level in win over Nets – Yahoo Sports
11/18/2024 06:24:00
Tom Thibodeau on how Karl-Anthony Towns and Knicks are gelling as season progresses – sny.tv
11/18/2024 04:44:21
Knicks? Karl-Anthony Towns dealing with new injury concern after hard spill – New York Post
11/18/2024 05:22:00
Tom Thibodeau makes honest Karl-Anthony Towns admission as Knicks star dominates Nets – The Mirror US
11/18/2024 05:36:00
Washington Wizards at New York Knicks odds, picks and predictions – USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire
11/18/2024 05:05:00
Mikal Bridges starting to remind Knicks why they chased him down – New York Post
11/18/2024 05:12:00
Nets? lack of size exposed by Karl-Anthony Towns? return in loss to Knicks – New York Post
11/18/2024 05:08:00
Instant Analysis: Knicks Win Dogfight Against Neighbouring Nets To Extend Winning Streak Over Rivals – Fadeaway World
11/18/2024 03:49:22
Knicks pull away in 3rd quarter to take second straight from Nets – New York Daily News
11/18/2024 03:51:03
After 43-point outburst, Knicks neutralize Cam Thomas in 114-104 victory over Nets – New York Daily News
11/18/2024 04:06:09
New York Knicks Secure Sunday Sweep of Brooklyn Nets – mmsport.minutemediabeta.com
11/18/2024 03:52:18
Knicks overcome Jalen Brunson’s struggles behind Karl-Anthony Towns, improving offense – sny.tv
11/18/2024 03:47:04
Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks roll to drama-less win in Nets rematch despite off Jalen Brunson night – New York Post
11/18/2024 04:18:45
Washington Wizards vs New York Knicks predictions for Tomorrow, 11/18/24 – Pickswise
11/18/2024 03:45:00
75 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.11.18)”
Well, Lamelo is 100k wiser I suppose. He seems pretty switched on to do something as obviously dumb as what he did.
Good win last night. Would have been rough not to take advantage of Claxton’s absence.
I have been Simmons curious for years. I will always hold out hope for guys with great stats early in their career. But yeah, he didn’t look good.
And Cam Thomas. Not sure the NBA has ever had a more pure personification of an empty bucket.
Cavs and Rockets. Feels like the axis of the NBA is tilting ever so slightly.
If you’re waking up grumpy, here’s a line for you to get all sunshiny:
“We’re nearly four weeks into the season and the Knicks have more wins than the Bucks and Sixers combined.”
Also from Macri:
“OG spent most of his time guarding Cam Thomas, who scored just 16 points on 11 attempts.”
I’ll give credit to OG for his defense on Thomas, but the Knicks were doubling him a lot and taking the ball out of his hands, so credit to Thibs too for the defensive scheme.
Cam Thomas lit OG up in the first game.
No change in priors here. Nets are terrible and without one of their best players. Mikal’s still badly underwater from downtown and isn’t getting to the line at all. Breen and others will go along (Vaccaro today as well) with the program and laud his “great mid-range game” but a cut-rate DeRozan who never gets to the rim or the line isn’t really much of a player in the modern age.
“No change in priors here.”
One of E’s all-time greats…
Good Edwards mailbag linked to at top of this post: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5927191/2024/11/18/knicks-mailbag-karl-anthony-towns-trade/
As always, click through, but he touches on the McCullar injury, why Sims is still ahead of Hukporti in the pecking order, what he thinks the rotation might be when Precious is back(*), and some other fun stuff.
(*) I’m guessing most of this was written prior to the weekend, since he still has Matt Ryan as part of this rotation. It seems like Dadiet has passed him for now, and I really liked the Pac-man’s defense on a few plays last night. There’s something there.
Really enjoying the whole KAT experience. You can see the dunk coming from his move out on the perimeter. Just a fantastic offensive player.
Bodega KAT plays with a certain reckless abandon when driving to the hoop raising a higher level of injury concerns.
I am worried about the same thing.
think i am going to the game tonight…first time at msg for a knick game in at least 15 years…i’m pumped its our homecoming game…
Let’s win it for pepper!!!
Now we are worrying about guys driving to the basket? Is the ‘modern’ game suppose to devolve into a free throw shooting contest with the players wrapped in bubble-wrap?
The guy has the most beautiful, diverse offensive game with excellent passing vision this side of Jokic. Enjoy it FFS… so much pearl clutching…
It’s not that he drives to the basket. It’s that he’s a bit reckless or overally aggressive at times, takes a hard hit and then ends up taking a hard fall. Every time he hits the floor I close my eyes. 😉
Color me shocked!
KAT has definitely not deserved the “soft” label based on how he has played here.
The Nets are a good matchup for us, because:
1. They’re not very good
2. They don’t have an effective screen setter
Our defense looked a little better yesterday, but a lot of that seems to be because the Nets just don’t have the personnel to roast us with a strong high screen. That is the play we really struggle to defend.
There is definitely an interesting quality to his game where you can see things coming well in advance, like a pitcher with a super long windup.
Towns also spends almost as much time horizontal as Embiid. Nightmare for the mop up crew.
Love his offensive game but there is a certain lethargy to him on defense. He kind of is what I thought he was.
We used OG at the PoA instead of Mikal Bridges. We also played different coverages against picks, Sims usually stayed with the ball handler until the initial defender could recover or it just turned into an outright double.
E should really change his handle to No Change In Priors. It’s only fair
Mikal OG Hart is turning into a nice wing triumvirate. Lesser comp. But wins are wins.
I was at the game last night. Good atmosphere. KAT was clearly the best player on the floor. Macri talked about his chemistry w OG.
If Jalen can get back to All NBA level and Mitch/Precious support the defense, the potential is reachable.
Didn’t we hear around Oct 20 that Precious was gonna be re-evaluated in 2-4 weeks?
Whatever happened there?
Reasonable considering last year a reckless, overly aggressive drive resulted in a season-ending injury for Julius Randle that created an alternate timeline.
(Our counterparts in the timeline where he didn’t leap 6 feet away from the rim are still celebrating the Knicks first title in 50 years.)
I am becoming slightly obsessed with KAT and Embiid comparisons. I think it’s quite possible KAT has eclipsed Joel and become the better center. How do we get him that whistle, though? And how in the world did Joel get it in the first place?
Joel is much more athletic than Towns and bigger. When he is fully healthy anyway. He’s just a far more powerful guy. So I don’t think the foul disparity is out of line, even setting aside how much time Towns spends with his toe on the three point line.
FWIW it’s not that I think KAT has eclipsed 9.2 BPM MVP Joel Embiid. Rather I think injury-plagued, soon-to-be 31 y/o Embiid has come back to the pack.
Perhaps it’s just a blip but the guy I watched in the playoffs and Olympics played dogshit defense.
Come on, Hubs. Embiid has very recently won MVP over a guy who put up 25/12/10 on 70% TS.
Last year he played even better than that, just didn’t play enough games. He is the best player in the league and an all-time great whose only weakness is availability (and being kind of a bitch).
We’ll be rightfully ecstatic if Towns managed half the BPM Embiid put up last season. The only way he eclipses him is if Embiid has to medically retire.
As for the whistle, it seems he was born with it. .569 FTA/FG his rookie year and it’s stayed around there ever since. Towns is typically in the low .300s.
Same way Shaq got it.
If Shaq ever ran into a 6’1″ guard like Deuce McBride 15 feet away from the basket and flopped backwards to get a pair of free throws he would have been humiliated.
I get the whistles down low. It’s the whistles 10-20 feet away from the basket when he’s facing up that can’t be explained. Embiid probably drew more perimeter fouls in 6 playoff games vs the Knicks than Shaq did in his entire career.
He’s the James Harden of big men. He’s perfected the art of fooling the refs and catching other players in ticky-tack fouls. When a dirty player is also really, really good the effects are amplified by the halo effect of superstardom.
I think the Embiid thing is just some real good level of acting. We see his flops because we rewatch stuff in replays and slow motion, but the way he flails his arms and falls to the ground looks to be worse in real time always, which gets refs to blow whistles.
Watch SGA, he’s become one of the players I get most annoyed watching because he’s become a masterful actor, I get surprised he doesn’t give himself a concussion with how much he throws his neck and head backwards everytime he feels any sort of minor contact.
These guys have figured out that all you gotta do is make fouls seem much harder than they are and they’ll get rewarded constantly. In a sense KAT is, and Randle was too, maybe naive is the word, because he tries to work through contact more.
I don’t think so. The international refs had no trouble not being fooled. I think the NBA refs are actively enabling it. Or maybe they’re just not as good as their FIBA counterparts.
I’m getting a little concerned about Deuce’s knee. Communication about this injury feels a bit Knicksy. It could be anything from soreness that will keep him out for a couple more games to a leg amputation.
He was re-evaluated and the doctor told the Knicks “I told you it was going to be about 2 months the first time!”
I’m assuming they’ll be gone for awhile and then we’ll sign Duceous McChiuwa, who we’ve cobbled together from harvesting their still-functioning parts.
Embiid grew up playing soccer. The NBA is lightyears behind soccer in flopping technique
I think dramatic talent might explain something but I think the fact Embiid is just much harder to stop is most of it. When you see them standing next to each other, one guy is much bigger than the other. He’s also nimble as a cat when at his best.
Jokic is better though. Jokic is just insane. At some point people will have to start asking some very difficult questions about where he ranks all time.
In the playoffs iHart kept putting a hand on Embiid’s arm even though every time he did that Embiid would rip up into a shot attempt and get a foul called. It’s probably even the right call, even though Joel is not really trying to shoot. His size makes him almost impossible to guard without touching him and he’s just really good at manufacturing fouls like Harden was.
Jokic has won 3 of the last 4 MVPs and deserved the one he didn’t get. This season he’s even better but won’t get it. IMO based just on what’s done so far he is:
-The GOAT offensive player (just slightly ahead of peak Curry)
-The GOAT passing big
-The GOAT shooting big inside the arc
-The GOAT BBIQ
-Way better on defense than people think. Elite defensive rebounder and top 5 in deflections so far this year. Can’t be moved in the post.
IMO his only rival among centers is maybe peak KAJ or Olajuwon.
Interesting Macri quote just now:
‘Want to give a quick shout out to OG Anunoby, who is now up the 90th percentile in defensive on/off according to Cleaning the Glass. Deuce is barely higher, but in 200 fewer minutes, and Sims is the next closest a bit of a ways down. Only 6 players who have played at least 400 minutes are in a higher % than OG, and among them are Gobert and Wemby. The All-Defense campaign is starting early.’
If you could flip a switch that physically prevented defenders from making any contact that would be deemed a foul by the most objective ref, Embiid would average 60 points a game.
Isn’t there an argument that Jokic’s last 5 years could be the best stretch by anyone ever? It’s insane.
On offense alone I don’t think there is an argument that it isn’t the best 5y stretch by anyone ever.
“Jokic is better though. Jokic is just insane. At some point people will have to start asking some very difficult questions about where he ranks all time.”
Yeah, I’m unsure as to why these might even be considered difficult questions at all.
MJ 88-89 to 92-93:
3x NBA Champion
3x NBA Finals MVP
2x NBA MVP
5x All-NBA
5x NBA Scoring Champion
5x NBA All-Defensive Team
2x NBA Steals Champion
5x PER leader
Arguable. Certainly comparable.
If we’re talking just about offense we gotta throw Curry and Durant with Jokic, but injuries kept them from making perfect stretches for comparison.
By the way, this has led me to look at Jokic stats and he somehow has a 15.1 BPM so far this season, holy shit.
And Pags, I think you’ll be wrong, I think Jokic will get MVP barring injury. So far he clearly deserves it, and the narrative is already being written (which is arguably as important…).
Jokic’s 5-year run certainly belongs in the conversation with Lebron and MJ’s best 5-year stretches. Where he ultimately lands in the pantheon of all-timers will be fun to see!
you know, coming up with a name like: Duceous McChiuwa is no small feat, crazier yet, it sounds like a cool name…
They also shared the ball for three years. Put Jokic and Embiid on the same team and there would probably be some diminishing returns, at least on the margins, for both.
I think it’s kind of a small feat. It’s just mixing and matching syllables of two names. And I think that it should be Deucious, not Duceous.
That fact calls for a gif
There’s some vintage Doogie content. Hadn’t seen that for awhile!
Jokic currently leading the league in RPG and APG. Only 4th in PPG though so I’m not sure he’s the MVP.
He’s also 2nd in 3p% and 12th in spg.
?
https://stathead.com/basketball/vs/kareem-vs-wilt?utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_source=bbr&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_id=chambwi01
Wilt’s numbers in the 60’s are confounded by the much lower talent level in the league. Those rebounding numbers are based on a league where no one can shoot.
I see him as comparable to Shaq.
Cross-era comparisons are tough, and here’s fundamentally why. Now that everyone knows the math, players are sorted based on who can make the best math.
That part’s simple to understand.
Here’s the important part. The logical flip side is that when everyone knows the math and when everyone is sorted by math the best players are going to produce, all else equal … better math. And to amplify this impact even more, basketball things on the floor are going to funnel more to the players who can produce better math — 31 of the top 32 highest usage seasons are 21st century.(*)
The game is simply devised to generate better math at the high end of the player pool now. Consider it a form of evolution.
The ultimate question then becomes — how much of that is data/analytics evolution, and how much is basketball evolution? That’s a very difficult question to answer.
(*) Although Knick fans probably know better than anyone, you don’t have to be a Knick fan to realize that Michael Jordan was basically unstoppable from around 1986 to around 1996. Yet on the all-time seasonal usage list he has one 20th century season in the top 45. His second highest usage season was when he was a geezer in 2001-02.
That part’s simple to understand.
really?
although i got your pronunciation, doogie may have a point on this one pags…still your creative juice though…
Would never have guessed one of the highest single season usage% in NBA history would be Jermaine O’Neal on the 04-05 Pacers
interesting – KAT isn’t even on today injury report…
go KAT…
i believe if i were KAT, and could still barely walk, and saw the washington wizards at home on the schedule, i would be okay to play too…
hoping for another strong game from: josh, OG and mikal…hoping for less than 15 shots from each of KAT and jalen…
let’s see if huk is a stat stuffer, which i think he might be…he is most certainly not a lumbering “just tall” seven footer…he’s been coached up, prior to joining the knicks, on how to play basketball…
and he’s aggressive…we need that…
sims’ quiet strength is nice, but it’s a team game, huk’s energy alone should get him time on the court…
Simple version — if you can’t shoot the three, you can’t play in today’s NBA even if you’re otherwise very skilled at basketball. You’re sorted out. That’s math, not basketball.
Thinking it through, actually the link between skill and math got permanently severed when they made a shot that in no way, shape, or form is 50% more difficult worth 50% more points.(*) That makes the player pool in the analytics era even more fundamentally structurally different from the Jordan era than my earlier post theorized. As far as we know, a bunch of dudes that are really good defenders (and association-caliber two-ballers) that were in the Jordan era pool aren’t in today’s player pool because they can’t shoot the three. Clearly there are some; the only question is how many.
Which means taken to its natural logical conclusion, today’s player pool is not at maximum potential basketball skill. There is association-caliber basketball skill out there that is not playing in the association. That’s actually an unfortunate state of affairs.
(*) Which was ok when teams and GMs didn’t consciously game the math, not so ok now.
That’s because you never saw those guys play. Shaq and Wilt are only comparable in size. Wilt was a way better athlete, a vastly better passer, better rebounder, better rim protector who owned a sweet fall away j as well as the ability to maul the shit out of people.
Jokic would have a much tougher time with Wilt, Russell, Nate Thurmond, Willis, Jabbar and even Wes Unseld that he does against Sengun, Ayton Draymond/Looney, Nurkic, JJJ, Sabonis, Zubac, etc that he faces on a nightly basis in the west. Gobert… AD are fine defenders and Wemby when he gets enough bulk.
There’s no question that Jokic faces less capable defenders at his size range than he otherwise would because of the three-point shot and modern analytical efficiency and player selection criteria. It’s not even debatable. He’s obviously extraordinarily good nonetheless. But his numbers are put up in a completely different context.
Love to see those guys try to guard him at the three point line….
As for Wilt, something never adds up with him. Struggled to win a title with great teammates. Maybe the defense was really bad, I don’t know.
This is reductionist. It’s certainly true for positions 1-3 but even then there are exceptions like Jimmy Butler. The best PF in the NBA is a terrible 3-point shooter.
Our team is worse this year than it was last year mainly because we lost non-shooter Isaiah Hartenstein.
This has the causal arrow pointing the wrong direction though. The only reason guys have to be guarded closely at the three-point line is because the shot generates 50% more points even though it’s not even close to 50% more difficult. (Which is also the reason the shot is more “efficient.”)
That’s math, not basketball.
Is Jokic playing their rules or are they playing his???
He’s the most complete and best offensive player that has ever lived. It’s not particularly close either. That’s how I see it.
I saw him play at the tail end of his career. Defense was not the problem even then. He was a threat to block 10 shots on any given night. Early in his career he probably tried to do too much scoring, but generally I think the Celtics were just better.
His rules and context are gimmicky. I’ve explained why.
He’s still awesome.
Watch out tonight, Wizards are as good as the Sixers this year.
Alex Sarr might rebound some balls against us.
I am scared
Jokic won a title with Aaron Gordon as his sidekick. Most of Wilts sidekicks are in the HOF
So are most of the Celtics. 😉
Talking about Kareem
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5925721/2024/11/18/kareem-abdul-jabbar-the-basketball-100-book-excerpt/
I would argue that Bill Russell and Wilt’s contexts were far more gimmicky than today’s. Nobody could shoot, and without threes there was little reason to even try. Rim protection was almost the only thing that mattered defensively, enabling Russell to have an impact that no defensive player could ever have today.
I read Wilt as basically Giannis’ body with Julius Randle’s brain. He seemed to often play suboptimally, in line with his own quixotic whims. Easily tilted by Bill Russell’s mind games. His scoring efficiency is pretty underwhelming for his career, so that fading bank shot probably hurt more than helped.
To be fair Jamal Murry played All-NBA level in that playoff run.