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Knicks Morning News (2024.11.26)

  • Jamal Murray after loss to Knicks: ‘We’ve got some guys who live in LA, so stayed in LA. I don’t think the focus was there from everybody’ – Hoops Hype
    11/26/2024 10:55:12
     
  • OG Anunoby to drive New York Knicks to new heights this season: REPORTS – WIC News
    11/26/2024 11:07:07
     
  • Knicks’ Offense on Fire: A Dazzling Display of Basketball Brilliance – FootBoom
    11/26/2024 10:15:15
     
  • “Nah, f*ck that…I’m not flushing anything” – Mike Malone goes off on Nuggets after embarrassing loss vs. Knicks – Basketball Network
    11/26/2024 09:52:00
     
  • New York Knicks vs. Denver Nuggets: live game updates, stats, play-by-play – Yahoo Sports
    11/26/2024 10:35:27
     
  • NY Knicks basketball gift guide: Best Black Friday deals for fans this holiday season – NorthJersey.com
    11/26/2024 09:06:22
     
  • Malone rips into Nuggets after Knicks put up 145 – ESPN
    11/26/2024 07:47:00
     
  • The Knicks? offense is scary good and might just be getting started – The Athletic – The Athletic
    11/26/2024 08:02:47
     
  • Nikola Jokic Makes Blunt Statement After Knicks-Nuggets Game – Sports Illustrated
    11/26/2024 07:49:22
     
  • Dallas hosts New York following Anunoby’s 40-point outing – FOX Sports
    11/26/2024 07:00:32
     
  • NBA Fans React To Russell Westbrook’s Performance In Knicks-Nuggets Game – Sports Illustrated
    11/26/2024 07:02:58
     
  • Mike Malone criticizes Nikola Jokic after loss to Knicks, he responds – BasketNews.com
    11/26/2024 07:05:00
     
  • OG Anunoby’s career night helps Knicks to commanding bounce-back win over Nuggets – Yahoo Sports
    11/26/2024 06:22:00
     
  • Jalen Brunson?s career-high in assists leads Knicks to tying franchise mark – New York Post
    11/26/2024 06:28:00
     
  • Nuggets’ Russell Westbrook sets surprise career high vs. Knicks – ClutchPoints
    11/26/2024 06:32:57
     
  • Knicks’ OG Anunoby has ascended to an All-Star level after career-high 40 points in win over Nuggets – CBS Sports
    11/26/2024 05:44:07
     
  • Recap: Denver Nuggets look lifeless at home, get blown out 145-118 by New York Knicks – Denver Stiffs
    11/26/2024 04:45:32
     
  • Denver Nuggets blown out at home, lose big to New York Knicks – Mile High Sports
    11/26/2024 05:22:32
     
  • Knicks 145, Nuggets 118: “OG the real MVP” – Posting and Toasting
    11/26/2024 04:48:13
     
  • Grading Knicks Players After Dominant 145-118 Victory Over Nuggets – Fadeaway World
    11/26/2024 05:31:55
     
  • 95 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.11.26)”

    And Elfrid Payton had 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting, 7 rebounds, and 21 assists last night. Weird.

    No, I’m not wishing that we still had him.

    Jordi Fernandez might be the first coach to be fired for being too good.

    (I don’t remember whether the coach from Major League was fired… maybe he was the first).

    He was not. Nor were any of the good players released or sent to the minors. These decisions only make sense in the context of the movie’s original ending, in which we find out that the owner actually loves the team, but was left in a bad financial situation by her late husband, so she basically invented Moneyball to find undervalued players with upside, and acted the part of the villain to motivate them:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5td3yRTgkrI&t=7s

    It’s certainly a much more enlightened ending than the one where she’s just a rampaging rhymes-with-witch, but test audiences hated it, so it got cut and they shot new material with her growing increasingly upset throughout the tiebreaker game with the Yankees.

    Also? Go Knicks!

    First of all kudos to KBA for watching the game live (it started at 3 AM here in Italy), sometimes jet-lag is useful… 😉
    How’s your house search going?

    Very nice rebound game after the egg in Utah.
    It may sound crazy but, like last year, we match up well with the Nuggets, their pace and style of play are well suited for us (and they feel Gordon’s absence).

    Fantastic offensive performance overall, career high in points for OG, career high in assists for the Captain and tied franchise team record for assists, plus Hart couldn’t miss, KAT could barely do it and the Cam/Deuce couple from the bench did a good job.

    We know JB well so I foresaw a strong reaction, same for KAT who was pissed at himself last game.
    Bridges on the other hand looks like he has taken some bad habits in Brooklyn and apparently he doesn’t care about losing so he had another lousy game.

    I watched with the Nuggets’ broadcast on, here’s a couple of KBlogger-like takes from their announcers team (Scott Hastings is surprisingly good):
    “Bridges is the only Knick starter who didn’t shoot well… And anyway his shot looks broke to me”.
    “What if one of their starters get injured while up 30 in the 4th?”.

    Headline reads “Michael Malone calls out effort in blowout loss.”

    https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/42617295/michael-malone-calls-nuggets-effort-blowout-loss-knicks

    This is at least the third time this has happened after a big win. Giannis said his teammates “didn’t compete” and Bickerstaff had the same lament as Malone when we blew out Detroit.

    Seems like when we do have it going, it has a demoralizing impact on opponents.

    (And yes, fyi, I am aware that OG looked like he is very properly paid.)

    If he’s actually the new Kawhi he might be underpaid.

    I feel bad for the guy. He signed that new contract and just a few weeks into the season he’s already underpaid. 😉

    If he’s new Kawhi we’re going to be very happy with that contract for the next 4 years as long as he doesn’t get injured for 2 of them.

    Can you imagine this team if Bridges ever gets going? And with Mitch at the 5 providing rim protection and KAT at the 4?

    A man can dream, right?

    The Knicks’ ORtg is now a ridiculous 123.2, just 0.4 behind Cleveland. If I had to guess, they will be take the #1 spot in the next two weeks (Dallas is a tough defensive team, but the schedule opens up after that, and Cleveland is unlikely to continue to shoot 41.5% from deep – though the Knicks might regress a bit too from their 39.8% mark, #2 in the league).

    The difference between the Knicks’ ORtg and the #4 team is the same between the #4 team and the #21 team.

    Now if only they could get the defense to the #10-#15 range (they are currently #22), they’d be cooking. If they had the #15 defense (currently the Bucks), their net rating would be in the Celtics/OKC/Cleveland stratosphere.

    It sounds like Precious is almost ready to go so we can see if Thibs is willing to try some two big lineups

    Can you imagine this team if Bridges ever gets going?

    This is the thing. I refuse to believe that this is the real Bridges. So he will get going. And then, to quote a wise old man of television… sweet fancy Moses!

    For those lamenting just two days ago that Thibs is a dinosaur and is the wrong coach for this team (really tired take, if I may be blunt…), this from Macri:

    “In Thibs’ first season as coach, New York got to 30 assists just once in 72 games. They have now topped that number nine times in 17 contests. It is as stunning a turnaround in offensive execution and philosophy as there is in the league this year.”

    This is not to throw shade at Thibs, but getting assists is much easier when your teammates can shoot.

    Absolutely no shot at Jordi Fernandez, who is doing an amazing job, but as we’ve seen a number of times over the years, it’s one thing coaching a bunch of eager young dudes without a ton of egos. Making the transition to the next step is super, super tricky.

    This is not to throw shade at Thibs, but getting assists is much easier when your teammates can shoot.

    This is very true, but you still need to set up your offense to throw those passes.

    I think Thibs is much more flexible than people give him credit for. He adjusts what the team does depending on the personnel.

    Thibs seems to have adapted his offensive system to the talent he has, which is great, and we also need to give props to Jalen Brunson as a leader. The guy was getting MVP votes going on scoring rampages, and has toned down his own production and ramped up the assists to integrate everyone else.

    Like many, I think the team is much better off with Brunson acting as a facilitator most of the time, and only going Full Brunson when the defense is cutting off the ball movement. The mere threat of him deking his way to the bucket opens up so many possibilities for him as a playmaker. Luka is still the best offensive player he’s played with, but being in a lineup with KAT, and with guys like Hart, OG, Deuce, and (theoretically) Bridges, who can cut and shoot, etc., is allowing him to do things he never did in Dallas, nor here prior to this season.

    Neither last night nor Utah changes my feeling that we need more games before the team coheres. 20 games may not be enough. If we’re still above. 500, 40 or 50 games would still be fine. Let’s get into January and get everyone healthy (knock on wood) and give time for whatever Thibs is trying to implement on defense to manifest. Because you know he isn’t happy with the D right now.

    Also, belated props to AlSep! That was cool.

    Can you imagine this team if Bridges ever gets going?

    Honestly when I do that, I don’t see much changing.

    I have never doubted that Bridges will get going. I doubt that getting him going will move the needle. When he gets going, then OG or Hart just become the guy who is less involved.

    Maybe getting Bridges going and moving Hart to the bench with Deuce is the secret sauce, but I still think it’s going to take a player who isn’t currently on our roster.

    “Maybe getting Bridges going and moving Hart to the bench with Deuce is the secret sauce, but I still think it’s going to take a player who isn’t currently on our roster.”

    Or maybe who isn’t currently in our rotation, such as Precious and/or Mitch.

    I’m gonna have to start calling Anunoby, “Who Knew”…sheesh! It seemed like no matter how clunky some of his moves were, everything still went in. Contested..uncontested..drives…shit was crazy. Now..I don’t expect him to keep this pace up offensively, but it’s nice to see so far. Maybe he does continue to average career highs on offense and it helps Bridges rediscover his shot. But really- Thibs needs to have him play with the 2nd unit alot more with Anunoby’s emergence. This team is gonna be awesome once Mitch and Achiuwa are healthy- provided Anunoby and KAT stay relatively healthy. I’m always worried about Brunson and Hart staying upright, but they don’t have a deep injury history- so long as Thibs doesn’t continue to play them more than 32 minutes in a game-long blowout 🙄

    OG probably won’t keep this up (though, hey, prove me wrong), but if he maintains even 75% of it he’s all-star caliber and, yes, likely underpaid.

    Given the respective play of OG and RJ Barrett of late, there’s someone we probably won’t be hearing from today. In any event, that trade is looking like an absolute heist.

    Now we just need the guy we traded five firsts for to be good.

    (I posted all of my comments in the wrong thread so reposting here)

    It’s a great road win! That said, Denver without Gordon is sort of tailor-made for us…a relatively slow-footed, unathletic, poor defensive team, no rim protection. KAT is not physically overwhelmed by Jokic and defends him reasonably well, and also keeps him occupied on the other end. Gordon is their only answer for OG, probably would have made a difference tonight. It’s crazy how different they look without guys like KCP and Bruce Brown. I doubt that they make much noise this year, they are gonna have a lot of nights like tonight where their offense can’t keep up when team go off on their shitty defense.

    Speaking of overpaid, another guy in OG’s salary range is Michael Porter Jr.

    More generally, it seems like the NBA has evolved (imo devolved) into a league where games are largely decided by which team is hot or cold from 3. There just doesn’t seem to be a way to defend 4 or 5 good to excellent 3pt shooters on the floor so that one of them doesn’t end up with a good look. Against Utah, they were hot and we were cold and that was that. Against Denver, we went 19-36 and they went 11-33.

    Obviously there’s a lot more to it than that, but because effectively defending the 3pt line is crazy hard to do every night, there are games that we are going to lose no matter what. It’s those games where shots are falling at similar rates that become critical to winning. That’s where things like rim protection, point of attack defense, rebounding, free throw differential, and turnover differential become critical. But it seems like the 3 is most often the deciding factor.

    Another thing that worked in our favor vs. the Nuggets is that they are 29th in 3PAr at .358.

    For reference, in 2012-23, the Knicks led the NBA in 3PAr at .354.

    Meanwhile the Celts are shooting 56% of their shots from 3. At that pace, they will blow away the D’Antoni Rockets record of 52%.

    Much of the focus is deservedly on OG, Towns and Brunson, but I thought our bench gave us a huge lift last night. Deuce didn’t miss a beat, Payne making a 6MoY case, Sims looking progressively less robotic and better at reading plays….all good to see!

    (sorry for the binge-posting, I have a 6 hr drive ahead of me.)

    Or maybe who isn’t currently in our rotation, such as Precious and/or Mitch.

    These guys can provide a dash of defense, maybe for like 20 minutes.

    I have given up on the idea of Mitch being a consistent 36 mpg C who can make it through an entire playoffs.

    And I like Precious a lot but I’m very skeptical that replacing Bridges or Hart with him in the lineup is a net gain.

    Regarding Mikal stifling others in the lineup — in the flow of the game last night, he took the second-most shots of anyone on the Knicks (16 vs 15 for Towns and 14 for Jalen, OG with 23). So it’s not like he has to way up his usage to be valuable. He just has to shoot better. If he shot 50% overall, and 37.5% from three last night, we score 150.

    I’m a trifle more nervous about his defense, as while I wasn’t following him closely I did keep seeing him chasing far behind Murray (who admittedly is a slithery fellow, but it still wasn’t a good look). If he can improve there, too, we win by a lot more than 27…

    I have never doubted that Bridges will get going. I doubt that getting him going will move the needle. When he gets going, then OG or Hart just become the guy who is less involved

    He doesn’t have to up his usage. He just has to make more of the shots he takes and we’ll be more than fine. The offense is so potent it may soon be #1 with him in a slump!

    What we need from him more is consistent high level D

    Ode to Josh Hart incoming –
    I’ve mentioned this to various people in the past but i really do think Josh Hart is the wing version of Draymond Green. Never going to be among league leaders in any stat, but he fills every nook and cranny on both sides of the ball. And eye test-wise it’s his processing speed that really stands out. Dude just makes the quickest and best decisions. There’s nothing he can’t do – need a rebound, a block, a steal, a transition and-1 bucket, a 3 pointer to beat the shot clock? He can do it all. What a player.

    Another area for potential improvement, courtesy of our old friend Fred Katz:

    Anunoby has developed a nasty habit. If he has the ball with only a second or two remaining on the shot clock, instead of putting up an emergency jumper, he will pass it up, relaying the basketball to a teammate with a far worse chance of even touching the rim (if he has the time to shoot at all).

    This is not the only late-clock grenade Anunoby has fired at a teammate this season. On other plays, they’ve gotten up a jumper but just barely in time.

    The Knicks offense is humming, but even so, they will miss all the shots they don’t take.

    More here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5947809/2024/11/26/nba-giannis-antetokounmpo-bucks-timberwolves-knicks/

    As an example of that, Frank, someone posted a clip of him after a Denver shot shouting to KAT that the board would be short, so KAT stepped forward, the ball dropped into his hands, he passed to Hart, and then Hart went coast to coast.

    Frank, Draymond’s eliteness at defense separates him from Hart. Hart’s rebounding is elite in its own right, but not as impactful overall as Draymond as skeleton key who unlocks an elite defense.

    He doesn’t have to up his usage. He just has to make more of the shots he takes and we’ll be more than fine.

    Mikal’s current eFG% is .531.

    His career eFG% is .558.

    I don’t the .27 difference there bridges the gap between us and the top tier in the NBA.

    For those lamenting just two days ago that Thibs is a dinosaur and is the wrong coach for this team (really tired take, if I may be blunt…), this from Macri:

    “In Thibs’ first season as coach, New York got to 30 assists just once in 72 games. They have now topped that number nine times in 17 contests. It is as stunning a turnaround in offensive execution and philosophy as there is in the league this year.”

    not really? think it’s much more a change in personnel than philosophy. we are still 19th in passes per possession, 19th in potential assists, and 28th in seconds per touch. We haven’t suddenly become a motion, passing offense. Our assists are mainly high because we play 5-outish with guys who can or can credibly threaten to make shots and have two elite advantage creators and 3 solid passers. We’re also below average a getting to the line (28th vs 15th last year) which naturally bumps your assist %.

    not to say that thibs shouldn’t get any credit for the offense being so successful so quickly. counterfactuals are definitely possible. just that he didn’t do it with some radical sea change in philosophy. if you look at the basic off-ball movement data that’s around these days we actually have a slightly less this year than last. i think a better encapsulation is that thibs didn’t have to turn into steve kerr or indy rick to hit a homerun with this group on offense.

    I’ve mentioned this to various people in the past but i really do think Josh Hart is the wing version of Draymond Green.

    josh stan here for the most part and think he deserves a ton of credit for almost instantaneously shaping his offensive role to fit the new scene. but saying he’s the wing version of draymond is like saying wingstop is the wing version of the french laundry. draymond doesn’t just play a different position. he’s one of the best defenders to ever play the game. josh is somewhere between okay and pretty good.

    thibs didn’t have to turn into steve kerr or indy rick to hit a homerun with this group on offense.

    One might even say Leon has Thibs-proofed this offense 😉

    Thx for the shout, Max. House hunting and jet lag continue. FWIW Knicks are undefeated when I’m in Europe.

    As far as I’m concerned, it hardly matters what we do against any team other than the playoff teams in the East. Thus far we have lost handily to the Cavs and Celts, and are 1-1 with Indiana. We beat an undermanned and discombobulated Sixers team, an out of sorts Bucks team, and a shorthanded Heat team. We lost to the Hawks and Bulls, both of whome can muddle their way to the play-in. We almost lost to the Nets before routing them. We beat up on the shitty Pistons and Wizards.

    That’s why, in a way, I don’t feel as if the “real” season has really begun. We need some games vs. those teams fully healthy and congealed to really gauge who we are. I don’t feel as if we’ve had a truly meaningful win in the EC yet.

    Beyond that, there are really no EC measuring stick games on the schedule other than Orlando (we play them 3 times between now and January 6, possibly more depending on IST seeding.)

    January will be a fun month, but I am really looking forward to the stretch of games beginning with February 8 vs. the Celts (thanks to a generous friend I will be there for that one!)

    l don’t the .27 difference there bridges the gap between us and the top tier in the NBA.

    I’m more interested in his TS% and what it would be if he was hitting 3s at his normal rate and not all all interest in his usage. But again that’s not our main issue. We are already elite on offense. We need consistent defense

    pt, I largely agree that Thibs has tweaked but hasn’t changed…it’s more about personnel than system. Thibs has always run an offense based on sets, not plays, and how the offense functions is more about decision-making and execution than anything else. This is true for most offenses. Thibs has definitely followed trends in prioritizing 3’s and rim runs over mid-range, but he also prioritizes low turnovers and cautious, opportunistic pace. He’s kind of risk-averse on both ends. On offense, that seems to translate into less “unproductive” passing. On defense, it leads to fewer steals and transition opportunities.

    Regarding transition, one thing I see that I like is KAT’s outlet passing off of his awesome defensive rebounding. He’s much better than that than either Mitch or iHart was, and a better defensive rebounder as well. I also like how OG seems to be filling the Obi leak-out role. Seems like we are getting more of those kinds of hoops than in the past.

    We also could have easily won the Cavs game. We didn’t, and our record is our record, and we still seem flawed until we get some combo of more depth and Mikal being Mikal again. But I feel pretty good, given the adjustment period these guys obviously need.

    Offense is a lot easier when you have high eFG% players everywhere. Our combination of high eFG% and low turnovers is potent. The Knicks’ offense has been elite. Our team eFG% last year was .540, this year it’s .586. We have one player in the entire rotation under last year’s team average of .540, which is Mikal. Last year we had a whole bunch of low eFG% attempts from the likes of Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, and Josh Hart. Improved play from Hart and jettisoning the other two has done wonders for our offense.

    We’re also turning it over far less, going from middle of the pack to 4th in the league. We’re second in the league in assists per 100 possessions, up from 23rd last year. All of this, it seems to me, is a function of having lots of guys who can shoot. We can get easy buckets.

    The problem, of course, is on the other end. The defense was still good enough to win last night in a game where we scorched the nets for a .700+ eFG%, but the Knicks did allow a 117 offensive rating, still not great, despite heavy minutes from the starters.

    I think the idea that we could be a pretty strong contending team even with a league average defense seems reasonable. The offense is just brute force effective.

    But again that’s not our main issue. We are already elite on offense. We need consistent defense

    That’s literally the argument for trading him. Finding his shot isn’t going to change much. Trading him for an impactful two-way big who complements Towns changes everything.

    “We also could have easily won the Cavs game.”

    I dunno, Mobley and Garland had their way with us, especially in the 4th quarter. And they have beaten everyone else but the Celts. Their offense is just as good as ours and their defense is much better. You could more easily make the argument that they toyed with us and then just turned it up in the 4th.

    That’s why I need to see waaaay more before I get all that excited. The games against the Celts, Cavs and Rockets and the loss to the Pacers are still bugging me. Beating the snot out of the Nuggets was nice, but all of of our other wins have major caveats.

    The problem, of course, is on the other end. The defense was still good enough to win last night in a game where we scorched the nets for a .700+ eFG%, but the Knicks did allow a 117 offensive rating, still not great, despite heavy minutes from the starters.

    Not to go too far off-brand, but I see last night as an encouraging sign defensively. We understandably let off the gas defensively in the 2nd half, but holding the Nuggets to 53 at the half is very good. No Nuggets rotation player other than Westbrook shot over 50%, and if he’s hitting shots you just let him keep shooting.

    @mikevorkunov.bsky.social‬
    Joel Embiid and Paul George won’t play Wednesday against the Rockets. Kyle Lowry will be out, too.

    Embiid didn’t practice today for the 76ers. Paul George partially participated, the 76ers say.

    The Embiid situation is so weird. Before the season, the Sixers were insisting he was not “injured.” Just, you know, missing a lot of games due to physical discomfort in his surgically repaired knee.

    He’s played 4 of their 16 games this season, and it ain’t because they don’t need him. Still, don’t use the “I” word!

    FWIW Knicks are undefeated when I’m in Europe.

    Hence we’re going to become a dynasty as soon as you transfer here… 😉

    Embiid is quite obviously not 100% and I do think they rushed him back because of their awful start, but the vibes are just all wrong with their team, Maxey is complaining publicly, George is out there podcasting, Embiid just seems pissed and off these days. I’ll be surprised if Nick Nurse lasts beyond this year unless they somehow put it together in the playoffs, because they’re stuck with this core for the next couple of years at least.

    I think I’m adjusting to the idea that this Knicks team will be in a lot more shootouts than we expected and wanted, and I’m still curious what will happen once Precious and Mitch are available, because we know how much rim protectors are important for Thibs system in general and Towns has been a part of good defenses with Gobert alongside him. I just wish Bridges would stop dying on every screen, because right now every time he gets screened he ends up 2 steps behind the play and the guy he’s guarding gets an open lane.

    When is Chet Holmgren due back? I can’t keep watching Hartenstein put up these lines.

    I think we really need to temper our expectations about Precious being a rim protector. I don’t know how to get those fancy fg% stats when one specific player is the closest to the rim like the ones we kept seeing about Towns, but Precious averages a meager 1.2 blocks per 36, same as KAT. He is an excellent switchable forward and he rebounds well, but Mitch is the only guy on the team who can protect the rim.

    Yeah, that’s correct about Precious. Not a rim protector or drop defender, but an excellent switch defender.

    He COULD be effective on defense though, if Thibs was willing to do more switching. Round pegs and all that, however.

    If Mitch comes back healthy, I don’t know how much we should fuck around with KAT and Mitch playing together. I will never trust Mitch to be anything more than a 20 minute back up at this point. Let KAT start at the 5 and run up pointz with our starting 5, then bring in Mitch for rim protection and hold that lead while KAT rests.

    Precious averages a meager 1.2 blocks per 36, same as KAT. He is an excellent switchable forward and he rebounds well, but Mitch is the only guy on the team who can protect the rim.

    Mitch BLK/36 last season: 1.6

    Same as iHart. Not saying Precious is necessarily a true rim protector, but shot blocking is not 1:1 with rim protection, just the way the correlation between steals and perimeter defense is very weak.

    Interestingly, Towns was a monster shot blocker in college averaging 3.9 BLK/36. Whatever happened there?

    Mitch doesn’t need to block shots anymore cause dudes are so afraid to even attempt to go into the paint against him.

    Precious’ DFG% – FG% on shots from 6 feet or closer over the years (we’re subtracting the average FG% of players who shoot at the rim from the FG% of those players when they shoot near the with Precious as the closest defender, so a lower/negative number is better)

    2023-2024 (1,624 minutes): -4.6%

    2022-2023 (1,140 minutes): -2.9%

    2021-2022 (1,725 minutes): -9%

    2020-2021 (737 minutes): -6.8%

    So depending on how much faith you put in this particular stat (my opinion is there’s a lot of noise but you can discern a signal over a large enough sample size), he seems pretty good!

    Eye-test wise it’s IMO very clear that Precious is a plus defender. His work on Embiid in the playoffs was very impressive. At this point I feel comfortable calling him our third best defensive player.

    Amusingly, Mikal’s 3point% has now dipped below Precious’ career mark of .307. Perhaps the 3&D fifth option we needed was there all along?

    Where the fuck is he anyway? Wasn’t he supposed to be re-evaluated in 2-4 weeks like 2 months ago?

    …He’s dead, isn’t he…

    I like Hart a lot, he has a unique skill package that provides surplus value everywhere he goes. That said, Draymond Green is as special a player that has ever played. He was, simultaneously, the best interior defender and the point guard in some of the best lineups ever.

    A few weeks ago somebody was talking about OG being the knicks’ Draymond. Maybe if you thundercatted Hart, OG, Mitch, Bridges, and Kolek you’d have something resembling Draymond Green.

    Mitch BLK/36 last season: 1.6

    That’s a career low by a mile, certainly impacted by the fact that he played injured most of the year.

    Where the fuck is he anyway? Wasn’t he supposed to be re-evaluated in 2-4 weeks like 2 months ago?

    Precious? He was on the bench last night, he’s back practicing with the team

    precious should help on defense, but the question will be whether it’s a net win given that he will likely cramp our 5-out style somewhat. his has some individual offensive skill but the overall package sucks and his instincts on that end are not good. he rightfully gets ignored on the outside and while he’s a decent passer when he passes, he’s very up and down as a decision maker, connector and cutter, and the secondary handling he provides is usually not a win for the offense. having even one poor fitting piece can make the defense’s job a lot easier when the offense is this potent.

    i’m guessing how much he helps will depend on opponent, but at a bare minimum we could really use more competent minutes from someone thibs can trust.

    In the Warriors run Draymond has been something like 7.5assists/2.5 tov per 36, Josh is just shy of 6/2 right now, he’s looking pretty Draymondian on offense. Obviously he’s nowhere close to Draymond on the other side of the ball.

    i’m assuming the embiid story is that he just didn’t want them to say he was injured, perhaps bc he thought it would make him look bad for having played in the olympics after a rough end to the year. morey will bend over backwards (with the owner’s wallet) to cater to his stars. at least those he still wants to be his stars.

    That’s literally the argument for trading him. Finding his shot isn’t going to change much. Trading him for an impactful two-way big who complements Towns changes everything.

    That depends on your view of his defense and the overall team defense. If you think he’s “done” and our defense is unfixable in part because of him, then maybe we made a mistake. I think it’s WAY too early to come to that conclusion on either his defense or the team’s defense. Defense may be tougher for these guys to work out than offense and we are still missing pieces. We have a lot more to see before jumping to any conclusions.

    every time he (Bridges) gets screened he ends up 2 steps behind the play and the guy he’s guarding gets an open lane.

    This (to me) is the scary part. Forget Mikal’s offense for a bit, my eye test says opponents are now hunting the guy who’s supposed to be a plus defender.

    I’m not panicked, and am still waiting for the entire roster to be back, but I didn’t expect the above at all.

    Yesterday i was still sad about Hubert’s comment and decided to skip the game… Hahaha, just kiddin’ 😀 …i decided to catch up with some sleep, but definitely on the wrong game. At least the game thread was fun as usual, and i got a sense about how the game went. 🙂
    And now we’re contenders again, right? Until the next L… 😛 😀

    This (to me) is the scary part. Forget Mikal’s offense for a bit, my eye test says opponents are now hunting the guy who’s supposed to be a plus defender.

    That’s scary enough but the fact that they’re hunting him instead of known BBQ chicken Jalen Brunson is downright terrifying. There are so many cheap young wings that can do 3&D nowadays. OKC and HOU alone have about 10.

    Why’d we have to pay 5x the cost for one that can’t?

    My loose impression of Precious’ offensive game is he suffers a bit from Former Top Recruit Disease and just tries to do too much (interestingly Mitch was also a former top recruit, but suffers no such affliction).

    If he has the ball and isn’t immediately in position to score, something dumb and bad is almost always going to happen. If he was willing to Mitch-ify his game a bit, he might make a lot of money as a plus defender who won’t kill you on offense.

    He’ll never provide Mitch-level vertical spacing, but he could stand to be a roll man more often. I don’t even mind him continuing to shoot the extremely wide open threes–they’re probably a necessary evil. Just send everything else directly to the basket, please.

    I’m sorry, Cyber. I really appreciate your comments and value you highly as a poster and “online friend.”

    I didn’t like hearing my opinion referred to as a joke but I’ve heard 1,000 worse things and I should have brushed it off.

    I’m sure (today) you meant no offense. Yesterday I thought maybe you were like “Hubert’s drinking herbal tea now, it’s open season.”

    Why’d we have to pay 5x the cost for one that can’t?

    Yeah, I completely respect your opinion. But I’m not really looking to re-litigate “good v bad trade” on Mikal Bridges. Smarter minds have weighed in on that already, including you.

    Instead I’m mostly about the here and now. Mikal is one of our guys. Is there anything his teammates, his coach, or his physio can do to get the most out of him for all of our sakes? “The rest is silence.”

    “You’re going to have games like that,” said Hart, who scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting. “That’s why we don’t panic after every game. We’ll leave the panicking to y’all.”

    Maybe Josh is a knickerblogger reader

    I’m sorry, Cyber. I really appreciate your comments and value you highly as a poster and “online friend.”

    Hey, yesterday i said “no worries” and i meant it. The “joke” comment was not meant to be offensive, but maybe i didn’t express myself right. It happens.

    This is the thing. I refuse to believe that this is the real Bridges. So he will get going. And then, to quote a wise old man of television… sweet fancy Moses!

    But we let Moses go to Indy!!! 😀

    So i lost the KBA relocation sweepstakes to Max. Now i’m mad! 😀

    I’m kiddin’ KBA, if you ever come my way, let me know! 😉

    My loose impression of Precious’ offensive game is he suffers a bit from Former Top Recruit Disease and just tries to do too much (interestingly Mitch was also a former top recruit, but suffers no such affliction).

    He’s a bit frustrating to me in that I think I see flashes of significant talent but either he hasn’t put it all together yet or he’s missing something that’s hard to pin down. He’s not the first player I’ve seen like this. Usually, if it doesn’t come together quickly the chances of it ever coming together are not so great, but I’m a dreamer.

    A 60’s “Hair” reference besides Hamlet?

    @BrunsonPeroneusLongus — Wow. I had forgotten (or never knew?) that line was in HAIR (which I love). Thx.

    Off your post, I just re-watched highlights from the film. Now I’m terribly homesick for Central Park where “I preminisce” we will all gather one day to dance Twyla Tharp’s choreography with horses and properly celebrate a Knicks championship!

    @Cyber — Having never been, I’m afraid Portugal is so beautiful I will never leave, but it’s on the list for next year, so … be careful what you wish for 😉

    best thing about the bucks/heat game – someone is going to lose…

    aj green can shoot the ball…interested to see the knecht rook with the lakers shoot later, another young guy who shoots well from deep…

    Pelicans’ Elfrid Payton racks up NBA season-high 21 assists in third game back after two-year absence.

    Payton spent the past two seasons in Puerto Rico and the G-League

    the elf story is amazing…

    had high hopes for him when he first joined the team…one of the most maligned knicks i ever remember on the team…

    hard to remember his personality, watched a recent interview, seems pretty low key…i remember his mom was feisty…

    I can’t believe how bad DDV is playing right now.

    Maybe we should start thinking in terms of Brunson making some players better.

    Grayson Allen had some grey hair last game…looks like he is dyeing it now…oh…he just shaved it down

    So after all the agonizing about the 2019 draft, in the end we basically drafted OG Anounoby and missed out on Zion and Ja

    So falling to #3 turned out not to be so bad after all!

    was curious, looked online and consensus seems to be KD is a top 15 all time player…

    been looking through some lists: ny times/athletic, hoopshype, espn.

    interesting to see who ranks kobe or shaq higher on the list…kd is somewhere between 12 and 13…steph isn’t top 15 yet, it seems…

    A 60’s “Hair” reference besides Hamlet?

    @BrunsonPeroneusLongus — Wow. I had forgotten (or never knew?) that line was in HAIR (which I love). Thx.

    HaHa… my mom was a Julliard trained opera singer and besides every Italian opera, she played every broadway show album from the 50’s and 60’s 24/7. I can still sing every one of them (not so well, though)

    We starve-look
    At one another
    Short of breath
    Walking proudly in our winter coats
    Wearing smells from laboratories
    Facing a dying nation
    Of moving paper fantasy
    Listening for the new told lies
    With supreme visions of lonely tunes

    Somewhere
    Inside something there is a rush of
    Greatness
    Who knows what stands in front of
    Our lives
    I fashion my future on films in space
    Silence
    Tells me secretly
    Everything
    Everything

    Manchester England England
    Manchester England England
    Eyes look your last
    Across the Atlantic Sea
    Arms take your last
    embrace
    And I’m a genius genius
    And lips oh you the
    doors of breath
    I believe in God
    Seal with a righteous kiss
    And I believe that God believes in Claude
    Seal with a righteous kiss
    That’s me, that’s me, that’s me
    The rest is silence
    The rest is silence
    The rest is silence

    [Singing]
    Our space songs on a spider web sitar
    Life is around you and in you
    Answer for Timothy Leary, dearie

    Let the sunshine
    Let the sunshine in
    The sunshine in
    Let the sunshine
    Let the sunshine in
    The sunshine in
    Let the sunshine
    Let the sunshine in
    The sun shine in…

    The sun shine in…

    😉 I can see our shadowy shaman Jowles leading us all one day into trippy Knicks ecstasy (but hopefully not into the belly of a military cargo plane).

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