most of our “pieces” are reliable/known players…I wouldn’t expect someone young and good coming in too soon…

josh, precious, deuce, mitch would be the trade/salary pieces…not sure what we have draft wise…probably not too much for another season or so…

or, go with what we got, hope mitch helps with rim protection and rebounding…

As such, I’m not high on a Vuc trade simply because he wouldn’t get enough minutes for what you’re paying him. I’d probably prefer to trade Mitch for draft capital and a semi-useful 13th man-type (and a bit of cap space).

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=compare+al+horford+and+jonas+valan%C4%8Di%C5%ABnas

a rim protector (our league wide rank in DFG% – Average FG% in shots taken near the rim actually isn’t that bad, 14th, but also isn’t good),

This is entirely on KAT, who is terrible near the basket while the rest of our Cs have been exceptional. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but every C on the roster but KAT is around top-10 in dfg% near the rim. Either we’re playing KAT at the 4, Precious as the de facto 5, or we’re suffering through KAT’s terrible rim protection.

I like the idea of a poor man’s Horford, but Vuc seems like an entirely different animal, and one who doesn’t seem to fit our needs at all.

And that’s the rub. Guys with Horford’s intelligence and skillset, even at a lower level, are just not available. Maybe Kelly Olynyk is about as good as you might find for what we can afford, but I’d rather roll the dice with Mitch.

“Through Thanksgiving, the Knicks were 1-7 when they lost the first quarter. Since Thanksgiving, they’re 5-1 after losing the first, with their win in Washington on Saturday improving them to 5-8 in games they trailed by double-digits. For the season, they’ve been the league’s best third-quarter team (plus 18.9 points per 100 possessions) by a healthy margin.”

Boy, that ‘coming out flat after the half’ thing they had going last year still sticks with me, so glad to see that. Now we just have to WIN a few first quarters, please.

Also from that piece, on our collective least-favorite topic:

“They continue to close games with all five starters on the floor, and their starting lineup has now played 136 more minutes (539) than any other lineup in the league. There are only 32 players who’ve played at least 1,000 minutes this season, and the Knicks have five of them. (No other team has more than three.)”

One thing that gives me a lot of hope with this team in the playoffs is our excellent shooting at all levels even fts.

The Knicks are the only team that is top 5 in Rim, Midrange, and 3pt shot making this year— BBall Index (@The_BBall_Index) December 29, 2024