Knicks Morning News (2025.01.26)

Seems like there were quite a few folks across the NBA front office spectrum who were not enamored with RJ, according to Zach Lowe at the time of the trade.

As E knows full well, I have been more of a defender of RJ’s potential than most here. Like E, I have repeatedly said that his age 19-22 numbers can be discarded. Like E, I was very impressed with his playoff performance in 2023.

But that’s where our agreement on the subject ends. Although I agree that his ceiling is much higher than the preponderance of KB posters, I think RJ’s wonky shooting form and inherently weak right hand will limit the ceiling his offensive efficacy. I think his defense is mediocre at best, maybe slightly better than Demar DeRozan, who we got a glimpse of last night. In fact, a poor man’s DeRozan is about the best I can ever see RJ becoming….or Harrison Barnes, if you will. Not a good fit with Brunson, never would be.

As to the trade proposed by Simmons, I don’t think it’s worth quibbling about. It was an excellent trade for both teams. Could the Knicks have acquired OG at a lower price by waiting? Maybe. But they didn’t want to take the risk. RJ was stinking up the court at the time of the trade, and IQ was an impending RFA who some guy named Ujiri thought was worth $32.5M AAV, foolishly if you ask me. Leon locked up OG and it has worked out very well for the Knicks. They have won an incredibly high percentage of the games that he starts. Meanwhile, RJ Barrett has been an excellent tank commander for a 13-32 team.

Jokic is going to have to be in consideration for a top-5 player of all time, let alone C. He is hugely hurt by the fact that there are 30 teams and a great deal of parity in today’s NBA, so he won’t pile up the championships like Kareem and Russell, or score 50.4 pts and averaged 48.5 minutes a game like Wilt. But the stats he is putting up are unprecedented.

However, there are lots of reasons to believe that any of the all-time great C’s would have been even better in today’s game than they were in their respective eras. They would have grown up shooting 3’s and handling the ball. They would have been coached as kids totally differently. They would have been load-managed and had their injuries treated with modern medicine. They’d be wearing something other than Chuck Taylor’s. And stats like ORebs, Blocks, Steals, plus the glory of triple-doubles would have given them targets that didn’t really exist back then. Not to mention the fame that comes with today’s mass media and internet/social media coverage.

For example, the closest analog to Wilt in today’s NBA is Giannis. Yet Wilt was measurably taller, longer, faster, stronger, and more skilled than Giannis, and played in an era where he was routinely triple-teamed with no perimeter spacing. If Giannis can be a 2X MVP in today’s game, I don’t see how it can be disputed that Wilt would have been the game’s best player.

All that said, Jokic’s game would clearly make him a top-10 player and all-time great C in any era he played in. And when all is said and done, if folke want to say that he’s the regular season GOAT, it will be a tough argument to refute. At the end of the day, comparing players across eras is just arguing for fun.

I think Wilt, Kareem, MJ and LeBron are locks because they statistically dominated their eras, were two-way players, and had physical advantages that would hold up in today’s game.

Russell is interesting. His game is the quintessential version of the Josh Hart archetype, and his leadership and drive to win at all costs, specifically by making his teammates better, is hard to quantify. What gets overlooked with Russell is that he was a world-class track and field athlete. He also could have put on another 25lbs of muscle and been like a cross between Ben Wallace, Dennis Rodman, and Draymond Green (who is probably his best analog in today’s game.) I don’t think any C ever would feel comfortable going against prime Bill Russell, especially a bulked up version with a more coached-up skillset. Again, imagine a bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic, smarter, and more driven and mature version of Draymond Green in today’s game.

So who should be #5? It is impossible to say with any real conviction. But Jokic is working his way into that conversation for sure.

(it may be blasphemy, but I think if KD stayed with the Warriors, he’d be somewhere in that conversation. His package of size and skill is pretty unique. Probably a bit too soft and weird to merit serious consideration, but he’s something else.)

Bo, I had a similar experience. I picked the Mets and Knicks in the mid-60’s when they weren’t very good (and the Jets and Rangers as well) and was 11-12 years old when the Mets and Knicks did their thing. In the Mets’ case, it really came out of the blue…they really only had one superstar and beating the absolutely loaded Orioles was an outcome that seemed utterly impossible just a couple of years before. I mean, there were books on my bookshelf about how much of a joke the Mets were from 1962-66! The thing was, the Yankees were also terrible in the mid-60’s (the Horace Clarke era) and the Giants were not good either, so it wasn’t a totally brave choice.

The Knicks were by far my faves…partially because they were universally beloved and partially because basketball was my favorite sport to play. They were also HUGE underdogs because the Wilt-West-Baylor big 3 was overhyped and looking to avenge a bitter defeat to the Celts in 1969. The media kinda glossed over the fact that Baylor had nothing left and Wilt was a shell of himself after making a herculean effort to overcome a ruptured patellar tendon that made him miss most of the season and would have ended most players’ careers at that time. And the Knicks had a pretty good bench compared to the Lakers.

But damn, who knew that all I’d have since 1974 is the 1986 Mets? It’s almost like I sold my soul for that joyous sports childhood!

To be fair, Stearns’ efficacy this year (and by extension in any year) can’t be evaluated until the trade deadline. Last season the team was absolutely dead in the water until they made some under-the-radar moves that re-invigorated the team, resulting in a renaissance for the ages.

In other words, baseball is the sport where the rich owner and smart GM can make as much of a killing on the margins as in the luxury market. So I don’t want to make the same mistake I made last year by underestimating Stearns’ acumen in that regard, and prematurely giving up the team for dead. If the team underperforms, well, that can happen to any team. If this team doesn’t make the playoffs, it will be bad luck, not bad management.

Jokic’s run on offense from 2020 through now is as good of a peak as anyone has had in NBA history.

On a whim around Christmas time, I bought my two daughters tickets for the Griz game, 4th row in the upper bowl, $135 each with fees. I am now thinking of picking up a ticket for myself and surprising them. Shocked that the prices aren’t higher.

I meant $175 with fees ($135 before)

I am starting to loathe the Chiefs…

Seems like Buffalo was outcoached. Two ill-advised 2-pt conversion failures, running the ball predictably, etc.