Built into the conversation is the question of what you could have done with the assets and cap space that you gave up to acquire Mikal and KAT. At the same time, the first lineup was impossible because iHart was a goner, so we’d be discussing something that was out of Leon’s hands.

All that said, I have held firmly to the opinion that we can’t really have this conversation until we see how things pan out in the playoffs. On paper, I tend to agree that the second team is substantially better than the first, just not enough to justify the cost in picks and flexibility. If they at least die a noble death in the playoffs rather than get their asses kicked, I’ll come around.

I won’t try to pick which team I “want” them to play in the first round, as all three teams have something intriguing about them (the Bucks being hot, the Pacers beating them last year, and the Pistons being hot). I think the Pacers are the team we should all probably “want” them to play, but who knows?

The convo is kind of moot, though. There is a near zero chance that Thibs would ever take his foot off the gas enough for any of the teams behind us to catch us. The only way for it to happen is if we suffered injuries, and if that happened we might lose in the first round anyway. But if the gap weren’t so big, I would vastly prefer 4th to 3rd. Again, that’s just me, and no disrespect to anyone who feels differently.

1. Cavs are as formidable as the Celts this season in almost every respect. They are nowhere close to what they had been the last two seasons. It’s more about us playing our best, not who we face in Round 2.

2. Defeatist attitude is unproductive. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Not much benefit and not much difference if we face the Cavs or Celtics in Round 2 or ECF. We would have to face them both at some point.

3. The Knicks are five games ahead of the fourth team with 15 games to go. Principles aside, tanking would be both embarrassing and pointless. Moreover, nobody can be sure they will end up exactly fourth and not fifth, sixth, or seventh.

4. Perhaps some people are looking under every stone to find a point to complain. Understood. This is definitely not a Knicks problem though.

Vs

Mitch
KAT
OG
Bridges
Brunson

I really don’t see why the second team isn’t better than the first. Really doesn’t seem close. You lose a little on offense with Mitch for iHart, but you gain SO MUCH everywhere else. The only question will be whether we can be a top ten defense with both KAT and Jalen on the court. It’s going to be on Thibs to balance the KAT/Mitch/Brunson minutes to get the best on both sides of the ball.

But I do easily see gorillas in the midst of tossing a ball amongst several people. So there’s that. 🙂

And there is no one on Miami named “Baker.” So him having to guard Mitch is not the reason KAT got any specific rebound.

If you thought about it, you would have realized this was a spell check error for Bam that I noticed too late to fix. Rama understood right away. Are you trolling me?

The hope is that Towns is not as bad if he doesn’t have to play drop because there’s a premier shot-blocker behind him. He’s less bad (but still bad) when he can just get wide and try to guard someone.

It’s not perfect, but it apparently worked pretty well in Minny with KAT and Old Man Conley out there.