03/27/2025 09:58:33
03/27/2025 05:47:29
03/27/2025 04:41:00
03/27/2025 03:37:39
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Knicks Morning News (2025.03.27)
03/27/2025 09:58:33
03/27/2025 05:47:29
03/27/2025 04:41:00
03/27/2025 03:37:39
03/27/2025 09:58:33
03/27/2025 05:47:29
03/27/2025 04:41:00
03/27/2025 03:37:39
76 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.03.27)”
KAT’s box score looked great. But what I saw down the stretch of this game was yet another example of how easily he can be taken out of the game by a significantly shorter defensive wing just getting into his grille. That continues to worry me going into the playoffs.
We have a burger chain ’round here named Foster’s Grille. Never been.
At their current state and given their schedule the Knicks will struggle to go 5:5 the rest of the way. It would still probably be enough for staying 3rd, and a reasonable coach would punt a couple of games, definitely the two Cavs b2bs.
That used to be a big problem for KP also, but he spent an entire off season working on posting up and getting to spots on the floor where he was already more effective and now it’s a strength.
In the old days, the ability to post up effectively was practically a requirement. Then some stats guys noticed that post ups were not as efficient as 3s and everyone stopped working on it . I wonder if their stats just included mismatches or all post ups because there’s obviously a difference. The best post up players can crush when they have a big mismatch. And if you can’t it causes other problems not in the stats as we can see.
IMO, that’s what we should be doing when Towns has a mismatch.
What good is it if he’s outside the 3 point line or tries to drive and the double comes. He almost never passes out of the drive. But if he was in the post and the double came, someone is open and he’s a good enough passer to get us an open shot. IMO he needs to work on that and we need to do it.
I expect Brunson to be back for the last 5 games or so. Even if we go 5-5, Indy will have to win 7 out of 10 to pass us. Third place should be ours. Just cross your fingers we get to play the Bucks in round 1.
I thought last night was a great experience for Kolek. That was exactly what I wanted for him earlier in the season to get him ready to play important minutes now.
They defended him very well and since he was thrown to the wolves in a real game and not just a garbage minute, he got to feel some pressure on his shots and FTs and learn some things. He’ll (and we’ll) be better for it.
And of course, injuries is why you try to prepare your young guys earlier. You want them to be able to handle assignment. Who’s to say we don’t need him for a game or two in the playoffs where being ready could be the difference benween a win or loss until we get our players back.
If we are this scared of the Pistons, we have problems. FWIW, the only good teams they’ve beaten in February and March are the Celtics (w/o Jaylen Brown) and the Clippers
I’m sure it’s been mentioned, but I believe Brunson needs 65 games to qualify for post season awards and he’s at 61.
Kolek seemed willing to mix it up. He needs to get stronger in the offseason so he can throw his body at people when he drives. His go-to move is that lefty drive that got thrown back at him, it is way too soft and is not gonna work like it did in the G-League or college. Developing a consistent floater is mandatory. Brunson should serve as a great mentor for him in these regards, but Kolek is even more athletically limited so he needs to have way more in his bag than he has right now. But he has better passing chops than Brunson so hopefully that will help overcome the gap in athleticism a bit.
“If we are this scared of the Pistons, we have problems.”
Yeah, and that goes for any team we will face in the first round. This is largely a finished product, so if we have to fear the likes of the Pistons, that would suggest that the Leon era is going to wind up being a massive failure.
Of course we do! We are not a championship team. The way things have gone this season, we can only hope to get to round 2 and see if we can make it difficult for Boston. Anything beyond that would be extraordinary but looks like a pipe dream right now.
Apropos, Mitch Robinson’s play the last two outings was very alarming. I don’t know what is going on.
“We are not a championship team.”
True, but here’s a huge gap between “not a chamiopnship team but just a notch below that” and “losing in the first round to a team like the Pistons.”
The minimum games rule is probably the stupidest clause in the whole CBA. Maybe it was needed to get a higher broadcasting package, but it has done nothing to address load management, introduces a perverse incentive for teams to ignore medical staffs, exposes players to hypocrisy if they play through injuries, and makes the post season awards a bit less objectively fair.
Watching highlights of Dadiet shooting 7-11 from 3 last night just to feel something
Last night wasn’t as bad as it looks. Our starters outplayed them slightly, but our bench got killed. Part of that was our bench being weak but we also had Deuce and the Payne out.
In the game thread someone mentioned that the spacing when Mitch and Precious were on the floor together was terrible. I didn’t notice, but it seems obvious that would be the case.
I ike Precious, but he’s a C in a PF’s body. He can’t shoot and can’t handle the bigger Cs defensively. He can play some backup PF or C at times against certain matchups , but IMO you can’t have 2 non shooters on the court at the same time.
Mitch and Precious won’t work except maybe for a single defensive possession and even Hart and Precious is not ideal.
I think spacing is one of those things like defense where you can get away with one weak defender or shooter but if it’s two it’s -1 + -1 = -3.
It’s more than a notch! We are probably the top team of the next pack, but, still, part of that pack and not close to the top two teams. That’s what the data shows so far, at least.
I watched some of the Celtics last night and yeah. They took 52 threes. If you’re not willing to chuck threes with them forget about it. Also the Suns are pretty rough and have one top 10 player and another top 15 player.
IMO we are better than the Pistons, but not by enough to make it an automatic win.
I think we are going to have to live with the fact that there’s a lot of parity in the league. At 100% healthy, there are 2 maybe 3 elite teams, a boatload of teams that are close enough to beat other in a series and a handful of tankers. At 100% we are near the top of the boatboad, but we are nowhere near elite.
At least we know what the issues are.
We have two weak defenders in the starting lineup and we don’t have enough quality depth on the bench. Then again, we knew that at the start of the season. The season was just proof.
I’m less worried about filling out and developing the bench than I am about the Brunson/Towns combo.
I think they’d have to win 8 to tie, and we win the tiebreak, and 9 to pass us. They’ve been playing well, but the incentive for them is probably not there.
The Knicks are in purgatory. Odds to win the championship of +3200.
If optimism is insisted on for its own sake, then ok, they’re purgatory-adjacent.
But in reality, they’ve stripped the asset chest and barely moved the needle relative to the rest of the league.
I give it very little chance that the FO sees things this way. Maybe they’ll surprise us.
The association is a very harsh mistress. Always has been, always will be.
Do you think Rose could’ve used 5 picks to get a better player than Bridges?
This roster won’t be broken up unless something catastrophic happens, e.g., if we get swept in round 1, if there are locker room issues, etc.
If we make it to round 2 and are competitive against Boston, that would be considered a success, and there surely will be a rerun next season with changes on the edges, the bench.
Of course, everything will depend on, and largely dictated by, what players will be available in the post-season.
Anyways, Baseball is back.
I see your point & it’s valid but its a an overly simplistic take. Leon could only send out an injured player in return whose salary had to match and keep us under the 2nd apron while returning player had to fill a need. When you add all relevant criteria, – yes, Leon got the best player possible. If you dont think so, forget availability, just name another player that fits salary and performance conditions.
His teammate, Cam Johnson.
If it was Bridges or bust, I would’ve done nothing. Emptying the asset chamber to not be a legit contender…
Leon probably could have used picks instead of DDV to make that trade, then had DDV and/or remaining picks to make a subsequent deal.
For Bridges to be worth what was paid for him, he’d have to be a significant improvement over the 3.4 BPM that Donte put up last year, or in some other measurable way, like being an absolute shutdown defender. He hasn’t come close to doing that.
My best hope is that he works on his body and game with great urgency this offseason and turns into that player. For now, it looks like a huge mistake.
“If we make it to round 2 and are competitive against Boston, that would be considered a success, and there surely will be a rerun next season with changes on the edges, the bench.”
I don’t think it’s that simple. There must be a complete reckoning of “how” we lost, competitive or not.
Personally, I think it comes down to what our playoff performance suggests about the ceiling of this team. If it appears that KAT’s strengths do not overcome his flaws, he should be shopped. Same with Bridges, Hart, and OG, although less so.
Maybe Dallas would take KAT for AD and throw in a pick and a good bench player. He would at least raise the ceiling for the next 2-3 years, although the injury risks are clearly a huge negative.
this configuration ain’t getting it done…they (leon and team) took their hacks this offseason and hit a bloop double to shallow right field….however, there are a bunch of disappointed clubs out there also looking to rejigger their roster and its possible they can make moves to get a roster that can compete with the big dogs..but seems more like a thread the needle scenario than going into it from a position of strength, i.e,. a bunch of picks to work with and dudes coming off seasons that enhanced their trade value…i am not optimistic..i just want thibs gone…
Lakers just waived Cam. E is already studying the CBA to figure out if we can fit him in under the second apron.
I wonder if we cut PJ to sign a temp PG or just roll out Delon if nobody else can go
Ending up with a worse team after spending years’ worth of accumulated assets isn’t hitting a double, it’s striking out.
Remember when I said we were about the 10th best team in the league and everyone yelled at me? Well, here we are at 9th in SRS. The 10th place Warriors added a player who would be leading our team in BPM, while the Lakers added a player who would be far and away the best in the history of our franchise. There’s a pretty good case to be made that we are not among the best 10 teams in the league.
Needless to say, teams in this range are not contenders for anything but 2nd round exits, so once again Pagliacci’s predictions of doom as to the overall trajectory of the team prove to be nothing more than the median outcome. With Brunson’s recent injury our injury luck on the season can now be characterized as about average — Brunson and Mitch’s missed time is balanced by the fragile OG and KAT being on track to play 70+.
This team has the 13th best SRS in the generally terrible history of our franchise. Every team below the top 7 has been a 2nd round exit, so I guess we are now rooting to beat the Pistons before they rocket past us next year on the strength of their young talent and internal upside.
Pepper, i believe the front office will take a hard look at how did team performs in the post season and then (barring a Finals appearance) look to make adjustments. Like i mentioned before, one of the very best things i enjoy about this front office is that they pivot from their mistakes, and they don’t double down on things that clearly don’t work (see: Walker, Kemba).
I don’t understand how we’re not a favorite to go to the EC finals a year from now.
Boston team is getting broken up this summer. Its inevitable. New owners will likely have a $4 billion dollar mortgage to service. They’re paying another half a billion in luxury taxes too.
Boston can not salary dump Jrue (3yr – $105m), White (4yr – $126m), Hauser (4yr – $55m). No one is taking those contracts. They even going to need a sweetner to dump Brown (4yrs – $237m). This has been one of his lesser seasons. Also, Big Al is nearly cooked. Will be a shell of himself by next spring.
With Miami, Philly and Millwakee circling a public toilet,- its just NY, lonely Tatum and Cleveland at the top of the EC again next season.
Ending up with a worse team after spending years’ worth of accumulated assets isn’t hitting a double, it’s striking out.
Sorry Pags, that is a mischaracterisation. We did not “spend” our accumulated assets, we “traded” them for other assets. The trades may not have worked out vis-a-vis roster construction, and certainly in the case of Mikal was a losing trade, but we still have assets. And those assets can be traded again for other assets. Pretty much the opposite of striking out.
Pags, we face only 1 team from western conference. How many of them have a better SRS than us is irrelevant. Imagine Boston is suspended, how would you rank NY chances to get to finals this June?
I suspect they won’t have any trouble moving these players. White is one of the best values in the league this side of Brunson.
They can also move at least 3 firsts to sweeten the pot.
As long as Brunson is back I guarantee the Knicks aren’t losing in the 1st rd regardless if it’s the Bucks or Pistons.
6 of the 9 players in the Yankees opening day lineup are homegrown, I miss the days when they bought championships.
Early, its subjective now but the market will determine it this summer. Point is that Boston team is getting broken up…we just dont know which pieces leving yet. Either way, – they’re not contending next season.
We spent assets in the sense that we had future value that wasn’t contributing on the court in the form of 1st round picks and we traded them all for a present asset that does play on the court. The value of 5 1RP in general is an All-NBA level player. Instead we got an average starter. That isn’t just an incineration, it’s a fucking inferno.
Yes, we can trade Mikal for other present value. What we can’t trade him for is anything near as valuable as 5 1RP or the All-NBA level player that package would usually return. Lateral moves for fair market value are likely to leave us about as good as we are now, which is demonstrably not near good enough. We need a miracle on the level of the Luka trade to meaningfully contend, and miracles are not a big part of what we do here.
Not great, because I’m not making the fundamental error that you are in assuming that no team below us can improve. As we saw with CLE this year, internal upside really fucking matters. Ours is minimal — maybe Huk becomes serviceable enough to replace Precious and maybe Kolek becomes playable enough to replace Cameron Payne.
CLE is likely to get even better with 23yo Mobley making another leap and a full season of DeAndre Hunter instead of LeVert.
DET has already surpassed us. They are 27-14 in 2025 against our 22-17. They have shitloads of internal upside with their 3 best players being aged 23, 22, and 21.
Predictions of BOS’ implosion are also extremely premature. All they need to do is salary dump Jaylen Brown, the negative BPM guy they’re paying $50m. They could replace him and his Clank Barret-esque stroke from 3 with Sam Hauser and probably not get any worse.
We’ll be competing with teams like IND and ORL for the third or fourth seed. 2nd round ceiling and near zero championship equity. Repeat until 2031 with slightly worse prospects each year unless we wise up and firesale the starters.
Just a quick note spurred by Pags’ yadda yadda. The one upside for the Knicks that is being conveniently ignored is that hateful word, jelling. We’ve seen some rather extraordinary play by the Knicks, it’s just short-lived (e.g., offensively at least in that recent first quarter, defensively now and again).
You can say it’s fool’s gold, and I can’t really argue as it’s probably less likely than more likely. We may just end up being a team that ‘jells’ for 12 minutes a game, more or less. Which is enough to beat bad teams (usually) but not enough to beat good ones. But there’s a non-zero chance we get consistent there. And if so, all hell could break out.
And I’ll just add getting Brunson back, and hopefully fully functional. And having Mitch recover from his recurring Lyme disease, or whatever.
I’ve never been a huge Stephen A Smith fan, but he just released a 15+ minute rant about Lebron James on First Take that made my day.
It’s an epic GOAT level rant.
Wait. Who is the GOAT-in this scenario?
The NBA season is long and basketball possessions are high-variance events. Any decent team is going to look like world-beaters here and there, and even some non-decent ones. See: ATL having multiple wins against the league’s elite 3 which have completely dominated us in every game.
A fair analysis would also note that stretches like this have been pretty much nonexistent against the best teams. It’s not just that we’re 0-7 against the top 3, it’s that we aren’t even competitive. Of 28 quarters against them, we’ve won five.
What reason is there to believe that more ‘jelling’ is going to help us when we’ve only looked worse as the season has worn on? Can you point to other instances of ‘jelling’ making a team significantly better when not accompanied by internal improvement or changed personnel?
The only lever left to really pull here is a coaching change. Kinda hoping we don’t take Boston to 6 games or whatever and do just enough for Thibs to hang on.
“What reason is there to believe that more ‘jelling’ is going to help us when we’ve only looked worse as the season has worn on?”
I believe/hope you meant “to believe that more ‘jelling is going to occur…” since almost by definition any jelling would in fact help us.
And I think I was pretty clear it wasn’t to be hugely expected. Your point about most teams looking like world-beaters at times is certainly valid. However I don’t have time to dig into the history of the NBA this afternoon, but I believe that there are any number of legitimate examples of teams getting their shit together and making serious runs late in the season.
I don’t really expect that to happen with the Knicks this year, based on a few things I won’t belabor here, but with Jalen back and Mitch doing Mitch things, it’s possible. As in not impossible. That’s all I’m saying.
Can’t believe how cautiously pollyanna-ish I am today. I suppose it’s just the usual incredibly depressing posts after every loss (trade everyone, fire Thibs, we fucked up, etc.). Whatever.
It’s been rough but I think it’s not really fair to say we’ve looked worse as the season has worn on. The wording of this doesn’t consider Brunson’s injury at all.
Right when we got Mitch back and were all hoping to see Voltron fully formed our best player got hurt. Brunson is an all-NBA, arguably top 10ish player. Losing him was going to hurt.
So we’ve only looked “worse” during this stretch because we’re missing him. Then we lost our back up PG who is also our best bench player.
So of course the team is going to look worse.
At this point the games are meaningless outside of Koleksanity and hoping that the extra burden on OG and Mikal helps them get ready for the playoffs. What we need is fort Brunson and McBride (and Cam I guess) to get healthy. The good news is that it appears all of them should be healthy by the playoffs. Just gotta hope other dudes don’t go down in their absence.
I’m done arguing about this team, LEon’s moves, etc. That can all wait for the off season. IT’s all about seeing what we can do in the playoffs. I want full health mainly so we can have no excuses for what happens either way.
I suppose it worked out just fine for him, but were none of Cody Bellinger’s little league coaches ever like “gotta bend your knees a bit slugger?” Dude stands straight up in the batter’s box.
We peaked in December with a +12.4 Net Rtg.
In February we had a -5.3 Net Rtg.
Brunson got injured in March.
Payne and Deuce already ruled out for tomorrow.
The Kolek hive wished for more minutes on a monkey’s paw
Kudos to Noble for making my nose whistle.
We definitely do need Fort Brunson back.
What is Fort Brunson?
From Swifty: “What we need is fort Brunson and McBride (and Cam I guess) to get healthy.” Just having a little fun.
ha, took a second, but got it…
good thinking on the venue newsletter subscription stuff doogie…there’s a couple (youtube theater, another pico union project show) that I’d like to check out…
the yaamava theater also gets some good shows, by the time I think to check their calendar, most stuff is sold out…
I see dame and bobby portis are both listed out for friday’s game (yay for friday night knicks 😊 )…
10 games left, hopefully jalen and deuce return on sunday versus portland…
even better if huk is able to show up relatively healthy for the last several games of the season, maybe wishing too much there…
I’d like to see KAT used a lot less at the five, he can be effective, but would like to see most his minutes at the four…
maybe like 10 to 12 minutes at most…
No matter how much the Knicks frustrate me at least I still have the Yankees…
austin wells is not really this good is he, catcher >>> than just any other position in baseball…finding offense, defense, calling pitches during the game in one player is significant…
if I had to bet on which season’s old guy addition to the locker room to have a good season, I’d guess goldschmidt over bellinger…just a guess though…
my previous thought of giancarlo being a good value going forward, because eventually he’d have to get a healthy run at some time, unfortunately that time is not now…
good run happening on the 12th of never…
As a Yankees fan I will stay quiet about the ending of the Mets game…
Wells has a chance to be a special catcher. Needs to bring his avg up. Looks like a 30 hr guy and is a solid defender.
Great job staying quiet.
We lost today but you will be drinking gallons of Juan Soto tears for the next decade or so
Juan Soto is a great player, bit it doesn’t guarantee anything
Well, Pete Alonso is batting .500 with a .750 OBP and an SLG of .500.
So, you know, there’s that.
Soto and his mom can enjoy all the legends seats, suites, security, free clothes and VIP treatment while watching the Yankees outperform the Mets like they’ve been doing for the entirety of the Mets existence.
Having said that fuck I wish Soto was still a Yankee. It was depressing seeing Ben Rice wearing number 22 today for the Yankees and not Soto.
Reds pulled the old “let’s try to make our journeyman bullpen guy with the worst stuff our Proven Closer (TM) because he has “experience,” even though a 10-year-old can tell the lights out filthy young guy who pitched the eighth is way better,” it fails miserably. Giants win.
You’ll always have the past, BBA. When you’re watching 50 year old Paul Goldschmidt hit another popup to 2B and wondering why Hank didn’t pony up for a real 1B you can always take a break and lovingly gaze at the Mickey Mantle statue, and remember the good times.
Flags fly forever and all that.
Enjoy watching that Mets pitching staff this year since genius David Stearns doesn’t believe in paying for pitching…
Also I don’t need to watch Mickey Mantle highlights, I’ve watched the Yankees win 5 World Series in my lifetime. Although in fairness I remember watching the Mets win the World Series as a 6yo living in Astoria.
Either way, I’d keep those highlight reels handy. You’re probably not going to enjoy the future as much as you did the past.
Holy hell, the Pacers have 142 points with 7 minutes left in the game.
Wizards lacked a little defensive intensity tonight
Pacers 162 Wiz 109
I wonder how the coach of the wizards convinced himself in the off-season that it was a good career move to take that job
Is it really a bad job? Brian Keefe [Wiz HC] gets millions to lose with no pressure and they may luck into Cooper Flagg.
With Atlanta losing at Miami the Knicks have officially clinched a playoff spot.
How far we’ve come… used to be an honest days work in the coal mines would get you some black lung. Now an honest days pamper in the bitcoin mines of New York will get you the black pee. I think I’m a Soto fan.
Cooper Flagg is an interesting player. The most interesting college prospect I’ve seen since Zion, but he’s way more well rounded as a player.
Wait, who’s more well rounded than Zion. Hes the Augustus Gloop of the NBA.