Knicks Morning News (2025.04.18)

96 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.04.18)”

An amusing part of the layoff is that you know people are just hoping that the other team says something they can use to turn into billboard material.

Surprised to see that Suns Reddit is very gung ho on trading KD to get Bridges back

It doesn’t surprise me. They know they need defense. However, that’s another team (along with the Kings) that needs to blow up everything and start over.

I would not trade Bridges as the major piece for Durant. We don’t need more scoring and to get older. We need more ball and player movement on offense and to upgrade the defense.

Taking the next step with this team means fixing the defense without harming the offense too much. IMO, that means playing Mitch with Towns, trading Towns (for someone like Durant) or upgrading PF with a defender and moving Hart to the bench. None of it will be easy to accomplish.

In the last thread someone mentioned Sabonis’s clutch play. No doubt he’s a very good offensive player and rebounder. That’s not the problem. I hate him at C defensively. So if I were going to rebuild the Kings, I might even start by trading Sabonis for a bunch of picks and short contracts.

upgrading PF with a defender and moving Hart to the bench

Who is the next young(ish) Jalen Johnson? A good 2 way PF who people don’t pay attention to, yet? KB used to be good at at least coming up with ideas on something like this.

I feel like Jalen Johnson was in fact one of those guys we identified. Or was it Jaylin Williams? Or Jalen Williams? Or Kenrich Williams?

Anyone on OKC basically….

So I asked Macri for today’s newsletter if he thinks Leon would really be cold enough to axe his old pal Thibs if the team doesn’t play well over the next few weeks:

I don’t think it’ll be his choice.

James Dolan may have been out of the game for a bit, but like Baba Yaga, one false move can bring him back with a vengeance.

No owner in the league has more people whispering in his ears than Dolan. When the Knicks are playing up to expectations or exceeding them, he’ll go about his business, but I’m quite certain he knows what was expected of the team this year. The notion that Leon is going to go into Big Jim’s office after a first round loss and say “trust us, next year will be different” without a list of changes he plans to execute this summer is nonsensical.

Is it possible that Thibs isn’t among those changes? Sure. But I believe there are enough people in the organization who have always been skeptical of Thibodeau for there to be fuel to this fire. Maybe there’s a possibility that they don’t like any of the available candidates and/or the ones they like aren’t available to them, but I’d consider that highly unlikely.

Full mailbag here: https://knicksfilmschool.substack.com/p/friday-mailbag-and-a-prediction

Everybody’s talking about Cade- and rightfully so. He got healthy and showed just how good he really is. I remember watching Deuce making every play tough for him in college, but much like Grant Hill- Cade development into a whole ‘nother animal as a pro. I think there are 2 Pistons we need to put shackles on this series. TH2 and Beasley. If they get hot from 3- it’s damn near over.

I’m not that scared of TH2. He’ll make some threes that will be highly annoying, but my sense is that his days of turning a game are long past.

Hopefully we’ll get in his grill along with everyone else and just ramp up the defensive intensity across the board, but my sense is that putting Mikal on Cade, as has been posited, is stupid. Cade’s the howitzer, counter with OG and blanket Beasley with whoever else is out there. Let folks like TH2 and that stupid power forward try to create off the bounce. They’ll be lucky to break 90.

I’m with Raven on this. However wrong I was about the Bulls, I still think Detroit is lucky to be here, while even our new guy knows what playoff basketball is all about. Knicks in 5.

I was on Discord reporting that KB was down, and when it went up again i didn’t come here to make comments… doesn’t make sense! LOL
That’s because i went for a hike on the mountains around here, and halfway through i got heavy rain… maybe this way i can skip the bath! LOLOL

If we lose to this Pistons team I’m going to start posting on this board with a bag on my head.

Tim Hardaway Jr?
Tobias Harris?

Cade Cunningham has a chance to be a great player, but he’s not there yet.

J.B. Bickerstaff should be coach of the year.

I’ll give them one game where we shoot poorly and they shoot well from 3, but other than that, this series should not be close. If it is close, it’s an indictment of Thibs and if we lose he should be fired.

Very happy that the playoffs are here… i guess we waited all season for this. Let’s hope we can at least match the “floor” of our hopes. 🙂

Knicks in 5.

Memphis might be a pliable trading partner… that Alabama kid is going to get paid and they’re a move or five away.

Aldama

The games tonight are harder to pick than the ones earlier in the week Miami and Atlanta seems a toss up to me. But Miami’s demolishment of Chicago has me thinking about coaching. So I’m going with Miami.

As for Dallas and Memphis I just listened to Dunc’d On analyze the matchup and both guys picked Memphis. They don’t think Davis is playing very well and think Memphis is much better down low than Sacramento. They are probably right about that, but I’m still going with Dallas. I’ll probably be very wrong. But that’s ok. This is a mental exercise for me, not an emotional one.

As for the Knicks, I’m worried about this series, but I’m not making a prediction. With them it’s not a mental exercise for me.

The way I see it is that game 1 should be treated like game 7. The Knicks must get the win, show Pistons their place, and change the psychology of the matchup.

Knicks in 5 if we win the first game. Gonna be a very-very tough series if we lose that game.

Hopeful defensive matchups:

Cunningham. –> OG
Hardway JR –> Brunson / Deuce
Ausar Thompson –> Hart / Shamet
Tobias Harris –> Bridges
Duren –> Towns / Robinson

Switch Bridges over to Beasley when he subs in.

When BeefStew and Duren are in together –> Towns+Mitch

Do not die on screens….

I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re going to surprise people in these playoffs.

Not saying we’re going to the finals or even beating Boston, but the general vibe among fans and pundits right now seems to be that we’re soft, have bad chemistry, Thibs isn’t doing a good job, etc. And I just think a lot of that is probably off base.

We’re going into the playoffs fully healthy. We haven’t done that the entire time Thibs has been here (Mitch was out the We Here season). And on top of that, we really only played a few games this whole season with the whole roster.

Yes, we had good injury luck with our starters, except Brunson missed a month of games. But Mitch came back later than we thought. Shamet missed the first half of the season. Precious missed the first third of the season. McBride missed some time Our starters were asked to play A LOT of minutes for most of the season. We can quibble about whether that was absolutely necessary but with Mitch, Shamet, Precious and McBride all missing time, our bench was weak all season. I definitely think there is something to the theory that the starters might have coasted some quarters are games in order to preserve themselves.

But now? Fully healthy. A full week off the practice and prepare. Mitch off the bench to shore up the defense. Shamet rounding into form. OG finding a new groove.

If Brunson can turn into playoff Brunson and keep Mikal and OG involved, I think we’re going to do well. You know Hart is going to bring it. Brunson, Mikal, OG, KAT, Hart…hell even Mitch, McBride and Shamet…all of these dudes have playoff experience and know you gotta take it to the next level this time of the year.

So yes, I’m excited. The season felt like a slog but that’s mainly because we’re actually good now but we didn’t do well against the top three teams.

But I think we got another gear. Bring it the fuck on.

Agree with Rough, game 1 is crucial. A week to prepare against a team with a less talented, less play-off seasoned roster plays directly to our strengths. Lose the game and the narrative rightly flips, regardless of what happens in game 2.

some of these first round series are incredibly foggy to me. think i’m going to fade the tried and true playoff bigotry in favor of greatness and savvy over depth and energy. flailing though.

1. wolves over lakers. as iffy as the primary matchups look for minny, feel like finch can lean heavily into the second wave types of naw/ddv/naz and grind it out here. if you gave lebron luka and jj 1 game or 21 games over 3 months pretty sure they figure them out, but this setup might favor the wolves.

2. clippers over nuggets. i think there are matchups where playoff harden and zubac look a lot worse then regular season harden and zubac, but this doesn’t seem like one of them. seems crazy to pick against joker. will be rooting for him. this year’s clippersance is almost as crazy as the implosions by phx, philly and dallas. they looked nearly as washed as phoenix does now when pg left and kawhi was mia. bogdan didn’t have his best year, but i think their bogdanovic can help them more than our bogdanovic did; especially bc they have plenty of surrounding defense.

3. pacers over bucks. this seems wrong, especially with lillard coming back, but i just don’t believe in the bucks. very suspicious of their ability to step it up on defense. don’t think the pacers will guard giannis well but think they can run on them and never turn it over and they don’t have kyle kuzma. even lower confidence here.

would love to finish with rockets over the dubs to stay on theme but this matchup may as well be in urdu. no clue. could see houston running the warriors into a self immolating delirium so extreme we get sophia vs blanche level on-court draymond jimmy squabbles. or i could see the warriors making houston look like 18 year old decathletes trying to win a basketball series.

They don’t think Davis is playing very well and think Memphis is much better down low than Sacramento.

picking one game is a shitshow but i’m also taking memphis. i agree AD doesn’t look fully healthy or in shape yet. they very much outplayed a very mediocre sacto team but AD hit more 3s than any game in the regular season and did not look like himself on defense. of course JJJ was similarly meh against GSW. no idea what doug christie was doing just having keon ellis keep following klay thompson around screens when he got hot, that was malpractice. this situation isn’t a fair test but if you gave me a choice of taylor jenkins or tuomas Iisalo i might be alone but i’m taking the latter.

Only thing I don’t like hearing is Knicks players talking about how they have to be more physical in this series. No, you’re the much better basketball team, just play basketball and quite frankly you should easily win this series in 5 games. Don’t get caught up in being physical just to prove a point.

The 90s Knicks had to be physical cause that was their strength, this Knicks team strength is they’re really good at actually playing basketball.

My first round picks:
Knicks in 6
Bucks in 7
Clips in 7
Lakers in 7
Celts in 4
Cavs in 5
OKC in 6
GSW in 6

We’re “fully healthy” in the sense that everybody can put on the uniform and get on the floor, but we didn’t close particularly strong, Brunson didn’t look 100% when he returned from his injury, and Towns hasn’t looked right for quite some time. I know that every team in the league is dealing with similar issues, but I’m a little concerned about how the two tentpole players were looking down the stretch. I’m thankful for the week of rest.

I do think Detroit is a favorable matchup, and that we should be able to take those guys. It’d be nice if it was a relatively easy, drama-free series.

For the series:

The Knicks are – [420]

Pistons are + [330]

As long as they stay healthy it would be a massive failure if the Knicks didn’t make it out of round 1. Only the 3 elites during the reg season [Bos, OKC and Clev] will be bigger favorites in the 1st round.

We’re “fully healthy” in the sense that everybody can put on the uniform and get on the floor, but we didn’t close particularly strong, Brunson didn’t look 100% when he returned from his injury, and Towns hasn’t looked right for quite some time.

Definitely, but hopefully the full week off has helped. With Brunson, I’m guessing it’s not that he’s still injured but more that he needs to get his timing, conditioning back as well as getting into a groove with his teammates again.

KAT has the thumb, which I guess can’t just heal with time off. But he also had the knee and that might be better with a full week off from games and a day off between each game.

The thing that gives me hope is that while the team as a whole seems to have underperformed all season (which is wild to say about a 51 win team), the team has generally looked pretty good in games where they had a day or two off before that game. They get at least one full day off between each game and sometimes 2 games. If they wrap up this series in 4 or 5 but other ones go longer, they get more time off.

We’re a top heavy team, even with our bench at full strength, so more time off should play to our strength.

We should win in 5.

GSW in 5. They’ve been rolling teams since the deadline +9.6 net rating. Jimmy is really good, who’d of thunk?

BOS/OKC/CLE in 5.

Clippers eke it out because they have a coach, and might be slightly better anyways.

Lakers/Minnie should be great. I’m unconfidentally going Minnie.

Bucks, but it could go either way. I am very tempted to just bet against the team with Kuzma.

This ptmilo guy is obviously doogie in drag.

Current picks

OKC – in 6 vs Dallas , 5 vs Memphis
Warriors in 6
Clippers in 7
Lakers in 7

Celtics in 5
Cavs in 4
Knicks in 6
Pacers in 7

Celtics in 5
Cavs in 5
Knicks in 6
Pacers in 6

OKC in 5
Houston in 7
Wolves in 6
Nuggest in 7

https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1912944714510148023 this is crazy to say

Knicks in 5

This is actually for both Rama and cyber, since both of you said it..

Pistons, Missions, couple teeth missin- Knicks in 5

LOL

cle over miami (over atlanda)
bos over magic
knicks over detroit
milwaukee over pacrs

cle over mil
bos over nyc

cle over bos

west:
okc over griz (over dallas)
hou over warriors
wolves over lakers
clips over nuggets

okc over clips
wolves over hou

okc over min

Thunder over Cavs

Owen:

I feel like Jalen Johnson was in fact one of those guys we identified. Or was it Jaylin Williams? Or Jalen Williams? Or Kenrich Williams?

Absolutely, but now we need a Hart / DDV type move. A top bench player who can be a starter and comes on the cheep.

Clarence:

Aldama

Isn’t he awful defensively?

Interesting that everyone is picking Minny over the Lakers. I hope to gawd you’re right, but I’m not feeling good about it (sorry, cdiggy).

good point raven lot of us might not be giving them credit for their postluka selves instead of their overall appearance troughout the season i might be guilty of that myself i’m still going to pick the wolves tho

I feel like Jalen Johnson was in fact one of those guys we identified. Or was it Jaylin Williams? Or Jalen Williams? Or Kenrich Williams?

It was all the Jalen/Jaylins.

A lot of us had JJ.

I was very high on Jaylin, but maybe it was just me.

I had Jalen Williams where he was picked, but that was way too low at the end of the day. A couple people had him near the top, including djphan.

agree that obviuously cade and beasley are going to be our biggest troubles but not worried about hardaway i’d be more worried about stewart he won’t hurt us in a basketball way but he could certainl jaquez someone (randle) or embid someone (mitch)

OMG if we somehow lose tomorrow the traffic on this site might break the interwebs.

Knicks currently 7 point favorites., opened at 8. Best player on the Pistons has played in 0 playoff games. No excuses

really should win by all accounts but also if we lose game 1 for any reason the vibes about winning the series will be very very bad

Who was a tougher 1st rd opponent?

Sixers last year or Pistons this year…

By all accounts it was Philly, so it would mean Leon Rose made this team worse if they can’t beat the Pistons.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6290802/2025/04/18/gregg-popovich-health-ambulance-stroke-spurs-coach/?source=bsky_hq

Oh, boy. I just want Pop to be okay. I cannot imagine him returning to coaching, unless the Spurs trot him out for the home opener next season and then announce that he has retired and Bud, Becky Hammon, or whoever the heir apparent is has been appointed his successor.

Pop needs to 100% hang it up. His health is way to much of a question mark to risk him back stressing basketball. Mike Malone or Taylor Jenkins both seem like obvious candidates.

great point educate philly was defntly deemed tougher than this pistons team think people assume this one might be a bad matchup for us because 1 young and athletic and 2 good 3point shooting, both of which are tough for us be well pop

2025, Knicks actually shoot the 3 better than the Pistons. 37 % to 36. Hell even the Celtics only shoot 37 % from the 3. The problem is the Knicks lack of attempts. Beasley is an elite shooter who needs to be watched though .

Holy shit, Pop, please retire!

Holy shit, Pop, please retire!

100%

His health is much more important than coaching another season.

I might drop dead if I lasted forever coaching to finally have Wemby fall in my lap and then get too sick to coach anymore…

On the other hand Pops needs to add absolutely nothing to his resume. What a run he’s had.

But I’d still be miffed.

I can’t decide who I hate more between Trae and the Heat

Miami getting good value from a bunch of meh players. Davion Mitchell goes to Miami and is having his best season of his career, Duncan Robinson has returned from the dead and Haywood Highsmith “who” is providing value.

* Heat also got a massive steal in Ware. Looks like a guy who could be a future all star..

Herro was also a meh player up until this year. Remember when Miami couldn’t trade for Lillard because nobody wanted Herro? Eliminated the midrange shot from his repertoire and, voila.

Man, game got close. Didn’t see that coming. Didn’t realize that HerroZ

owen you bought the okongwu down round and held on

Always loved him.

Herro has hit two clutch midrange jumpers in response to Donnie’s comment

Hell of a game

Katz speaks truth:

“Only one man is a member of all the Knicks’ seven best, high-volume lineups: Miles McBride.”

Niang calling his number with the game on the line lol

This game making up for some play-in stinkers

Not sure about force feeding the Minibus

Katz speaks truth:

“Only one man is a member of all the Knicks’ seven best, high-volume lineups: Miles McBride.”

Get ready for a bunch of non flexible by the book lineups.

Herro has hit two clutch midrange jumpers in response to Donnie’s comment

Then missed one, haha. “Leopard regains his spots when the pressure’s on” is an idiom I’m not familiar with, but can learn to accept.

This game would be more exciting if it wasn’t winner go home in 5 days.

That inbounds play looked thibsian

That didn’t

Have no idea who Bam was defending on that play..

Wiggins is not a stopper

I am having fun with it. Pro play-in for sure

I might drop dead if I lasted forever coaching to finally have Wemby fall in my lap and then get too sick to coach anymore…

The Admiral and Duncan falling into his lap wasn’t sufficient for one man’s career?

My short of Andrew Wiggins remains one of my most profitable positions

May need to open a position on Davion.

Thought he was terrible but this is quite a performance

Getting owned by Sacremento Kings bust Davion Mitchell.

Mitchell shot 50% from the field this season

I know there’s a fuck Trae Young meme, and he’s generally not very good, but I feel like the playoffs need him more than they need anybody on the Heat, just for entertainment purposes.

Davion just had one of the best five minutes of basketball I have seen

Trae Young’s public humiliation in OT by Mitchell is…. priceless.

Hawks fans ran out that building fast

Nothing better than seeing Trae Young lose. Everyone knows that 2021 Eastern Conference run was a fluke and Hawks haven’t gotten out of the first round since. He just doesn’t have the leadership qualities or toughness to win.

Hoping Haliburton goes through a similar trend…something about prissy, fake-tough guards just irritates me

Why did they schedule turn-back-the-clock day for the playoffs?

With my son Francisco I am well pleased

Oh, to be a Dallas fan right now…

for a lot of franchises the season’s ending is a hard landing…

things don’t work out for us saturday, that could be the beginning of ours…don’t think so, but, hopefully jalen is back playing well, we’ll probably need him to finish off at least a couple of winning games in the series…

By the time I could watch any of the Dallas Memphis game it was already a blow out in favor of Memphis and this despite a high scoring game for Davis.

So I didn’t bother to turn it on.

game of the play-in was that hawks/heat game earlier, really competitive…

when looking at the match up pre-game didn’t credit the grizz enough for getting to 48 wins…zach edey played well…

So when does Lent end? Good Friday? Splendid Saturday? I’m ready to unleash Donnie Pistons Fan, but would prefer Hubert be here to appreciate it.

Donnie, if you’re a REAL Pistons fan, then you know:

Whether Ron Harper Jr is THAT Ron Harper’s son;

Why three generations of Smiths named their sons Tolu;

Who else on the roster is a III;

Who else besides Timmy and Ron is a II;

Is it pronounced Dan-iss, or Dayn-iss;

Whether Simone’s family name comes from a cheese or a town.

Seems like the site went out for a bit when the new thread should have dropped. Couldn’t access it at the same time yesterday either.

Happy to have missed the Dallas debacle. Watched a bit and Edey was doing great things. He is huge and surprisingly mobile. The fact people were thinking he would fall to the bottom of the first round or second round was one of the most ridiculous things in recent NBA commentary.

Hawks v Heat was extremely fun

This may get lost if a new thread appears, but notable:

‪@fredkatz.bsky.social‬
Big night for the Wizards, who will now receive the Grizzlies’ first-rounder this year instead of two second-rounders because of Memphis’ Play-In win.

I suppose there’s a chance where, if the Wiz get Cooper Flagg, they suddenly have enough good young players that their pick conveys to us next year? Probably not, though. Even Wemby didn’t make the playoffs last year.

The Memphis Grizzlies traded Marcus Smart and a 2025 first-round pick to the Washington Wizards in a multi-team deal with the Sacramento Kings. The Grizzlies acquired Marvin Bagley III and Johnny Davis from the Wizards, and they also received a 2025 second-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick.

Really bad deal for the Grizz. Salary dumping Smart a useful player

“…Edey was doing great things. He is huge and surprisingly mobile. The fact people were thinking he would fall to the bottom of the first round or second round was one of the most ridiculous things in recent NBA commentary.”

Yeah, it was pretty obvious to me going back to his junior year at Purdue that he was way more likely to succeed in the NBA than he wes being portrayed.

Off Night finally coming around?

Thanks Mike K, or Owen, or whoever!!

I see the site is back up and running..

New York Basketball

@NBA_NewYork
Starting next season the NBA is moving all playoff games to national TV only

No more 1st round on local TV

That means this Knicks-Pistons series will be the last on MSG Networks

This is very likely Clyde’s last playoff games

We back!

My Detroit native wife is trolling me, please send help

This is a job for the Invisible Sixth Man!

It’s alive!!!

I suppose there’s a chance where, if the Wiz get Cooper Flagg, they suddenly have enough good young players that their pick conveys to us next year? Probably not, though. Even Wemby didn’t make the playoffs last year.

They don’t need to make the playoffs, they just need to pick 11th or worse. So it’s a little more likely.

Very happy that Kyle Kuzma is not a Knick.

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