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Knicks Morning News (2025.06.25)
06/25/2025 11:00:00
06/25/2025 11:00:00
06/25/2025 08:30:01
06/25/2025 07:33:59
06/25/2025 00:28:00
06/24/2025 22:49:00
06/24/2025 22:57:41
06/24/2025 23:30:00
27 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.06.25)”
I have no draft opinions other than that Cooper Flagg is good and Ace Bailey will disappoint whoever drafts him greatly.
You would think artists have the least to worry about from AI but my sitcom writer friend would beg to differ.
Scissored in my Chevy? It kind of works. Can’t deny it.
Mitch was drafted 36th, a few picks after Brunson and one pick ahead of Gary Trent Jr. OAKAAK Shake Milton was, however, drafted in the 50s that year, so…
– Let’s not forget our top 7 also includes our own 2nd rounder Miles McBride! And that our first round picks over that span includes Toppin, Grimes, Knox, etc.
– Interested to see what the Nets do with their FIVE first rounders.
Macri’s newsletter this morning (which I won’t link to as it seems to take people directly to my CV) makes a point I’ve been struggling with.
I’ve periodically jumped on the ‘assists’ bandwagon, really just a proxy for moving the ball (‘the beautiful game’). But whenever I go to find data to prove my point that the Knicks suck at this, it turns out most stats have us in the upper-middle of various assist stats. Macri points out we have more players with more games of six assists or more than most other teams. And in fact, for the season we averaged a tad over my own mythological 27 assists per game!
So why do so many of us feel we need another floor general on the team (Kolek, anyone?). I’m going to quote a section from the newsletter here. In short, what it suggests is maybe we don’t need to pass the ball more (we do), we need to re-think our shot distribution and how we get them.
Which is a strong argument to run it back but do it all differently.
“According to Cleaning the Glass, New York’s postseason effective field goal percentage ranked 11th of 16 playoff teams. They were pretty good from the midrange (6th best among 20 postseason teams) but bad to dreadful from everywhere else:
• 14th out of 20 from deep
• 16th out of 20 on long twos
• 17th out of 20 at the rim
Did the Knicks not make shots in the playoffs because they took too many tough attempts? Did they simply miss shots they should have made? Or are they just not that good of a shooting team?
From January 1 until the end of the regular season, New York’s once vaunted offense ranked 20th in the league in effective field goal percentage. That seems ridiculously low given their talent, but it also makes sense when you consider that no team attempted a lower percentage of their shots from deep after January 1. That trend continued in the postseason, when the Knicks’ 3-point attempt rate was lower than any postseason team besides Houston. It’s impossible to win in the league today if you a) top out as a mediocre defense, b) don’t take threes and c) don’t make the ones you take (New York hit just below 35 percent from deep in the playoffs, good for 10th best among 16 teams). From this perspective, it’s kind of a miracle they got as far as they did.”
Things AI helped me with:
* Write business emails based on bullet points I provided, in the tone I requested.
* Write code, and SQL queries based on requirements.
* Teach me the overall architecture of developing an AI agent over a large dataset. The question and answer format was very helpful.
* Find a hotel in Stockholm based on my touristic preferences. Did a better than airbnb or booking.com. Same, re the dialog.
* Provide basic information on people I was curious about.
* Search the details of the first time Jrue Holiday was traded to Portland.
Things AI failed me at:
* Edit a literary text (shitty advise).
* Research that involved actual knowledge of actual books, rather than their plot synopsis.
* Find out which players were traded twice to the same team in the NBA.
Perusing players drafted in the 50s since 1980. Over 400 players. Top of the list is Manu. Next is Isaiah Thomas. Our very own Anthony Mason (and regrettably our briefly own Shandon Anderson). Almost Knick coach Steve Kerr and actual Knick coach Kurt Rambis (didn’t know we drafted Kurt, cut him and then he signed with the Lakers). About 20 others who had good solid careers. Better hit rate than I would have thought.
Our season is tough to evaluate as a whole because there were periods when the ball was moving well, we were piling up assists and the offense looked good and there were periods when imo we did way too much dribbling and isolation. Some of that almost has to be how we were defended early in the season vs later, but some of it on the players and Thibs. For example, I thought the ball moved better when Brunson was out and OG and Mikal stepped up. The offense was missing our #1 scorer (and closer) but it didn’t drop off a cliff because we were doing some other things better.
I think if we can get Brunson to buy into believing the offense will be more efficient if the ball moves even if he scores less, we’ll go back to being a very efficient offense. But that also requires good coaching. We aren’t playing a game of hot potato. The movement of the ball and players, the spacing etc.. has to be purposeful so it leads to higher quality shots because the defense eventually makes a mistake.
I had a sudden jolt of optimism about a potentially incredible fringe move: I think we can get Al Horford.
The Celtics aren’t going to be offering a lot of money bc they have to stay under the apron. But more importantly they aren’t offering much of an opportunity. They’re taking a gap year. And this could be the last year of his career. Why would he want to sign up for that?
New York is a great place for him to finish. He’s the perfect fit here. He fits seemlessly next to KAT or Mitch. And without Thibs around to grind his knees into dust winning that all important second game of a back to back against the Wizards, we can afford to use him very sparingly so he can save himself for a playoff run.
Get it done, Leon.
1. Mikal is now eligible for an extension.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
2. Mike Brown is supposedly the leader for the coaching gig going into the clublhouse.
I’m not a huge Jason Kidd fan. I guess the offense will be a little more creative with him instead of Thibs and he did coach the Mavs to a very good defense even with Doncic on the court, but he’s not exactly what I had in mind for bringing in new fresh creative thinking.
That said, if the choice is between whether Kid gets an extension in Dallas or comes to NY and Mike Brown, I hope Kidd doesn’t get that extension. I’d way rather have Kidd. Mike Brown is a very good coach. He’ll get the team to play hard and get us to the playoffs, but he’s not going to be the kind if innovative coach that’s going to get the most out of this offense. IMO he’s another variation of Thibs in that he’s got a high floor, but the ceiling is not high enough. I think he would be a mistake.
I’d still WAY rather gamble on Taylor Jenkins.
I’ve seen that mentioned a few times. It would be a great move, but he’s going to be a hot ticket. He may outside our budget.
I enjoyed watching these NBA finals because they were ultra-competitive for the most part and both teams played good, clean, hard basketball.
That said, after much reflection, I think it was a second-rate matchup compared to the all-time great teams. The comparisons of OKC to all-time great defensive teams seems pretty far-fetched to me because Indiana is hardly an all-time great offensive team and they pushed OKC to 7 games, and might not have won if Hali stayed healthy. And obviously OKC’s offense is nothing to write home about.
My sense is that the truly great modern teams…Bird’s Celtics, Magic’s Lakers, Jordan’s Bulls, Kobe/Shaq’s Lakers, Duncan’s Spurs, LeBron’s Heat, Steph/Durant’s Warriors…would have wiped the floor with either of these teams, and that lots of teams who lost in the finals to those teams would have beaten OKC handily.
Folks can point to OKC’s regular season record and stats, but the trend towards parity and lack of big-3 superteams has diluted the meaning of those stats. SGA is good, but more of a faux MVP and probably not destined to be a top-20 player of all time. JDub is an excellent #2, he ain’t Pippin, or McHale, or Wade, or Kobe. Chet and iHart are very good, but what would they do with Shaq, or Duncan, or Kareem, or McHale/Parish?
OKC is a worthy champion and they will only get better, so this is just an opinion about this year and their current team. My opinion might change if they go on a dynastic run and face better competition. But for now, I think their success is more about the current NBA and less about actual greatness.
horford would be a great get what can we realistically offer them still would like for us to consider kelly olynyk re mike brown being the leader in the clubhouse where are you getting that information from
Maybe they want Mikal Bridges back
lmao 😉
I thought about this, then remembered LA needs a center. It’s now 100% guaranteed he goes to the Lakers, because that’s just how things work.
Also, I think Boston is now under the 2nd apron and maybe they consider bringing him back.
I agree with Z-Man’s analysis of OKC. Their defense is very good and they have good depth, but I don’t think they are an all time great team. Their high quality offense is dependent on the defense generating TOs. They are a very worthy champion. Now if they get further internal development, we may have to revisit that conversation in the future.
Yeah, I don’t think Horford is gonna disrupt his life to chase money at age 39, my guess is that he signs a low-level extension, maybe even a 1-year deal to be the team’s old head to the up-and-coming players.
OKC is nowhere near close to an all time great team. We can revisit in 5 years. Thanks.
For what it’s worth, I believe it’s been reported before that KAT and Horford have an excellent relationship and are friends, with KAT seeing him as a kind of mentor back in their days on the Dominican team in FIBA. I doubt that’s going to overtly affect his decision making but it could potentially make a difference.
I would love to add Horford… Don’t look now Cyber, but Queta is at the top of the C’s depth chart… OKC is still very young, they could end up stringing together 2 or 3 Chips…
You make an excellent point.
This one not as much. I can’t claim to know Al Horford but I think coming here to play an important role on the court and in the locker room for a team with aspiration is a more attractive proposition to a 39 year old than playing meaningless basketball for a team taking a gap year, even if it pays marginally less.
This is the kind of high impact fringe move that would get me excited. I don’t know how many other ones exist.
Last year, the Pacers had the 2nd highest offensive rating of all-time with basically the same roster. They were 9th this year, which isn’t bad and 0.3 points behind the top playoff offensive rating, excluding Cleveland who beat the crap out of Miami in a way that makes the Globetrotters vs Generals look like it’s down to the wire.
hell i would be ecstatic if we could have a homecoming with luke kornet they probably do not want to pay both him and horford
I’m just thinking that he’s won a championship already, has lived in Boston 7 of the last 9 years and moving is a pain in the ass, especially when you only need to wait a year to be back in contention. If Boston antes up, maybe that plays a factor.
Either way, I’d love to grab him.
I’d also be happy with Kornet, I’m honestly skeptical we can afford him.
part of me wants to add the obvious question about why boston would want to help us out of all teams but it has already happened twice with toronto and the nets so maybe lightning strikes thrice
I would love a Dominican frontcourt although Horford is getting up there. He’s always been one of my favorite players though and he’d be a great fit here or anywhere.
Those are some interesting numbers Raven. Kind of confirms how we all feel about things. How do we get back to the offense we had the first few months? And keep everyone happy.
We abused Kornet in the playoffs this year but sure.
I’m more into Horford who can play either big spot cromulently. Don’t you think he’ll get more than the TPMLE, though?
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