I believe that the series vs. Indy was not as close as many folks would like to believe it was. I think a small part of that was due to Thibs, and a vastly larger part of that was due to the Knicks’ personnel.

I think this is demonstrably false. Game 1 the Knicks were up 14 with 3 minutes to go. Swap the W/L of that game, and it goes to 7 games. The ORating of the 2 teams for the whole series was 117.8 to 115.9, less than a 2 point difference. There’s nothing statistically to indicate these teams weren’t close.

And if you are using the eyeball as your metric, I go back to seeing the failures in games 1 & 2 on Thibs unyielding lineups, not the players.

I believe that the series vs. Indy was not as close as many folks would like to believe it was.

“Believe” has nothing to do with it; statistically, it was close. We were leading by 14 with minutes to go in the first game before imploding, in part due to poor coaching.

I am a Pascal Siakam fan. Assuming he was available, Leon definitely should have gone for him instead of OG, even at a higher price.

Julius Randle is a very similar player, and possibly better – and he rarely missed time, whereas Siakam was injured a bit during the the preceding years. It would have made no sense whatsoever.

How can it be both true that Thibs’ inflexibility is the reason the Knicks lost to the Pacers AND this is a flawed team that can’t win with the liability of Kat+Brunson? If Kat+Brunson is so bad or a team built around them is so exposable they can’t win a title, then it wasn’t Thibs fault the Knicks lost to the Pacers. So then Thibs wasn’t out-coached by Carlisle.

If Fizdale coached the current Wizards roster against the Pacers, I find it highly likely that both (1) Fizdale would be easily out coached and (2) the Wizards personnel would be incapable of winning. Both things can be true.

However, if there was any chance of winning the series, Thibs blew it by sticking with a lineup that hadn’t worked in 5 months. It’s at least conceivable another coach makes the defense passable or the offense good enough that it doesn’t need to be.

How can it be both true that Thibs’ inflexibility is the reason the Knicks lost to the Pacers AND this is a flawed team that can’t win with the liability of Kat+Brunson? If Kat+Brunson is so bad or a team built around them is so exposable they can’t win a title, then it wasn’t Thibs fault the Knicks lost to the Pacers. So then Thibs wasn’t out-coached by Carlisle.

Given that the Knicks were so close to beating a team that is in a game 7 of the Finals, I don’t think the team needs to retool the roster since in theory they’re going to hire a coach that will hopefully get more out of their players. Not that I expect them to completely stand pat, but I don’t think they’re doomed with their core.

I believe that the series vs. Indy was not as close as many folks would like to believe it was. I think a small part of that was due to Thibs, and a vastly larger part of that was due to the Knicks’ personnel.

The notion of being more successful by “essentially standing pat” than we were this seasons seems misguided to me. There would be lots of baked-in assumptions…most notably, a) that the next coach could do more with this group than Thibs did (and note, this is not to say that Thibs should have been retained or that the team would be more successful next year if he were retained), and b) the playing field would be the same as it was this year, meaning not only would the Pacers not get better, but teams like Cleveland, Detroit, Atlanta, and Orlando, plus hypothetically whatever team in the east lands Giannis, would not have answers to whatever we threw at them.

That said, barring injury, they also felt that all of our main 4 guys (even Bridges w/ extension) will have positive value. So if next year is a flop, we can reset with a trade or two.

They also want to draft an older guy at #50 who’s ready for minutes and think Leon will just have to (his words) “win at the margins” with his 2 vet mins and the taxpayer mle.

Definitely worth a listen.

Given that the Knicks were so close to beating a team that is in a game 7 of the Finals, I don’t think the team needs to retool the roster since in theory they’re going to hire a coach that will hopefully get more out of their players. Not that I expect them to completely stand pat, but I don’t think they’re doomed with their core.

*when the schedule for next season comes out”

OK but based on the asterisk use you have to first swear to me that you’re not really cybersozE…