Knicks Morning News (2025.07.04)

Available FAs via Zach Harper: (It was as of Wednesday so I modified a bit)

Big names: Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Al Horford, Ben Simmons

Veteran lead guards: Malcolm Brogdon, Cameron Payne, Monte Morris, Delon Wright, Elfrid Payton, Jordan McLaughlin

Important veterans: Gary Payton II, Trey Lyles, Amir Coffey, De’Anthony Melton, Markelle Fultz, Malik Beasley

Young guys to take a chance on: Bol Bol, Bones Hyland, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Bryce McGowens, Wendell Moore Jr., EJ Liddell, JT Thor, Brandon Boston Jr., Jared Butler, Caleb Houstan

Mentors: Kyle Lowry, Patty Mills, Tristan Thompson, Taj Gibson, James Johnson, DeAndre Jordan

Big men: Chris Boucher, Thomas Bryant, Marvin Bagley, III, Moe Wagner, Jaxson Hayes, Bismack Biyombo, Alex Len, Kai Jones, Charles Bassey, Jock Landale

Forwards: Markieff Morris, Vlatko Cancar, Dominick Barlow, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl

Wings and shooters: Doug McDermott, Alec Burks, Torrey Craig, Jae Crowder, Seth Curry, Landry Shamet, Lonnie Walker IV, Damion Lee, Garrison Mathews, Javonte Green, Talen Horton-Tucker, Dalano Banton

Plumlees and Zellers: Marshall, Miles, Cody, Tyler, Luke

Guys I’d be interested at the minimum:

Bigs: Horford, Wagner, Landale
Wings/shooters: Boucher, Burks, Walker IV, maaaybe Beasley (the gambling thing is ugly but not heinous, and the dude can light it up!)
Guards: Fultz, CP3, Lowry

strat, I think that if any of Kolek (24), Huk (23), or McCullar (24) are not ready to be at least playable 3rd stringers this year, they probably will never be. All have had a taste of the NBA and now have a full off-season to prepare, and all are old enough to not expect much more improvement. If they aren’t good enough to be better than what you can get at the vet’s minimum in any given year, I don’t see the point of dreaming on them.

Dadiet, Diawara, Nnaji and I guess Pate are all still young enough to dream on, although I don’t have much hope for the last two.

“It ain’t much, but I don’t think Kolek or Huk are anywhere near where they’ll wind up.”

I would modify this to say that what they showed last year isn’t necessarily anywhere near where they might wind up.

However, I strongly believe that 23-24 year olds in their second year are pretty much what they are going to be beyond that. Of course there are exceptions to that tendency, but in most cases that’s what happens.

I agree on Huk in that he showed brief flashes of excellent 2-way play, and his size-athleticism package is certainly in line with what a rim-running/protecting big needs. But it’s not rocket science, if he doesn’t show marked improvement in play-reading/decision-making/footwork/fouling this year, i.e. picking up where he left off pre-knee issue, he probably won’t ever be much of an asset. I have faith that he will, so long as he stays healthy.

As to Kolek, I definitely have my doubts. He needs to show me that he can defend at this level, and create shots for himself when guarded 1-on-1. TJ McConnell is an example of a guy who would not be in the league if he couldn’t do these two things. He showed he could do them very early on, and although he was advantaged by playing on the Hinkie Sixers in full tank mode, he likely would have shown that anywhere even in a smaller role because he was physically capable. And while his overall game has improved, he is still pretty much who he was in his second year, just doing the good things more and the bad things less. Same to a degree with Jose Alvarado. What I mean is, I need to see that Kolek is physically capable of playing significant minutes at this level if called upon to do so. If he doesn’t show that this year, I doubt that he ever will.

With McCullar, his health is the biggest issue, as he has a positive physical profile, plays good D, and has some limited offensive skill that needs a 3pt shot to round out. His limiting factors seem different than Kolek’s. But if he can’t hit a spot-up 3, he is a very poor man’s Josh Hart, i.e. a dime-a-dozen scrub you can pick up on the waiver wire any offseason.

BTW another PG who peaked at age 24 was Jeremy Lin…

I’d be absolutely shocked and disgusted if they brought PJ back in any capacity other than deputy assistant coach. He’s more cooked than my poor hydrangeas.

“Frustrating that most of the data comes from the last two minutes of blowouts, when there’s like two shots to be taken by a bevy of overeager bench fodder in the first 1.5 minutes before the last 24 seconds of dribbling out the clock.”

I wish he had spent more time in the G-League, where although the skill level is much lower, there are a lot of players with NBA size and speed, i.e. athletic wings who can’t shoot, scrappy but undersized PGs, one-dimensional rim protectors, etc. He should have regularly dominated down there instead of spending most of the season racking up DNP-CDs on the bench.

Cam Thomas and Bones Hyland are cut from the same cloth. The Enes Kanters of shooting guards. They’ll get picked up by someone after all other options are gone…unless they want statues of themselves in China.

Nice, Bob!

Yeah, probably a low blow by me to lump Cam in with Bones, he’s a legitimate volume scorer who could definitely help a team off a bench. Does seem that he has a b-ball IQ problem that might be turning teams off. Worth more than the minimum…maybe 3/$24M or so, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he made either more or less than that.