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81 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.08.15)”
Some of the daily links are suggesting tge Knicks might make a trade to free up a roster spot do they can sign both Shamet and Simmons. That doesn’t seem very feasible to me.
I’m still alive, people. LOL. Just with little to no time. 😛
And hey, who’s counting?
https://x.com/nyknicks/status/1956153227864629440
Maybe we should give this guy a training camp deal, after all he was a KB fave for being picked #1 overall.
Kill-insanity? 🤭😂
As mentioned in the prior thread, I wonder if Leon/Brock are hoping to find a trade to free up enough cap space to sign two vets. The most likely candidate would be Kolek, right? But wouldn’t it make sense to see how Kolek looked in preseason before prematurely trading him? Or trade Dadiet, which I believe would open up enough space for 3 vet’s mimimum deals if they wait a bit to fill those spots?
But it seems like they can sign a vet now and still do that at some point.
It has worked out that Aller has created cap space in creative ways in the past (the Bridges and KAT deals took a bunch of creativity, which I believe included getting Dadiet to take less than he was eligible for.) Kolek’s deal was larger than he deserved for cap purposes.
In fact, would be a bit surprised is something creative didn’t happen. But I hope they aren’t commmitted to being creative just because it’s cool while the best fits come off the board.
Sold!
Z-man, I just mentioned this possibility in the first post above. The reason it doesn’t seem realistic to me is that I doubt we can trade Kolek or Dadiet for anything. So you’d basically have to give them away (like Kolek for a late second round pick) and even then, I’m not sure another team would bother to do this. Or we could trade McBride, but trading him would mean replacing him with Shamet, which would make us a little worse. So we’d have to get something good for McBride, like a first round pick. But even if we could do that, the team’s not in a position where they would want to get worse to get a future pick. I suppose r there are more complicated deals out there that make us better and also free up a roster spot, but it still seems unlikely.
Kill-inanity
I don’t think a trade is going to happen, but I’m sure Dadier has value, and despite Kolek’s summer league, they could probably get a second for him.
we need point guards doubt we trade kolek if not for any other reason than that he happens to play a position of need for us
If we were going to trade Kolek, maybe we could trade him to the Kings. They could use another point guard and could take Kolek without going into the tax, but they are over the cap so we’d have to find a third team to take salary off their hands. Then the Kings would have to give something to them and something to us (like a pick or two) and I’m not sure tgat would be worth it for them.
At least Kolek’s 4th year is a team option, but yeah, that signing looks like a head scratcher for now.
I also had that Killian idea, but Brogdon is probably the better option for a team that needs vets with playoff experience.
What’s the KB verdict on an actual former #1 pick, Markelle Fultz? Hasn’t he shown some growth?
ess, I agree on Brogdan but it seems like he’s holding out for a good team where he actually will be guaranteed minutes. But if he would be good with being our #10 “vet” guy, knowing that the sophs were going to get spotted in ahead of him to get them experience, he’d be #1 on my list.
as surprised as i am to see myself typing this i think fultz over brogdon at this point fultz is about five years younger and has similar numbers to brogdon and probably less injury risk as well not sure which of fultz or brogdon needs a new team more than the other one as always worried that we dont have minutes for these veterans and they may not appreciate being our injury insurance
but for sure either one of them over killian hayes blecccch
Salary dump Kolek to sign Simmons and Shamet is about the only move that makes sense to me, maybe add a 2nd swap or cash to the deal if it’s really difficult. That or there’s something big cooking that we don’t know about.
for what its worth the athletic has kat listed as #6 of the leagues top big men between bam and gobert and has mitch listed at #26 between yang hansen—wtf!—and derrick lively wondering if their inclusion of yang hansen kind of invalidates the whole list for me regardless of the fact that he showed out in summer league
by the way following chinese naming convention he is actually HanSen Yang which makes a lot more sense
starters: brunson (34) bridges (32) anunoby (32) towns (33) robinson (24)
dynamic bench: hart (23) mcbride (21) clarkson (16) yabusele (15) hukporti (6) dadiet (4)
the rest: mccullar kolek beauchamp diawara
pg: brunson 34, mcbride 14
sg: bridges 22, clarkson 16, mcbride 7, dadiet 3
sf: anunoby 23, hart 14, bridges 10, dadiet 1
pf: towns 17, yabusele 13, hart 9, anunoby 9
c: robinson 24, towns 16, hukporti 6, yabusele 2
have two of anunoby robinson mcbride on the floor at all times except for of course blowout minutes thats where mccullar kolek beauchamp diawara come into play
No, his name actually is Yang Hansen. His family name precedes his given name, which is the correct order in China.
i understand that didnt state it as well as i would have liked clarifying for those who might not know that surname is stated first in china
Why are you including Beauchamp when there’s zero chance that he will be on the roster? And McCuller would be at best a two-way?
Fultz was the first pick in 2017. We picked Frank at 8. Rather have Fultz today but pretty close call, so obviously a no.
In 2018 Cleveland picked Sexton at 8, we picked Knox at 9. In 2020 Cleveland picked Killian at 7, we picked Obi at 8. Neither stellar use of the draft (even ignoring that Shai went at 11 and Donovan went at 14 in those 2 drafts).
Fast forward (perhaps a few years longer than necessary but not if the timeline for developing high first round picks into useful or star players is included) and we are 1/2 favourites to be the East team in the NBA finals. I don’t condone Leon’s distain for draft picks, but this does give me pause for thought.
“I also had that Killian idea, but Brogdon is probably the better option for a team that needs vets with playoff experience.”
I assumed the Knicks not signing Brogdon was Brogdon’s choice. Would the Knicks actually pass on him if available?? I wouldn’t expect him to be in 2023 form, but to me it seems like a no-brainer for the Knicks anyway.
Any two of Brogdon, Simmons, and Shamet added to our nine current projected rotation players would make us a very likely unless you move up I hate that 60 win team in my opinion.
i dont agree that either of beauchamp or mccullar have 0 percent chance of being on active roster i do agree its unlikely depends what we do with diawara etc anyway what i listed is obviously subject to change as we know more closer to the season
McCullough and Beauchamp are both vets while Diawara is a rookie, they are in two totally different buckets, so they have no bearing on one another. What you’re saying right now is that we are possibly going to offer our last remaining vets minimum spot to either Beauchamp or McCullar because the only other way to retain them would be on a two-way. As usual, your takes a mile wide and an inch deep.
I’m guessing he has a better shot at getting minutes elsewhere. Clarkson and Deuce should have the backup guard minutes locked up.
The recent injury history on Brogdon scares me.
Per my previous comment, in case it looks like cherry picking….in 2017 Cleveland did not have a draft pick, in 2019 we picked RJ at 3, Cleveland picked Garland at 5…
“The recent injury history on Brogdon scares me.”
This. Given this slot is in large measure rotation player injury insurance, filling it with a highly injury-prone vet, either Simmons or Brogdon, seems counterintuitive.
more from athletic:
Eastern Conference finals preview? Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks, 7 p.m. Oct. 22, ESPN
Big test No. 2: Orlando Magic at New York Knicks, 7 p.m. Nov. 12, ESPN
Guessing on availability: Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks, 7 p.m. Dec. 19, Prime Video
Eastern Conference showdown: New York Knicks at Detroit Pistons, 7 p.m. Jan. 5, NBC
I mean, Clarkson is an excellent ball handler and a competent passer… he just doesn’t have that traditional point guard “vision”.
But I assume Brown’s offense will have a lot more movement in the halfcourt anyway, so Clarkson should be fine playing PG next to Mikal/Hart or even Brunson.
Maybe Killian is a better option, since we really just need a “break glass in case of emergency” player for that role, and he won’t be butthurt about sitting like Brogdon/Simmons probably would.
I’m also in favor of bringing Shamet back on a vet min. He showed some spunk in the playoffs.
shamet didnt show any spunk until the last game against the pacers after the point where it didnt matter anymore he hit three 3s to end the game other than that game where he got 12 points and 2 assists his next best playoff game was 3/2/3 in game 4 against the pacers his best game against the celts was a 1/0/1 effort and he scored 2 points against the pistons in the four games he played in not really a lot of spunk there
The trade murmurings make sense when taken together with the Simmons murmurings, because as we’ve discussed right now getting Simmons even 10 minutes a game wouldn’t be easy.
I was pro-Kolek relative to where we picked him in the draft, but it gets late early for guys his age in the NBA (he’ll be 25 when the playoffs start) and the development of his skills aside from playmaking has been…less than stellar. It’s pretty hard to make good use of playmaking skills if you don’t have much of anything else in your offensive bag, since defenses can just play the pass to the extreme.
So while it would cut strongly against my general instincts in favor of asset accumulation, I can’t say I’d be gutted if we salary dumped him to bring in someone who can more obviously contribute in 2025-2026 e.g. Shamet/Simmons. “Moderately opposed” is the best I could do.
To @Alan
re: Suggested Names for pay Tier
What’s Alan reallywatching
What’s Alan watching when not posting on KB
(nb- this is a Trojan horse post to get Clarence to provide a much more useful name)
Thanks, Bo. Yeah, I’m really struggling to come up with a good name for the paid tier I’m adding to my newsletter next month.
https://alansepinwall.ghost.io/blessed-is-the-peacemaker/
Beyond the Sepin-Paywall
The “you talkin to me?” tier
Edit: like EB’s better, so just in case his is taken…
I think Mitch may be the most critical part of any discussion about what we are going to do.
Are we extending him or not?
I like Mitch. I think he’s the biggest potential upside for the team this year aside from Yabu over Precious (if Yabu defends). A healthy in form Mitch is going to add wins over last year. Plus, even though he’s 27, his career has been so extremely interrupted by injury, it’s not impossible he gets a little better on offense IF he stays healthy.
If they are not going to extend him now, will they do it later?
Are they going to trade him now or at the deadline, extend him after they see how he and Hukporti look?
If he’s potentially on the block, you could add players to the deal and change what else they can do.
I don’t want to trade Mitch. He was too useful in the playoffs last season.
only fans: alan extra thicc
mitch’s annual summer video reel would be a top ten netflix series. free throw form screaming 78%. have you literally ever seen him make that floater in a game?
https://x.com/nba_newyork/status/1956136847597613075?s=46
Alan Payinwall
we don’t really have anyone else on the team that can replicate what mitch does…
offensive rebounding, rim protection, the ability as a big to switch on to and defend perimeter players are skills that we need a bunch…
injury woes and all, mitch is probably looking at a new salary around 21 million a year…
mitch is a keeper, until we get someone that can do what he does…
Max him! 😉
The Girth is strong today
Looks like Mitch made 1 shot beyond the restricted area last season. Maybe it was a floater?
i think it was a spot up
I am looking for a new show and Peacemaker has been recommended to me, so excited to Sepay to read Alan’s takes on it when I finish.
I haven’t watched WWE with any regularity in literally 20+ years, but I have found myself strangely nostalgic about Cena’s retirement tour. I tuned into Wrestlemania and Summerslam exclusively for this reason. I did watch religiously from ages 8 to 11 or so and Cena was my guy, but I don’t think I would care much about the impending retirement of literally any other WWE guy I liked as a kid. He definitely has a unique appeal, or at least did to me.
Spitballing a bit on a slow Friday, he represented a vision of “Americana” I actually found relatable. I grew up in Manhattan and lived in apartments my whole life, so I definitely never had a white picket fence and all that. I didn’t really relate to a lot of depictions of what it meant to be American that you see in books, movies, TV shows, ads, etc. for that reason.
Cena’s whole shtick seemed to represent a version of what a Good American could look like that was much more similar to the kinds of people I grew up around than other well-known representatives of “Americana.” He spoke of stereotypical “American values” (i.e. “hustle, loyalty, respect”) in a way that wasn’t remotely exclusionary. On the contrary, it almost felt like he was *implying* that we ought to be working towards the vision of America I find most inspiring–one in which being “American” has to do with adopting ideals, as opposed to belonging to any particular sect.
I could be overthinking this and I may well have just been a ten year old who thought a big strong guy who fought other big strong guys was cool, but in an era where genuine role models for young boys are a scarce commodity, you could do a lot worse than him.
Cena had a few pro-diversity ads a few years back (We are America) — I was startled by them. Didn’t know a thing about him, never watched pro wrestling.
After Cruise and before Ritchson, I was trying to imagine Cena taking on the Reacher role. Still not sure it was a good idea, but it likely would have had a different feel. Ritchson has been (barely) okay, but he also way overbulked for season two — looked buffoon-like.
More or less indifferent to Cena, but from the bits of interviews I’ve seen, your take seems accurate, Noble. A pretty enlightened fellow.
Ritchson has the size and basically nothing else. Bautista is the best wrestler-turned-actor in terms of acting, and I think he’d be really good at it. The Rock would be too if he was actually giving a performance and not just being The Rock. Which he was capable of doing earlier in his career but now has largely stopped trying.
I remember walking out of blade runner 2049 and telling my friend I couldn’t believe it but I wished the movie had more Dave Bautista
I found Batista (as he was known in WWE) staid and have thus been pleasantly surprised by Dave Bautista’s acting career.
Roddy Piper’s not nearly the actor Bautista has turned out to be. That said, he still holds the title for the best line of dialogue delivered by a wrestler in a movie, from They Live:
“I am here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. And I am all… out… of bubble gum.”
I really like Bautista, but how can I put this gently, he’s not going to get any of the girls at the end of the show. The Rock is way too manscaped, and even his semi-serious roles have a goofy feel to them.
Watch the We Are America Love Has No Labels John Cena video and tell me that’s not Jack Reacher.
The strange thing is that it was hilarious that Tom Cruise insisted on playing a character whose most famous trait as his size, yet he’s still a vastly better Reacher than Ritchson.
doogie was right, adding odd links on to a relatively hidden site – has become my thing…wonder what is left of my dignity yet to still lose…
hey now dr ed, not sure if you know it, but the director for the movie asked 3 folks to do short scenes – because, i don’t remember why – oh yeah, to link the timeline up from the original blade runner, to the sequel…
they’re pretty neat..one of them features sapper…
I suspect that Miami trade is basically paying a future second round pick to the Nets to take salary from Miami. The oil the Nets are sending to Miami is probably so heavily protected as to be worthless.
Today’s KFS pod has a fun trivia question. Six Knicks have scored more points as rookies than IQ since 2000-2001, who are they?
Without spoiling the answer, here were my guesses (I felt compelled to pause to take my on stab at it):
KP
RJ
Landry Fields
Trevor Ariza
Shump
Allonzo Trier
What about Quentin Grimes?
Still amazes me Trier flamed out so hard. He was the next Cam Thomas.
The Cruise Reacher movies are pretty watchable. The last two seasons of Reached that I watched were not. It was all downhill after the prison cell beat down.
Today’s KFS pod has a fun trivia question. Six Knicks have scored more points as rookies than IQ since 2000-2001, who are they?
seems like a weird way to word the question when it’s the same top 7 going back to mark jackson
SPOILER ALERT FOR THE TRIVIA QUESTION:
It’s KP, RJ, Fields, THJ, Knox, and Frye
Their deep offseason bit is ranking the best 25 Knicks of the past 25 seasons, hence the cutoff, but wow that is sad.
Ah, I didn’t get Frye. He was pretty cromulent.
Knox seemed obvious because “shots,” and Timmy because we didn’t have a lot else going on
ah ok. if you want simple diversion i thought department q was solid. i find a lot of the stuff people love in the genre to be too self indulgent for my taste and prefer the well placed pocket pass. if slow horses is iso zo this was langston galloway.
I also enjoyed Department Q
Slow Horses really grew on me.
Al-Anomalous
Deviated Sepp time
InSeption
High Sepin
Never Need a Reason, Never Need a Rhyme…
It’s…
honestly, my favorite fruit to start coming through my food coop regularly is the nam doc mai mango. It’s almost too perfumey but, fuck, I just can’t stop. Like it’s got all the mango but hits like the sweet breath of a 76 year old Dame who loves her some muscat dessert wine and daubs her neck liberally with Fougère Royale and hangs out at cafe de la paix
I’m fond of applesauce…speaking of sauce:
– Sepinwall’s Secret Sauce
or perhaps
– Big Al’s Boob Tube View
Ha, my worst nightmare, Mets vs. Mariners. Going exactly as expected, wild see-saw battle until the Mets finally deflate like an old weather balloon struck by lightning.
baseball has a marathon type season…
this season in particular has felt like stephen king’s – the long walk…
let the season end and just put us out of our misery already please…
don’t normally do a lot of crime procedurals, when i do, usually catching it in like the show’s 10th season or whatever….appreciated though watching how the team gets assembled during the first season of dept q…
decent first season villian(s)…these shows seem to accentuate the team dynamic more so than building up and exploring the villian…
just finished up the Daredevil stuff…what a great job by vincent d’onofrio as wilson fisk…
mostly have read/followed superpowered superheroes (and supervillians)…didn’t really see much of fisk until he showed up in the spiderman video games…
d’onofrio has gotten the chance to spend a whole bunch of seasons to date as fisk, where he’s been the primary antagonist a bunch…great actor…definitely helps to more than carry the weight of whatever show he appears in…
best Daredevil moment: the trial of frank castle…
even as a casual punisher fan – that was superb to see…
Mindhunter was fun.
ha, been trying to get my friend to tune in to that one along with me 😊
Well anywho, I think 2026 might be the year that mustard is the Pantone color of the year.