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Knicks Morning News (2025.09.15)
09/15/2025 11:00:02
09/15/2025 11:00:00
09/15/2025 07:01:53
09/15/2025 06:30:33
09/15/2025 03:59:00
09/15/2025 03:16:00
09/15/2025 02:10:57
09/15/2025 00:28:37
09/15/2025 00:29:59
09/14/2025 23:13:43
39 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.09.15)”
I’m with Geo about the Knicks big men. We probably don’t have enough of them. Every year we’ve had injuries to centers and typically carried four of them. Now we have three real centers and one of them doubles a a power forward. Maybe you could say Hart plays power forward sometimes since he both rebounds and defends, but it wound nice to have another backup.
Instead, we are working out DSJ.
I would welcome folks to look at rosters around the NBA and find teams other than OKC with more than 4 serviceable bigs.
Well we are also working out Alex Len if that makes you feel any better.
it doesnt
On another topic, I’ve listened to a bunch of podcasts on the Kawhi situation and they are all over the place in their reporting on what other owners think of this. Simmons thinks that owners do stuff like this all the time while Lowe reports that lots of owners and/or team execs are outraged. I’m not sure what to think. I do believe that teams wine and dine and do favors for players in the same way that companies selling annuities buy people dinners and pharmaceutical companies create “conferences” for doctors that are basically boondoggles. I also think teams encourage players to get local endorsement opportunities that might keep them close to home. But those opportunities, while nice, are still probably real endorsement work that pays a market rate. Kawhi’s deal was clearly not that and I suspect that other owners don’t think of it as business as usual at all.
So…
(1) Trey Jemison
(2) Alex Len
(3) DSJr
(4) Brogdon
(5) Shamet
(6) Garrison Matthews
Is this due diligence or is there a bigger trade in the works than we think?
Looks like DSJr played 4 games for Real Madrid. His stats look awful.
However, he was one of the better defensive PGs in the NBA before he left and we could use some PoA defense.
He’ll be 28 in November.
My history of advocating for Dennis Smith Jr. on Knickerblogger is long, contains multiple chapters, and is almost entirely humiliating. Lord forgive me, here I go again.
A little-watched development occurred while he was toiling away in obscurity in Charlotte and Brooklyn–according to both the best metrics and the eye-test of people I trust, he became an absolute demon on defense.
He was in the 99th percentile of defensive EPM in both 2023-2024 and 2022-2023, and his DBPM figures were 1.8 and 1.2 respectively. The Hornets were 11.5 (!) PTS/100 better defensively with him on the floor, and the Nets were 4.5 PTS/100 better even with him only getting to play 269 minutes with both Bridges and Claxton.
No, I did not observe much of Dennis Smith Jr.’s defense on the Hornets or Nets sans Horns, but I recall Zach Lowe saying he would’ve voted him to an all-defense team if he played more and that’s the best eye-test validation I can muster here.
The elephant in the room is obvious here: the less I say about his offense the better. But I mean, is there a better use of the 13th/14th roster spot than a legitimately elite POA defender we can use situationally? He’s such a train wreck offensively that I’m not asking that rhetorically, the answer may well be “yes, on a guy who can throw the ball in the ocean from the beach.” But I don’t have nearly the same blanket opposition to the idea as others, and am probably even partial to it over Brogdon and/or Shamet.
““yes, on a guy who can throw the ball in the ocean from the beach.”
If the Simmons’ flirtation was real on the part of the Knicks, which I can only assume it was, DSJr is not a bad replacement of that skill set. Plus at least he won’t refuse to throw the ball in the ocean from the beach.
If Mitch starts, our bench consists of: Hart, Deuce, Yabu, Clarkson, Hukporti. – 3rd string: Shamet or Brogdon, Mathews, Dadier, Kolek, Diawara, McCullar. Save OKC, this team super deep.
Wish we had some insight on Mike Brown’s top ten priniciples going into this season. Coach is the #1 material roster change and unkown. DSjr and/or Ben Simmons are just disractions. My 2 cents.
or even dadiet maybe
Director, I tend to agree with you. I’d move Shamet or Brogdon to 2nd string, but that’s nitpicking. It is a deep bench, one negative (and it’s not inconsequential) is that outside of maybe Hart and possibly Deuce, we don’t have any of those “might start on a crappy NBA team” bench players (like OKC). So if the injury bug hits, we might be in a problematic position. Of course, pretty much everyone BUT OKC can say the same thing.
And yes, Brown is the big unknown.
Director, a small correction: Only one of Brogdon, Shamet, or Matthews (or any other non-rookie) can be on the roster unless one of Kolek or Dadiet is traded, or some other move is made.
“ Coach is the #1 material roster change and unkown. DSjr and/or Ben Simmons are just disractions. My 2 cents.”
Director, the key to all this is Mike…expect he is demanding a POA defender…then not unknown…the alternative is that someone in the FO is determining needs with Mike a spectator, which would be a disaster.
Dennis Smith Jr? I feel like Michael Corleone in Godfather 3.
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
Raven, I disagree re: starters on crappy teams. Both Clarkson and Yalu could also do that. We also have two guys who are wild cards in Huk and Dadiet…Will they develop or stall?
It’s more about how low the bar is for starter on a crappy team than about how good they are.
If OG goes out, you want to insert Deuce. If Mitch goes out, you can insert Hart. Yabu goes in for KAT. Mikal is Mikal. Clakson can come in for JB.
I don’t see it as a terrible temporary weakness especially since the goal is not to win the maximum amount of regular season games. It’s to win between 50 and 55 but be healthy, develop strong team chemistry and identity, – so they ready to cook in April.
@KeithSmithNBA:
Some CBA esoterica for everyone.
Weird. I feel like almost all of our bench rotation are guys who could start on shitty teams.
Well I just looked up the current roster for the Wiz, and I’m not sure that Kolek and Dadiet couldn’t start for them, so perhaps I’ll take that back…
starting on a shitty team is a very low bar, depending on how shitty the team is.
There’s also starting on a shitty team when the season starts vs. starting on a shitty team in March when said shitty team has officially thrown in the towel and is now tanking.
All of our potential bench dudes could start on shitty teams.
It’s really cool to be 100% certain and without any reservation that Knicks are a legit Eastern Conference contender.
I don’t think I’ve ever typed these words “if you’re in the Eastern Conference, – the road to NBA finals goes through MSG.
hey KfniNJ, hope your day goes well…
need to list for a second, was reading your message when it came to mind…got some different “work” today…gardening in the patio – so excited…need to also “work” on this intermittent fasting 7 hour feasting (no, not really, maybe, we shall see) thing between 12 to 7…working on this specific mindfulness task too, it’s like a daily thing ’til i get it…
focus is on detaching the self from my mind (lyin’ cheatin’ m-fkr that it is)…quite the rabbit hole that stuff, next steps though…had to first start figuring out what the heck self means…oh well…
what first sounded like madness, is starting to make sense…
anyways enough of my bullshit, ha…
not enough size…although jalen brunson punches waaaaay above his height and maybe his weight too, maybe…
so yeah, what’s the intended minutes and rotation for center and power forward:
center: mitch (20 something), KAT (10 something), yabu (under 10), Huk (is he even in the rotation?)
power forward: KAT (hopefully as close to 30 as possible), yabu (10 something)
something happens to those folks now what? undersized OG who just happens to have a have thick athletic body, but’s only 6’7″, doesn’t jump particularly high…spirited josh hart at 6’4″, and does jump like a big tough bunny…
don’t think diawara at 6’8″ has physical size like that, not yet anyways…mister doogie throws out a lot of names, thomas bryant at 6’10” sounded very okay to have on the roster…
unless there is something else about to happen think we’re starting the season off light up front…
Why do so many people think we’re eager to move away from KAT at C?
I don’t think we fired Thibs to play Thibs ball with someone else, especially someone who built an offense around Sabonis at the 5.
I think KAT’s our starting C, Mitch is the backup, and I doubt that’s even up for debate internally. In fact I think Mitch is probably closer to being traded than to starting.
Hubs, I tend to agree. I think Brown will either roll with the same starting 5 as last year and hope he can improve that line up or he’ll start Deuce.
There’s also the fact that starting Mitch puts him at a higher risk for injury.
the one drawback, though, is you put in Mitch later teams can play hack a mitch more if they’re in the penalty. But this also racks up fouls on the other team.
Re: Center position.
In part, Thibs was fired for never solving the Josh Hart being guarded by opposing team center problem. He made the adjustment way to late and cost us a trip to the NBA finals.
KAT should play part time center with Yabu when Mitch sits but his full time job is at the PF position.
Lastly, the minute you start KAT at center, we immediately have roster composition issues.
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
Yeah, I’m not with Hubert on this one, sorry Hubie. To play Doogie:
Center
Mitch 24
Kat 16
Huk 8
Power Forward
Kat 20
Yabu 18
OG/Hart 10
If you want to go small you put OG or Hart in at PF. You start Mitch in most cases to win the tip, fuck with the other team’s offense, and avoid hack-a-mitch. Depending on the other team’s composition, you can sub him out early if you want to get other looks.
It’s only one of many options, but that’d be my default unless I start seeing it not working (or something else working way better).
Edit: Funny that Doogie still beat me at being Doogie, which I guess is appropriate…
You’re not wrong but that’s the bed Leon made when he traded for him. All signs point to the organization being comfortable with those issues.
Not sure I agree. Which signs? – Leon fixed the bench. He didn’t try to get the 5th starter.
Pretty sure the Wiz starting lineup lost by 20 to the Summer League Suns, so…
Jeez, Hubie, I didn’t even consider that, but you’re probably right.
If you look at Brown’s career year in Sacto (‘22-‘23), he had a very similar situation: defensively-challenged scorers/passers at PG and C (Fox, Sabonis), and 2 forwards who can hit threes and defend (Barnes, Keegan).
Maybe Clarkson was brought in to be our Malik Monk 6moty candidate? Or else it could be Deuce, although Deuce makes the most sense as the starting SG (Huerter).
That year, Richaun Holmes was really their only big stiff who got time: only like 8 minutes a game backing up Sabonis.
Hubert!! You may have cracked the code!!!
I’m not a Dennis Smith Jr. fan, but I’ll vouch for his impact on defense over the last couple of years in the NBA and can think of worse guys to have at the end of the bench. Hell, I can think of players I’d prefer him over that may get significxant minutes on this team. I can work with a high level defender, especially at PG. I don’t need him to score.
Trying to replicate the success of a franchise that has played in 7 playoff games since George W. Bush left office is definitely thinking-outside-the box.
Maybe the level of flexibility I’d like to see isn’t possible, but I think whether Deuce, Hart or Mitch should start should be dependent on the matchups. Since, I’m admitting that kind of flexibility may not be possible, I’m not sure who should start, but I think we should be flexible enough to change the minutes and lineups depending on what we need most that night, Mitch’s size, offensive rebounding and P&R defense, Deuce’s POA defense and spacing or Hart’s jack of all trade skills.
36 mpg for KAT and 24 for Mitch seems like a great way to derail the season.
What if we’re just really smart and don’t put unnecessary wear and tear on two critical but injury prone big men? Or anyone else, for that matter?
Here’s a sensible 9 man rotation:
Center:
KAT – 30
Mitch – 18
Power Forward:
Hart- 20
Yabu – 28
Small Forward:
OG – 30
Hart – 10
Bridges – 8
Shooting Guard:
Bridges – 24
McBride – 24
Point Guard:
Brunson – 32
Clarkson – 16
Brunson & Bridges lead the team with 32 mpg. No one else plays more than 30. Sprinkle in your Shamets and Huks on back-to-backs, when guys are injured, and any time you want to experiment with something.
I’m not convinced Leon is done.
In fact, I’d say I am close to 100% sure that what Leon wants to do is take a better look at the Towns/Mitch combo before deciding what to do next, if anything.
If the Brunson/KAT combo is not working well enough on both sides and he determines the Mitch/KAT combo is not the answer defensively imo Leon will be on the phone. I further think that was one of his frustrations with Thibs.
Personally, I’d also experiment with Deuce starting or at least playing with the starters instead of Hart despite the obvious size and rebounding issues. Too many lineups with Deuce worked too well to not try to go small more often and see what happens.
hoping against significant player wear and tear – especially amongst our bigs…
hoping leon can get another contributor up front…
lineup I’m most excited to see next season:
jalen
deuce
OG
yabu
KAT
even if it’s for only 6 to 8 minutes a game…mostly to see the KAT/yabu and jalal/deuce combos…
I agree, Strat. I think Leon will trade Mitch during the season. And I think it will be a big mistake.
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