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Knicks Morning News (2025.09.30)
09/30/2025 10:57:18
09/30/2025 10:14:25
09/30/2025 10:08:39
09/30/2025 10:08:39
09/30/2025 09:01:37
09/30/2025 08:02:56
09/30/2025 05:57:15
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09/30/2025 04:27:05
09/30/2025 01:48:22
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09/30/2025 00:08:11
68 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.09.30)”
If I were a Cavalier, I’d have a big chip on my shoulder with respect to the Knicks. The recent power rankings put us ahead of the even though they were the better team last year.
Yeah, the Cavs are definitely getting slept on by the media. To be fair, they were eliminated by the same team that eliminated us. But at the same time, they are starting the season off with two significant injury issues (Garland is returning from toe surgery and Strus is out for a while) and their big off-season acquisition is Lonzo Ball, who is not a great bet to be healthy come playoff time. But a team that wins 64 games and stays largely intact should be given more grace than they have gotten.
The Cavs remind me of Budenholzer’s Hawks. They had that one year where everything broke right and they rode perfect vibes to 60 wins. They even had their entire starting 5 in the all star game.
Then the bubble burst in the playoffs. And the next year they won 48 games with mostly the same roster.
The vibes are with us now. We are last year’s Cavs; we are that 60 win Hawks team.
who is james edward and what does he possess
Teams that are considered soft and have gotten eliminated 3 years in a row in embarrassing 5 game efforts are not usually thought of too highly.
Say what you want about the Knicks but they’ve made the 2nd rd 3 years in a row including obviously the Conference Finals last year. While every time they’ve been eliminated they had homecourt all the series went 6 or 7 games so they didn’t go out so easily as the Cavs have the past 3 years. Right now its much easier to trust the Knicks come playoff time than the Cavs.
If anyone will be joining me in the bleachers tonight, let me know!
bleachers for what event
I won’t go as far as saying I preferred old Doogie but this version is hardly a clear upgrade
He’s talking about sitting in the bleachers for the Soweto Gospel Choir at the Strathmore, doogie. You are going to that, right?
Thats awesome TNFH, hopefully you’ll have plenty of reasons to cheer!
Doogie, if Noble says “join me in the bleachers”, it’s a Yankees game. But if Clarence says “join me in the bleachers”, it’s likely something else.
Either way you should go if you’re free.
I listened to the Edwards Dunc’d on pod, and nothing was revelatory tbh. Thibs shoulda played 5-out, he was slow to adjust, offense struggled in the playoffs, depth should be better this year, blah blah.
As for Brown, yeah, movement offense sounds great, get guys open for more c&s threes, etc., but we have to wait and see if the guys can run it. He expects Mitch to be the 5th starter.
The one semi-interesting point he made was that maybe they could put Mikal on the ball more as a creator to get shots for KAT/Brunson. Not sure I believe that will happen, but ok.
Edwards seems like a cool dude, but it’s hard to top what Katz did.
I think Macri in a podcast episode brought up the concern that there aren’t enough guys who get into the paint and kick the ball out. There’s Brunson and… Brogdon? Hart?
So when Brunson is playing off-ball, which he’s supposed to do more, who creates? It’s difficult to create offense solely from off-ball movement.
where is the strathmore venue
I feel like I remember someone making a fairly convincing case on here that Jordan Clarkson is surprisingly good at this, though it might have just been corner threes specifically.
One thing I do worry about with this team, and this core in general, is a lack of athleticism compared to the other contenders. I often don’t really care for invocations of “athleticism” because it’s vague and subjective, but I do think there are some important empirics that can belie the lack of it.
Last year our transition frequency was 23rd in the league, our free throw rate was 19th, our steal rate was 13th, and our block rate was 29th (it goes without saying that a healthy Mitch will do a lot to remedy this one on his own). These can all be contextualized in various ways and we did a good job of succeeding despite them by excelling in what you might call more “skill based” categories like eFG%, FT%, and TOV%.
Still, having to rely on brute force shot making is exhausting and I think, combined with Thibsian minutes loads, often led to our guys being gassed at the end of games.
All this to say, for all the understandable agita about Hart’s limitations IMO he brings an absolutely crucial element(s) to the team that we really can’t take lightly when it comes to trade discussions and the like. Last season our eFG% cratered with him off the floor–.561 vs .543–and this was primarily due to declines in “athleticism” coded ways of scoring e.g. at-rim FG%/frequency and FTr.
This was one reason I didn’t hate the DSJ idea when it was being bandied about, and why I’m pretty worried about Hart’s finger being at a 90 degree angle.
Jesus, Doogie, do we have to do everything for you like you’re 8? It’s in North Bethesda, MD, and Soweto will be there on Oct 10.
This may have been me, and I have some tepid hope Clarkson can help with a lot of what I rambled about above. Last season he would’ve been second to Brunson on the Knicks with 16.6 drives per-36, and 3rd on the team in FTA/36 with 5.4.
If you’re looking for something specific to watch for in the Abu Dhabi games, “is Jordan Clarkson cooked” seems as good a candidate as any.
Brunson is basically our only guy who I trust to break down the defense on a consistent basis. We could use another guy like that but who couldn’t.
I am a nominal Mets fan but am rooting for Judge to destroy the ball all playoffs long and have some redemption.
Boone opening himself up to huge second guessing with his line up changes with the ALs leader in ground balls starting and benching one of his best/hottest hitters.
I can’t fathom not giving Rice every PA you can. Even against lefties, he took off in the 2nd half of the season while Goldy turned into a pumpkin. He’s probably the 2nd best overall hitter on the team and has graded out as average-to-slightly-above-average in terms of fielding at 1B.
I have a sneaky feeling Goldy might come up with a big hit tonight. I think sitting Jazz is crazier, Rosario has to start but they don’t trust him at 3B with Fried on the mound so he’s playing 2B.
I will also say tonight is a much bigger game for Boston than the Yankees. Even with a loss I’d still think Yankees should win the series but Boston is fucked if they lose the Crotchett game especially with the news that Giolito is out and won’t start a potential Game 3.
didn’t know jazz got hit by a pitch (forearm) a couple of days ago…hope he heals up really really soon…
wow, ben rice sitting today too, interesting…grisham moved down to the 6th spot…
We have more than just Brunson when it comes to breaking down a defense. Clarkson, and Bridges can do it with dribble penetration, Towns can in the post, and Hart can in transition.
Brogdon, McBride, and Kolek could possibly as well. Add to that breaking down defense with movement and the pnr and we shouldn’t have that much of a problem.
You have a sneaky feeling because you are wishcasting as a true fan (which is expected/laudable), not because of his miniscule .586 OPS in September. Boone also benched his best fielder at third base which should get lots of business with Fried pitching. His decisions might work out but they are hard to justify with logic and that is why he is open to second (first) guessing.
tigers and guardians getting spicy in the 9th…
I’m talking about (1) getting into the paint, and (2) finding the open shooter on the perimeter when they get there. Mikal & Towns & OG can all do (1), I’m more questioning their ability to do (2).
Come on, guys. Brian Cashman sets the lineup. Boone just hands in the card.
“One thing I do worry about with this team, and this core in general, is a lack of athleticism compared to the other contenders. I often don’t really care for invocations of “athleticism” because it’s vague and subjective, but I do think there are some important empirics that can belie the lack of it.”
I think this is a very valid concern. All of our rotation players have at least one issues that falls somewhere into the “athleticism” box…something akin to height/length/speed/quickness/agility/vertical pop/”fast-twitch”/reaction time. I think that really hurt us vs. IND last year, as beyond the starters (folks can parse the differences how they please) it’s pretty obvious that both Mathurin and Obi were way more athletic than anyone on our bench.
We have some advantages that mitigate those issues but don’t eliminate them. And we haven’t done much during this offseason to become more athletic either. None of Yabu, Clarkson, Brogdon or Shamet is particularly athletic for their respective positions, and Deuce is undersized.
if i had to rely on one of these players taking a heavier offense creating role – i’d go with KAT from the top of the key or the post…he looked good doing it early last season…
I don’t think Mikal can do it. Towns can do it but every time he scores he ends up in the eighth row and we are 4-5 on defense for 90 seconds….
“both Mathurin and Obi were way more athletic than anyone on our bench.”
…with the caveat that Mitch was technically a bench player for us…I was more referring to guards and wings.
raining baseballs from heaven in the bleachers at wrigley…
@TommyBeer
Total minutes played (reg season and playoffs combined) by each Knicks 5-man lineup last season:
Josh Hart with Brunson, Bridges, OG and KAT:
1,275 minutes
Mitch Robinson with Brunson, Bridges, OG and KAT:
67 minutes
Deuce McBride with Brunson, Bridges, OG and KAT:
49 minutes
This stat is really sad.
Kuminga finally folded and took a two-year, $48.5 mil contract from Golden State.
as we all knew he would which stat is sad there are three of them
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
hubert mentioned clarence earlier what happened to that dude i miss his charming ramblings
Playoff baseball is too fucking nerve wracking…
Once again I skipped the entire regular season so this is my first Yankees game since the World Series. It’s kinda fun having no idea who anyone is and not having any expectations based on what they’ve done all year. Everything is a surprise.
Everything except Devin Williams, that is. I know enough to crap my pants if he comes in.
Well actually that (Weaver shitting the bed) was a surprise. And not a good one.
Everything I know about the Judge for MVP debate I learned here. That said, I will add to it that that Red Sox guy turned a routine single into a double by just running straight to second on that ball hit to Judge and just scored the go-ahead run.
Weaver sucks, sheesh
Thank God we pulled Fried before he threw too many pitches
I don’t know, man. 102 pitches is a lot in 2025. You have to think your bullpen can get the Sox’ two shittiest hitters out to end the inning.
What the hell happened to Weaver? I remembered him being lights out.
Everyone knows he has a plus throwing arm until he injured his elbow 2+ months ago. He should be DH ing but Stanton….
We seriously don’t have anyone on the bench to pinch hit for Austin Wells right now?
Not to anyone who watched him pitch to a 9.64 ERA during September with a crisp WHIP of 1.926 over his last 11 appearances…..
Dogshit bullpen would have been the death of the Yankees eventually. Just getting it out of the way now.
Looked more like another dog shit lineup problem to me.
Yankee bats go quiet in the postseason.
It’s like an annual rite of autumn.
We’ve come a long way from Nelson Stanton Rivera is all I’m saying.
But yes, scoring more than one run would have improved our chances.
Best pitcher in the league (Crochet) gave them 7 2/3s. 117 pitches. Boone pulled Fried after 102, but let him throw 107 last Wednesday with a 5-1 lead over the White Sox. Show me the logic there. Then went to his most struggling reliever. Go figure…..
Pretty steep drop off for the Red Sox after Crochet though. Their other starters pitch to contact.
Yankees have a much better roster than Boston but the equalizer is Alex Cora having such a huge advantage over Boone its the biggest manager mismatch in baseball. Cora fucking toys with Boone year after year.
And the season rests on Rodon…
Yeah, the lack of creativity and urgency from Boone is more than a little tired. bases loaded, nobody out .. felt like everyone is suddenly playing for the walk off. Gotta have more ways to score runs.
But also, you can’t win shit in the playoffs if the pen isn’t tight. Which ours is decidedly not.
Of course the series is still winnable. These three game sets are total coin flips.
It helped that the lineup featured Brian Cashman’s trademark: three automatic outs every turn through the lineup.
Yankees have BY FAR the best offense in baseball, stop with your fucking annoying stupid Cashman bullshit.
Ahmed Rosario batted 5th tonight.
Whole lot of decisions can be fairly questioned, from the Fried pull to not starting Jazz, but there’s one I think is truly indefensible with no counter arguments—not getting Rice, who has been the second best hitter on the team all season, AND HAS HIT LEFTIES VERY WELL IN THE SECOND HALF, a single PA in a game like this. Could’ve been for Goldy (I would’ve just started Rice, full stop), Wells, or anyone else really. Regardless, you’ve failed as a manager if you lose a 2 run playoff game and your 2nd best hitter doesn’t get to pick up a bat.
Who on earth has ever benched a 31/31 guy who did that missing 30 games (he was healthy enough to come in late an bat vs Chapman).
He intentionally benched 2 of his best 5 hitters.
Anyone who thinks Brian Cashman’s analytics team didn’t tell Boone who should start tonight is crazy.
The whole reason Boone is here is bc he does what they tell him to.
There are guys who have proven themselves sufficiently that you don’t get cute with platoon splits, and Rice and Jazz both fall into that category. I can’t fathom going into a playoff game unilaterally disarming like that, and no, this isn’t some “the analytics have gone too far” take. There were plenty of analytics that militated in favor of letting your best non-Judge hitters hit. Boone just ignored them in favor of platoon extremism.
party at chavez ravine…sho-hei!!!
the team and their fans look good in white and blue…like the cardinals and busch stadium decked out in white and red…
what was up with those fugly ufl miami dolphin uni’s the other day…those looked terrible…
Hitting LHP is Goldschmidt’s only remaining skill, and he did mash them again this year. And sure enough, he had two hits. Rosario isn’t really an anything-masher, so that I don’t really understand. That does appear to be a case of overdoing it with the platooning.
it feels like boone and cashman are never going away…
they are not that far away though…seems it’s more managerial than roster issues causing us to come up short…
oh yeah, Shohei = soaring while chilling…yep, fits…
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