In both effort and rhetorical terms, KAT doesn’t seem to be remotely buying into The Mike Brown Experience.
On the bright side Knicks have a 10.47 SRS which is 2nd best in the NBA!
Interesting if only because our margin of victory is 0, so our SRS is identical to our strength of schedule.
Miami is 1st in SRS at 18.58, which probably makes them the best team of all-time by a wide margin.
Cleveland is 3rd at 9.18
Milwaukee is 4th at 8.20
Boston is 9th at 5.91.
Also, Diawara came in for 34 seconds, got absolutely cooked by Rollins on a possession, then left.
spurs and heat are the class of the nba right now nets pellies suns pacers are the dregs we couldnt possibly be any more mid than we are right now
Well, the good news so far is that Brown seems to have Brunson and Bridges playing some of their best ball since coming to the Knicks. The bad news is pretty much everything else.
Well, I for one have never bought into The Karl-Anthony Towns Experience, so whatever.
I am resigning myself to the idea that this team is very unlikely to win a championship with him being our most highly paid player. He’s a different version of Melo…a different kind of albatross, but an albatross just the same. Not in the sense of his contract per se, just that he weighs heavily on any championship aspirations, given his salary vs. his role on a championship team (and it’s far more about the salary than the role, although defining his role is difficult…suffice it to say that he is a situational player in the 4th quarter of some games, which should never be the case with a max player or anything close.)
I won’t relentlessly harp on it (a la E), and I’m sure there will be stretches when this take looks alarmist, even foolish. And I have no personal issues with KAT, he’s a really good guy, and he gives his all every night. I have zero problem with his effort level or his commitment to winning. I just think that the gaping holes in his game…physical, prossessing speed, and BBall-IQ, are set in stone at this point, and no coach is going to “unlock” him in a way that makes him a top-2 on a championship rotation player.
And sorry to anyone who is offended or appalled by my gloomy take on KAT this early in the season, especially with a new coach, with his quad injury, and with injuries/absence re: key players needed to complement the best version of his game. He’s obviously not as bad as he played last night, and I am confident that he will get back to his best self, at which time a more objective discussion can be had.
KAT deserves all the shit he’s getting for that performance last night but he’s clearly nowhere near 100% physically.
Apparently recency bias is a real thing. š
While I aligned with E & Z-Man on KAT, Im willing to give the team 20 or so games before drawing any conclusions. There is an adaptation period to Brown and his new rotations and schemes. That said some concerns exist: 1) WTF is up with Mitch. 2) How much is KAT’s quad injury informing his play. 3) How much is Josh Hart’s 4 finger shooting informing his shooting? If the finger can be fixed by surgery then that should be done immediately. If KAT’s quad won’t recover if he plays, then sit him until to does. This season is about gelling for the playoffs and trading early season wins for end of season/playoff wins seems to be the way to go.
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Our short term issues right now are familiarity with what coach Brown wants, Mitch and Deuce being out and Towns and Hart playing at less than 100%.
Our long term issues are defense, when Mitch is coming back and whether he can sustain good health for an extended period of time through the playoffs and whether Hart will return to form once he gets his wind and legs back.
PS: Hart should have gotten surgery (and probably still should if he can make it back for a late season run and playoffs).
PSS: Brown may want to tweak his strategy a little to fit the players better or maybe we should make a trade, but we can’t tell yet.
At this point in the season I’ll take a clueless, slightly hobbled, ineffective KAT over a revitalised Bridges, hands down. KAT will come around, flaws and all.
I like our chances if Mikal is our second best player and KAT our third in the new system better than vice versa.
I will also say that at this point I am not impressed with Mike Brown, in particular, as some sort of post-Thibs revelation. Obviously he deserves a lot of grace at this point, especially since a) firing Thibs was probably not the way that some players (and many pundits) wanted to go, so he has some hurdles in winning everyone over, b) NYC fans and media are notoriously short-sighted and every lousy game weighs more heavily than it would elsewhere, and c) the injury situation has been disruptive.
As I’ve said, the main question is, should Brown tinker around the edges of what worked last year, or engage in a complete overhaul? I’m more in the former camp, but it seems he’s committed to the latter strategy. The good news for me is that I have faith that “necessity” will have the team gravitating back to what worked under Thibs, with a change to the 10-20% that didn’t work. Meaning, I expect that the team will play somewhat faster, that the offense will be somewhat less Brunson-iso dependent, that there will be somewhat more flexibility with minutes and load management. The most important change that would be characterized as a radical departure from Thibs is in lineup configurations, which I think was Thibs’ most glaring flaw.
But at the end of the day, I think it will shake out as Brown being a lateral move because he has flaws in places that Thibs did not. He seems way to quick to cop to “we are playing badly and losing because they aren’t doing what I’m telling them to do.” He greased the skids out of Sacto by doing this, and he better be careful about doing it here.
Mikal’s playing better; that said, his usage has plummeted to 15.7. He’s skimming the best food from the cafeteria smorgasbord and leaving the rest to others.
Still a materially non-zero chance Mike Brown doesn’t last the year. If he doesn’t get buy-in from KAT, that increases the chances. He’s like the FOs sixth choice, behind even Thibs, and works for a very mercurial owner.
His “Don’t worry, I’m getting them ready for the playoffs” bank is very low. He taps into that at his own peril.
In any event, in the modern NBA, changing a star’s position and role in the offense, and not getting his buy-in, tends to get coaches whacked. Unless the team’s overall performance and record makes that silly. They’re not at that point right now.
PS: Hart should have gotten surgery (and probably still should if he can make it back for a late season run and playoffs).
The Knicks can’t allow Josh Hart to play if he keeps performing like this. Even the most inept Knicks staffer can see this. So if surgery is the only way, I imagine he’ll step away.
E, I noticed that as well, but think the improvement goes far beyond shot selection. He’s averaging 17.8 points per 36 on 15.7%, which is more than he averaged last year at a usage of 19.6%. So he’s scoring more points on 3.3 fewer shots per game. He’s also averaging 3.6 more rebounds per 36, plus more steals and blocks and fewer turnovers. Perhaps most notably is that his FT rate is back where it was in the two years before he got here.
This is a much better all-around version of Mikal, and it doesn’t seem to be coming at any cost, or due to a freaky small sample outlier. In fact, this is the best he may have ever played, and this player is worth every bit of what we gave up for him.
Now obviously he isn’t going to continue shooting 47% from 3, but beyond that, none of the numbers seem unsustainable…in fact, they are very much aligned with what he did in his best years in PHX.
While I agree that there’s a “non-zero” chance that Brown doesn’t last the year, I would put the chances at closer to zero than to 20%, meaning pretty negligible. He would have to totally lose the locker room for that to happen, particularly Brunson. I would expect that he adjusts based on player feedback (again, particularly Brunson) before that happens.
*It is a bit ironic that Brunson’s usage has actually increased under Brown, but I do think that his usage will go down and Mikal’s will go up over time.
**I should also add that hopefully there won’t be any more silly talk about Mikal being in some sort of physical decline. That take was just as silly as it was about Randle three years ago.
“If he doesnāt get buy-in from KAT, that increases the chances.”
Maybe, but it also increases the chances that KAT gets traded. Which I think would be a good thing! (ducks…)
Whatever one’s perspective on a KAT trade might be, they’re not picking Mike Brown over KAT.
KAT not being able to do anything with Kuzma on him has nothing to do with Brown. Same issue under Thibs. The book is out on him and teams will continue to deploy it until he does something to change the opposing teams strategy.
Even Thibs went away from what worked under Thibs. This team has been adrift on offense since the league figured out how to guard the Brunson/KAT pnr with Hart on the floor. Thereās nothing that worked under Thibs last year to go back to.
1
Hart should never be on the floor with Towns for major minutes, but last night Iāll chalk that up as not having other players available . Towns letting smaller players defend him is the biggest issue.
“Whatever oneās perspective on a KAT trade might be, theyāre not picking Mike Brown over KAT.”
Well allow me to borry your clever phrasing: there’s a materially non-zero chance that both Mike Brown and KAT donāt last the year.*
* There is also a materially non-zero chance that KAT is being shopped as we speak.
1. Unless the recoveryĀ and rehab timeĀ for the thumb surgery would keep Hart out through the playoffs, the team needs to have a Come to Jesus conversation with him about it. No team can force a player to have surgery he doesn’t want to. But if Leon tells him his ass will be glued to the bench until he gets the thumb fixed, Josh might do it. He’s a flawed but incredibly helpful player when he’s merely reluctant to shoot. When he can’t hit water when falling out of a boat, he’s a disaster.
2. It doesn’t sound āĀ both from his public comments and what some of the beats have alluded to āĀ that KAT is buying into the Brown system. But there’s also the matter of the quad injury. It’s not an ideal time with Mitch out, Yabu also injured, and Huk and Jemison being young and raw-ish (Huk more than Jemison), but I think we might want to bite the bullet here, too, and have KAT rest a few games to see how he plays when the quad feels better. If he starts to have positive results playing Brown Ball, he might change his opinion of things.
KAT hasn’t just had a dropoff, he has been putrid beyond belief, and if he’s too banged up to go, maybe they need to sit him for a while and take some L’s. The center position is not looking real good right now, with KAT stinking out the joint, Yabu looking too fat to run up and down the floor, and Mitch residing on the side of a milk carton. There’s also whatever the hell is going on with Deuce McBride and the Josh Hart situation looming over everything.
That’s a lot of talented, recently productive players who are giving us basically nothing. We really can’t afford an injury plagued gap year as this roster ages into its thirties. It’s kinda now or never.
Reposting here:
Iām not a doctor and can only speak with the authority of an overconfident WFAN caller about Hartās decision not to get surgery, what the timetable would look like, and how much his finger (and back) are impeding him.
But I can say very confidently that heās an enormously negative player for us right now, and not in ways that tend to sort themselves out e.g. OGās 3PT%.
Heās only even attempting 28% of his shots at the rim so far (40% last year), and the less I say about his hit rate, from there and everywhere else, the better. Heās simply not doing the Josh Hart Thingsā¢ that make up, and then some, for him being guarded like Mitch on the perimeter.
Iāve said before and I will say again that there are people who generally take Hartās importance to this team way too lightly. Versatile wings who can guard up and down, make plays, get out in transition with the best of them, and rebound like a demon donāt grow on trees. This all applies even more so to the current Knicks, who want for athleticism generally. Warts and all, I think itās no accident weāve consistently been meaningfully better with him on the court since he arrived. A prolonged absence would hurt us.
But he sucks right now and getting him right needs to be an urgent priority, because itās hard to win tough games giving a lot of minutes to someone who sucks. Whether itās rest for his back, getting the hand surgery, or whatever else, get it done and patch up the holes somehow.
Five coaches in nine years (Iām counting Thibs twice) tried and failed to fully āunlockā a guy whose mere presence was supposed to unlock easy offense for all of those around him, or at least that was the hope when he came into the league. Touted multiple times by rival GMās as the player theyād most want to build their franchise around, Towns was supposed to be the skeleton key, not the guy who required one.
And yet here we are, now on coach number six, in year no. 10, and weāre still having the same conversations weāve been having for the better part of a decade.
Macri on Towns in today’s news article
?
KAT was “unlocked” as recently as last season.
“Heās like the FOs sixth choice…”
This is a very important point, and may have factored in to the building out of the coaching staff. Since most of us were hoping for a more exciting upside choice rather than a recently fired retread, this might be a refreshing outcome. Is there anyone on the staff who would fit that bill?
I’m going to hold my tongue a bit on KAT because I think he’s compromised and with Yabu and Mitch both down I don’t want to bludgeon the guy for giving it a go.
But as I said in the game thread in multiple ways last night, that was a brutal watch.
KAT was āunlockedā for 2 months last year, E, probably bc it had been a couple years since the league saw him at C and some teams forgot about the trouble he has when guarded by wings. Since the memo got recirculated, heās been up and down.
KAT gave us everything we could rightfully expect from him last year. He’s an excellent offensive player…3rd team all-NBA, same BPM as Brunson. Even in the playoffs he largely held his own.
But he has gaping holes in his all-around game and doesn’t make his teammates better. In particular, he and Brunson are not complementary. Yet if you even have to think about benching KAT down the stretch for defensive person, his value decreases by $20M AAV.
“the team needs to have a Come to Jesus conversation with him about it. No team can force a player to have surgery he doesnāt want to.”
Mitch had 2 ankle surgeries. The first obviously didn’t take because he had the 2nd, but it was clear the 2nd didn’t take when he had the 4 month setback last season and now this after 44 minutes of pre-season game play. Also remember Hart had finger surgery back in June or July (reports are that he had it in June but the Knicks announced it on July 16…typical). That didn’t take either after I assume 2-3 months of inactivity and perhaps explains the reticence of the medical staff to ask him (or Mitch for that matter) to undergo the knife again. But that is not a good surgery track record.
“Iām going to hold my tongue a bit on KAT because I think heās compromised and with Yabu and Mitch both down I donāt want to bludgeon the guy for giving it a go.”
I agree, and to be clear, if what I’m saying today comes across as “bludgeoning” him based solely on his performance thus far this year, then I am not communicating effectively. He generally deserves enormous credit for playing through injury (he did this on many occasions last year as well.) He’s not soft at all in that regard, in fact, he’s tough as nails. Last night I pointed out that he was battling extremely hard on the boards on both ends, and was a huge plus in that area, even keeping us in the game at points.
An I do expect for him to go on a tear sooner than later. He’s too good to be playing like this for long.
My gripes about him are long running, and are not swayed by his stretches of brilliant offensive play. Much like folks felt about Melo even at his zenith. Again, very similar players in that regard.
Its been very frustrating watching the new offense so far but the 2nd quarters vs the Celtics and Bucks definitely give a huge glimmer of hope. The ceiling of this team seems much higher than last year but reaching that ceiling consistently enough is the big question.
Reminder:
– the Knicks ORtg was 112.3 after the all star break (22nd in the league)
– the Knicks net rating was just +0.3 after the all star break (18th)
– the Knicks had a negative net rating in the playoffs and the offense was terrible with two glorious exceptions (games 4 & 6 against Boston)
What part of this do you want Brown to go back to?
We can’t get back to the Knicks offense that was able to lead the league in scoring with Josh Hart on the floor for the first two months of the season. It’s not available anymore. Hasn’t been since January.
“Its been very frustrating watching the new offense so far but the 2nd quarters vs the Celtics and Bucks definitely give a huge glimmer of hope. The ceiling of this team seems much higher than last year but reaching that ceiling consistently enough is the big question.”
I agree, BBA. But even shitty teams run off great quarters against good teams. I don’t think you can judge a team based on how they perform in isolated quarters when “everything comes together.”
The best arguments for our overall shittiness thus far are a) games missed by key players, b) other key players playing at less than 100%, and c) a new system under a new coach. I don’t think the “ceiling” has been raised one iota post-Thibs based on what we’ve seen thus far. We had a million great quarters under Thibs where it looked like the sky was the limit, even with guys hurt.
I’m not quite exactly sure how it came to pass that Karl-Anthony Towns’s role was changed so dramatically that “Karl-Anthony Towns is still adjusting to his new role” is an actual thing in the actual regular season.
His position change and role change flew way too far under the Knickland radar. I’d be shocked if that was the FO’s objective/expectation. Guaranteed they didn’t think there would be both a significant role change and an answer from the changee as late as October 21 regarding how the change was going of, “Honestly, I don’t know.”
The Knicks had virtually the same record in the first half of the season (when the offense was one of the best in the NBA) as they did in the second half (when our offense apparently cratered.) Then they came within two wins of making it to the NBA finals with that shitty offense.
I sure can’t wait until Brown’s revelation of an offense kicks in! Finals here we come!
PS Brunson was injured for many games post all-star break, and yet I recall folks saying that it actually improved the flow of the offense? Were there more sprays?
40 replies on “2025-10-29 Daily Post”
In both effort and rhetorical terms, KAT doesn’t seem to be remotely buying into The Mike Brown Experience.
Interesting if only because our margin of victory is 0, so our SRS is identical to our strength of schedule.
Miami is 1st in SRS at 18.58, which probably makes them the best team of all-time by a wide margin.
Cleveland is 3rd at 9.18
Milwaukee is 4th at 8.20
Boston is 9th at 5.91.
Also, Diawara came in for 34 seconds, got absolutely cooked by Rollins on a possession, then left.
spurs and heat are the class of the nba right now nets pellies suns pacers are the dregs we couldnt possibly be any more mid than we are right now
Well, the good news so far is that Brown seems to have Brunson and Bridges playing some of their best ball since coming to the Knicks. The bad news is pretty much everything else.
Well, I for one have never bought into The Karl-Anthony Towns Experience, so whatever.
I am resigning myself to the idea that this team is very unlikely to win a championship with him being our most highly paid player. He’s a different version of Melo…a different kind of albatross, but an albatross just the same. Not in the sense of his contract per se, just that he weighs heavily on any championship aspirations, given his salary vs. his role on a championship team (and it’s far more about the salary than the role, although defining his role is difficult…suffice it to say that he is a situational player in the 4th quarter of some games, which should never be the case with a max player or anything close.)
I won’t relentlessly harp on it (a la E), and I’m sure there will be stretches when this take looks alarmist, even foolish. And I have no personal issues with KAT, he’s a really good guy, and he gives his all every night. I have zero problem with his effort level or his commitment to winning. I just think that the gaping holes in his game…physical, prossessing speed, and BBall-IQ, are set in stone at this point, and no coach is going to “unlock” him in a way that makes him a top-2 on a championship rotation player.
And sorry to anyone who is offended or appalled by my gloomy take on KAT this early in the season, especially with a new coach, with his quad injury, and with injuries/absence re: key players needed to complement the best version of his game. He’s obviously not as bad as he played last night, and I am confident that he will get back to his best self, at which time a more objective discussion can be had.
KAT deserves all the shit he’s getting for that performance last night but he’s clearly nowhere near 100% physically.
Apparently recency bias is a real thing. š
While I aligned with E & Z-Man on KAT, Im willing to give the team 20 or so games before drawing any conclusions. There is an adaptation period to Brown and his new rotations and schemes. That said some concerns exist: 1) WTF is up with Mitch. 2) How much is KAT’s quad injury informing his play. 3) How much is Josh Hart’s 4 finger shooting informing his shooting? If the finger can be fixed by surgery then that should be done immediately. If KAT’s quad won’t recover if he plays, then sit him until to does. This season is about gelling for the playoffs and trading early season wins for end of season/playoff wins seems to be the way to go.
Our short term issues right now are familiarity with what coach Brown wants, Mitch and Deuce being out and Towns and Hart playing at less than 100%.
Our long term issues are defense, when Mitch is coming back and whether he can sustain good health for an extended period of time through the playoffs and whether Hart will return to form once he gets his wind and legs back.
PS: Hart should have gotten surgery (and probably still should if he can make it back for a late season run and playoffs).
PSS: Brown may want to tweak his strategy a little to fit the players better or maybe we should make a trade, but we can’t tell yet.
At this point in the season I’ll take a clueless, slightly hobbled, ineffective KAT over a revitalised Bridges, hands down. KAT will come around, flaws and all.
I like our chances if Mikal is our second best player and KAT our third in the new system better than vice versa.
I will also say that at this point I am not impressed with Mike Brown, in particular, as some sort of post-Thibs revelation. Obviously he deserves a lot of grace at this point, especially since a) firing Thibs was probably not the way that some players (and many pundits) wanted to go, so he has some hurdles in winning everyone over, b) NYC fans and media are notoriously short-sighted and every lousy game weighs more heavily than it would elsewhere, and c) the injury situation has been disruptive.
As I’ve said, the main question is, should Brown tinker around the edges of what worked last year, or engage in a complete overhaul? I’m more in the former camp, but it seems he’s committed to the latter strategy. The good news for me is that I have faith that “necessity” will have the team gravitating back to what worked under Thibs, with a change to the 10-20% that didn’t work. Meaning, I expect that the team will play somewhat faster, that the offense will be somewhat less Brunson-iso dependent, that there will be somewhat more flexibility with minutes and load management. The most important change that would be characterized as a radical departure from Thibs is in lineup configurations, which I think was Thibs’ most glaring flaw.
But at the end of the day, I think it will shake out as Brown being a lateral move because he has flaws in places that Thibs did not. He seems way to quick to cop to “we are playing badly and losing because they aren’t doing what I’m telling them to do.” He greased the skids out of Sacto by doing this, and he better be careful about doing it here.
Mikal’s playing better; that said, his usage has plummeted to 15.7. He’s skimming the best food from the cafeteria smorgasbord and leaving the rest to others.
Still a materially non-zero chance Mike Brown doesn’t last the year. If he doesn’t get buy-in from KAT, that increases the chances. He’s like the FOs sixth choice, behind even Thibs, and works for a very mercurial owner.
His “Don’t worry, I’m getting them ready for the playoffs” bank is very low. He taps into that at his own peril.
In any event, in the modern NBA, changing a star’s position and role in the offense, and not getting his buy-in, tends to get coaches whacked. Unless the team’s overall performance and record makes that silly. They’re not at that point right now.
The Knicks can’t allow Josh Hart to play if he keeps performing like this. Even the most inept Knicks staffer can see this. So if surgery is the only way, I imagine he’ll step away.
E, I noticed that as well, but think the improvement goes far beyond shot selection. He’s averaging 17.8 points per 36 on 15.7%, which is more than he averaged last year at a usage of 19.6%. So he’s scoring more points on 3.3 fewer shots per game. He’s also averaging 3.6 more rebounds per 36, plus more steals and blocks and fewer turnovers. Perhaps most notably is that his FT rate is back where it was in the two years before he got here.
This is a much better all-around version of Mikal, and it doesn’t seem to be coming at any cost, or due to a freaky small sample outlier. In fact, this is the best he may have ever played, and this player is worth every bit of what we gave up for him.
Now obviously he isn’t going to continue shooting 47% from 3, but beyond that, none of the numbers seem unsustainable…in fact, they are very much aligned with what he did in his best years in PHX.
While I agree that there’s a “non-zero” chance that Brown doesn’t last the year, I would put the chances at closer to zero than to 20%, meaning pretty negligible. He would have to totally lose the locker room for that to happen, particularly Brunson. I would expect that he adjusts based on player feedback (again, particularly Brunson) before that happens.
*It is a bit ironic that Brunson’s usage has actually increased under Brown, but I do think that his usage will go down and Mikal’s will go up over time.
**I should also add that hopefully there won’t be any more silly talk about Mikal being in some sort of physical decline. That take was just as silly as it was about Randle three years ago.
“If he doesnāt get buy-in from KAT, that increases the chances.”
Maybe, but it also increases the chances that KAT gets traded. Which I think would be a good thing! (ducks…)
Whatever one’s perspective on a KAT trade might be, they’re not picking Mike Brown over KAT.
KAT not being able to do anything with Kuzma on him has nothing to do with Brown. Same issue under Thibs. The book is out on him and teams will continue to deploy it until he does something to change the opposing teams strategy.
Even Thibs went away from what worked under Thibs. This team has been adrift on offense since the league figured out how to guard the Brunson/KAT pnr with Hart on the floor. Thereās nothing that worked under Thibs last year to go back to.
Hart should never be on the floor with Towns for major minutes, but last night Iāll chalk that up as not having other players available . Towns letting smaller players defend him is the biggest issue.
“Whatever oneās perspective on a KAT trade might be, theyāre not picking Mike Brown over KAT.”
Well allow me to borry your clever phrasing: there’s a materially non-zero chance that both Mike Brown and KAT donāt last the year.*
* There is also a materially non-zero chance that KAT is being shopped as we speak.
1. Unless the recoveryĀ and rehab timeĀ for the thumb surgery would keep Hart out through the playoffs, the team needs to have a Come to Jesus conversation with him about it. No team can force a player to have surgery he doesn’t want to. But if Leon tells him his ass will be glued to the bench until he gets the thumb fixed, Josh might do it. He’s a flawed but incredibly helpful player when he’s merely reluctant to shoot. When he can’t hit water when falling out of a boat, he’s a disaster.
2. It doesn’t sound āĀ both from his public comments and what some of the beats have alluded to āĀ that KAT is buying into the Brown system. But there’s also the matter of the quad injury. It’s not an ideal time with Mitch out, Yabu also injured, and Huk and Jemison being young and raw-ish (Huk more than Jemison), but I think we might want to bite the bullet here, too, and have KAT rest a few games to see how he plays when the quad feels better. If he starts to have positive results playing Brown Ball, he might change his opinion of things.
KAT hasn’t just had a dropoff, he has been putrid beyond belief, and if he’s too banged up to go, maybe they need to sit him for a while and take some L’s. The center position is not looking real good right now, with KAT stinking out the joint, Yabu looking too fat to run up and down the floor, and Mitch residing on the side of a milk carton. There’s also whatever the hell is going on with Deuce McBride and the Josh Hart situation looming over everything.
That’s a lot of talented, recently productive players who are giving us basically nothing. We really can’t afford an injury plagued gap year as this roster ages into its thirties. It’s kinda now or never.
Reposting here:
Iām not a doctor and can only speak with the authority of an overconfident WFAN caller about Hartās decision not to get surgery, what the timetable would look like, and how much his finger (and back) are impeding him.
But I can say very confidently that heās an enormously negative player for us right now, and not in ways that tend to sort themselves out e.g. OGās 3PT%.
Heās only even attempting 28% of his shots at the rim so far (40% last year), and the less I say about his hit rate, from there and everywhere else, the better. Heās simply not doing the Josh Hart Thingsā¢ that make up, and then some, for him being guarded like Mitch on the perimeter.
Iāve said before and I will say again that there are people who generally take Hartās importance to this team way too lightly. Versatile wings who can guard up and down, make plays, get out in transition with the best of them, and rebound like a demon donāt grow on trees. This all applies even more so to the current Knicks, who want for athleticism generally. Warts and all, I think itās no accident weāve consistently been meaningfully better with him on the court since he arrived. A prolonged absence would hurt us.
But he sucks right now and getting him right needs to be an urgent priority, because itās hard to win tough games giving a lot of minutes to someone who sucks. Whether itās rest for his back, getting the hand surgery, or whatever else, get it done and patch up the holes somehow.
Macri on Towns in today’s news article
?
KAT was “unlocked” as recently as last season.
“Heās like the FOs sixth choice…”
This is a very important point, and may have factored in to the building out of the coaching staff. Since most of us were hoping for a more exciting upside choice rather than a recently fired retread, this might be a refreshing outcome. Is there anyone on the staff who would fit that bill?
I’m going to hold my tongue a bit on KAT because I think he’s compromised and with Yabu and Mitch both down I don’t want to bludgeon the guy for giving it a go.
But as I said in the game thread in multiple ways last night, that was a brutal watch.
KAT was āunlockedā for 2 months last year, E, probably bc it had been a couple years since the league saw him at C and some teams forgot about the trouble he has when guarded by wings. Since the memo got recirculated, heās been up and down.
KAT gave us everything we could rightfully expect from him last year. He’s an excellent offensive player…3rd team all-NBA, same BPM as Brunson. Even in the playoffs he largely held his own.
But he has gaping holes in his all-around game and doesn’t make his teammates better. In particular, he and Brunson are not complementary. Yet if you even have to think about benching KAT down the stretch for defensive person, his value decreases by $20M AAV.
“the team needs to have a Come to Jesus conversation with him about it. No team can force a player to have surgery he doesnāt want to.”
Mitch had 2 ankle surgeries. The first obviously didn’t take because he had the 2nd, but it was clear the 2nd didn’t take when he had the 4 month setback last season and now this after 44 minutes of pre-season game play. Also remember Hart had finger surgery back in June or July (reports are that he had it in June but the Knicks announced it on July 16…typical). That didn’t take either after I assume 2-3 months of inactivity and perhaps explains the reticence of the medical staff to ask him (or Mitch for that matter) to undergo the knife again. But that is not a good surgery track record.
“Iām going to hold my tongue a bit on KAT because I think heās compromised and with Yabu and Mitch both down I donāt want to bludgeon the guy for giving it a go.”
I agree, and to be clear, if what I’m saying today comes across as “bludgeoning” him based solely on his performance thus far this year, then I am not communicating effectively. He generally deserves enormous credit for playing through injury (he did this on many occasions last year as well.) He’s not soft at all in that regard, in fact, he’s tough as nails. Last night I pointed out that he was battling extremely hard on the boards on both ends, and was a huge plus in that area, even keeping us in the game at points.
An I do expect for him to go on a tear sooner than later. He’s too good to be playing like this for long.
My gripes about him are long running, and are not swayed by his stretches of brilliant offensive play. Much like folks felt about Melo even at his zenith. Again, very similar players in that regard.
Its been very frustrating watching the new offense so far but the 2nd quarters vs the Celtics and Bucks definitely give a huge glimmer of hope. The ceiling of this team seems much higher than last year but reaching that ceiling consistently enough is the big question.
Reminder:
– the Knicks ORtg was 112.3 after the all star break (22nd in the league)
– the Knicks net rating was just +0.3 after the all star break (18th)
– the Knicks had a negative net rating in the playoffs and the offense was terrible with two glorious exceptions (games 4 & 6 against Boston)
What part of this do you want Brown to go back to?
We can’t get back to the Knicks offense that was able to lead the league in scoring with Josh Hart on the floor for the first two months of the season. It’s not available anymore. Hasn’t been since January.
“Its been very frustrating watching the new offense so far but the 2nd quarters vs the Celtics and Bucks definitely give a huge glimmer of hope. The ceiling of this team seems much higher than last year but reaching that ceiling consistently enough is the big question.”
I agree, BBA. But even shitty teams run off great quarters against good teams. I don’t think you can judge a team based on how they perform in isolated quarters when “everything comes together.”
The best arguments for our overall shittiness thus far are a) games missed by key players, b) other key players playing at less than 100%, and c) a new system under a new coach. I don’t think the “ceiling” has been raised one iota post-Thibs based on what we’ve seen thus far. We had a million great quarters under Thibs where it looked like the sky was the limit, even with guys hurt.
I’m not quite exactly sure how it came to pass that Karl-Anthony Towns’s role was changed so dramatically that “Karl-Anthony Towns is still adjusting to his new role” is an actual thing in the actual regular season.
His position change and role change flew way too far under the Knickland radar. I’d be shocked if that was the FO’s objective/expectation. Guaranteed they didn’t think there would be both a significant role change and an answer from the changee as late as October 21 regarding how the change was going of, “Honestly, I don’t know.”
The Knicks had virtually the same record in the first half of the season (when the offense was one of the best in the NBA) as they did in the second half (when our offense apparently cratered.) Then they came within two wins of making it to the NBA finals with that shitty offense.
I sure can’t wait until Brown’s revelation of an offense kicks in! Finals here we come!
PS Brunson was injured for many games post all-star break, and yet I recall folks saying that it actually improved the flow of the offense? Were there more sprays?
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