NY Post: Knicks hold on to start Mike Brown era with hard-fought win over Cavaliers

What is an “illegal” poker ring?

Counting out Yabu this early is definitely foolish.

If I remember correctly, iHart didn’t look that great the first 20 games or so of his first season with us either.

Role players have good and bad stretches and sometimes the bad stretches just happen to be at the start of the season.

Se, I think comparing Yabu to iHart in any way, shape, or form is foolish. iHart had an extremely good resume coming in, and was playing through a sore achilles. Yabu was okay for a tanking team for a half-season. Their games are apples to oranges.

That said, I don’t think anyone is “counting out” Yabu. Just concerned that he may not be as good as we hoped he would be. But sure, it would be silly to count him out at this point, just like it would be silly to conclude that Kolek is a cromulent backup PG after one good game. But to be fair, Yabu hasn’t given one iota of evidence that he’s actually good, not last night and not in preseason. I don’t really give a shit that he played this summer in a non-NBA context. I do give a lot of shits about him reporting 18 lbs heavier than he played at last year and looking fat and slow.

It would suck if we wasted the TPMLE on a bust, but it would also give an opportunity to some guys to step up and take those minutes, meaning Dadiet, Diawara, Tosan, and McCullar for the PF minutes and Huk and Jemison for the C minutes.

Yabu can help himself by going on a special nutrition and workout regimen. It’s only October, so if he can get himself into top shape in 10 weeks, meaning by New Years Day, all would be forgiven.

I he doesn’t improve, like, pronto, I hope Brown holds him accountable with some DNP-CDs.

Strat, virtually everyone here thought that Yabu’s offense is better than his defense, that he would likely be better than Precious on offense and not as good on defense, and that the difference in his offense would more than offset the difference on defense. I don’t get why you think that only you and maybe a couple of other posters thought that. It’s the very definition of “common knowledge.”

The larger point is that unless his offense comes around, he is no more of an asset than Precious was. Precious wasn’t an asset because his defense was not nearly good enough (if good at all) to offset his terrible offense. Similarly, at least so far, Yabu’s offense is not nearly good enough (if good at all) to offset his lousy defense (case in point: he inexcusably let Mobley blow by him on the baseline, resulting in a 3-pt play.)

You say you’re not worried about his offense, but I think you should be. Last year, he had an OBPM of 0.1. Is that his ceiling? Because if it is, he has to basically have zero dropoff from his .616 TS% to not be unplayable.

And the even larger point than that is that stats put up in an outsized role on a tanking team should be taken with a grain of salt. That goes for both the positive (Yabu) and the negative (Clarkson.)

Personally, I don’t mind all that much that Yabu was signed to the TPMLE, just like I didn’t mind all that much that Precious was signed to that inflated deal last year. There was at least some reason in both cases to hope for some untapped potential to be realized in filling a limited bench role, and at worst, they represent outgoing salary in a potential pre-deadline deal for someone earning more than the minimum. But until his offense comes around, he is a negative asset at that price. And the one fly in the ointment is that Yabu has a player option for next year.

Alan, Strat was not on an island on the Yabu signing. The most common opinion was that it was a good signing given the available options, and that he would be an upgrade from Precious. There was some variance in the degree of the upgrade, but certainly not enough for Strat to puff out his chest ad nauseum about it.

Where there was very significant variance is the opinion of the Clarkson signing. Strat and others hated it. TNFH and others loved it. I initially hated it but then came around and loved it after doing a deep dive.

In any case, the jury is still very much out on both signings. It’s one freakin’ game in an 82-game season.

The jury is also still out on Mike Brown’s coaching, Kolek’s PG play, Huk’s C play, etc. (although I hope everyone who thought Nnaji was the pick over Huk (!!!) and Diawara will admit the utter foolishness of that take 🙂 )

The words I used were, and continue to be, “technically, tepidly, cautiously pro-Clarkson.”

Where there was very significant variance is the opinion of the Clarkson signing. Strat and others were decidedly anti-Clarkson being signed at the minimum. TNFH and others were decidedly pro-Clarkson being signed at the minimum. I initially hated it but then came around and loved it after doing a deep dive.

Is that better? Your exact quote at the time of the signing was: “I’d go as far as calling it a “good signing,” relative to opportunity cost.” You went to significant lengths to defend this position (and I think rightfully so.)

The irony here is that I went from initially reacting negatively to the signing to actually being in complete agreement with you about it being a positive signing for the price…and now I seem to be even more positively inclined than you are about it.

In any case, the point I was trying to make is that the Clarkson signing was far more controversial than the Yabu signing….do you at least agree with that?

I’m wondering if Billups received some kind of financial kickback for giving up that info. If not, then it just seems like terrible judgment, not anything criminal. Same with the poker thing, unless they have him on tape having knowledge of the specifics of the cheating scheme and then getting compensated for participating in it, it would seem like a pretty weak case.

But that probably ends his NBA career in any capacity, even if just terrible judgment.

Alan, I think you nailed it…there is some downside to Yabu if he stinks and opts in, you might have to attach something to dump him. But he would indeed have to play badly (or suffer an injury) to want to do that…in fact, the option probably has more downside if he plays so well that he opts out and we can’t re-sign him (or him plus Deuce and/or Mitch) because of cap constraints. Obviously that would be a good problem to have in this critical year, so whatever.

As to Clarkson, I don’t think it would be that hard to salary-dump him before the deadline with cash and/or a second attached. So the opportunity cost is strictly about who we passed over to sign him up until this point that is no longer available. Maybe someone like Russ?

My son alerted me to the fact that Wemby’s PER is 55.4 and his WS48 is .712. That has to be some sort of record for cumulative stats at a given point in the season, no?

The same guy who is now saying this:

“The opportunity cost is the player you didn’t sign. Al Horford signed for the TPMLE. Who is to say we couldn’t have gotten him if we didn’t use it on Yabu?”

…said the following on the day of the signing:

“A+ for the Yabu signing. I’m a big fan. Lobbied hard for him last year, too.”

and this:

“An outstanding move, one of the best ones we could have made this summer. Good job on this one, Leon. My outlook is considerably brighter now than it was this morning.”

But hey, we could have had Al Horford! (actually there is zero evidence that Horford would have considered coming here, in fact, there’s lots of evidence that he wanted to go to GS and GS only.)

Nor did I use the word contradiction…although I admit that one of the syllables is definitely implied…

Wait, you mean that there is a potential opportunity cost inherent in any transaction? You mean, if you sign one player, you could have done something else with that cap space that theoretically might have worked out better? Oh, okay, didn’t know that. Thanks for pointing that out, o wise one.

What’s next? Let me guess: There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and, You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.

How about this one: Shit happens. Meaning, sometimes a FO does exactly what you wanted them to do, and it just doesn’t pan out. But you had to do something, so whatever.

I appreciate that JK is saying the same things I would say, except more politely than I would have said it, or than he would have said it to me (or E or some others if we had argued the same dumb shit that Hubert is arguing.)

Wow…a cannabis ad on ESPN?? Never thought I would see that!

“pornhub soon to follow no doubt…”

Remember that Bo knows… commercial where Wayne Gretzky dismissively says “No!”?

Tony Bradley???

Ajay Mitchell looks like lefty Clyde out there…