Also thinking we really can’t afford to waste 4 roster spots on guys who can’t give us anything when the vet min market is this good. We got 60 pts from Clarkson & Landry, and like 2 seconds from Kolek & Huk. There’s still guys out there we can add, or we can use them as matching salary to trade 2nds or some of the guys who already signed for the minimum this summer.

I think I read if we trade Dadiet we might be able to sign two more vet minimum dudes?

At the minimum we need a solid backup 5. Is keep Huk as a development piece but with Yabu being in the dog house and not a true 5 to begin with, we are very weak at the position. Then I’d look for a back up PG. again I would try to hold on to Kolek if we can but I don’t trust him with significant minutes.

Also the new CBA is so unfair to dudes like Shamet. If he was literally just two inches taller he’d probably command a nice fat contract but instead he has to toil away with unguaranteed vet minimum roster spots.

To properly honor Shamet’s game last night, no Knick should ever wear the number 44 each November 14th. Seems proportionate.

Kolek & Huk might have some upside, Swift, but I don’t think their combined upside is worth man than 600 cromulent backup minutes this year.

If coach doesn’t think they can give us anything in a game like last night, then we’re carrying 10 players this year, and that’s not enough.

I’m trying to find a full replay but don’t see how to get it. Any advice?

KAT’s first half offensive highlights looked spectacular. Obviously it helped that Bam was out, but that was a $50+M AAV performance, especially when your other two best players were out. Need to see a lot more of those.

Just watching highlights, it seemed like Mikal had a great all-around game, but looking at the box score was kind of jarring. I get the 3-12 from 3, but 3-9 from 2? That seemed odd.

Mikal’s shots weren’t falling but they were taken in the flow of the game so it wasn’t egregious to the eye test, plus he had seven steals, two blocks, five assists and five boards. Seven steals are a lot of steals.

As for Hubert’s dismissal of Huk and Kolek, I put that squarely with all the hot takes earlier from various people about how we need to dump Shamet’s contract and pick up X, Y, and/or Z.

Z-Man If you have Prime Video, you can watch the replay. Just log in and put Knicks-Heat replay in the search box

Thanks Bo, it worked!

Mikal also missed a dunk and was credited for a missed FGA when he was mauled at the end of the game with no call.

Miami is super aggressive pushing the ball down the court and Mikal and his long ass arms did a great job disrupting that.

It’s going to be fascinating to see if Miami can keep playing that offense or if NBA teams will start to figure it out. I was starting to think Spo had lost his mojo but he’s still got it

the new espn box scores are bugging me more and more why the heck are personal fouls and turnovers nowhere near each other anymore they used to be right next to each other just before the last column which was points and yes they need to switch minutes and points back from last column to first column whose idea was this and why

It’s going to be fascinating to see if Miami can keep playing that offense or if NBA teams will start to figure it out. I was starting to think Spo had lost his mojo but he’s still got it

It’s such a unique offense with basically no P&Rs.

That said, I thought the zone disrupted them a bit, particularly their paint touches, even if they kept hitting their shots. And the Knicks zone didn’t look particularly good. I didn’t see their games against the Cavs but wonder if Atkinson tried to play zone against them with Mobley on top. That look was good at times against the Pacers and I think it might shut down Miami too.

Mikal Bridges has been on the court for all 3 of Shamet’s 30+ point games. He once watched him score 77 points in 3 days while hitting 19 3 pointers. So I’d say he’s probably not surprised… except that he’s also been on the court for most of his other games too.

since mikal bridges has never missed a game isnt it a sure thing that hes been on the court for all of (not most of) shamets games if shamet was playing then bridges surely was

Pelicans fired Willie Green. Good thing they hung onto Borrego, as he’s now the interim.

And Mikal and Shamet haven’t always played together, Doogie.

Happy birthday, KAT!

Z-Man let us know after watching the replay if you hated the refs as much as we all did watching the game live.

As for Hubert’s dismissal of Huk and Kolek, I put that squarely with all the hot takes earlier from various people about how we need to dump Shamet’s contract and pick up X, Y, and/or Z.

Who are these people who advocated for dumping Landy Shamet? My “hot take” was we needed to bring him back, and I was mad when I thought we chose Clarkson instead of him.

This summer’s vet minimum market was an incredible market inefficiency. There are guys earning it right now who would be making the mid level 5 years ago, and we can still acquire them.

The extremely minimal upsides of Kolek & Huk are not something that should prevent us from doing that.

Hubs, highly doubt Leon is resting on his laurels and assuming he doesn’t need to do anything else to make the team better. Maybe let’s give him a few weeks before lamenting how he’s not picking up more vet minimum dudes. Leon has almost always made a mid season move or two before the trade deadline.

But letting the team cook as is till December or so makes sense.

It’s cute to think of Shamet as Mikal’s Jack Haley. But sadly, the bromance didn’t extend to Washington, Philadelphia, the Clippers, or their time with the Nets.

I’m not lamenting that he hasn’t already done it, swift. I’m suggesting he’s probably going to do it and am looking forward to it. Trades usually don’t happen til mid December.

Although with Kolek in particular, I am wondering if we should just dump him now and sign someone like Payne or Wright or even Ben Simmons to shore up that 5th guard spot.

If Brown won’t even play Kolek when Brunson’s hurt, then what’s his point?

“Z-Man let us know after watching the replay if you hated the refs as much as we all did watching the game live.”

I remember reading all the outrage in the game thread, and honestly, I think the game was called just fine, i.e. no advantage to either side and not that many missed calls.

Re: Mikal, seemed like a lot of his misses were either on shot he usually makes (including a breakaway dunk attempt, geez!) or ones that had no bearing on the flow of the game. Probably just regression to the mean stuff.

As to Miami, I worry about them as a playoff opponent, mainly because they are so incredibly well coached. SVG pointed out that Spo is the best coach at tailoring a game plan to the personnel he has to work with, and the 7SoL offense he is running is perfect for this group. This team has a ton of guys who can pull up on a dime from 3, whether in the halfcourt or in transition, starting with Norman Powell, who is playing the best ball of his career at age 32. Davion Mitchell is more of a bench-level player but he’s holding his own, with a 4.5 AST/TOV ratio. Wiggins is playing well on both ends, and he and Jaquez can get into the paint and make things happen. Ware is developing nicely, and he and Bam are a versatile pair of bigs. Jovic has some length as well. Add a healthy Tyler Herro to this mix and you have a rotation that can really light it up. Can they defend and rebound well enough to be competitive in the playoffs?

More depth is better than less, but we didn’t really need another guard yesterday because we got 33 minutes of asskicking scoring and shot creation from Jordan Clarkson. I wouldn’t have wanted Cam Payne taking anybody’s minutes in that game. I’d trade Kolek for a veteran guard but that doesn’t seem to be the most pressing need.

What we really need most is a Mitch-lite backup big who can play some defense.

I’m pretty neutral on the Huk-Kolek-Dadiet situation, meaning I am confident that Leon is monitoring the situation and will go after an opportunity if it presents itself. I believe that since salaries are pro-rated, the longer he waits, the more space there is…not sure on this but it is a possible consideration. I don’t think that Huk is going anywhere for the time being, and think he is the most likely of the 3 to be on the roster past the deadline.

I also wonder how much rope they will give Yabu before considering trading him with sweetener attached for a better player (he becomes trade-eligible on 12/15 but that player option might be an impediment.) That sweetener could be second round picks and/or one of the young players. Hopefully he improves somewhat and makes it a moot point, but he is barely playable right now and that’s $5M worth of cap space being wasted.

In any case, I think it’s more likely or not that some kind of minor transaction takes place between December 15 and the February deadline, probably for that Mitch-lite player that JK mentioned or perhaps a defensive wing.

One thing I noticed about Clarkson in that game is that he got bailed out on some questionable moves by ticky-tack fouls. I know that drawing fouls is something he is okay at but teams might adjust to that.

Clarkson will have bad games, maybe more so than good games, but other than Brunson (and Shamet on whatever he was on yesterday) he’s the only one who can consistently get into the paint on his own.

If Leon does go after some vet minimum dudes I hope he errs on the side of defensive players. I’d be down with Wright for this reason. This team has more than enough offensive fire power but needs to shore up the defense. I’m sure it will tighten up as this team plays together more under Brown but add defensive first players at the end of the bench would be the quickest way to improve things on that end.

“This team has more than enough offensive fire power”

I need to see more before fully agreeing with this. Specifically, I didn’t like the way Orlando neutralized our offense, so the next meeting with them next Saturday when we have a bit of rest, and hopefully OG and Brunson back, is an important early measuring stick game for me.

Specifically, all of our offensive players have something that can be exploited by good defensive teams (i.e those with length and athleticism). Brunson is obviously the hardest to stop, but he’s undersized and can get trapped in the paint. KAT makes several drives a game where he uses his off arm in a way that results in offensive fouls, and often winds up in the stands by the stanchion and gives teams a 5-on-4. Bridges is back to being a low-usage player. OG can’t really create his own shot and is also vulnerable to getting blocked/stripped/forced into a weak shot in traffic. Deuce, Hart, Clarkson, and Shamet are all 6’4″ and under and all have negatives on O. Yabu has shown zero on offense.

The teams in the East that matter in terms of how we play against them (because they have good defensive length) are Cleveland, Milwaukee, Orlando, Detroit, and Atlanta, and to a lesser degree, Philly and Miami, and maybe Toronto. It’s pretty likely that we are going to face two of those teams in the first two rounds, and if all of them go into the playoffs healthy, I’m not taking anything for granted, even in the first round, until I see a bunch of games against them.

As to the West, it’s OKC, Minny, Denver, Houston, Spurs and Lakers (if with LeBron)

That said, these early season games when teams are still figuring it out and there is limited game film don’t matter all that much either. I’m not gonna take that much away from beating Minny and Cleveland or losing to Miami, Orlando, and Milwaukee yet.

Are there any good FA still out there? Like, if Leon just trades Dadiet or Kolek for apron flexibility, are there guys still sitting there who would be worth signing? After spending most of the summer and training camp feeling like I wanted to hang onto the kids, just in case, I’ve come around to the Hubert point of view: this season, we need every useful bench player we can get.

Barring injury disruptions, there will be a stretch of games coming up in December-January (not including the IST games) against important opponents:

12/7 ORL
12/19 PHI
12/21 MIA
12/23 @ MIN
12/25 CLE
12/27 @ ATL
12/31 @SAS
1/2 ATL
1/3 PHI
1/5 @ DET

I think you will be able to tell a lot about our team based on our record in these 10 games.

What we really need most is a Mitch-lite backup big who can play some defense

Yeah, that’s what’s hard to find. Jock Landale may be the one. Boucher’s on the min but I don’t think Boston’s going to do us that favor. Bagley is cromulent but leans offense.

Ben Simmons is still out there. And the fascinating thing about him is he could replace Kolek as 5th guard and also play backup big in a pinch. I was hesitant to bring him on in the offseason before we signed Landry, but now he’d be a little further down the depth chart.

Alan, I don’t know which specific players we should target, or who will actually be available, but it’s probably the case that once the new car smell wears off and teams realize that they aren’t going anywhere, or need a player due to injury, they might be amenable to swapping out a cromulent rim protector for a stretch big like Yabu, or a PG like Kolek, or a young wing like Dadiet. Might take a second or two, but we’re “win now” so whatever. Also possible that a team waives a cheap (i.e. making below the MLE) vet to make room to elevate a 2-way guy that we could pick up on a minimum deal near the deadline, or even after.

I’d be okay with Simmons if he passes Leon’s smell test, but that’s doubtful. Is he even working out or just living the life?

Kai Jones is over in Istanbul, I believe he can be bought out but that’s another probably fails the smell test guy.

Yabu being garbage is a real problem for our roster construction.

I think we might see the Knicks go to McCullar over some of the other kids.

He’s a forward who can rebound, defend, and pass, all things we could use with OG & Brunson out. Since neither Kolek or Dadiet can shoot, his one weakness doesn’t really matter in this choice.

Just want to highlight that Towns is having his usual great year rebounding the ball with 13.6 rebs/36, good for 11th in the league.

Mitchell Robinson is averaging 13.0 Orebs/36.

I think you gotta give Yabu more of a chance than sticking him in a few games for like 100 minutes and deciding he can’t play. His last couple of games he hasn’t looked too bad to me, and he’s a guy who was around league average in scoring efficiency even in his first iteration in Boston. Last year he had a .616 TS% in almost 2000 minutes and was a perfectly useful stretch big.

“I think you gotta give Yabu more of a chance than sticking him in a few games for like 100 minutes and deciding he can’t play. His last couple of games he hasn’t looked too bad to me, and he’s a guy who was around league average in scoring efficiency even in his first iteration in Boston. Last year he had a .616 TS% in almost 2000 minutes and was a perfectly useful stretch big.”

Agreed. The report of an 18 lb weight gain was disturbing, but maybe it’s being address on the down-low. He does seem a bit better lately…and a bit thinner.

I viewed Kolek getting no burn due to Shamet/Deuce/Clarkson’s outstanding play. Likewise Huk’s 2 seconds as giving Yabu minutes to see what we have. Nothing to do with “if coach doesn’t think they can give us anything in a game like last night, then we’re carrying 10 players this year,… “

I really don’t buy the argument that we should trade a young guy to bolster the bench with a vet. It’s easy to assume that the guys on our bench who are not playing aren’t NBA ready, but we don’t really know that. We already have a full rotation of guys who are clearly NBA ready with Hart, Deuce, Shamet and Clarkson coming off the bench. Yabusele isn’t doing great, but he also can clearly play NBA minutes too. Thus, Kolek, Huk and others have to be better than just bench minutes worthy to get minutes. Available vets might or might not be better than them, but there is no way for us to tell.

This is kind of what BernieErnie is saying too.

I viewed Kolek getting no burn due to Shamet/Deuce/Clarkson’s outstanding play.

JK47 said something to this effect earlier, too, but I disagree.

Shamet’s not a PG and Deuce didn’t play well.

Clarkson gave us 33 great minutes and we desperately needed a PG for the other 15.

Mikal Bridges had to play 42 mins (and almost the entire 2nd half) bc he ended being the backup PG.

Kolek got no burn bc the coach doesn’t trust him.

Luka is unreal.

He may be plus 19 but he’s no Anthony Davis

Nico stares off into the middle distance, repeating in a monotone: “Defense wins championships. Defense wins championships. Defense wins championships. Defense wins…”

Tari Eason out 4-6 weeks with an oblique injury.

You need Deuce for his defense even if he’s not lighting it up at PG. I guess you could cut Mikal’s and Deuce’s minutes by like 6 each, and slide the hypothetical PG in for like 12 minutes. Like I said, more depth is better than less.

But still, defensive big is the hole that needs to be filled. Third string lead guard less so. If you can fill both, great. But it’s clear which one is the bigger issue. In fact, I’d also put “perimeter defender” above third lead guard as a priority as well.

Now Nesmith is out for a month. Pacers are well on their way to a top-5 pick.

Bridges, Hart, and to a lesses degree Shamet fill in whatever the Deuce-Clarkson pairing lacks in playmaking, which frankly isn’t much. Kolek is just fine as a 4th stringer in that role, probably as good as anyone currently available at the minimum would be. As JK said, replacing him in that role shouldn’t be a priority right now.

I think now would be a good time to place a bet on the Lakers to win it all. They are about to add the ageless GOAT in perhaps his last hurrah to a very good team with a top-5 player, maybe top-3. Their roster is pretty freakin’ deep.

I think now would be a good time to place a bet on the Lakers to win it all.

They’re also all about to be subpoenaed.

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