News & Blogs
Knicks set for NBA Cup Semifinal meeting with Magic after win over Raptors – SNY
Knicks Bulletin: ‘They came out and hit us in the mouth to start the game’ – Posting & Toasting
How Josh Hart and others are benefiting from new Knicks shooting coach – The New York Times
Knicks Media Roundup: Katz on NY’s rebounding and Stein with Giannis gossip – Posting & Toasting
Knicks’ Wu-Tang Clan Song, Music Video Used in 2019 Kevin Durant Recruitment Revealed – BleacherReport
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson has flipped the script of his scoring prowess – The New York Times
Knicks use complete team effort to cruise past Raptors in NBA Cup Quarterfinals – SNY
Two Wins From A… Championship? | KFS After School | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
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30 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.12.13)”
Not a fan of trading either Deuce or Mitch for DDV, seems like we have that position covered. And it doesn’t look like we can make a deal without including one of those two.
Pass on Alvarado as well.
What’s the over/under on injuries for today’s bloodbath?
I don’t know. If there’s a deal that loops in a third team and includes Mitch and Clarkson/Yabu and some second rounders and nets is DDV and more reliable back up center, I think that would be a net positive for us.
Losing Mitch’s potential game changing offensive rebounding would hurt but DDv would be a huge upgrade over Clarkson and a reliable center at least raises the floor for our bench unit.
The vibes with DDV coming back would be immaculate and we’d have even more fire power to shoot teams out of the gym and possibly overwhelm OKC in a series if everyone’s hot.
Not concerned at all about Rick Brunson and DDV. Pretty sure that was just DDv being upset at being traded and being the competitor he is.
Yeah I don’t think the upgrade from Kolek to Alvarado is worth any type of asset tbh. Maybe Dolan and his groupthink team want more Puerto Rican engagement, but that’s something else.
And I love big ragu, but I’m definitely not giving up Deuce for him.
The only configuration that even makes sense is ditching Mitch for Donte, who becomes the starting 2-guard, demoting Hart to backup SF.
Aside from those potential issues, you better love KAT at center and be comfortable with Yabu/Huk taking your backup center minutes.
“Aside from those potential issues, you better love KAT at center and be comfortable with Yabu/Huk taking your backup center minutes.”
That’s my concern in a nutshell. I like Huk as much as anybody but depending on these two as your only answers at backup C is sketchy.
But hey, maybe the answer is to sign Ben Simmons as a backup C. He’s theoretically sort of a different version of Mitch. I’d probably throw up if that happened.
To reiterate what I said yesterday, I’ve been warned by one of the beats to not invest any mental energy in the Donte thing.
That’s the thing Z — there are plenty of serviceable backup centers we could target in a separate trade for Dadiet (a guy plenty of teams were interested in before that draft). I’m thinking Plumlee, Bryant, Landale, Bradley, Hayes, Garza, Reath, etc.
I want to phrase this gently, because I’ve met the guy and I like him.
The person who reported it has, I think, a quicker reporting trigger finger than the industry standard. It is something to keep in mind whenever he has an “exclusive.”
Here’s the thing I think you guys are missing:
Jalen Brunson has been a 3.3 to 3.9 bpm player throughout his Knicks tenure here. Except that one time he was a 6 bpm player.
We still think of him as the 6 bpm player, but he isn’t.
Donte was a very big — and wildly underappreciated — reason Brunson was better that year. He provided a completely different kind of spacing than what Bridges provides by standing in the corner, and it was incredibly impactful for Brunson. It took one defender completely off the table for him in a way no other Knick has been able to do since.
Maybe Deuce can do that, too. I don’t know. Thibs avoided playing the two of them together like the plague. That man is stubborn but not stupid. Brown’s been more open to it (and it’s kicked ass when he’s used it). But it’s still not our go to lineup.
All this doesn’t mean we must trade Deuce for Donte. But it does mean if we’re not willing to do that, Deuce should be starting. If there’s a good reason Deuce can’t start (like Thibs thought), then you got to trade him for Donte, who we know can definitely start.
Either way I think the key to getting 6 bpm Brunson back is the kind of impactful spacing Donte provided. If Deuce can do that, let’s see it.
The reports only say that there were exploratory calls. I don’t think that is a surprise. Front office guys are always on the phone. It seems pretty reliable to conclude that the Knicks are shopping around for a guard.
In that context, I would guess that it’s true that a Knicks rep spoke to a Wolves rep about Donte. Beyond that, nothing can be assumed. The Wolves rep might have hung up the phone, or politely listened and suggested a ridiculous price, or said that he’ll get back in a couple of weeks. In any case, based on what Alan has heard, the talks at best didn’t go anywhere worth caring much about.
As for me, I don’t think we have a guard problem that requires expending valuable assets to solve, certainly not at the expense of being able to solve more pressing problems at the backup defensive 4 and 5.
And I’ve been warned by my therapist — repeatedly and strenuously — to not invest any mental energy in the Knicks.
I’m sure you’re both right but I like to dream.
There is very little difference between Brunson’s OBPM now (5.1) and what it was when we had Donte (6.3). In fact, Brunson currently has a higher TS% and eFG%, and that’s with a slight downtick in his 3PT% that is probably due more to variance than spacing. The main cause of the lower OBPM is slightly lower assists and rebounds per 36. Seems like any impact on Brunson due to some DDV effect would be negligible.
If anything, it would be better argued that Donte benefitted more from playing with Brunson than the other way around. Donte had a career year with the Knicks, and hasn’t repeated that in Minny. So maybe he is a $10M player for them and a $20M player for us due to that synergy. But that is no less speculative that saying that Donte’s Knicks year was an outlier.
Donte was a very big — and wildly underappreciated — reason Brunson was better that year. He provided a completely different kind of spacing than what Bridges provides by standing in the corner, and it was incredibly impactful for Brunson. It took one defender completely off the table for him in a way no other Knick has been able to do since.
jalen brunson 23-24 regular season plus playoff:
2090 mins with ddv on 41 pts/100 57.9% ts
1150 mins with ddv off 40 pts/100 60.0% ts
hmm…
let’s not trade Deuce for Donte any more.
Can you satisfy my curiosity and do this with iHart, too?
One thing I learned that when Leon makes a trade no one sees it coming. If people are talking about it, then its a clickbait type rumor and a non-event or the tires were kicked and both parties moved on.
I mean, Minny is definitely shopping for a point guard. Donte kind of had the job but then they made Antman the de facto PG a few weeks ago. I think they would like to get one of the malcontent PGs (Tre/Lamelo/Ja) but need to keep all of their big contracts. So they’re probably looking for cheaper alternatives and of course they would dangle Donte in that scenario. So I’m guessing the Knicks are somewhat interested, but it’s something that likely could never happen.
Yeah, we often know which guys Leon covets in trades (OG, KAT, Mikal), but the trades themselves tend to come when no one is expecting them to — or, in all of these cases, when everyone is convinced they won’t happen at all, for various reasons (animus between the Knicks and Toronto/Brooklyn, the Wolves finally seeming to click with the KAT/Rudy lineup).
“One thing I learned that when Leon makes a trade no one sees it coming.”
Well, this is true about timing, but all of the players involved in the recent big trades were widely discussed as Leon’s trade targets before they were acquired…OG, Mikal, and KAT. The “no one sees it coming” part has been more about preconceptions about either the price or the strained relationship between the teams, e.g. the lawsuit with Toronto.
(In other words, what Alan said!)
With respect to Mitch, Knicks need him to get though the eastern conference. The risk of loosing a series to Detroit or Cleveland or even Orlando goes up materially without Mitch.
He was a major reason we got through Boston last year. Mitch’s value is predominatly in the postseason because though physicality he can singlehadedly dominate a series by breaking wills and taking souls.
We all wanted and hope for Leon to trade for OG and Mikal becuase they were stuck in situations where we all knew they will be moved at some point. It’s different as to leon making his trade targets known to the whole league argument.
KAT was never even a series target of Leon with DDV included until we went into trainig camp with a injured Randle as our starting center or Jericho Simms after Leon traded 5 picks on an all in move for Mikal.
That summer every starting level center price was inflated. In other words, KAT trade was a necessity because Sam effing Presti barely gave iHart just enough money to get him to move.
As mentioned previously, the Knicks will have a very packed schedule after the IST, and even worse if they win today and have to stick around in Vegas until Tuesday. Starting this Thursday, they will have 21 games in 35 days, kicking off with a B2B with travel and with two other B2Bs and only once having two nights between games. After what should be an easy game vs. IND, we play a suddenly pretty healthy PHI, them MIA, @MIN, and CLE on Christmas day, then a tough stretch that includes ATL twice, @SAS, PHI, @DET, then a west coast trip. By the end of that stretch, we will know a lot more about this team by then, especially Mike Brown, Mitch, Clarkson, Yabu, Kolek, Huk, and additionally, Shamet’s injury status. There should still be enough time before the trade deadline to address any concerns that are revealed during that stretch.
Can you satisfy my curiosity and do this with iHart, too?
slightly better with ihart on but nothing interesting
Zed’s dead. RIP.
good one, clarence.
Also great as Redfoot.
Thanks, chatgptmilo 😉
Those stats make me optimistic. I’ve found myself wondering if we’ll ever get mega-Brunson back lately. Good to know at least it’s not tied to anyone who’s gone.
What re the chances of a good, well played game when 30 millionaire , 20 something year olds have had 3 days in Vegas on a Saturday at 2:30 pm local time after Friday night on the town?
Anyone like the under with these circumstances?
Despite what the data says on the pairing, I’d still rather have Brunson paired with DDV strictly from an offense point of view. I think a better case can be made for pairing Brunson with Deuce for defensive purposes or even all around.
IMO when something makes sense from a basketball point of view and the data supports it, you can be fairly confident you are right.
When something makes sense from a basketball point of view but the data doesn’t support it (or in this case conflicts with it), it’s hard to be sure if your basketball insight is wrong/overlooking something, there is noise in the data or something totally unrelated is contributing to the data (a 3rd or 4th person). You have to dig deeply to figure out what’s going on.
It just hard for me to imagine DDV’s presence on the court ever being a negative for Brunson’s scoring efficiency.
I like that the Knicks are older and presumably more mature than the other teams in Vegas.