Basically everyone on the team except Deuce and OG sucks at stopping players from getting into the lane. And KAT compounds the problem because he sucks at making decisions when opposing players get into the lane.

It’s our weakness, and it will get exposed at times, especially when the team is exhausted. The key is a healthy Mitch. If we get 18-20 mpg with Deuce, OG, Mitch and the offense kicks ass around it, we can win around this problem.

It’s really quite simple, teams are never as good as they look when they’re dominating, nor are they as bad as they look when they’re losing games.

The Knicks probably had a few recent “lucky” wins recently, games that they easily could have lost, and they then had the Spurs loss that they could have easily won.

Shit happens, it all evens out. I think the Knicks will still likely be the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Seeing the Celtics curbstomp the Clippers was certainly something, though.

i would put mitch along with og and deuce as good players at stopping opposing players at getting into the lane id like to think that we are going to get the #1 seed also but the fact is that we are only one-half game away from sinking to #2 behind boston that would hurt a lot seems shamet is closer to returning than i thought he could help with our shooting 3s but not much with defending against them champagnie went off again last nite after an off nite but still not like he did against us hoping for good things by the bills (vs nyj) and jags (vs ten) offenses today

Celts have 12 Ls, and we’re tied, we’re only ahead because we have one more game (23-12 versus 22-12). WITHOUT TATUM!?
Sixers are not far behind (19-14), if they keep winning they can be a problem.
I don’t believe in the Raps, maybe they’re at a point where we were with the first Randle team to make the playoffs (2021), not a bad point to be but still not real competition for us, i hope.
And there’s more margin of error to the Cavs and the Magic.
All this to say, we gotta get back to winning games ASAP, and the games won’t be easy, we’ll be in Detroit monday, host the Clippers wednesday and then we’ll go on a trip out west (Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento and San Francisco).

We have 7 players who are indespindible: Brunson, KAT, OG, Mikal, Hart, Deuce and Mitch.

Then we have Clarkson, Shamet, Kolek, Diawara, McCullar, and Huk. From that group we have some vets who can get you points on a random night and some young players who are improving and can be decent but probably won’t be relied on in the playoffs.

The problem with the core 7 is that Mitch, even healthy, can max give you 25 minutes a night. So it’s really 6.5 players

We need one more guy. Yabu was supposed to be that guy but isn’t. So we need to trade him and Dadiet. We can sacrifice Dadiet bc Kolek, Diawara, McCullar and Huk are all showing something as young players who might one day become regular rotation pieces.

So package those two and throw in a second round pick if you list to get a real upgrade for one more bench piece. Preferably a 4/5 (but a 4/3 could work too) who is a plus defender. If they have some offense to their game too, cool, but that should not be the priority as we need another regular rotation pieces who is a plus defender.

I do believe team defense has a tipping point where if we added one more good defensive player to the rotation it might really help us.

Josh isn’t a good defender, per say, but he is our glue guy and does things no one else on this team really does. So not surprised we’re struggling without him.

Kris Pursiainen
@krispursiainen

Mike Brown’s press conferences over the last 24 hours:

– thinks the Knicks struggle with physicality
– thinks their point-of-attack defense needs to improve
– thinks Deuce McBride helps with physicality
– thinks Deuce McBride is an excellent POA defender

I have an idea.

I still think about how, at times, I felt Deuce was the best player on our team in the playoffs last year.

We have a lot of good players but no one without flaws. Still, it’s a good team Leon has put together.

Got to watch the first quarter and then was sucked into an inlaw pizza party Seahawks watchfest, which went much better than this game, clearly.

Looking at the box score, it looks like only Deuce and to some extent Cap gave a damn (FYI, Deuce did play 31 minutes…). All of the kids got only a couple of minutes (outside of 13.5 for Kolek, who looks like he might have done okay), with an inexplicable 19 for Clarkson, who looks like he did nothing with his time.

Brown needs to find a way to patch up this leaky defense pronto.

i also think at this point that kolek is also indespindible brunson and deuce do not play point guard in the true sense per say and so we need someone who does and thats kolek

Outside of our top 7, I’d probably put Kolek as our 8th most important player.

Once Shamet returns. Clarkson will become less necessary. I’d almost be ok with including Clarkson with Yabu and Dadiet to get one really good additional bench piece.

Our biggest issue is a lack of elite athleticism, length, and team speed. Hart’s absence hurts in that regard but he has flaws as well
Brunson: short, slow, ground-bound. Maxey ran rings around him
KAT: lumbering, lethargic
Mikal: weak, avoids contact
OG: stumbles and bumbles in traffic
Deuce: short
Hart: short
Mitch: load-managed
Clarkson: weak, old, dumb
Kolek: short, physically limited
Yabu: fat, slow
The rest: raw, not ready for prime time

Each one of the three teams we lost to seemed more athletic than us. When the shots are falling, we can overcome that, but when they aren’t, we just can’t keep up and eventually the defense breaks down.

That’s funny cuz it’s true…

or something less than funny

The Philly loss bothered me more than the Atlanta loss even tho it was a back to back. Against the Hawks we couldn’t hit a shot to save our lives and were missing KAT. Those games happen sometimes

Philly just shit all over us, getting anything they wanted and kicking our ass at both ends. They had all the fire and desire as Clyde would say.

We look like a tired team, but that’s no excuse for getting your ass kicked twice in a row at home.

3 losses in a row, and Monday won’t be such an easy match up either…hopefully our starters are resting well today…

the g-men are totally wining this game today against the cowboys, aren’t they?

The Giants are going to lose valuable draft position due to the Gunner Olszewski game.

Maurice N’Dour redux…

Diawara seems pretty long and athletic, and Brown is clearly hopeful about that. But yes, none of our top players really have outlier athleticism AND measurables.

What about Moussa Diabate on the Hornets? His defense ranks pretty high, although I wonder if his excellent rebounding is a big part of that… he can play either the 4 or 5, but I assume he’s not a shooter.

Looking at the box score, it looks like only Deuce and to some extent Cap gave a damn (FYI, Deuce did play 31 minutes…). All of the kids got only a couple of minutes (outside of 13.5 for Kolek, who looks like he might have done okay), with an inexplicable 19 for Clarkson, who looks like he did nothing with his time.

Yeah, that was pretty much it. I wouldn’t say OG didn’t give a damn, just is less effective when he throws extra passes into traffic and can’t hit threes. The encouraging moments were Deuce playing at the level of the Sixers, Kolek showing he’s at least a cromulent backup point, and … well, I guess Brunson having an Ok but definitely not good game.

In the second half KAT was better, too. Since he’s coming off illness, maybe that was a factor… But he’s consistently inconsistent, so probably not.

Expert tanking by Dallas. Dak is passing with impugnity so on first down on the Giant 11… they run it twice and don’t kick the chip shot field goal.

They bench Dak in the second half. 🙂

The two biggest scum bag owners in the league Jones and Davis just laugh at the Mara clan.

its like one party trying to do everything right (giants) while the wrongdoer party (cowboys) just does whatever they want without impunity

And to think they only had to start Russell Wilson…..

Nothing that’s going on with this team right now is a surprise other than maybe how ineffective Yabu has been on offense overall (though a bit better the last month or so).

The problem is strictly defense.

We have 2 negative defenders in the starting lineup in Brunson and KAT and that’s an especially bad positional combo to be weak at.

Mitch can cover for a lot of things when he’s the C and playing at 100%, but he’s on load management, missing games and his energy level has not been very consistent night to night. The combination with Towns is also not ideal.

Then we go to the bench where Yabu and Clarkson are negative defenders (with Clarkson arguably very negative) and Kolek is still suspect.

It shouldn’t have taken 35 games for the narrative to become “defense is an issue, POA defense is an issue, bench defense is an issue etc..”

This was all obvious before the season started.

We have the talent to be a top 1-5 offense and were hoping for the upper end of that range with Brown, but our defense is likely to be middle of the pack give or take. That combination is going to win a lot of games, but it’s not going to win a championship without a lot of luck.

The only issue what moves can we make to fix the problems .

If we start with Brunson being untouchable, then you have to look at Towns and ways to improve the defense off the bench. Those are things I’ve been throwing around for a long time.

https://x.com/sny_knicks/status/2007661901530993090 Bridges with the no one really cares right now

The two biggest scum bag owners in the league Jones and Davis just laugh at the Mara clan.

that is kind of funny…ugh, the new york football giants have become the worse of the worse…

thankfully there are different ways to do a thing…my understanding is that ownership isn’t like daniel synder evil, just blinded by arrogance and not particularly bright…

one day the worm will turn for the g-men…

actually the raiders are officially the worse of the worse

I think there’s malaise on both ends. The offense isn’t zooming around quite as much, it seems to have regressed to “Brunson Bail Us Out Ball”.

Maybe it’s not too surprising the effort is flagging in the middle of the season immediately after winning a “championship”. Nor is it surprising the team looks a little lackluster while Hart is out who is the hustle and, uh, heart of the team.

Even before the losing streak, the Knicks were definitely coasting and counting on their offense to bail them out alongside a spurt of defensive effort towards in 4th quarters.

I’m not too concerned if the team coasts for a bit, I’m more concerned that Detroit hasn’t flagged at all and Boston has surged ahead of us in SRS. The path to the finals isn’t looking like the layup it was a month ago.

I’m also not sure what Brown is doing with the rotation. It’s nice to see the kids play and a welcome change from the Thibs era, but it seems a little too scattered to let anyone on the bench get in a rhythm and flourish.

McCullar has seemingly passed Diawara on the depth chart… or maybe this is just a longer look at him and Brown will switch it up in a week. I think it would be a justified change, Diawara does a lot of great stuff but teams seem happy to ignore him on offense even with him shooting 40% from deep. It stops everyone else from being effective. McCullar does a lot of good things out there.

Maybe Brown is looking for more magic like he found with Kolek or maybe we’re putting out our wares and opening the bazaar for trade deadline business. At least one of the kids will have to head out alongside Yabu in a trade.

Breathing a major sigh of relief after that Giants win. The Raiders are hanging in there with a putrid KC Chiefs team and it’s a relief not having to keep refreshing Gameday to make sure Brock Bowers’ backup didn’t break off a 60 yard TD

Everyone is laughing at the Mara clan.

I hear one of the reasons Schoen will likely keep is job is that Chris Mara is the de facto GM but the Giants prefer not to publicize that.

I also saw a remarkable stat: the Giants have 8 wins in their last 40 games, and 4 of them have come in the final two weeks of the regular season where all they did was kill their draft position.

I dunno, when both teams are tanking, SOMEone has to win. It’s more bad luck than anything.

Why is it always the Giants who win?

The Giants lost 1300 points in trade value dropping from 1st to 5 th in the last 2 weeks. For the laymen, that is essentially the value of 3 mid second round picks, and with some of the teams desprate for a QB in the draft, likely a lot more.

Pretty fucking stupid for a team that needs a starting corner, 2 inside linebackers, a DT, a WR2 and a safety as well as depth everywhere. Those extra picks could have filled over half that void. But imbeciles gonna imbecile.

I likely will never listen to Bob Papa and Carl Banks again as they have been saying how important it was to win these games. Asshats.

At least the Jets will get the benefit of the Giants ineptness.

You ever got the lamb chops at Milos on WPB, Bob? Fucking good. The fish an all that are perfect but those chops are dope.

I dunno, when both teams are tanking, SOMEone has to win. It’s more bad luck than anything.

BS… LV intentionally IR’ ed their best player and he was kicking and screaming about it last week. Today Dallas benched Zak in the second half when they were moving the ball up and down the field. Do you think that Machivellian prick Jerry Jones wanted to see the Giants stay at one or two? Absolutely not.

Jets aren’t going to get Mendoza which seemed like what this season was trending towards. I don’t think either fan base is happy.

The Raiders of course end up winning the damn game as predicted. Thank God somebody else was worse at being bad.

worse of the worse

Oh great:

James Dolan is breaking his silence. The Knicks owner is scheduled to appear at 5:30 p.m. Monday on WFAN for the relaunch of Craig Carton’s show, the radio host announced. Dolan was last interviewed by a media member about the Knicks or Rangers in January 2023, when he also sat down with Carton on WFAN.

I don’t think we have anything to complain about Dolan recently. He hired a competent GM and let him do his job. But more than that, he is willing to spend money in ways not constrained by the salary cap to make the team better. First example, When the team needed a shooting coach, they could hire a good one. And Brown has a big staff and they tried to hire the best people for all those positions. They seem to have a good overseas scouting operation as evidenced by getting useful players out of Europe with late second round picks (Diawara and Hukporti), and I’m sure that also costs money that some teams are unwilling to spend. I know some don’t like his politics or his music, but to me those are irrelevant. I just want him to take good care of the Knicks. And also, he’s a charitable person who takes care of his employees and is not a racist. I think we could do much worse. Compare him to the Bulls owner, also the owner of a big market team. He is better.

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