News & Blogs
A Young’n who’s Gun’n – Posting & Toasting
As the Knicks get healthier, Mike Brown looks to shorten the rotation – Posting & Toasting
Knicks begin West Coast road trip with 112-107 loss to Suns – SNY
Knicks need to find a way to get Karl-Anthony Towns going – Newsday
Miles McBride’s impact on Knicks’ starting lineup on full display in win over Clippers – SNY
Submit a question for James Edwards’ Knicks trade deadline mailbag – The New York Times
Knicks at Kings Preview w/ Brenden Nunes | PREGAME POD | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
The Putback with Ian Begley: Knicks-Blazers reaction with Mill Media – Begley Putback
Mitch is the Rebound King | Deuce Heating Up | What Happened to Kolek? | Fanchise Forecast – Knicks Fan TV
Pod Strickland Episode 559: Hart Recovery – The Strickland
YT News
73 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.01.14)”
Good podcast convo between Macri and Stefan Bondy. Bondy’s coverage tends to be more skeptical than some of the other beat writers, but he came across as objective and insightful on the pod. Big takeaway is that he also thinks there’s a chemistry issue with KAT. Macri noted that Thibs, for good and for ill, tended to give his star players much more latitude than the role players. Bondy said that KAT has by far been the player most likely to say good things about Thibs, often unprompted. Only furthers the idea that he and Brown are oil and water so far. Not ideal.
Last night I was watching OKC scuffle a little with the Spurs and I was thinking that maybe they’re not all that invincible.
Then they turned it up to 11 and ran the Spurs off the court in what seemed like a minute.
When J-Dub is on his game and the rest of the team locks in they really are almost impossible to beat. Oh and fun fact SGA has scored 20+ points in 111 straight games.
trying to figure out if that is more or less impressive than lbjs 1297 straight games of double figures over 19 years or wilts streak of four consecutive games with 60+
“SGA has scored 20+ points in 111 straight games”
helps when the refs give you around 9FTAs per game…
Wonder what folks think about Giannis reaction to boos in Milwakee last night. Is he thick skinned and stoic enough for NYC?
why in g-ds name would they be booing giannis’ in milwakee? he got them a chip!
During all this angst about KAT, it’s funny to think that he’ll still probably make the East all-star team.
The East is weak af compared to the West.
oh they werent booing giannis’ they were booing the team as a whole it was probably deserved
Giannis said it was the first time in his life that he was booed at home and he booed back at the fans. Said its what he does and will boo fans back again if they boo him.
Just saying…Thansk to Doc Rivers things are deteriorating in Milwakee faster than in Tehran and character is being revelead as a result. Forget team and value, is he personally a right fit for NYC?
Nicolo Machivelli had nothing on LeBron.
Fun Macri newsletter by a guest, Jeremias Engelmann, a former analyst for the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns and the developer of ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus. Basically says that there is a lot of statistical evidence that Deuce is the most valuable Knick for winning, and even if that’s an artifact of numbers, he’s still hugely valuable.
In the annals of trades that will never happen, how desperate are the Lakers for a C?
Lebron for KAT works.
Trade Dadiet & a 2nd for Bagley.
* Lebron is redundant
* Ayton is charitably described as “meh”
* How disgruntled is KAT getting?
Brunson/Mikal/OG/LeBron/Bagley
Mitch can get majority of C minutes off the bench.
I completely fail to see why Memphis would do that trade. They already have a score first no defense guard in Ja and they are trying to trade him.
trading kat for lebron when the latter is on the verge of retirement would be almost unfathomably stupid
2yr & Time Decay RAPM concur.
Maybe worthy of note, Brunson’s 2yr DRAPM is -3.4 making him a net negative player. 2yr ORAPM dipped below at “only” 2.6. previously around 4.0.
2yr is listed for this year. So likely only 1.5 years, which makes it very volatile.
Bunch of stats collected here. Thanks once again to ptmilo for linking the site last year.
I have considered KAT for Lebron but, IMO, Lebron is now officially “washed” and it would be a move made for the express purpose of getting out from under KAT’s contract and we would basically be punting our shot at a finals appearance this season.
Now maybe that would be worth it. Detroit has come out so strong and with Boston emerging, maybe our chances at the finals this year aren’t as good as we thought they were. Getting out from KAT and Lebron’s expiring contract would allow us to get some free agents this summer, so maybe it would be worth it. But I don’t know…
Almost absolutely. But I could see it happening.
If ever there was a time that Dolan might step in…
I think this board is seriously overrating JJJ simply because he is willing to shoot threes and has been known to block shots.
His eFG is an RJ-ish .537 (the old RJ, not the new efficient RJ). His block%, while strong many years ago, is now similar to Precious’ in his first NYK season. And .361 from three, while not awful, isn’t really a worthwhile flex.
Memphis would be lucky to get Reaves for him, and while he’s a “nice” piece, he’s not worth what we would have to give up to get him IMO.
LeBron can act as a backup PG when Jalen sits and let Jalen play off-ball in the starting unit.
LBJ should be able to run the Sabonis offense more effectively than anyone on our roster.
He might be worse on defense than KAT at this point but allows us to play a defensive C and will actually know the defensive scheme we’re running.
I assume he’s still a better creator than KAT.
The idea of JJJ is a lot better than the actual JJJ.
The AIOs say JJJ is about break even at best. OBPM is at a -1.5 this season.
More TOs than assists. Amazingly few ORebs for an athlete like him.
At the end of the day, if we’re trading KAT we’re not getting commensurate value. AD would’ve been the best shot, but he’s injured now.
41yr old LBJ for KAT is crazy one year all in move. Only way I trade KAT is for Giannis.
I can’t believe we are talking about Lebron for KAT. Let me go back to work.
This all sounds like clickbait.
Yeah, this place has gone Krazy Kat, if I may.
Edwards, who I don’t always feel kindly towards, has a column on trades in The Athletic that clearly (to me) highlight that there’s NOTHING out there that will actually improve the team; any moves available given our ability to make trades are stupid, pointless, or damaging, and often likely a combination of those traits.
Stay pat and let’s ride our horses.
A lot of people get confused on this issue.
The player that’s the most valuable to a team winning is not necessarily the “best” player. It means given the makeup of the team and various possible player combinations, there’s one guy that’s fairly critical to many of those combinations because he’s the only one with the required set of skills.
OG, Mikal, Hart and Deuce are arguably the only good two-way players on the Knicks.
There is a weakness with POA/P&R defense against certain Gs unless Deuce is playing.
Deuce’s POA/P&R defense (to go along with efficient offense and good spacing) is very imprtant which is why stats will show he’s so valuable to the Knicks winning (on/off etc..). However, on another team he would probably be less important even though still a very good two way player.
I’ve been talking about having a backup PG that can defend a bit since before the season started. Kolek has been better than feared on defense and pretty good on offense, but I would not hate the idea of bringing in another defensive minded PG.
JJJ is a very good player and might fit next to Towns, but with him at C and OG at PF we might lead the legaue in allowing the other team to get OREBs.
It was mostly meant that way
I don’t hate Yabu for Alvarado or Dadiet for Bagley. It’s not thrilling but gives us more optionality and depth. Same way Delon wasn’t thrilling last season.
Bagley gives us some insurance for Mitch without resorting to Huk who tanks the offense.
Alvarado gives us another ballhandler and PoA defender. We need both.
I think you’d need to play JJJ next to Mitch.
You could probably get Hart/Yabu/JJJ to work as a rebounding 2nd unit, assuming Yabu can show some semblance of NBA skillsets.
Fair enough, EB. I’d trade Yabu for a sack of potatoes, as they’re roughly equivalent in both shape and on-court efficiency. And Bagley as a ‘break glass’ option isn’t a bad idea, although getting him any playing time assuming Mitch doesn’t get hurt will be tough.
I honestly don’t see a player on the market I’d give up the WAS seconds for, and that says more about the market than the value of the picks.
Alvarado, Bagley, and similarly gettable players would certainly have their niche utility here and there, but I don’t think they improve our championship odds in the slightest. For the most part we’re hoping they get zero non-garbage time minutes in the playoffs.
I’m all for trying to upgrade on the margins if all it costs are some other seconds and/or Dadiet, but if the WAS picks are involved I’d rather say some prayers for Yabu moving forward and call it a day. With NIL keeping a lot of upper classmen in the NCAA mix it feels like drafts are getting a bit deeper, and it’s quite possible we could address some marginal needs with two early 2nds better than we can on the trade market.
Co-signing the recommendation of the KFS newsletter on Deuce, a lot of great clips and compelling stats. I don’t think he’s our best player, but EPM ranks him 4th and I find that eminently plausible.
There are a lot of mouths to feed and Deuce’s size does come with limitations, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Brown up his minutes a tick. Might as well see if he can remain a “play better” cheat code for 30+ minutes.
I do wonder if we would’ve traded so much for Mikal if we knew we had a smaller-but-arguably-better Mikal at home…
I’ll repeat my idea from a few days ago: they should explore the Brunson-Deuce-Hart-OG-KAT lineup.
I mean, they should try the original lineup with Mikal instead of Hart, as they haven’t fully rolled it out as I expected, but perhaps Hart does play the energy bunny role that is missing in the starting unit, and he definitely brings more aggression, physicality, rebounding, and passing.
We have a number of non-WAS 2nds as well. Those are just the most valuable draft asset we can trade.
This is the problem in a nutshell: the idea that KAT is a star and that OG & Mikal are role players.
Thibs was wrong to reinforce this, and it was probably a huge reason he lost the locker room. You give prime Derrick Rose that treatment bc he brought his A game every fucking night. KAT does it once out of every 4 games. He needs to be bailed out as often as he comes through. And
Mike Brown’s approach is democratic, which is clearly what the locker room and the front office want. KAT isn’t the star of the Knicks, he’s one of the four musketeers. This is a KG-Pierce-Allen-Rondo situation, not a Kobe & Pau
Alvarado is good enough to end up in the rotation over Clarkson and Kolek.
Bagley gives us an option when teams go to Hack-a-Mitch or if we want to go double big for longer than Mitch can run.
Deuce is still way too limited off the dribble. He’ll have his flashes where he’ll drive all the way to the hoop for a layup and I’ll be like damn where did that come from but for the most part he’s strictly a catch and shoot player.
I still love Deuce and hope he eventually gets a long term contract to stay but offensively to me he’s even more limited than OG.
1. Nothing wrong — and a lot right — with fun.
2. The flip-side analogue of The Basketball Iliad is the archetype who doesn’t really know much about basketball, but because basketball data happens to be available (it wasn’t always) just churns out some data analysis, often wrong.
Since they’ve eschewed fun for data, writings that misstate or misinterpret data are left with no safety net of appeal, but instead only a residual rump of tedium and pedantry.
That was the platonic ideal of a Stratomatic post. It’s like AI wrote it.
And of course, I love you Strat. But just classic, vintage stuff.
I have no problem saying that Deuce sometimes seems like the best player on the team. Especially when he is hitting 44% from three.
Is he actually? Well, no.
We are a team without a transcendent two-way talent but many good players. I do think Deuce might be the best two-way player on the team.
Your Honor, the defense rests.
For the record I don’t want to trade KAT unless he becomes a cancer (unlikely), but I do like playing with the trade machine, if only because finding one that works is so hard now it’s like solving Rubik’s cube. And I’m pretty proud of this one:
Clippers get:
KAT
Yabusele
Knicks get:
Michael Porter Jr
Ivica Zubac
Nets get:
Collins
Bogdanovic
Washington pick (from Knicks)
Unprotected first (from Clippers, either 2027 or 2029)
Sunday Night Baseball with Joe Morgan … or 1,500 words on how the “data shows” that Deuce McBride is the best player on the Knicks.
You make the call.
Well now that the cats out of the bag we can expect the entire nba to prioritizeze deuce over Brunson in their defense. Hopefully Brunson can handle operating with less pressure on him.
We shut down Deuce! Brunson score 50 and we lost by 20, but still!
I guess the Clippers should give us a pick, too, in that deal.
For them it’s Zubac & two firsts for KAT & Yabu.
For us it’s KAT & Yabu for Porter, Zubac, and a 1st.
And Brooklyn gets another unprotected 1st for Porter Jr (they got one from Denver to take his salary).
not sure what any of this really means, but I like the way it sounds…
dont love porter jr (very little defense) but since i would almost trade kat and yabu for zubac sure what the hell
alternatively just trade kat for zubac keep yabu and see if he can do better on the floor with zub than he does with kat
That’s an interesting idea I had not considered because I always assume Deuce for Hart instead of Deuce for Mikal. I don’t see why they can’t take a good look at it.
and yet they wont pretty certain that bridges is locked into his starting spot
Love you too.
I saw some comments elsewhere about Deuce being the “best” player on the team that referenced his current and long term on/off as evidence. I love looking on/off complimented by some lineup analysis etc… So my point was sort of, his on/off is spectacular in part because his damn good no matter how you slice it, but also because he’s particularly important on this team in a lot of lineups. But part of that important is his role and not pure “how good is he”.
@Shwinnypooh
“Last 3 years, including playoffs, the Brunson/Deuce/Hart trio’s been lights out.
Idk if there’s a universal answer to what the Knicks’ best 5-man lineup is. That may just be opponent/matchup specific on any given night. I do believe this trio is likely part of it, more than not”.
https://x.com/shwinnypooh/status/2011491048627798508
was hoping to click and see some cool 100 acre wood stuff…oh well…
E’s point isn’t wholly lost on me. I would certainly prefer that Englemann frame this as “my proprietary metric that contains inputs from both adjusted plus-minus and box score numbers ranks Deuce McBride #1 on the Knicks” as opposed to “my metric says Deuce McBride is the best player on the Knicks.” The former is still an interesting, worthy-of-writing-about development, but is a different thing than the latter.
I’d be very, very happy if we could get either guy without giving up the WAS pick(s), but I wouldn’t love it if they were involved because I think those picks can land you players of roughly their quality or better without having to hit a home run. They’re also good enough to be a bit more than a throw-in in a potential future, larger trade.
deuce looks like a jack in the box popping out to shoot…
honestly, during kolek’s emergence and deuce missing time, I may have, might have, possibly briefly thought deuce was expendable…
hold hold hold, and pay the man his 💰
I honestly don’t see a player on the market I’d give up the WAS seconds for, and that says more about the market than the value of the picks.
not sure where the ask shakes out but i would do it for sharpe, who has been mentioned at times. he’s not going to fill the yabu 5 out dream, but he’s a far better pairing with kat, a much more palatable backup plan if mitch goes does and his team option next year would be valuable for a team in our position.
I guess Dante Moore doesn’t want to play for the JETS.
yep ive been pining for dayron for a while now unfortunately the nets wont trade with us because of the crosstown rivalry oh wait
or he just got the good and true advice that hes not yet ready to come out bob
Oh, yeah, I’d do it for Sharpe. I even have a history of Sharpe boosterism here (floated him as an iHart replacement a few times)!
I assume the Nets need to be blown out of the water to trade with us, but who knows?
deuce looks like a jack in the box popping out to shoot…
it kinda gives sledge bro
https://youtu.be/Z36p8tVM_ps?si=DzsT7dWWsqFg1QJG
50 million for the #2 draft slot. William of Ockham would like a word with you 🙂
eye test alone, he looks to be around 40″ in the air these days…
record is 48″…
I still like Trebuchet for Deuce, but acknowledge his form improved a bit to where he gets loft from his legs and doesn’t bring the ball quite as far back. Which also may be why it goes in more.
what kills me is when he’s running around like crazy all over the court – then suddenly stops and jumps near three and a half feet in the air…
he’s seems to be getting more comfortable with his mid-range shot too…
glad we’ve hung on to both mitch and deuce…
hopefully at least for the next season or so we somehow figure how to improve the team while we add, not subtract, draft choices…
important to successful roster creation…cheap(er) talent…
Not to knock Deuce but he’s usually deployed optimally in the way only a bench player can be. Give him 35 mpg and the combination of not always playing with another primary ball handler and having to guard primary ball handlers who are large wings will deplete his +/- rapidly.
It’s like if we only played KAT when other teams didn’t have tough wings who could guard him.
…and if we put a donkey in the middle of the ocean he’d probably drown.
And anyway, the last three games Deuce has played 33, 39, and 35 minutes. So whatever.
definitely did not realize that deuces minutes had risen that much very recently
@esidery
The Raptors are willing to offer RJ Barrett alongside Immanuel Quickley or Jakob Poeltl in a trade for Anthony Davis, per @TheSteinLine.
Even with Davis being sidelined until March, Toronto is still holding exploratory trade discussions with the Mavericks.
that would be almost as stupid as kat for lebron i hope they do it
Not sure what is crazier, that deal or the fact I haven’t had cell service for nine hours…
My Verizon has been working all day. What cell carrier do you have?
I don’t recommend coming down with food poisoning while on an airplane.
I think the only trade that could make a meaningful difference is Yabu/Dadier for Sochan. A very flawed player, but good defender and has enough rudimentary tools that we could benefit from ten minutes a game. Not so much the case for Yabu.
Plus, we need someone to knock Bane on his ass in the playoffs, and Jeremy could be that guy …
Aisle seat, baby, aisle seat…
I actually don’t want to see that AD trade happen, as it makes Dallas better in my opinion, and they haven’t come anywhere near suffering enough for the Doncic trade…