News & Blogs
The Knicks’ best ball lately has been with Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench – The New York Times
Knicks’ improved defense key during three-game winning streak – SNY
Game Thread: Knicks vs. Kings, January 27, 2026 – Posting & Toasting
Knicks Notes: Jose Alvarado remains on NY’s radar, Mike Brown shakes up closing lineup – SNY
Knicks 103-87 Kings (Jan 27, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN
Knicks 103, Kings 87: Cap outduels Deebo for New York’s third straight W – Posting & Toasting
KNICKS at RAPTORS | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | January 28, 2026 – NBA
Knicks Aggressively After Giannis Before Trade Deadline – Knick of Time
GIANNIS TRADE SZN BEGINS! PLUS: How To Bet The RJ Barrett Game? | Weekly Wagers | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
Knicks News: Giannis Antetokounmpo Officially Requests A Trade | Will The Knicks Strike A Deal? – Knicks Fan TV
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175 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.01.29)”
Your NBA leader in Rebounds Per Game, Karl Anthony Towns:
https://www.espn.com/nba/stats
In hindsight, that loss to the Mavs was rife for panic. Full roster, free fall in the standings.
Happy Momentary Reprieve for KAT Day for those who celebrate.
https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/stats/2026/Averages/Qualified/points/All/desc/1/Regular_Season
RealGM still shows Joker as the league leader in rebounds per game. I don’t know what minimum games number is being used for either source, or if one or either of them is even using the correct number as the NBA (maybe we should look to see what NBA.com is using?). This used to be a lot easier in bygone days when all sources used the same minimum number of games throughout the season.
Edit: NBA.com uses the same numbers that ESPN is using, so we like that one better (plus it has our guy out front 🙂 ).
I mean technically the fact that he contributed nothing offensively and we looked great because he was a beast on the boards only furthers the argument that this team would be much better off shedding his gargantuan salary for multiple supporting pieces that complement the core better. But at least today we won’t talk about that because he actually gave a fuck last night.
Funnily enough, Huk had 22.5 reb per 36 compared to KAT’s 22.6 per 36. It’s almost like the opposing team just didn’t have a center.
Aaaaaaand…….we’re back to the #2 seed. OK, back to being tied for #2 with Boston (1-1 season series thus far, with two games remaining).
The only nominal (undersized) center for the Raps last night was Mamukelashvili, as someone stated last night. Not great. It’s too bad—I actually *like* Poeltl.
“Funnily enough, Huk had 22.5 reb per 36 compared to KAT’s 22.6 per 36. It’s almost like the opposing team just didn’t have a center.”
Yabu actually led us with 25.7 rebounds per 36 last night. 🙂 (24.27 – 23.03 over Huk if one uses seconds instead of just minutes.)
I appreciate that KAT got a lot of rebounds against a team with no real C but considering his supermax contract, not gonna get giddy about it. Just glad he could actually be on the court for crunch time for a change.
Wake me up when he puts up a highly efficient 40-20 game with more asts than tovs and no dumb fouls.
The most encouraging thing about last night was how we turned up the D and just blew them out of the water. During this 4-game win streak, we have had stretches where we looked like a championship-caliber team on both ends. Maybe the players-only meeting struck a nerve.
Knicks 2025, nice posting recently. Thanks.
I think if they ditched the starting lineup things would look much better all around. Even in the 3rd quarter yesterday, they were a net 0. It just doesn’t work.
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced?PerMode=Per36&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612752&dir=A&sort=NET_RATING
Lost in the shuffle was a very solid “glue guy” game from Josh Hart. On this night it was less about his rebounding and more about hitting 3’s, passing the ball, getting to the rim, and doing stuff that didn’t show up in the box score.
The starting lineup did seem stuck in the mud, especially in the first quarter. I’m fine with continuing with it, so long as they are not guaranteed to be the finishing lineup. In that sense, I think that during this streak, the message has been sent that unless your name is Jalen Brunson (at least for now) you will be benched down the stretch if you are not up to snuff and someone on the bench is outplaying you.
It was very nice to see good efforts from both Kolek and Yabu. It was probably more meaningful (as opposed to “noise”) for Kolek than it was for Yabu, but nice to see a good line (4 pts/5 rebs/2 stls in 7 minutes) for the latter all the same.
Good night, Rip Van Winkle.
Trade Yabu, Clarkson and Dadiet for a stretch 4/5 who is a plus defender and we good.
Couldn’t possibly agree with Swifty more. But who? I really like Luka Garza (the new Luke Kornet), but that seems super-unlikely.
You know what I’d like to see? Giannis and Steph playing together. That would be fun.
I don’t think there’s any reasonable way for the Knicks to get Giannis without making the roster so ill-fitting that it would be counterproductive. So I’m not really approaching that trade as a possibility. You can’t play Giannis, Mitch and Hart together, so it’s virtually impossible to figure out a trade that works out on the court (beyond the Knicks’ lack of assets).
Between KAT’s value taking a nosedive and the related issue of a Giannis trade likely being so gutting as to not be a clear improvement, I have a feeling the current squad plus a minor addition or two is here to stay through the end of the season.
The good news is if you take the current team and adjust the numbers as if KAT is having a typical season, things look pretty damn good. The bad news is KAT seems lightyears off from having a typical season.
Anyway, fun game last night, though perhaps not for anyone rooting for the team that traded away OG Anunoby.
This morning there’s a report saying KAT has been upset with the Knicks front office since the summer when the Giannis rumors started and his name was involved in trade talks.
If Milwaukee is trading Giannis, maybe we can get in on the fire sale and snag Bobby portis? He’s more a pure PF than center but he can defend and hit threes and this team could use a little crazy eyes.
Brunson/Kolek
Mikal/Deuce
Hart/Shamet
OG/Portis
KAT/Mitch
KAT should take it as a compliment!
Would love Portis back here. Wish we’d never let him out of the building; let’s see if we can rectify that.
I just hope Giannis moves to the Western Conference if not us. The Lakers would be brutal, but I could see it. Reeves is probably the best young and available piece they could get back.
Well, BBA, that is certainly understandable. But it isn’t an excuse for sub-par play. If he is so mentally soft that his poor hurt feelings can’t be put aside when he’s in the locker room or between the lines, fuck him and his bloated contract.
But beyond that, I can’t wait until next week when the deadline passes and we can put all the drama and excuses behind us. One thing that is for certain is that no matter what happens, we will have one of the best teams in the NBA (barring unforeseen bad luck) and will be primed for a playoff run. There are 4 games prior to the deadline, and 3 of them are at home. The game vs. DEN on the eve of the deadline is game 2 of a B2B but game 1 is vs. lowly WAS so no excuses.
Then right after the deadline we face Detroit and Boston on the road. One could say that those two games are a sneak preview of the playoffs, since rosters will be pretty much set (except for some guy named Tatum.)
I’m hearing more about Giannis to the Rockets, but have no idea who would be going to Milwaukee.
Marcus King did not look like I expected him to…
Good music though
Giannis to Houston makes a lot of sense if he’s good with it. They have the salaries, the young players, and the picks, and enough to be good after the trade in 2-3 upcoming years whether FVV and Adams are allowed to be included or not. If I were OKC and Denver, I’d be very concerned.
It’s really hard to get Portis without giving up core rotation pieces. I think it would require a combination of the younger guys plus Yabu and Clarkson. Not sure it’s worth the trouble.
A smorgasbord of Clarkson/Yabu/Dadiet/Jemison or Clarkson/Mikal/Jemison *should* be enough to pry away Portis, but probably wouldn’t be. Bucks would be able to play hardball on that one, and those are really the only guys I would be OK with going out the door right now. I have a feeling that I am not going to get my wish, and someone I like will be gone a week from now (a la DDV). Please don’t let it be Deuce.
I was going to go see Knicks@Wizards next Tuesday, but can’t get my car out from the 5x1x5 block of solid ice stopping my car from going anywhere anytime soon.
Fun factoid from last night. If we include Hart in Wingstop (do we include Hart in Wingstop?), they were 30-44 from the field (68%), including 10-19 from three (53%).
Yeah, Toronto’s 3-point defense was about as bad as ours had been in recent weeks.
I’m not sure Portis is a good defender anymore… or was ever anything but slightly below average. It just wasn’t a big to issue when he’s playing next to Giannis.
I noticed also OG is fifth in steals.
Good point, EBW. Portis is definitely not known for his defense. But he otherwise fits the archetype of what we need. Clearly KAT is the archetype of what we need, too, but it’s just not working out……..so getting Portis back in a trade that sent KAT away would probably be a big net win in the team chemistry column. Or hell, keep KAT, get rid of Mikal, and play 48 minutes of a KAT/Portis combo with the most minutes going to whoever is playing better. They’d probably rather have KAT than Mikal, but maybe we could fleece them depending on how desperate they’re feeling.
As great as the shooting was, I think it’s more notable that our defensive rating has been sub-100 in 3 of the last 4 games.
Are all 3 of those offenses garbage? Yes. Does that usually stop our defense from looking like shit?? No.
We’ve only held a team below a 100 offensive rating that one other time this season.
Knicks 2025, I think you have to factor in the cost of filling out the roster…if you have 3-4 players going out and only one coming in, you have to account for the minimum salaries needed to fill the remaining 2 roster spots. Not sure about this, so maybe someone else can confirm?
I never saw Marcus King live, but he’s got something special from hearing him sing and play in live segments. If I had the time and dedication to get really good on guitar he’d be among the first I’d watch for hours on end to steal all his best licks.
“if you have 3-4 players going out and only one coming in, you have to account for the minimum salaries needed to fill the remaining 2 roster spots. Not sure about this, so maybe someone else can confirm?”
Oh, yeah. I tend to be really bad at accounting for very important considerations such as those. Sorry.
Fun facts:
-We held BKN to 20 points or less in all 4 quarters, and 28 in the 2nd half
-We held PHI to 13 points in the 3rd, and 45 in the second half
-We held SAC to 26 or less in all 4 quarters, including 15 in the 4th and 36 in the second half
-We held TOR to 28 or less in all 4 quarters, including 19 in the 3rd and 41 in the 2nd half
Something is definitely cooking with our 2nd half defense (giving up an average of 37.5 points over these last 4). To shut down the likes of the Sixers and Raptors on the road like that is very impressive. That goes double for doing it in Toronto without Mitch and Deuce. Is anyone aware of any specific schematic changes that are responsible? Like, are we doing something different in defending 3’s, or in transition?
Some Incel Cunt Egotist pulled the emergency brake on the q and now gonn kiss my Amtrak. At least KAT seemed to move past the I don’t care if I’m embarrassing part of the tantrum.
Macri thinks that, if they go all in, it would involve the eventual team being: Brunson, Jrue, Hart, Giannis, Stretch 5 from the Giannis deal, with a bench of Mitch and whoever else they got in the Giannis trade (since the Knicks would be sending out more salary than Giannis and Jrue, so would need to take back some guys).
Is Brunson, Jrue, Hart, Giannis and a Stretch 5 be a good enough team to win a title? I think it would be…but then Jrue would be almost unplayable soon, right? So they would really need to win THIS season.
To play off of Z-Man’s question (which I can’t answer), the Knicks offense completely switched gears as well in this last game. In the first half the Raptors were all up in their grills, and we were stagnant and not moving around much so nothing was happening. Then in the second half we were scoring at will, like they were a high school team. I’m curious if anyone noted a schematic shift or anything else that could explain it.
Volatile chemistry probably contributed.
I don’t see how the Knicks send out Mikal, OG, Deuce and KAT in a trade for Giannis and Jrue. As good as Giannis is, he’s 31 and injury prone and about to sign a massive deal thru his age 37 season. And Jrue is already 35. At the very least there have to be several real actual rotation NBA players coming back alongside and so it’s hard to evaluate without knowing who. Timelord? Crazy Eyes? It’s also almost all our three point shooting for a guy who doesn’t shoot. Screams everything that didn’t work about the Melo trade. I mean I get that Giannis and JB is immediately one of the best duos in the league and Jrue might have one more year of being a legit third wheel, maybe? But isn’t this a the pre-apron era team holding approach that has more or less been debunked now?
Raven, one thing is for sure…having Landry Shamet back has really helped to galvanize our bench. I will continue to nearly puke every time he barrels through a screen on defense or sets one on offense (and what was he thinking on that attempted dunk in traffic?) but the dude is providing a major spark on both ends.
If Giannis is traded before the deadline, I can’t imagine we get him. I can live with him going to Houston or Golden State, or really any team out west. But if the effing Heat get him? Shoot me now
That’s insane to send out 3 starters AND our best bench player for Giannis. Very hard pass.
A Giannis Brunson 1 2 would be exciting.
It’s been my take that the team calibrates its effort and focus, in the second half of games based on the threat of losing the game. It does not always work ( see, eg recent Mavs game).This is obviously unscientific and unquantifiable but it explains performance, especially against shitty teams like Sacro. There is also elements of schematic adjustment as well. The Knicks just don’t seem to be a cruise from tip-off to garbage time type of team.
Gotta get Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, obviously.
I don’t think that Leon is going to cave to the point of giving up all of KAT, Mikal, OG, and Deuce. If he does, I’d be in need of medical assistance.
@JCMacriNBA
Kolek
“Averaging 7.8 assists / 36 minutes, with 5 consecutive dimes last night going to Mikal Bridges, whose hot streak directly coincided with Kolek’s entrance into the game.
Kolek & Bridges are +11.9 / 100 in 630 possessions this season per @cleantheglass. Take Clarkson off, and it jumps to +17.5 in 289 poss. w/ a 120.1 offensive rating”.
Raven, in the post game presser Mike Brown stated that they switched up the gameplan once he saw how Toronto was defending. He basically scrapped the original sets and told the guys to attack (the inner thigh – whatever that means) of anyone that was closing out to the 3 point line and start distributing.
I’d be against that.
We have 3 things preventing us from being a truly “great” team.
1. We don’t have a consistent legitimate backup PG unless Kolek grows into the job quickly.
2. Towns and Brunson are both negative defenders and an especially bad combination at PG and C.
3. Towns scores enough and is efficient enough “on average” to be considered a teriffic #2 option, but he’s a 7′ C that cannot create for himself in a variety of ways. He’s mostly dependent on kicksout 3s, trailing 3s, drives to the basket that sometimes end in offensive fouls or him on the floor and putbacks. He needs some help to be a more consistent scorer. IMO Brunson is NOT the kind of player he needs next to him to be consistent. Brunson is a score first guard that plays PG because he’s small, handles the ball and creates for himself at an elite level. He’s not making everyone else better. He’s making the offense better because of what he can do by himself.
Brunson and Towns are a bad fit.
Brunson isn’t going anywhere. So you either run with this team and try to work out the Towns/defensive issues as best as you can or you trade Towns. If you trade Towns you need someone that can defend, shoot the 3 and score enough to be #2 or at least a 2a/b/c with OG and Bridges.
Who you can trade for is partly dependent if you think you can move Mitch to starting C safely again and have a good backup for him.
IMO blowing everythng up for Giannis is not a good move, especially at this stage of the season. It makes more sense in the off season. That does not mean I’d be against all Giannis trades, but I’m not blowing up the whole team for a guy his age with his recent injury history.
So might Leon when Knicks fans hear the deal. 😉
Very much looking forward to more data points on Kolek. I was crowing that the offense totally turned around when he was in, with his heads-up pass-first laser focus. But it could have been a host of things (e.g., Z-Man’s Shamet point). More data please Mr. Brown!
Very much not looking forward to more Giannis trade talk. Ain’t happening, and if it does our team is wrecked, short and long term. And if he goes somewhere else, it probably also sucks for us in terms of improved competition.
I’m all for playing Kolek if he plays like he did last night.
I’m all for benching Kolek if he plays like he did for all the other games in January.
Bottom line: If he’s still on the roster past the deadline, he has to continue to make the most out of his opportunities, which will inevitably come up here and there, but he’s probably not going to be in the rotation unless somethng happens either to Brunson or to both Deuce and Shamet. He’s probably neck and neck with Clarkson on the pecking order.
Much like Jose Canseco maintained his 80s haircut all the way til his stint on the 2000 Yankees, Leon Rose is committed to stars-and-scrubs because that was in fashion when he got rich and famous.
Thanks Giggles, I heard that line from Brown (the inner thigh bit also struck me as weird). Thanks for the reminder.
“Take Clarkson off”
This.
What we really need to find is a second unit that can function offensively without Brunson on the floor. I love Deuce or course, and Shamet is quietly providing Donte-level production on a minimum contract:
per100poss:
Donte: 12.3 3PA, 38.1 3P%, eFG 55.8, 6.9 reb, 6.2 assists, 2.1 steals, TS 57.7 on usage 17.2
Shamet: 11.1 3PA, 42.6% 3P%, eFG 60.2, 4.6 reb, 3 assists, 1.4 steals, TS 63.4 on 15.7 usage.
Donte definitely has more playmaking chops but he makes like 5x what Shamet makes.
The question is — Kolek sort of lost his spot in the rotation when Shamet came back. Was that a good tradeoff? Shamet is more productive but I kinda think he is a little bit duplicative with Deuce – both guards that can guard 1-2, can’t really playmake at all, and have a quick and very good trigger from 3. And so you have these lineups out there now that have 3 guards, (Deuce+Shamet+Bridges) and zero PGs.
I think a good solution is the Kolek + Bridges + Towns 3 man group, with one of Shamet or Deuce, but not both.
Kolek + Bridges + Towns -> that 3 man group has played 155 possessions (small sample blah blah) and are a net +33.7 with a 100th percentile offense (130.3) and 100th percentile defense (96.6) — and this offensive output is WITHOUT any lineups with Brunson.
Blue Note doesn’t really take their jazz seriously anymore, but King took it seriously at the gig — he is insanely versatile. They played Papa Was a Rolling Stone in the first set and he did iazz chords and licks throughout; then they did it again in the second set and it was just this rollicking after-hours jam out. He’s a real renaissance man with that Gibson.
And Mood Swings, which is the best complete album I’ve discovered in a long time, isn’t really the “rock/blues” album it is marketed as but is an R&B album. It has very little featured guitar work on it at all, and is sublime. The guy is just really, really talented.
On a knicks note, that Bridges post-gamer did not sound sincere at all.
On another small sample note – that lineup we saw the other day with Brunson + the best 4 defenders (Mikal, OG, Deuce, Mitch) has played 56 possessions and is a +39.3 – 100th % offense (141.1), 99th% defense (101.7).
Let’s see more of this!
“Is Brunson, Jrue, Hart, Giannis and a Stretch 5 be a good enough team to win a title? I think it would be…but then Jrue would be almost unplayable soon, right? So they would really need to win THIS season.”
Yeah, don’t love it. Crazy risky.
On Macri’s podcast one of the superchats suggested that Bridges was basically talking about someone else, not himself…
Frank, please copy and paste that last paragraph into an email to Brown as soon as possible.
And that other note of yours.
Donnie I tried to send you something on the Discord app but of course you’re too cool to have joined our emergency meet up group.
I don’t care how bridges sounded (to me it was like either a family member or confidant gave him some feedback and he rolled with it) as long as he plays better…if he reverts back in the next few games…then it was bullshit..
Last night’s game by KAT disgusted me. It shows when he is in a good mood he is fully capable of playing well even when his offense isn’t clicking. The crash of the offensive boards with the over the shoulder blind pass was a thing of beauty which he is fully capable of, but doesn’t ever do because he isn’t the “star” or focal point. He will never be happy here. He is like a twat with a yeast infection, stinking up and infecting everyone around him. Eris must be his mother. He needs to go.
Milwaukee needs to trade Giannis for the biggest haul of picks they can find. The Nyets, GSW, Hou and others are likely places. They Nyets have 30….yes 30 picks under their control. However, the Bucks need to sell tickets for the next 5 years while they are reconstructing their team. They need an all star player. It will be hard to find a deal with a star player plus a boatload of picks.
The Bucks also have Turner for 3 more years at a high price who is a stretch 5 who is a poor rebounder who can shoot, but not create. Portis can shoot but is an awful defender.
I’d offer KAT for Turner, Portis and Rollins which would allow the Bucks to sell Giannis for the biggest cache of picks they can find and still have a star to sell tickets.
The best statement of the evening when he said, “We have to be more coachable” which I took as a message to his teammates as well as to himself.
Hate to say it but I called this mini winning streak when everyone was panicking…They got 2 more this week and then the Wizards to start the next week…7 game win streak on the eve of trade deadline.
Giannis has the entire league at a standstill. No one is doing any deals until he moves
I hope you’re right, Director. I feel like either the Blazers or Lakers will trip us up on our way to that 7-game win streak. Knowing us, it would more likely be the Blazers, who we would take more lightly but which is exactly the type of team—young, long, and athletic (Jrue excepted)—that tends to beat us on the regular. Caleb Love Game incoming.
You did call it Director but no one doubted you, either. I think we’re all confident this team can beat 7 terrible-to-middling teams in a row. That doesn’t mean people making harsh assessments of this team were panicking. In fact it’s more likely you’re overreacting to a meaningless sample than I was.
This team has played 129 regular season games and 18 playoff games. I’m indexing to the entirety, not 12 games in January.
Crazy eyes is 2nd in the entire NBA in 3FG% on 4 attempts. Has mean ferocius streak and only makes $13m.
I’ll gladly hand out that Washnington pick + Jimmy’s cash with Yabu, Clarkson, Huk and/or Daddier but a third team is needed because salaries don’t match.
If they don’t move Giannis, good chance they just sit him. Swaping picks with New Orleans is not an issue this season like it will be with Portland over the next few.
I was yesterday years old when I became aware that there is now a Blue Note in Hollywood. It makes sense because LA has pretty much become the jazz capital of the US. I’m not really much of a jazzer myself but a bunch of my friends and colleagues are adjacent to the Vulfpeck/Scary Pockets/Knower scene and there are always shows in that orbit happening around town. Kamasi and Thundercat and that whole crew are based out here as well.
Marcus is a very fine player of course, has the great tone to go with the licks and chops. I noticed he plays with three fingers in his fretting hand a lot of the time, which is also a habit of mine. He only goes for that pinky when he really needs it.
I hear you hubert…but we lost 9 out 11 to similar or worse teams prior to this. This was a normal 2-3 week slump in the winter for most contenders dealing with 3pt vairiance, fatigue, injuries, travel and playing hurt. It often leads immediately to better outcomes and it did.
Btw, Toronto in the 1st round is an easy gentlemans sweep. Wish we didn’t have KAT last night and instead let Huk dominate them. Could have flipped him to Toronto for 2 seconds easy next week.
Director, I don’t think we should conclude anything about Toronto being an easy gentleman’s sweep if we should happen to meet them. Especially since in our last two playoff runs, we had our hands full in the first round with Philly and Detroit and were aided by controversial calls and incredibly clutch shots. And although we have played well in stretches this season, we have also played down to the level of opponents or even below. I like our chances, but also feel like we are a couple of bad breaks away from a premature playoff exit, even at the hands of the Raptors. Now if we go on to beat both Boston and Detroit next week, maybe I’ll be a bit more confident.
It’d be hard enough to field a real lineup if they traded KAT, Mikal and Deuce for Giannis. If you’re sending OG too, forget about it.
I think that Brunson/Jrue/Hart/Giannis/Mitch team that is left out would not be significantly better than the 2024-25 Bucks, and you’re counting on a bunch of guys to be healthy just to field that lineup. Just stick to what we have.
I don’t see us winning the ECF without Giannis, and one might argue we may not even make it to that round. I personally believe that. On the other hand, we automatically become the conference favorites if we acquire Giannis. Now about the West. Giannis to Houston, means it becomes virtually impossible to beat the Rockets even if we make it to the NBA finals. Giannis to the Knicks makes the Knicks plausible favorites against Houston. Giannis to OKC means it becomes virtually impossible to beat OKC even if we make it to the NBA finals. Giannis to the Knicks makes the Knicks plausible favorites to beat OKC. And so on.
In other words, we can’t sit pat and say this does not affect us. The Knicks must make a trade for Giannis. The problem is to avoid the other extreme of gutting the team for the sake of Giannis. We don’t want the Melo trade allover again, we don’t want a Giannis-Brunson-plus scrubs team
Brunson-Jrue-Hart-Giannis-Mitch (for 25 min/night) does not make the Knicks conference favorites.
“The problem is to avoid the other extreme of gutting the team for the sake of Giannis. We don’t want the Melo trade allover again, we don’t want a Giannis-Brunson-plus scrubs team”
Therein lies the rub, as that is exactly what it might end up being. Also the Giannis injury issues are becoming much more frequent with each season.
The Knicks must find a way to do the trade while keeping at least Hart and OG next to Brunson. This is my view.
I’ll be stubborn and say that right now the Knicks are still the favorites to win the East.
I think that we need to be very worried about the fact that we might make that huge move and that there is then a very non-zero chance that we might not even have him for the playoffs, anyway!:
Giannis Antetokounmpo has missed games or played through significant injuries in at least three recent consecutive NBA postseasons (2022, 2023, 2024). He missed the entire six-game series in the 2024 playoffs due to a calf strain, a back issue in 2023, and played through knee issues in 2022. He also suffered a hyperextended knee in the 2021 playoffs.
2024: Missed all 6 games vs. Indiana (calf strain).
2023: Missed games 2 and 3 vs. Miami (back injury).
2022: Played through right knee soreness, which was managed throughout the playoffs.
2021: Suffered a knee injury in the Eastern Conference Finals but returned for the NBA Finals.
He is known for managing injuries during, or right before, several playoff runs in recent years.
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Or something like that.
There is a certain risk here, and we have to rely on our medical team. We trade for Giannis with a 2-3 year horizon in mind. If we get more years, we are lucky. But if we get one chip within those 2-3 years, that is historic for the franchise.
I would personally be fine if we trade for Giannis, without gutting down the team, and then shut him down for the season. This would give us the chance to improve the bench this summer and present a seriously contenting roster next season.
I’m interested to see how good Tatum looks.
To me, it is more about getting out from under the KAT albatross than anything else, whether we do it now or during the next offseason.
I think you can build around a Brunson-Bridges-OG core if KAT’s salary slot along with Mitch’s expiring can be turned into reasonable extensions for Mitch and Deuce and two solid rotation players….and take a more targeted approach to the draft with our two upcoming picks (our own plus the Wiz’s second that should be in the 31-33 range.
One thing that I’ve brought up several times in the past is that there is very likely going to be an expansion draft in the next couple of years, and that by itself might be enough to free up KAT’s salary slot by leaving him unprotected. Sure, it would be nice to get something back for him, but just the cap flexibility would be awesome.
Trading for Giannis then not having him play a game the rest of this season is certainly a plan.
Is it better if we plan to do it that way versus having it just happen to us?
We have the chance to be real contenders next season, not the fake ones, the wishful thinking ones we have been the past two years.
Man I’m glad you’re not in Leon Rose’s seat.
Look, Giannis, when healthy, is an extraordinary player. But there’s a real risk he won’t be healthy when it counts, and most of the suggested trades mean sending out so many good players that we still won’t be in a position to take out OKC (or whoever). This TEAM can overcome a few great players on any other team, when playing like a team. We’ve seen flashes, but even still, KAT hasn’t been part of it. What if he were? We should be, as BBA says, EC favorites. Without Giannis.
I would disagree as to who we are, Rama, but suppose you are correct and we are EC favorites. Would we then beat a Rockets + Giannis team? An OKC plus Giannis team?
We agree that we need to trade without gutting down the team, and that Leon Rose has a tough puzzle to solve and must justify the seven digit figures he gets paid each year (or at least rectify the catastrophic, in my view, Bridges trade).
We do have our pick this year.
Rough, you are kind of just shouting at the wind. On one hand you say that we must trade for giannis. On the other hand, you say:
Being that Milwaukee is not interested in doing us any favors, and that there are others suitors that can offer better packages than we can, and that Giannis now seems amenable to a number of teams, how do you possibly think that we can have our cake and eat it too?
Nothing that makes sense for us makes sense for Milwaukee. It would indeed be the Melo situation all over again, only possibly worse. Right now there is not a single player who, if he went down or declined in the next couple of years, we’d be somewhere between a lottery and play-in team with no future picks and an albatross contract on the books. Yet any feasable Giannis deal would make that a very real possibility. Ironically, it would be similar to what the Bucks did when they went all in for Dame.
Count me in on team BBA. Hard to go to the finals on your first rodeo…See Cleveland in 2025. Who may end up being ready thi stime around. Detroit is yet to get out of the first round. Tatum likely had a set back. Zero chance we loose to the likes of Toronto, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami etc…
This team is seriously flawed and this team is the favorite to go to the NBA finals. Both things are true and this sea saw of thinking provides turbulence with fans who over thing and over analyze things.
Nobody said it’s easy and straight forward, Z. This is the trickiness. Pull it off without destroying your team, otherwise, you lose no matter the outcome.
I don’t know exactly how this might be done; it might take Giannis to declare the Knicks as his preference, it might take Leon Rose to explore pathways the we never hear about, I don’t know. What I know is that if he doesn’t pull it off, we will most likely continue to be a good team, very good at best, but not a contender.
Unless something else suddenly happens next year. Maybe SGA will as out. Whatever.
No, but if he did go down to injury, and we happened to be in the Finals, we WOULD then have a chance. Since they wouldn’t have to gut their teams the way we would, it might still be difficult, but it wouldn’t be the joke of Brunson + randos that we’d be.
If the stretch 5 is Turner, then I’d strongly consider it. I don’t think Portis holds up on defense at this point, definitely not as a starter.
I’d manage Giannis almost as if he were Mitch during the regular season. Take the Ls, get a lower seed, but have a better shot at a healthy Giannis for the stretch run. So we’d need the depth to make that viable.
If we’re giving away that many high-level starters, are we keeping McCullar/Diawara/Huk/Kolek?
Don’t they know Mikal is worth five 1sts on his own?
Definitely make an offer that makes sense for us and then see if any other team beats it (which most assuredly will happen). For now, there is a lot of posturing about teams not wanting to bite, which to me makes sense for OKC and the Spurs, who won’t mess with what they have (they will be relevant for 10 years). But others, not so much. Houston must surely make an offer, right? Having Durant + Giannis might be their chance to beat OKC. GSW package seems better than ours out of the gate. It is tough.
Right. I said it repeatedly: we should not gut the team to get Giannis. At the same time, you don’t want to be in the miserable position to hope for an injury in order to have a chance to win while admitting you are done if Giannis is healthy.
Perhaps we should explore trading KAT for pieces. A reliable defensive center might be better suited for our team, and have with Mitch 48 minutes of good defense.
Perhaps we could poll the other teams for a deal, without making too much noise as if we are looking for partners for a Giannis deal.
There is zero trades the Knicks can make that won’t gut the team. The Bucks don’t have to trade Giannis here .
Houston is 29th in 3PAs, largely because they feature a lot of players that suck at shooting 3s.
If they get Giannis, you:
(1) Park Mitch under the rim
(2) Launch 3s on the other end, and
(3) Count on KAT/Hart/Mitch to corral the boards because Offensive Rebounding is the only above average part of their offense.
Shades of Strat’s “win the trades”
https://x.com/CPTheFanchise/status/2016758665169010991 Interesting post game “entitled “
Mitch/Giannis/Hart
Better grab every offensive rebound and score off every miss.. no spacing in the year 2026..
The voice of reason.
Nowhere near enough real NBA content to serve as substantive fodder for the day-to-day yakfest. It’s almost all noise. For the vast majority of teams, even the games are.
The Giannis/JB and a skeleton crew idea is ridiculous.
I don’t think it matters one iota what anyone thinks about our odds of making it to the finals at this point in time. Suffice it to say that our odds are as good as anyone’s, but that there is no prohibitive favorite. And even if we were favored by objective folks (I think we are very close with Boston and Detroit in the betting odds) one tweak of an ankle at the wrong time can throw all that out the window.
But just as importantly, we haven’t really had a defining stretch of games yet. We haven’t played OKC, HOU, or DEN, and we are 0-2 vs. PHX and 1-2 vs BOS and DET and lost all 4 in convincing fashion. This team has a lot to prove before I can say anything about their playoff prospects with any degree of confidence.
Let’s see how we do post-deadline vs. DET and BOS. If all three teams are essentially healthy, there shouldn’t be any excuses, including the ones about adapting to Brown’s system or annoying trade rumors.
https://x.com/duglust/status/2016912928729936320?s=20
Unless someone’s tickling someone’s balls under the table Giannis is not going to be a Knick. And if he is a Knick it’s not clear we will have a better shot to win it all, just maybe a better shot to come out of the East. Maybe. Which, I dunno, I still kinda like our chances relative to the competition. Right now, we’ve been hemmoraghing vibes and gumption which are essential elements in the luck game. We’re gonna have to hope to get lucky no matter what happens in Brunson’s window. KAT is certainly not playing up to his contract, maybe we can get lucky and find a couple of pieces that will.
I actually agree with BBA and Director that we’re still the best team in the East — if Mitch is healthy.
But I do not think that means we should do nothing about KAT. I don’t want to trade him because 12 games in January spooked me. I want to trade him bc on top of being a poor fit that compromises our defense, he’s a live grenade and I do not want to be holding it after Feb 5.
Rough, I think all of us are on board with a Giannis trade that makes sense, and most for one that pushes the envelope a bit. But you said the front office must make a trade for Giannis, and then contradicted yourself. Suffice it to say, we’re all on the same page in that regard. From there, we definitely are not all in agreement about what trade would make sense.
Generally, I’m on board with any trade that involves no more than 2 starters (obviously not Brunson.) In addition, whichever 2 starters go out has to be replaced by one starting-caliber player, and any bench player that goes out has to be replaced by a rotation-level player.
I just don’t see Milwaukee agreeing to that when they can do much better elsewhere. That’s why it would take Portland to give up some Milwaukee picks to make the deal work, and I don’t see that happening either. But if by chance something happens that works, sure we should go for it.
at what point does MB fully commit to kolek, huk, and mo…
who’s to say at this point if it’s definitively true – but it sure looks like tyler is a better fit for the other 4 starters on the floor than jalen…
so, how to incorporate this pass first, hit you perfectly in the hands on your way to whatever kind of shot you wanna take type player…
yeah man, tyler really can create, in a way no one else on the team can…
fairly rare to find a talent that can pass the ball smoothly and directly to another player’s hands, usually centered in the midsection…and do the other stuff on the court well enough…
makes shooting easier for everyone else…he did one of those underhand scoop passes to someone standing in the corner and it was a thing of beauty…
take a secret vote today from the other guys in the locker room – i want tyler passing me the ball…
Geo, joining BBA as the voices of reason!!
Repeating here that over the past two seasons, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks’ primary starters, have played 419 minutes without Jalen Brunson and have an offensive rating of 122.22. That would be the best in basketball for a full season. The net rating of that grouping is +6.04.(*)
Swap in JB for KAT, keep everything else the same and that team has a dreadful ORat of 112.69 and a net rating of minus-6.76.
It’s obviously never going to happen but if the choices were (1) trade KAT at depressed fire sale prices; or (2) trade JB and his great contract for full market value, if you’re smart, you’d pick the latter every day and twice on Sunday.
There are weird relationships and GM backgrounds in Knickland, which eliminate the possibility of pure basketball decisionmaking, but in real basketball terms, there’s no serious sense in which Jalen Brunson is remotely untradeable.
(*) Remember all the stuff from the players about Rick Brunson having “too much influence”? I sure do.
After the Knicks went 0-4 vs Boston last season then beat them in the playoffs which genuinely shocked me I’m done thinking the regular season head to head matters much come playoff time. Knicks won regular season series vs Miami in 2023 and Indiana past 2 seasons but unfortunately that didn’t matter come playoff time either.
1. Move Yabu + compensation for either an upgrade at PF or a backup PG
2. Play out the rest of the season as is
3. If it’s clear Towns/Brunson isn’t working or Towns flames out in the playoffs, trade Towns in the off season and retool. If Giannis is still available, see if a deal for him can be made.
I’m going to get out my Stratocaster, listen to some Marcus King blues and steal a lick or two.
E please stop. The last thing I am is the voice of reason around here but I’ve always stated that come playoff time I trust this team and don’t see another team in the East beating them 4 out of 7 in a playoff series. It’s mainly because of Brunson which goes totally against your idiotic takes about him yesterday.
Brunson’s going to be on the team, so that’s a given.
But if they trade KAT for spare parts, your statement becomes false overnight.
On a knicks note, that Bridges post-gamer did not sound sincere at all.
the anthropology smackdown we’ve been waiting for. ambiguously deadpan versus bluntly hype. donnie versus josh. who nailed the vibe?
https://x.com/joshhart/status/2016954497906413943?s=20
This site is more exciting, knowing at any moment it could collapse and we’ll all be left completely alone with our thoughts and opinions about the Knicks and Marcus King, for eternity. The discord back-up plan ruins the spontaneity of death.
Dominated the Hawks in ’21, too.
Which makes all this back and forth even more bickering about noise.
The most likely scenario by far is that they make a serviceable lowkey move at the deadline (Alvarado, Missi) and at that point if they roll into the playoffs healthy, they have as good a chance as anyone to come out of the East, regardless of seed.
The second most likely scenario is that they do nothing beyond the immaterial at the deadline. That doesn’t change the conclusion.
I’m assuming Mike Brown has at least replacement level ability to watch and adjust lineups, strategies, etc., during the playoffs.
There are no “grenades” on this team, and no real agendas. When the time comes to really play and win, there’s no reason to believe it won’t be all hands on deck — as it’s been every year they’ve been in the playoffs in the 2020s.
I don’t know. I do see the argument for trading KAT now for a good defensive center and parts and pieces. If you do that, you’re basically recreating the 2024 January Knicks except Mikal is Randle and Shamet is DDV and Mitch is iHart.
The 2024 Knicks did not have Mitch but Mitch now is less reliable than iHart. So you then get another center and you recreate the Mitch/iHart center duo that dominated the boards against Cleveland in the playoffs.
Randle is more of a bruiser and Mikal more of a finesse player. Shamet is probably not as good as DDV on the whole but maybe a better shooter and you potentially make up for it with Deuce now being better than Deuce in 2024.
The arguments for keeping KAT are 1) despite the down season he is still an elite offensive weapon and we might need that in the playoffs and 2) because of his all-star pedigree, you might be able to swap him for a Giannis type player (or loop a third team in looking for a star and giving us picks to then use to get Giannis).
Personally, I think we should just stay put. If the team keeps the winning ways up for the regular season it takes pressure off of KAT, Brown and everyone to figure it out right now and hopefully by the time the playoffs come, KAT is player better (especially once trade season is done).
I still think KAT can take over in a way Mikal and OG can’t and there could very well be a game in the playoffs where Brunson is stymied and OG and Mikal are not playing well and we need KAT to do that.
I want to point out a logical flaw, though:
I trust this team in the playoffs, therefore we should stand pat.
It doesn’t add up because KAT contributes nothing to my confidence.
I trust that Jalen Brunson, Mitchell Robinson, Josh Hart, OG, Mikal, and Deuce can carry KAT’s sorry ass to the final. That is not a good reason to keep him!
Z, We agree on most of all this, but only because you also said I am contradicting myself, I will go over it one last time and that’s it. A wise man once said ‘Contradictio est regula veri, non contradictio falsi’ (contradiction is the rule of truth, not contradiction – of falsity). Portraying the contradictory nature of a life situation is realism. Contradicting oneself is uttering abracadabra. I stated the contradictory nature of the situation the Knicks are in. Yes, they must make a trade, otherwise they can’t win it all in this cycle, and yes, they must make that trade without gutting their entire team in which case they can’t win it all in this cycle.
Some people claim we can win it all as constructed and with only minor touch-ups. They may be right. I disagree and I hope I am wrong.
Are there more pathways to win it all within the next two-three years? Let’s see. One possibility is that both we stay healthy while playing our very-very best, and our opponents face major injury setbacks. Is this very likely? Another possibility is that some other needle-mover, an SGA or a Jokic, etc., becomes available. What are the odds of something like this happening soon?
KAT in the playoffs last year did singlehandedly save the Knicks a couple of times.
You’ve just identified the reason Hubert joneses for it so much. It’s part of the charm of this place.
The ants at the picnic in the scenario are that JB and IHart did not in fact have very good playoff numbers together in their two years as co-Knicks and there was no sense in which iHart actually “covered” for JB’s defensive shortcomings.
He won two games pretty much singlehandedly.
(For the record, MK’s pinkie was alive and active for 3+ hrs tuesday night. In fact there were times when it seemed like he had 5 or 6 fingers on the fretboard. I was sitting just a few feet away from him, the clarity of his phrasing seemed pretty hard for anybody to improve upon — going between jazz, blues, country, and even a little metal — and singing soul standards while doing it, it was all kind of hard to believe even while witnessing it)
With Toronto I saw a flawed team of C- to B+ level players with no size or no identitity. They will win a lot of regular season games but they’re a gentlemans 1st round sweep this season due to both their maturity and competence level.
The head to head regular season success is weighted very little in my decision to call them the favorite. Same as the #1 seed without playoff experience.
We talking about their body of work during playoffs over the last several years and who I trust to perform…aka what BBA said about Jalen Brunson.
KAT also singlehandedly killed us in the playoffs last year with terrible defense and an endless parade of stupid fouls. Way more that twice.
The Celtics had a field day with him. We lose that series easily without Mitch.
Game 4 in Detroit and Game 3 in Indiana certainly stand out but I’d rather have steady defense every single night.
The Knicks have a real chance to win the East and maybe even a championship, IF:
– KAT comes out of his funk and plays to the back of his card (which is a weird thing to say because he seemingly has sucked in various ways recently yet is only a little down in his numbers across the board…);
and
We get consistent energy and effort from Wingstops.
Lots of other things could go right for us (Kolek continues to develop, Yabu is struck by lightning), but those two things (and no real injuries) will decide our season.
Hubert I hear you but 2nd bananas are always less consistent than 1st.
So its sort off expected…but can you really find a team that will trade you a $30m iHart level big and a $30m two way Mikal level wing for KAT?
What team is out there looking to consolidate and trade two starters for an All NBA, All Star player that leads the NBA in rebounding?
Certainly it all hinges on finding such a team. I’m confident it can be done but I don’t think Leon is looking for it.
Make of it what you will, but BBRef has KAT as the best defender on the team against Boston at a DRat of 107. (Mitch was 109).(*) He also was at 107 in the Pistons series. He sunk to a 118 against the Pacers, along with the DRat’s of pretty much everyone else.
(*) In part, most likely because of his defensive rebounding. He hit the boards very well in the playoffs last year, is this year, and should be expected to do so in this year’s playoffs. Perhaps if he let out a primal scream or glowering look at the opposing big upon corralling one of his many rebounds, his ability to handle that dirty work wouldn’t be taken quite as much for granted.
At the end of the day, “hack-a-Mitch” is just another team begging us to put KAT back in the game.
What more do you need?
Bronny scored only 3 fewer points (8) than his Dad did (11) last night. LeBron better retire quick before he ever lets himself be outscored by his son.
Let us not forget the sacrifice. Some gave all.
And that … unoffends you as a basketball watcher?
No … it unoffends me as a comedian!!
I’m not great with b-r’s lineup data, but here’s something for E to take a look at:
In 2025-26, Brunson’s best 3 5-man lineups (total 103 minutes) all do not include KAT (net points per 100 possessions)
OG-Bridges-Brunson-Deuce-Mitch: 32 minutes, +38.7
Hart-Bridges-Brunson-Deuce-Mitch: 41 minutes, +29.0
OG-Bridges-Brunson-Hart-Mitch: 30 minutes, +24.0
Next is the first lineup with KAT:
Hart-Bridges-Brunson-Deuce-KAT: 118 minutes, +20.3
The lineup with KAT and Mitch works well too!
OG-Bridges-Brunson-KAT-Mitch: 50 minutes, +11.8
But after than, any Brunson-KAT configuration, including the starting lineup and the starters except Deuce in for Hart treads water at best (292 total minutes)
As for KAT, his best lineup is the one mentioned above…with Brunson!
Hart-Bridges-Brunson-Deuce-KAT: 118 minutes, +20.3
His second-best one is, again, with Brunson!
OG-Bridges-Brunson-KAT-Mitch: 50 minutes, +11.8
Then come two non-Brunson lineups, with Kolek and Clarkson in both, and either Deuce plus Hart or Mikal plus OG: 87 minutes, +7.6
Every other lineup in the chart is either flat or a negative.
It seems like when Mitch replaces KAT, the Brunson lineups are great, but when Kolek replaces Brunson, there’s a pretty steep drop-off.
Last year is when most of the data you mined comes from, and two things stand out:
The most common 5-man lineups with Brunson on and KAT off had Precious (123 minutes, -9.8) and Sims (120 minutes, -5.7). Interestingly, the three best lineups for Brunson all had Deuce on the floor, and it didn’t seem to matter whether KAT or Sims was the C. And the worst lineup for Brunson was the 50 or so minutes with Mitch in for KAT, which were a -29.8.
For KAT, while the best lineup was still with Brunson on the floor with him, there was hardly a dropoff when Payne replaced Brunson, so long as Deuce was also out there as well. But the thing is that Thibs played the starters for over 900 minutes, and played Brunson and Towns together for over 60% of their minutes (and those numbers would be higher if both players played all 82 games together) that it doesn’t tell much. On top of that, there really wasn’t a viable C to replace KAT (Precious and Sims sucked and Mitch was far from 100%).
Make of all of this what you will, but to me it strongly suggests that the team would do just fine if we had a “Mitch-level” full-time replacement for KAT, but we can’t tell what would happen if we had a “Mitch-level” replacement for Brunson, whoever that is.
Those minutes numbers are way too small to be significant.
Imagine a fan of another team saying that as a compliment about their highest paid player on a super-max contract, and for a team that played 18 playoff games! I mean,. that’s the kind of shit you say about a Mid-level role player like Mitch or Nesmith, not a superstar. PS he pretty much sucked in 6 or our losses, should we say that he lost us those games pretty much single-handedly?
“Those minutes numbers are way too small to be significant.”
I agree, they are no more significant than the samples you provided yesterday that were mostly polluted by Precious-Sims-gimpy Mitch minutes.
But hey, KAT can’t fail, he can only be failed.
That is a really good point (like maybe the best one you’ve ever made).
Nesmith singlehandedly won as many ECF games as KAT did.
E, man, you once based an entire dissertation on a 5 game playoff series.
I haven’t been so active on Knickerblogger and so maybe missed discussion about it, but how has there not been KAT for Lebron straight up discussion?
I know Lebron is expiring and maybe just rides off into the sunset after this year (and takes his salary slot with him), but i honestly would sign up just for the entertainment value of that. Lebron would be rejuvenated on this team, and the Lakers would try to win games 162-155.
I saw the Missi trade rumors and my thought was that he’s not Mitch’s replacement – he’s Mitch’s backup after KAT gets traded out.
Brunson, Mikal, OG, Lebron, Mitch
Hart, McBride, Shamet, backup center round out the 5 man rotation.
Brunson goes out, 2nd unit is anchored by Lebron (or vice versa)
Sure maybe we have to put Bronny into the Chris Smith slot, but how fun would this be!?
KAT’s upcoming extension / contract is a giant trap waiting to eat us. I would rather lose his salary slot altogether than find ourselves trapped in a 4 year 240MM contract.
KAT + Yabu + Clarkson for LeBron + Ayton (to be Mitch’s backup) works.
It’s not my favorite KAT trade but I’d like that team more than this one. A lot more.
I kinda think the Lakers would do it too – do Lebron a solid, get way younger.
I know we lauded Kolek for his game last night, but I just want to give him a little bit more love. 10 assists in 20 minutes is not that easy to do.
For the Lakers the trade is really KAT vs what they can do with a ton of cap space this summer if they just let LeBron retire. The defense with Luka and KAT would be so bad they might rather have the space.
I don’t think Luka would like KAT any more than he liked Porzingis.
And JJ Redick would probably have an aneurysm.
I like it a lot, though.
Josh has skin in the game, don do not
Didn’t Mitch win an entire playoff series single-handedly? Oh wait, that was hustlebunny moneyball…
oh wow donnie, the Blue Note looks like a really nice spot, how was the food?
Marcus has talked about the pinky thing before.
There’s a really good YouTube series called Guitar Moves that’s hosted by Matt Sweeney of the band Chavez, and he had Marcus on as a guest, and he said that a colleague pointed out that he only uses three fingers most of the time, and he said it really fucked with his head for a minute. He said “man, I don’t even have a callus on my pinky.” Since then he’s tried to incorporate it more.
I had the exact same thing happen to me. I never noticed that I didn’t use my pinky much when playing lead until a friend pointed it out, at which point I made a concerted effort to incorporate it more. It’s harder to get leverage with your pinky to play a quality vibrato than it is with the other three fingers.
https://youtu.be/–QqSoT0AXA?si=omoGV6TLi0gXsk0n
To this day though, I still don’t have a callus on my pinky.
This reminds of something I once read about Steve Kerr. When he started coaching GS he wanted to run his motion offense (or whatever you call it). But he had a hard time getting the players to commit to it and fully do it in games. There came a point where there was a game followed by a two or three day break at home. He told the players that if they actually did everything he was saying he would give them a full day off. That motivated them snd they actually did it and the results were spectacular. After that the players bought in to his system much more.
I think Brown, who worked with Kerr for years, also wants to play a motion offense but the players don’t always do it. And he has good reason. It’s an effective offense that is hard to defend. The third and fourth quarter last night looked like the Knicks were really doing it in a way they don’t always. Bridges sounds to me like he is saying that they all ought to commit to it (I.e. listen to the coach) and it would be better for the team.
The best thoughts I heard all day was on some podacst where they said if NY really really wants Giannis, the only way is throughg OKC who is 14-9 since their 21-1 start.
KAT and picks from OKC to the Bucks.
Giannis to NY. Caruso and Dort to NY.
OG to to OKC.
The guy’s argument is OKC is terrific but has 27 picks but really has no room for 6 #1s this draft and next and needs to upgrage the sf position. They need to use those picks for an upgrade. OG is the perfect player for a playoff team for 5 years of high end two way play.
Interesting, he was definitely incorporating it freely, I shot a lot of footage to review:)
I guess Django was a 3 fingered fretter, and Betts’ hexatonic scales are just him avoiding the pinkie. I guess if you’re just ongodly talented, you can do it however you want, even if you’re at a disadvantage. Kind of like Stevie not using his thumbs on the clavinet.
There’s a clip in Summer Of Soul where Stevie is playing clavinet and he’s just crushing it to an insane degree. If you look closely, he’s playing only black keys, the song must be in E flat. The black keys make a pentatonic scale, so he’s just mashing at them like he’s playing congas or something with no worry of hitting a bum note. Neat trick.
Of course, Dort and Caruso are great defensive players, and maybe even better than OG either individually or in tandem. But Caruso misses a lot of games and OG averages more points than both of them combined. I’d rather hold onto OG. That leaves getting Giannis for KAT. Of course, in a vacuum, that sounds stupendous…….but he’s only a little bit more likely to be healthy for an entire playoff run than Mitch is, at this point.
“OG is the perfect player for a playoff team for 5 years of high end two way play.”
How about, you know, we keep him then?
“The Milwaukee Bucks shifted their position this week in beginning to listen to trade offers on Giannis Antetokounmpo. Several front offices believe Jon Horst and the Bucks are attempting to establish baseline trade offers now before conducting a complete trade auction in the offseason when teams can offer more picks.
“They’re asking for the moon,” one general manager told The Stein Line on Thursday morning. “All of your young players and all of your draft picks.”
https://marcstein.substack.com/p/a-giannis-trade-has-never-been-more
https://x.com/wcknicks/status/2017055179690950699?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet Dillon Jones sighting
Finished with 27 points
4-12 from 3..
Suns coach has them balling without Booker
nice to see the pistons running in to some trouble out in the valley of the sun…
I agree… it was what the podcaster said. I love Giannis but his health is a huge added risk. He WOULD be very valuable to a team like OKC.
i’m rooting for a Greek and French connection down in San Antonio…
At the Capital Grille on Boylston celebrating my brother in law’s birthday and ol Red is smiling down at me with his Cigar. KAT is lucky he plays in the post modern nba.
It opened over the summer, I think. They seem to have a lot of non-Blue Note brand acts (i.e. not jazz acts). Wyclef was there last week for 8 shows. Food wasn’t bad, they had a vegan burger. They serve Dogfish Head 90. The Marcus King shows were both sold out on a tuesday night, standing-room-only, so they are doing something right. I’ll go back, but only if I know it’s gonna be mind-blowing, which is my basic standard for leaving my house these days.
The Duke boys had quite the duel down in Dallas.
(He says alliteratively)
wow, nice pics, I don’t recognize all the different acts, may have daughter who’s younger and much cooler look at the lineup…
although those Take 6 shows at the end of april, beginning of may did catch my eye…
location’s only ’bout an hour away from family in rancho, not too bad…
pistons got to enjoy losing to the suns while handing dillon brooks a new career scoring high…
Brooks is most likely making the All Star Team this year. Pretty crazy
Grizzlies have never recovered from letting him go
the thunder have a weakness in their rebounding…
ha, no team is perfect…
I’d say the Suns are the biggest surprise this year, but then there’s Boston. And inversely, Cleveland.
Alliteratively, it could have been Duke dudes, especially since the Duke Boys were from Georgia, not Texas. (Just a thought)