News & Blogs
Jalen Brunson leads way, Knicks use big second half to put Celtics away – SNY
How do we feel about the Knicks going into final stretch of season? – The New York Times
‘F–king Assh–e,’ Knicks’ Jalen Brunson Jokes About Josh Hart After Social Media Exchange – BleacherReport
Knicks Injury Tracker: Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart will play vs. Celtics, OG Anunoby won’t – SNY
Knicks 111, Celtics 89: “Our defense. Without OG. Damn.” – Posting & Toasting
Game Thread: Knicks at Celtics, February 8, 2026 – Posting & Toasting
Knicks 111-89 Celtics (Feb 8, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN
Post-Deadline Recalibration: Where Things Stand Now | KFS Weekly Recap | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
Knicks Film Breakdown: Deep Dive On The Knicks Major Defensive Improvements | KFTV – Knicks Fan TV
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115 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.02.10)”
Who wins tonight’s battle between our “hate-to-play-against-him-but-love-to-have-him-on-your-team” small, pesky defensive player (Alvie) and their “hate-to-play-against-him-but-love-to-have-him-on-your-team” small, pesky defensive player (McConnell)? I’d love for our guy to show theirs up.
the only buyout candidate out there that makes any sense is Haywood Highsmith, but tbh I would rather give those backup wing minutes to our favorite son Mo Diawara. My main injury worries are OG (just let him sit through the ASB), Jalen of course, and Mitch. But are retreads like Plumlee, Eubanks, etc really better than Hukporti?
With the 2nd apron looming in the next couple seasons, we need to figure out whether the young pups Hukporti, McCullar, Diawara, Kolek, Dadiet etc are any good. I would try and give them a fair amount of run the rest of the season and random buyout guys (other than PJ Tucker culture-types) would make that harder.
Seems impossible to keep everyone and avoid going over it. Choices look like:
A) Keep everyone, accept the penalties.
B) Let Mitch and maybe even Diawarra walk to avoid going over it, plus punt one or both of the picks we have in the draft (ours and the Wizards)
C) Trim the KAT, I mean fat.
If we don’t win a championship, I think the odds of KAT being moved are very high. If you were to pre-write a post-mortem, it would be hard to imagine that he was not a central figure in our demise, and the cap constraints his contract causes are very real.
I don’t think it made sense to move him at this deadline for whatever might have been available. There will be better deals to be made once we can include the 2026 and 2033 firsts if it comes to that.
Haywood would be a good signing. Diawara is fun but I don’t think we want him in the court in the playoffs. We can always bench Haywood if Diawara comes through.
I’d be good with ‘wood.
I forgot Alvarado has a player option, so there’s three guys we have to pay this summer.
I’d rather go over the apron than lose guys we’ll never be able to replace. But ultimately I think KAT has to prove to Leon this spring that he’s indispensable.
Kevin Love. Please Kevin Love. All we have to do is express some interest and the Jazz would probably buy him out quickly. He wants to play for a contender, and that’s us. Culture guy who can still shoot and rebound.
Hard no on Kevin Love. We need a live wire, not a dead duck.
That made me laugh, and of course I get what you’re saying. I guess in my mind he would be a PJ Tucker who could still actually play for us (true that I don’t know where he’d get minutes, though) in a pinch or in case of injury…….but if we develop Mo the way we need to Love would just end up being a luxury who wouldn’t be needed (or used).
“I forgot Alvarado has a player option, so there’s three guys we have to pay this summer.”
If Alvarado opts in at $4.5M, I’d be very happy.
Alvie has only played one game for us, but I think (hope) that we’ll want to keep him, and he has obvious reasons why he’d probably want to stay with us.
Early:
Expected Lineup
PG A. Nembhard
SG A. Nesmith Ques
SF Jarace Walker
PF Pascal Siakam
C Jay Huff
MAY NOT PLAY
G E. Thompson Ques
G T. McConnell Ques
F A. Nesmith Ques
F M. Potter Ques
F Obi Toppin Out
C I. Zubac Out
Expected Lineup
PG Jalen Brunson
SG Josh Hart
SF Mikal Bridges
PF O. Anunoby Ques
C K. Towns
MAY NOT PLAY
F O. Anunoby Ques
G M. McBride Out
C M. Robinson Out
The key to filling that last roster spot is patience. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that we can swap out Clarkson if necessary.
Speaking of which, I was not amused by what Clarkson had to say in a recent social media spat. Sounds like he is unhappy with his lack of role or playing time (I get it, but at the same time, f him) and it’s only a matter of time before he becomes a problem in the locker room. So every day we wait to fill that last roster spot is a day earlier that we can cut and replace him.
In a nutshell, I’m taking the L because I don’t think his alleged shot creation is a thing any more. There is no juice to his game that justifies having him around if he’s gonna cop an attitude.
That was my thumb up. What was the gist of Clarkson’s comments?
By the way, I think it’s great that we have too many good players to give minutes to. It’s better than last year’s issue.
I’m wondering what is going on with OG’s toe. Hopefully it isn’t anything like what Darus Garland has been going through. And honestly, now that we knocked off the Celtics, it might be best to just let him rest through the all-star break. The only thing is that he’s getting very close to the eligibility limit for post-season awards.
“That was my thumb up. What was the gist of Clarkson’s comments?”
https://nypost.com/2026/02/09/sports/jordan-clarkson-fires-vulgar-missive-at-fan-as-knicks-frustration-grows/
The flip side is he’d have to play really poorly to opt in, so maybe you wouldn’t be.
But I can see a see an opt-in-and-extend option making sense for both sides. Even if he does that, we’re only $12.5M short of the second apron with just 9 players (KAT, OG, Jalen, Mikal, Josh, Jose, Deuce, Dadiet, Kolek).
Even if we dump Pacome it’s going to be hard to fit Mitch, Mo, a first round pick, a second round pick and the rest of a roster into $15.2M.
We’re either going over the apron or trimming fat. Even if you love the way KAT’s been playing for two whole weeks it’s hard to argue you can’t replicate that with a player making much less than $57M. I think it’s make-or-break for him.
I assume they’ll only stay under the second apron if they trade for Giannis, which I don’t even think is happening. There are very few ways to keep this team competitive next year if they try to stay under otherwise.
Clarkson: “They’re asking me to do things defensively as well. And then offensively, I got to figure it out and make stuff out of what comes in the offense in terms of opportunities. It’s not like I’m featured in the offense or anything. I’m playing hard, I’m crashing the glass, figuring out different things – little things to be effective on that end. So it’s a whole new thing for me. But I’ll continue to be a pro and stay in the gym and working on my craft and keep it going.”
“They’re asking me to do things defensively, as well.” LOL
Serious question: Is there any way Dink Pate could develop into something useful for us? Probably not this year. What might he do well?
The opt-in-and-extend option seems pretty likely with Alvarado. We did it with Hart under similar-ish circumstances, right down to them both being repped by CAA.
Re: buyout candidates, Boucher being a back-to-back champion in 2018 and 2019 caught me off guard. That’s funny, good for him. He seems cooked though, so I’d pass.
Bagley seems like the best option, which is quite telling, if he’s bought out by the Mavs. Highsmith would be fine too and I don’t think we’d have to worry about a buyout guy eating into Diawara’s minutes as long as Diawara is playing well.
Ultimately it’ll come down to the guys we already have.
Well I guess we know which way the Pacers are going.
From Jan 30 to Feb 2 the Clippers played 3 games in 4 nights and Zubac averaged 33 minutes per game. But now according to the Pacers he’s got an ankle injury that he’s been nursing since December and “there’s still something there that’s not quite right. We’re not going to put him out there until he’s really ready.”
Fuck you, Adam Silver.
Dink Pate is nowhere near NBA ready (for a contending team) and it sounds like he’s going to go the NCAA route. He’ll make some money there and then be draft-eligible.
So the short answer is no.
I’m OK with Haywood as he can shoot 3s. We’d probably need someone to rebound too, though.
We don’t have Pate’s rights and the impressive box scores you see are cherry picked. He’s not that good right now
Thanks Z and EB for the Dink info.
I know the top this draft (and the draft in general) is getting hyped like crazy, but are these guys really that good?
I think that Dybantsa might be the real deal. Otherwise, crapshoot.
At the same time we likely need the TPMLE and that 2033 draft pick to remain competitive.
I think we’re going to follow the Denver path. They traded Porter and their 2032 pick for a Porter replacement making half the money, then used the savings to add Valanciunus, Brown, and Hardaway.
Hopefully we’ll execute it better because Cam Johnson has sucked for them and Porter’s been great. But my guess is one of KAT, OG, or Mikal gets traded (maybe with that ’33 pick) for a cheaper replacement. Then we bring everyone back, use both our picks and the TPMLE.
Well, look at how amazing the 2025 draft has been (and it had some hype to it, as well, of course), and note that people have been hyping next year’s draft as better than the 2025 Draft for a few years now.
It might be a really, really good draft.
I can’t remember when the dire predictions about the Knicks going into the second apron started, maybe offseason 2023? Seems like we now should have enough evidence to conclude that the FO is simply not going to let that happen. It is far more likely (based on track record) that they will make moves to stay below the apron, even if it means replacing Mitch, or dumping KAT, or losing Deuce, or even moving on from one of the starters.
I don’t see any way to regulate teams purposefully trading for injured players to help them tank but guys who’ve been healthy all season suddenly getting injured after being traded to a team that is clearly tanking needs to be investigated.
This shit is getting out of hand. They need more guard rails in place. Start by not allowing any team to draft in the top 5 two years in a row and in the top 10 more than 2 out of 3 years.
Flatten the odds a little bit more too. Honestly, as annoying as it was to see a team like the Spurs have a down year and then luck into Tim Duncan, I’d much rather have that happen sometimes than teams do the shit that is going on now.
And yes, I don’t see how you can possibly go over the second apron with this particular team. The Thunder just won the title, and they don’t even seem prepared to keep their team together to go over the second apron next season (what they do with IHart is going to be fascinating. Can they even afford him?).
I honestly don’t recall these dire predictions before but I’ll take your word for it. 2023 was the year they invented the apron, btw, and they first went into effect 2024. This is only the second season with aprons.
I don’t doubt that they could get under the apron. The point is that the moves they’d need to make to get there seem worse than the penalties. We can’t replace Mitch with the TPMLE, so why let him walk to keep it? Why punt our draft picks to the future when we need young players now?
It’s quite possible that apron avoidance could result in a downgrade of the rotation. However, we’re not alone in that regard. And sometimes it opens up possibilities for young players to step up, like we’re seeing in Boston and Phoenix.
I’ve also brought it up a bunch of times, but an expansion draft is definitely coming, possibly as early as 2027. That will be an opportunity to leave an overpriced player unprotected.
And there is clearly some anti-tanking measures coming, so that makes it more likely that teams will be looking to compete and might be amenable to taking on marquee talent in salary-dump trades just to sell tickets.
I love the idea of player’s going from the pros back to college just to give AI more data to crunch. Going to be super interesting.
Going over the second apron for the first time really isn’t the end of the world. We didn’t do a player aggregation trade this offseason or deadline, so we’ve been somewhat close to abiding by the restrictions anyway.
Not having the TPMLE is a bummer, but if we go into the second apron we should be confident enough in the roster/rotation for that to barely matter (and for there to be no minutes for a good candidate). We wouldn’t be able to trade our first-round pick 7 years out, but again, we haven’t traded a first since getting Mikal anyway.
IMO, the key is to make sure you can get out of the second apron at the drop of a hat, rather than avoid going into it at all. The harshest penalty comes from being in it in 2 of the following 4 seasons after going into it for the first time, so you need an escape plan.
But let’s say we win ~55 games and lose in 6-7 games in the finals. Would it be the end of the world to run it back, even if we hit the second apron? I don’t think so.
Love Alvie’s DRtg of 94.8. 🙂
What is happening right now is really insane. It should be a bigger scandal than it is. Will Hardy is actively coaching his team to lose – not just by not playing his best players, but by not calling time outs when he should, drawing out plays, etc. How is this acceptable? How can he continue to do it (unsuccessfully) against Miami after the debacle that was that Orlando game. There are like 30 games left on the schedule! This is not only affecting the teams tanking, and the ones they owe their picks to. It’s affecting seeding, play-in/playoff status, etc. Honestly it has definitely taken a lot of my enjoyment of this season.
At the end of the day, it’s really all about whether Dolan can tolerate a team that is not a true championship contender. Brunson gives you a 3-4 year window, and if skillfully done, sacrificing (in theory) a year or two of that window to swap out pieces might be the best way to go.
Of course, we know that the answer to that question is almost certainly “NO!”. It will come down to whether Leon can swing a deal for Giannis without gutting the team. I get a bit queasy even thinking about it, like, Amar’e-Melo queasy.
“It will come down to whether Leon can swing a deal for Giannis without gutting the team. I get a bit queasy even thinking about it, like, Amar’e-Melo queasy.”
Yes, please let’s not, and not even bother to say that we did. I think it has a better than 50 percent chance of being franchise-crushing for the better part of a decade. We always talk about win curve—well, as great of a player as he’s been, Giannis ain’t on it anymore. We needed to get him three years ago, but since we didn’t, let’s not chase it.
At the end of the day, in this apron-restricted world, Leon has to start thinking about the value he is getting back for each salary slot. Clearly Brunson is giving a ton of surplus value. OG, Mikal, and Hart combined are probably market value, with each player’s production somewhere in the vicinity of his deal. Mitch is underpaid, but is expiring and will be a UFA. Deuce will be in the same boat next year. Alvarado too. Do you go into the second apron just to keep those three because we got to the finals and lost? (and Mo, of course!)
Count me out on that strategy. If we don’t win a championship this year (and even if we do) I think some major churning has to be done to ensure that we aren’t dogshit for years come 2030. And the churning needs to start with dumping KAT by hook or by crook. And I don’t really have enough of an attachment to either Mitch, Deuce, or Jose to go into the second apron to keep them. I’d rather risk finding replacements in the draft than overpay any of those guys.
If we can somehow figure out a way to replace KAT’s roster spot with iHart at, say $25-35M AAV, and use the extra $30M or so to sign everyone else to market-value deals, I’d be on board with that.
Macri waxing poetic about Mo this morning. Also playing with his food, in this case lineup comparisons, which is always fun if mostly small sample size pointless. One underlying theme, however, suggests maybe Clarkson should never see the court again, despite his whining. And perhaps partly because of it (although the Post is a despicable rag, but at the same time reporting on someone’s social posts seems fair…).
That’s where the problem lies. We’d be going over the apron with a roster/rotation where it matters a lot.
To keep up with the East (let alone the giants out west) we’ll need to use the TPMLE, to be able to aggregate players in a trade, and to trade our 2033 draft pick.
We can’t stand pat. We’re losing ground as it is.
Dolan has surely show he can tolerate “not a true champoinship contender” (whatever that is) as he has with 2 franchises for 50 or so seasons.
He seems to value a very competitive product which fills his very expensive seats and sends eyeballs to the screen. Which he has. I believe the Me7o move was more about creating a buzz for his remodeling of the older Garden than winning a championship.
I am also not sure what the kvetching is about wrt KAT. Deficiencies in his game notwithstanding, he is an essential cog into how the team is designed to play. Without his 3 ball threat, the lane is closed to Brunson as we saw 2 games ago in Detroit. the offense bogs down without the lane being open because they only have one guy who can create a shot virtually on his own.
I just don’t see extending him as becoming a problem. He isn’t stupid. He saw there wasn’t a max-ish contract for all NBA team 2 Randle. 33M/year. There isn’t a team foolish enough to pay him 60-70M per year. Trae and Ja were worth zero on the trade market. In the apron era teams must be way more fastidious moving forward. Leon will give him a market value contract to extend.
It’s pushing me towards the exit of being a basketball fan completely.
I can’t imagine myself quitting on this Knicks team, but it’s fucking rigged. We lost one of our best players to the Thunder bc there’s rules against us spending but no rules against them tanking. We have to contend with a Spurs teams that shut everyone down the last two years to add Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper to the generational talent they shamelessly tanked for. And now the Pacers are gunning to be the next small market team to tank their way to a generational talent when they were one fucking game away from the championship!
You can’t win in this system without the most extraordinary luck. And if god forbid you do get lucky like Golden State did they’ll just change the rules so it can never happen again.
I have a theory that I can’t prove but I’ll say it anyway: the reason the Sixers got punished wasn’t because they tanked worse than anyone else. The Process wasn’t any more blatant than a dozen other tank jobs, including Presti’s original rebuild in OKC when he landed Durant, Harden, and Westbrook. They got punished because they used a small market method in a large market. And that’s what’s never supposed to happen.
LOL, alarmist much?
We’re tied for 2nd in the East. How are we “falling behind” exactly? Because The Pacers MIGHT get a good player in the draft? Is that player going to immediately be prime Jordan or something?
Is it a foregone conclusion that Haliburton is going to be just as good as he was before his injury?
You need to take a chill pill, dude. We’re good. We’re contenders. Barring some catastrophe, we’ll be pretty good next year too.
Enjoy the ride. Nothing is given to anyone.
Just noticed that OAKAAK MarJon Beauchamp has popped up on the Sixers. 20 minutes off the bench for them last night. Is Embiid *actually* hurt? I thought they were done “load managing” him, but he missed last night’s game against the Blazers. It’s impossible to tell what’s real and what’s fake anymore (and I’m not just talking about NBA injuries).
Re: the tanking thing – my guess is the league has told the teams that they are going to put in much more strict anti-tanking measures this offseason(although I’m not sure if that has to be collectively bargained?). And so teams are all-out tanking now while they can still control the process. It is totally embarrassing and IMHO they should make the GMs sit in front of the press after every game because they are the ones making those calls anyway.
As a reminder to the newer posters here, for about 10+years I’ve been advocating for incentivizing wins as a way to eliminate tanking and have periodically posted it here.
Zach Lowe mentioned something similar on his podcast a couple weeks ago, but my idea was the following:
For the first X games of the season, losses count favorably towards lottery position. Then for game x+1 to the end of the season, wins count toward lottery position. The kicker is that X is not decided upon until after the season. You could posit that X must be greater than, say, 55 (so could be anywhere from 55 to 82) so that teams that are truly bad still accumulate points from early season losses when the vast majority of teams are actually trying. X being unknown until after the season is critical to this so that teams cannot game it.
You could have a show like the lottery show where X is revealed. Breathless analysis would ensue.
I am sure there are weaknesses to this idea but nothing is worse than what is happening now, when postseason seeds might be based on how many times a particular team happens to play tanking teams.
Alex Jones is taking resumes over to the right, sir! 🙂 Tanking was available to the Knicks for decades, but was never used because Dolan figured out by trolling shiny objects in front of “the self proclaimed most sophisticated hoops fans in the universe” he could BS them into blind allegiance and emptying their wallets to his shitty teams for 20 years.
GMs are the main culprit, but it’s now become embedded in team culture. You have Will Hardy actively coaching to make his team lose, and being very direct about it in his postgame interview. You have star players sitting on the bench in the 4th quarter and laughing with each other as their teams lose double digit leads. This is not sports.
Suspend Ainge and Hardy today and the problem goes away tomorrow. Full stop.
When the league wanted to end players coming off the bench, they did it. They could end this, too. But they don’t want to.
To his credit, Jim Dolan does. But he doesn’t have much support.
Pritchard and Carlisle should be the first to get punished. They’re a fucking disgrace, and have been since day 1 of the season. You were in game 7 of the finals last year FFS.
Trading away your aging stars and investing in a young core, putting a team on the floor that doesn’t chase meaningless marginal wins, and only looks to win games with the production of the young core— that all seems fine to me. What Presti did in OKC and what Hinkie was attempting to do in Philly was just solid game theory.
Sitting your good players in the fourth quarter of winnable games and putting in your scrubs so you can lose seems like something else entirely.
this is actually the whole problem
whenever trying to win becomes meaningless is when sports becomes broken.
It’s been getting tons of attention lately, and in casual conversations I always make sure to mention where I heard it first–from my internet friend frank, who is probably named Frank, but also might not be named Frank.
Lol doesn’t anyone on this site work?
Re: Haywood, he kinda seems like Temu Hart (and we already have Hart and a Temu Hart). Plus I believe he was just injured, so pass.
Re: 2nd apron, I definitely think KAT will be shown the door unless we get to the Finals, so fairly likely? But I like the guy, and I’m rooting for him.
Re: 2026 draft, there’s no one quite as good as Flagg or Wemby (fuck you, Silver), but it’s shaping up to be the best top 3/4 in a while aside from those drafts. That said, the Zion draft was supposed to be amazing but ugh, and the Cade draft was terrible but is still improving. Personally I like this one, but it’s hard to tell how deep it really is yet.
Re: tanking, here’s an idea: instead of just having lottery odds, why not give every team odds? Pick 1 though 30? Then the changes between say #3 and #6 become infinitesimal enough that tanking won’t make as big a difference.
Edit: also big fan of Frank’s idea!
You actually should lose something by finishing last. Relegation will never happen in American sports, but just take away good draft choices.
Bob, it’s getting really tiresome having to explain everything to you (and for the record that includes having to explain your recent anti-semitism, which you very noticeably never apologized for, as well).
Tanking isn’t really available to the Knicks, not in the same way it is to OKC, San Antonio, or Indiana right now.
When the Knicks tank, they lose hundreds of millions of dollars because there is no revenue sharing to support the precipitous drop in earnings that comes from putting a shit product on the floor in NYC for multiple years.
When the small markets do it, they don’t lose anything because they just reimbursed from the Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, and Warriors.
It’s not the same.
Oh and re: Ainge, once a prick always a prick!
Totally agree with JK that there’s a category difference between giving tons of minutes to young players and letting the chips fall where they may, knowing this will likely result in a lot of losses, and benching good young players you already have in order to lose more games.
The former is part of the lifecycle of a rebuild across all professional sports. I’d still prefer a system that unambiguously incentivizes winning, but I don’t consider what Washington and Brooklyn are doing terribly deleterious.
What the Jazz are doing now, and the Mavs have done in the past, is simply not something a healthy league can tolerate. Teams throwing games calls into question the integrity of the league, and that’s before even asking about the implications it has in the era of gambling on everything.
That said, policing this stuff will always be a game of wack-a-mole and the NBA really just needs to implement the frank plan and be done with it all.
We were 7 games better than Detroit last year, now we’re 5.5 games back. They still have all their chips and are just scratching the surface of their potential.
We also went from 17 games better than the Sixers to just 4 games better. Maxey is inevitable, Edgcomb is awesome, and they have all their chips, too.
The Celtics just did a total reset and we’re neck-and-neck with them without their best player. Guess what they have? All their chips.
We are not living in Stand Patsville, my friend.
Regular season, brah.
I don’t care all that much about tanking in a situation where it is incentivized as it is now and has been since forever. Meaning, whatever GMs/Governors do to maximize their chances seems like good management.
It’s up to Silver, who lest we forget, represents the Governors, to fix this issue. Until that happens, teams who abjectly purposefully tank have my complete blessing.
I would probably just eliminate the draft altogether. Just let all players be free agents and sign with teams that have cap space. Adjust the cap rules however you have to to ensure that teams can’t load up on stars. Make all rookie deals have a max 20% increase for 4 years.
If a Cooper Flagg wants to risk tens of millions to sign with a championship team on a minimum deal, whatever. He can make that up on endorsements.
Then you’d never have to worry about tanking again.
That’s an idea, Z-man. Or set a true lottery, each team is chosen at random for both rounds. Only rule is that last year’s number one goes last in the first round. No more tanking.
And he doesn’t fix it because there are way more governors in small markets than governors in large ones. Which is why I actually applaud Dolan for being such a thorn in his side.
Lol what? The Knicks did put a shit product on the floor for nearly two decades; from 2002-2020 we finished over .500 3 times. 7 of our 13 worst seasons by record happened in the span including the 2 worst which happened 4 years apart in 2015 and 2019. Please show your math where the Knicks made money by not tanking but still being garbage year in and year out.
This is probably a stupid question that doesn’t require the original latin, but how can the knicks trade KAT to get under the apron, if being over the apron requires them to bring back the same $57M in return? (Also, who likes the aprons? The owners? The players union? The Commish? The fans? The lawyers?)
The real issue is about the talent-rich teams getting richer. You can easily address that by changing cap and salary rules so that, for example, a team’s three highest paid players have a cap, So a kid like Wemby or Flagg could not possibly wind up on a team that already has three “stars” unless they trade one of them, which spreads talent out. And by eliminating future draft picks from trades, all trades become strictly talent and contract-based.
For example, if the Bucks want to trade Giannis (or if he demands a trade) he has to find a team where he fits in to their cap situation and a team willing to give up players good enough to justify the trade on its face, without the hope that future picks give.
If you want to shake things up, you can offer amnesties to teams to allow them to create cap space, but tax those amnesties in proportion to wins over a 3-year stretch. So if, say, the Pacers want to sign one of the top picks this offseason, they would have to amnesty at a much higher tax rate than, say, the Wizards (who might not need to amnesty anyone.)
You could avoid a good team glomming on to good amnestied players by having the same kind of rules that prevent good above-the-cap teams from signing waived players.
Obviously I’m just spitballing here, but a draft-based system in a sport like basketball where one player can turn a franchise is inherently corrupt.
That’s not what I’m saying, dude.
It’s one thing to lose money because your plan doesn’t work. That happens a lot in poorly run organizations.
It’s another thing entirely to say “the plan is to lose money on purpose for several years in a row.” Even dumb organizations don’t do that very often.
There’s a weird middle ground now where a player is not good enough to be on a contender but too good to help the tank. As a result, decent players are out of the league.
I think this happened to Cam Payne who had an excellent regular season last year and could clearly help the tanking half of the league if they didn’t have the perverse incentive to throw all their games.
Although, for the record, the Knicks did actually make a lot of money when they were garbage but not tanking:
https://runrepeat.com/nba-revenue-statistics
I’m genuinely asking a question here, for people who know more about the NBA than I ever will.
I’m a longtime fan (started during the Knicks 1970 Title Run) and I’m also a petty and vindictive person. Thus I still hold a grudge against the league for all of the Knicks suspensions the league issued after the fight at the Garden (I think in 1997, where PJ Brown threw innocent little Charlie Ward into the stands?)
Which brings me to the Pistons-Hornets fight last night. I counted at least FOUR players coming off of the bench, and into the brawl. Three of the Hornets (including Ball) and one Piston.
So will all four get suspended for leaving the bench? Asking seriously.
Doubtful. Totally different times, and totally different regime in charge.
Explaining something doesn’t indicates rectitude. You are entitled to your opinion. Also not interested in morality lectures from folks who voted a clear majority for a “from the river to the sea” guy for mayor.
The Knick’s did tank for 20 years, just in the most inefficient way possible. They turned high lottery picks into Eddy Curry , Bargniani, etc. They didn’t “intentionally” dump games, but the result was probably worse.
They could try the MLB way where First round draft choices cannot be traded.
They’re not required to bring back the same $57M, Donnie. If both teams in the trade were over the apron, the money would have to be the same. But if you trade KAT to a team under the apron you’re good.
“Explaining something doesn’t indicates rectitude. You are entitled to your opinion. Also not interested in morality lectures from folks who voted a clear majority for a “from the river to the sea” guy for mayor.”
Really?
I’m in Key Biscayne, Bob (as far as the IRS knows). Nice try, though.
Also, you can’t call what the Knicks did for 20 years ‘tanking.’ Tanking implies purposefully losing games to get better draft picks. We were just massively mismanaged by clueless imbeciles. Completely different thing, even if the results looked similar.
“Also not interested in morality lectures from folks who voted a clear majority for a “from the river to the sea” guy for mayor.”
Huh? How do you presume to know who anyone on this board voted for for any office, unless they specifically said so on here? You also kind of have to know where everyone lives to make the claim you just made. As Hubie said, he’s in Florida. I’m also nowhere near NYC anymore, although I spent the first 7 years of my life there.
RE lottery etc…
IMO you want to incentivize winning and disincentivize losing.
1. The playoffs already mean more money in ticket and merchandise sales etc.. but the NBA could build more of financial and/or business incentive into winning by saying any team that makes the playoffs gets player bonuses, tax reflief etc… That means every team at the margin will want to win and players will be playing hard.
2. Group the league into two.
Playoff teams (17-30)
Non playoff teams (1-16)
If you want to add play-in you could put them in either group.
Then there’s a lottery for each group with each team in each group having the exact same exact chances.
1. The bad teams have no incentive to lose even worse.
2, The marginal teams have an incentive to fight for the last playoff spots.
3. It still helps the legitimately bad teams turn it around quicker because they get access to the best picks.
Even if you don’t like something like this, simplicity is harder to game and incentives drive behavior. That’s a key.
Bob doesn’t know shit, but I’ll out myself: I happily voted for Zohran and I’m proudly Jewish. Same goes for most other Jews I know.
None of us say “Uncle Schmul,” though.
Everything that Noble just said. I’m also proudly Jewish, and if I still lived in NYC I would have undoubtedly also voted for Mamdani. I had to eventually look up the Uncle Schmul thing because I’d literally never heard nor seen it before.
Zubac played 33 minutes on Feb 2nd his last game as a Clipper and now he is being shut down . No injury at all . League looks like a complete joke.
FWIW I actually ran for mayor of NYC (via my instagram story) and 8 people voted for me via the write-in ballot.
True story. I looked up the results.
i voted for you whitney
I think there is an easy non-complicated way to solve tanking.
First tie huge monetary incentives to making the playoffs/play-in. That way teams are always incentivized to make the playoffs. Like zero revenue sharing or zero tv contract money for non payoff teams. Make it costly to miss the playoffs.
Then take all the non-playoff/play in teams and do a flat odds lottery for every pick 1-10.
On top of that, get rid of draft pick protections and make all traded picks from teams in the lottery pick at the end of the lottery. So 10th if there is one traded pick or have a lottery among the teams with traded picks to pick at the end if there is more than one like 8-10 if there are three teams with traded picks. Or just get rid of trading future picks all together.
And maybe make teams ineligible to get a pick in the top 4 two years in a row.
Thanks, pt.
My top campaign promise was I would move all the parades to First Ave so it would be easier for NYers to get across town on parade days.
But what I really wanted to do is change the name of JFK Airport because that MFer’s from Boston.
Also, Bob…
Brunson w Robinson at C – 552 mins, 124.8 ORtg, +12.5 net
Brunson w KAT at C – 919 mins, 119.4 ORtg, +5.8 net
But what I really wanted to do is change the name of JFK Airport because that MFer’s from Boston.
you visionary idea for the new trump kennedy tremendous departures palace is exactly what earned my support
You don’t need to be mayor to replace Kennedy’s name on shit with that of a New Yorker. It just sort of does it itself these days.
Razor sharp as always PT
I hate the parades. Except for the Greek one.
“Alvie” most commonly refers to the Australian social networking app designed to help people with disabilities find friends in a safe, moderated environment.
It’s Woody Allen’s character in Annie Hall. A true New Yorker.
Greek parade? Is there a portuguese parade? Or is it to convince Giannis to come to NY? 🤭
I was curious about the Brunson/Center pairings so I went back a little further…
Ranked by ORtg:
1. Brunson-Robinson (2025-26): 552 mins, 124.8 ORtg, +12.5
2. Brunson-Hartenstein (2023-24): 1333 mins, 123.7 ORtg, +14.7
3. Brunson-Robinson (2022-23): 1112 mins, 120.9 ORtg, +6.3
4. Brunson-KAT (2024-25): 1464 mins, 119.5 ORtg, +4.9
5. Brunson-KAT (2025-26): 919 mins, 119.4 ORtg, +5.8 net
6. Brunson-Hartenstein (2022-23): 724 mins, 118.3 ORtg, +3.7
7. Brunson-Robinson (2023-24): 706 mins, 116.5 ORtg, +1.7
I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a Portuguese parade at some point in the year….
Everyone has one
There’s one in Newark, NJ every year-in the Ironbound Neighborhood. Great food there.
Pretty pretty sure that’s Alvy, Donnie.
Used to live on York, Hubert. Wouldn’t have voted for you.
Also used to live between A and B downtown. Again, no vote for you.
FYI Bobby Marks has come out as saying that what Utah is doing rn is “messing with the integrity of the NBA.”
Hmmm https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/283874/Jayson-Tatum-Looked-Great-In-First-Five-On-Five-Scrimmage
It’s more than just Utah though . Wizards, Pacers both losing on purpose . Both now own protected picks they want to keep.
I wasn’t targeting the Seattle vote, Raven
Especially when they are promoting gambling on the games.
On Utah, I feel like the least Silver could do — and he would be completely justified in doing it — is open an investigation into Hardy & Ainge for suspicion of gambling. Make their life fucking hell, and force them to defend themselves publicly.
I see no reason he can’t do that, and it would be a powerful deterrent.
Here’s a radical suggestion, which I’m liking more and more each year. And it would solve the “tanking problem” in a second.
I think there is an even easier non-complicated way to solve tanking.
Replace the NBA Draft Lottery with an ACTUAL NBA Draft Lottery.
Put 30 Ping Pong Balls in a cage, each June, then let teams pick in the order the balls come up.
No reward for terrible W/L records, no penalties for great W/L records.
There would be zero tanking, immediately. Would I cringe if the Spurs got yet another 1st round draft pick? Of course. But the NBA would be offering a far superior product for the entire season, with no reward for sitting people.
Dang, no OG again:
Expected Lineup
PG A. Nembhard
SG Aaron Nesmith
SF Ben Sheppard
PF Pascal Siakam
C Jay Huff
MAY NOT PLAY
F J. Walker Out
F Obi Toppin Out
C I. Zubac Out
Expected Lineup
PG Jalen Brunson
SG Landry Shamet
SF Mikal Bridges
PF Josh Hart
C K. Towns
MAY NOT PLAY
F OG Anunoby Out
G M. McBride Out
C M. Robinson Out
And now LeBron is out tonight against the Spurs after not being on the injured list for the bulk of the day.
I am a big fan of relegation and think it works wonders to stop tanking, especially with them adding two teams this year. There’s enough nba talent to add 6 and enough markets to do so.
In regard to the apron discussion, maybe they should throw that into the sea where it belongs
But who’s making money betting that the Jazz will lose?
@UnderdogNBA
LeBron James is now ineligible to make an All-NBA team after being ruled out Tuesday.
His 21-season streak is over:
2nd Team
3rd Team
3rd Team
3rd Team
2nd Team
1st Team
3rd Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
1st Team
2nd Team
1st Team
2nd Team
LeBron has more All-NBA seasons than all but 6 players have total seasons played.
I’m not saying any of these lottery reform ideas are bad but it’s like if you think murder is a problem, you just make murder illegal and punish those who commit it.
The Jazz did this last year, too. They had a top 10 protected pick, they sat Markannen when he was healthy, and lost 21 of their last 23 games.
Silver fined them $100k.
Ben Anderson
@BensHoops
Rest is neeeded ahead of the all star break
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