News & Blogs
Guerschon Yabusele on amending Knicks contract to facilitate Bulls trade: ‘The passion is more than just the money’ – SNY
Knicks Bulletin: ‘We’re still trying to figure out the system’ – Posting & Toasting
Steve Popper: Knicks’ Mike Brown — ‘I truly believe’ we can win it all – Newsday
Knicks’ Jose Alvarado is back home in New York, but love for New Orleans is genuine – The New York Times
Jose Alvarado immediately impacts Knicks in debut win over Celtics – SNY
Knicks Bulletin: ‘That evolution will continue to happen throughout the rest of the year’ – Posting & Toasting
KNICKS at BUCKS | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | February 27, 2026 – NBA
Are The Knicks Officially Pretenders? Highs, Lows & The 40/20 Rule w/ Dan Devine – Knicks Fan TV
Pod Strickland Patreon Preview Episode 572 feat. Chuck: Early Draft Prep – The Strickland
Knicks at Bucks – Recap & Reaction | POSTGAME SHOW | Knicks Film School – Knicks Film School
YT News
30 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.02.28)”
That was kind of the idealized version of the Knicks last night. Everyone who played contributed, including Bridges who had a quiet night on offense but did have 4 STOCKS
Now it’s on to the gauntlet of the Spurs and OKC (with the Raptors in Toronto in between), a little tougher test than the Freak-less Bucks
I agree with Raven that the last four or five minutes looked horrible. But it was a team thing, not a Sochan or Clarkson thing. The end of the bench mob looked like they had never played together and also seemed to lack offensive talent. Clarkson actually chose to pass rather than attack the basket and he passed to open guys. Those open just didn’t make their shots. He didn’t look great overall, but he was better than some other guys and it wasn’t evidence he was bad. Sochan kept shooting, which is the one thing that almost always makes him look bad.
It would be nice if we could hit some 3s like that against a good defense, but it was encouarging to see OG back in form.
Just seeing how far Clarkson has (rightfully so) fallen out of the rotation, any guesses as to whether he is cut sometime in the next few weeks to clear a roster spot for a “useful” waiver wire guy?
We’re up to 70 3PA for Diawara. Obviously still a tiny sample, but it’s not nothing. The dude seems to have found a stroke, and nowhere was that more evident than in his 4 FT attempts last night. He shoots with a consistent stroke, great arc, and his makes are swishing. That suggests a very good degree of hand-eye coordination. I wish his release was a bit higher, but that’s the tiniest of quibbles.
He has some trouble off the dribble in traffic, no floater game at all at this point, save that one push shot on the right baseline. But the way he attacked the rim in a simple drive and got fouled, the way he passed to open shooters, that stuff is very, very promising. There’s a high-IQ look to his game.
Brown is gonna have to roll with this kid. His size/length/speed/skill package gives him such a margin of error that you can live with his rookie mistakes. He should be getting 10-20 mpg every night.
The thing I notice about Mo is he clearly has 99th percentile self confidence. So rare to see a player his age with his lack of pedigree call his own name so much, at least who isn’t a Cam Thomas gunner type.
He reminds me a lot of Siakim, one of the great late bloomers, although I don’t see his defense ever reaching that level.
Really satisfying win, with players repeatedly saying, “Hold my beer” and taking over for stretches. 1-9 played well, although KAT had a short stretch where he did some abysmally stupid things with the ball (and a few hands in my pockets moves on defense, but I guess you just live with that).
I’ll quibble with Knicks Fan about our end of bench. I actually felt sorry for Kolek, the offense had to come from Clarkson or Sochan as the other two out there were Jemison and Huk. It looked like Kolek knew he was screwed, as he threw up a couple of ill-timed threes.
But that really is a quibble. I get why Brown did that, nice to give everyone a run even if the lineup made no sense. And over five minutes for most of them! Thibs wouldn’t have bent until 2:14 left…
Also odd that Mitch previously played 19+ minutes and got 15 rebounds, and last night played 15+ minutes and got 3. Not a problem, we outrebounded them anyway (including on ORs, if barely). Just peculiar. He didn’t seem off (a steal and two blocks), so I guess it’s the random bouncing of the ol’ basketball.
I think we might want to take a close look at Dyson Daniels’ brother Dash.
Siakam was a late bloomer as far as the 3PT shot goes, but he was pretty polished coming out of college, where he was player of the year in the WAC and averaged 20-12 with 2+ blocks in 34mpg.
Diawara hasn’ shown those rebounding and shot-blocking chops yet, but maybe it is due to the way he was coached. Seems like a quick study, and his instincts are pretty good. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he dramatically improves in those areas in the next couple of years.
Here’s a fun teaser video about Diawara including some film on both his offense and defense.
Knicks have sneaked into the Top 10 in defensive rating.
I also think Diawara is engaged at a high level. He is in the mix a lot, which speaks to his bb IQ and maturity. We might have really scored with him. A diamond and not so rough.
The member of the Knick’s scouting team that advocated for Diawara needs a big bloody raise!
You guys are getting me to focus on and get more excited about Diawara. He still makes a ton of rookie mistakes, but so do KAT and Hart, if we’re being honest. I’m looking forward to watching his development, it all looks very real.
I think we can do better than Jemison for our two-way contract. We already have a no-offense big man minutes filler in both Huk and Sochan. We could use a big man with a little more offensive skill.
I think we should see if we can sign Olivier Sarr (Alex Sarr’s brother) to a two-way contract. He can make threes and score pretty well. Also, I think his defense is good since the g-league teams he has played on have always had top defenses and the team he is on now is the best defense in g-league. Not that that matters much but it at least hints at some defensive talent.
“You guys are getting me to focus on and get more excited about Diawara. He still makes a ton of rookie mistakes, but so do KAT and Hart, if we’re being honest. I’m looking forward to watching his development, it all looks very real.”
I think we can say with a high degree of certainty that Mo is already a top-9 rotation player for a good team.
What sets him apart from every other pick of the last decade…including Mitch, RJ, Obi, IQ, Grimes, Deuce, Dadiet…is the combnation of measurables and 2-way potential. Siakam is a pretty high bar, as is OG, but he’s got some qualities that put him into that bucket. It seems like his mere “presence” in terms of court coverage is impactful. He stretches the floor on O and shrinks it on D.
Just to quibble on a slow Saturday afternoon, I like the Siakim comparison better than the OG one. While they’re all long, rangy wings who can shoot and defend, OG’s defense is unparalleled. Maybe Mo gets there, he certainly has a motor on him and moves his feet constantly, but there’s also OG’s uncanny timing and hand-eye coordination that would be hard to replicate. On the other hand, I’m already calmer when Mo is dribbling down court toward traffic than I am when OG is doing it!
My sense with Siakim, and I haven’t spent all that much time watching him, is that he’s really good at almost everything, while not being super great at any one particular thing. Pascal rebounds and passes much better than OG, which I think Mo could eventually do as well. On the other hand, Pascal’s not nearly as good as OG at shooting threes, while tiny sample size but Diawara is maybe looking to be better than either one of them…
Sarr seems interesting but I’m not sure the juice is worth the squeeze with only 22 games left. That’s maybe 20 minutes of court time.
You’re probably not wrong but if he shows out and is better than Hukporti he could replace him or Clarkson on the main roster right before the postseason and possibly be an upgrade.
I think 3rd string center is really our biggest weakness going into the postseason. If either Mitch or Towns get banged up or into foul trouble we don’t have much behind them. I don’t think I trust Hukporti or Sochan to fill in behind them. Maybe they show something between now and then but so far both seem underwhelming.
Raven, for me, what sets Siakam apart from OG and Mo is his bag on the offensive end. Siakam is a legit 1A type of player who can score at all 3 levels, and both on and off the ball. He has a formidable post/iso game. On the offensive end, he’s somewhat similar to Julius Randle…yet is a far better defensive player.
OG tries to force some creation but is really more of a 3-and-D kind of player with limited skills inside the arc. So I think Mo compares more favorably to him in that sense.
As to defense, it’s hard to visualize what OG was at age 20, but if you compare their rookie stats, there are a lot of similarities. Mo’s are slightly better on a per-36 basis, but OG played a lot more minutes. Maybe Mo’s hot shooting levels off, but right now, he has the edge.
I know I’m getting too giddy about him, but Diawara might just wind up being even better than OG. He has some real ball skills and passing chops. For his first 2 seasons he averaged around 20mpg and was at a very low usage and strictly an off-the-ball player. And if you watch some of those defensive clips in the video I linked in an earlier post, he seems to have a lot of the same defensive traits as OG.
I don’t think he has much in common with Siakam.
Diawara is much more of a perimeter player who can shoot and sling passes to the opposite corner out of the pick and roll.
Siakam is more of an interior player. He killed us in the mid-post shooting over guys more than taking them off the dribble from the 3pt line. Diawara basically doesn’t shoot unless he’s behind the 3pt line or at the basket.
That’s fair. If he’s good enough to play over Hukporti, it’d absolutely be worth it.
And to your point, the 3rd string does struggle on offense and I do think it’s because none of them can shoot.
If we cut Clarkson, since we have a surplus of small guards already, he’d at least give us some optionality if it ever comes down to using a 3rd string C.
Break up the Hornets!
Final word from me today (we all hope) on the comparison. I agree Siakam has a serious bag, but of course Mo is a bitty baby, and god knows how he was used/was allowed to do before he got here.
Also, Mo seems to have a high gravity point, where he’s stand-up tall, which is one reason I gravitate toward Siakam, who plays similarly tall; whereas OG has thighs that are girders of man-steel that allow him to stay in a leopard’s crouch all damn game if he wants, which gives him a base to shoot those octopus arms out at whim.
Finally, Mo is an inch taller than Siakam, two inches taller than OG. But he’s 15 pounds lighter than OG, and 20 pounds lighter than Pascal. So he may have to fill out a bit before becomes a formidable post player (while also learning how to play in the post…).
keep waiting for the hornets to start losing again, hasn’t really happened much in 2026…they’ve beaten a few good teams too…
cool to see lamelo’s game maturing…I really enjoy watching brandon miller play, nipples is just straight automatic, from everywhere…
let’s hope they finish in the 8th seed, let the pistons deal with them in the first round…
The thing I like about Diawara is his handle. He has enough handle to think he’ll eventually be a shot creator. He has to work on his finish, especially in traffic, but hopefully that will come. If you combine that good 3p shooting, his motor and length on defense it’s easy to picture a very good two-way player. The trip from where he is now to where he’s going is probably a few years, but he’s already good enough to play. Next year could be exciting if he takes a big step.
I think they’ll keep him unless he wants out.
I’m obviously not a fan, but he is an experienced “break glass in case of emergency” pro which probably puts him ahead of many others that will be available.
man-steel
These are good comments. Mo isn’t the physical presence that Siakim is/was. Fair point, though they look a lot alike.
This site uses User Verification plugin to reduce spam. See how your comment data is processed.