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Knicks sign St. John’s guard to Summer League deal – Posting & Toasting
Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson breaks silence on free agency: ‘Very a possibility’ – Posting & Toasting
Why Knicks should go into second apron as they look to repeat next season – SNY
NBA free agency: Whom the Knicks can target and 10 players to watch – Newsday
NBA free agency 2026: How much all 30 teams can spend this summer – ESPN
Knicks New Draft Picks Jack Kayil & Tyler Nickel Feat Ersin Demir – Knick of Time
Knicks Free Agency Update | Leon Rose Roomates Podcast Reaction | Knicks Weekly Ep 154 – Knicks Fan TV
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204 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.06.29)”
So one more excruciating day before the mystery is solved. At least it seems that way. The mystery? To what degree do the Knicks run it back?
The smart money right now is on the stupid decision: Mitch is gone. Shamet stays. Anyone who has money on Dolan relenting doesn’t know Dolan. Not that there’s zero chance. Just something close to it, probably along the lines of hitting the lottery at the 14th spot under the outgoing system.
Assuming he doesn’t relent, what are the chances that Mitch stays and Shamet is the odd man out?
I’m putting it at about 20%. It would require Mitch to turn down something like $5+M AAV for whatever contract length he is offered.
First, is there any team with the cap space that is crazy/stupid enough to offer him a long-term deal of “starters” money? Meaning something in the $18-22M range, or alternatively, Josh Hart money? I’m guessing no, but it certainly isn’t impossible. And if that happens, I personally would understand the Knicks not competing with that offer. For me, the absolute max I would pay Mitch is the NTPMLE even allowing for going over the second apron.
So the question becomes, will Mitch be willing to sign for less than the NTPMLE, meaning like $5MAAV less?
Obviously it would be an extremely hard sell. Now, if anyone can sell Mitch on the idea, it would be Leon and WWW. But even so, that means means losing Shamet.
So my question to the board (and hopefully the answers are not loaded with Dolan hate, we’ve covered that ground) is:
Will Mitch take that discount if offered? And if yes, would you prefer that and losing Shamet over keeping Shamet and replacing Mitch with a combo of Huk and someone like Looney, Diabate, or Richards, to name a few?
Hearing Shamet talk on that podcast has now made me think maybe I’d rather keep Shamet. He’s a pro’s pro and having a slew of guards off the bench who can all get hot – Shamet, deuce, Clarkson – is a real advantage. And I think while Mitch’s particular skill set can’t ever be fully replaced, we can probably find a back up big who defends and rebounds decently well but is also maybe more reliable, better free throw shooter with a little bit more of an offensive game – and that might offset losing the elite skills Mitch does have.
This is where I’m at, too, Swifty. Shamet is also more realistic to bring back if Guitar Jimmy won’t budge about staying under the second apron. It sucks that we have to choose, but Landry is my choice. The other four starters plus Landry replacing Hart is a lethal freaking lineup, as we saw in the play we kept discussing yesterday, where we put Wemby in the blender with constant drives and kickouts until Mikal had an open corner 3.
I don’t think Mitch will take the discount because who knows how many more big contracts will he sign? Will this be the last one?
Between Shamet and Mitch, my preference is to keep Mitch, first of all because he’s the longest tenured Knick and second because his defense can change games when it matters most – in the playoffs.
Shamet can change games too, if he’s hot, but i have more confidence in getting a player close to Shamet’s production, while a player close to Mitch’s seems harder to find.
Either way, i’m still holding out hope that we go into the 2nd apron to sign Mitch and Shamet. Maybe Leon makes a promise to Dolan that he’ll get under it before the season ends. I trust Leon to be able to do what he thinks is best, he seems very good at convincing people to do what he wants.
The Bill Simmons podcast was fun today. He whined a good deal about how no one in the NBA is willing to pay up for Jaylen Brown after the great season he just had. “I don’t get it. He was top 5 in MVP and Portland won’t give up Donovan Clingan?” It’s nice to know the league has caught on to Boston’s sell high BS.
Also caught a little KFS and apparently Jeremy Cohen has already walked back his entire misguided “analysis.”
I do feel like Cohen often starts from an appeal to authority position: “If the front office wants to do it, then it makes sense, so let me figure out how best to articulate why it makes sense.” So when he assumed it was Leon who wanted to stay under the apron, he framed his analysis that way. Once it became clear this was all coming from Dolan, Cohen felt like he could attack the decision.
Both Dallas and Toronto reportedly in “serious” conversations with the Clippers about trading for Kawhi. Given his age, the fact that this past season was relatively anomalous about his health, and that we still don’t know what kind of punishment Kawhi might face from the league whenever the tree scam investigation is concluded, I wish either team luck with that.
I haven’t changed my view.
I think Shamet is probably more replaceable because we already have Deuce and we also have a few other young wings we could always get an upside surprise from is year or next. However, Mitch is probaly going to give us fewer games, is always a serious injury risk, the broken hand is still a mystery but hints at other issues, FTs are an issue in the playoffs and imo he’s not as consistently impactful as he used to be. Under no circumstances would I give him a long contract.
I’ll just throw out one other thing.
Deuce is due for a big payday that will probably make it harder to stay under the 2nd apron the following year wih all the other extensions involved. If they are hell bent on staying under it permanently, we could always trade Deuce for a pick asset and possibly bring back Shamet and Mitch.
My choice is just go over now, but assuming we do’t do that, then Mitch is the one out because he makes the most money and is the least reliable.
Looney or Nic Richards?
I think my preference might be Richards? He seems bigger and stronger than Looney and would replace more of the “presence” that Mitch brings to the table.
Anytime non-Mitch alternatives are contemplated it radicalizes me further in the direction of thinking we should keep Mitch come hell or high water. They are all bad! This is why they are available for a portion of the TPMLE or less.
When the Suns just traded for Miles Bridges, maybe they actually thought they were getting Mikal back for pretty cheap.
Virtually every poster here prefers to keep Mitch, especially over the available alternatives. Alas, it is what it is. Maybe it happens out of the blue, but for now there’s no use crying about it. The question becomes what’s the best feasible option, given the directive that hamstrings the front office?
Considering the constraints, I’d rather keep Shamet. He really proved himself to be uniquely tough in these playoffs, and I think at his final payout (7-8 mil per), he ends up being the better deal.
Of course I want them both back, but with Shamet, everything but Mitch stays as is, and we can add a vet center as our 14th man. In order to just keep Mitch, we would have to at least also trade one of Dadiet/Deuce/Kolek or maybe even two of them to get Mitch a contract starting at roughly $10 mil. And we might have to roster both rookies. Idk maybe there’s a way Aller can get a better outcome than that, but I’m assuming Mitch will get offers starting at 15 mil, so we’d have to be at least sort of close to that.
Now, if we kept them both with Mitch at $15 mil per, that would force Dolan to pay roughly an extra $85 mil of tax plus extra salary. It’s not my money, so I say fuck yeah, spend it! But I’m guessing Jimmy doesn’t want to after making roughly $145 mil off this year’s playoff run. Like many of you, I don’t buy the “basketball” reasons for staying under but maybe there are some legit ones. I just don’t think replacing Mitch with Jock Lansdale is a good basketball move, call me crazy.
Edwards III running through five potential FA Mitch replacements:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7398983/2026/06/29/knicks-mitchell-robinson-free-agency/
Yeah if we have to choose, everyone but Mitch sounds better than Mitch plus losing Shamet and another younger player or two.
I don’t know. I’m optimistic that we can make up for the loss of Mitch in other ways, especially if we do keep Shamet. And, regardless of the second apron, I just don’t think it’s wise to resign Mitch for MORE than he’s making now. Maybe it does up our odds of repeating this year a little bit (especially if Shamet returns too), but it could also really backfire on us if he gets hurt.
I keep coming back to the fact that Mitch’s last contract was signed BEFORE he missed almost 2 seasons to an injury and when he was a starter. 15 to 20 million for back up big sounds insane to me, even if the second apron wasn’t an issue.
I’ve always held the opinion that Landry is criminally underrated. Very often either Josh or Mikal doesn’t have it, and Landry’s ability to slide in for either of them seamlessly was a very understated reason for our success.
If you look at lineup data with Deuce in it, it seems like he can do that job, too. But there is a great deal of selection bias baked into those statistics. There are many situations where Deuce can’t play because he’s too small, and both Thibs and Brown avoided those situations. This keeps his lineup data looking cleaner than it would be if he had to play all the time. Landry has no such limitation, which IMO makes him more valuable than Deuce even though Deuce might be the better player in a vacuum.
Nick Richards sucks.
I don’t think Diabate will be available.
Looney is fine as a backup C.
Besides all the clutch shots, I was pleasantly surprised by Shamet’s defense in the playoffs. Easily our best on ball defender off the bench.
I really hope we keep him
Just so we can all be sad, from Macri today:
“Mitch? His 6.7 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes is the highest rate in NBA postseason history. Moses Malone, Dennis Rodman, Steven Adams…none of them top 5.0. Robinson is quite literally in a league of his own. Josh Hart may get rebounds that break teams, but Mitchell Robinson gets rebounds that win series.
And now, a championship.”
Please someone send that blurb to Leon/Dolan ASAP!!!!!!!
Not a subscriber, and I won’t ask a writer to violate another writer’s paywall, but I have a couple ideas I doubt are on there:
1. I mentioned this yesterday but if the Lakers want Mitch, a sign-and-trade where we take back Ayton seems feasible. To be clear, I skipped over ptmilo v Lil’ Penny, and I’m not 100% sure if that’s legal, but I think it is.
2. Kel’el Ware is on the Bucks now and makes $4.6M. I suspect they are interested in spinning off the pieces they got from Miami for more draft capital. He’s not half the rebounder Mitch is but he’s a strong rim protecter and still young. I’m not inclined to give up an unprotected 2033 pick for Kel’el Ware, but perhaps Deuce + Dadiet + a swap + a host of seconds could get the job done.
Don’t underrate Huk as the backup. If we simply accept that, we just need to add a 3rd string big man. Huk is still young and improving. With plenty of minutes as the backup early in the season he may be ready take over the job very competently by the all-star break and into the payoffs. It’s not like we are asking him to become a scorer. We are asking him to defend and rebound at a high level, occasionally catch a lob and make FTs (lol). That’s a much easier role than if we needed him score and stetch the floor.
Huk could very well be it. My worry there is that we will squander all of our opportunities to shore up that position wishcasting that he *is* it, only to find out that he’s not quite there yet and then we have nothing we can do about it.
Leon knows.
I suspect Leon & Brock have not made their case to Dolan yet. When managing dipshits like Dolan, you have to do 100% of the homework up front and come to him with a clear outline of all the options, and make him think it’s his decision to go over the second apron. That sort of meeting is unlikely to take place until the 11th hour.
I still think there’s a chance. If Leon didn’t believe there was, he’d likely have moved to re-sign Huk already.
I would trade Dadier and offer Mitch 4/48. That should do it unless another team offers 3/60 or more. Which if they do, I would be fine letting Mitch go.
4/48 means losing Shamet, and I don’t think he’s easily replaceable….but he’s more replaceable than Mitch. I also think Mitch was far from his best self this postseason, and believe he will regain his previous dominance off the bench.
I would be wild if after all the spilled digital ink, we just end up bringing back Shamet and Mitch.
What did he say?
I may have time to listen later today, but a quick note would help if I don’t.
I’d be very hesitant to go 4 years on Mitch.
Our advantage is being able to offer more than the MLE, i.e. something like $20M/year for 2 years. If we’re going to cede our advantage to stay under the second apron, we should just let him go.
What Alan said. He started by assuming the front office wanted to do it, then he performed mental gymnastics to make it make sense. Once he found out it was Dolan’s idea, he changed his mind.
To be clear: Macri and his cohost said this on his behalf. It’s at the beginning of the McNutt podcast from Friday.
Here’s a more extensive list of potentially available centers. There are more available than you might think, Would anyone consider Jonás Valenciunas if Denver waives and stretches him?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7382348/2026/06/28/nba-free-agency-jalen-duren-hartenstein-deandre-ayton/
I don’t really understand The Athletic’s paywall. Sometimes I can read to my heart’s content, sometimes I cannot read almost anything at all, and sometimes it just depends on what device I’m using, seemingly without rhyme or reason.
We could potentially swing staying under the 2nd this season and Mitch at 4/48.
Don’t really see a reason not to go to 4yrs. This is the title window, we should go in now. We can figure out moving him later if needed.
Apropos of nothing, some of the recent WNBA drama has made it to my instagram feed. It feels like race relations in that league are as healthy as the prison yard in a women’s state penitentiary.
They are leaving a ton of money on the table by not partnering with Bravo for a side-by-side reality series.
Also, we’ve only been rostering 14 players. If we re-sign Shamet, we’d be at 13 with only 1 center on the roster.
“They are leaving a ton of money on the table by not partnering with Bravo for a side-by-side reality series.”
Or Lifetime.
We could get a 3rd C by signing Kayil or Nickel to a 2-way. We’d spend an extra $1M on a vet min.
We could sign Huk to a 2-way to keep as an emergency only 3rd C. This would add no money.
We could sign a 3rd C for the vet min or whatever remains below the 2nd using the TP-MLE
Day’ron Sharpe just signed a 2-year, $ 20 million contract, and I think a lot of teams would prefer him to Mitch tbh. So maybe we have a chance with Mitch?
You know I agree with the supporting argument.
If we’re committed to hard capping ourselves, though, it’s extremely high risk to put all our bench eggs in Mitch’s basket. I’d rather diversify the risk with Landry and other bets.
FWIW I don’t think anyone’s going to offer Mitch 4 years. And Scott Perry’s probably the only guy willing to offer him 3. My guess is 2 years at the full MLE is the offer to beat.
Here’s my question. Let’s say we go into the second apron for Landry and Mitch. When does this affect our ability to keep our core together? If you keep extending everyone will the tax be too odious even for a billionaire owner? Who does keeping Mitch cost us first? Who does it cost us eventually?
Yeah, I should clarify that a 4th year should only be done if the extra guaranteed money offsets a shorter, higher AAV from another team. Not just throw a 4th year at Mitch for no reason.
If Mitch came in at 2/20. We could structure it as an ascending deal and salary dump Dadiet, then fill out the roster with vet min deals. Should just squeeze under.
“Anytime non-Mitch alternatives are contemplated it radicalizes me further in the direction of thinking we should keep Mitch come hell or high water. They are all bad!”
This is the effing problem and why I think we will lose Mitch. Any semi-contending team that needs a C, starter or solid back-up–and there are a few– will look at that list and be willing to overpay, perhaps big time.
But Leon has earned my trust. Last year’s off-season was a bit of a shit-show–being rejected by his first choices for coach, gobbling (pun intended) up Yabu, grabbing Clarkson who was end of bench for long stretches, nabbing Brogdon who was expected to win the vet spot over Shamet and further relegate Kolek. A good dose of luck, patience, recognising mistakes and addressing them because he preserved some roster/asset flexibility were key. So whatever happens with Mitch and Shamet (we retain one or the other, we retain both, we lose both)…I am going to wait until at least after the trade deadline in February before making a conclusive judgment.
danvt, if we bring everyone back next year the tax is around $100M. For reference, teams like the Suns, Clippers, and Warriors have paid north of $150M to keep far lesser teams together.
The following year (2027-28) we would reach repeater tax level, and now we’re talking $250-400M, which no one has ever approached.
Even if Dolan were the best owner in the world, the most we can realistically expect is two more seasons of this team before we have to do what the Celtics and Warriors did to get under the tax line.
I mean, if we could get Mitch starting at 9 per and Landry starting at 7 per, that’s only like 50 mil in extra tax penalties/salary for going over the 2nd apron. I think that’s with trading Dadiet.
At this point you have to figure out some way to go into the second apron and make it seem like it was Dolan’s idea all along. If you’ve ever dealt with a malignant narcissist you know how this works.
I get the distinct feeling that somebody told Dolan once “you should try to avoid the second apron” then he went on a podcast and said it out loud, and now he can’t go back on it without suffering narcissistic injury. So you have to figure out a way for him to save face. Mitchell Robinson is basically his reflecting pool.
Jeremy said his previous justification of the second apron duck was based on the understanding that the front office was making the decision because they thought there was a more optimal two-year period to go into it than the one starting next season.
Upon learning it was truly just Dolan freewheeling, he thinks it’s as stupid as the rest of us.
This comports with what he’s told me about his feelings on the situation.
I have to say that as much as I’ve hated on Dolan over the decades, I never thought we’d be getting outspent by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
My theory on Dolan is that he actually hates us. Any happiness he felt from winning the champion was offset by the knowledge that it made us happy too.
This is a chance to show off his power: he let Leon create something beautiful that we loved, and to show that he’s the big boss, he’s going to look us right in the eye while he gradually dismantles what he could easily afford to keep together.
I suspect he developed this belief during the CBA negotiations when the board of governors presented the second apron to other NBA owners as a de facto hard cap because the penalties are so restrictive. He probably didn’t pay attention to the details and never read the fine print. To go back to the Trump analogy, it’s like briefing the POTUS — just feed him the bullet points (“second apron = suicide, got it.”).
That’s why I think when Leon actually shows him the side by side comparison he may be surprised and change his mind. But it will be his decision, of course.
Brock Aller, “Did you forget? I already tried that. It’s magnetically sealed.”
I would think Milwaukee would see Ware as a major building block, and I highly doubt you could get him for a Deuce/Dadiet plus extras package. Ware has actually been a very good rebounder, averages 14.7 boards and 3 stocks per 36 without fouling a lot. He also shot .395 from 3PT and 74% at the line. And of course he’s young and has upside. I think people are kind of sleeping on him honestly.
I’d rather have Ware than Mitch straight up.
I think we can have this discussion without minimizing the impact that going over the second apron this year will have on the ensuing four years. There seems to be an underlying assumption that this year is our best chance to win a championship out of the next four. Or that going into the second apron this will not impact what Leon can do to field a championship contender in the other three years, since we’re likely to have to lose some core players anyway due to impending extensions. The math seems pretty complicated, but my gut tells me that some of this seems a little bit like the marshmallow test. By that, I mean that I do think there’s a trade-off between this year and years 2, 3, 4, and 5, all of which should be still inside the Brunson OG KAT (or Swap in Mikal) window.
While we do have a top-notch medical staff, being able to pivot in the case of injury is an important consideration. And the marginal difference between Mitch and whoever replaces him has to be weighed against that. Which is why I’m not too grounded on one side of the dilemma.
Chris Nolan already made that movie
Can’t we just figure out a way to let Dolan do what Trump does? Create a problem and then “solve” it and take the credit for it?
Like can Leon convince him that there was some way Dolan made the extra money this last year to pay for the tax and so Dolan can be like “well, actually I was able to do this that made us more money so we can use that to go over the SA because I just love this team and the fans so much, you’re welcome!”
I would not rather have Ware than Mitch, but I think you’re right, JK — I underestimated his value to Milwaukee. They seem to view him as the biggest prize of the deal, and are unlikely to flip him.
We’ve got a number of birthdays coming up. Brunson and Mikal both turn 30 in August. OG turns 29 in July. KAT will be celebrating 31 very early in the regular season (November), and he’ll be joining Hart and myself at that age.
Now, I think these guys all take great care of themselves and will be good players for years to come. But we are not OKC and the general NBA aging curve sure seems to be screaming “DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO WIN RIGHT NOW” at us.
I wouldn’t galaxy brain this one too much. The roster most likely to win the championship is probably the one that just did it.
I really wish there was a way for Mike Brown to convey what he would like to happen in terms of who to keep and who we can afford to let go. Mike, if you’re on here, we want to hear from you (no matter how you’re disguised)!
Bingo. Also, consider that a repeat title in this era of non-repeaters would be one of the most prestigious achievements in NBA history. We already saw how just one ring moved the franchise valuation.
One truth remains: if your last coin buys you a crown, it’s a fair price.
We’ll likely lose Deuce next year.
We have no 1st Rd pick reinforcements coming.
We’re not going to have meaningful FA talent joining.
We’re going to be losing players without a reliable means to replace them. The time is now.
Dolan probably also correctly sees that Knicks fans and pundits are giving all the credit to Rose, Brown, and the players, and that the same fans and pundits see Dolan as a tasteless cretin. I do think there’s some spite involved.
“You guys are so smart, go figure out a way to win without going into the second apron.”
That sort of thing. The sort of thing a gormless cretin would say.
Because I am very normal and well adjusted I am spending my lunch break going through the Malik Beasley indictment and watching replays from the games he bet on himself. They are hilarious once you know what he was doing.
Here are his 4 rebounds from a game in which he instructed the squad to take the over on 3.5. You’ll see him fly in for a rebound at the very end of a fully decided game like his life depended on it.
Did he bet on the Knicks series where he dropped 2 passes?
Again, the idea of giving Mitch 4/48 is 1) assuming another team offers something like 3/45, and 2) that it would put us just under the second apron (I think we need to unload Dadier to do this).
I think it’s stupid not to go over the apron for all the reasons enumerated here and elsewhere (thanks, Fred!). But if we simply can’t, I think it’s possible we could keep everyone except Shamet with that kind of move.
And yes, I would absolutely prioritize Mitch over Landry, who seems like a great, thoughtful dude as well as a fantastic shooter and excellent defender.
DeAndre Ayton just picked up his $8M option today. Spreadsheet-wise, that seems like the best case scenario to me if we go through with this. But what I’ve read of him suggests he doesn’t exactly live up to the selfless ethos that pervades the current team. He’d be in a contract year, though, so maybe you get his best self.
“DeAndre Ayton just picked up his $8M option today. Spreadsheet-wise, that seems like the best case scenario to me if we go through with this. But what I’ve read of him suggests he doesn’t exactly live up to the selfless ethos that pervades the current team. He’d be in a contract year, though, so maybe you get his best self.”
NBA history is littered with teams hoping to get a particular player’s “best self” under similar circumstances. It usually doesn’t end well.
I trust Leon and Wes to know if Ayton has the right personality for the locker room.
Worth noting the Lakers probably have to attach a pick to move him..
Ayton would be an entirely different look at C as he is basically the anti-Mitch. He has terrible off-ball awareness and a low motor on defense, takes plays off, and is mostly looking to get the ball in his hands and score. Unfortunately, he also has no stretch aspect to his game. Gets a lot of buckets on screen and roll actions. Most Laker fans think he sucks.
I don’t think he’s a winning player really, but he can still get buckets.
if we’re heading in that direction, kevon looney does have 3 rings already…let him get a 4th and 5th with us…from what I recall soft spoken, good locker room type player…
FYI I have written and subsequently deleted half a dozen posts about how much sense I think it makes for both sides if LeBron joined the Knicks. The idea is we’re big enough now to fold him in. It wouldn’t be his team, he’d be the Earl Monroe to Jalen’s Clyde. I know this will never happen so I’m not going to stand on it. But I think it makes so much sense that I want to at least speak it into existence.
might be wrong, but huk and diabate seem similar, just with diabate getting a lot more opportunity to play…
too funny, a season ago was sure KAT was better as a power forward compared to playing as a center…nope, no more…
similar for OG moving up in the roster…heck, if anything I’m curious to see more lineups with OG at the five…
KAT, huk, looney, and on occasion OG seems good to go…KAT, Mitch, huk would be better, but…oh well…
Looney stands out to me as the best Huk insurance. You lose rim protection and a bit of offensive rebounding, but you gain a guy that will not file himself off the floor when KAT and Huk have just done so.
I continue to believe in Huk more than most folks here. He can’t do some of the things that Mitch does, but he can’ do other things that Mitch can’t. The first 20 games are so might look ugly, but there’s potential there.
Draymond Green just opted out and Mike Brown and he clearly have a good relationship… (Don’t take this seriously)
Turnover %: Huk – 28.8, Diabate – 14.6
The only thing Huk can do that Mitch can’t is hit FTs and it’s theoretically easy to play around. Just sit Mitch when we’re in the bonus.
The offense starts grinding whenever Huk is in. He’s fine as a backup but his offense is very limited even compared to Mitch. Brown probably plays Looney ahead of him.
If there’s one thing we know about Leon, it’s that we don’t know shit about Leon. Specifically, how he operates behind closed doors. If there’s ever been a more secretive FO in the history of professional sports, I can’t recall it.
Hell, they’re not even bothering to trot out the boilerplate “Mitch & Landry were a big part of our championship team and we’d love to have them back” to placate the nervous fanbase. We really have no clue what the internal thinking on the subject might be apart from Dolan’s comments. And since we all know Dolan to be an imbecile, it’s easy to presume that a smart guy like Leon couldn’t possibly be on the same page as his idiot boss.
Maybe that’s the case, maybe it’s not. It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that owner & FO are in alignment on this. Leon has a demonstrated track record of defying the conventional wisdom and charting his own course. He steadfastly pursued a hybrid rebuild while nearly every fan jack denounced it as pointless & hollered that Leon should be tearing the team down to the studs. His actual views on the best way forward in free agency may be equally unpopular. Should that be the case, we’ll blame Dolan, of course, but it will still be on Leon to somehow make it work.
Kevin Looney seems like a very pleasant fellow who stands 6’9″. Which means he’s no rim protector, but if you’re looking for a stretch 5 then you have to accept his career 17.9% average from three (15% last year). He can hit free throws at a 60% clip, so there’s that…
Hubs, I’ve thought about Lebron too.
But here is what I keep thinking. Yes, we’re big enough to take him on now and it wouldn’t be his team but now would Lebron want to join the Knicks because if we did not repeat, he would take the blame for it.
Draymond Green honestly is a very intriguing idea, not that he would do it.
Looney seems like a nice enough guy.
What I was reading about Nic Richards I liked.
But I do think if this comes to pass, the move might be to package Deuce/Dadiet and some seconds to a team that has an extra center. WE might be able to get a better center that way than going to FA route (and bring back Shamet).
EB, you are assuming that Huk is who he was last year and always will be. He’s going into his third year and really hasn’t had the playing time with rotation players to work out the kinks. He is a decent rim protector, an excellent rebounder, and has more offensive skill in pretty much every area than Mitch except possibly catching lobs. He runs the floor quite a bit better as well.
I very much disagree with your take on how unserious Mitch’s free-throw woes are. We are pretty fortunate to have played three teams with coaches who did not know how to fully exploit that problem. There are ways to get Mitch on the line in the last two minutes of a game that were not exploited at all. For example, you can’t use Mitch as a screener in those situations because if you foul him when he’s setting the screen, that’s not considered off the ball. Same if he grabs an offensive or defensive rebound, that’s a loose ball foul. On that critical offensive rebound, Mitch was lucky. He had a chance to get rid of the ball and that somebody was there to pass it to in that split second. A smart coach would’ve told his players that if Mitch gets his hands on the ball, foul him immediately.
Katz and Begley and Macri have been doing great work getting the word out to the general fandom that this is all Dolan’s fault and it makes no sense. I appreciate that. A week ago the media was largely carrying Dolan’s water for him.
Looney is a good passer and rebounder. Brown ran a movement offense around Sabonis in Sacramento and worked with Looney in GS. He’s not an ace defender, but he can run the offense that Brown wants to run. Looney has a career average of 3.4asts/36 to 1.2 TOs.
Huk can’t hand the ball off or set a screen without turning it over. A center who does nothing else on offense should not have as many TOs per 36 as ballhandlers like Alvarado and Hart. Yet he does. This was a problem noted in Vecenie’s draft guide before stepping foot in the NBA. Huk does not process offense well.
Huk shot under 30% from every area of the floor outside of 3ft. His little flip shots are, perhaps, technically more skill than Mitch has shown, but they’re not good enough to warrant actually being considered an offensive skillset.
He can hit free throws, though, EB. That’s what moves the needle. All Mitch can do is grab impossible rebounds and force the best player in the world to take a terrible shot with the game on the line.
Looney’s strength is as a positional defender, even at 6’9”. Smart defender, elite defender of screens, plays within the team concept, does the little things well.
I’d be all for Kevon Looney if not for the durability concerns. He had quite a banged up season last year including some issues with his knees. Played only 20 something games and never got it going. A healthy Looney would be one of our better non-Mitch options.
I like Huk’s defense a lot. Maybe that and a little improvement on offense will be enough, but at the end of the day I don’t think Huk is capable of playing the sort of basketball Brown wants to play.
I’m not writing off Huk. But we’re a championship team and wish casting on our young players is not something I want to kill our shot at repeating. You can’t just look at the ceiling, you need to look at the floor. Huk’s floor has not been good enough so far.
EB, again, handing the ball off without turning it over is a skill that can easily be taught. Both iHart and Mitch needed time to develop their games.
Mitch’s floor is DNP-injured. Just above that is “played 12 minutes in a game when we needed him for 30.”
Mitch was a better offensive player than Huk at his first summer league. I’m not exaggerating at all.
I like Huk. He’s genuinely impressed me on defense, which is more than I can say for most Mr. Irrelevants and 3rd bigs. But he is a truly awful offensive player such that no contender can plan on him being a full-time rotation player.
He may yet get better, I’d be delighted. But if we enter the season with him as the backup to our notoriously foul prone starting center, I will not think we are serious about trying to go back-to-back.
iHart put up 4.5 BPM in his age 23 season, while Mitch put up 2.2.
Huk was at -2.3.
I like Huk and I appreciate the fact that he looks like a Black version General Zod large henchman from Superman II, but there is a large talent gap here. Huk’s floor is DNP-CD, which is a worse floor than Mitch’s. Making him the backup is a huge drop in our team’s overall quality.
Which is why you roster Ariel Hukporti as a 3rd string C.
We don’t ever need Mitch to play 30min in a regular season game.
If it came down to it, we’d play him more in the playoffs. There’s more days off and we won’t need to save him for some later point in the season.
$100m is the total cost. He only owns 20% of the economic value of the Knicks. He can’t take a $20m personal cut? – the other $80m is OPP.
Given the state of the East, I think we could easily make the NBA finals with Huk as our primary backup C. We’re really that good.
But we’re playing OKC or SA again in the finals, and KAT’s already picked up his first foul. Huk can’t play in that series, and it’s unlikely anyone we’re looking at can, either.
I often say the games are won 12 months before they’re played. We just won the chip, for instance, in large part because we fired Thibs a year ago. And I think it’s possible we might lose next year’s finals in the next three days.
Huk is a guy that you hope can figure out the offensive side of the ball with enough reps, but who is on a Jericho Sims-like “not good enough” kind of trajectory. He COULD improve enough on that side of the ball but that is absolutely not something you should bank on. It’d be a pleasant surprise if he turns out to be a good backup C on a team that is a title contender.
Best bet is to treat him as the third C and look for somebody better if we can’t bring back Mitch.
I should also point out all these scenarios involve us incinerating Pacome Dadiet, and I kinda don’t want to do that, either. He’s only turning 21 this summer and I’d like to see where this goes.
Side note – did we ever figure out why Mikal Bridges was wearing his jersey at the parade?
Why is it considered odd for Mikal to have been wearing his jersey? I mean, dragging his dog along was a little bit more odd than that.
I agree that Huk should not be penciled in as the primary backup at this point. My preference is for somebody like. Looney or Diabate. My point is that if we lose Mitch, I think he has a chance to win the job through the kinds of improvements you can reasonably expect third year players to make if they get enough reps with actual rotation players. With Mitch in front of him, that opportunity simply didn’t exist. And if Mitch is miraculously, retained, that opportunity still will not be there unless Mitch gets hurt. I just don’t think that there’s enough information to draw conclusions about him, just like there wasn’t enough information about Deuce, for example, who a lot of people wrote off at this point. Huk does not have any clear physical/athletic limitations, it’s all about refinement and consistency. personally, I think both his floor and Seuling are higher than what people are giving him credit for here.
Beyond that, I definitely think that if we lose Mitch, the job will be Huk”s to lose in training camp. He’s a far more dynamic player than Looney, and I doubt that we’re going to be able to land Diabate. Nick Richard’s’ improvement window seems to have come and gone.
Like everyone else, I’m hoping for a pleasant surprise in the next couple of days.
Love the idea of the Knicks grabbing Looney for the backup center role, and with him playing so little last year for the Pelicans, I love that his body seems to be fresh for what we’re asking from him.
He’s a smart defender who, in his prime, could move his feet well enough in isolation, a tough rebounder, and he’s very comfortable and a good passer in the free-flowing offense that Mike Brown runs.
He’s a much different type than Mitch and more like Hartenstein, but not as big or as good, obviously.
(I say this as someone who lives in the Bay Area and has watched 75% of the Warriors games for the past 25 years)
Would we be better off simply trading Mitch to his hometown Pelicans for Looney?
Ja Morant headed to Portland.
Again, assumes facts not in evidence.
Yes, we all know what Dolan’s royal decree signifies. What I – and everyone outside the inner circle – doesn’t know is where Leon stands. In typical Leon fashion, he has not uttered a single word on the subject one way or the other.
The oft-repeated assertions that Leon could not possibly be on board with the royal decree and that he’s pushing back against it behind closed doors is 100% projection. It’s premised on the belief that Dolan’s mandate is so obviously wrongheaded that the POBO must want the same thing the majority of fans want. We’ve already seen that Leon has no problem making moves that run contrary to overwhelming fan consensus. He’s given absolutely no indication that this time will be any different.
Morant has played 79 games in the last 3 years, and not particularly good games. Grant is still solid and they’re signed for the same number of guaranteed years (two more each).
I think the Grizzlies made out like bandits and Tom Dundon wanted to do One Neat Trick to increase jersey sales.
Fred Katz has explicitly reported that the front office wants to go over the second apron.
From the Katz article linked above:
“Anonymous league sources” is not Leon Rose. Shit, the quote is not even attributed to anyone in the Knicks FO. Wake me when someone with some connection to the team, anonymously or not, weighs in on the matter.
Landry is back!
And Brazil wins!
Nice day for me.
I am at once very happy Shamet is back and dismayed that the salary sure looks like the TPMLE, which hard caps you at the second apron.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be since we have early bird rights on him. But that would be an hell of a coincidence.
There’s no reason to use the TP-MLE on Shamet. It’d just waste it because we can sign him anyway.
This figure does leave us a good chunk of the TP-MLE though.
Shamet’s back!! 4 years, $24 mil!!!
Really?!? Fantastic news!!!
not the tpmle. can’t be 4 years and would make no sense anyway.
I’m happy Shamet is back. Honestly, if all we lose is Mitch that’s not THAT bad. I think we can make up for it. If Diawara takes a step forward and we find a more reliable (if less spectacular) back up Center, we might be just fine.
Am I completely nuts for feeling like, in the aggregate, the Knicks can do a better job of replacing at least 80% of Mitch’s 15-20 minutes, than sacrificing just about every other depth piece in order to bring him back even on a discount?
I agree with the general sentiment that I’d prefer Dolan just shut up and cut the checks for going over the 2nd apron. The championship roster is already built – this is precisely the situation that justifies going over, until the roster is no longer cutting it.
But if we must deal in a reality where that’s not happening or someone is simply offering more for Mitch than could possibly be worth it to the Knicks for the uncertain future of 15-20 mins of elite backup C play if he can stay on the floor, I think I like the additional roster flexibility between all the different potential looks and weapons off the bench as matchups and game situations dictate. Brown and his staff are exactly the guys you feel good about figuring those adjustments out.
We keep talking about scenarios in the Finals where KAT gets into foul trouble vs. the Spurs, or Thunder, but there is a LOT that can happen and change between now and that hypothetical future. For all we know, Mitch’s hand fracture before the Finals was 1mm away from keeping him out of the series completely. When the Knicks finished building much of this Championship roster in 2024, much of the focus was on how to overcome the Celtics as the main threat in the East. And then Tatum ruptured his achilles, and now it appears they are running their other star out of town.
Main point being, things change. A lot, and quickly. Failing simply paying the financial penalties to keep what’s clearly good enough already together, maintaining as much flexibility in personnel and financials as possible is key to adapting to whatever happens, and it will happen. A bigger mistake would be locking themselves into a configuration based on what has already transpired, rather than what could.
Wow, that’s a bargain! I saw several projections that had him getting a deal in the neighborhood of $8-9 million AAV.
Alvarado and now Shamet – that’s awesome! I guess the lure of getting free stuff in NY for another year is worth a slightly lower salary.
My bad, long day, brain fart, this is entirely great news.
LOL and in that time I penned my unsolicited soliloquy, they signed Shamet. OK then!
Does Shamet’s $6m contract mean that we are going over the fucking Apron and signinig Mitch? – Give him a one year oversized deal and lets go win it back to back.
If this is a progressive 8% raise contract, we should be able to fit the full TP-MLE with a bit leftover for a last day signing and maybe some 10-days.
Definitely signals we’re capping ourselves.
Kris Murray who was the pick from the Josh Hart trade just got traded to Memphis with Jerami Grant for Ja Morant
i wonder if atlanta will offer mitch the mid level now that they declined kuminga
He gave the Knicks the John Tutturro is my uncle discount!
You love to see it.
Only a miracle (i.e. Dolan recanting the royal decree) will bring Mitch back now.
Love that trade for Portland. Legit steal of the century potential.
“Kris Murray who was the pick from the Josh Hart trade just got traded to Memphis with Jerami Grant for Ja Morant”
!!!
Also an under-the-radar signing: the Hawks got Devin Carter from Sacramento.
I know he’s younger, but Champagnie getting almost double what Shamet got is wild.
Obviously I don’t have the exact figures of the deals, but my spreadsheet says we’ll have $5,400 under the apron after the TP-MLE and a 10-day. Very Brock Aller amount leftover.
how much is the TP-MLE valued at?
So wait, do we still have the TP MLE or are we in vet min only territory now?
LANDRY!!!
Ever since he showcased his defense against the Pacers I have kind of fallen in love with this guy. So glad he is back.
Champagnie did average 7.5rebs/36 compared to Shamet’s 2.8.
TP-MLE is projected at a little over $6M
No, you’re not.
I agree that if we are stupid enough to hard cap ourselves, we’re better off with Landry + Jose + a cheap Mitch replacement than just Mitch.
So we’re hard capped at the second apron? Isn’t that worse than actually going into the 2A for roster flexibility purposes?
Now we literally can’t sign any other player, right?
How does this not mean Huk is our only backup C?
I believe we can still use the TP-MLE, which is $6.1M. Take this with a grain of salt as I am like Frozen Caveman Lawyer and your modern salary caps and aprons confuse me
We’re not hard capped yet.
I do assume we’ll use the TP-MLE because why not if we refuse to go over the apron.
We could always bring Huk on the vet min and use up to ~$5M of the TP-MLE on a 3rd C and placing Kayil or Nickel on a 2-way instead of a big league deal.
I don’t know how to feel. On one hand, I’m happy that Shamet will be back. On the other- I feel like this signals the end of one or maybe 2 players I like more. And that’s Deuce and obviously Mitch. I haven’t seen the details of Shamet’s deal, but 4 years at age 29 for a journeyman is a long time. I’ve seen and heard in the media alot of “The Knicks can replace Mitch with a vet min guy”. Lies. You can’t replace Mitch with a 10 mil a year center. Not a 1:1 replacement. We are now depending on KAT to keep up his defensive momentum, and for Hukporti to take a sizable leap- even if we find a serviceable vet min big.
As a matter of fact- Deuce is definitely gonna be traded by the deadline at the latest, because he’s up for an extension. I’m not freaking out over the roster, but I don’t think we have a chance at a Finals return without Mitch. Anywho…anxious to see how Leon & Co fill out the roster now.
Oh sorry, I thought we signed Shamet into the TPMLE but it looks like it’s just that his contract is coincidentally around the same amount.
Great value for Shamet then. It would set us perfectly to dip into the SA to bring back Mitch short-term, but I guess what we’re gonna do is get the best big we can fit in the TPMLE and just be less talented overall than last season. 🙁
This is nothing to worry about. A solid 3&D piece like Shamet at this number will be super tradeable.
DEMON BACK
Very relieved and happy to see this, Landry might be the best culture fit on the roster, on and off the court.
I don’t think this signals anything other than good work from the front office.
Dolan’s a dipshit. Leon can’t just go to him and ask permission to go over the second apron. That’s an abstract argument, and Dipshit is already anchored to his position.
So Leon got all the other stuff done, and he probably did the legwork on Mitch’s replacement, too.
Now he’s going to go to Dipshit with a simple A vs B choice: the deal that can bring Mitch back and the deal for the player we’ll replace him with. Within this simpler framework, there’s still a chance.
Stellar work.
Oh wow, Ja to Portland. That is interesting.
Yea…I look for a bunch of other moves out of Portland
Mitch’s true talent level can’t be replaced. But his actual output during the playoffs can.
The timing of that Kevin Heurter announcement makes me think one such offer was from the Pistons.
Absolutely not.
Maybe some of the composite stats can be mimicked but there’s no chance we’re ever replacing the offensive rebounding and the defensive impact.
The only other player who can do this is Wemby:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJ1GW9HO2qG/
So far they are doing all the right things at the right prices.
At least I can stop worrying about LeBron and Draymond now. That’d be a very hard team to root for…
Huerter getting 3 yrs/$27M from Detroit is a very funny consolation prize for them.
I meant this year’s playoffs.
https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/2071718372002127935 This would be annoying . Kind of what Miami needs
If Sacramento gets Duren, that’s one less Mitch suitor.
Obviously at this point, he only comes back if Leon Jedi mind tricks Dolan into going over the apron. But between Landry’s deal and this, maybe they don’t have to go too far over?
Pretty sure Jaylen Brown is going to Portland…. Let’s see.
Why the recency bias? We can easily replace Deuce’s output from this year’s playoffs. Should we get rid of him, too?
But at least now they have the entire season to see how things play out and figure out the best way to replace Mitch as best they can. This isn’t game 6 of the ECF and suddenly they need to replace someone irreplaceable, with no flexibility to do so.
This just seems kinda extreme. Mitch’s per minute impacts are fantastic. But the quantity of those minutes does matter. And the number of Mitch minutes to figure out is far, far less in total than figuring out an entire rotation after the 6th man.
Deuce is not a UFA until next year. You cross that bridge when you come to it. We’re at the Mitch bridge now.
Detroit lowballing Duren and then exiling him to Sacramento is very funny
Hollinger:
Keep in mind they can go over the 2nd apron and then get back under it at the trade deadline. Of course they won’t have much leverage because everyone will know, but it is possoble.
Mitch is a tough guy to peg value wise because there aren’t a lot of high quality/low quantity guys in the NBA. The two tend to correlate pretty strongly, unlike e.g. the MLB where you have elite relief pitchers. But Mitch is pretty sui generis is the NBA. Between the injuries and the limitations he really is best suited as a 15-20 minute wrecker most of the time. It’s why I don’t really get why any non-contender would be interested, but also why all the contenders with enough money are circling like vultures.
We’re simply not going to find anyone as good at the Mitch Things as Mitch. I mean, those guys don’t really exist at any price point, let alone the TPMLE range.
IMO, punting on the elite rim protection and the offensive rebounds that break teams will be a material setback to our ceiling. There will be plenty of games we don’t notice the difference because Mitch was always good for some injuries and some low/impact games, but there will be plenty of other games we wished we had a guy teams truly feared instead of Kevon Looney. It makes me sad to think about.
We’ll be champions forever but the owner still sucks.
Kessler testing the market
Duren looking for a sign and trade
Two guys def valued above Mitch, but will cost a lot more per year
I’m not sure of that ends the Curry, Lebron, Davis, Draymond dream, but that’s a lot more than I would have expected for KP given his POTs and inability to play very often.
I will say now with Shamet back this does maybe put some emotional/peer pressure on Mitch to come back if Leon can find a number that he can live with and maybe he can convince Dolan to go a little over the apron bc he got everyone else back and convinced Mitch to take less.
Yeah that’s a crazy deal for a guy who plays 30 games a season . Unless they get more help they aren’t making the playoffs (KP/Warriors).
Well Duren going to the Kings is certainly one way to address the problem of him being a playoff dud.
This makes no sense. They could have an eternity to replace Mitch and it wouldn’t help if they don’t have the wherewithal, which they don’t.
What they’ll have is the ability to bring in a much worse player, and if that’s the case they may as well do it now.
I wonder if it creates a new one, though.
Is Duren the only player in NBA history pushing for a trade to the Sacramento Kings?
doesn’t seem wise pairing a questionably coachable “elite” talent with a brand new, one year deal, type coach…
have not too much faith that ja can do much more than what he already knows, feels like he’s physically aging quickly…
deni seemed to do well with the ball in his hands, jrue is still there, and dame is coming back next season…
is this how they manage teams in the nhl?
jalen duren isn’t looking for a piece of the bag, wants the whole bag, at 22 a job working in sac town don’t seem so bad…
not getting why you are not more enamored with the avian wildlife in your area pags…
ha, while walking around monterey, especially lake el estero, have a habit of keeping track of pelicans flying overhead…do not want to get pooped on by one of those…forget the whole getting shit on by a bird is a good luck thing, an experience to be avoided…
I’d honestly rather lose Mitch than see him sacrifice ~$10M for James Dolan.
Me too but if the difference is just a few million dollars then maybe that’s enough to sway Mitch and Dolan.
Dolan is pretty much divorced from all of the decision making with this team, except for this decision. So it doesn’t matter how smart the other people in the room are. The biggest fucking moron in the room is the one making this decision. Morons generally do dumb things.
Now, this particular moron is the same half-wit who managed to accidentally hire the smart person who made the decisions that led us to a championship, which can be explained by “blind squirrel finds nut.” Hiring Leon Rose was a fluke. On paper it seemed like a bad idea. It worked out beautifully.
But there’s just no way that blind squirrel is gonna find a SECOND nut. If there’s a way to do something stupid, Guitar Jimmy will usually find it.
lol the Thunder just picked up Lu Dort’s option. Must be nice to have be a large market basketball team with deep pockets.
Honestly geo, I don’t really have the time to enjoy much of anything, per se. Too tired. I was only able to watch one Knicks game live this year, and it was G4 of the finals so I turned it off at halftime. 🙂
Got a second kid on the way so it’ll get worse before it gets better. Guess I’ll be living vicariously through your accounts of smoking bowls and playing video games for awhile longer…
As mentioned in my post that led off this thread:
“The smart money right now is on the stupid decision: Mitch is gone. Shamet stays. Anyone who has money on Dolan relenting doesn’t know Dolan. Not that there’s zero chance. Just something close to it, probably along the lines of hitting the lottery at the 14th spot under the outgoing system.”
So now that that’s out of the way (no one here still thinks that there’s any chance that Dolan reverses his edict, right?) it’a probably time to pivot to the possibilities that are out there in our post-Mitch world.
He totally could if it’s a matter of a few million dollars over. We’ll find out soon.
One of the best things about the Dhamet/Alvo/Mo trifecta is that the entire TPMLE is now in play. Here’s the roster as it stands;
Starters: Brunson, KAT, OG, Mikal, Hart
Rotation bench: Deuce, Alvarado, Shamet, let’s say Mo
Situational and under contract: Dadiet, Kolek
That leaves 3 open spots to get to 14.
Let’s assume Huk is extended starting at the minimum.
That gets us down to 2 spots. One is for a minumum deal, either a vet’s minimum or a rookie minimum. The other is for player signed to the TPMLE, the size of which might depend on which type of deal the minimum is.
For me, the ideal outcome would be for Looney to come here for the vet’s minimum, but C’s are in demand so we might have to use the TPMLE on him. But if not, we can acquire someone like Yabu who is possibly useful but not vital and can be used as a chunk of salary at the deadline. I am hoping that Looney would go for the minimum on a make-good deal with Shamet’s renaissance as an example of how contributing to a championship run can pay dividends. He and Mike Brown have a long coach/player relationship.
Anyway, that’s how I see it for now.
Per Hollinger’s BORD$ formula, a significantly underpriced deal for Shamet. See
From https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7358353/2026/06/17/nba-free-agency-austin-reaves-norman-powell-bronny-james/
That’s both Alvarado and Shamet signed to good deals. Keep it up León.
“Dolan is pretty much divorced from all of the decision making with this team, except for this decision. So it doesn’t matter how smart the other people in the room are. The biggest fucking moron in the room is the one making this decision. Morons generally do dumb things.”
On the other hand, by being the moron who overruled the other smart people in the room and fired Thibs, he might have moroned us into our only championship in the last 53 years.
The more I think about it, the more I’m suspecting that either Kolek or Dadiet are not long for this roster.
Agree that we should use it so at least we have another tradeable salary at midseason. Question is who is gettable in that price range?
All of the free agent centers are either almost certainly out of the TPMLE range or undeserving of getting it.
The best case scenario might be that Timelord’s market collapses, in case we want to replace Mitch with someone even less likely to be healthy than Mitch. I guess Landale is a possibility too, but both of these guys will probably be scooped up by teams with the MLE.
We’re probably looking at Looney, Richards, and Drummond.
Welcome back, Jericho Sims…….um maybe. I looked at the UFA list….sheesh. What a terrible list. Is Wilt Chamberlain still dead?
timelord just had a good season for the blazers…
There is a slight possibility that we will benefit from a phenomenon that is virtually unknown to Knicks fans…the ring-chaser effect. Not to mention that all of a sudden, the Knicks are like the opposite of the laughingstock/circus they were (see: Kevin Durant) and are now sort of a preferred destination. The thought of playing for this fan base, in a place that has finally earned the Mecca designation, and for a team that often has more fans in opposing arenas than the home team, has to have at least some appeal, no?
The other thing that might have some appeal is a virtual guarantee of significant minutes on a very good team. If Mitch is gone, those minutes have to go to someone…and the main competition right now is Ariel Hukporti.
The problem with Timelord is that he has documented knee issues that seem irreversible and possibly degenerative, while Mitch is more of a bone thing that is more likely to stay healed and if it does he’s sort of as good an new. But if he would take the TPMLE, sign me up!
can we just sign mitch for like 10 years at the tp-mle number…
yep, nope…no can do…stupid cba…
From The Athletic, The Kings are interested in replacing Sabonis with Duren. I think this is a good idea and could actually happen. The Pistons probably prefer a good power to draft capital, but, of course, Duren would have to be willing to sign with the Kings instead of LA
Timelord’s injury history is quite extensive but he was great when he was on the floor last year. If he was available for the TP-MLE he’d be a really ballsy upside play. He had 14.2 pts, 14.8 rebounds, and a staggering 4.3 stocks per 36 minutes. He’s an even Mitchier Mitch. Even his injuries out-Mitch Mitch.
Somebody’s probably giving him more than $6M though?
Great to have Shamet back! Of the possible backup bigs I would think Looney and Drummond would be the best case realistic options.
The Ja trade thread on the Blazers Edge site is over 2,500 comments and counting, the vast majority of it negative,
https://www.blazersedge.com/trail-blazers-news/113828/ja-morant-trade-portland-trail-blazers-latest-news-stats
https://x.com/freewave3/status/2070682175440146764 Worth a look in Free Agency
https://x.com/BenchHighlights/status/2013633895783158113 MLK game
oh yeah ,,,mr. shamut ,yes …dog on point of attack ,quick around and thru screens and so willing to take the shot and then make the shot ,,love me some shamut …one of my favorite players on a team of favorite players …
We’ve said goodbye to a good few legit players over the Leon years. There was similar handwringing over Hartenstein who also provided elite value. Julius was second team all NBA. Donte and IQ were excellent. We kept expecting RJ to really turn it on but his floor still exceeded Kevin Knox’s ceiling.
If I read Hubert’s comment right, even he, who sees Mitch’s strengths and isn’t scared of a year over the second apron, sees the crash course of exceeding that threshold for years running. Then, who’s out the door?
We’ve had the good luck to have dudes exceed the value of their contracts. What we need is to find more players we can sign cheap who will do just that.
Thing about Mitch is that he’s never going to have a better situation than here. We understand him. It’ll be sad, for him, ultimately, if more lucrative and exciting for a few months.
I don’t think Leon was caught off guard by Dolan’s comments. He’s making a bet that he can, in aggregate, replace Mitch’s production.
The more I think about it, it’s really about KAT, not Mitch.
If the Knicks pay Mitch a multi year deal at $15M they go slightly over the SA now. But if KAT declines his player option for a 3 or 4 year extension averaging ~$50-55M/year, that trims enough off next year’s payroll to automatically get the Knicks under the second apron without having to do anything. It mathematically guarantees we will not be in the second apron two years in a row.
That’s the piece no one’s talking about, and I suspect it’s exactly what the front office is working on.
And KAT’s not even sacrificing in that scenario. He’s giving up a little salary in one year in exchange for more guaranteed dollars.
And did that idea just come into my head while I was sleeping? And did I just wake myself up to walk into another room and write it? Yes and yes. Now good night.
It was the gospel around here since the new CBA came about that the Knicks were destined for the second apron long before this, mainly based on the belief that the deeply-flawed hybrid method boxed Leon in to chasing a star and probably overpaying for the privilege, plus paying a premium to build a team around that star. Yet here we are. Obviously some 95+%ile outcomes involved, but it worked!
And in part for that reason, I’m not super-worried about whatever the marginal on-court value between Mitch and whoever takes those minutes. One of the main reasons is that Mike Brown is one of those 95+%ile outcomes. Maybe it’s a bit premature to dub him a “mastermind” but he definitely impressed the shit out of me with his ability to adapt the schemes to the personnel, both his and his opponents. So I’m expecting that he will keep whatever that marginal gap is as narrow as anyone could, and who knows, maybe even figure out a way to make the team better than we might expect, specifically in regard to C play.
Well https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/2071794514067362265
Apparently, the Huk thing was as expected. If they give him a qualifying offer and he takes it, he gets a no-trade clause and there are other problems. They’ll still try to re-sign him at another number.
Meanwhile, conspiracy theory going around, encouraged by Craig Carton from WFAN (who apparently is texting buddies with Guitar Jimmy) that the second apron talk is in part an attempt to leverage KAT into agreeing in advance to extend at a lower number — that if he agrees to that, Mitch comes back, second apron be damned.
Is that good or bad in terms of retaining him?
edit: Alan seems to be suggesting it’s a good thing?
The idea of James Dolan actually being clever is bit of a far reach for me…
I have a theory. I think it goes back to that vindictive letter he wrote criticizing the leagues new TV media contract and hes not paying extra tax to the other owners especially when hes loosing money from less games on MSG
If we sign Huk to the minimum, it cuts into the TP-MLE. We’d have around $3.7M instead of $6M.
We could sign Huk to a 2-way to preserve the full TP-MLE. But he’d be limited to 50 games and may not want the pay cut.
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