ESPN Reports Mitch has signed with the Celtics:
Free agent center Mitchell Robinson, fresh off winning an NBA title with the New York Knicks, has agreed to a three-year, $47.4 million deal to sign with the Boston Celtics, with a player option in the third season, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Robinson was the longest-tenured Knick and one of only two rotation players originally drafted by New York (Miles McBride being the other) who were heavy contributors in their championship run. In his eight seasons with the Knicks, Robinson averaged 7.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in just under 24 minutes a game.
Hukporti agreed to a one-year, $3.4 million deal with the 76ers on Wednesday, Shams Charania of ESPN reports.
The 76ers will add some athletic frontcourt depth behind Joel Embiid and Adem Bona, with Andre Drummond set for unrestricted free agency. Hukporti was used sparingly by the Knicks during the 2025-26 regular season, appearing in 54 games with 2.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.5 blocks in 9.2 minutes per contest.
So the Knicks are looking for someone to play center. Applicants should be 6-10+ or taller, can rebound and defend at an NBA level, be able to hit a free throw, and can work around the peculiarities of a billionaire owner who is cheap when it comes to his sports team, but will spare no expense on his pretend rock band.
327 replies on “Knicks Lose Mitch (BOS) & Hukporti (PHI). Can You Play Center?”
I asked this in the previous thread which is now closed, so I’ll paste it here:
I’m going to apologize in advance for my own salary cap/apron ignorance. Okay, now that I have that out of the way…
Would it have been possible to have selected Tarris Reed at 24, and then also use the TP-MLE to sign Kevon Looney? I know it’s water under the bridge because that did not happen, but I’m wondering if that was a possibility given our unwillingness to act like a big market team.
I’m calling for taking a look at him https://x.com/freewave3/status/2070682175440146764
Does Jalen Duren also play bass, a la Waymon Tisdale?
If so, maybe Dolan happily goes over the second apron for someone who can serve to both back up KAT on the Knicks and back up JD on the Straight Shot.
I’d be fine with Cisse at this point. I’d even be fine with Looney, Ayton, Moses Brown, almost anyone who is a big body and has at least a little bit of NBA experience under their belt.
“no reason not to draft a center
One reason would be having someone in mind who is more NBA ready – if not better – than the choices available in the 2nd rd of this year’s draft.”
OK, then what are they waiting for now? For no one to be available?
i can do anything…
wanna/gonna believe our front office, scouting folks are in the background completely jazzed at the opportunity to amaze all with some player we have not really considered too much up to this point…
there are people who’s whole occupational purpose is to have spreadsheets like EB with players names and situations on ‘em…
so yeah, most likely will take more than nic richards or kevon looney to get me jazzed about this situation…
Steve Cohen appears to be as dumb as James Dolan.
While the main emotion I’m feeling is HATE for Dolan, I also worry about Mitch a bit; as intimated in the last thread he’s going somewhere that is not conducive to improvements in mental health. Besides even worse winter weather, when he missed free throws Knicks fans were mostly “C’mon, Mitch, you loveable lug, let’s hit the second!” Celtics hate-mongers will have no such compassion for an ex-Knick who can’t do Larry Bird things.
Can you imagine Jaylen Brown and Mitch in the same locker room lmao
Here’s my answer:
1 Brunson, Alvarado, Kolek
2 Bridges, McBride, Shamet
3 Anunoby, Hart, Dadiet
4 LeBron, Hart, Diawara
5 Towns, Looney, TBD
Looney is the regular season workhorse. LeBron plays backup 5 when you get to the serious games.
Bleacher Report and Yahoo Sports have both tweeted that Lebron is open to taking the vet minimum to sign with a contender, per Shams. I can’t find anything from Shams himself firsthand. Maybe he said it on TV.
That being said, HMMMMMMMMM. HMMMM
BTW imagine if we fill out the team all the way up to the second apron and then LeBron says he wants to come play for the vet minimum.
Get Looney to eat innings in the backup big spot and acquire Cisse to take Huk’s place as a development project.
Edit: Cisse is RFA
I’m not down on rostering LeBron, but:
1. He’s not coming here on a cheap contract, which means that he’s not coming here.
so
2. Let’s please not give it a lot of “airtime” and instead focus on the immediate issue, which is clearly backup centers.
1. Diabate
2. Cisse
3. Looney
4. Brown
5. Ayton
Let’s please just do something fairly quickly before this gets worse.
I hate to say that LeBron makes sense, as I am not a huge fan of his, but he really does make sense. Pretty much a perfect situation for him…and best case scenario for us.
We could offer $4M out of possible $6M. Whether Looney requires that much is still an open question.
I’ll use the 25th pick numbers because we were able to trade down:
The max you can give the 25th pick is $3,182,280. Most 1st rd picks do get the max.
The minimum number for the 2nd rd is $1,358,084. If he’s replacing Nickel or Kayil, you lose roughly $1.8M of the TP-MLE.
That leaves roughly $4M out of the max $6M you can offer. (If you lowball Reed, it’d be about $5.1M).
Dadiet Scenario
Reed costs only $200K more than Dadiet. If you dump Dadiet, you can probably structure another player’s pending deal to still offer the full TP-MLE.
Short version:
Reed for 2nd Rd pick -> -$1.8M
Reed for Dadiet -> $0
Regarding the draft, Katz (I think) said today that on draft night, the team had no way of knowing how much of a discount they might get from Shamet. Perhaps if they had been sure of that number, they would have made more/higher picks, since the guaranteed dollars would have mattered less.
Ayton https://x.com/HaterReport/status/2053486617894007023?lang=en
Still in shock. Mitch to the Celtics is so upsetting I honestly can’t think about anything else.
Just a dagger
Looney + Lebron better than Mitch?
It would be tough for Z-Man because on one hand he hates LeBron but on the other hand he loves to win an argument, and LeBron on the vet min would finally prove that you can get 80% of Mitch at 20% the cost.
LeBron is a much better basketball player than Mitch so of course..
All of this LeBron James talk sounds like pure fantasy to me. I mean, maybe Superman from the planet krypton will show up and be willing to take the Vet minimum too.
Can we pry Sorber loose from OKC?
LeBron will go to Miami for the minimum because of course he will
Golden State feels most likely. Riding off into the sunset, finally teaming up with Steph
If he really wants another ring and he is willing to take the vet minimum to do it, why would he go to Miami or Cleveland or GSW?
Sorry but those teams have no shot at a title.
The salary scale for the #24 pick is ~$2.8M, though most non-Pacome Dadiet picks get 120% of it, which would be ~$3.3M.
As best I can tell, if we gave Reed $2.8M and signed Nickel or whoever else to a rookie-minimum, we could use about ~$4.5M of the TPMLE. That should be more than enough for Looney.
Even if we had to give Reed 120% of the slot scale, ~$4M still seems like plenty for Looney. We know it was enough for Huk!
Dolan isn’t doing to bad https://www.instagram.com/p/DaEN_dGjBkr/
never thought i’d enjoy urbanish livin’ as much as i do…been learning best time to be out and walking about is early mornings…so cool seeing all the folks camped in/around coffee shops chilling and in a bunch of cases doing work…seems folks like hitting the salons and barbershops early too…
enjoy breakfasts foods a bunch, don’t eat much though before noon anymore…coffee frightens me, love the smell, tastes okay, tough on the nerves though – plus, like my energy buff in some delicious dark chocolate form…
got a chance to walk around some of the treatment centers around stanford, the area by the creek is so pretty…this whole area is some of the better urban planning I’ve come across…
absolutely packed with humans, still a lot of green all around though…it’s funny with all the pedestrians and cyclists, driving around is like playing reverse frogger game…
was up here in the mid-90’s doing semi-conductor manufacturing stuff…surprisingly dangerous work environment with all the acids and gasses used in the process at the time…
it was neat KfniNJ, recognized some of the things going on at your conference, interesting field to participate in 😊 hard to imagine the development you’ve seen over the years…
Sucks losing Mitch especially to the fucking Celtics but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say if Knicks sign Looney it might turn out to be an actual slight upgrade over keeping.
Cisse wouldn’t be the first player the Mavs let walk to us for nothing…
how does it go these days: guys got a suite in your head…evict him already, like yesterday…
especially if you can’t act on your feelings, like impotence personified…
As an agent, Leon likely developed a unique ability to read the pulse of FOs around the league. I imagine he’s way more dialed in than many of his counterparts as to every team’s pressure points and the potential roster shake-ups that could result.
The start of the season is months away yet. No need for him to make a panic signing now just because Mitch & Huk left on the same day. My bet is he’s got his eye on several situations in which he knows there is a good possibility of a useful big shaking loose. The answer at backup C may not be made apparent for awhile.
I would’ve dumped Dadiet with seconds to draft Reed if possible. Dadiet going to sit in the G league again all season ..
Lakers starting 5 at the moment ? https://x.com/LakersLead/status/2072357414171463838
If we signed LeBron to a minimum deal I would be sick to my stomach but would come around and root for the laundry as I always do. But for sure, if it became the LeBron farewell tour and he got predictably injured and just became a celebrity eating up a roster spot, you would hear plenty about it from me.
Anyway, it’s not gonna happen, so why gin up pointless discussion about it? Complete waste of time.
Anyway, the largest of all points I’m trying to make is, patience is a good thing when it comes to Leon. It payed off in spades in the past. Let’s see what happens before passing too much judgement, beyond what we all know, meaning that Dolan is who he is and will never change.
I think the difference between Dolan and Trump is that Trump is so dumb he just goes along with whatever the last person who has ear says.
I was hoping they were the same in that regard and someone could just talk to Jimmy at the eleventh hour and all would be fine. But I guess Dolan is just a stubborn, dopey Irishman.
LeBron’s farewell tour overshadowing a potential repeat season would be a vibe killer akin to Trump attending game 3.
I can see LeBron going to Miami to pair up with Giannis. Joining Steph is too KDish. I doubt LeBron wants that comparison.
I want Bron in Utah
Thank you darules.
What he said.
People doing things against their own interest is so on-brand these days.
He never did.
Folks like Dolan know they are right.
The New England Patriots?
I am having a similar feeling to 1994 when Mike Keenan quit the Rangers after the Cup and the vibes shifted. Luckily, the Knicks still have coach and core locked in.
no question nba fanboy me would now like to update my next destination wish for old king james…fuck cleveland…
come ball out in msg for a couple of years…join kevon looney and get yourself a couple of more rings…
want that elite team together vibe one or two more seasons – we are them for 2026-2027…
As a 10+ year vet, Looney can get paid $3,887,445 on a vet minimum contract and only count the 2-year vet min level of $2,450,000 against recognized payroll.
That $3.887M is so close to what the Knicks have to offer per the TPMLE (and might actually be more, if a 2RP is not rostered) that I highly doubt the Knicks will use the TPMLE on Looney.
Maybe for for a player of less experience than Looney the TPMLE might come into play as an alternative to the vet min, but, as things stand, I suspect Knicks will want to stay away from the hard cap consequence of the TPMLE, with so little real consequence in the compensation available to the player.
Seeing what some other bench types are getting in free agency is pretty sobering, and makes you realize we will likely be filling the Mitch slot with garbage.
Of the realistic options, Kevon Looney seems like the best bet by a mile, which is not saying much.
No doubt what he thinks. I worked for a small company in the dot-com era. The owner was a nepo-baby who helped the company by spending the summers whoring it up & skipping work most days, which led to a huge increase in productivity due to his absence and non-meddling. Pretty much any time he was out, and there were a lot, was a super productive day.
He got the company into consulting right when it started to get hot. Brought all his techs into his office to give them a “pep-talk”. He said we all need to work harder, that this was a huge opportunity, and then when into “rich people get rich because they work harder than poor folks – I got rich by working harder than everyone in here.” He truly believed it.
These folks always think the success of their organizations is by them alone, not the people who do the work for them.
Needless to say the company, although going into the right niche at the right time, would go under in a few years.
Dude, LeBron played 2,000 minutes last year and posted a 3.5 bpm.
And then he won a playoff series with Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, and DeAndre Ayton as his 4 other starters.
This ain’t his farewell tour. That’s at least two years away.
LeBron’s farewell tour comes when LeBron says it does.
Probably should have done without the “Irishman” part, oaktrees.
If LeBron joins the defending champs and wins the title, he chased a ring. If LeBron joins the defending champs and doesn’t win the title, he threw off their chemistry.
okay, hard to imagine there ever being a more useful veteran minimum type player than lebron james…in the history of sports…
i would loooooove to see josh mess with him incessantly…
shoot, maybe we could get bronny in here too, having small guards on the roster does not frighten us…
just joking, about some of that…
The only reason I wouldn’t want LeBron is if signing him stops us from getting backup centers, which it almost undoubtedly would.
Sorry, Mitch, don’t love you no more! There are 28 other teams !!
LeBron doesn’t give a fuck
I thought about this and think this is the main reason he wouldn’t come here. But maybe it’s not about “chasing rings” in the sense that he just wants to say he won another title.
It’s mor about the actual chase. He misses playing deep into June and he wants to do that at least one more time. He wants to experience the high of winning round after round and another title and wants to be on a team that legitimately can do that with the top professionals in the game, which we are.
His legacy is secure. All the people who hate on him for not being Jordan or whatever are just internet haters and I doubt he cares if people on twitter are roasting him for ring chasing. He’s not Durant.
sign him cheap, then trade him, to the pelicans, kings, jazz, bucks whoever has what we need…
it was funny watching golden state and the wiz not say the same stupid shit brad stevens did…
not for nothing, our division rivals just did us a bit dirty…no love mitch and huk…
Whenever my wife & I consider moving out of NYC, I insist on a place that is walkable. I hate driving and I hate sitting in traffic. I will never willingly live in a place where I have to use a car to get groceries or go to a bar or restaurant. This severely limits where I can live (in the US anyway). We really were shortsighted by doing all this car infrastructure.
I was in a city/town – can’t remember which. Upstate NY or New England somewhere. But it was right by a train station. And there was obviously a town all around it, and some factories. But you can see that a lot of it was demolished for stroads and strip malls. And it all looked like crap – a ton of concrete and so uninviting. I walked around to go to some shops after parking the car, and it was so awful trying to cross streets and such. And I’m thinking – you have a train there that goes to the city, just get rid of all this car-centric stuff, and build a town at that train station.
FYI – to answer a question – no I don’t aggregate data from thumbs up.
If last year was a fluke, Looney would be a great get. If it wasn’t a fluke, it’d be a problem.
Yes. Sign me up for Moussa.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/cissemo01.html
There’s a decent chance we’re living inside a black hole.
Also, I’m aware under Leon and Aller we do all kinds of weird shit with the draft and it’s worked out, so I’m trying to tread lightly on criticisms of our overall approach.
But you cannot convince me trading the 53rd pick for cash instead of just giving Onyenso a two-way or even a rookie-minimum deal was 4D chess. I mean, it would’ve been harmless to just keep him and cut him if he looked bad in summer league or something.
If we had an even minimally intriguing young guy at center this would all be a little easier to deal with. Instead we’re hoping Kevon fucking Looney will take our money.
Mike, come be my neighbor in Edmonds, WA. Yeah it’s on the other side of the slab, but it’s a beautiful town of 45k, I’m two miles max from everything from a grocery store (I usually drive because I don’t like carrying bags for a mile) to 30 or so restaurants/bars to the best health club I’ve found in my long life to the Puget Sound beach to the light rail or train station into Seattle and to the ferry over to Kingston. I can see Puget Sound and the snowy Olympics from my window, and a mile up the hill I can look the other way and see the snowy Cascades.
I had a decade in Manhattan in my 20s. It was perfect then, can’t imagine it now.
I know this is an out there suggestion. But could James Dolan play Center? Then he can be the hero of his own story.
“Life is just a carnival this is the ride we get to take for free!”
Have we outlived Taj Gibson jokes? I certainly hope not.
it’s okay Mike K., EB has a spreadsheet with us all included…hubie turned us over to HAL, we may all yet live forever, in some ai quantum thing kind of way…
i can feel the area around me pulling me outside…it feels alive…then i gotta drive somewhere and it hits – wow, so many people…
in general, think most folks are pretty cool, easy to connect with, very small percentage are assholes…
it’s just as you add more number of people in to the equation, the probability for running in to angry, rushed, chaotic people increases – depending on the time of day, dramatically…
made it a point last years at work, not to arrive until afternoon, when the energy of other folks was more subdued…people are generally in such a rush in the morning…later afternoon it kicks up again…
ideal arrival time would be after folks had their lunch…
favorite mode of transport has always been my feet…anything else it just feels like shit is happening a little too fast and have to concentrate more on keeping things together…
as far as living arrangements, two main options maybe, one is an older yet still thriving town…or, what they have in some places (rancho cucamonga), where they’ve built housing around outdoor malls…
don’t make a face, it’s a thing…it gets hot and windy a lot there though…
I think you make good points, Swifty. And I’ll add more:
I think he just wants to have fun. And the opportunity to be like Bill Walton on the ’86 Celtics crossed with Earl Monroe on ’73 Knicks is fun as hell. Plus he gets to play at MSG for a coach he already knows and respects. We would play some of the most beautiful basketball the world has ever seen.
LeBron has always loved playing unselfish basketball, and I think he would like to finally show off some of that ball-moving talent he’s had to suppress his whole career because he’s always been the man.
It’s like if Springsteen got to play with the Grateful Dead. He wouldn’t walk in and be like “I’m the fucking man, you guys all bow down to me, this is my show”. He’d be like “cool, it’s not all about me, I can just go on stage and jam with incredible musicians, and this will be fucking awesome, people will talk about it forever, and I will always remember it.”
Rich Paul say LeBron is going to choose happiness. That sounds like happiness to me.
True. I always say that about NYC when something crazy happens like someone climbs a tower. We have so many people that there are LOTS of outliers that are far from the norm.
But I’d like to add in my experience, the best way to make people angry & crazy is stick them in a car during traffic, delays, detours, etc. People really lose their mind behind the wheel. I’ve had elderly people give me the finger for no reason, people road rage swerve in front of me slowing down half the speed limit, see people drive over double yellow lines, onto sidewalks, etc. And I don’t even drive often!
The more you look at Looney the worse he looks. He only missed a short portion of the season with injuries, yet still managed to play only 300 or so minutes in 21 games. He didn’t play for the (checks notes) Pelicans because they didn’t think he was useful.
So maybe that oughta be a no on that dude.
A different view on Mitch https://x.com/TommyBeer/status/2072367235914469613
I’m looking for a warmer climate. But it sounds absolutely lovely. I want that, but where the temps don’t go below 50, and MAGA mouth breathers aren’t running the government. My options are limited.
The “Mitch isn’t worth 15M” takes make me want to scream.
The options weren’t “give 15M to Mitch or spend it on something else.” They were “give $15M to Mitch or spend $6M on garbage.” You take the risk because you’re at the tippy top of the win curve.
The rationalizing of this is pathetic.
Not really what happened. Keenan was absolutely toxic and almost ruined that Cup run. He famously benched the best defenseman in franchise history and Conn Smythe winner in a pivotal ECF game and then tried to blame it on Leetch’s shoulder being fucked. The ’94 story was so amazing because Messier, Leetch, Graves, and all the other veteran leadership rallied all the troops despite Keenan and got it done… barely. The vibe shift happened way before the Cup.
sounds like san diego…if i had a do-over, may have aimed myself in that direction…central coast is pretty nice too…
That assumes Dolan wouldn’t go over the second apron for LeBron on a minimum.
And actually he’s such a piece of shit that I honestly can’t rule that out.
“James Dolan is an ignorant lowlife” is one of the foundational principles of this board. Were I ever to get a tattoo, I’d have that inked on my chest.
“Leon Rose is a genius” is a concept of much more recent vintage but one that’s now widely accepted as gospel after he masterminded the building of a championship roster in the most unlikely way possible.
The idea of there being little to no daylight between Dolan & Leon on the subjects of the second apron, the absolute necessity of keeping Mitch – or pretty much anything else – creates enough cognitive dissonance amongst the fanbase to register on the Richter Scale. That makes it much easier to embrace nebulously sourced articles by beat writers who report that the owner and FO are now at loggerheads over the best way forward.
Those articles could certainly be accurate. Or not. I really don’t know and neither does anyone else outside the room. Apart from the owner himself, this organization holds its cards tightly to its chest. Moreover, it’s demonstrated in the past that it tends to proceed very deliberately, making incremental moves whose long term purpose is often impossible to read.
All of which is to say I’m not buying that today’s developments caught Leon with his pants down. Unless events eventually prove otherwise, I will continue to believe that Leon & Co. have had a plan for the backup 5 in place for some time that has yet to be fully executed. It may end up not working out but I’m sure it’s something more than grab onto whatever flotsam and jetsam is still hanging around on July 1.
ha, funny hearing you talk about crazy drivers – doing el camino real (premier crusin’ conditions) – you have to now deal with aggressive ai driving 3,000 pound death machines…that and those buses that are like a house tall and a half a block long…
We truly left the rationalizers with no rationalizations, and yet…
I mean, let’s say we had drafted someone who looks okay. Reed, Cenac, Jefferson, etc. Maybe we paired them with a vet-min/partial TPMLE guy like Looney or Drummond. I could hear an argument that we simply wanted to be out of the Mitch business, get younger, and kick the second-apron can down the road.
I would’ve been skeptical to say the least! We did just, you know, win the championship. But I wouldn’t laugh it off as post-hoc cope.
But we didn’t do anything like that. We let our best player by BPM and our 4th best player by EPM and DARKO walk for nothing with no replacement whatsoever. We even made sure to let some non-gag worthy replacement options come off the board before it happened. What’s more, every beat writer is screaming “THERE IS NO PLAN HERE” at the top of their lungs.
Not really different, people have been saying that on this blog for two weeks.
He’s like Mitch jr…. right down to the sub-.500 ft shooting and 5 fouls per 36.
Hey LeBron….Don’t you regret not coming to the Kniiiiiiiiiiiiiicks!!!???
Gondrezick if you want to argue that Leon’s the idiot who came up with this plan go right ahead. But even I think that’s a little harsh.
Raven….today is my first day as a Seattle inhabitant…I am in Fremont…temporarily until I find a house…just drinking a cold brew and enjoying the 68 degree temps..
I don’t really love the LeBron idea because he shot threes so poorly last year, but he would give us another ball handler, albeit a slow one.
Let’s all take some deep breaths. I’m going to trust in Leon and Aller for at least another week. I’m pretty sure they considered this situation months ago and have ideas/plans.
With Cisse being an RFA I looked at Dallas’ cap space. They have none. They have the full TPMLE ($15m) and biannual exception ($5.5m). And a logjam at center with Lively, Gafford, Bagley as well.
I think if Leon & Co. like him, he might be gettable. But we’d need to like his chances of developing. Dallas didn’t lock him up during the season despite his analytics-friendly production, and while we have benefitted infinitely from Dallas’ poor pro scouting decisions, it is a data point.
I’m arguing nothing of the sort. All I said is that I – and everyone else outside the inner circle – have no idea who is responsible for what so spilling barrelfuls of digital ink on assigning blame seems like a pretty pointless exercise.
What I am fairly certain of is that this FO has seen this coming for awhile now and has planned for it accordingly. I’m willing to wait and see how it all plays up before breaking out the pitchforks.
If he’s a non-injury prone Mitch sign me up. My theory with Mitch is that his development stalled because he kept getting hurt and had to spend offseasons rehabbing instead of working on his game. Remember how Thibs wouldn’t let big men develop a bag until they mastered the basics? Mitch got as far as developing into a defensive anchor and not fouling before he could get permission to try any offensive moves. Hartenstein got permission to pass out of the high post and do his floater once he cleared that bar.
You really have to put your head in the sand to believe that when there’s credible reporting and a recorded interview.
I’m worried because now we need *two* guys at center, not just one. Tough to pull that at this late date.
Who singlehandedly derailed Leon’s roster more:
a) Sam Presti
b) Jaime Jaquez Jr
c) Tyrese Halibuton
d) James Dolan
He probably saw it coming but refused to believe that Dolan’s own goal will be the largest obstacle he will have to overcome during his Knicks tenure.
nearly impossible when you don’t have two nickles to rub together.
But we do have a Nickel. Unfortunately, he’s not a center, or even a power forward.
Kelly Oubre to Pacers is a sneaky good deal.
A quote attributed to “anonymous league sources” is credible reporting? Whatever, dude.
Which revealed the owner’s thoughts. Must’ve missed that other interview in which Leon said the exact opposite.
Leon and Aller did a great job. That doesn’t mean they’ll keep pulling rabbits out of hats forever. That we even need to pull a rabbit out of a hat is a concern.
Facts. All Dolan had to do was come out and say that why I’m against it in principle, I leave the Apron decision to Leon and his management team. That would have changed the entire narrative, woudn’t it?
Gondrezick, what you are essentially arguing is that Fred Katz either made something up wholecloth or absolutely bungled a major detail and had no one reach out about a correction.
Same goes for Ian Begley.
There is not a single reputable reporter who has said this is anything other than a Dolan bugaboo, and a recently announced one at that.
If you’re going to respond with some gobbledegook about the lamestream media or whatever I’m just going to ignore it, but if you want to make this argument seriously you do have to explain why the entire beat is blowing it.
wait a minute now – Gemini just lied and told me james dolan is five foot ten inches tall and one hundred and eighty pounds…
well, I just don’t believe any of that…
man, wish I was 180 pounds…fuck any kind of dietary restraint at that point…donuts…lots and lots of donuts…
I can’t believe I’m saying this but it would make me feel a little better if we bring Jordan Clarkson back.
Nick Richards is a perfectly cromulent defender when motivated.
Ever hear of Charles Bassey? Drew Timme? This league is filthy with backup centers, Doogie.
Pepper, welcome! Fremont is really fun. And Mike, as Pepper intimates, we get four straight months here of SD weather, 70-80 and bright sun and no rain at all (some call it a drought, but it’s every year…). But even in winter it’s usually 40-50. It snows like once a year, which is fun as everything stops since there’s like one snow plow in the entire region. But it’s great for skiing on the streets for a day! It’s also Lefty Loony, more rainbow and Ukraine flags than you can count.
I think we really just need one, or at least one reliable one. A backup big now and then whoever shakes loose at the trade deadline. It feels like Leon & Co. are keeping their powder dry for opportunistic purposes.
I’m getting flashbacks to too many conversations I had with Anti-vaxxers who did their own research.
E) Nobody because Leon won a title
Noble, the Katz article was presented as “analysis” with the only insight into the thinking of the Knick FO being attributed to “anonymous league sources.”
I found no attributions to anyone in the Begley article.
All I saw were two writers repeating the widely held opinion that not going into the 2A to keep Mitch was a terrible idea. Maybe I missed the actual “credible reporting” from inside the house on what Leon & Brock are really thinking. Point that out and I’ll buy it.
“The experiments were done on lab rats, not humans.”
Tobias to Spurs? Should be even easier to beat them now
Robtachi, you’re right that Keenan’s behavior – especially during the Devils series was bananas. He and Neil Smith were never going to continue that horrible relationship, in retrospect, but it was a destabilizing moment for the Rangers. Campbell was a decent guy, helmed a 1996-97 team that was fun to watch until injuries broke them against the Flyers. But the window closed quickly. Losing Mitch is not that, but it’s a loss.
Random thought…
The Knicks don’t lose a lot of free agents. I’m trying to think if this is the first time since Xavier McDaniel in 1992 that we lost someone significant.
Hubs, I think you have it backwards. I’m not the one putting forth conspiracies based on no evidence. I’ve conceded that I don’t know and have repeatedly asked for some actual evidence, ideally in the form of a link to some substantive reporting that confirms Leon was not on board with this. That’s it.
Gee, I wonder why members of the Knicks front office won’t put their first and last names on statements critical of their boss, who is well known for building a god damn surveillance empire solely to pursue his petty feuds!
This shit is so tired. I don’t even believe you believe it. Commitment to a bit.
I’d happily accept “anonymous source from inside the organization.” We’re not even getting that.
That’s easy, 2012 Jeremy Lin.
I said it last week and I’ll say it again, I love Mitch as much as everyone else but for the life of me I can’t muster up any energy to go crazy about losing our injury prone backup center.
I’m certain that I’m not the only one on whom the repetitiveness of this pattern is not lost:
“Didn’t they *know* they could lose iHart?!? Why didn’t they seem to have a plan?”
“Didn’t they *know* that Thibs might be getting fired?!? Why didn’t they seem to have a plan?”
“Didn’t they *know* that they could lose Mitch?!? Why did’t they seem to have a plan?”
“Nick Richards is a perfectly cromulent defender when motivated.
Ever hear of Charles Bassey? Drew Timme? This league is filthy with backup centers, Doogie.”
Kewl. Let’s go sign one or two of them. Oh, wait. We have no money left.
By the way, how can the Celts afford Mitch with Brown, Tatum, Pritchard, Derrick White, Queta, Sammy Hauser, etc. on the roster? Who are they paying a cheap salary to?
That’s bc you have to save it for when a 17 point lead gets cut to 9 in the 3Q of a regular season game in January
Pfft. Duh!
Another one because James Dolan is a senseless cunt.
Brad Stevens stole Mitch.
If Mitch got a stupid contract like $25m+ aav from a team like Nola, Brooklyn or Washington, – I’d be OK to loose him but, with all due respect to Tommy Dee and others,- this is not a high risk free agent signing. He’s making the same as he did in 2022. Earned every penny for us and he will earn every penny for Celtics too.
I may be in the minority here but I’m not heartbroken by Mitch’s departure.
Despite his “incredible” analytics and fanbase’s love i was slightly tired of his game’s limitations.
Especially his FT incompetence strikes me as a Huge Red Flag.
Waiting patiently for the FO’s comeback moves
Hubert, there was also Kourtney Kellar’s husband.
How can you possibly say this when he missed nearly two seasons of his contract because of an injury?
One offensive rebound to close out the finals doesn’t mean he earned every penny.
We probably still would have won game 5 even if he didn’t snag that board.
Agreed, Director.
The offensive rebounding of Queta and Robinson will pair perfectly with Boston’s high volume 3PA attack. And when they need to space the floor they’ll simply play Tatum at C for 5-out.
And honestly it was worth the money just to weaken us.
Yup sure is weird we only have anonymous sources instead of an employee coming out and screaming, “My boss is a fucking moron!!!”
That usually ends well for the employee.
Yeah, geez, I really blanked
Also i believe that If the core of the team wanted Mitch BADLY and Mitch wanted to stay he’d stay
Let’s cut some drama here
He won’t be on the court when teams just keep fouling him
Back to the bench Mitch
I would just like to bring Jordan Clarkson back and sign whoever to play C.
I don’t think we’re solving this problem today. It most likely gets solved during the season, a la Alvarado.
Go into the season like this:
1 Brunson, Alvarado, Kolek
2 Bridges, McBride, Clarkson
3 Hart, Shamet, Dadiet
4 Anunoby, Diawara, TBD
5 Towns, TBD, TBD
And trade from the glut of wings to fill the backup C.
Which is why I think it’s really important to use as much of the mini-midlevel as we can on someone. Could be whatever centers are left (Jaxson Hayes just signed with Utah, basically taking Kessler’s place as JJJ’s backup), or could just be the best remaining player available at any position. We need a tradeable salary akin to what we had last season with Yabu, which is what allowed us to pick up GTA. If that player is a wing or a guard, and then a really good backup big becomes available from a team that wants Deuce, then we have a Deuce replacement in house. Or it’s a big who proves to be a stiff, and we attach a few of our trove of second round picks to him in order to acquire a better big.
The point is, we need salaries that can be moved, and/or we need in-house successors to the few moveable salaries we have right now.
yep…i mean who gives a shit about the regular season…we showed we don’t need home court…just see what shakes loose around the trade deadline and fill the hole…be ready for playoff time
we need a 3rd unrelated type party to help mediate this dispute…
gondrezick did you have an opportunity to watch the recent roommates episode with leon rose…right at about the fourteen minute thirty four second mark the host asks leon about the upcoming free agency period…
leon is extremely clear about himself and the front office doing whatever was necessary to keep the entire roster intact for at least 2 more seasons…that the owner of the franchise had promised before and during the season that if the team delivered a trophy every player, staff member would be resigned and extended, for at least a couple tries…
any deviation to that concrete plan would and could only be a result of a woefully out of shape sinister prick’s attempt to now and forever piss on any new york knickerbockers’ championship parade…
when pelinka gets fired, bet the lakers come calling for leon…
Deuce + the MLE = $10,022,523
Let’s get way ahead of ourselves and find a mid-season trade target.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/players.html
Only from outside the organization. Not one that’s connected to the team.
I do agree that this whole debate has grown exceedingly tiresome. I’ll bow out now and cede the argument to the prevailing confirmation bias upon which all of the assertions that “Leon was not on board with this” appear to premised.
Edit: Thanks, geo. Missed the roommates podcast. That’s the kind of evidence I was asking for and it does go a long way towards bolstering the Leon was opposed narrative.
A little different from Lin and now Mitch because we straight up couldn’t offer Hartenstein the same contract as OKC but we could’ve matched the Lin and Mitch contracts.
Can’t do that unless you’re talking about signing some player to the MLE and then trading that player with Deuce for a $10M player. Teams can only sign players with any of the MLEs, they’re not tradeable assets and they’re not cap space you can absorb traded players into.
That is in fact what I’m talking about.
The non-tax MLE and room exception are actually tradable now. They cannot be aggregated with other salary.
made it mostly up gondrezick…your earnestness just caused a guilt reaction in me…
great, thanks for that…gotta remember a lot of folks don’t have such an abundance of free time to interact here, and casually ponder all that is, or could possibly be…most everyone is on the clock…and, not everyone gets to be as lazy as pepper, Bob, and i…
broke my heart a bit hearing how weighted down pags feels at times…not that long ago, often felt the same…too weary to enjoy your world should not be a thing…happens though, too too often…
oh, for what it’s worth – i agree with you gondrezick, as far as a lack of direct evidence…more conjecture and emotion than anything…that’s part of what this place is for though…and then folks calling bullshit on it…
Jake Fischer says Looney is coming
Beat me to it, Educate.
This was clearly going to be the move. Hopefully it’s not the only move.
Looney and a flier on a prospect with some upside would be great.
Or… we could pay Clarkson his non birds max, have almost the same exact tradable salary, and not be hard capped because we used the TPMLE. Plus we’d have Clarkson back 🙂
(I know we capped ourselves, but you still don’t want to be hard capped if you don’t have to be.)
Looney will be a hired gun rebounder who will offer little to nothing else. At least he’s a big body.
But I’m concerned about his health. Is whatever was ailing him last season something that is completely over?
trying to make myself feel better about things…
so, does going this route allow us then greater flexibility in doing some kind of trade in february?
I’m an old man, retired a few years ago. Any trivialities that serve to distract whenever the day feels too empty are always welcome. Debates over inconsequential matters with anonymous strangers on the internet fall right into that sweet spot. Thanks to everyone here who helped me pass the time today!
Looney is related to Kendrick Lamar, and he and Nick Young are maternal cousins. Nick and Kendrick Lamar are paternal cousins. So they’re not direct cousins.
It’s complicated.
Kris Pursiainen
@krispursiainen
If the Knicks are concerned about Kevon Looney’s health and mobility, I like Nick Richards too. Know they’ve kept tabs on him in recent years.
Not a strong defensive center but he can hang. Would need to play physically and make quick decisions with the ball.
“trying to make myself feel better about things…”
Just bought and ate a donut in your honor, geo…
I’m trying to be whelmed, but I’m definitely under. He seems even less likely to be healthy than Mitch would have been, based on what I’ve been reading.
Sadly, I’ll feel a lot better if we go get Nick Richards, too.
Oh well, they won the title this season, and that was fucking awesome!
The Sixers losing Grimes after dumping McClain to keep Grimes is funny.
Seems like Laker fans are more upset than Knick fans based of my view on the internet. They really dislike Pelinka …
The Lakers are interesting in they look really good, but who cares when they’ll probably all be injured come playoffs time?
Like Embiid is hurt in the playoffs every year.
One thing I will say for Gondrezick…
Losing Mitchell Robinson like this is a senseless and stupid move regardless of who made the decision. It’s senseless and stupid based on facts.
But two weeks ago, when it was thought that this could be Leon’s idea, people were defending it. Only when it became clear it was Dolans’s idea did (mostly) everyone come around to how stupid this whole thing was. And frankly if it came out tomorrow that Leon was behind it, I know a lot of people would change their minds immediately.
That’s not logical thinking. That’s a cult of personality.
FWIW I low key think Leon is ok with this stupid move. I don’t think he values Mitch at 3 years, $45M. And I remember when he did the same thing to Mitch 4 years ago.
And I high key think we did exactly what the front office wanted to do in the draft. We don’t value that, either.
Leon didn’t become a genius just because we won a chip. He got the big things right, but he got a lot of little things wrong. He chose Clarkson over Landry. He chose Yabu over everyone. And then he tried to choose Brogdon over Landry, too! The Diawara contact was an own goal, as well. The guy isn’t infallible.
The Huk thing in particular looks like another own goal. I think they gave up his matching rights because they didn’t think he’d get an offer, and were surprised that he did.
And I’m not convinced he’s innocent on Mitch. He may have been blindsided by the second apron, but the KAT thing could have gotten him out of it. And I think it was his choice not to do it. I think he didn’t want to pay Mitch that money. But if that is the case, a lot of people in the cult would change their mind, get up on their soapbox, and say “WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE LEON?”
The point is we should be judging these decisions based on facts, not who made them. Whether it was Leon or Dolan, it was dumb.
Looks like we got Looney
Seriously? Wow.
Bondy says fake news
I love the absolute panic by Knick’s nation. We’re all nuts. Looney isn’t Mitch but he’s a live body and Brown has coached him. He’s a decent floor but I hope he’s the 3rd string. We need a 7′ rim protector.
Looney was hurt at the beginning of the year (sprained knee) then had a lot of DNP-Sucks games. He was mostly just bad, not injured, as far as I can tell.
If we’re getting the Golden State version of him, it’s not the worst outcome in the world. He’s a smart defender, can defend screens, rebounds well enough, and is also a good passer for a big. Not flashy but a guy who will make the right play most of the time.
Problem is the Golden State version of him might be gone forever. If he is the Pels version we just bought ourselves a Yabu 2.0.
Jaylen brown for Paul George what?? https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/2072443555113468324
Well don’t think we’re sweeping Philly next year.
Jaylen Brown is going to the Sixers. Now *that’s* a real wow.
Paul George, two firsts, and two seconds is all it took to get that done. Boston got robbed big-time.
The Mitch signing just became a non factor
I wouldn’t want Paul George
They must have really needed to get rid of Brown.
All because Brad Steven’s wouldn’t give up Hugo Gonzalez for Giannis
I assume Philly will now be most “experts” pick to win the East next season.
Well this Celtics/Sixers blockbuster cheers me up a bit because I don’t particularly like it for either team!
Yeah I’m not sure most experts think Brown is a net negative player and Embiid is never on the court and is awful on defense now
Ha was just going to say that, tnfh. Oddly feels like square peg/round hole moves for both teams. Our division is certainly trying, though!
Stefan Bondy: Regarding reports of Kevon Looney’s expected signing with the Knicks, I heard that’s not accurate.
WTF?! That’s a terrible trade for Boston and I’m not even a Jaylen Brown fan at all! Brown must have adamant he wasn’t gonna play for Boston next year. The front office must feel pretty stupid about not increasing their offer for Giannis.
Interesting video https://x.com/rileysbetter/status/2051101343109038559
I guess all 29 other GMs believe in those dumb analytics that say Jaylen Brown may not actually be all that great
That’s a paltry haul for Boston
I’m sorry but Jaylen Brown for PG is a fucking massive upgrade for Philly. The roster outside of their Big 4 is fucking awful and I still think Knicks would beat Philly in the playoffs but you can’t possibly think this doesn’t move the needle big time for Philly.
However it is fun to be able to really make fun of Boston now!
Any chance Mitch backs out now?
Philly wins that trade hands down. Paul George was a far better player than Jaylen Brown at one time but he’s old and brittle. Tatum, George, Mitch, Quetta and the bunch of Hoosiers guys the Celtics bring off the bench ain’t winning shit.
Philly is definitely better now, but they don’t go from “uncompetitive sweep” to “beating us” and now they’re in the Jaylen Brown business, which I don’t think is a great business when you don’t have ~10 other really good players like the championship Celtics did.
Boston just becomes kinda irrelevant and didn’t get an intimidating haul.
Still an awful day to be a Knicks fan. But it got marginally better.
Amazing how low the association valued Brown. Wonder what the second best offer was.
TheDunkCentral
Annoying part will be if Tatum is reasonably healthy Boston probably wins over 50 games again.
Decisions are also based on details that we may never learn so there’s always the ultimate test of “Results” before start throwing serious rocks.
Claiming that a player left because Dolan is a dick or because LRose hadn’t slept well don’t seem very convincing to me.
Otoh not wanting to give 15mil per year to your “tricky” backing C for whatever reasons not yet exposed seems more possible.
I was going to yell at Hubie but I’m too tired.
Will say that Looney is 6’9″, not seven feet tall.
@TheDunkCentral
·
Jun 27
😳(Via @SiriusXMNBA )
Analytics run the NBA
This is terrible for VJ Edgecombe’s development lol
Hubert will never be truly happy. Ever.
Looney or no Looney? I like him as a third-string center, not a second-string center.
I’m glad there’s all this NBA talk and USA playing later tonight to keep me from ranting about the Yankees…
This is ****** bullsh*t
**** this ******* team
**** Brad Stevens
**** Bill Jizzholm
**** the entire ownership group
I’m crashing out here and it’s ******* warranted
https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2517586&start=780 Live from the Boston Board
No second string center is available unless they make a trade.
The Sixers won’t be that much better, don’t worry.
As i said yesterday nba contracts is basically HR gamble.
If you’re feeling that the player you drafted many years ago ain’t worthy of the money he’s asking or he started declining you’re proposing him less, letting him go or trade him.
Only Time will tell who’s smart, dumb, greedy or underpaid.
Right Now Leon Rose says: I KNOW BETTER, TRUST ME.
The only other way this trade makes sense is if you’re totally married to on/off numbers and the various analytical stats that use them. Brown’s on/off numbers have been bad I think his entire professional career and if you think that has to be real than this trade is somewhat logically sound.
@YossiGozlan
Rather beef up Mo Diawara and have him play a back up 5 and 4. He’s actually longer than Looney. My son says bring back Precious Achiuawa
Also have to look at the spacing Boston had, Sixers don’t have that..
Welp..if Philly gets at least 50 regular season games plus the playoffs out of Embiid…the chip is theirs next season. No way you can stop Maxey, Brown, and Embiid when he does show up. That’s just an unreal lineup. But WHAT THE FUCK, BOSTON?? You steal Mitch and then go backwards by trading for a washed George and picks? Just fuck all it, huh? At least we don’t have to worry about Boston standing in the way…oof
KAT/Diabate/Looney
KAT/Cisse/Looney
KAT/Looney/Brown
KAT/Looney/Ayton
KAT/Richards/Looney
I’m on board with any of those outcomes. Don’t know if any of them are in any way realistic.
Maybe they really *are* going to try Diawara at stretch 4/5?
Embiid can’t move anymore . This Embiid narrative happens every year and they have zero bench.
Wait..does this mean that Mitch hasn’t technically signed the deal yet, and can say ‘aw hell naw’ and back out of the deal and come back home? I mean- we’d have to make a move or two, but…SO YOU’RE TELLIN ME THERE’S A CHANCE?? LOL
There’s unfortunately nothing that means that Mitch hasn’t signed his new deal.
Leon Rose is not infallible. No GM is, ever was, or will be.
That said, I’m willing to cut Leon a great deal of slack at the moment. We’re not even three weeks removed from witnessing one of my happiest moments as a sports fan, largely engineered under his watch. That buys a hell of a lot of goodwill from me.
I hate that Mitch is gone. Loved that guy, warts ‘n’ all. That he went to the Cs makes it all feel so much worse. Unhappy as I am with today’s turn of events, I refuse to allow it to lead me into a doomerist reading that it was all done without a plan. I don’t think you have to be a fanboi or a cult of personality member to recognize that Leon is a smart guy who likely has contingency plans that go beyond just Kevon Looney and some tall dudes off the W. 4th St. courts. It may all blow up in his face in the end but I’m gonna give Leon the benefit of the doubt for the time being.
I’ve been liking Gondrezick’s comments most of the day. We agree on a lot.
You keep bringing it back to Leon Rose, but nobody is worried about Leon Rose. We’re worried about James Dolan. The best surgeon in the world can’t perform surgery without the right tools, and James Dolan is hiding the tool box.
Yes, we’ll be fine. But that still doesn’t make shooting ourselves in the foot feel any better.
Signing a free agent to below market level contract is an asset regardless if you believe in him personally or not. You trade him and get additional value back instead of loosing him for nothing.
Wether Leon, MB, Rosas, WWW or Jimmy fucking Dolan are passionate believers in Mitch and his contributions long term is irrelavant. They dropped the ball and Brad Stevens picked it up for free.
Imagine you could have bought SPCX at $135 @ IPO and you pased because you don’t believe in the company or Elon long term. That’s stupid. @ $135 there was value…you buy (take that value) and then trade it at any point since then. That’s how you grow the value of your roster (portfolio).
Browns going from his favorite to his most pass the fucking roc season yus like that.
Tell him that he already re-signed with Sacramento.
What the fuck is Boston doing? That’s really the best they could get for Brown? Insanity.
Philly is definitely a lot better, though if I were them, I’d still be worried about Embiid doing anything of consequence for any sustained period of time during a playoff run.
Off course he did. Thanks.
Knicks got an invite from a very famous person https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/2072458615508652518
Leon has always had to operate under Dolan’s constraints. Think the hybrid approach was all Leon’s idea? No, Dolan laid down the law that tanking would not be tolerated and that he expected the POBO to prioritize putting a competitive team on the floor.
Leon – not Dolan – took most of the heat for that as it certainly appeared as if he was wheeling and dealing us into perpetual purgatory. But, against all odds, he pulled off a title despite eschewing the down to the studs rebuild that most here said was necessary but the owner did not want.
Like it or not, Leon & Jimmy have always been a package deal.
Brown was having a meltdown and clearly Boston felt they just had to trade him no matter what, which makes me even less scared of the Sixers. An already soft team that had issues keeping composure in the playoffs is now replacing PG’s podcast with Jaylen Brown’s twitch stream and unique brand of Kyrie adjacent bullshit, plus they’re all on insane salaries so the supporting cast will be very mediocre, just like it was this year in the playoffs.
The Knicks starting lineup. This is why Mitch left. No TSwift invite.
I don’t think we’re in the “asset hunting” period right now.
We have a Chip Roster trying to repeat.
You call “Losing Mitch for nothing” a mistake.
I prefer to see it as a perfectly designed GM move.
Mavs just traded for Santi Aldama. The chances of Cisse shaking loose just got a little bit higher.
This is the issue. The Knick’s roster is set with the exception of a back up and 3rd center. That’s not a huge issue and though it is certainly an unforced error, I’m comfortable Leon will find a workaround.
My fear is what is ahead. Dolan as drawn the line in the sand that he feels it unjust he had to pay 23 teams 44 million this year and he is going to do everything possible to minimize that amount cumulatively moving forward.
He’s not paying KAT 70M/yr moving forward. If he doesn’t extend in the 50’s moving forward, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t swap him for Myles Turner and Ware moving forward and saves himself 30 million a year in salary plus tax.
Oh give me a fucking break. We are not ditching KAT for Myles Turner. That’s your PTSD talking.
I think it seem pretty clear that Boston felt that Brown was making too much money, and it wanted specifically draft picks for him, so when you take those two things into consideration, it is going to severely limit your trade options.
Need Rose to realize and look into Cisse .
LOL
Wow… Brown was -31.4 on-off in the playoffs
It seemed like Brown’s brand of Melo-esque innings eating volume scoring was more valuable to the team last year than ever before, because he wasn’t taking shots from better players. In Philly he’s going to potentially be taking shots from guys like Maxey (better scorer) and Edgecombe (potentially better scorer).
They don’t really seem to need his volume, they have that sorted already, so he seems duplicative. They’ll be better because Brown is much younger than George and George is creeping up to the cliff, but this is ALMOST the kind of trade that makes both teams worse.
Couldn’t have said it better.
This is just the elixir I needed.
The Celtics might have nicked us by stealing Mitch, but we dissolved the Jays. Yes, we did this. The Celtics dangled Brown for Giannis because they knew they couldn’t beat us. We get to claim this scalp.
Agree with every word bob said (strange times). I’m confident Leon and co. can find an adequate backup center. I’m very worried James Dolan has newly dug his feet in on minimizing his revenue sharing disbursements, and Mitch is merely the canary in the coal mine. The latter scenario would hamstring even the best front office.
I’m terrified that you might be right.
So this year, the Celtics save 2.9million by trading away Jaylen
(obviously he has 3 year contract, whereas PG has 2…)
And Brown would have been extension eligible, and you KNOW he’s going to want an extension, and pout if he doesn’t get one.
I think they just felt (rightly or wrongly. I wouldn’t have done this deal if I were them) that he was going to be a team cancer.
In Dolan’s pea brain he probably figures we just won a chip in the first apron, so why go into the second apron?
I mean this is a guy who thought it was a good idea to write a song about Trayvon Martin. He’s a half wit.
that’s being generous…
I really hope the new MLB CBA doesn’t include salary cap aprons…
They already basically have them, the Dodgers just ignore ’em.
X
Publically shopping a guy would do that i guess
🙂
at least on today of all days, celtics fans are upset. looking forward to the simmons spin (not really…but salty tears)
Those luxury tax things haven’t stopped the Dodgers, Mets or Yankees. Although back in 2017 or 2018 the Yankees did purposely dip below the largest luxury tax to reset it.
I think George’s contract was negative value. So Kessler s worth more than Brown? I don’t believe that. It seems Ainge outdid Steven’s.
Let’s revisit what Dolan actually said: “I will cut as big a check as needed but I will not go into the second apron.”
He could be full of shit. And he probably is. But if he keeps that promise, that means he will pay the ~$400-500M annual tax bill to keep the starting 5 together in 2027-28 when the repeater tax kicks in.
So we shall see. If James Dolan’s ignorance cost us Mitch, but he writes the check to keep the starting 5 together like he said he would, I’m going to have to eat some crow.
He backed himself into a PR corner with that statement. Everyone will remember it. I doubt he gives a shit, but it’s out there.
As stupid or stubborn or put anything you want about him as he is never forget that Dolan hired and trusted the right mfkrs to make it happen.
And that’s not the easiest task.
Especially while not having a generational talent or a Lebron decision on your side.
He’s not exactly fan’s favourite but he definitely did something right as an owner.
Word on the street is that Dolan doesn’t want to go over the 2nd apron. Gonna be hard to keep the band together.
Good! You were agreeing with me so much lately I thought I’d gone soft 😉
I love you for that one, Donnie
I’m just waiting for Bill Simmons’ reaction tomorrow.
@TommyBeer
Mitchell Robinson logged a total of 38 minutes in the fourth quarter of playoff games this entire postseason.
Jeremy Sochan was the only player on the Knicks’ entire roster to play fewer 4th-quarter minutes than Mitch Rob.
And NY was outscored with Robinson on the floor”.
Why freak out when we can make fun of:
Boston & Philly
The Snowtime Lakers
DETROITTTT BASKETBALL
Tobias Harris to the Spurs
Oubre to the Pacers
And that’s just this afternoon.
Creating a fake problem that only you can solve is the go-to trick for dickless losers to score cool points. But, you gotta, you know, remember to solve the fake problem, or else it has the opposite effect.
I agree. Not to mention Jaylen Brown is ball dominant and wants his own team. That’s not the kinda guy I’d want to pair Tyrese Maxey with.
I’ll give you one guess as to who led the Knicks in 4Q minutes…
I don’t. It was kinda dumb?
Where did E go?
https://x.com/wrldoftatum/status/2072449955713699873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2072449955713699873%7Ctwgr%5Eaf5b59ad853f5b42f9f812a5efe79bba4ab43e39%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.realgm.com%2Fboards%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ft%3D2517586start%3D1160
I don’t like Brown much either but George seems like dead wood
Also Taylor Seift is going to have a strange wedding
Tommy Beer is an idiot. Who cares what quarter Mitch played his minutes in?
Folks try to minimize Mitch by stressing his mpg but backup C’s not like backup SG. You can lose a game because of 10 bad minutes a night from your backup C. Just ask San Antonio.
That’s why these guys are all getting paid. That’s why the Lakers traded for Kessler and signed Mamu.
The 12 mpg a backup C plays are very expensive. We can replace Mitch, but it’s gonna cost a lot.
It was our starting center.
But hey, Huk got out there for 49:59 of garbage time. He played exactly 1 second of non-garbage time 4th quarter minutes across the entire playoffs. He stood in to try and grab a rebound in game 5 of the finals because KAT had fouled out. Everything else was a blowout.
The stat is based on us (1) blowing out absolutely everyone creating a massive amount of garbage time and (2) KAT playing the most 4Q minutes on the team at the same position Mitch would have played.
stats can be manipulated to make everyone seem like an expert. mr beer loves his random factoids that just make him seem dumb.
i blame espn and their ridiculous “first ever player to score 20 points, 5+ rebounds, retie his shoe-laces 3 times and wave to the crowd 4 times on a tuesday in modern nba history” reportage
“The 12 mpg a backup C plays are very expensive. We can replace Mitch, but it’s gonna cost a lot.”
That being the case, we should have just re-signed Mitch, no?
Tommy Beer is an idiot and I wish people would stop posting him.
It’s pretty simple.
By not bringing back Mitch, we are now looking to fill the backup C role with somebody whose market value is $6M or under. It’s going to be somebody shitty, because you can’t get a non-shitty backup C for that price. We’re priced out of Andre effing Drummond.
At this point you gotta try to trade Deuce for the backup C and hope Landry doesn’t bump his shoulder too hard against anything.
This is just getting weirder. Are we signing Looney or not?
What the Brown trade could lead to https://x.com/Tjonesonthenba/status/2072481661350989966
Deuce for Yves Missi, then sign somebody like Thybulle or Gary Payton II with the TPMLE, and also some scrub emergency C.
This is the way.
If France played this Bosnia squad they’d win 10-0.
“What the Brown trade could lead to https://x.com/Tjonesonthenba/status/2072481661350989966”
Indeed the story, is there.
I only care that former WVU Mountaineers Treysen Eaglestaff and Tobi Okani have both joined the summer league squad ✊
I kinda like it in theory, JK, but can’t we do better than Missi? I mean, sure, of the two Pellies centers, I’d rather have Missi than Looney (because of injuries), but I still think we can do better. Cisse would be great. Dammit, forget Looney, and back up KAT with Cisse and Richards (or even Moses Brown), and I’d be about as happy about this situation as I’m gonna get.
Lol d-Mar
Yeah, we looked much better than them in the first half. They beat Italy to get in which feels pretty crazy.
Lebron to Philly would be strange I think
the celtics feel like a delayed strike from our post season run…
we rolled the sixers and cavs so hard it made brad stevens reconsider celtic life…
Trading for a cheap C really seems like the only way. Missi’s salary fits but if there are similar low salary young C’s on rookie contracts who might be available in a trade, sure, go for it. The remaining FA centers at our price point are stiffs.
Maybe we’re not talking enough about Quinten Post, Charles Bassey, and Thomas Bryant—all cromulent big bodies. Probably all gettable, and probably all cheap AF. And yeah, Missi works, too, but the other guys are free agents and wouldn’t require a trade (?).
I swear, at this point if Leon pulls Cisse out of his arse I’ll give him way more credit for that move than he probably deserves.
Or if Mike Brown can turn Diawara and Trey Jemison into cromulent PFs/Cs, he’d get Coach of the Year almost instantaneously.
Is Cole Aldrich available?
Can’t wait to meet Philly in the playoffs and have Mo Diawara guarding Embiid with 6:43 left in the 1Q
Jemison averaged 11/8/2 per 36 two seasons ago, with .551 FG/.840 FT shooting splits.
Or the 2033 unprotected pick.
I do think bringing Clarkson back is important. It would be good for the vibes now, and even better for trade purposes later. We can pay him $4.2M with his non bird rights. Add him to Dadiet and that’s $7.2M in tradable salary to combine with an unprotected pick.
Coincidentally, Derrick Lively makes $7.2M in the final year of his rookie deal and the Mavs just traded for Santi Aldama.
Hey, let’s spout some more unadulterated BS that has no chance of happening while we shit on the guy that just won Knicks fans a championship and all who are thankful for it! Go Team A-hole!
A greek asking for less drama? What has the world come to?? 🤭😂
That is as horseshit a call as anything the Knicks experienced
Tony Brothers is now a soccer ref?
US just got fucked…the VAR is worthless
Soccer is so fucking stupid. That’s a red card? Can they rescind that garbage before the R16 match?
I believe Messi did something similar in their 1st group game and VAR didn’t even ask the ref to review it.
Can we take a Knickerblogger field trip to the Plumlee farm?
They’ve got to be growing more Plumlees somewhere, right?
😁lol
Balogun is also not able to play next game if we advance
Hosting the World Cup and they send off the best striker we’ve ever had. And he sits next round too
Brutal call.
I admittedly don’t watch much soccer outside of the World Cup but it seems like there was literally no bad intent or recklessness there. He just…landed.
At least we still have Pepi and Haji Wright for next game but need to somehow hold on tonight.
The Bosnia coach is losing his shit
USA….USA
That was some shot!
Mitch is the Rolls Royce of backup Cs and the Zastava of starters.
All we need is a trusted Toyota.
How hard is to find a big body who can play D and doesn’t suck on fts?
Just went through all the new rotations in the league, and I’m still not impressed, especially by the East.
OKC and the Spurs are obviously still excellent. I also like what Phoenix did.
As far as the East goes, Indy kind of scares me, and Toronto maybe got a legit #1 guy, but I still prefer what we have. Feels weird to think that but here we are.
Tillman has some German blood which came in handy on that free kick.
Toronto’s alleged #1 guy is just a worse version of OG Anunoby
Its refreshing watching a USA mens team being able to pass and possess the ball like this.
It’s not hard but it’s expensive. Even the shitty Toyotas like Precious are out of our price range.
I like what Chicago has done. Obviously not good enough to be a real playoff team yet but I think they’ve moved in the right direction for sure.
I’m also not that impressed with what the rest of the east has done. Have Philly and Toronto gotten better? Probably. Are they now clearly better than us? Doubtful. And feels like Boston has gone back a bit even with adding Mitch. Detroit? Who knows what’s going on with them. Indy will be better but I don’t think they’re better than they were two seasons ago.
We still have the best starting five in the conference (and league!) and deuce, Shamet and Alvarado is a good start for the bench.
Right now I’d say pick up Looney for the vet minimum to at least insure we’ve got one back up big. Although I do like the idea of maybe building up Diawara to play that role some too.
Then swing for a trade either before the season starts or once it’s under way to get a better back up option so looney can be the third back up big.
Go for someone who is Mitch like, ie, more of a big, defensive presence. If we can do this it might in summer be better than Mitch and Huk bc looney gives us an option to play a different way since he’s more of a passer and is familiar with brown’s system. I do think greener pastures away from NO could help looney bounce back. Alvarado would probably have some insight into him.
I’m also so confused as to why the Celtics would trade brown but sign Mitch. I know his new contract wasn’t on the same insane level as brown but it feels like
You go after a guy like Mitch bc you’re trying to get better on the margins but then you actively get worse trading brown. Was the situation just that untenable with him?
It’s just odd. Mitch at 15 million a year seems like such a huge risk for a team that just traded away one of their franchise cornerstones.
I believe that there are definitely a few reliable backup Cs outthere wanting to play for the nba champions.
Let’s be patient and see what the FO has in mind this time.
love this post, so much 🧡 💙
was just thinking how much I’m looking forward to those two pairing up next season…
out west the worry is two deep multi faceted teams that can play in waves…defense defense defense…
back east we’re now the measurement standard for getting to the finals…our thing too is a deep roster with a good defense and some kind of flow offense thing going on…
what teams really need to match us is tight and productive team synergy and the clutch factor…
someone who’ll get you consistent buckets late in the 4th…
cade, maxey, maybe donovan mitchell…we have the best in the league right now with jalen brunson…that is something to say…
Embiid played the last 4 playoff games against Boston. They won 3/4. He put up 28/9/7.
Against NY, he put up 19/5/3.
That’s why Boston got Mitch.
I am hoping these threads age similarly to the offseason 2022 threads.
It’s unbelievable we went on a run that has the rest of the conference in a panicked frenzy and the owner thinks it would be “suicide” to run it back.
HOOPSHYPE has an updated listing of rosters including contract status…good place to go shopping…
hornets, pistons, magic, and us look like the deepest teams in the east…
they have player pics in place…that snowtime laker thing is kind of funny…
It’s amazing that the posters who incessantly bemoaned the FO for not pursuing a path that could lead to a championship are not shutting the fuck up after being wrong about pretty much everything they have posted since Leon was hired. But hey. it’s comically entertaining!
And let’s not move the goalposts. It was “we can’t win a championship this way” all along. One prominent and respected poster even put the goalpost at “can we win a playoff series?”
I’m literally laughing my ass off at how these same guys are squirming about losing Mitch, considering their how their abysmal “Chicken Little” posts have aged. The hubris is mind-boggling!
Some people just can’t take an L, and in this case, the biggest fattest L that will ever be taken on this blog no matter what happens in the future. Hopefully the site won’t lose the posting history.
I will ask again, Z-Man, why not weigh in? Do you think I’m wrong and this was actually a calculated decision from the front office? If so, why do you think literally all of the beat reporters have blown it on what amounts to a pretty god damn crucial detail?
Because mind you, I am not saying the front office won’t find a way to salvage the situation. Matter of fact I said I had confidence they could! I am simply saying I believe what the reporters have said and what the fact pattern indicates: James Dolan very, very recently imposed a restriction that is nothing but bad for basketball purposes.
I think you answering these questions would lead to a healthier discussion than me pulling up the Bargnani thread or some of your KAT takes in response. I guess I’m getting soft in my old age.
TNFH did you bother to read this pot on the last thread?
“FWIW, I don’t believe for a second that Dolan is doing this to screw Knicks fans. I think he wants to win more championships as much as any of us, maybe more.
What I DO think is that he truly believes that avoiding the second apron at all costs is the best way to do it. He chose the word “suicidal” for a reason.
Now that reason may be extremely ignorant, and he is a very ignorant man. No doubt about it. I feel confident that if Leon and Wes, and possibly Brunson or Brown, explained to Dolan that it was logical to go over the apron, he would likely have just overruled them because of that narcissistic belief in his own reasoning, just like Trump often ignores his advisors no matter what they say. Those two are cut from the same cloth.
But I do think that this decision opens up possibilities that would not be open if we signed Mitch to this deal. We can agree to disagree on this, but no matter…it is what it is.”
More importantly, show some fucking humility in being totally wrong on the most important argument in the last 6 years: Can Leon (and Dolan) win a championship via this route? You have been a standard-bearer for Team Rudderless Mess for the duration, so fucking own it. And not just in an “oops!” sort of way. It was the biggest case of your KB “lawyerly” life and you lost big time. Except that in losing, you actually won, as a fan longing for a championship. Good for you!
When my kids ask me to buy them dumb stuff they don’t need I always make big pronouncements that I am not going to pay for it because it’s wasteful and against my moral superiority so that when I do pay for it they like and respect me more.
And if I really can’t afford it, I tell them to ask their mother.
It’s that simple, Jim.
And the insinuation that anyone was adamant that this was Leon’s call and not Dolan’s is ridiculous. Folks (me included) raised it as a possibility, given the obvious negatives re: going into the second apron, and even your friend Jeremy Cohen defended it before waffling. Is he a Leon shill as well?
Idk about all that, but Gemini said this:
Despite bypassing European centers this season, the front office routinely monitors the international market. Some of the most highly coveted starting-caliber European centers in the EuroLeague include:
– Nikola Milutinov (Olympiacos Piraeus)
– Walter Tavares (Real Madrid)
– Mathias Lessort (Panathinaikos)
Are you suggesting they could pull a Mozgov out of their hat?
Somehow those Euros are not making me feel better, not even a little bit.
Bagley to tha Nuggs.
Just noticed that the Mavericks got Aldama for *criminally cheap*: The Memphis Grizzlies are trading Santi Aldama to the Dallas Mavericks for AJ Johnson, a protected 2030 Warriors first-round pick and two future second-round picks, sources tell ESPN.
And Marvin Bagley was at the veterans’ minimum?!? Why couldn’t we pull off something like that?
I assume we at least did due diligence on Bagley.
These FA centers are not very good. I would think there is some sort of trade in the works. I can’t imagine Leon is just sitting around in a stupor saying “oh Marvin Bagley I forgot about that guy.”
We’ll probably end up with a decent backup center when the dust settles, but it’s gonna take a trade to do it I think.
July the First in the Year of Our Lord 2026, a brief recap:
Huk left the Knicks to go to Philly
Mitch left the Knicks to go to Boston.
James Dolan is still a moron and has not left the Knicks.
And yet, despite all of the above, the Knicks remain the reigning champs of the National Basketball Association and I’m still over the moon about it!
tell ya donnie, seems a hard place to live at times, earth, so i really try to encourage persistence among the kids…an admirable quality – ‘til it’s used against me…
noticed i’ve adopted dad voice now with both sis and mom…patient to a point, clear and direct as often as possible…easier just to remember as few as personas as possible…family, partner, friends…
the public one is the most wide ranging, from: don’t know you, don’t trust you, don’t get too close, to sharing life stories within random brief encounters with folks I’ve never met before…very situational…
during one of my last group meetings at work mentioned my future career goals including possibly being a shelf stocker at a grocery store…it was a sales group, i don’t think they got it…do though tend to be extra friendly with the folks working in the grocery stores i frequent…
there’s a dreagers next door, which is nice, eat out of it mostly while here…bet the city has more than a few premier markets…
Man, what is wrong with you? The level of hostility is nuts. Last week you came after me and mocked me for being an acolyte of E when he’s literally the one poster I blocked with Tasty’s browser extension. (If that was someone other than Tasty, my apologies.) What drives this need to punch people repeatedly in the face? Yikes.
The Celtics just shifted the balance of power in our division – they made us and themselves worse and the sixers better. F*ck those guys!!
Good morning, English Knick!. Cheers to you & Harry Kane.
I’m not concerned about the Sixers as challengers. Our Mitch thing is sad on a personal level and frustrating on a who-is-in-charge one, but it truly is a first world problem compared to what the East is going through.
The way things went down with Brown & the Celtics gives me reason to re-examine KAT’s season. If dangling Brown for Giannis just ended with the Celtics having to break up a beloved, championship-winning pairing in one of the worst trades in franchise history, then it’s clear we (and I, in particular) underestimated the impact of KAT being similarly dangled throughout the season.
New role, new coach, and trade rumors? In hindsight, I should have given him more grace, particularly when he moaned about being the one asked to sacrifice. It seems no surprise he began to improve after the all star break.
And it makes KAT even more admirable IMO. He could have easily gotten stuck in his feelings like Brown but he fought through it. (And shout out to Director, who was trying to tell us all this in January. The man clearly has a lot of experience managing sensitive egos.)
The Mitch thing is sad & frustrating but it’s not the end of the world. And as others have mentioned, seeing the state of these other teams is quite an elixir (until you see the state of OKC, and then you realize why it’s actually critical we have more than a journeyman off the scrap heap for those 12 mpg, but I digress).
Rama, you are a personal fave and If I compared you to E in any way I truly apologize. I don’t recall doing it, but if I did it was a mistake.
Thanks Hubert. Kane is our Brunson, it seems!!
Agreed that I’m not super worried about Philly, but they are definitely a better team now! And totally agree re KAT!!
Thank you, Z-man.
I am really bummed about Mitch (especially since he went to the freaking Celtics), but it still seems to me that the East is ours and the real issue is beating whoever comes out of the West. But it makes no sense to moan about it when the die is not yet cast. I would hate to lose Deuce, but are we really going to pay him in a year when he’s somewhat duplicative? Could be a piece to bring us back someone better than a scrap heap backup big. We shall see.
Of course, other teams aren’t done either, so the East could get tougher… Not scared by Philly or Boston, though. Chances are at least 50/50 that neither Mitch nor Embiid are playing come May….
Z-Man simply can’t abide authority being questioned other than in the ways he permits.
E, I don’t permit or not permit anything. Only the moderators can do that. I seldom (if ever) lobby for anyone to get banned…not even the likes of you.
No, you just say repeatedly that they aren’t entitled to enjoy the championship, which is even odder.
You were completely wrong about Thibs and you were completely wrong about KAT (*), and if someone says, “Running with one leg makes it harder to finish a marathon,” they’re 100% correct even if the one-legged runner in fact finishes the marathon.
Probably better to reflect upon those things, rather than continuing your ridiculous demands for repentance, including from people who don’t need my defense and wouldn’t agree with me if I told them water was wet.
(*) And others — raises hand — were completely right about them. So, now — who exactly should be “taking the L”??
Long time Spurs supporter, you don’t have to tell me 🙂
Good luck in the Azteca.
The East is pretty mashed up right now. Just about every team has either tinkered with or blown up their starting lineup.
The Sixers seem to have improved the most but Embiid is still the elephant in the room. If VJ develops, this will be possibly the best team he’s ever played on.
Indiana has been lying in the weeds. (Thank goodness they got unucky with the lottery balls!) But Carlisle is really good and Hali & Co., minus Turner.
Those two seem to be our most serious competition. Maybe Toronto too if Kawhi is 100%.
Every other team seem either unpredictable or underwhelming. But with no tanking any more, I don’t see any 60-win teams, and think that even though losing Mitch is a significcant blow, we should be in a good position to return to the finals no matter how we replace him, so long as we stay reasonably healthy.
Whatever you say, E. PS I was not wrong about Thibs, but you are so intellectually dishonest (most everyone here knows that about you) that you have no problem misrepresenting my Thibs takes, both specifically and in general. I was definitely wrong about KAT as was just about everyone else to one degree or another, even his supporters! But I never felt it was a bad move to trade for him value-wise. Nor did I criticize his intelligence (beyond B-ball IQ) or character, or work ethic. Nor did I ever stop rooting hard for him. Nor did I post incessently about him the way that you did about Thibs, or Randle, or Leon, or the Hustlebunnies, etc.
And to be fair, KAT was in a funk most of the season, had trouble accepting his role, and was disappearing in games. Hiis defense has always been subpar. He did a lot of dumb stuff. Then something clicked, and whether it was him or Brown that was responsible, I agree that it likely wouldn’t have happened under Thibs. So I’ll definitely (and happily and humbly) take the L on him and on that, so long as folks are representing what I said accurately.
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