Knicks Morning News (2026.07.01)

Count me among those who are very (pleasantly?) surprised that nothing has gone down yet.

Whatever happens with Mitch, knowing that we are bringing back 8 of our top 9 is awesome! And if somehow Dolan relents and we go into the season with both Mitch and Huk in the fold, man, that would be LIT!

Speaking of which, my daughter convinced me to get tix for tomorrow night’s concert at Jones Beach Theater….Santana and the Doobies. So what that it might be 100 degrees? I wouldn’t be surprised if at least 1 Knick is there. Might wear my Willis jersey!

This will be my 4th time seeing Santana, starting back in April 1975 at Colgate U. Unfortunately I will have to be relatively sober this time. I have seen them twice at JBT and it rained hard both times but I still had a blast. Hopefully Carlos still has it.

Wow, Norman Powell to the Bulls? Doesn’t that suck for the Heat?

The thing that more than makes up for losing Huk is the long-term cheap deal for Mo. It’s just unsettling that our current C depth is KAT and { }.

The juiciest outcome would be signing both Mitch and Looney. I’ll be on Cloud 9 if that happens.

“Hoopshype has Vucevic ranked above Mitch on their free agent list. That seems silly, but I wonder what he would cost?”

That’s ridiculous. The rookie minimum is too high for Vuc. There’s a reason the Celts want no part of him.

At least Phil and Isiah stayed far away from the glory of this championship.

Well that’s why I said something transient rather than something like I hope he blows his knee out.

Just to be clear, I don’t hate LeBron and greatly admire his career. I’ve marveled at his greatness, just like all other all-time greats. He’s been a great ambassador for the game and is on the same side of many societal issues as I am. He’s a good family man and probably a good friend.

My negative feelings towards him are SOLELY related to the question of whether I ever want him to enjoy a single minute of grace in a Knicks uniform, or on the Knicks bench, or in tribute to him at MSG (in that order). Same with pretty much everyone on my list of “villians.”

Except maybe Dolan. Especially right now.

There is no way to sugarcoat that in the short term, we are likely to be worse.

But if to keep Mitch, we had to match what Boston gave him, there’s no way to sugarcoat that there was substantial risk…even if one thinks that contract was moveable a year or two out. Teams over the second apron are at a disadvantage when forced to trade a player to avoid second apron penalties. And if he got seriously injured, the cost of moving him would be that much higher. I’m not trying to spin the move to let him walk as a positive, only saying that I’m willing to accept that there was significant risk involved in signing a backup to a 3-year deal with a player option while being virtually guaranteed to be facing the second apron in 2 more of the next 4 years.

“As you can see, I’m leaving open the possibility I’m wrong about all of this.”

I would hope so. No one was more skeptical than you about Leon’s chances of threading the needle with the hybrid method, or more wrong about it. Which is okay, we all make rash statements here! But respectfully, this sounds an awful lot like the “rudderless mess” assessment from exactly 4 years ago. I posted that thread recently and won’t bother to re-post it, but you should give it a good read, maybe it will help you think outside the box a bit.

“Quite frankly, the bigger mistake was letting Huk go”

Not even close, but it compounds the issue. There likely won’t be a dropoff between who eventually becomes #2 and Huk. And #3 is hardly the guy that will make much difference in a championship run. I liked Huk’s chances of “competing” for #2 but also felt more that he would ultimately be #2 insurance behind someone like Looney.

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.