News & Blogs
Jordan Clarkson re-signing with Knicks on one-year deal – SNY
Tyler Nickel impresses again but Knicks fall to Spurs, 70-49, in summer league action – SNY
Spurs 70-49 Knicks (Jul 11, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN
Why Mo Diawara’s Summer League struggles are a big nothingburger – Posting & Toasting
Knicks’ 2nd-round pick Tyler Nickel now has 10 3s in 2 Summer League games – New York Daily News
Sunday Posted & Toasted Notes: Dead-set Kayil, Senior Jose, Wemby controversy!? – Posting & Toasting
The Run.down Knicks vs Spurs Summer League Postgame Show – The Strickland
YT News
86 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.07.13)”
About Diawara, finding comps is a fun exercise, but in the end it’s simple, he either develops or he don’t. I think he’ll be OG’s primary backup, at least in the first part of the regular season. Mike Brown has shown that he’s not afraid of giving time to unproven young players because that’s the best way to develop them. I’m looking forward to see him in pre-season and regular season. I don’t think SL is good to assess player development, i’ve seen players playing great and they didn’t turn into good NBA players, and i’ve seen players struggling and they became good NBA players.
Players who tend to thrive in summer league are either guys who can create with the ball in their hands, or guys playing on a team with a good playmaking point guard. Mo is neither of those. Obviously, you can succeed despite that, as we’ve seen with Nickel. But I won’t really worry about Mo until we see him similarly struggling when he’s sharing the floor with Brunson, GTA, or Kolek.
Have watched zero Summer League, so following the chatter with mild interest, but I do note that Macri points out that Nickel is 6’7″, which is not a bad thing for a shooter.
Valanciunas back to Lithuania, it appears.
https://www.eurohoops.net/en/euroleague/1990725/jonas-valanciunas-finally-returns-to-europe-for-zalgiris-kaunas/
“About Diawara, finding comps is a fun exercise, but in the end it’s simple, he either develops or he don’t.”
Exactly. It is fun to project the types of developmental gains he will make and the player type that that will lead to, but the most important thing is whether he develops and how much before he hits a ceiling.
“I think he’ll be OG’s primary backup, at least in the first part of the regular season.”
Probably. In Brown We Trust.
Even though it was a limited look, I loved what the highlights showed about Kayil. The poise and shooting stroke look very promising.
Not only does our SL team lack a strong PG, it lacks a good C (which is reflective of our lack of a young C in general.) These problems compound each other.
Looking forward to today’s game. (cyber et. al. must love the 4:00 ET start!) I would love to get an extended look at a lineup with all four of Kayil, Nickel, Dadiet, and Mo…although whoever is at the 5 will kill the vibe a bit. Just leave ’em out there and forget about the score.
In a way, I see Mo as having the potential to be kind of a Swiss army knife type, with aspects of both Hart and OG. His ceiling will depend in large part on his ability to read the game and just be in the right spot at the right time. He needs to work on all aspects of his game, but to me, his b-ball IQ will be the single biggest factor in determining where his ceiling is. He already has shown that he has a lot of ways to positively impact a game, even with his skill level “as is.”
“Valanciunas back to Lithuania, it appears.”
Probably the best move for him.
We’re getting LeBron!
(not really, but hey, can still hope that’s what the open roster spot is for)
one thing that jumps out watching mo is that he really, really struggles to jump off two feet. he’s really fast and looks fine jumping off one foot unimpeded, but he looks like greg butler trying to go up flat footed or when he has to vary his timing. i think this is going to limit his finishing upside and foul drawing ability. i think he’s drawing almost dead to get to~6/36 rim attempts at 70% like siakam or to organize himself well enough to be the kind of threat siakam has been in the 4-12 foot area. this awkward gathering, along with iffy timing, probably contributes to his anemic shot block totals as a rookie and in europe given his elite length. it’s not like siakam is some great shot blocker either, and there a lot of ways for long guys with light feet to become good defenders. but i haven’t loved what i’ve seen from mo so far on that end. it’s early.
Always struck me as the most likely resolution, given the report of prior negotiations and an offer on the table. The difference between an NBA vet minimum and what he can make over there isn’t substantial for a guy who has made the dough he has.
Only thing that gave me pause was Begley’s harping on JV being a live option for NYK. So much for that.
Nick Richards? Trey Jemison? Trades? None of those?
Yeah, pt, there is a weird tippy-toe-ness to his game and a gangliness to his movements. It makes me hope that it is due to him still growing, or just having recently stopped.
It seems like the Knicks now have a top-notch support team in place in all areas, including strength and conditioning and player development. I would think that the flaws in his movements (2-footed agility and explosion) are going to be identified and intensively addressed in the next 3 months. I don’t see those issues as necessarily uncorrectable, or at least addressable to the point where they are seriously limiting.
“Nick Richards? Trey Jemison? Trades? None of those?”
My personal order is:
1) None of these (meaning just ride out the offseason until an opportunity comes along with a placeholder, hopefully a better one than Jemison)
2) Trade (meaning Dadiet’s salary and some seconds, but not Deuce or Mo)
3) Trey Jemison (as a placeholder until someone better shakes loose)
4) Nick Richards (I don’t see a particularly coachable player there)
My personal order is:
1) Nick Richards (as a placeholder until someone better shakes loose; when you wait this long, you get what you get, and you don’t get upset—but we need to have a full roster)
2) Trade (meaning Dadiet or Kolek, but not Deuce or Mo unless we are getting back someone who is better than average)
3) Jeremy Sochan (as a placeholder until someone better shakes loose)
4) Trey Jemison (as a placeholder until someone better shakes loose)
5) None of these (meaning just ride out the offseason until an opportunity comes along with a placeholder)
No on Jemison and Richards. They’re two of the worst players in the league and are too old for any upside.
I really don’t know how to feel about Sochan. His flakiness kind of rubs me the wrong way. He is too small to play C beyond situationally. But he’s probably better than Jemison, and might have some upside at his age as EB alluded to. I guess it’s 50-50 for me.
I have to wonder whether Sochan is turning down offers in the hope of sticking around or just isn’t getting any interest from anyone.
We clearly need to sign someone who is really tall and theoretically plays professional basketball. It’s not tenable to begin the season with just KAT and Drummond.
My guess is they sort this out the way they did with the Shamet spot last year–with a training camp battle among guys on non-guaranteed deals, as they won’t want to lock into anyone in particular. My other guess is whoever wins this competition does not endear himself to us to even 10% of the extent Shamet did.
Jemison is still two-way eligible so I could see us putting him back in one of those slots if he’s willing. Oscar Tshiebwe has put up some cool looking numbers in 745 minutes so I wouldn’t mind giving him a look.
Bleak options huh?
Nick Richards seems to be terrible at everything, so I’m a no on that one.
I was catching up on podcasts and heard a mention that Micah Potter was likely to be waived by Indiana Pacers and that he could be a useful big man for someone. So I looked him up. He is 6‘9“ and can play power forward or Center. This was promising but then I found that Indiana did actually waive him, but he was picked up on waivers by Portland. His salary is low enough we could have taken him on waivers too, but Portland had a worse record than we did so they come earlier in the waiver picking order. And they already had three centers. It’s very frustrating.
Maybe Portland drops one of their surplus centers now that they have four of them. I think that Timelord seems like the most obvious Mitch replacement if we could get our hands on him—they are almost clones of one another—and hope that our great medical staff can find a way to keep him upright throughout the season just as they did with Mitch. I’d love to have interest in Yang Hansen as a developmental guy, but I just don’t.
Doogie FFS Portland literally just re-signed Timelord. Not only can we not trade for him at all until December 15th, but with his new salary it would require us to aggregate no fewer than four players.
FFS no on him, then.
Bondy says Jonas denied the report. He hasn’t signed. Yet.
“Bleak options huh?”
If we’re talking about a 3rd string center in a vacuum, not really. Most 3rd string C’s are bad. Take our opponents in the playoffs last year. The WC champs had the likes of Bismack, Olynyk, and Plumlee sharing that role. The Cavs had Olivier Sarr and Thomas Bryant. The Sixers had Adem Bona. The Hawks had Tony Bradley.
The “bleak” part is the “replacement level” floor of Andre Drummond. His ceiling, while well below Mitch’s, is at least a cromulent NBA backup to a star C, i.e. a third string type.
That said, is it any more bleak than it was to go into last season with the utterly unplayable Guerschon Yabusele as our only backup forward? Or Kolek as our only true backup PG? Or Clarkson as our only shot creator off the bench, given the way he played before getting benched?
It will likely take a trade to fortify the C rotation if Drummond disappoints. I’d hate to have to move Deuce or Shamet or Mo or Alvarado to do so, but alas, that’s the way it is.
“That said, is it any more bleak than it was to go into last season with the utterly unplayable Guerschon Yabusele as our only backup forward?”
Just the obvious point that we had no idea how much Yabu sucked, or that he sucked at all, when we went into the season planning to give him real minutes at some point.
Agree that a trade is likely going to be necessary here.
“Just the obvious point that we had no idea how much Yabu sucked, or that he sucked at all, when we went into the season planning to give him real minutes at some point.”
All of the hype (or at least non-bleakness) about Yabu was based on a half-season of meh play on a shitty team. It took about one preseason game to see that he was virtually unplayable. On top of that, trading him for something better would require a team to eat the second year of his contract. THAT seemed bleak!
Then lo and behold, he renounced the second year and we land Alvo.
Stuff like that gives me lots of confidence that Leon will patch up the C rotation in at least a reasonable, and possibly a brilliant way. And that Brown will maximize whatever he has to work with. Seems to me that they’ve earned that level of trust.
It’s far more likely than not that Leon is OK with the status quo. For now.
Given the choice of starting the season with Drummond penciled in as the #2 center or rolling the dice on one of the half dozen names that get regurgitated here on a daily basis, he selects Door Number One.
Simply put, there’s no one available at the moment who moves the needle in the slightest so why not wait? As the season gets closer, teams with surplus bigs will be much more motivated to deal – if not outright release – some of them than they are now. One of them is bound to be a more appealing option than Nick Fucking Richards.
In Macri’s newsletter today he mentioned Drummond in Vegas to cheer the team on. Music to my ears-the new (former All-Star) ver showing commitment to the team where/when he didn’t have to.
I loved Mitch. Nevertheless, I have a mostly irrational belief that Drummond will much better than expected. After all, he’s from Mount Vernon, has some tools and perhaps something to prove. Fingers crossed.
They may go into the season with Sochan being the 3rd string C unless they can make a trade now that makes sense. Finding a trade that would get an approval from me right now doesn’t look promising so far.
They can take a good look at Drummond as the backup for awhile and if that’s not working (it won’t), make what would be a difficult trade now later at the deadline.
Sochan is only 6-foot-8 and is nowhere near being a center. He does play defense, though, and he also has posted some cute pictures of himself with his kid (https://www.instagram.com/p/DanJ9hVjeqc/).
I don’t think you are being that irrational at all wayloncash…once upon a time before he got derailed in detroit by a terrible attitude, he was pretty good…remember him being a very good athlete for his size…
similar to clarkson, easy to see andre really latch on to this opportunity…doesn’t need to be a star, just has to fit in with what we need…play his role well…
interesting comment yesterday regarding most likely assurances from the front office that andre would be given a fair chance at being our number 2 center…
I think he comes in to the season in excellent shape and prepared to contribute right away…
think we’ll go with some young project as our 3rd center when the season begins…
someone also mentioned how the coaching staff will need to get creative on fitting him in to a team offensive and defensive scheme…it’s good though that his basketball shortcomings are so well known, easier that way to address within the team…
sure, I’d rather still have mitch, think though that andre will turn out to be a pleasant surprise for us this season…
“I loved Mitch. Nevertheless, I have a mostly irrational belief that Drummond will much better than expected. After all, he’s from Mount Vernon, has some tools and perhaps something to prove. Fingers crossed.”
I don’t think it is irrational to believe that Drummond will be a “decent” backup C as they go. We’ve grown kind of accustomed to having two “starter-level” C’s on the roster…first iHart and Mitch, then KAT and Mitch. We can agree that Drummond is not gonna be that. So the sudden (and solely Dolan decree-initiated) downgrade is especially jarring.
howdy z-man, hope your week is starting off well 😊
I liked how you put it yesterday, saying the championship was like a 2nd retirement…it truly did feel like crossing the finish line…
my first “retirement” was more of a falling apart and flaming out affair…every one has a breaking point, reached mine some years earlier than intended…
I absolutely love though hearing you mention still being involved with serving the community through your involvement with education…
it has to feel good to be able to connect with and reach some young folks every once in a while to help them along their journey…at its best, where education can really make a difference, having an adult around who gives a shit and has your back, who’ll listen and speak truthfully…
so number one son faced some challenges last year at school – was really heartening to spend time with the faculty and staff to see their level of involvement, care and assistance…
hope you’re able to keep doing that good work for as long as you’re able z-man…
I agree he’s not a C, but he has played minutes at the position. I’m not sure what they think of him as a player. But if they like him in a more general sense they can also use his as the 3rd string when Towns is out.
In the words of the immortal Leonard Cohen: “Let’s sing another song, boys. This one has grown old and bitter.”
My bet is that the next center signed will be someone who is on few, if any, of our radars right now.
Earlier, Z-man reminded us how thin we were at backup PG going into last season. Too lazy to comb through the archives but I don’t recall Jose Alvarado’s name bandied about much then as a possible solution. At that same time, the FO probably had him on a shortlist of backup PG candidates that might shake loose during the season who could be acquired for minimal assets. Leon waited and when the opportunity presented itself, he pounced. No reason to think they are not taking a similar approach with regards to the backup center.
I’m sure they have guys in mind who aren’t available now but will be later in the season, either from teams who are playing worse than expected, or who have had an unexpected depth charge shakeup.
We nonetheless need three centers on the roster right now. KAT is not going to play every game. Drummond is not going to play every game. OG can play center for parts of games, but we don’t want to be in a position where he has to do it more than absolutely necessary. Even if the guy playing in place of KAT and/or Drummond is substantially worse than OG.
We can have a two-way player as our 3rd C until something better comes up, correct?
Thanks Geo and Z-Man for the feedback. I play ball with a guy from Mount Vernon and he knew the Williams brothers in high school! Dude can still ball out and he is psyched about Drummond. Hope he pans out-maybe do some things Mitch struggled with. I know he is also a poor free throw shooter, but his offense is more developed. Thing about Mitch is that like a great cornerback or linebacker, he makes plays and alters momentum. I dont see this with Drummond, but steady and ready would be very cool.
6’8″ is actually kinda fine for a center, especially a 3rd string.
All these guys who play center are between 6’7″ & 6’9″: Bam Adebayo, Derek Queen, Jaylin Williams, Robert Williams, Al Horford, Naz Reid, Jalen Smith, Paul Reed, Bobby Portis, Kevon Looney, Precious Achiuwa, Collin Murray-Bowles.
Plus we need a big forward as much as we need a 3rd string C. Sochan solves two problems.
Not only that, we could just wait until after an injury to sign a 2-way center.
I turned on the Knicks SL game… over/under on the minutes i’ll be able to endure this at 4.5 !! 😀
I’m trying to spot EB in the stands. 😛
OK. Sign Liam Robbins.
Kidding.
Mostly.
Dillon Jones being a back-to-back champion is some great bar trivia
Having both Diawara and Dadiet out takes most the juice out of this game.
Bring back Skapinski!
i lied, taking a break from shuffling things around in the house to watch some knick summer league…don’t judge…
like our uni’s…
Nickel 0-3. Hit a shot, Tyler! I want your Knicks story to continue!
I love you maniacs for watching a Monday mid-afternoon Summer League game 1 month after we won the fucking championship.
I like Kayil
Nickel seems to have a nose for the ball.
It’s me, if i’m watching the Knicks are automatically winning! 😛 😀
Now it’s: Pistons 33 Knicks 41
No Diawara today! 🙁
Sellers just ended his shot at an NBA career.
Real question: Is there a world where Liam Robbins could be useful for us in a 5-8-minute stint, if we need him? Dude is f-ing humongous.
What an hilarious* end of the half !!
*but not in a good way 😛
Obviously Robbins is a G-League level guy, but hey, why not?
How about that nasty two-handed block of a weak Nickel drive by #45 on the Pistons? He put five and five on fifty-five!
What did Sellers do that was so egregious/funny? I missed it.
One half is (more than) enough for me! 😛
Box_score.jpg 😀
With the half running out, he made two consecutive lazy passes in the backcourt that were easily stolen.
liam just turned 27…the kid looks pretty good out there in summer league…
nice, andre at the game rocking a wife beater t, out in public, indoors – no doubt dude is in great shape and feeling confident…
Robbins with the resounding brick on a 12ft line-drive jump-hook. Seemed more like a water polo shot.
I have absolutely no idea why I’m watching this pickup game.
are you high ess-dog, that’s my excuse…
Because after this it’s pretty much of three long months of dog days.
If we were still terrible this thread would have 300+ Kayil comments by now. We’ve dreamed on worse players.
Thanks for the info on Sellers’ gaffes, Z.
How’s Kayil looking overall?
I’d keep Jones around on a two-way. Looked good today. Probably nothing there, but I liked him during his draft and so did Sam Presti, so that’s as good a case for a two-way as any.
Here are some Kayil highlights.
I like the way he creates separation and the court vision seems real. Shot is a little weird looking but definitely workable. It was hard for me to evaluate his defense because it’s summer league and everything is a mess.
Ultimately might never have NBA level athleticism, but he’s fun. Happy to have him around.
Kayil looked quite good, didn’t handle pressure at the half-court line particularly well and made some bad decisions, but overall it was a strong performance. Nickel less so, but he still shot 3-8 from 3. Robbins had a strong outing, they mentioned that he missed time in the past with injuries. Seems like a good training camp body, but don’t see much potential beyond that.
I dreamed on Renaldo Balkman. Thst may be the floor.
I agree that Jones looked the most like an NBA player, but we already have his prototype in Hart/Shamet. Maybe he could get a 2-way.
I still believe in Nickel’s shot, but when he took that drive, it was like watching bone fossilize.
Kayil is interesting. He had the usual young-guy turnovers, but his shot looks decent and he has some vision. He’s also slow, but can at least change pace fairly well. His extra height/length is also helpful. But he might just get swallowed up by real NBA players as of now.
I don’t see much anything with Jones but not a bad guy to have on a 2-way. Honestly, until we sign a third C to a real contract, I hope they fill all three 2-way spots with bigs.
Watched the whole 3rd game (don’t ask me why😌)
Kayil didn’t have a great game but showed signs of cool rhythm solid basketball that could turn to a useful nba player in a few years.
Nickel made many shitty decisions while going to the paint but his shooting is becoming addictive.i Like his stroke A Lot.
Robbins showed some things but he’s already 27…idk
Sellers did a few spectacular stuff too but he’s veeeery raw
Dillon Jones looked fine for the end of the bench if the season turns out ugly or if a trade sends many guards out
Kayil really does remind me of Kyle Anderson in his movements, but I’m not sure a 6’5” version of Anderson is going to be viable in the NBA. Anderson is 6’9” and at his best a lot of his value came on the defensive end. Kayil is interesting though, I do like him as a 2RP.
I wish geo… I’m already useless enough sober.
Also, I’m not really enjoying the commercial edibles I’ve had over the last coupla years.
Kayil shooting will be important . Kyle Anderson is a career 27 percent 3 point shooter.
Kayil has some similarities to George Hill.
It’s early morning here and I just caught up on the game. Robbin’s was good enough to get the interview after the game. He said something interesting, that this game, unlike the last two they followed the game plan the coaches drew up. I believe it. They looked much more coordinated as a team out there. Based on just this game i could see Robbin’s being worth a two way contract. If he keeps looking this good I can also see him getting a trading camp invite.
I agree with the other comments about Kayil. He is a real point guard, he can actually shoot and he has reasonable size. That’s good for a second round pick.
I’ve always assumed sobriety was the optimum default setting for living life ess-dog…
not to alter you own chemistry to the point it’s hard to sustain without more – whatever…
have a bunch of vapes, rarely use them, just when my nerves are really bad and need to be out of the house…vapes are strong, but the effects are not very long lasting…
do do edibles a bunch, way way stronger and longer lasting effect…enjoy that they are consistent and stable in that form – plus, i’m a sucker for neat product packaging…gotta know and be cautious with dosages…
feel like it helps with social situations, like insulation…home alone with nothing to do, use it a lot less…
don’t get a chance to smoke much anymore, all pre-rolled and infused stuff when the chance comes, very strong weed, still though probably not as powerful as the vapes or edibles…
love the whole smoking process, it’s just so relaxing…nothing to do but just sit/stand there and smoke and think…like doing fun breathing exercises…
the area i’m in really isn’t so 420 friendly, so, rare treat now…
https://basketnews.com/es/news-250148-knicks-linked-to-surprise-draft-target-after-nba-championship.html getting buckets for the Cavs. Defense is bad though
Have you tried Wyld?
I have not but maybe I should?
Also, maybe the Knicks should’ve tried drafting Meleek Thomas, darn it.
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