News & Blogs
Yankees, Knicks moving regional TV streaming distribution from Gotham app to DAZN – The New York Times
Jordan Clarkson re-signing with Knicks on one-year deal – SNY
Thursday Posted & Toasted Notes: Entitled takes, Pat Ewing’s farewell – Posting & Toasting
Karl-Anthony Towns and the burden of being picked first – Posting & Toasting
Recently waived Jonas Valanciunas among centers on Knicks’ radar – SNY
NBA Power Rankings: LeBron James vaults 76ers into top five; Spurs have early edge over Knicks – CBS Sports
Pod Strickland Patreon Preview Episode 615: LeBron and The Odyssey – The Strickland
Knicks Las Vegas Fan Meetup Podcast: Title Reflections & Offseason Moves – Knicks Fan TV
Are the Knicks up to something? – Knicks Film School
YT News
37 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.07.31)”
Aw hell, since nobody else is posting, I’ll copy and paste this from NBA.com:
They were the best fourth-quarter team in the 30 seasons for which we have play-by-play data, outscoring opponents by 11.7 points per 100 possessions in fourth quarters.
They made 5 corner 3-pointers per game, the most for any team in the 30 seasons of shot-location data. OG Anunoby led all players in total corner 3-pointers in both the regular season (88) and the playoffs (25).
They were 6-2 in playoff games they trailed by double digits. That was the best such playoff record for any team in the 30 years of play-by-play data, and the NBA Finals were the second best-of-seven series in that time where a team trailed by double digits in all four of its wins. (The other time was the Knicks’ first-round series against Philadelphia in 2024.)
Key question: How much of the title run was sustainable?
This is a good question. I assume studies have been done on whether teams that are great at comebacks and/or close-and-late situations in one season can repeat that in the next, or if there’s more random variation.
In previous iterations of the Brunson team, we had some memorable comebacks, but also the kinds of memorable collapses that this year’s team mostly avoided. (Even when we struggled late, we still pulled it out.)
In watching that video I posted yesterday, I am again reminded of how much I was impressed by Karl-Anthony Towns during the entire playoff run.
Over the 60 years I’ve closely followed the NBA, I’ve seen a couple of guys change the “unclutch” narrative before. The most prominent superstar name from the past is Elvin Hayes, I distinctly recall how he was thought of as overrated and not being a winning player until he finally won a title.
For most of this championship year, KAT seemed to be in a weird place. I definitely was bothered by that. It only magnified the perception I had of him not being a winning player.
But whatever happened during the playoffs (it started before then but who really cared until the playoffs started) was startling, and for me, humbling. Beyond the stellar play, he just seemed so serene, so unbothered by the enormous amount of pressure. In fact, the way that he embraced the pressure of breaking a 53-year championship drought was truly amazing. In that video, you could see it in his face and hear it in his voice…a serenity, a confidence, that in retrospect seem so genuine. He didn’t seem to be even working up a sweat out there! And although he was not perfect, especially with the dumb fouls, including in Game 5, he was a version of KAT that I am thrilled to be rooting for moving forward with none of the doubts I had going into the last two years.
In fact, now that the pressure is relieved and he has a newfound level of confidence in his role on this team, I am wondering if there is even another level for him to get to. Like, MVP-level. Not that he would win, but sustaining something like the 9.4 BPM he put up in the playoffs for the entire season.
Anyway, that may be the single thing I am most intrigued about heading into next year. I think this team still has upside, and KAT’s leap is a big part of that.
Maybe the next “leap” comes from Mikal.
Honestly, it was a close series with the Spurs. If a few plays went a different way, the finals result coukd have been very different. That said, the Spurs were an excellent team that was clearly finals worthy and we were just as good. We can sustain being a contender just like the Spurs can, but that is no guarantee of anything.
Z-Man, to answer your question about man-crushes, I think the clear answer is OG, who I touted as the best wing defender of my lifetime on the Knicks. Pretty much from his arrival, when we went on that crazy run, I have been in love.
Doesn’t mean I saw what he did in the playoffs coming. A very large bonus.
“Honestly, it was a close series with the Spurs. If a few plays went a different way, the finals result coukd have been very different.”
I would go as far as to say that it was a closer series than the 4-1 outcome would suggest, but it really wasn’t a close series at all. We won all 3 games in SA, including Game 5 which was an absolute must win game for them.
The Knicks were clearly the better team, mostly because the Spurs were young and inexperienced, and because they didn’t have a bonafide closer. Wemby also got away with murder, and the Spurs still couldn’t take advantage. I would say that the series was “competitive” more than “close.”
In any case, history will record it as a gentleman’s sweep, and that’s what matters.
As to next year, I expect that the Spurs will grow from this experience and that Wemby is gonna come back with a vengeance. If we are lucky enough to get to the finals and face them again, I expect a much closer series.
Yeah that’s kinda what I mean — we are clearly desperate to swing a deal before completing the roster. I’m just curious about who’s been involved in the talks. Probably Deuce, for one.
I don’t know that they’re desperate to do a deal. They just have an active incentive to delay signing their next player as long as possible.
Of this year’s two finalists, I like the Knicks chances of returning next year better than the Spurs.
Running the gauntlet in an improved EC figures to be an easier road for NYK than SA squeaking by the Thunder again. Sure, OKC will be without Dort but next time around they could have a healthy J-Dub & Ajay plus another big body in Mara to throw at Wemby. And, considering that the timeline of the Thunder’s window seemingly stretches out to infinity, it could be quite some time before the Spurs next sniff the finals.
Despite the widespread predictions of the upcoming Era of Wemby Dominance, it’s entirely possible that 2026 might have been the Spurs best chance at a title for the foreseeable future.
One thing that video reminded me of yesterday is that the closeness of game 2 belies how in control of that game we actually were.
We were up 14 pts halfway through the 4Q before we suddenly began missing every single wide open shot while Tony Brothers was hitting Knicks in the back of the head with a steel chair.
The truth is the Spurs really only played two good halves: the second half of game 3 & the first half of game 4.
And what happened in those two halves? The Spurs had an inexplicable 24-8 FT advantage in one, and KAT was whistled for two fouls within a minute of the other.
I think the 4-1 result is a pretty fair indicator of who really controlled the series. Without all the help from the refs this would have been as one sided as Philly or Cleveland.
In a way, the series reminded me of when the Jets win the Super Bowl ( a long time ago). They were heavy underdogs because people just assumed the AFC was the weaker conference and it hadn’t sunk in to the world how good the Jets were.
I’m pretty bullish on the Spurs, largely (npi) on the basis of Wemby continuing to develop into a GOAT-level player. No guarantees of that for sure, but he ain’t gonna get worse. Additionally, Castle and Harper seem like the real deal, and I’m not as out on De’Aaron Fox as most. They are gonna be very, very motivated.
Their biggest question mark for me is Mitch Johnson. He didn’t impress me very much during the finals. This might be a make or break year for him.
They got Billy Donovan for that.
The Spurs seem poised to dominate the regular season.
I’ll still take the Thunder in the playoffs if they’re healthy.
If there’s anything unsustainable about the Knicks’ run it’s the .391 3p%.
“I’m just curious about who’s been involved in the talks. Probably Deuce, for one.”
Right now, Deuce is our most valuable trade chip outside of the starting lineup. None of Shamet, Drummond, Mo, Clarkson, or Alvarado are even trade eligible. that leaves Deuce, Dadiet, and Kolek. I suppose we have some kind of ability to include last year’s two-ways as filler in a deal, and maybe the rights to Nickel and Kayil. But it seems like getting anyone good by the start of the season via trade is gonna have to include Deuce. Being that Leon is currently negotiating from a position of weakness, Deuce’s value is not particularly high right now. That’s why I would absolutely wait as long as it takes, even if it means going into the season with a 2-way guy as our third C. So long as both KAT and Drumond are healthy, no one cares who our 3rd C is prior to the trade deadline, and teams that value a player who can shoot and defend like Deuce might be more willing to make a fair deal.
A limiting factor to Wemby’s continued development might be his outsized sense of entitlement.
As things stand, Wemby clearly recognizes that the league has anointed him as its Golden Child and he’s using that to full advantage. He’s shown no inclination to curtail his punk ass impulses or even make any effort to disguise them.
Even if the league office continues to turn a blind eye to his cheap shot bullshit, Wemby will likely find himself on the receiving end of vigilante justice meted out by some of the NBA’s genuine tough guys one day. Seems unlikely that he can keep on pulling his crap without any consequence, no matter how protected he may feel by his entitled status. The extent to which he is able to adjust once the worm finally turns will be a factor in his growth as a player.
Sitting in Central Park listening to basketball podcasts, contemplating trades the Sixers can make for Joel Embiid that would worry me while my son runs around Hecksher Playground…
Sixers trade:
Joel Embiid
Labaron Philon
2033 1st (unprotected)
Pick swaps in 2029, 2030, 2032
Maximum cash ($8M)
(^ this is basically everything they have)
To the Bucks…
for:
Myles Turner
Gary Trent Jr (39% career 3P%)
Kyle Kuzma
Money:
Bucks break even on salary in year 1, get $8M from trade
Bucks take on $19M in year 2
Bucks take on $22M in year 3
Bucks save $18M in year 4
Who says no?
The Bucks basically buy Philon, a pick, and three swaps for $15M, and whatever they get from Embiid is gravy.
Sixers turn Embiid into two pieces that can space the floor, including a much more reliable center, plus Kuzma (an expiring that they can trade for someone else).
I think that’s a bad idea for the Bucks, especially given that they are already dealing with $22M in dead cap for the next 4 years.
Now that tanking is no longer a thing, small market teams are going to want to field a relatively competitive product. The Bucks need picks sooner rather than later, especially in 2027 and 2029. They need cheap contracts to offset that dead cap. Embiid’s deal would guarantee that they suck, with no benefit for sucking.
The Bucks should try to trade Turner for current picks and expiring salary. Then they should figure out what to do with Herro, Kuz, and LeVert, who come off the books next year. But for this year, their roster looks like it could be fun to watch while winning a few games with some young guys to dream on.
wait, what day is it?
oh, it’s the off-season 🙁
spider pig spider pig…get your tickets now…
actually now is way too late for today…almost on every screen locally – and still almost all sold out…
ah, tiny screen showing show at 1:15am, hmmmmmmm…
Also, according to spotrac.com. Gary Trent Jr. is ineligible to be traded until January 15.
If the most unsustainable thing about our legendary title run is that we shot 1.8% above our season average for 19 games, then that title run looks pretty damn sustainable.
I saw The Invite last night. Pretty funny! More like a play than a movie.
The Invite was great, if I remember correctly it actually was adapted from a play.
son 2.0 imprinted this in to my brain – so, now i spread the infection…
“What the fuck is lost in aisle three?”
geo, I think that you might prefer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZw23sWlyG0.
One of the interesting things about our team last year is that even with Mitch, we were next to last in the NBA in block %.
.373 to .391 is a pretty big jump, Pags.
OG shot .489 on 9.1 attempts per 100
Landry shot .475 on 11.1
Those were crazy numbers.
If you took out the absolute demolishing of Atlanta in game 6 and Philly in game 4, I wonder what our playoff 3 point percentage would be?
Aside from making a lot of them, we are a really smart 3pt shooting team. In the playoffs, we rarely heaved threes early in the shot clock and were able to find our shooters in their best spots, even against tremendous defenses (look at what OG was able to do on threes from the corner, for instance.) Got to hand it to Brown. He came up huge for us.
nailed it doogie, you get it 🙂
what got me with gish is just how pathetic and resigned she sounded, really sold that insecure loser worry…forlorn, hmmmmm maybe i’m just projecting…
hold up, wait, am i talking to myself again…
On Katz’s podcast today (even if you don’t subscribe to the Patreon, this part is in the free preview), he expresses deep skepticism that LeBron would have actually come here if we hadn’t won the title.
1. Jalen’s not the kind of guy who’s into recruiting other guys to come to his team. His attitude is wanting to win with whoever happens to be there. Not that he’s opposed to trades and free agents and such, just that he’s not going to actively assist in making upgrades.
2. Leon’s not the type to be into the whole “LeBron James experience,” as Fred put it, and Dolan’s media policies would have made it extremely unlikely that the team would want to bring in a guy intending to make a documentary about his final season(s) in the NBA.
Which set did you catch last night?
The 2nd one
when it comes to urban living, people watching, there are levels to the game…
top 5 NY ventures (at some point):
– some place hubie sits to watch water planes come and go
– some place clarence mentioned eating brunch at
– history museum
– music thing
– meet up, say hi to folks
man, a basketball game ain’t even in the top 5 anymore…
Not really! It’s less than a standard deviation over this sample and it explains a small portion of our dominance. If we had shot our regular season percentage on the same 640 attempts we’d have ended up with 11 fewer makes and 33 fewer points, assuming we never got a putback on any of the misses.
Our cumulative margin of victory on the playoffs was 283 points. Our positive 3pt variance accounted for just under 12% of that margin.
As I said, if that’s the most unsustainable thing that happened it looks pretty damn sustainable. Yes OG shot out of his mind but Hart also cratered from .413 to .326.
– music thing
– meet up, say hi to folks
Geo, Marcus King in Central Park on Sept 2nd. Sit outside Rumsey Play field, ( where the concert takes place) on a blanket, with the libations or attitude adjusters of your choice and an array of local foods. Check two boxes. ( NY Historical Society Museum is a 15 minute walk-check 3 boxes).
Fuck yeah! Banana ball friday
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