News & Blogs
Knicks Notes: Jack Kayil to play overseas this season; what’s next for Tyler Nickel – SNY
Don Nelson, Hall of Fame N.B.A. Coach and Celtics Star, Dies at 86 – The New York Times
Sunday Posted & Toasted Notes: Tired OG, rookie deals, no third big – Posting & Toasting
Norm, sometimes you wanna go where not everybody knows your name – Posting & Toasting
The Knicks may need these 3 young players sooner than expected – The New York Times
Why this is the most important season of Miles McBride’s Knicks career – SNY
Best 20 Knicks Games of the Leon Rose Era | #19 – Knicks 140, Heat 132 (11/14/25) – Knicks Film School
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48 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.08.11)”
These two are clearly a comic duo. They’d be great together.
You got me there.
I can only carry my Mitch grief for so long, though.
I’m in my “the Knicks are champs & Drummond will be fine” era now.
I’m in the “Drummond is going to be this years Clarkson and will learn to adapt and play defense for championship Knicks team” thinking
Shams:
Yup. More details, via Shams:
and
I guess they had to choose between LeBron vs his old team and Brown vs his old team, and they went with the bigger star, even if Brown is probably more important to this Sixers team.
ETA: There is for some reason a Celtics-Pistons game at 3 p.m. on opening day, a few hours before our game against Philly.
i love having a random third opening day afternoon game. the anti-tank provisions weren’t perfect but they were far better than expected. this season should be a marked improvement on the badly leaking nba regular season ship.
The Christmas Day slate of games is so weird. I understand why they did Knicks/Spurs but it does mess up the other games because instead of OKC/SAS and Denver/Minnesota they had to do OKC/Minnesota. And I understand why LAL is playing but if you’re doing LeBron vs a former team Cleveland and Miami are more interesting storylines.
Also, poor Cleveland made the ECF and didn’t get an opening night game, which are usually the CF teams, or a Christmas gang.
Knicks/Spurs Christmas is going to be on ABC right? There’s no way they’d put it on ESPN?
Last year’s Christmas game vs Cavs was both/simultaneous, so good chance for that again.
Great to hear about these scheduled games, makes the offseason a bit more juicy having real games to look forward to.
I’m a tiny bit surprised that a Celtics-Sixers game didn’t have enough juice for an opening night or Christmas Day game. Maybe night 2? That’s a must watch for me.
I also wonder when Indiana will crack the marquee game code. I was actually hoping that they would be our opening night game, just to flaunt the rings in Hali’s face.
Not surprised at all that we are opening up on October 20 against the Philadelphia LeBrons. (Isn’t October 20 a bit earlier for Opening Night than it has been for the past couple/few years? Seems it.)
Re: Drummond. I think that there is no chance that we open up on October 20 with KAT and Drum as our only centers. We’ll have *someone* else in there; hopefully someone defensive-minded. We’ve got more than enough offense.
I guess that makes me Jack Klugman? Or does it?
It’s amazing how Clarkson is now graded on a curve.
He was less of a negative player last year than the year before (or for most of his career), but he was not a good defender and was not a plus player. He was less bad. He’s apparently a very good teammate and pretty easy to root for and like, but the less he plays the better for NY. That means we have someone better. Same with Drummond.
I agree with vincoug that the Christmas games are weird, but I think the shoehorning of LeBron into a game with the Lakers is what threw everything off.
Knicks vs Wemby is the premier matchup in the NBA. We’ll getting SA v OKC for years.
To me the mistake is not doing Sixers-Celtics. Even if you overlook the Jaylen Brown factor, that’s one of the best rivalries in the NBA and one I’d expect them to want to promote.
I would have even preferred sending LeBron to Cleveland over sending him to LA. That matchup doesn’t have the appeal they think it does.
OKC at Minnesota is a weird matchup, too.
And I guess they have to show Steph while they can but Denver?
I’m watching the Knicks and ignoring the rest. But I might have done that anyway.
I just hope the Knicks aren’t at noon. Seems like they always put us at 12pm, and I’ve never been able to go bc that’s been a deal breaker for my mom. And my mom is the Jalen Brunson of laying on Catholic guilt trips.
One year she said (at very high volume) both of these things to me back-to-back on the same phone call: “when you were sick as a baby did the knicks take care of you?” and “the next time you need someone to watch your son for you call the Knicks”.
I did not go to that game. And I’ve still never been to one on Christmas.
I understand the thinking of putting Miami there but really, I don’t expect them to be particularly good and certainly not as good as Boston. I really don’t understand splitting up Denver/Minnesota. I if it were me and I had to keep Knicks/SAS I’d dump Miami and go:
Knicks/SAS
Boston/Philly
Denver/Minnesota
OKC/LAL
GSW/Indiana
NBA just released more details: https://www.nba.com/news/2026-27-schedule-announced
Opening day is actually a triple header with a random ass Boston/Detroit matinee. Our second game will be that Friday against Boston. Knicks/Spurs Christmas game is at noon.
That might be more Steph Curry level than JB
“It’s amazing how Clarkson is now graded on a curve.”
Not really. He’s graded on reasonable expectations for a vet’s minimum intermittent rotation player. I think we all graded him as a “F” as a dependable 6MoY-type microwave bench scorer. But he became a pretty dependable minutes eater after he was perma-benched, largely because he became a decent defender and rebounder and more selective on O. It did not require him to do anything he wasn’t physically capable of doing, just a change of approach. And it helped a lot that Brown could bench him without missing a beat.
And in that sense, that’s where the jury is out on Drummond. I think his mind will be willing to do whatever coach wants him to do, but it remains to be seen whether he is physically capable of doing so. I think it became pretty clear that Yabu was not going to improve enough to safely eat minutes against good teams in the way that Clarkson did. Drummond might be just a different version of Yabu in that regard. The problem is that there is no way to perma-bench Drummond without a domino effect. That’s why this 3rd C search is so delicate. It has to be someone who is capable of pushing Drummond, or even displacing him in the rotation. Adem Bona barely qualified in that regard, which doesn’t bode well for the scrubs who are currently available. I don’t think a guy like Liam Robbins fits that bill either. It’s probably gonna take either a trade where valuable assets go out or an unexpected roster casualty from another team to make it work.
I’m a bit surprised that a IND-OKC game has no juice as a 7-game 2025 finals rematch. Also, Knicks-Pacers getting no early love.
That’s what I would have done, too, except I would have sent Durant to Golden State after his hilarious heel turn there a week ago. But I get why they didn’t.
I think a lot of folks look at Durant as a brand and expect these younger fans who, in their timeline, don’t remember Durant being on important teams. I’ve seen Durant in the finals, but kids coming up now don’t think that far back. So that whole brand of Durant is not as cool as let’s say Victor Wembayama or Luka Doncic, or even LaMelo Ball now. You know what I’m saying? The cool thing now is not Kevin Durant.
“the anti-tank provisions weren’t perfect but they were far better than expected. this season should be a marked improvement on the badly leaking nba regular season ship.”
One possible benefit of the anti-tanking measures for the Knicks is that they might make bottom-feeding teams buyers instead of sellers. If having a roster imbalance (e.g. too many defensive C’s, not enough scoring) is detrimental to winning, even at a modest level, maybe those teams will be more amenable to a Deuce for a decent backup C trade rather than risk faux-relegation.
It also might make a difference in the days leading up to roster finalizing. Maybe some decent guys on non-guaranteed deals shake loose, and are either guys we want, or cause other desirable guys to get waived as teams snap them up.
https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/2086989011923484700?s=20
Fully agree with this.
When we acquired Clarkson, the hope of a lot of us here was that he’d give us some decent shot creation and reasonably efficient scoring as a lead bench guard. He really didn’t succeed in those areas.
But Mike Brown is the kind of coach who is able to see what a player CAN do rather than what he CAN’T, so he made it clear to Clarkson that his path to the rotation was to play physical defense, crash the boards, and cut down on the chucking.
Clarkson responded to this, and gave us useful minutes as a high energy, pesky defender who collected a surprising amount of rebounds for a skinny guard. As the #9 guy in the rotation he was perfectly fine.
Kinda sucks we’re playing Philly opening night cause now all the talk will be about LeBron’s 1st game with Philly instead of the Knicks getting their rings and celebrating their championship.
Al’s right. We should have gotten someone like Indiana for our home opener to keep the focus on us.
Also seems a little disrespectful to serve us up to Boston two days later for their home opener.
BBA- on the other hand, LeBron has to watch us raise the banner right?
That’s a serious cherry on top
The thing about Clarkson is that he’s sneaky athletic, a wiry 6’5″. I always felt that the pronouncements of him being in some sort of pronounced “athletic decline” were silly (se: Julius Randle, Mikal Bridges). He had been coddled for a long time on shitty teams. He needed to get his mind right to contribute to a contender in a diminished role.
With Drummond, the notion of athletic decline is more pressing. He never had much lateral quickness and fast-twitch vertical explosion to begin with, and any loss in that regard is the difference between being a reliable minutes-eater and a usually detrimental stop-gap. One thing is for sure, the version Andre Drummond that played for Philly last year is an enormous drop-off on defense from Mitch. If he’s going to help, it’s going to require him to get into tip-top condition and to be forced to do some things he wasn’t held accountable for in Philly. He might need to lose 15-20 lbs over the course of the year. He should be doing extensive agility work this offseason and continue that all season long.
My only cause for optimism about Drummond beyond Brown’s TLC is that, like Clarkson, he hasn’t suffered from chronic degenerative injuries that suggest irreversible decline (see: Amare, H2O, Kemba, etc.) and that maybe it’s more of an above-the-neck issue than below.
Yeah, I’m with Owen. Nothing is gonna take away from the banner raising-ring ceremony. If anything, LeBron being there makes it more spicy, and ensures that the entire country will be watching it.
We’re America’s Team, remember?
Once again, Clarkson was a minimum signing who, in the last 16 games of the regular season, averaged 17.6 PTS/36, 4.4 TRB/36 (including 2.6 ORB/36), and 3.4 AST/36 while maintaining a 2PT% fueled .583 TS%.
Both the numbers and the eye test indicated he was arguably our best POA defender during that time. The team went 12-4, finishing out the season strong after a stretch in which it looked like we were teetering.
If he literally did nothing in the regular season or playoffs except for those 16 games, it would still probably grade out as an above-average minimum signing. Never mind the fact that he also had a number of important games earlier in the season (we don’t win on Christmas without him) and never once whined about his role.
There are truly worse things than saying “I was wrong about that, happy the signing went well” on a message board.
I was wrong about the Clarkson signing. I have always hated his game. And he was pretty good after March, which was actually a shocker.
I don’t actually know what his numbers were in the playoffs but he was a credible 9th man for sure. Our best POA defender? Seems like a small stretch but you know what, he made a huge contribution.
(Sidenote: I am giving OG that title)
I never had an issue with Clarkson I just felt it was incredibly stupid to choose him over Landry Shamet. Fortunately everyone else chose someone over Landry Shamet, too.
We got lucky — the opportunity cost almost made it a disastrous signing.
But it didn’t, so it’s cool.
Last year I argued with rama about Shamet’s defense. I though that if he wasn’t hitting 3’s, he was virtually unplayable, while rama felt that he was better on D than he showed, possibly due to protecting his shoulder. Gotta give that one to you, rama.
Although by extension, I have to give it up to Mike Brown. It’s weird that Thibs has gotton so much credit for being a top-notch defensive coach, and yet our defense improved under Brown. And the improvement in specific players, most notably KAT, Clarkson, and Shamet, but also Brunson and Mikal, and to a degree, Diawara, Huk, and Kolek, really speaks highly of his impact. But to be fair, Brown was also highly regarded as a defensive coach (his Sacto stint aside) so it’s not entirely surprising.
Beating up on teams who are actively trying to lose at the end of the season is not a great barometer.
His offense was bad this year. He had the worst offensive season of his career by BPM with -1.9. He gave up a lot of usage without a corresponding efficiency increase. He went months where he couldn’t hit a three and struggled with turnovers in the playoffs.
Fortunately, he made a major pivot and was a valuable contributor down the stretch by turning himself into a hustle player. He was a solid enough player for a minimum deal.
This offseason, I’m hoping to see Clarkson continue to adjust his game. He needs to work on being a complementary piece on offense rather than try and mimic his microwave scorer past.
We resolved my issues with Clarkson by adding Alvarado at the deadline, pushing Clarkson far enough down the depth-chart to fit his current skill level.
embiid has dropped about 25 pounds…
what took you so long joel…
IF joel embiid becomes born again fit AND the team’s med staff can dial in his minutes and DNP-rest games, and he adopts a defense/rebound mindset…
yeah, they may be a really tough out in the post season…
going in to the season, seems they’ll be a lot of tough outs in the east during the first round of the playoffs…
became comfortable with clarkson on the court offensively, especially when things broke down and a scramble ensues, clarkson is great in chaos…
appreciate him holding back on trying to shoot and score more…
appreciated his improved effort defensively, but worried he would foul too often, and in key defensive situations…
“IF joel embiid becomes born again fit AND the team’s med staff can dial in his minutes and DNP-rest games, and he adopts a defense/rebound mindset…”
One very common myth is that degenerative knee issues are highly sensitive to weight loss. That might be true at the extremes, but probably not in Embiid’s case. Whether he weighs 270 or 300 is probably not going to make much difference. His cartilage issues are not going to resolve. Even in the unlikely event that he stays relatively healthy due to load management, as soon as he starts playing bigger minutes in the playoffs, the knee issues are going to resurface.
But by then, Huk will be playing like an all-star, so whatever. 😉
“Beating up on teams who are actively trying to lose at the end of the season is not a great barometer.”
Even so, we all saw that Clarkson was a changed player down the stretch. I think that those stats were very much aligned with what the eye-test was telling us.
I just like Clarkson for the vibes. He’s not very good.
I really thought we should have signed him to his non Bird Rights max to increase our trade flexibility. Clarkson + Drummond would have given us nearly $8M in expiring flotsam to attach draft picks to.
Hopefully we have something better in mind.
Strat, I’m not sure what you meant by grading on a curve. Players are always judged by performance relative to salary which is kind of “grading on a curve”. I would say fans are particularly hard on platers they think are overpaid, even when they aren’t. Clarkson was hired on a vet minimum contract, substantially less than Yabu gor, but earned more minutes and looked better. If that is grading on a curve, I’m fine with it.
It’s really hard to lose twenty five pounds. I don’t think Embiid is just getting into shape, I think he’s desperate to get his quickness back. But if it’s his knee that’s slowing him down, I agree with Z-man, it’s not going to help much.
No it isn’t. Especially for a guy starting at close to 300 lbs. When I returned from visiting my son in Mississippi, I hit the scale at 208 on June 18th and was aghast.
Stopped all the processed foods (except yogurt) and the carbs and I’m 187 today. I’m attempting to get to my high school playing weight of 171 No exercise except walking 0.7 miles to play poker at Harrah’s Pompano Beach every day.
Losing weight is easy if you are somewhat motivated and eat whole foods containing anything that doesn’t directly break down into glucose.
Thanks. His shoulder is still a time bomb, though, which is why I am not totally thrilled with the contract. It’s quite possible he misses a year in there. On the other hand, you really can’t do better at that price point – he is a solid player all-around. Just a bit vulnerable.
I can only speak for myself, but I know when I’m five pounds or more up, I have real knee problems when I run. When I’m five pounds or more down, well, less real knee problems. 275 is still going to grind things down no matter what, but perhaps at a slower pace than at 300, and perhaps he’ll be less often helplessly crippled, as he seemed to be last year.
Shamet’s 3rd season is partially guaranteed for $1,581,241.
His last season, if Shamet uses the player option is guaranteed for only $1,690,282.
So there is built in protection if things go wrong. Though the guarantee dates are 6/30, so it won’t be cutting him mid-season. But if the shoulder proves trouble the next 2 years, we can cut and re-sign him for the minimum.
If we somehow lose to Philly on opening night and LeBron has a good game, the takes the morning after will be as hot as the surface of the sun.
I’ve just over the past few days begun watching a Brit series called The Capture. I’m about three or four episodes in thus far, and lots of things lose me by this point, but this one is holding my attention. Anyone else familiar with it and/or have any opinions? I’m a little surprised that it hasn’t come up (or maybe it has, but I missed it).
Where do you stream it?
Hi, KFNINJ. It’s on Prime Video, and while I was checking things out for you I also saw that it is *not* a newly released thing—it’s from 2019. Doesn’t seem in any way dated, though. (Things get dated *very* quickly in the current environment!)
Thanks. I’ll check it out
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