News & Blogs
Knicks’ Josh Hart Jokes About Missed NBA Finals Layup, Jose Alvarado Responds on Social Media – BleacherReport
Knicks’ development of Mohamed Diawara, Pacome Dadiet key in solving salary cap crunch – SNY
NBA Summer Forecast 2026-27: Projections for East and West standings – ESPN
Less splash, more dribble – Posting & Toasting
Friday Posted & Toasted Notes: Hungry KAT, paid Hart, talkative Shaq – Posting & Toasting
Knicks Notes: Jack Kayil to play overseas this season; what’s next for Tyler Nickel – SNY
NBA Summer Forecast 2026-27: Projections for East and West standings – ESPN
Best 20 Knicks Games of the Leon Rose Era | #15 – Knicks 107, Cavaliers 98 (3/3/24) – Knicks Film School
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51 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.08.25)”
Hubert, we did a Furious episode a few weeks ago!
And Raven, I think this Reacher season is better than the last couple. I generally don’t find the show’s sense of humor funny, and come for the creative violence. And I think the fight scenes this year are a level above anything they’ve done previously — certainly on this consistent a basis.
Did we figure out the identity of the mysterious Kurt?
Doogie, I liked The Capture season 1, thanks for mentioning it. The conceit is done very well so that even if it is dated (2019..) it still works, because you buy it that the characters are in the dark. Well at least for the first 4 episodes. Then, as one of the characters says to another, “I bet you want to know what the fuck is going on” and the whole thing is explained in episode 5 and the story devolves into not much more than action.
For all the talk about Julian Reese being waived from his two way, it’s been six days and no one has picked him up.
Shame on me! I only read the headline of that one and apparently I read it hastily bc I thought it was a look back at New Girl (so I skipped it bc I never watched that show 🤦🏻♂️).
ESPN posted a reasonable projection of the East standings:
1 – NY – 53 wins
2 – DET – 53
3 – CLE – 51
4 – PHI – 50
5 – BOS – 48
6 – ATL – 47
7 – MIA – 47
8 – TOR – 45
9 – IND – 44
10 – ORL – 44
I have to confess I dont have an informed opinion of Peyton Watson. It seems like he could be the Cavs’ OG or he could be their RJ. That’s quite a wide swing for one player. Apparently he’s 6’9” now. That makes them a very tall team.
I know no one loves the Cavs but they have a very high floor and third in the east seems fair.
They also did a playoffs projection:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49650138/nba-predictions-2026-27expert-picks-predictions-western-eastern-conference-finals-champions
My surprise pick is that someone other than OKC will knock off the Spurs, either Denver or Minnesota.
I’m guessing we’ll lose before the finals bc of bad luck or injuries, and I think the Thunder win the title over whatever team got hot in the east.
Now can we please get back to Kurt Thomas in Mike K’s top 10 Knicks of all time list? There needs to be an explanation for this. Autocorrect? A copy/paste error? A new Dave Berri book?
I’m worried about Peyton Watson. He’s only 23. It’s very possible his one great month tor Denver is a sign of things to come, not a statistical fluke that got him paid.
Let me third darules and Hubert’s pleas for an explanation of “Kurt.”
“I’m worried about Peyton Watson. He’s only 23. It’s very possible his one great month tor Denver is a sign of things to come, not a statistical fluke that got him paid.”
I looked at his splits and it seems like the “one great month” characterization is off. He had a solid year from the start until he got injured. He was also solid in the prior year.
He has missed quite a few games to injury in the last couple of years, so to me, that’s the biggest question mark. But he does a lot of good things on both ends. I think it’s a great pickup for the Cavs.
However, I still don’t see the Cavs as a serious contender. Harden is a negative and Mobley has stalled in his development. Their bench is kinda iffy. I don’t have a lot of faith in Kenny Atkinson either.
Honestly, I think they are a team that would benefit from hiring Tom Thibodeau.
Not sure where you’re seeing that Watson has grown to 6-9. I’m still seeing him listed at 6-8. Could be different in different places.
Kurt wasn’t a journeyman, or a bench player. He’s 14th all-time in total knick minutes played and 5th for the modern era. He started twice as many knick games as Mitch Robinson. He’s also 5th in rebounding and 11th in blocks all time. And as far as the modern era goes he is top-ten in pretty much everything, including points.
(Assuming we are talking about Kurt Thomas and not Krazee-Eyez Killa)
Even during the 2-9 stretch last season the day after losses I’d say that I didn’t think any team in the East could beat the Knicks 4 out of 7 times in a playoff series and that remains the same going into next season.
I thought that Kurt Thomas *was* Crazy Eyes. Well, other than Bobby Portis, who does not have a similar name.
Kurt Vincent Thomas
(Crazy Eyes, Mid-Life, Dirty Kurt, KT, Tank)
Played seven seasons for the Knicks. Averaged 24 minutes a game for his 18 seasons (!). Halfway through his Knicks tenure he became the starting power forward after mostly coming off the bench, but he largely came off the bench through much of the rest of his career. During his Knicks starting time, he averaged between 10-14 pts/game, and ~7-10 rebounds per.
So definitely crazy eyes, although I’d vote him #2 behind Portis, and a good part of his career was as a journeyman (played for 9 teams), but for us he was something a bit more.
As in most cases, the answer’s somewhere in the middle. Except for the eyes…
And thanks, Alan, I come here for the contrarian takes, so appreciate your position. I’ll be honest that I fell in love with the Lee Childs books partly because there was a fun element of cynical humor throughout (which partly vanished when Andrew joined) that largely lent Reacher a human element, and provided much-needed brief breaks from the plot-driven stress. I appreciated the admittedly wooden attempts in the first two seasons (painful, but at least trying to be true to the books). This one is incessant tension and misery, which let’s be honest I can get from reading the NYT…
But yeah, the violence is pretty excellent.
I think Kurt “Crazy Eyes But NOT The Fictional Rapper Krazee-Eyes” Thomas belongs on the Knicks Mt Rushmore just to remind everybody how this franchise was so laughably bad for 50 years up until yesterday. That’s important to me.
Kurt Thomas was not a top 10 or 20 or 30 Knicks player. Seriously, he was lovable like Raven said but never close to excellent. Any of the top 8 from last year, maybe outside of McBride, is better.
I’m not super-optimistic about this season. Sorry if it offends, but I think the path we took to the championship last year was a piece of cake compared to what we will face this year.
Don’t get me wrong…we are surely a 50+ win team, and likely a second-round lock. But replacing Mitch with Drummond is a downgrade, and several teams in both conferences got better.
I’m actually most interested is seeing the kids play, especially Kolek, Mo, and hopefully Nickel. And very much interested in who gets that 3rd C spot.
Encountered an 82 Clos last night sublime. I can definitely get behind Kurt in the list of lists. Dude was a walking aura.
Its crazy that one of the smartest NBA executives who has the rare feat of being promoted from head coach to GM, somehow screwed up the entire balance of power in the Eastern Conference.
He’s responsible for creating a superteam in Phila and one hell of a team in Miami. Moron should have never traded Brown to a divion rival with two All Stars on the team…or at the very least wait until Lebron made a decision. – WTF?
Goes to show you that even brilliant people do dumb shit. Won’t be suprised if he’s unemployed by next summer.
One thing I definitely learned from last season is that there’s no point getting too worked up in the regular season. The first half of the season in particular is almost completely irrelevant. Health and freedom from injuries are vital. If you can enter the playoffs playing well, and you’re healthy, then you have a fighting chance.
The opening day roster will probably be somewhat similar to the eventual playoff roster, but there will probably be improvements around the edges. We have time to solve the backup center problem.
It’s very difficult to repeat as champion in this era, but that’s a high class problem to have.
“Health and freedom from injuries are vital. …It’s very difficult to repeat as champion in this era,…”
I think this nails it. Way more than the aprons (though the aprons probably take over once the repeat ends). Eg, Boston doesn’t repeat not only because Tatum gets injured while Brown is hobbled, but primarily because they were healthy while playing injury-plagued teams the previous year. And I think we were destined to win no matter what because we were healthy, but getting to play a SA because in part they played an unhealthy OKC helped.
Like in tennis, I am starting to believe the growing chorus that the current level of athletisism required to compete at the top level is not in alignment with the current schedule
I agree with your premise — I cannot envision any team in the East beating us. That’s why I didn’t pick one.
I can envision us getting randomly unlucky, though, and I’m just guessing it’s more likely than not that we will.
When you look at recent champs, bad luck did them all in more than anything.
The Thunder were devastated by injuries against the Spurs.
The Celtics missed more wide open 3PAs over two games than anyone in history.
The Nuggets ran into a Minnesota buzzsaw that randomly turned into the greatest defense of all time for a week.
Even though I think we’re the best team, we’re probably due for something unlucky.
On your note, Hubert, can you imagine the tone and tenseness in here if the Knicks lost in the finals? The importance of the next season would be a hundred times greater, window closing, clock ticking, etc. I’d be horrible. It’s so nice to be relaxed facing a new season. Of course I want a repeat, but that’s a repeat, not a chip.
Injuries really do tend to decide things at the top tiers much of the time. We were lucky last year, although we had guys go down — but most of it happened early, or in the middle of the year, so most everyone was healthy come the playoffs…
This is where I am also.
It would take a good trade or some significant development from a young player to make me feel confident going into the season.
I wouldn’t have been here.
I was ready to quit basketball forever in the first half of game 4.
It wasn’t just that we were losing, it was that the whole thing legitimately seemed corrupt.
I remember JK47 writing scathing posts about how rigged the whole thing was and that he was going to be done with the NBA forever. I was right there with him.
And you know what… I’m still a little mad at Mike Breen! There was a play in game 5 where he said “Brunson got away with a push off there” on a critical bucket and I swear to god I almost threw my glass across the bar. He chose that moment to finally say something about what was going on?!
Lucky for Mike I think he’ll be ok 🙂
Who was the previous record holder? Might it have been the 2025 Celtics in Games 1-2 of the second round?
I wonder if there’s some kind of team agency to this instead of it being something that just happens to you.
we’re talking about the same team, pags
Funny thing is as Knicks fans this should be the most confident we’ve ever been entering a season.
man you really got me thinking, Raven. the darkest timeline is the one where OG got boxed out. Especially for Josh Hart.
Glad I’m not alone. I missed pretty much the entire comeback and had sworn off the NBA until my wife talked me off the edge.
I feel almost every NBA champion has had at least some form of luck. It can be injuries, a bounce goes their way, a backup player plays out of their mind, etc. I will watch this upcoming season with less stress and enjoy it even more. Being the champion, is something I didn’t think would happen in my lifetime.
RIP, Dolly Parton. Absolute legend as a singer, songwriter, and just as a human being.
I missed large swaths of it in real time. Like OG’s block on Fox. Didn’t see it live. After Brunson got swatted I hung my head. I looked up just in time to see Alvarado nearly commit a backcourt.
Watching that backcourt replay gave me the biggest deja vu of my life, btw… it felt exactly like watching the replay of the helmet catch. This thing had happened, and I was sure the replay was going to show me that it was about to get reversed, and it wasn’t.
That comeback and Eli’s drive against the 18-0 Pats are like emotional twins.
I would never stop watching Knicks basketball no matter what happens on the court, certainly not because they lost game 4. But hey, at least I know there would have been a silver lining! 😉
“Funny thing is as Knicks fans this should be the most confident we’ve ever been entering a season.”
It’s a fair statement, but at this time last year we seemed to agree that it was probably now or never. The assumption was that we were not going to be good enough to win this year, even coming off of a championship. So it’s pretty much status quo for me to have less confidence now.
Kurt Thomas was the one who “saved” our 54 win season.
We were in the middle of a big slide. Players were hurt. I think it was against Denver we were down big and Kurt came in and played huge for us and basically ended his career with that game but after that we ended up winning like 12 of our last 13 games to close out with 54 wins.
He belongs in one of the tiers for sure. A lower tier but he belongs there.
I believe the Kurt Thomas game was in Utah!
If they fouled OG ahem boxed him out of that play I think KAT has an inside angle at the top tier. He was locked in for the bound.
Yeah, KAT has said over and over that if OG missed the tip, he was positioned to jump up and jam it home. And the replays make it clear that he’s right.
that said, the tip-in is WAY cooler than a simple putback dunk would have been. OG flying in from out of nowhere, the sheer degree of difficulty of getting the touch just right, all of it.
I got a relatively low-res screengrab of the angle of him from the above the basket camera printed and framed on a wall in my office, so I can look up at it whenever I need to feel good while battling writer’s block.
I’ll allow you to put him a bit off to the side, like where Lincoln is on the real Mount Rushmore. But he’s up there for sure, and he’s staring at Clyde, Willis, and Brunson with those twelve-foot pneumatically hammered granite peepers and they don’t doubt for a second that it shouldn’t be Ewing over there.
had a buddy whom was a big lee child fan, he let me have a bunch of his old books…
liked them, easy way to pass some time, a bit of an empty calorie affair (much like the show), but kept my interest through a few of the books…
watched the second Lanterns show…basically i am the target audience for a bunch of comic crap, but, not really sure yet what to make of the show…
it’s different…
if you’ve never seen it – totally underrated comic series: the Tick…
Important distinction: KAT was locked in to rebound OG’s tip if he’d missed it. But he was not in position to rebound Brunson’s miss (he was on the other side of the basket). Without OG’s streak the ball’s rebounded by Harper or Vassell easily.
It’s kind of remarkable how Fox and Hart had a dumb-off down the stretch of that game.
First Hart blew a layup then spectacularly failed to box out Castle.
Then Fox inexplicably attempted a layup and spectacularly failed to box out OG.
Hot take but I actually don’t think Fox’s attempted layup was THAT dumb.
We were down by 1 point when that happened. If he attempted to just run out the clock, he would have been fouled and would have had to make both of the free throws to make it a three point game. If he misses one, then we can potentially win the game with a three pointer.
However, he makes the layup and he guarantees that the worst thing that would have happened to them was a tie three to send it into OT.
It’s just that the worst scenario happened. He got blocked and we got the ball back and we were able to win with a 2 pointer.
I get his logic. It looked like a wide open layup was available for him to make.
Yeah, it was not a super-dumb play by Fox, but far from a smart one.
I never thought of it before but it’s actually the karmic reversal of this devastating play from 2025 where Brunson made a similar decision as Fox:
https://youtu.be/A_DP8bfGRy0?si=R2w6MTHymyvQQLzX&t=376
(Many folks have pointed out Landry’s bounce in game 1 vs Cleveland was another such reversal.)
Randomly just ran into Art Shamsky on the street and he is the absolute coolest.
The whole series was a reversal! I wrote about the odd mirroring at the time – it was uncanny, being vs the Spurs, winning 4-1, a fingertipped shot that swung the series, a crazy comeback, a dominant center whom the game revolved around, etc. Lots of things. It really felt like cosmic righting of the scales.
(Edit: not just a reversal of our luck vs the Spurs in ’99, a correction of all the bad luck of the 90s)
I’m wondering, now that my orchestra seats worked out and the evidence is in that we weren’t on the mezzanine, do I move up to loge seats? Where the privileged but less emotionally invested people sit? Feels that way….
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