More importantly, Leon figured it out himself. That statement when he fired Thibs a full blown admission that this team could get to the mezzanine but not get to the top:

Our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship for our fans. This pursuit led us to the difficult decision to inform Tom Thibodeau that we’ve decided to move in another direction.

That was the end of the mezz. Hence I predicted a finals berth and a puncher’s chance to win the championship in the prediction thread and never said the word again.

Nothing like starting a thread off with a hefty dose of face-saving revisionist history from the author of among the most incredibly wrong hot takes in the history of this blog.

That’s not what Leon said when he fired Thibs. In fact he said, “Hubert from knickerblogger is right about everything time and again. He is my mentor, my secret sauce, my everything. I will always love him”.

I wouldn’t know Art Shamsky if I *literally* ran into him on the street, both because I didn’t know who he was, which means that I certainly have no idea what he looks like. Very happy to know that he was the coolest to Clarence on their chance meeting, though.

Art Shamsky was a lovable player on the 1969-era Mets. Mostly a lefty platoon right fielder with a loud bat. Equally lovable Ron Swoboda was the righty half of the platoon.

I didn’t recognize him either. Helped that he introduced himself. Winning a championship in NY with the miracles was a profound shaper of his life. We are his and he is ours.

Robert Barrone on Everybody Loves Raymond named his dog Shamsky in honor of Art Shamsky.

I enjoyed that show, and knew about Shamsky the dog. Didn’t know who he was named for, though. Thanks.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, Z-Man, after being the most wrong person on the site for the entire Thibs era.

I’ll leave you with this dandy quote from Jalen Brunson and move on:

There’s a lot of people that have a lot of negative stuff to say. There’s a lot of people who have a lot of opinions. But when you prove them wrong, you don’t have to say s–t to them. They don’t deserve it.

Here’s the receipt:

https://knickerblogger.net/2025/10/the-how-many-wins-will-the-knicks-have-in-2025-26-prediction-thread/#comment-981994

Damn my prediction was pretty spot on. I always say pay more attention to my rational non game threads comments!

haha I just made myself laugh:

https://knickerblogger.net/2025/10/the-how-many-wins-will-the-knicks-have-in-2025-26-prediction-thread/#comment-982150

You have us 3rd in the East, though, Rama, so you can’t quite make the team. You’re the Malcolm Brogdon of Team Optimist.

I did ok

Completely wrong on Boston, though. I did not see that coming. Nor the complete demise of the Bucks.

lol the irony! You were wrong on 80% of those predictions! And right after leaving me with the dandy Jalen Brunson quote about “you don’t need to say shit…they don’t deserve it!”, you immediately went on to say shit.

I’m not going to go back and mine all of your hypocrisy regarding the ‘mezzanine” schtick that lasted for years, beyond pointing out that it was hardly the case that you said “Hey, they fired Thibs! We’re not in the mezzanine anymore!” You actually blamed it mostly on Leon and the mistakes he made in building this roster. As recently as the Atlanta series, you posted this:

Whatever happens in this series, Leon needs to go.

We can’t let the guy who thought Mike Brown was the answer try to solve the problem again.

You are fucking all over the place, from manic optimism to angry doomsday shit, so for every take that ages like a dumpster full of rotting mackerel, you can claim that you were actually correct because you said the opposite in another place and time. And as long as you can convince yourself that you were actually right all along, all is good in your world.

If you don’t like what I’m saying, my suggestion is that you follow Brunson’s advice, meaning don’t say shit to me because I don’t deserve it.

BTW I will fully admit that I was very wrong about Leon. I was very down on the Mikal trade, lukewarm on the Brown hire, and convinced that the KAT-Brunson pairing wouldn’t get us to the promised land. We probably all need to eat some crow, it just depends on how big of a serving.

I had Kurt in 3 & 5. He’s definitely not in 3, that was an oversight.

the decline of western civilization in clear view this week – how in the world did we not think of and host some robot olympics…

way awesome content…

“the decline of western civilization in clear view this week – how in the world did we not think of and host some robot olympics…”

Maybe because up until recently we always understood the concept to be totally and utterly ridiculous, and then everything else became ridiculous, so it kind of fits in now. NEWS FLASH: It’s still utterly ridiculous.

Kurt Thomas was a very solid role player for us. I don’t know where he belongs on the list of all-time great list, probably somewhere in the 40’s, even with the longevity. But definitely higher than that in terms of value and being fun to watch relative to his role. Honestly, I don’t remember him that much from the 1999 finals run.

Kurt actually started for the majority of the 1999 season until JVG inserted Spree for him in the starting lineup during the Pacers series after Ewing got hurt. Didn’t play much though was more of a token starter that season.

kyle o’quinn belongs on the list soley due to this factoid

https://nypost.com/2017/12/19/knicks-kyle-oquinn-moonlights-as-a-bar-mitzvah-man/

Even before I read the URL for that link, I knew what the detail was going to be.

O’Quinn also ranks way up there — arguably at the top? — of any list of Best Knick Beards.

Mt Rushmore of Knicks’ looks. Not sure who else is in the running for Best Beard. We’ve already established #1 and #2 for Best Googly Eyes as Portis and Kurt… Anyone for Best Guns?

The Knicks All-Beard Mt. Rushmore?
Kyle O’Quinn
Tyson Chandler
Quincy Acy
[insert name here]

didn’t phil have a beard when he got into his peace pipe smoking daze

also was invisi-bill cartwright the first fu manchu guy we had…

mo lucas had the little soul patch thing going on…perhaps sid green did as well

Best guns has to be Mase he was swole as hell.

Mt Rushmore of Knicks’ looks.

Clyde, Clarkson, Shumpert, … 🤔

Brunson?

EDIT: I’m using looks as a stand in for style & fashion, not who’s the most handsome

I was thinking of inserting Clyde but he had a variety of facial hair, including a badass goatee. He also had a full beard late in his career.

Baron Davis had a good one. Tim Hardaway Jr. as well. Oh, and what about KAT?

Evan Fournier had a pretty dense beard.

Didn’t Ronny Turiaf have an impressive beard?

BTW speaking of hairstyles, between Castle and Vassell, one of them has to change. It always takes me a moment to figure out who’s who.

Er… roundest Knicks.

Raymond Felton, Chris Duhan, Mark Jackson, Eddy Curry.

Second team could have Jerome James, Timofey Mozgov, and Truck Robinson.

Some of these guys were more thick than round, I suppose…

This is something from a little bit ago but I think everyone is downplaying the Cavs. Watson is an amazing pick up, Hezonja will be a very nice bench piece, and Maleek Thomas could be a steal for them in the draft.

I think getting Watson is huge. I know some people are down on this signing but I think it is a great get on a very good contract. Defensively he is the closest player in the NBA to OG. So even if he regresses a bit on offense he is still an elite defender and easily the best SF the Cavs have had in the Mobley/Mitchell era. If his three point shooting and scoring from last year are real it’s an absolute home run.

Hezonja has been one of the five best players in Europe for the last couple of years and should be a nice player off the bench for them. The fact he signed for the minimum is amazing and I’m sad we didn’t get in on that.

I think the Harden trade was a disaster for them but I still think next year might be the best iteration of the Cavs we have seen.

The more I think about it the more I think the Cavs are the team most likely to challenge us for the top seed.

Fuck, Tim Curry too… RIP. His devil in Legend still has me. Just a sweet transsexual…

Roundest Knick ever has to be Mike Sweetney.

Ray Felton to Tyson Chandler pick & rolls looked like people-sized candlepin bowling.

Mathurin to the Pellies.

Felton had some nice guns too, per the police report.

I think people are sleeping on the Cavs, too, Ben. When push comes to shove, I expect these guys to fold. But that only happens deep in the playoffs.

Not sure why everyone hates James Harden, though. Dude’s still really good (4.0 bpm last year), and I think he unlocked that team last year.

Interesting Mathurin business. The Clips basically opted for Bradley Beal instead and let him walk.

Anyone left besides Kuminga and Duren?

Not sure who else is in the running for Best Beard.

For goodness sake, we called Turiaf “Beardy” in game threads!

Speaking of Bar Mitvah men, a former client of mine had Meadow Lark Lemon and Ernie Grunfeld( when he was playing for the Knicks) as bar mitzvah men. Had polaroids with both which have been lost in the dustbin of history. Even better, the client was friends with Baby Jane Holzer who brought Andy Warhol. Warhol sat staring at us wordlessly and my date ( Fred Trump’s former coop atty) kept pulling me away and yelling.. Say something to him!” I declined.

Somehow it strikes me as strange that Fred Trump’s attorney would be female, especially back in those days.

He liked her enough to try to hire her as his company’s in-house counsel.

Wolves got Kuminga.

Kinda seems like Kuminga should’ve taken Golden State’s 3-year, $75 million extension when it was offered, huh?

He’ll be OK, I’m sure of it. But yeah, he could have been much *more* OK.

for every take that ages like a dumpster full of rotting mackerel,

Hey, go easy on the mackerel. It tastes fine and has 3.5 grams of omega 3 fatty acids per 4 oz serving. I have it 2-3 time a week with an avocado.

Now it’s just Duren.

Interestingly Kuminga’s numbers compare very well to Watson’s. Their reputations couldn’t be more different, though.

before i forget…thank you mister doogie…

have a tendency (like donnie 😜) to blurt out some pretty non sequitur type stuff…

linked to no other thing currently present…

i’d encourage more of the behavior for others, that’d be chaos sooner than later though…catches my attention when folks do that…like it a lot…

you seem to really take that stuff in stride now, weird shit, stuff out of your comfort zone, intrigues more than it offends…

one of the aging sayings (love them mottos and slogans – good messaging persists) came across that was cool referenced staying green (open to learning) meant growing and living, as opposed to hardening (some kind of plant metaphor maybe), and dying…or breaking, something to the effect…

keep right on growing mister doogie…

i just ate a salad Bob, god i hope i don’t die shitting myself to death…

I still don’t think that I’m all that great about handling things on a consistent basis, geo, but I appreciate you calling out the “tryingness.”

Man, Kuminga must not be very well liked. I guess it’s a 1-year with player option make-good deal. That’s a good move for the Wolves.

Mathurin also on a make-good 1+1 deal.

Both Kuminga and Mathurin are mercurial players who kinda deserve to have to prove their worth. Not sure how much the low numbers are due to the restrictive cap calculus, but it’s not nothing.

Donnie never misses

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