[NYDN] Klay Thompson not keen on relocating to place like New York (Sunday, February 18, 2018 7:44:27 PM)
One of Knicks’ biggest fish to hit 2019 free agency doesn’t sound too keen on living in a place like New York.
[SNY Knicks] LeBron wins MVP en route to All-Star Game victory (Sunday, February 18, 2018 11:44:08 PM)
LeBron James scored a game-high 29 points to lead Team LeBron to a 148-145 victory over Team Stephen in Sunday’s All-Star Game at Staples Center.
[SNY Knicks] Mudiay’s brother says Knicks’ ‘French Connection’ can thrive together (Sunday, February 18, 2018 9:30:00 PM)
Emmanuel Mudiay’s brother, Jean-Micheal, said he believes Emmanuel and Knicks rookie guard Frank Ntilikina can thrive together thanks to the connection they share.
[SNY Knicks] Kyrie Irving said he told Kristaps Porzingis he ‘would love to play’ with him (Sunday, February 18, 2018 2:27:39 PM)
Celtics guard Kyrie Irving told Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis earlier this season that he “would love to play” with a player like him, he said during NBA All-Star weekend.
[SNY Knicks] Jimmy Butler says Noah just wants to see the court again (Sunday, February 18, 2018 9:35:54 AM)
Joakim Noah’s former Bulls teammate — Timberwolves SG Jimmy Butler — recently spoke to the center, and said all he wants to do is play.
[NYTimes] Team LeBron 148, Team Stephen 145: N.B.A. All-Star Game Shows Some Toughness After a Makeover (Monday, February 19, 2018 6:33:23 AM)
With a new format and bigger cash prizes, defensive effort seemed to be up while scoring was way down.
[NYTimes] N.B.A. Dunk Contest Goes to Donovan Mitchell, and His Homage to Vince Carter (Sunday, February 18, 2018 6:41:02 AM)
Mitchell edged Larry Nance Jr., sealing his victory with a close approximation of the 360-degree spin dunk that Carter used to win the 2000 contest.
[NYTimes] Don Carter, 84, Who Brought the N.B.A. to Dallas, Is Dead (Sunday, February 18, 2018 5:17:13 PM)
Mr. Carter and a partner founded the Mavericks in 1980 and built the team into a model franchise that quickly became a contender.
(Sunday, February 18, 2018 3:22:29 PM)
LOS ANGELES — Joakim Noah isn’t just moping around. The exiled Knicks center was spotted Saturday night at impresario Jimmy Goldstein’s All-Star Weekend party in Los Angeles, along with Stephen Curry, his wife, Ayesha, Joel Embiid and ex-Knick draft pick Danilo Gallinari. Noah may attend Sunday’s All-Star Game at Staples Center. Goldstein is an eccentric…
(Sunday, February 18, 2018 10:56:59 AM)
LOS ANGELES — New York City was once known as the fertile breeding ground for the point guard. TNT’s Kenny Smith — a former point guard out of Hollis, Queens — continued that rock-solid tradition with a 10-year career that included two NBA titles with the Rockets. With 23 games left for the Knicks after…
33 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.02.19)”
You guys, I think Kyrie is trying to get KP to go to Boston.
The media seems to be bullish on Mudiay as a Knick. Is it possible that he can elevate his game enough to match those expectations? Or is he already too far gone at 22 years of age? This is why we need good developmental coaches..
I’m pretty convinced that Frank is 6’6 now. In the rising stars photo shoot he looked a few inches taller than Jamal Murray(6’4) and there was a picture of him with Oakley(6’8) where he only looked two inches shorter.
So if his handle doesn’t improve a lot then he’s gonna be our SG/SF of the future.
Mudiay remains much of what he was on draft day. Enormous potential. Except, now he has three NBA seasons as a kid with bad stats.
After getting killed in this blog for defending Mudiay after his first two games as a knick, I was anxious to watch him in his third game. I wondered how I could be so wrong about what I saw.
In his third game as a knick, he was awful.
Awful because of his decisions. Every shot he took was a bad one. He drove into traffic under the hoop forcing him to attempt circus shots. And from the outside, too. Every shot he took was contested. Unacceptable.
That would never happen in San Antonio, or playing with Lebron. I don’t understand how coaches tolerate that stuff. Maybe a big part of the magic that Pops does in SA is demanded discipline. Belichik even reams Tom Brady when he makes a mistake.
Mudiay needs a development and to be held strictly accountable for bad decision. If he doesn’t change his ways, he’ll suck. If he cleans up his game, I still believe he has a high ceiling and could be big for the knicks. Time will tell.
Others here probably have a less favorable opinion.
he sucks ass and will until the day he goes back to China
I searched for players since 1980 who have played more than 4,000 minutes with a career BPM under negative 4.0, as Mudiay has.
There are only 36 players and Mudiay is tied for 23rd worst BPM. Of all players. Since 1980. Let’s stop wasting time trying to figure out his ceiling.
(Bobby Hurley was, by far, the worst rotation player according to BPM. His -7.5 BPM beats out John Amaechi by 1.4 points, which has to be a full standard deviation. God, it must have been nice to ride a couple NCAA championships to a $17M career in the NBA.)
Mudiay will get us MPJ and RJ Barrett next year. He should have his jersey retired in the rafters.
The more I study the draft, the angrier I get about giving up a second rounder for Mudiay. There are plenty of guys I’m intrigued by that could be available in the second round.
I was okay with a swap because position matters a lot less in the second round than in the first round. Just giving up a pick for Mudiay though is like buying a $20 lottery ticket. It almost certainly will amount to nothing, and you’ll be out an amount of money that clearly wasn’t worth the potential reward.
The 2RP is the disturbing part. Everything else is just tanking white noise.
It’s hard to look for players similar to Mudiay because it’s historically unusual for young players to play so much, and even more unusual for them to play when they suck. If you think about guys who sucked in their age 21 season and went on to be useful NBA players it’s not impossible that Mudiay becomes decent. (and hey, Steve Nash had a -4.6 BPM at age 22, so maybe Mudiay is still on track for the HOF)
“Mudiay will get us MPJ and RJ Barrett next year. He should have his jersey retired in the rafters.”
Or
“think about guys who sucked in their age 21 season and went on to be useful NBA players it’s not impossible that Mudiay becomes decent. (and hey, Steve Nash had a -4.6 BPM at age 22, so maybe Mudiay is still on track for the HOF)”
Sounds like the Knicks win in either scenario – a win/win all for the price of a second rounder and Dougie McBuckets
Larry Brown is a pretty smart guy. He may feel some loyalty to Mudiay because he was high on him coming out of high school and then again in the draft. But he also has to know how terrible he’s been so far. He’s still optimistic he can become a good player.
The stats reflect reality, but I think I’d give a little credit to someone like Larry Brown to be able spot the difference between a bad player who’s hopeless and bad player with talent that just hasn’t put it all together yet. Whatever the stats say, the odds that he turns out to become a productive players are better than that. How much greater the probability is is anyone’s guess.
The Knicks cleaned house and bottomed out in 2014/2015 with 17 wins.
We drafted Porzingis, added some players, and got to 32 wins.
We drafted Hernangomez (no 1st rounder), but Phil screwed up with Noah/Rose and set us back instead of making more progress.
We drafted Frank and added Hardaway. I think we were set to advance further to more than 31-32 wins, but we’ve had rough year with injuries losing both KP and Hardaway for a LOT of games. As painful as those injures were, they are setting us for better picks than the talent on the team warrants both this year and next year.
If we draft well this year, Frank gets a little better in the next 2 off seasons, we draft well against next year with KP out most of the season, and KP starts looking good towards the end of the season, we can add a piece via FA in 2019/2020 and be firing on all cylinders that year with a pretty good team.
@14 just saw that on Twitter. Seems like the kind of move we should be looking at, but I know absolutely nothing about the guy. Looks like he has been on the fringe for a while seeing as he has about 34 NBA games next to his name over the last 3 seasons.
If we were interested in Troy Williams why not pick him up off of waivers? He had a very team friendly contract and would have been locked up at close to the minimum for two more seasons. Now we have to hope he signs here and hope we get a couple of seasons of control.
With that said he seems like a good gamble and I like his high steal numbers in his 574 minutes (1.6 per 36), and good 2pt% (52.3%). His rebounding and three-point shooting seem a little underwhelming though.
I was thinking that exact same thing, Ben. Why not just claim him off waivers?
Long time lurker. First time poster.
My earliest memory as a Knick fan was sitting on my dad’s lap at the Garden for game 3 against the Rockets.
My greatest accomplishment as a Knicks fan was being the first kid in CYO to start actively taking charges.
The last year of my life has been a real roller coaster ride for me, my wife and my son. Depression. Jobs. Hospitals. Reading this blog really helped. Thank you to every poster.
Even though the Knicks (since 2000) are the worst run franchise in sports, I have to admit it’s fun to watch this board call out every bad move. JK, it’s true, the only way to enjoy this team is as a complete farce.
When the threads get too long, I skip forward to five commenters: Jowles, JK, Brian, Mike K and DRED.
As someone with a mathematics background and law degree, IMO, Jowles makes the best statistical arguments on this board, and it’s not even close. Sorry haters.
Lastly, my props to TNT last night for their Sports and Society Segment. The Banana Boat Crew stepped up to the moment. Dignified. Positive. Proud. Responsible. Very proud to see my favorite sport move the conversation forward. Stay woke.
Troy Williams is a great add on the cheap. Hopefully he can add to our perimeter D. Plus he’s young, so I definitely am in favor of this rumored move. I’m also still thinking about coaches should Hornacek (most likely) get canned. What about Jay Wright of Villanova? Could and would we lure him away from college ball? He’s pretty much a God at Villanova, so I imagine luring him away would be near impossible.
Nah nah. Good luck on a personal level. IMO, the NYKs may not be the worst run; maybe Browns? But I also agree that I enjoy this board for many reasons. Everyone here loves the NYKs, which comes through even through the chippiness and acerbic comments. Best wishes and post more.
One more thing. Clyde for Director of Player Development.
If we are giving a rookie coach a go I would rather see a good pedigree NBA assistant get a go. That being said, no too fussed at this stage if Horny comes back next year. Expectations will be significantly lower, so it would be interesting to see how he coaches when the FO know playoffs are off the cards from training camp.
troy williams would be a good add since we don’t have a SF on the roster…. his problem is that he’s not a good 3p shooter and is pretty bad with the ball in his hands… he’s a reasonable add for cheap and could turn into something useful….
as far as coaches…. someone mentioned nick nurse and after reading about him i would totally be on board… someone who thinks out of the box and pays attention to the development of his players is exactly who we need…
Is this your own list? Where did that stat come from that’s the basis of your opinion?
I seriously still don’t get it. It kind of irritates me really. If they’re interested in Williams, then just pick him off of waivers and get his last two non-guaranteed contract years for nothing! All this does is keep them from having to commit to him for the rest of the year, but who cares at this point? I just don’t get it.
They probably want to use the roster spot for other 10 day contracts if they don’t like what they see. I think it’s very dumb–the potential reward of two guaranteed years from a productive player is well worth the risk of losing a roster spot for 23 games. Especially considering Noah seems three-quarters of the way out the door and we could always cut Jack.
I do support taking a look at Williams though. Definitely had relatively intriguing college numbers, more so than Dotson. Please please please give him all of Lance’s minutes and plenty of Beasley’s so we can actually get a good look.
I kind of figured it was to potentially look at others, but with a glut of guards and bigs, who else are they likely to give a run on a 10 day contract if not another wing? Pretty cheap contract that could be used as trade filler if necessary.
We’re doing this so we can sign him to a two year contract at 7 million a year with a player option and an NTC in the off-season
I understand there’s an idea of how things should be done by an NBA team around here, but this front office appears to have a methodology that rewards things like effort. Signing a 10 day contract is not going to get this guy playing time if he doesn’t impress the coaches in practice. I probably hate Lance Thomas’ presence on the roster more than anybody here, but to think a 10 day contract player is going to eat up all of a team captain’s minutes is unrealistic to say the least. They want to see if he’s a fit with our team culture, if he’s a competitor, and if he’s a guy they want to sign to another non-guaranteed deal. There is no downside to this move. Not picking up his contract saves the roster spot and if they want to keep him, he gets a summer league invite. If he sucks you get the next guy in here on a 10 day contract. You don’t let Troy Williams keep you from finding the next Robert Covington or Hassan Whiteside. I know people would rather we cut Jarret Jack, but that goes against this organizations valuing of veteran leadership.
Again, probably stupid to a lot of you, but the Knicks have to establish themselves as a first class organization amongst the players. You don’t cut the guy who stabilized the position for you for over half a season when your rookie wasn’t ready and Sessions ended up flopping, especially not for a guy with 34 games played over 3 seasons.
Pretty sure you can’t waive a guy on more than a min contact without cap space. If he’s on min salary but with more years, even non guaranteed, i don’t think it’s technically a minimum deal.
While you’re absolutely correct that you need to be able to fit a player into your cap if you claim a waived player, the Knicks had cap space due to the trade exceptions from both the Willy trade and the Melo trade. So they had more than enough to claim Williams off of waivers (I believe the smaller Willy trade exception would have been enough).
If he plays well and doesn’t want to re-sign for the minimum, then they will be unable to re-sign him without tapping into their MLE, as they’ll be capped out.
Now if they had just claimed his contract, they would have him under contract for two more years, both of which were unguaranteed, so they could cut him after the season if he sucked and not owe him anything (heck, I believe he could even come to training camp under contract and then be cut right before the season if they wanted to).
The only thing they gained from this move is the ability to cut him this year, which isn’t much of a benefit. They just wooed the guy from four different teams trying to sign him. Why would they do that not to let him prove himself for the rest of the season?
Maybe the only way they could get him to come to NY for 10 days was to tell his agent that if he looked really good they would sign him to something more than the minimum. Maybe without that added upside, he would not have chosen to come to NY. We are hardly a prime destination given that a young player asked to leave, a veteran player has been exiled for an altercation with the coach, we suck, and we are owned by Dolan.
I doubt he’s going to look good enough to sign for more than the minimum. I think he’s probably going to be one of a series of players we take a look at and maybe eventually invite to camp or give a spot to in the G league if he doesn’t end up somewhere else.