Knicks Morning News (2018.07.10)

I’d read that too, and again, not going to Philly makes no sense whatsoever!

It wasn’t a basketball move. LeBron’s wife and kids wanted to live in LA, and he wants to do more Hollywood stuff. If the Lakers actually are great, that’s just gravy.

I really don’t understand what Houston is doing, unless $ is really the issue there. Seems likely to me that Ariza would’ve come back even if the Rockets offered the same exact deal. I semi-get the LRMaM thing since the best Houston could offer is the non-bird exception (or pay big luxury tax on a taxpayer MLE). Now it sounds like they are shorting Capela also, which is just nuts. Nate Duncan said on his podcast that he heard that their initial offer to Capela was in the same range as what Nurkic got (4 years/48MM) which is really just insulting and would make me really angry if I were Capela. Restricted free agency really sucks for these guys who just get caught in the wrong FA year like this one where there is so little money out there. Easy for me to say he should just sign his QO and go for UFA next year — this is a guy who has “only” made ~$4MM in his entire career, so even signing for $60MM total would be life- and future generation-changing, but in any other year he’d easily come out with at least 4/96 or something like that.

In terms of the Knicks – I remain really optimistic about Scott Perry. No dumb signings yet — in fact all the contracts he has signed are completely reasonable. I definitely wish that we had gotten a team option or a second non- or partially-guaranteed year on Hezonja, but that’s really just splitting hairs — it’s not clear to me whether that was ever anything Hezonja would have accepted. His two trades have not been great, but not definitely crippling either. I have a feeling those two Charlotte picks might be pretty good. And at least so far, his two draft picks seem like they might be pretty good too.

I will say this again. Houston has a new owner. Houston has a new owner. Houston has a new owner. . . . .

It reminds me of the movie line “Houston, we have a problem. . .”

If this new owner is giving orders to Morey, he’s doing it by throwing randomly dice.

@Farfa

They traded for Paul last summer before Fertitta bought the team in September. It’s likely that was done with a verbal agreement he’d get maxed this summer. Fertitta probably bought the team understanding that was a pre-existing agreement he’d have to honor. Keeping the rest of the core? Not so much.

So Brian Cashman endorsed Trump’s Supreme Court pick.

Whether you like the pick or not, the GM of the Yankees should really just STFU when it comes to politics.

I guess I’ll just skip Knickerblogger today. 😛 Going to be a political nightmare here now.

So tough to find a 4/5 tandem in modern NBA in general but especially given KP. Somehow the prospect of KP at the 5 and Hezonja at the 4 doesn’t cut it. Is the KP/Mitch tandem our Dirk/Tyson pairing? Nicest thing about Mitch is he only has to do a a few things well to complement KP. IMO those are: excellent rebounding, decent rim protection, dive on PnR and off cuts, switch and defend in space, hit free throws. Those look attainable while other things like post-ups and hitting 3’s would be niceties.

One thing to keep an eye on is his free throw shooting. He shot 45% in his junior year and 59% in his senior year. His 4 attempts in first Summer League looked ugly. One would think he worked on free throw shooting this past year. Not Deandre level worry but hope is he would be 70%+.

One last item: I think Noah would be an excellent mentor for him. He could really help in getting him to talk on defense and how to defend in space. Makes sense to waive Enes (or limit his minutes) and play Noah/Luke/Mitch at the 5. At first I figured Mitch should spend a lot of time in G League but now I think it’s best that he play against NBA caliber centers. Frank though could benefit from some G-League work to hone his burgeoning offensive skills outside of the limelight (while Mudiay helps tank).

Bottom Line: Mitch might be that lucky break we need.

I think Mitch and KP are a very interesting combination. Mitch may be able to give us offensive rebounding and efficient scoring around the basket like Kanter, but because of his length and athletic ability he can also give us rim protection. It remains to be seen how good he is defensively in other ways. He probably has a lot to learn and will have to get stronger, but I can picture them working very well together inside and outside on offense and both swatting balls into the stands protecting the paint.

@2

LeBron goes to Miami = this is why he’s not the best

LeBron goes to Los Angeles = this is why he’s not the best

I think GOAT arguments are generally dumb but I will say that I think one of Lebron’s big legacies will be that he reshaped the perception in the league of where the power lies. Since the decision he has grabbed more power within the league as a player than anyone previously thought possible, so much so that the default assumption is now not only that he can choose to play for whatever team he wants every year, but that he can also take control of all the personnel moves for that team as well. I’m not sure people have appreciated how dramatic that is. If you view his career in that prism the Lakers move makes perfect sense. It’s not only the biggest stage in the league but it also offers him the logical next step into things beyond basketball.

Interesting theory to waive enes but why?
There could be a team interested at the deadline

Frees roster spot and nobody’s taking Enes unless we are willing to take salary that extends beyond next summer. Front office has made clear it won’t do that.

I don’t think Enes vs Noah would affect the tank one way or the other. Keeping Noah would help as a mentor to Mitch and delay having to waive him until next summer at which time we might just want to let it expire the following year depending on cap and free agents who want to join NYK in summer 2019.

Like going to the Lakers because they’re not going to compete for a title this year (probably) means you’re not as good as the guy who quit twice-what you should have done was join a super team like that coward Kevin Durant, or like Lebron did that time he joined the Heat.

There’s one more interesting Noah possibility. Take a look at THIS TRADE. Who knows maybe we could get Jevon Carter in that deal. Memphis gets SG it needs; Conley/Courtney/Anderson/JJJ/Gasol would be a nice lineup. Noah could mentor JJJ. We waive McLemore and end up saving a roster spot. We rid ourselves of Courtney’s contract. We help the tank. However, we would add about 2m/yr to dead cap when we waive/stretch Parsons.

Don’t get me wrong. I love that today’s NBA superstar does what they want. But they can’t have it both ways. You want to take shortcuts to titles or prioritize other things than winning then don’t turn around and expect to be hailed as all time greats on the level of the Jordans, Jabbars and Russells. It’s one or the other.

@28
I don’t know. Maybe “Hollywood stuff” involves going to lots of parties in that area, hanging around with movie stars, close to home, etc.

You want to take shortcuts to titles

There is no shortcut to a title. Again, the Warriors LOST the Finals in 2016 despite one of the greatest seasons ever. The Warriors also nearly lost this season, and got saved by Chris Paul’s inevitable injury. I don’t see the Rockets missing 27 shots in a row with a top-3 all-time point guard in the game for even 10 minutes.

LeBron teamed up with nearly-prime Wade and a bunch of very good role players in Miami and still got whomped in the Finals. Then, after three years of “gelling,” the Spurs beat their asses, too. In 2012, the Thunder had three future MVPs on their roster and couldn’t beat the choker Heatles in 4 of 5 games. The ’04 Lakers got Karl Malone and Gary Payton and, again, haha, what happened? Beat by a team with “no superstars.”

@29

Declining to ‘take shortcuts’ necessarily entails prioritizing other things (specifically dumb people’s precious feelings) over winning.

LeBron teamed up with nearly-prime Wade and a bunch of very good role players in Miami and still got whomped in the Finals.

Chris Bosh’s WS/48 in Lebron’s four season championship run on the Heat were .177, .165, .175, .152. He was that team’s third option.

Interestingly, Lebron bailed just in time as Wade’s best days were behind him to go to a Cleveland team that tanked enough to get fresh new support.

Declining to ‘take shortcuts’ necessarily entails prioritizing other things (specifically dumb people’s precious feelings) over winning.

Feelings? It’s not even about that. The whole point of a basketball rivalry between teams is the continuing back and forth between rivals pushing the other side to get better. It’s what made the 1980s Pistons-Bull rivalry so great for example. I just can’t imagine a prime GOAT caliber player like Jordan saying in 1988, “Fuck it, I can’t beat the Pistons with what I have. Let me go to the Lakers so we can beat them.”

So the guy who pretty much singlehandedly dragged a crappy team to the finals (and not the first time he’s done that) lacks competitive spirit?

It happens from time to time. Not targeted.

Houston getting a little of the Dolan Treatment of meddling.
If that’s truly what’s happening, I for one am enjoying some other team making idiotic basketball decisions because the owner says so.

Do we really only play 3 summer league games?

I believe there’s a tournament after the scheduled games?

Yeah I think the team wants nothing to do with Noah. Horns might have sucked as a coach and maybe he was screwing with Noah’s head by not playing him, but attacking a coach pretty much makes you persona non grata…maybe he can go to Minny and redeem himself off the bench under Thibs but I think his days here are numbered. He got a ridiculous contract from Phil Jackson, who was fired by the Knicks. He missed half of his first season with injuries. He missed the beginning of last year because of testing positive for PEDs. He then attacked a coach in practice. He’s done here.

Maybe “Hollywood stuff” involves going to lots of parties in that area, hanging around with movie stars, close to home, etc.

It used to involve allowing Weinsten to sexually assault you, but now that he and several other like-minded sleazeballs are out of action the parties should be different. I just wouldn’t allow his under age kids to go to any without a chaperone.

Chris Bosh is a decent example of one of the problems with boxscore stats. IMO, Bosh had the skill set to be a solid #2 player on a very good team, but he was the #3 option on a great one instead. As a result, he had the ball less often than the rate at which he could still be effective. His role was also slowly changed to become more of a stretch PF/C and shoot more 3s to provide space for James and Wade to operate (similar to the role change for Kevin Love). He was then in a position to rebound less because he was on the perimeter more. His defense is also underrated. IMO, Bosh was a very good player.

Maybe “Hollywood stuff” involves going to lots of parties in that area, hanging around with movie stars, close to home, etc.

I don’t know, now that I think about it I kind of like the image of LeBron James going to commercial auditions between practices and/or begging producers to take pitch meetings with him to hear his script ideas. (It’s the only explanation for why he’d have to be in LA:)

Chris Bosh is a decent example of one of the problems with boxscore stats. IMO, Bosh had the skill set to be a solid #2 player on a very good team, but he was the #3 option on a great one instead. As a result, he had the ball less often than the rate at which he could still be effective. His role was also slowly changed to become more of a stretch PF/C and shoot more 3s to provide space for James and Wade to operate (similar to the role change for Kevin Love). He was then in a position to rebound less because he was on the perimeter more. His defense is also underrated. IMO, Bosh was a very good player.

This post is a decent example of one of the problems of using bog-standard, conjecture-laden generalizations about 32,000 minutes of play to justify your deep-seated skepticism of statistical models.

Remember, kids: Becoming a third option helps efficiency except when it doesn’t.

Carmelo goes from #1 option to #3 option: his efficiency should improve. (It didn’t.)

Bosh goes from #1 option to #3 option: his efficiency should diminish. (It didn’t).

I think it’s important to take step back and realize that under his stewardship for the first time in a long time the Knicks seem to actually be okay with being bad right now as an investment in the future. We’ve all been begging for it for almost 20 years now and the Knicks have constantly fought against it and tried to present themselves as at least a “contender” every season.

I’m not sure I want to give them much credit for this.

For one thing, what could they actually have done this offseason to become a contender once Porzingis went down? Their hands were tied this offseason.

For another thing, they chose the worst time to implement such a strategy: right before the flattening of the lottery odds. Now, even if you are the worst team in the NBA, there is a 14% chance you pick first, and a 47.9% chance you pick 5th.

Ultimately, Mills and Perry made their bed last summer, they didn’t make it well, and now they have no choice but to lie in it. They should have been taking this approach from day 1, when tanking had high probability of rewarding their strategy. Everything they’ve done since the massive Hardaway blunder has been too minimal to make significant conclusions about them. But minimal stuff is all they could do based on the roster inflexibility.

The summer of 2019 is when they’ll be judged. Being focused on the long term doesn’t mean accepting being bad for one year and then making long term commitments to questionable free agents at the very first opportunity. I won’t judge them before it happens, but that sure seems like it’s the route they want to go.

@59 I don’t think Strato was taking about efficiency so much as his role as a floor spacer which hurt his rebounding numbers. His BPM and VORP both sharply decreased when he joined the Heat.

Okay, and?

@62 It proves that a change of role negatively affected his advanced stats which paint him as less effective than he really was.

Jowles, everyone else:

I love the stats as much as anyone else, but do you not believe there are ANY holes in them? Like, are there examples you can think of where win shares, true shooting, BPM, etc, changed due to a change in circumstance, or is it now rote to you (as in, a player goes from shitty coaching to great coaching, and becomes efficient, or a player moves position (say, PF to C), and now his win shares are better, or a big gets paired with an awesome PG who now makes him better overall…).

This would be a great article for this website.

I am honestly asking, not trolling.

This France- Belgium game is going to be special

@70 That’s fair. I don’t think any all in one stats properly capture his defensive impact on those Miami teams tho.

I love the stats as much as anyone else, but do you not believe there are ANY holes in them? Like, are there examples you can think of where win shares, true shooting, BPM, etc, changed due to a change in circumstance, or is it now rote to you (as in, a player goes from shitty coaching to great coaching, and becomes efficient, or a player moves position (say, PF to C), and now his win shares are better, or a big gets paired with an awesome PG who now makes him better overall…).

My attitude has been that system can (of course) change production, but if you’re, say, asking your PF to stop doing the 2nd-most important thing in basketball (gather rebounds), he needs to make up for it by doing the most important thing in basketball (scoring efficiently).

If a system demanded that Tyson Chandler started taking 17-foot jumpers to “keep defenses honest,” it would probably be reflected as a negative in Chandler’s stats. That would be a joint function of (1) a stupid mandate and (2) Chandler’s inability to shoot jumpers.

The problem I have is when a player has a 0.0 BPM, a 0.050 WS48, a 1.0 VORP (etc.) and people call them a superstar. You can try to explain the bad production by talking about role, system, synergy or any of ruruland’s favorite sophist buzzwords, but you can’t say “he was very good at basketball.” Talent only wins basketball games if it leads to production above one’s peers.

I would like to ask the Bosh fanboys why his usage dropped in Miami but he never made a real stride in efficiency. If he’s a championship-caliber stretch 4, and LeBron and Wade create spacing issues that free up their teammates for open looks, why did he go from a 40-win Raptors team to a 57-win Heat team and see a drop, year over year, in his shooting efficiency?

LeBron has never really been part of a solid, well-rounded team. Even the Heat teams that won rings were the “big 3” plus whatever ring-chasing vets they could get to come play for peanuts. There were a lot of crummy players that racked up big minutes on those teams. Same deal in Cleveland, they never really put a well-balanced supporting cast with quality role players around him.

Jordan had way better teammates, and that’s why he’s perceived as GOAT.

I believe Cashman went to high school with the new Supreme Court nominee so that’s where the support comes from. Anyway I may not agree with his politics but I damn sure am happy he is the GM of my favorite team.

Those Heat teams had some pretty good players besides the Big 3. Battier, Birdman, Miller and Ray Allen were all very valuable and even Mario Chalmers was an above average player during those years. Those were some pretty damn good teams.

So we have a guy that is one of the best in the league at the most important thing in basketball AND at the 2nd most important thing in basketball, signed to a 1 year deal at a price far below the max. And yet we can’t give him away.

Man, are 30 GMs dumb or what?

Or Jowles is still peddling the same snake oil he always has…

You can’t credit LeBron for carrying shitty teams when he’s always the de facto GM. If Jordan got to pick his teammates instead of Krause, there’s very little chance he would have 6 rings.

And ffs jowles, how about responding to what people write as opposed to responding to the voices in your head. Nobody called Bosh a superstar, talked about his efficiency, or acted in any manner like a fanboy.

I don’t hold the Cavs incompetence against Lebron the same way I don’t hold the CAA era against Melo.

Obviously they played a role in the teammates they got but their teams FO should never let players or their agents dictate the teams moves. Most players would be terrible with that kind of influence.

So we have a guy that is one of the best in the league at the most important thing in basketball AND at the 2nd most important thing in basketball, signed to a 1 year deal at a price far below the max. And yet we can’t give him away.

Man, are 30 GMs dumb or what?

Or Jowles is still peddling the same snake oil he always has…

You’re acting like a real no-brainer, as always. You might want to scroll through the archives before you go casting stones. You’ve got one of the worst track records on here. Downright embarrassing, if you ask me.

Go ahead and point to a one-year deal in the summer of 2018 as evidence of anything except that the NBPA fucked a good portion of its members when it voted in favor of the immediate cap jump in 2016. The rest of us have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. Again — per usual.

@86 I’m tired of arguing with stats truthers. You’ve said dozens of times that you invest more in your own personal perception than anything you can read in a book or in a statistical model. I would be mentally disabled to even try to engage a person like that in an argument. The Alan Dershowitz endorsement — who, last night, argued that if Trump conspired with Russia, he shouldn’t be impeached — is the cherry on top.

^^^ this guy Fox Newses

Nice comeback! FOXNEWS111!!! Lol! Pure genius!

For someone who thinks he’s the smartest person in the room, you’re very small minded = if you don’t agree with me you must be a Republican who watches Fox News all day. Yup, there are only 2 options: Republican or Democrat.

“Bosh fanboy” is an oxymoron.

Strat this may be the first time we’ve ever worn the same jersey on here. The following may or may be true:

Playing PF on the BronWades next to a Center may have been a productivity-flattening role for most players. So while Bosh might normally have produced 5 more wins than, say, Jermaine O’Neal for a typical team, maybe he only gets you 2 more wins for the BronWades.

Even if that is true, it does not mean Bosh was less valuable on Miami than he was on Toronto. While we always assume a win-is-a-win when it comes to all-in-one stats because we have to, of course we don’t really mean it. All we really care about always and everywhere is marginal production. If those extra two wins from that position for a great team like Miami were unusually scarce, then they were much more valuable per win than what he would have provided to an average team.

This isn’t some hypothetical conversation between guys who “get” stats and guys who don’t. The vast majority of big-picture (the actual vast majority are small-picture) analytical hours in NBA front offices go into contextual, marginal questions like this (yes, and then are often ignored). Kevin Durant may have made Steph Curry 30% less productive but whether he is less valuable is not the same question. We care about marginal productivity and that makes these questions hard.

Can’t we lock up Hillary, Impeach Trump, and force James L Dolan to sell the Knicks all before training camp? #drainthegarden #maketheknicksgreatagain #Robinsanity

I don’t know, I guess this evidence that Trump colluded with “the Russians” to fix an election will come out any day now.

Wow, hell of an indictment of the Mueller investigation. I guess since it didn’t wrap up in 2 months, nothing has been found. No collusion!!!!

It’d be hilarious and I’d do it just for the troll value of it all if the terms were right.

What if we trade for melo and keep him for his veteran leadership?

We can trade them….Enes Kanter and Mudiay/Baker for Melo. Lol.

Saves them 4 or 5m in salary plus whatever repeater penally amount.

@104 thanks johnno. Also, why not just extend him at the max, since he is so great at the two most important things in basketball? We obviously have a young superstar in our midst, lock him up!!

Westbrook, TH2, Roberson, George, and Adams would actually make a bunch of sense as a starting five.

I would not try to move Hardaway yet. I know people hate the contract but there is a very real chance he will have a better season than last year and his contract actually isn’t THAT bad. Plus it could look a whole hell of a lot better after next summer.

I don’t know, I guess this evidence that Trump colluded with “the Russians” to fix an election will come out any day now. It looks to me that Mueller has given up on the Russian thing and is now going after Trump over his finances. If that works and Trump gets impeached then you have Pres Pence so congrats.
The only election that was proven to be fixed was Hillary’s win over the poor old crazy commie. Hillary even hired the head of the DNC after she was canned for Christ’s sake.

This is pretty 100 percent on the money. We’re not even mentioning the widespread of evidence of collusion with Donna Brazile even admitting to as much, proof of voting irregularities in Arizona, and NYC Board of Electors admitting more than 200 thousand votes were purged in Brooklyn during the NY primary. Hell, the discrepancies between exit polling and reported vote tallies were so great the DNC stopped releasing them.

In terms of the Russian collusion case, the entire issue has been about throwing whatever to see if it can stick on Trump. Originally the charge was about the Russians hacking into the DNC server to give the Podesta files to Assange for public dissemination via Wikileaks. Now it has shifted to meetings with foreign intermediaries who may have bribed representatives of the Trump campaign. Reminds me of how Independent Council was supposed to pursue an investigation into Bill Clinton’s Whitewater dealings and ended up trying to impeach him for lying under oath…

Harry Giles looks really good.

Harry Giles does look really good. I’d kinda forgotten he existed.

In terms of the Russian collusion case, the entire issue has been about throwing whatever to see if it can stick on Trump.

I can tell from the wording of this sentence that you think that it’s a witchhunt, so let’s not bother to even discuss it. Your mind is already made up about the legitimacy of the investigation.

I also didn’t realize how tall and long Giles is. I hope he can finally stay healthy.

@119 — honest answer — are you willing to await the outcome of the investigation or have you already concluded that there WAS collusion?

Harry Giles looks like the same player who routinely rag dolled his competition in high school. There’s a reason he was rated higher than Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson, DeAaron Fox, Jonathan Isaac, and everybody else that went ahead of him in that 2017 Draft. I can’t wait to see him and Marvin Bagley (both #1 recruits in the nation) play together for Sacramento.

Most of the Russia investigation is an effort to delegitimize Trump in order to stop him from making significant policy changes to the basic agenda of the financial and political globalists from both parties. He has enemies in both parties that want to stop him, preferably throw him out of office, and certainly not allow him to be re-elected.

He almost certainly has/had business dealings with Russians. He’s a global investor and developer. Why wouldn’t he look for investments from and with with Russians? It’s also almost certain some of his business dealings inside and outside Russia were in grey areas, if not illegal. He’s a NY and Atlantic City developer. He had to do business with the mafia for example. lol

But when you get into collusion there is a HUGE difference between trying to get damaging information on your opponent (legal), encouraging them to release it (legal) and providing significant information or making policy promises to them in return for that information.

The thing is, his enemies will never allow for nuanced or honest discussion when the goal is to castrate and remove him from office and most of the media is part of the same globalist establishment that wants him out.

No one, not even Mueller’s own people, are even taking the DNC hacking allegations seriously anymore.

Okay, well that is one small part of what is an obviously huge investigation. Remember Mueller’s mandate: to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian government’s attempt to interfere in the 2016 election. And if other shady shit is uncovered in the investigation, that is also fair game.

Is it really a “whatever, no big deal” kind of thing if Donald Trump has been laundering Russian mob money for God knows how many years? That’s really the kind of thing that’s a “witch hunt” that should just be blown off? Is that how we want law enforcement to work? I’m not saying he laundered money… but what if he did launder money? Like, shit tons of money. Let’s say hypothetically that is proven pretty conclusively. Wouldn’t that make him, you know, vulnerable? And don’t people have a right to know that?

The thing is, his enemies will ever allow for nuanced discussion when the goal is to castrate him and remove him from office and most of the media is part of the same globalist establishment that wants him out.

Hold it there, Alex Jones. That Orange Orangutan is part of the globalist establishment. Anyone with knowledge of his extensive international business ties know that he’s no different than any other American oligarch in the real estate sector. He’s just willing to mobilize white nationalist rhetoric to highly position himself within our government for gain.

@129

If we are finally going to start ridding the country of corruption and law breaking among those in power (draining the swamp as Trump would call it) then we should probably be jailing a good portion of the intelligence community, some of the mainstream media, half of congress and the Senate, a lot of the leadership on Wall St, half the central bankers in the world, a bunch of power brokers in Hollywood, Trump and so on. The Clintons should get hung, a deadly injection, and the electric chair twice just to make sure they are dead. 🙂

But that’s not what’s happening.

Many of those that have been in power (from from both parties) see Trump as a threat. The unified goal is to destroy him so they can go back to business as usual being the disgusting human beings they are raping and pillaging the world, starting wars to protect or increase profits, taking bribes, lying, and advancing their own political agendas no matter what the people want and what the cost to the average working stiff who doesn’t even know what’s in his own best interests.

People sort of sense this all. They want it ALL cleaned up.

@133

So “whataboutism” is your answer, and also “yeah it’s no big deal if Trump laundered hundreds of millions of dollars, everybody totes does it!” That along with a dollop of massive conspiracy theory. The international cabal is busy raping and pillaging the Earth, and they don’t want Donald Trump, white hat wearing hero, to stop the raping and pillaging. Because he’s gonna make things great for the average working stiff, and the cabal doesn’t want that. Got it.

I think I know how to regard your intellectual honesty on this topic going forward.

@ 133 – so Donald Trump is an environmentalist who wants to protect the planet? Am I reading this correctly?

@ 133 – so Donald Trump is an environmentalist who wants to protect the planet? Am I reading this correctly?

No. Definitely not.

If you are talking about “raping and pillaging the world” I was talking about financial rape and pillage not environmental rape and pillage. He’s all for environmental rape and pillage. 🙁

I think I know how to regard your intellectual honesty on this topic going forward.

“then we should probably be jailing a good portion of the intelligence community, some of the mainstream media, half of congress and the Senate, a lot of the leadership on Wall St, half the central bankers in the world, a bunch of power brokers in Hollywood, Trump and so on. ”

I think you missed the part where I said Trump should be jailed.

I simply do not approve of one set of disgusting human beings getting away with their corruption and evil by jailing their opposition so they can continue being disgusting. Both parties, the intelligence community, Hollywood, Wall St, and the media need to be fumigated.

No one has ever pursued the Clinton Uranium Deal despite many shady questions.

Now you’re showing your ass. Uranium One is an actual made up scandal, invented by the tools at Breitbart. Its genesis was in the book “Clinton Cash,” written by one of Brightfart’s editors.

Trump and his cronies have REPEATEDLY called for investigations into Uranium One. Republicans control every single lever of government. Why has there been no investigation in it? Because Republicans are just nice guys, and they don’t want to smear their pal Hillary Clinton? Jeff Sessions entertained the idea of a Special Prosecutor, yet gee, for some reason, never appointed one. Weird, huh? It’s like all of a sudden the Republicans lost their killer instinct or something.

There’s no investigation because there is nothing to it and it’s a made-up scandal that came directly from Breitbart world, meant to give rubes something to drop as a “whataboutism” into conversations.

Meanwhile, Kevin Knox is 0-6 so far tonight.

Frank may have the night off.

Can we trade all 6 of our SGs for Josh Hart please

A McCarthy witchhunt. A globalist conspiracy. Uranium One. Okay.

Man that was embarrassing. I thought Doris Burke and Carlisle were gonna start making out.
Show the freaking game assholes!

Knox made a lefty layup!!!

I just love seeing the same people claim who claim the Kremlin interfered in our elections because of backroom meetings turn around and ignore the greater history of “collusion” we’ve seen from other governments including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and China. Many of these are the same people who will turn around and ignore the fact that Wall Street donated 2 billion dollars of money into influencing the 2016 election but think hundred thousand dollars worth of Facebook ads was the deciding factor that gave Trump the election. Meanwhile, manmade climate change continues to worsen, life expectancy in the US has lowered for a second straight year, an opioid epidemic is killing more people than AIDS did at the height of its endemic, and poverty has skyrocketed to the point that the UN Council on Human Rights just released a special report on it.

But the supposedly “liberal” media in CNN and MSNBC doesn’t care. Their talking heads are too busy scapegoating Russia because addressing these issues, many of which created the basis for a charlatan like Trump to come into power as an anti-establishment figure.

Doris Burke can get it and I’m 25

Knox shows flashes of talent that make you think he can become a very very good player eventually, but the hype is getting a little annoying. He simply hasn’t been that good in terms of results despite the flash. Robinson has been better.

ntilikilla – why is that ppl that.. um.. talk like you in regards to politics… can never address the arguments? are you just advertising a viewpoint or just think ppl might not notice?

I’m pretty meh on Knox after watching him in three games. Yes he’s a good athlete, yes he’s quick, yes he can jump. But he also takes an awful lot of low-percentage, out-of-control shots, and seems allergic to passing the ball. He relies an awful lot on floaters and impossible-looking layups. Runs the floor pretty well though, will get some points in transition, and the Knicks do need that.

He’s like a young, not-as-polished Melo. That’s an okay guy to nab at #9 I guess, but… well, it kind of shows you why you don’t want to be picking at #9.

What’s up with Dotson? He’s awful again.

Knox is talented, but very raw. Robinson too. But they give me hope.

Troy Williams has a chance to be in the rotation. Lots of energy, but also too out of control at times.

Watching guys blow by Allonzo Trier really makes me value Frank Ntilikina.

Kornet isn’t dressed to play. Neither is Frank. I guess they feel like they don’t need to see more from them?

Knox is cooking.

The knick with the knack!

He’s unconscious!

New York Knox!

Knox is Nasty!

Even with the Knox explosion, he’s still 3/11 on 2s, 6 TOs. Hard to see him being a reasonably efficient player anytime in the near future, especially once the book is out on him. He’s showing good signs, but the hype is killing me. I won’t be able to survive if it continues like this.

Wow, Knox picked it up by end. But the turnovers have to go.

Why can’t Mitchell defensive rebound?

DRed
June 22, 2017 at 9:18 pm
I’d love to get Doncic, but we need to hit the lotto or lose a fuckload of games to make that happen.

now let’s go get Josh Hart

They never listen to me

@185, too skinny and gets pushed out of way, out of shape, over aggressive shot blocking, hasn’t played long enough to understand angles.

Idk, pick one or two

Points tonight:Kevin Knox – 27Michael Porter Jr – 0I think we made the right pick.— New Era Knicks (@NewEraKnicks) July 11, 2018

I can’t imagine anyone not being encouraged by what Knox has shown in summer league. And on paper it looks like Trier had a very solid game.

So what now, some bs playoff game and it’s over until September?

What arguments? That the Mueller investigation isn’t bullshit used to distract sheep from the fact that the Democratic Party in Washington doesn’t want to address the actual problems facing the American people?

The Democratic Party has control over absolutely jack shit right now, including the Mueller investigation. The special counsel was appointed by Trump’s own DOJ. This is a particularly clownish rabbit hole you are going down here.

But it wasn’t because its not politically expedient to investigate the special ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation like it is to link Trump to the Russians by whatever means necessary.

It’s not politically expedient to investigate Uranium One for the same reason it isn’t “politically expedient” to investigate whether Sandy Hook was a false flag operation staged by crisis actors. Because it’s something that only morons believe in. That’s why it’s not “politically expedient.”

I’m encouraged, but he’s likely to be bad for a while and has to dramatically improve his finishing to become an efficient player—which is important when you’re ostensibly a “scorer.”

If Knox could grow to 6’11 that would be great. Who is guarding that shot at that height.

Even with the Knox explosion, he’s still 3/11 on 2s, 6 TOs. Hard to see him being a reasonably efficient player anytime in the near future, especially once the book is out on him. He’s showing good signs, but the hype is killing me. I won’t be able to survive if it continues like this.

I guess that must mean he was 5-7 (5 consecutive) from downtown and 6-6 from the line, too. 🙂 Add 9 boards and 2 assists and it’s not a bad night’s work FOR A BLOODY 18 YEAR OLD IN HIS 3RD PRO GAME! Yes… he handled the ball like a hand grenade with the pin pulled, but some of you guys have to come off you “expert” opinion that the guy is hot garbage. I never watched more than 10 minutes of him in college, but reading this blog he was clearly and awful choice, yet from the limited data here he very well might be a good pick at 9 and certainly not a bad one.

I think Trier is garbage but there is some talent there. If he can only learn to play more unselfishly.

The Democratic Party has control over absolutely jack shit right now, including the Mueller investigation. The special counsel was appointed by Trump’s own DOJ. This is a particularly clownish rabbit hole you are going down here.

This revisionism wouldn’t be so sad if it weren’t so uninformed. Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General who appointed Mueller, already assured Trump this past April he wasn’t the target in Mueller probe – which is why Trump has relented from firing him for protecting Mueller after giving him cart blanche to investigate anything he could related to Russia. But continue to hang your hat on this issue. It only shows how you’re missing the fact that actually tying Trump to collaborating with Putin was never what this investigation was about. It was about kowtowing to public bipartisan pressure for an anti-Russia witchhunt after Trump was elected.

It’s not politically expedient to investigate Uranium One for the same reason it isn’t “politically expedient” to investigate whether Sandy Hook was a false flag operation staged by crisis actors.

I agree. Now apply the same logic to the Mueller probe, which was created in the furor over bullshit reports about Russian meddling in 2016 election with cyber attacks and RT news broadcasts that have already discredited by expert analysis.

Because it’s something that only morons believe in. That’s why it’s not “politically expedient.”

Oh, plenty a moronic conspiracy theory is politically expedient. As late as last February a poll showed a majority of Americans believe the Russians will interfere in our elections again.

much ado about nothing? collusion with a foreign govt… money laundering… obstruction of justice… you determined he was innocent of all those things?

yea gtfo…. i’m not one to get into political debates on this board… but i will not tolerate ppl attempting to gaslight others on this site…. these are bad faith arguments… this is not r/t_d … this is not twitter…. clinton uranium ones conspiracy theories…. clinton/bernie primary conspiracy theories and calling the special counsel’s job a witchhunt.. holy fuck … am i seriously reading this here?

it’s like a machine gun of bullshit that is usually restricted to the cesspools of the internet… and i won’t tolerate it here… not where i go for actual basketball insight and discussion….

i strongly urge everyone to stay away from political talk… or if someone can moderate this and enforce a no politics rule.. i can appreciate a different viewpoint…. i don’t appreciate or tolerate bad faith arguments or ppl who are eager to run off yesterday’s right wing talking points unprompted….. and i will get very hostile towards that type of behavior….

so guys… please cut it out….

some of you guys have to come off you “expert” opinion that the guy is hot garbage

I’m not saying he’s hot garage, I’m saying he has a glaring weakness that needs to improve and will be critical to his development. Even if stays a bad finisher for his whole career (which is a decent possibility), getting to the rim and drawing fouls (which he’s shown in Summer League) can compensate. But generally, if you’re a scorer and can’t finish, that puts a lot of pressure on the other aspects of your game, especially if you’re not a good decision-maker, passer, or defender (yet). He certainly has the tools to improve, and the development he’s already shown is encouraging. I’m encouraged. Still, I prefer drafting players who are, you know, actually good at basketball right now and contribute to winning basketball.

I’m also saying he’s the exact type of player that gets overrated by the mainstream, like a Wiggins or LaVine, and it will probably be annoying.

Knox is not my favorite type of player– I’m not a big fan of the volume scoring ball hog type guy. But he did look pretty good in this game, and maybe he can be a bit more than that. Like maybe he could actually be an efficient volume scoring guy. That would be nice.

It’s clear that there are perverse incentives for the media to sensationalize any and all suspicion of impropriety by the Trump campaign, one just has to watch Rachel Maddow, go on Twitter and be called a Russian bot by some centrist apparatchik, or read The Daily Beast to find that out. But I think there’s a middle ground to be had where there’s certainly some smoke w/r/t the election campaign and Russian interference but the evidence implicating Trump himself is sparse at best. But that’s what the special counsel was organized for–to ascertain just what if any unsavory activities occurred in the Trump campaign during the run-up to the 2016 election and who is responsible for those activities. There’s certainly more evidence for Russia’s election meddling (regardless of how effective it was–and I think Hillary/The Dems lost the election by their own incompetence with or without Russian interference) and some of the Trump campaign’s involvement than there is for the various shady dealings of Clinton family affiliates, and, since Trump is president, his campaign’s questionable activities merit much more scrutiny, both by that fact alone and because of the comparative evidence/expectation we have for possible “foul play”.

Should we be discussing this on KB? No. I’m not at all averse to talking politics on here, but I think it’s best to keep mum on this, especially in advance of any determination from the special counsel. This discussion was pretty tiresome.

say nothing about the deep ties to the Saudis

You’ll be relieved to know the Saudis are showing up in the investigation based on reports from a couple weeks ago.

You’ll be relieved to know the Saudis are showing up in the investigation based on reports from a couple weeks ago.

In previous posts there are links showing the Saudi and Israeli influence were known for months in advance. In Hillary’s case their ties to the Moroccan and Saudi Royal families were well established. Bill Clinton faced the same issue in 1996 over the Chinese campaign contributions

None of this is new and no one on the mainstream left gave a crap because it wasn’t politically expedient to attack politicians for the same stuff Democrats were doing for years with other shady governments.

I love how aggressive Kevin Knox is when he receives the ball by driving immediately. There is virtually no ball stopping. Plus, he’s settling for midrange jumpers far less than he did in college. Very encouraging for the Knicks.— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 11, 2018

That was one of the most annoying broadcasts I’ve ever seen in the first half with the fucking split screen for minutes on end and Fizdale and Walton droning on and on and on with no game commentary At All. LeBron this, LeBron that – kill me already I am so sick of hearing about him and Laker shit 7/24. Give it a rest already !

Watched Kevin Knox light it up again 2day, this time in person. 2 things stuck out: he is incredibly smooth and his feel for the game is highly advanced (3rd-youngest player in class). Talk around arena among NBA folks was clear: Knox is freaky… #Knicks got an absolute stud— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 11, 2018

oh did i misunderstand? didn’t your argument go from….

“what’s the big deal? nothing happened!”… to ….. “well hillary did it too!”…. super quick…

it’s astounding how similar and predictable this type of behavior is…..hillary fucking clinton is irrelevant… and has always been irrelevant in relation to the investigation of what trump did… and saying that the politician who has been investigated the most… who’s family and foundation were investigated for the last 30 years and were cleared of all wrongdoing from actual partisan investigators… and apparently that’s not enough for certain people… that is actually what a witchhunt looks like….

trump in comparison is facing about 1/10 the energy of what the clinton family have gone through with a lot more shady dealings that are coming out….

hypocrisy has never been a credible defense in a court of law or something you tell investigators so that they stop investigating you…. so even under the most generous interpretation of your arguments… i can’t help but categorize them as bad faith…

it’s not working… please stop….

I wrote the original claim of Russian election meddling via cyberattacks, hacking the DNC server, and use of propaganda was crap and then clarified my stance that Trump probably did engage in shady dealing with Russian oligarchs, j

kinda sounds like….

“what’s the big deal? nothing happened!”… to ….. “well hillary did it too!”…. super quick…

and no the dnc hacking is not crap…. there is plenty of technical evidence… and if you understood it… you would know it’s undeniably linked to the russians….

and now you’re trying to use big words to try and reason yourself out of a position you didn’t reason yourself into? that’s pretty funny sir…. go do you.. i hope that keeps working out for you….

“what’s the big deal? nothing happened!”… to ….. “well hillary did it too!”…. super quick…

It might sound like that to a hysterical hyper partisan, but to anyone with with a fair and objective mind its clear that I am not arguing that “nothing happened” when I say that Trump is as corrupt as every major party presidential candidate before him who entertains offers from foreign lobbyists. The difference is that whereas your analysis stops with Trump, I situate him with a larger and systemic history of political bribery, which also includes the candidate he ran against, Hillary Clinton, and various other foreign lobbyists who are ignored because their governments actually do have significant political clout in our political process.

there is plenty of technical evidence… and if you understood it… you would know it’s undeniably linked to the russians….

Sorry, its been debunked. Keep up. Not even Mueller is going that route anymore after the DNC denied the FBI access to its supposedly hacked servers.

and now you’re trying to use big words to try and reason yourself out of a position you didn’t reason yourself into?

LOL. I am the one using documented evidence reported in respected media outlets. You’re the other guy repeatedly yelling, “You’re wrong because I said so!” Now that kind of self-evidence fallacy is the epitome of bad faith argumentation.

the technical evidence is out there… it’s public… and since you’re citing crowdstrike it’s clear you don’t understand it…. infosec is my living… don’t tell me to keep up….. signatures… ip addresses…. domain registrations…. identical methods to past confirmed russian hacks by other nations(germany) and organizations(ioc)…. you might be able to forge one or two of those things but all of them together is enough to prosecute in a court of law… why isn’t mueller? because it’s pretty hard to subpoena a nation-state particularly if you don’t have a specific name….. which they managed to get with the russian twitter troll farms….

but all of our intelligence agencies fingered the russians… most of europe’s intelligence agencies have fingered the russians…. the intelligence community at large have also fingered the russians…. that’s humint sources that also confirm the technical findings…. there is a tiny sect of people like you who still doubt it…. but from my observations.. it’s because they aren’t technical or they have an axe to grind…. and with you it seems to be both….

please stop… i will keep embarassing you….

In the future, it’s probably best to avoid using Uranium One to solidify any argument you’re trying to make. Uranium One is the slightly more respectable version of PizzaGate. When you combine “the Mueller investigation is bullshit” with “what about Uranium One doe” it’s like you might as well just start talking about PizzaGate and QAnon, because you’re just Breitbart-izing the whole conversation.

Except all these things actually happened. Such sources as the Senate Investigative report have confirmed they happened.

Forgetting the fact that you bypass presenting any evidence to support your argument. If this is so then why has Mueller moved past this issue? Why did CrowdStrike, the private security firm only allowed access to the DNC’s servers, redact and revise aspects of its data analysis were challenged by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which told VOA that CrowdStrike erroneously used IISS data as proof of the intrusion? And why did the DNC refuse to let the FBI look at the hacked server to verify the claim?

The US has always had shady support for some pretty bad regimes, but it is not in the business of literally selling our foreign policy….This is not politics as usual, this is not people mad cause Trump does things differently.

Are you joking? I am amazed how little people know about how our system of legalized bribery works. Here is just what the Clinton Foundation has done in courting foreign money for favors. And to be honest, the foreign bribery isn’t even the worst. The money both parties receive from Wall Street, for example, dwarfs any influence Putin, the Saudis, Israel, etc. has on our political system and our financial institutions have actually promoted policies which have been detrimental to our own country as we saw in the 2008 crash.

most of europe’s intelligence agencies have fingered the russians

I assume you mean the Dutch government, which still conveniently refuses to release its evidence on CozyBear despite not having any legitimate reason for withholding this vital security information.

the intelligence community at large have also fingered the russians….

You mean the same intelligence community which fallaciously leaked to the Washington Post that the Russians hacked the Vermont energy grid and then retracted that information after a Burlington utility employee repudiated the story?

please stop… i will keep embarassing you….

Someone is being embarrassed here. It’s the person who rambling with no evidence and fallacious appeals. But that person is not me.

Oh my god, you’ve wasted so much time here today spewing political garbage on a Knicks site on behalf of a guy that you know is a corrupt piece of shit? What’s wrong with you?

Here, in one tweet, is exactly the problem epitomized for all to see. Somehow, my attack of partisan disinformation is seen as a defense of one side vs. the other. Why? Because in our tribalistic political culture one must either for or against any attack on Trump no matter how dishonest or ulterior its motive may be. Wow.

sorry voa is vips… read their fucking rationale…

this ex nsa analyst says that its impossible that wikileaks received these files from the dnc hack because of the timestamp and transfer rate of internet connections… while ignoring the whole ability of simply copying a file…

thats your appeal to authority? please elaborate more on this… whats your take here?

you realize the voa… which was also heavily disputed internally…. leans their argument on timestamps proving it wasnt possible to copy files to wikileaks due to the transfer rate…. which is hilariously bad analysis… just read it…

They lean their argument on a number of data points, not just timestamps. If you want to focus on them as part of a cherrypick go ahead. But there were many issues with the metadata which supposedly added up to something completely different than what CrowdStrike, the only security group to have ever looked at the hacked server, surmised before they had to retract and then change parts of their analysis when called out on it by IISS for erroneously using their data as proof of the intrusion.

For one thing, let’s look that the supposedly hacked material’s transfer rate. Metadata showed that on the evening of July 5, 2016 that 1,976 megabytes of data were downloaded from the DNC’s server. The operation took 87 seconds, a transfer rate of 22.7 megabytes per second. This is the documented factual record. The problem? No hacker using an Internet service provider available in mid-2016 was capable of downloading data at this speed.

A test download of a comparable data volume (and using a server speed not available in 2016) 40 miles from his computer via a server 20 miles away and came up with a speed of 11.8 megabytes per second—half what the DNC operation would need were it a hack. Other investigators have built on this finding. Folden and Edward Loomis say a survey published August 3, 2016, by http://www.speedtest.net/reports is highly reliable and use it as their thumbnail index. It indicated that the highest average ISP speeds of first-half 2016 were achieved by Xfinity and Cox Communications. These speeds averaged 15.6 megabytes per second and 14.7 megabytes per second, respectively.

And this was supposedly all done from Romania by Guccifer.

Hey, look, I cited a bunch of articles I found off the internet that provide confirmation bias for the thing I already believe! Game set match, motherfuckers! I could do the same thing, you know.

I presented evidence, if you think it’s confirmation bias then rebut it with counterevidence. If you can’t then please remit from the ridiculous ad hominem sarcasm. Obnoxiousness doesn’t conceal the lack of content in one’s position but reveals it. So far you have my presenting evidence and others dismissing it or glossing it over on an empirical stat-based site. LOL.

I could do the same thing, you know. I could paste in links to a million “look at all the Russia collusion evidence” here, but I’m not that tedious.

Or thorough….

Bottom line, you don’t know what evidence Mueller has, and neither do I, so stop pretending like you’ve got this all figured out.

Untrue. If you actually looked at the confirmation bias articles you brushed over you’d see we do know Mueller doesn’t have any of the metadata on the “Russian hack” because the DNC DID NOT GIVE IT TO THE FBI. That is a fact. Not speculation. And it is the reason why no one is even speculating that his investigation will produce smoking gun proof that the Russians committed an act of cyberwarfare against the US during the 2016 election.

Not interested in crowding up another thread:

Your vox article explicitly states there’s no evidence or even any indication the anyone giving money to the Clinton foundation received anything for it. The only thing anyone has found was that a donor was refused a visa they probably should have gotten. Giving to the Clinton foundation lowered the chances of Clinton doing thing on your behalf.

The DNC turned over copies of the servers to the FBI, presumably backups dating from after the hacks. Do you seriously believe that because they didn’t pass along an actual physical box that they’re hiding something? It’s weird to assume that handing over an actual box is even possible. I wonder how the feds deal with virtualization..

Mueller was reportedly considering bring hacking indictments in early March. Has he decided not to? Is he waiting for some reason? No one actually knows, cause Mueller’s team doesn’t leak. There are lots of possible legitimate reasons for a delay that do not involve a lack of evidence, most significantly ongoing investigation.

I get that you’re utterly convinced of your correctness but your evidence is not supporting your conclusions.