Knicks Morning News (2018.11.18)

  • [Hoops Rumors] Knicks Notes: Hezonja, Burke, Robinson, Trier
    (Saturday, November 17, 2018 6:42:12 PM)

    A cutback in minutes could ruin Mario Hezonja‘s return to Orlando on Sunday, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Hezonja, who spent three years with the Magic before signing with the Knicks over the summer, got his first DNP of the season last night in a loss to the Pelicans. Hezonja has been […]

  • [SNY Knicks] Rookie starters impress Knicks’ David Fizdale despite another loss
    (Saturday, November 17, 2018 3:46:43 PM)

    Friday night in New Orleans featured yet another new starting five from David Fizdale and the Knicks. And despite the close loss, Fizdale was impressed by how it looked throughout the game.

  • [NYTimes] On Pro Basketball: The Rocky Rockets Settle Down and the Warriors Get Weird
    (Saturday, November 17, 2018 11:26:01 PM)

    Peace and wins may be breaking out in Houston. As for those guys from the Bay Area, it’s going in the other direction.

  • [NYPost] The mentality shift that sparked Trey Burke’s breakout game
    (Saturday, November 17, 2018 12:19:38 PM)

    ORLANDO, Fla. — Knicks point guard Trey Burke believes he’s found himself. Burke was on a serious roll on the court in the Big Easy, and then off the court late Friday. He lit up the locker room with a fiery plea that the club must stop being satisfied with taking playoff teams deep into…

  • [NYPost] Underachieving Knicks forward left wondering what his role is
    (Saturday, November 17, 2018 11:02:54 AM)

    ORLANDO – Mario Hezonja wasn’t in for the good moments Friday in New Orleans. He wasn’t in for the bad ones either. “Super Mario’’, in fact, wasn’t in at all. The struggling Knicks forward, who was their key free-agent signing, didn’t play for the first time this season in the 129-124 loss to the Pelicans….

    • 33 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.11.18)”

    Yahoo says that Kings management isn’t happy with Dave Joerger’s rotations (Bagley not getting enough minutes in particular) and could fire him, despite them finally playing well. Yeeesh.

    It’s always good to get a reminder that other teams have even more dysfunction than the Knicks.

    I like Fizdale, but boy, I’ve been a big Joerger fan for years, so it would be tempting if Joerger was on the block.

    Bagley is 5th on the team in MP and the guy starting ahead of him, Bjelica, leads the team in WS48, VORP, and BPM.

    I’m not sure what the Kings wanted when they drafted #1 high school recruits at power forward and then signed a 30 year old power forward.

    Also, the Kings only keep their pick if it’s #1 overall! This is the year you try to win!

    Off topic, but does anybody remember when Danny Ainge was a genius for drafting Jaylen Brown and Brad Stevens was a basketball wizard for turning him into a productive basketball player? Good times.

    I legit don’t remember that. I remember Ainge being praised for trading down from the #1 pick and still getting the best player of the top four picks, but not so much “He was a genius for picking Jaylen Brown.”

    That said, certainly people were much higher on Brown overall (and Ainge picking him) before this season, no doubt. But I think the “genius” stuff was mostly limited to the Nets trade and the Tatum deal.

    Now Stevens, on the other hand, yes, this season has definitely put a dent into his “can do no wrong” image so far.

    What’s up with Mudiay this season? Is this the Twilight Zone or some shit? Sheesh! Even with him getting zero assists against the Pels, he still played really well. Ah man..this sucks..I was one of the “geniuses” that wanted the Knicks to draft Mudiay over KP before being convinced otherwise a few days before the draft

    Oh God, here it comes..

    *don’t feel encouraged by Mudiay don’t feel encouraged by Mudiay don’t feel encouraged by Mudiay*

    This is hard…

    HEP ME PLEE!

    He better suck in today’s game, or I might end up sayin something stupid like “maybe Mudiay IS good…like fr fr”

    Trey? Ntilikina? Please hep mey! HEP ME PLEE!

    Shit..

    The best thing about Mudiay’s recent improvement is that Fizdale seems to have actually taught him to play a little defense. It’s nice to see.

    Totes, that’s a great post. All I can say is we all get irrational bursts of hope about the Knicks sometimes and Mudiay is now a Knick, so your feeling about him is just a normal Knick fan type of emotion.

    Jaylen Brown had to have been one of the top 5 most overrated guys coming into this season

    @10

    It’s the two typical syndromes, the 20 ppg syndrome and the playoff run syndrome. Brown got close to averaging these common sense benchmarks for superstardom last season and then all of a sudden casual fans and the media have decided he has superstar potential. He was decent last year, he shot well and played some good defense but nothing amazing, and this year he has been straight up unplayable garbage.

    Boston is what they were last year-a really good defense and basically one good offensive player. I know Marcus Morris has scored really well this year, but I’m not sure he’s really a 46% 3 point shooter.

    Sadly, they have some realistic offensive upside, so they’ll probably get better, and if guys keep not being able to shoot they have plenty of pieces to trade for someone who can. Still, it’s extremely enjoyable to watch people try to figure out what’s wrong with a team that had a lot of guys over achieving last year (especially in the playoffs).

    The Celtics are still trying to fit the pieces together and dust off the cobwebs.

    Hayward is coming off a devastating injury and is clearly rusty off a 1 year layoff.

    Tatum is still very good, but his stats from early last year were probably inflated by some random good shooting and the fact that he was getting easy shots. Now he’s on the scouting report. Still, he’s a terrific young player and he’s going to be a huge star.

    Jaylen Brown’s is fine. His shot will start dropping.

    Kyrie started a little rough off the injury but is hitting stride now.

    Last night’s game is totally irrelevant. They were coming off a back to back OT game against Toronto. It was a huge national TV statement game.

    The Celtics looked like the best team in the east coming into the season and they still look like it to me (though the D may not be as good as last year). Once they fit it all together they will rise to the top. Steven IS brilliant and so is Ainge.

    The biggest threat to the C’s is the 76ers. They have closed the gap and are 1 major piece & some depth away from being a great team.

    So let me get this straight. Jaylen Brown had 1341 minutes as a 20yo rookie and has a 54% TS, then 215 playoff minutes at a 54% TS, then as a 21yo sophomore he had 2152 minutes at a 56% TS, then 583 playoff minutes at a 56% TS. And now that we’re 436 minutes into a season where he has shot terribly, we’re calling 4200 minutes of decent shooting a mirage. I know the Celtic hatred runs deep around here, but don’t you think it’s a bit irrational to conclude that 23yo Brown is a bad shooter who was just on a lucky hot streak for his first 1500 shots and that these last 174 attempts are who he really is?

    Also, the Kings only keep their pick if it’s #1 overall! This is the year you try to win!

    They can’t keep their pick at all. If it’s #1 overall it just goes to the Sixers instead of the Celtics.

    Considering Pop’s age, I would take Stevens over any coach in the league. Anybody who doesn’t think he’s awesome is blinded by Celtics hatred.

    Whoa. How the hell are the Clippers 10-5 and tied for the #2 seed? And the 2nd-highest SRS in the West?

    I had no idea this was happening.

    BPM

    Harrell 7.6
    Boban 5.1
    Mike Scott (???????) 2.9
    Tobias Harris 2.6
    Gallo 2.6
    Gortat 2.4
    Beverley 2.1
    Teodosic 0.9
    SGA 0.7 (looking like a steal at 20 years old and nowhere to go but up, FML)

    Yeah, let’s not give Lou Williams any credit because he has a negative BPM.

    #bringbackPER

    yeah, and in my uneducated opinion HOU will also get it together. Ariza and Mbah’s departures are being overstated and they realized their mistake on Melo QUICK.

    Probably at least conference finals for both BOS and HOU (grrrr)

    ESPN is reporting that the Browns are interviewing Condoleeza Rice for their head coaching job.

    Damn, I thought Madeline Albright was the front runner.

    ESPN is reporting that the Browns are interviewing Condoleeza Rice for their head coaching job.

    Damn, I thought Madeline Albright was the front runner.

    She has actually said many times her dream job is to be Commissioner of the NFL and not President of the United States. A brilliant woman, the country could likely use more citizen/ politicians rather than politician/citizens.

    If she could run Stanford University academically as its provost and the US state department, I’m pretty sure she can run the Cleveland Browns.

    She’s probably the only Republican who is actually fit to be President (well maybe Mitch Daniels, too)

    Yeah, let’s not give Lou Williams any credit because he has a negative BPM.

    #bringbackPER

    lmao

    I have a better idea. Let’s admit the truth and go from there. Stats are the way, light and truth, but all these comprehensive boxscore ratings and on/off ratings are terrible. The numbers crunchers haven’t modeled the individual contributions of players well yet. It’s too damn complex and dependent on who else is on the court, role, system, coach etc..

    @14

    Nobody said he’s terrible or a bad shooter, people said that he’s overrated, and he certainly was coming into this season. He was ranked 37th in the league in the espn top player rankings for example, ahead of guys like DeRozan, Steven Adams, Mike Conley and Nikola Mirotic. Is he one of the 40 best players in the league? I really don’t think he is.

    Yeah, let’s not give Lou Williams any credit because he has a negative BPM.

    Sure, I’ll give Lou Williams credit for his games with an absurd 28 points on 13 shots and 10 FTA. I’ll also take credit away for shooting 3-16 with 6 FTA for 12 points, or 8-22 with 4 FTA for 20 points.

    Considering his reputation as a weak defender and his below league-average TS%, I think it’s safe to say that their success is more dependent on others’ outstanding play.

    But you’ll credit Beverley with his .079 WS48 and .471 TS%. You’ll credit Teodosic with his 73 mp and 23 total points. You’ll credit Marcin Gortat with his on/off per 100 possessions of fucking -11.6!!! But yeah, Lou Williams is a disposable afterthought.

    Mike Conley might be like the 12th best player in the league. Why are the Grizzlies good again???

    @26

    Reports of the death of Marc Gasol as a relevant player were greatly exaggerated. Garrett Temple and Shelvin Mack are shooting at very unsustainable high levels and JJJ looks like the real deal and a contributor already. I think they’ll fall back a bit and probably end up as a slightly below .500 team, but they’re not bad at all.

    @AndrewDBailey
    Best Trio: NEW YORK is +6.2 points per 100 possessions when Frank Ntilikina, Damyean Dotson and Mitchell Robinson are on the floor.

    Worst Trio: It’s -23.8 points per 100 possessions when Enes Kanter, Mario Hezonja and Allonzo Trier are on the floor.

    @21

    From my time living in Florida, I’d add Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist to that list. Even though I’m not a Republican, both were able to govern moderately inspire of the state’s ruby-red legislature.

    @AndrewDBailey
    Best Trio: NEW YORK is +6.2 points per 100 possessions when Frank Ntilikina, Damyean Dotson and Mitchell Robinson are on the floor.

    Worst Trio: It’s -23.8 points per 100 possessions when Enes Kanter, Mario Hezonja and Allonzo Trier are on the floor.

    I’d this surprising to anyone in this board at all? It’s like saying water’s wet, the sky is blue.

    I should add that I don’t think Frank had more than a 20% chance to turn into a real PG, Dotson has come back to earth with his shooting, and Mitch has no idea how to box out. But they still approximate two-way players. Bad ones, but compared to the no D team, not total nothings on one side of the ball.

    If you could add a great PG (not Kemba, smoldering season start notwithstanding) to those three and Vonleh/KP when he’s back you’d have a little core to build something upon.

    It’s a shame we don’t have a good PG since who remembers when. It’s more of a shame that I don’t have a clue about how to get one in the next 18 months.

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