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84 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.01.31)”
Going to the game and pretty excited about it. Might be the last chance I get to see LeBrawn in action live…
I’ve been thinkin about this Anunoby thing..
With the way the Wizards have been playing and considering the talent they have should sustain play good enough for that pick to convey this season, I’d see if the Raptors would take Obi, Cam, Deuce, the Wizards pick, and the Dallas pick for Anunoby. This gives them 3 young players who actually fit their system, and some cap relief. It also doesn’t cause them to not be able to make the playoffs this year- meaning it doesn’t make them worse. If Ujiri balks, you can talk me into pulling the Wizards pick and replacing it with our 1st.
But for this to work, Anunoby would have to see how he can be successful in his new role and embrace it. We all know a starting lineup of Mitch/Randle/Anunoby/Barrett/Brunson will not work in Thibs’ system. And we also know RJ’s not going to the bench. But..Anunoby at nearly 6’8″ 232 can play both forward spots off the bench, guard 2-4, and even play some SG if need be. What this does is give our best 7 players the bulk of the playing time in Mitch/Randle/RJ/Grimes/Brunson/Quickley/Anunoby, leaving guys like Hartenstein, Sims, Fournier, and Rose to fill in where it’s needed depending on the match-up. Those top 7 guys can all get starter type minutes, while the “big 3” can get rest and not play 38-40 minutes a night. Thibs doesn’t think Obi is good enough to give Randle a break? Fine. Slide Anunoby in his role. RJ needs a breather? Play Anunoby extended minutes and not have to worry. And Quickley is taking the minutes when either of Grimes and Brunson aren’t in the game.
Thoughts?
Have fun, Owen! Hope we get a much-needed W!
(BTW I wonder if Dolan is adding KB posters to the facial recognition list…be afraid…be very afraid…)
Totes, I don’t see Masai being much interested in any of those guys. He wants unprotected picks. My guess is that he feels that with enough stabs in the draft he can identify the guys he needs, and then trade for whatever he needs to round out his team.
I could see him being interested in one of our bigs…maybe IHart…but my guess is that Obi is not his cup of tea. Deuce and Cam are non-rotation guys. It would take a much better offer than that to pry OG loose, and he just might wind up keeping him.
In order for Masai to get what he wants there need to be other bidders. Word from Shams was the Suns were interested. Seems a bit duplicative with Mikal? Don’t know what they have to offer in terms of picks but Knicks seem like they have more.
Shams and other insiders have suggested there are a lot of teams monitoring this situation. It’s not like Donovan Mitchell, where there were basically 3-4 teams realistically in it. I imagine Masai is going to get close to what he wants. For us to be the team to give it to him, you have to believe that there is more to unlock within OG’s offensive game, and/or you have to believe that he is the missing piece to turn the rest of the core into a contender.
Meanwhile, this is much less exciting than JK’s latest musical opus, but I was on CNN this morning rambling on about weekly releases versus bingeing, and how great this week’s The Last of Us was:
https://twitter.com/CNNThisMorning/status/1620404451344269317
Alan, not sure I agree on the “missing piece” to a contender theory. He can be the next piece that gets us clearly into top 5-6 in the East territory and leave us with enough assets to have to be able to make a bigger splash no?
Masai also has bigger hands to play if he is going full tear down and plans to trade FVV and Siakam too.
Everything coming up KB!!
Also, spoiler warning for White Lotus on Alan’s clip (I already finished it so no worries)
Cgreene, it again depends on the cost. If Masai wants close to the Spida package, it leaves our cupboard pretty bare to bring in the next guy. So we’d better be damn sure that we can really make some noise with a whole bunch of Number 2s and no proper Number 1. Having a better offensive scheme might help in that regard. It made me cry a little watching that beautiful Nets ball movement compared to our reliance on (admittedly usually very effective) iso.
Gotta say….this OG situation is looking more and more dicey. GD Danny Ainge had to go and ruin the market for trades with his ridiculous hauls for Gobert (who isn’t even that good) and Mitchell. Now every GM is expecting a haul of picks. OG would be a great addition but he is not a star.
I don’t know. I think unless its just a few picks and one of our non essential young players, we need to walk away. We need to let the league know we’re not gonna get fleeced. Our team is relatively good and young and we got picks. We can get better with internal improvement. A really shrewd/team friendly free agent signing a la Alex Burks for the bench this off season would probably be the way to keep building this thing if a trade for a legit star is not in the cards right now.
I’d wait for the market to cool. OG is good but he’s not that good. 2 first round picks and you get CAM and either Obi, McBride or Hart.
The pro-OG argument would basically be that you still think you can get a star with your leftover picks & players.
I’d definitely have felt a lot different about the Donovan Mitchell trade if we had OG in place and knew there’d be the return of good Randle.
But I just don’t know if you have the superstar compensation if you make a move for OG. You potentially have 3 unprotected picks, NYK 2023 draftee, and swaps leftover. That should be competitive for any star. Kinda feels like putting the cart before the horse.
At the risk of setting E off, I’m going to say that the only trade that makes sense for Anonuby is one where the Knicks trade RJ Barrett for him and keep as much other stuff as they can. OG is better than Barrett and will help the Knicks more now and later. And they are similar enough that you don’t need them both.
I’m sort of with you Donnie. A starting lineup with both OG and RJ is clunky, especially if Mitch is your starting C. But I also am with E in that I think RJ has more upside at age 22 than OG has at age 25.
I like OG and all, but would never pay what Masai is going to want for him. Hopefully the FO will realize it’s a dumb idea and move on.
Yeah I would offer RJ for OG straight up. I mean, RJ has more upside, is 22, under contract for 3 more seasons and is FROM CANADA.
If you’re doing a tear down where you trade FVV and Siakam and OG, you could let RJ just be the main attraction for a season or two while you rebuild, then maybe flip RJ in a few seasons if he doesn’t level up to ALL STAR. But he’s young enough that if you get picks for those other dudes, you can build around him for a few seasons.
@Alan
Nice job on CNN!
You’re almost convincing me to give The Last Of Us a chance (I’m a bit tired about end of the world/survivalists/zombie series) even if the “best hour in television history” line had me cringing… come on social network people!
First things first… about yesterday, we won in 2 arenas, as Hawks and Raptors lost, although i’m not too worried about the Raps because they are far behind. We have now a breather on the Hawks. Wizards won, but they’re inconsistent and i don’t think they can keep up with us. Either way, i’m not looking back, i’m looking up. So tonight, if the Cavs host and win against the Heat, and we beat the Lakers, we’ll be again tied for 6th with the Heat. That’s what i’m rooting for. 🙂
I know the Spurs are tanking but the Wiz looked really good last night. As to inconsistent, they are 14-6 in their last 20 games and are finally at full health. Beal, KP and Kuz are a legit big 3 and Avdija has been coming on. Kispert too. They might make a legit run
I think OG is worth at most 2 late firsts (dallas and mil) and possibly IQ.. i go back and forth on including IQ in there… if you have all your picks + the may or may not convey picks… that could be enough for another deal for a star that wants to force their way here…. it’s not enough for a star that you have to bid on the open market for but i dont think we have enough as is to compete on that front with the likes of new orleans et al…
if we have eyes to actually contend you need a guy like OG because there’s nobody who you can rely on to guard the likes of harden.. tatum/brown…. middleton… he’s not perfect but i dont think nabbing him would preclude us from adding whoever would be the missing piece…
in fact in all likelihood one of brunson.. randle… mitch and possibly even OG himself would need to be dealt in order to bring that missing piece back…. for example if lillard was available we would absolutely include brunson in that deal and that would make up for a lot of the trade value in picks….
Teams are also supposedly monitoring Jeremi Grant now that he won’t sign an extension in Portland. I wonder if Rose sees him as an option?
I’m with you guys on OG. I’d like him, but he seems to get dinged up a bit. Swapping him for RJ makes sense for the Knicks.
RE Best “hour” in television history. Wow, lots of contenders for that. I’m still with Twin Peaks: The Return, episode 8. Way back when, the final episode of M*A*S*H was unforgettable, at least as a series wrap-up.
Congrats Alan, you were great on CNN. And the debate is certainly interesting, i’m more of binge watcher but i agree that having a week to talk about a episode is great, but for that to work the show has to be awesome. We don’t waste time talking about average shows, at least i don’t.
Have fun and bring the W, Owen! 😉
Also interesting that this Wiz win streak has coincided with Pordingus being injured…
The Last of Us is legitimately good… i hate the genre and i almost never invest into a show before its over but the start to this is as good as anything i’ve ever watched….
Full health is exactly their inconsistency. 😉
How about helping the Suns get OG by sending a first for Mikal? Who’s with me?
I’m with Twin Peaks too, but the very first episode of the original series. Maybe it caught me at the “right time”, but for me it’s the best ever.
“Also interesting that this Wiz win streak has coincided with Pordingus being injured…”
Porzingis has played in 3 of the 6 games in the winning streak and they are 8-5 in the last 13 games he played. Of course, they are 4-0 in the four games he recently missed, so there’s that. but on balance he’s been playing very well. Seems like he’s trying to become more of a passer and is developing some chemistry with Beal.
@Cyber: Are the Suns trying to sell Mikal? :-O
(Actually 13-7, I counted incorrectly)
My wife followed The Walking Dead all the way through…I gave up during season one. The whole love triangle thing just lost me. I struggled with all the internal self-imposed character drama, and from what I understand from others who stuck with it, that drove the show.
She’s now watching The Last of Us….I need to give it a chance.
After the Wiz beat us some people were upset. I said at the time they are better than they look. They’ve had injuries all year. When healthy they are pretty good. They lack some depth and defensive help (3&D type), but they are good.
Cyber, yeah, TP’s first episode was pretty good. I also like Deadwood’s first ep (but I love that entire series) for setting the whole thing up.
Another really great first ep. was Firefly’s. That remains my favorite pilot episode of any tv show. Of course, Fox didn’t like it and pulled the plug on the series after just 1/2 season…
“Seems like he’s trying to become more of a passer and is developing some chemistry with Beal.”
That started late last year for the Wiz. The Wizards actually give him the ball and run some plays through him. In Dallas Doncic always has the ball and actually used to look KP off.
I think RJ will wind up the better overall offensive player than OGA, but the reason we would even consider trading him is his defense. IMO, we need RJ to do LESS on offense and improve his consistency, efficiency, and DEFENSE. RJ is 3rd option. OGA can give us what we need on offense as 3rd option.
I wasn’t happy after the loss with the Wizards,
but it wasn’t because they were the Wizards (a team that I respect, Beal is a star, KP’s a good player when healthy and Kuzma’s a better player than he’s credited for), but because we never lead, it was a wire to wire loss, at home, against a team in “our tier”.
And we weren’t ready from tip-off, just one of our worst performaces of the year.
The Wizards at full strenght are a sneaky dangerous team that needs a better PG to become a real pain in the ass…
What’s weird about Kuzma is that he had the patina of a knockdown 3-pt shooter but is essentially Julius Randle from out there. He also doesn’t rebound or go to the line very much for a 6’10” guy who doesn’t stretch the floor. It’s hard to believe that he has never posted a TS% higher than this year’s .551! He definitely can be a very imposing offensive player when he has it going, but the inefficiency is something that make me not interested in him as a trade target.
RE: The Last Of Us
I haven’t started watching it yet, and even though I’m an Xbox guy- I have played some of and watched the entire game walkthroughs of both games. So I know that is A+++ storytelling for that genre. Admittedly, end of the world/Zombie stories are kinda tiring given the sheer amount of those stories- but The Last Of Us is a gripping one. So I HOPE they made good on the adaptation. It be hard to and embarrassing to fuck that story up. But..I’ve heard nothing but good reviews of the show, so I guess I’ll see once they have maybe a half a season in the books
I don’t think they are, i was just answering to cgreene about them wanting OG, and Mikal being duplicative. Maybe they think OG is an upgrade over Mikal? If that’s the case they can offer Mikal to lower the price, but the Raptors seem to prefer picks, that’s where the Knicks can enter the deal. Just me thinking, not real rumors. 😉
I see Rhea Seehorn follows Alan so that instantly makes him the coolest guy on the board.
I wonder if Zach Edey can get in good enough shape to be an NBA rotation player. The game is probably too fast for him, but he’s huge and has some interior moves. Lots of mocks have him going undrafted. He’s averaging 28 points, 16.4 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per 40, shoots 73% from the line, Has an insane OReb% of 21.4 and has a .642 TS% on 33% usage.
I would definitely use a second rounder on him.
Here’s a highlight reel from a recent game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOep7GmhzY
And a synopsis of his recent run at NCAA PoTY:
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/purdue-monster-zach-edey-is-so-good-hes-already-a-virtual-lock-to-be-national-player-of-the-year/
Quotes from the article:
“We couldn’t cover him,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said. “He’s bigger than any player I’ve ever coached against, he’s more skilled with his hands than any player I’ve coached against….When, at the end of the day, you can stop anywhere this side of the equator and throw the ball in the air and this monster’s going to go get it, it makes it a little easier.”
“Edey is pacing toward a season with at least 775 points, 453 rebounds and 77 blocked shots. Sports Reference’s database only brings up one player to clear those benchmarks in a single season: David Robinson in 1986-87.”
I still say it’s JK by a mile. But Rhea was the last person I interviewed in person for over a year. We talked on March 12, 2020, at a Peet’s Coffee in LA.
I’ve seen The Last of Us.
I haven’t yet officially seen the 2-3 combination of OG Anunoby and Quentin Grimes, but I’m quite confident that it comparatively pales in both conception and execution with TLoU.
How do we feel about Gary Trent Jr? I think he has room to improve and would be a good fit with Thibs. And he’d be cheaper than OG.
“How do we feel about Gary Trent Jr? I think he has room to improve and would be a good fit with Thibs. And he’d be cheaper than OG.”
I don’t have a problem with him, but I think we need some length at the SF position and not another guy that size. Too bad we don’t have any young players on the roster with that size and length to develop. Uggh
OG wants a bigger role offensively so swapping him for RJ is the only way that makes sense. I dont think there are many teams that would take RJ so we would have to attach some unprotected picks.
The Edey video is impressive. He’s like a throwback in that he actually posts up and he also shoots hook shots. I don’t know why he’s projected to go in the second round or even not get drafted, but I suspect it may be that teams don’t know what to do with him on defense and also aren’t enamored of his style of play. He’s definitely not a modern style center.
Gary Trent Jr. seems to be strictly a gunner from 3. I’d rather not expend assets on him in the hope that he rounds out his game when I could just keep developing Grimes and hope his 3 becomes more consistent.
Strat, I love Gary Trent Jr, but note that he’s the exact same size as Grimes. And two years older. I’d argue he’s better, but one would like to think Grimes will develop into what Trent is now. So unless you’re trading Grimes for something else, he’s redundant.
If we are scouring the carcass of the Raptors, just take Siakam for the unprotected pick and forget about those other guys.
Gary Trent makes sense if want to bolster our bench offense since its horrible at the moment.
I’ll throw this one out for informational purposes only …. the “four paths” Athletic story that had OG going to the Knicks (*) in the “blow it up” path had Siakam going to the Suns for Ayton, Torry Craig, 23, 25, and 27 1s a right to swap 26s (all draft picks Suns direct owned.)
Without commenting on this story in particular, if the Raps are actually in blow it up mode, the right move is to go get Siakam. Always better to get the real star than the role player.
(*) For Quickley, Rose, 23 NYK, 23 DAL, 25 NYK.
Hard to understand what’s going on w the Raptors. Their starting 5 is really good. Could be argued better than the Knicks. Weird situation. Any ideas?
Edey is sort of comparable to Boban in size. He seems more naturally “big” rather than a hormonal/genetic anomaly, and his movements look more fluid. I like the way he establishes position and sets screens…he has a great base and just can’t be undermined like the high center-of-gravity guys (e.g. KP.) He’s still very heavy-footed and I don’t know how much he can improve that so that he doesn’t get pigeonholed into a Boban-type fringe/niche role.
But that’s what second-round picks are for…rolling the dice on a guy who is wrecking college basketball. Maybe the marginal difference in mobility/athleticism vs. Boban makes Edey a small lineup killer…
I thought this week’s ep of The Last of Us was excellent. Nick Offerman in a new type of role was fantastic. Lady and I are not zombie people but so far so good.
Congrats, Alan on all your success.
With the Raps, there’s some overlap with OG and Barnes, they’re underachieving a bit, and Ujiri is testing whether the trade market is still as robust as it was last summer when Gobert and Mitchell went for big packages. Plus OG has been making noise about getting out.(*)
I don’t think he’ll blow it up unless he can get a massive haul along the outlines sketched out in the Athletic story.
(*) And having a bigger role. From my vantage point, he’s free to get that bigger role somewhere other than in New York. I see little evidence he’ll do anything productive with it. His TS is already low even at the baseline 1/5 usage at which he’s operating. Nothing in the eye test shows an offensive game that’s ready for more. Don’t see it at all.
Color me intrigued by Edey. Love a big man and they don’t come bigger than this guy. Stats are ridiculous.
Siakam is not a #1 or a “true” star, so no way I’d empty the cupboard for him. He’s a similar player to Randle, with some defensive advantages but an overrated offensive game. He is playing right to his career .567 TS%, has never had a BPM of over 3.5. And he’s getting paid over $10M per year more than Randle and expires after next year.
I’m not sure Masai takes that offer anyway, and if he did, that would in and of itself be telling.
Hard pass.
Owen, Re: Edey, there was a lot of skepticism last year about whether Walker Kessler’s game would translate…how’s that looking right now?
To be fair, Kessler moves significantly better than Edey, but Edey is so much bigger and stronger it might make up for it.
i dont think the raps are truly interested in blowing it up…. OG has a player option after next season and most certainly going to exercise which will make him relatively expensive which is spurring all of this trade talk around him….
the raps are not doing well but they’re also not hopeless.. they’ve been experimenting with 4 wings and a pg and that part hasn’t gone well this season even tho the components look ok…
so i highly doubt they it tear it down unless they get a motherlode offer for siakam which i doubt anyone is willing to give a mitchell package for him….
Shades of Big Country. He makes the other kids look like toddlers.
Not sure how well it will translate but definitely worth a second rounder.
“cgreene says:
January 31, 2023 at 13:40
Hard to understand what’s going on w the Raptors. Their starting 5 is really good. Could be argued better than the Knicks. Weird situation. Any ideas?”
It’s a great question, cgreene. I alluded to one of the problems above: Siakam is supposedly their best player but he’s really not all that good. Another is that they don’t shoot well…except against us! Another is that they lack size…they are the worst defensive rebounding team in the league. Another is that they don’t defend as well as one would think…they are 29th in opponent’s eFG%. Ujiri has decided to target long, switchable wings, which is great in theory but it seems to make for a weirdly inefficient mix. They seem to hang their hats on winning the turnover battle, but that only gets you so far if you play teams that take care of the ball and shoot well.
I like Edey too..but you’d have to develop him in the G-League until he’s passable on defense, and probably ask him to drop 10-15 pounds. If you’re gonna ask him to move better in order to keep up in the NBA, then carrying 300 lbs on a 7’4″ frame will break him. But…he’s dope. He’s actually great at using that size to his advantage- something a guy like Tacko Fall was never able to do in college. So the game and the hoop IQ is there for sure
Owen, it’s awesome that you brought up Bryant “Big Country” Reeves. He was 7’0″, which in the early 1990’s was not particularly tall for a typical NBA C, and got the name mostly for being, shall we say, not svelte? He was drafted #6 overall and made $55M in career earnings for 6 years of suck…a huge sum at the time.
Edey would have made a fortune back then.
I would absolutely use a 2nd rounder on Edey. He’s a little more mobile than the Bobans and Tackos of the world and IIRC he started playing basketball pretty late so there could be further skill development. He’s now playing 30+ MPG and there hasn’t been a dent in his per-minute numbers, so there doesn’t seem to be a stamina issue. Highly doubt he’s ever more than a disruptor off the bench but that’s a hell of a look to throw at a team for 10 minutes.
Re: OG, it’s the boring unfalsifiable answer but it really just does come down to the price. I would draw the line at two legit firsts (insist on top-1 protection for 2023) and filler, which is a lot but also doesn’t materially impair our ability to make a motherlode type offer if/when a star shakes loose.
If that doesn’t get it done I wouldn’t negotiate at all, but it’s possible Masai wants to take the best offer before his back is truly up against the wall next year.
for a guy edey’s size he does not block nearly enough shots… the bar is usually 4.. or at least 3 blocks per 40 to have any chance as a true center barring other skills… and when you’re that tall that’s the only shot… given his age as well i don’t think he will be drafted….
big college dudes who post up is basically a meme…. they are super common in divison I cause bullying rail thin players with old man ball skills is as reliable a thing under pro ball as there comes… but then they face real comp and eventually they’re selling you insurance or terrorizing your local Y… this guy is a mile behind even tacko fall’s level and tacko fall is in china…
Siakam isn’t up there with the truly elite players, but he’s pretty darn good. He is a lot like Randle both in skill set and in that he can be maddeningly inconsistent; however, Siakam is not even close to as inconsistent as Randle, who might be the most inconsistent player to have ever impacted the league. Plus, unlike Randle, Siakam has played in a lot of playoff games, and averaged 40 mpg in the Finals for a championship winning team.
I would sell the farm for Siakam, but if you guys are talking about throwing picks at Masai for OG Anonuby and Siakam is also available, throwing in a few more picks for the much better player may be worth it.
Z Man – those stats do tell the Raps’ story a bit better. Bad rebounding and bad defensive eFG is not gonna win a lot of NBA games.
While we are at it why don’t we just shoot our whole load and go for OG and Siakam! Try to find a market inefficiency in running out a no start / 3 all star / massive depth team.
Ps: when I raised the idea of Siakam and playing him at the 3 a few weeks everyone said he can’t play the 3. Why not?? JB, Grimes/IQ, Siakam, Randle, Mitch?
DJphan, I’m not sure I buy that about the blocks. Yao Ming blocked about 2 shots per 36 minutes and Edey has more than that. Of course Edey’s stats are from college, where maybe it’s much easier to block people. But still, he’s obviously capable of blocking some shots.
“Siakam isn’t up there with the truly elite players, but he’s pretty darn good. He is a lot like Randle both in skill set and in that he can be maddeningly inconsistent; however, Siakam is not even close to as inconsistent as Randle, who might be the most inconsistent player to have ever impacted the league. Plus, unlike Randle, Siakam has played in a lot of playoff games, and averaged 40 mpg in the Finals for a championship winning team.”
Siakam did all that, but at the time it was more of a shock because no one expected him to play as well as he did that year. But if you look at his numbers, what really stands out?
Points per 36? Nope.
TS%? Nope.
USG%? Nope.
Rebounding? Nope.
Blocks? Maybe for his size, but not really.
3pt%? Nope.
2pt%? Nope.
WS48? Nope.
BPM? Nope.
He’s consistently good to very good at a lot of things but never has scored either in volume or efficiently other than the .628 TS% he put up during that magical 2019-20 season. And he’s almost 29 and making a near-max salary. And his teams haven’t done much since Kawhi, including this year where it can be argued that he has a better supporting cast than Randle.
He’s not as good by the numbers as this year’s Randle and gets paid a lot more. And he overlaps with Randle.
If we were going to throw a bunch of picks at him, we should have just done it for Spida, who is a much, much better fit with what we have. Siakam makes no sense at all with our team given the cost.
“Ps: when I raised the idea of Siakam and playing him at the 3 a few weeks everyone said he can’t play the 3. Why not?? JB, Grimes/IQ, Siakam, Randle, Mitch?”
Siakam probably could play the 3. But all he does is give us another #2. We need a #1 and if Randle, Mitch and Brunson are around, that has to be either a SG of SF.
I’d rather take a chance that someone like Kawhi (if he gets healthy) or PG13 shakes loose. Some of those WC pretenders are gonna blow it up sooner or later.
That is all strangely true, Z-Man.
But if you look at the 2020 Raptors team (the year after Kawhi left them), that team went 53-19. Yet, as you say, nothing jumps off the page as particularly impressive from anybody on that team. So there maybe a Nick Nurse reverse bump going on? OG seems to have his all-in-1 metrics depressed vs his actual on-court contributions. Siakam, too, when he’s on his game, can be as dominant as anyone. Hmm.
Yeah, I think djphan is talking college and it’s pretty common to see those guys put up 4+ blocks per 40.
To put it in perspective, Walker Kessler put up 7 blocks on top of 1.7 steals per 40.
He does remind me a lot of Yao though. It’s the little flip shot thar does it for me on top of the size.
The Raptors need a C. Precious Achiuwa doesn’t get it done and Christian Koloko hasn’t turned into Mitchell Robinson yet. If they had a legit C they’d probably lower their opponent fg% considerably. Their half court offense is also garbage.
They could use good Hartenstein pretty badly.
DW don’t get me wrong, I think Siakam is really good, and probably better than some of his numbers suggest. I also think that he would be very valuable on a team that has a star or two already. For example, he’d be an amazing replacement for Al Horford, or Ben Simmons, or Tobias Harris…
He just doesn’t make sense next to Randle and Mitch unless you still have all the draft picks/good young players you gave up for him to fill in the blank at the 2 with a Spida or Brown or Lillard or someone like that…
Edey’s team is #1 in the country and surging, and the main reason for it is Edey. I don’t think chasing blocks is necessary being that he’s collecting rebounds at an astonishing rate.
Begley says we’ve acquired about Saddiq Bey. Is he more of a 3 or a 4 these days? He would theoretically fill our need for a combo forward, but I haven’t really looked at his stats. Would definitely eat into Obi’s time, assuming Obi doesn’t go out in that deal.
I think he’s a 3. I kind of like Saddiq, but Leon is trying to drive JK mad – Saddiq’s eFG+ is 89 !!!
I like Bey if the cost is low. He’s more of a 3 in my view, might still have some upside. He also has the Villanova connection with Brunson.
This is probably very obvious, but from a defensive POV, we could sign a clone of Clyde or Gary “the glove” Payton, but if Coach wants to funnel instead of really committing to defending the three, it really will not matter. On the other hand, if this isn’t the coach’s strategy, then our players aren’t up to the task of closing out and perhaps an OG type would help. It is also possible that because the latter is true, that drives the coach’s strategy. For me, the lack of close out has resulted in a three point free for all that is very frustrating and hard to watch.
Took a quick peak at Bey’s stats. Hard pass.