[CBS Sports] – Tue, 23 Jul 2024 16:52:00 GMT
NBA offseason grades for Eastern Conference teams: 76ers, Knicks chase Celtics, Heat disappoint with ‘D’
[The New York Times] – Tue, 23 Jul 2024 09:09:50 GMT
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126 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.07.24)”
While the slow days of the NBA are in full swing a couple of OAKAAK make news in eurobasketball today.
Iggy Brazdeikis (who, in a sense was once traded for Scott Perry* š ) goes back home to Zalgiris Kaunas.
https://x.com/bczalgiris/status/1816005431569105019
Former Westchester’s standout and flash in the pan stretch-4 Luka Samanic is in serious talks with Baskonia Vitoria
https://x.com/TelesportRS/status/1815839990535885207
In other news, anchovies are good and a perfect pizza topping, while durian should be banned.
* NBA trades are a blast:
July 14, 2017: Traded by the New York Knicks (as a future 2019 2nd round draft pick) with cash to the Sacramento Kings for Scott Perry.
June 20, 2019: Drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the 2nd round (47th pick) of the 2019 NBA Draft.
June 21, 2019: Traded by the Sacramento Kings to the New York Knicks for Kyle Guy and cash. $1MM
Rokas officially signed in Tel Aviv.
Woj: āIndiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard has agreed on a three-year, $59 million contract extension, Todd Ramasar and Jaafar Choufani of @lifesportsagency tell ESPN. Deal is maximum allowable over that term for one of the breakout players of the 2024 NBA playoffs.ā
I went through every team’s roster on spotrac.com and came away feeling that nearly every team had a very thin C rotation. It did not seem that there were many teams who could actually spare a C in a trade or who were likely to waive one worth considering any time soon.
The team that stood out the most is Portland. They have Ayton, Clingan, RWIII, and Reath. It would seem like they are anxious to salary dump either RWIII or Ayton.
The Hawks have 4 guys listed as C’s (Capela, Okongwu, Zeller, Fernando) and a couple of other bigs that could play C (Nance Jr., Gueye)
The Celts have KP, Horford, Kornet, and Queta, plus Tillman.
The Spurs have Wemby, Zach, Bassey, and Mamu
The Wiz have Holmes, Bagley, JV, and Sarr
It appears as if there are pretty slim pickings out there, so we better not do anything that loses Precious without a replacement.
I, too, hope that whatever that weird salary cap stuff going on in the background with Precious will be resolved satisfactorily either with Precious being re-signed, grabbing another cromulent center who can start if need be (because Mitch), trading for such a center while only giving up draft picks, or deciding that Skap and/or Huk are the guys.
Durian is a delicious dirty slut of a fruit. Iāve never had it on pizza but on the right dough that could be delicious.
Iām not opposed to pineapple on pizza so long as the fruit is considered strictly as a partner to the ham it joins. My local pizzaiolo uses the pineapple to cut a rather rich pie and itās fucking lovely (Tomato, Mozzarella, Provolone, Speck, Pineapple, Silk Chili, Pecorino Romano, Basil).
Shrimp and lobsters and crabs look like murder.
If we lose precious for some stupid reason it would be a bad mistake.
Hollinger’s piece in The Athletic about teams’ salary machinations to avoid the first and second aprons is head spinning, but also really makes me appreciate the myriad of moves the Knicks front office made in the Bridges deal to avoid said aprons.
In Aller we trust!
I would be stoked if we somehow came out of this with either Duren or Kessler. Not gonna happen though.
Should we have any interest in a Randle for Ayton transaction?(assuming it is even possible without including goodies like Deuce or Kolek)
I would think that Mikal would have some insight into Ayton…
Z-Man, Portland would have to be sending us a lot of stuff in addition to Ayton for our FO to even consider such a thing. Randle is a substantially better player. Substantially.
As Katz has said repeatedly āĀ including on a terrific Lowe Post appearance yesterday that I’d recommend āĀ there is zero chance that Leon Rose would trade Randle in any kind of transaction that would make the team at this moment even one iota worse.
Alan, I understand all that, and to be clear, I’m not advocating for this trade at all, just spitballing possibilities.
The question about Randle is: how important is he to us post-PG and Mikal, compared to a quality pure C with considerable offensive skill but with limited rim protection…especially considering that Randle is extension-eligible and that his mercurial game and temperment might not mesh well with the Nova vibe? Would such a trade actually make us “even one iota worse” if you get enough offensive punch off ball from Ayton and a solid player at a position of dire need to offset anything that Randle brings that is non-redundant?
f the trade could include a couple of unprotected picks in the years that we now have no picks, even in exchange for sending out either protected picks or seconds if necessary, wouldn’t that reset the Stepien restrictions a bit for other transactions?
I think I mostly agree with what Z-man just said, absent the typos. š
Again, we went on our post-season run *without* Julius. He’s a really, really good player to be sure, but we’ve actually shown that we don’t need him, and that was before we even got Mikal (good point about Mikal having some inside intel re: Ayton). I don’t think that Ayton is a perfect get, but he’d be a good one. Just have to make sure that Thibs would be willing to play him regardless of his defensive liabilities. Duren sounds good to me, too. I really like Kessler, but I don’t want to pay an “Ainge premium” in order to acquire him.
if i had to name three players in the nba whose numbers most overstate their contributions to winning basketball games ayton would be one of them. strongest possible no on ayton in almost any context.
I did some research on Ayton, and he really has HUGE character/work ethic/motor/b-ball IQ question marks. Here’s a pretty telling video that lays out how promising he was up until he got demolished in the finals by Giannis, and how bad he has been since. After watching this, I would be utterly shocked and appalled if the Knicks made any move for him. But on paper, there is some logic to it…especially if one is not a fan of Julius.
Our run ended when Brunson broke down after carrying an insane load for multiple consecutive months. I’m not sure how we’re expecting him do that for a whole year. Mikal Bridges is not the answer.
Was about to write something akin to EB’s post. We got to within a hair of the EC Finals without Julius. We can continue to be a decent playoff team without Julius, assuming everyone else continues their heroics.
With Julius we’re a real contender for a chip.
Another way to think about it is we had an amazing run deep into the playoffs, and then we added a two-time All-NBA power forward and one of the better two-way wings to the team.
So I do wish we’d stop the “what about this” pu-pu chatter about a ‘good’ trade involving Randle. As ptmilo said, there’s nothing out there that’d make us better, and in fact they’d all make us worse.
I like the idea of a list for guys like Ayton whose stats overstate their contribution. I feel like Gafford is probably up there although he doesn’t have the pedigree or salary of Ayton.
I find it interesting that so few teams used the MLE (taxpayer or otherwise) so far this summer. Seems like a potential salary squeeze is coming to the guys who fill out rotations thanks to the aprons.
It we brought in Ayton, either he or Thibs would be dead within a year. Strong No.
I’m not comfortable with our center situation, but there aren’t a lot of good options. Ainge re-signs Markannen, no dominos fall, we sign Precious and hope for the best with Mitch’s health. Not ideal, but I can’t come up with anything better. Certainly, trading Randle for a backup C isn’t the play.
Itās an overstatement that our need for a center is ādire.ā Mildly pressing? Worrisome? We have a starting center whoās actually good at it. We have a break glass guy who can and has held the line (ish). There may not be a good move for Randle anytime soon. Heās actually quite good.
We’re good enough with our current center situation to win 50+ games and make it to the second round, so in one sense it isn’t dire at all.
I would describe it more as our Achilles’ Heel.
With the Randle talk, IF they are open to moving him, shouldn’t the Knicks be targeting younger, improving players not quite on Randle’s production level with the possibility of being equal or better, rather than multiple back ups or “head cases”? From a low mezzanine team who is looking to move up the standings.
Jalen Johnson?
Ayton is the kind of guy Isiah Thomas would’ve moved heaven and earth to bring in. In other words we shouldn’t trade Julius Randle, or anyone or anything else, for him.
I’m not opposed to a Randle trade, but if you’re not replacing his shot creation in the same trade you’re creating a massive hole and I’m doubtful you’re filling a more pressing one.
Basically, Randle is our incumbent second shot-creator and should remain in that role unless/until we can find someone better at it.
I think our situation is much improved from this past season’s playoffs. We have subtracted I Hart yet added Bridges, Randle and a better 12 minute back-up point in Payne. Everyone else is in mid prime or better for the next 4 or so years.
Mitch being out would be a bleepin disaster. Back up 5 is a huge problem with MR’s history. Knicks could get away with 18 minutes of Precious/Simms and a pastiche of small ball line ups…. but not 48 minutes.
I dunno. Regular season wise, I think we steamroll with this team. I donāt think youāre asking Mitch nearly as much as any other year heās played on this team. Come playoffs, we need a strong af backup, but perhaps a long game on Mitchās minutes provides a healthy rested big man when it counts.
“Knicks could get away with 18 minutes of Precious/Simms and a pastiche of small ball line upsā¦. but not 48 minutes.”
Except for we haven’t re-signed Precious and there is no player with the last name of “Simms” on our roster. So that won’t cut it. LOL
Just to be obstreperous, I did a quick dive into the “Mitch is injury prone” narrative. He got a concussion his rookie season, which shit happens. He broke his hand on Randle, which whoops, and later on broke his foot, which isn’t great but it seemed to heal up.
He then fucked up his ankle, and came back a bit too soon and got a stress injury on it that took him out for the rest of the playoffs.
I’m probably missing some stuff but that’s all I found. The last one is the only one that to me has ‘worry’ written on it, as seven footers with questionable ankles is not a good thing.
So it feels like “injury prone” is not really the right story line. A fair amount of time missed, but most of them are fluky injuries. I think it is perfectly legitimate to be (very) concerned about that ankle giving him trouble going forward. And yeah maybe he’ll break his hand on Randle again. Or not.
I’m probably missing some stuff, so feel free to pile on.
“Ayton is the kind of guy Isiah Thomas wouldāve moved heaven and earth to bring in. In other words we shouldnāt trade Julius Randle, or anyone or anything else, for him.”
Even if true, the nature of the trade would be different if you actually received 2 or 3 unprotected firsts back. Ayton’s contract also becomes a huge expiring next year. Compound that with Julius being extension-eligible with a player option, i.e. the risk of either overpaying him or losing him for nothing, and the fact that we have Mitchell “glass jaw” Robinson as our projected starter with replacement-level players as backups, and it is not quite so simple. You would immediately have a big salary and unprotected picks that you can use in a trade starting in December.
And on the off chance that Ayton is, you know, actually good in a secondary role at your position of greatest need…great! I mean, two years ago some here were convinced that Randle was the most detrimental to winning player in the NBA and should be salary dumped at the first opportunity!
If, if, if enough assets are coming back, I really don’t see any parallel between that kind of trade and an Isiah-level trade.
More generally, it seems like this team’s ceiling is roughly equivalent to Julius Randle’s performance. Is everyone comfortable enough with that to lock him up long term on a near-max deal after a non-championship season, or to risk losing him for nothing before we have any assets to package with him in a trade?
I’m taking a wild guess they aren’t going to the season with Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmssssssssssssssss as the back-up.
With a possible generational player available in this coming draft, do you believe that Portland is packaging multiple unprotected #1’s? Honestly?
Raven, I get what you’re saying and agree that the main concern is with Mitch’s ankles/feet. Anyone can break a hand or pull a hammy, but lower extremity issues in bigs who rely on athleticism are scary. And the fact that Mitch required an additional procedure is very unsettling…is the problem fixed or does it suggest a chronic problem? You won’t really know until he plays dozens of games with no symptoms, and maybe not even then.
When the drop-off is from all-Defense level to replacement level, it’s very concerning. Nothing will change that in my mind until we either have a starter-quality backup or he plays enough games without a problem to not worry about it any more.
“With a possible generational player available in this coming draft, do you believe that Portland is packaging multiple unprotected #1ās? Honestly?”
The question isn’t whether they would do it or not. The question is whether WE should do it if they WOULD make that deal. I’m sensing some hard NOs on that. I am a soft NO but would definitely look very carefully at it.
I didn’t realize we were talking about an obviously ridiculous scenario wherein the Blazers, coming off a 21 win season, make a win-now trade and the Knicks, who just traded 5 first rounders and have the 3rd highest Vegas O/U in the NBA, willingly get worse.
Can we talk about Kadeem Allen instead?
I agree that weāre a better team now than we were in the playoffs.
I think the issue is that for some of us (me, in particular) the January Knicks are actually the benchmark. That was a team that could win a championship. This is a team that will compete for one but probably fall short because it doesnāt have a better center.
In the last four years he has missed 41, 19, 21 and 51 games…. It would be prudent to have a back up capable of playing starter’s like minutes
Remember when the January Knicks beat the Nuggest with Simmmmzsz as the starter (25 min) and the one sneeze to rule them all as his backup?
This could be said for 28.5 of the 30 teams (not center specifically, but short a good back up at one position.)…. so I’m pretty comfortable with this. Yeah… it would be nice if Walt Bellamy was backing up Wills, but alas…..
TNFH, I agree that Portland probably wouldn’t do it, but if they did, it would be a salary dump. They would be getting at worst an expiring contract, and at best an asset they could either trade before the deadline to get picks back or sign and trade to a cap-restricted team in the offseason.
But as I pointed out, the question isn’t whether they will or not, it’s whether the Knicks would or not. And the larger question is about Randle, and how his status as a virtual expiring impacts decision-making, specifically as it pertains to our current hole at backup C.
Also, losing iHart is not just about getting a decent backup C. Hartenstein was actually a significantly better starter than even a healthy Mitch. Last I checked, Mitch was a risk to have on floor down the stretch in close games due to his FT shooting. IMO we actually need a starter, not a backup…but we are settling because we don’t have a choice but to start Mitch.
Thibs got his contract extension. Three more years after this upcoming one: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40632212/sources-knicks-coach-tom-thibodeau-reach-3-year-extension
well deserved. Should be interesting to see how much he’s getting
I guess the big question is how much you trust Mitch to be healthy at the start of and then stay healthy for the 16-28 games necessary to win a championship?
The other issue is that Thibs’ scheme relies heavily on Cs who play excellent drop defense, I’m not sure how it looks with Precious and Sims there full-time.
‘This is a team that will compete for one but probably fall short because it doesnāt have a better center.’
Definitely true if Mitch goes down. Not necessarily true if he doesn’t. I can see a world where Randle (and to a lesser extent and in a different way Mikal) step in to replace iHart’s playmaking, and Randle makes up much of the rebounding (with Mitch actually doing most of the work).
End of game foul shooting is a biggie, I’ll give you that. Maybe you just go small the last five minutes when it’s close (and Mitch probably shouldn’t see the court the last five minutes if it’s not close, anyway). Y’all want to see small-ball Knicks anyway…
I maintain that Sims is an excellent 1-on-1 defender against Cs, which works great in matchups against Houston, Denver, Philly, and Sacramento. He sucks at PnR defense and most other types of defense, which means we struggle against the other 26 teams in the league (maybe 25 because it basically doesn’t matter what you do against Indy on defense).
We may need to adjust to a switch heavy scheme midway through the year once Mitch goes down, which should play to Precious and Sims’ strengths. Not sure how that will go.
By the standard of the January Knicks, weāre not just short a good backup, though. We literally have the same exact backup centers as that team.
The difference between this side and that one is our starting center. If we ever want to be that team again, we need to acquire one of the best starting centers in basketball.
I’ll also argue that Thibs’ scheme prefers a strong rebounder at the 4, moving Randle and relying on OG limits how aggressively our Cs can contest shots. When Mitch slides over to challenge, Randle swoops in and cleans up the miss.
This is like saying you can replace Porzingis with Tillman bc Tatum & Brown can shoot and pass.
The issue is spacing.
Yes, both Randle and Bridges can do what Hartenstein did better than Hartenstein can.
The problem is that when they do it, theyāre not dragging the other teamās best rim protector away from the basket. Thatās why Brunson had the astonishing 1.25 PPP on Hartenstein screens.
As long as Mitch is on the court, either the rim will be protected or Brunson will be getting blitzed. That changes everything.
Now we might be able to make up for it in other ways (our defense is going to be sick with Mitch, Mikal & OG). But for those of us who see January as the platonic ideal of this team, we donāt just need a backup C.
I thought we answered that question down the stretch of the season and into the playoffs.
Right now Randle is our 2nd option. We couldn’t count on a full season of what Brunson was doing in the playoffs to make up for the lost usage, but with the addition of Mikal, a lineup of Brunson + Mikal + OG + DDV could be enough, especially if we get a C out of it that can do more than dunk.
The most sensibile thing to do is what I’ve been advocating and what I think they will ultimately do. They are going to take a look at the Mitch, OG, Mikal, DDV, Brunson lineup and see if it can hold it’s own on offense. Then they will make a decision on Randle at the deadline.
That changes if the C they get back is a clear cut very good starter.
In the mean time, they may still make a move for a backup C better than Precious, Simms and our summer league Cs.
Ayton is one of those guys that when you look at the package you say, “man, this kid could be really good”. Then you watch him play and the impact he’s having and you aren’t even sure he’s a good starter at this stage.
KP is the least of our worries. He doesn’t exactly have a record of robustly finishing regular seasons and although he was handled as wrapped in bubble wrap this season, he was nowhere to be found for the bulk of the playoffs. Horford turns 40 , so I’m not too concerned about them over the long haul at the C position. It’s the other 4 guys I loose sleep over….
I want nothing to do with Ayton but I will say this about our front office: if they make an Ayton trade I’ll trust them on it.
If Isiah made that trade I would think like Noble. If Rose makes that trade, I’ll just assume there’s more to this guy than we know.
I can do this until the start of the season.
Payne may have better PG skills than Deuce (who has almost none), but imo Deuce is a better overall player. It’s not ideal, but I’d rather use one of either Brunson or Randle with the 2nd unit and keep Deuce on the floor if TKO is not the backup PG. The you have something like Sims/Precious/?, Randle/Brunson, J-Hart, DDV, Deuce. Payne should be 3rd string no matter what. I’m praying TKO just wins the job, but we can do better than playing Payne. Payne is a negative player.
Maybe Mikal is enough, but most of these guys score off the work of other players. The % of FGs Ast’d is fairly high for most of these players, which means someone else is doing the work of getting them shots, that’s Mikal and Brunson acting as workhorses (though Donte’s numbers may be misleading depending on how many screens he’s coming off to score 3s).
Maybe Mikal can step up and take over the Randle role, but last season Mikal had a 24% usage compared to Randle at 30%. Randle also had a slightly higher TS%, despite shooting like crap from 3, and also had a higher asts/36 number.
If we get post-Suns trade Mikal, no worries. But Randle generated substantially more offense than Mikal last season. You’re still asking Brunson to carry a very heavy load for the season.
‘The most sensibile thing to do is what Iāve been advocating and what I think they will ultimately do. They are going to take a look at the Mitch, OG, Mikal, DDV, Brunson lineup and see if it can hold itās own on offense. Then they will make a decision on Randle at the deadline.”
That would just be silly. Why would we want to risk diminishing what our overall record could be for approximately the first four months of a 6-month regular season?
“In the mean time, they may still make a move for a backup C better than Precious, Simms and our summer league Cs.”
It’s Jericho *Sims*. There is only one letter “m” in the dude’s last name. But all of you writing it as “Simms” already know that.
“I want nothing to do with Ayton but I will say this about our front office: if they make an Ayton trade Iāll trust them on it.”
Agree.
I think you took that analogy the wrong way. I’m not worried about KP. In fact I’m strangely not worried about Boston. I think injuries and selfishness are going to unravel them next year.
Unravel being relative, of course. Like maybe they drop from 65 wins and a title to 55 wins and the second round.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my favorite regular season teams in the East and I think I have the Knicks #1, Milwaukee #2, and Boston #3.
I think the Cavs are wildly underrated and I’m still a big Orlando Magic guy.
I expect Joel Embiid to come to camp out of shape and suffer a catastrophic season-ending injury before the all star break.
We tried a Deuce/Randle combo last season during the January stretch and it didn’t work. If I recall correctly, Thibs went back to having Randle play exclusively (or nearly exclusively with Brunson). Deuce couldn’t get Randle the ball in spots he could succeed and teams would double Randle to force turnovers.
I’d be interested to see if Mikal has picked up enough experience being an offensive focal point to general the 2nd unit alongside Randle, allowing us to play Deuce as the nominal PG, but I’m skeptical after a pretty disastrous last season for the Nets.
It’s like a 90th percentile outcome for the 76ers if only one of Embiid and Paul George have a season ending injury.
Yes.
Ideally you want Mikal off-ball as much as possible. He really excels at reading defenses and finding open spaces on the floor when he doesnāt have the ball in his hands. Randle is pretty damn good at passing out of double teams so Iām looking forward to seeing what kind of synergy the Knicks can create there.
Mikal is a heady player in that off ball role, could really be an easy bucket machine here if heās deployed correctly.
Mikal is gonna break a lot of spirits this year.
Do you mean the spirits of players on other NBA teams, or do you mean the spirits of Knicks fans? That could be read either way.
Given my optimism for the upcoming season as contextā¦
Btw, Doogie, I forgot to mention while I was flying yesterday that I found it odd that you would eat shrimp and not bacon as you said it was being a Jew that limited your bacon intake. Help me to understand.
Not as many as OG christening his new fleet of yachts
Thereās an angry rooster pool float staring at me right now.
Itās a giant rooster
Totally fair question, CB! And you probably won’t like the answer. I don’t really understand it myself. I’ve spent 98 percent of my life (up until about a year ago) as a non-observant Jew, and ate bacon on the regular (I really do like bacon a lot!). I cut all pork products out of my diet cold turkey (pardon the pun), and I actually get a little bit upset when I think that I might have had some by accident (for example, if a meatloaf at a restaurant might be made with beef plus a little bit of pork instead of only beef, despite what they might tell me). So I guess three things:
1. I view shrimp as a little bit less “against the rules” than pork is. I’m new to this, as I’ve mentioned, and I’m still learning.
2. My girlfriend and her family, while still Reformed, have always been practicing…….much more than my family ever did. And they seem to think it’s OK to eat shrimp, so I’m taking kind of a cue from that. (That’s not to say that they can’t be incorrect. There are levels to this, maybe? )
3. Giving up pork products was, and to a small extent still is, a little bit difficult after having eaten them for 60 years. So I cut myself some slack on the shrimp and forgive myself for it, for now.
Now…….kill that angry rooster pool float!!!
Its fun to color outside the lines.
Iām not gonna kill it. Iām gonna ride it. Thereās another one coming down the way with an attractive man on it. I think he intends some rooster pugilism.
My wife tells me if it lives in the water it has to have fins and scales.
So no catfish, sharks, or eels for Bob…
…much less crab cakes or lobster rolls…
I don’t eat catfish, shark, eel, crabcakes, or lobster rolls, but that’s because I don’t like them (or really any fish except on occasion tuna or salmon). And I live just outside of Maryland, the crabcrake capital.
Well two of them ain’t fish, Doogie.
Which I only point out because Doogie would have.
Not to mention a crabcrake is half bird, half crustacean…
The best kind of bird
I’m not a member of the tribe but I wouldn’t eat eels, catfish or sharks regardless, but calamari, shrimp, lobster and clams are all right up my alley…
Can Thibs also manage the Yankees?
LOL I knew full well when I wrote it that it wasn’t simply a list of various fish. I don’t mind you pointing it out at all. Thanks. š
I can’t believe the Mets are murdering the Yanks in Yankee Stadium to complete a subway series sweep on national TV! I literally can’t believe it.
All fandom aside, the Yanks look like they’re in a stupor. Seems like something has to give.
Not all that surprising, the Yankees have been a terrible team for a good while now.
Doogie, when I was about sixteen I hopped on the metro north in white plains with another Jewish classmate and one of my greatest crushes (I was not his) to see Chick Corea play at the blue note on Christmas Eve. Later that night we ended up at a hot wings joint (candlelight inn or something) on central avenue near hartsdale. Great wings. I remember having the conversation with him (hmy friend was just the sickest jazz guitarist and just a boy) that if the only thing we get out of being Jewish is fucking cool shows where we could nab a table right next to the piano then weāre ahead. Iāve never done the kosher thing but it seems like a lot of work.
The biggest thing from this series in the long run is how much the Mets might be appealing to Juan Soto. Cohen has money to burn .
“I canāt believe the Mets are murdering the Yanks in Yankee Stadium to complete a subway series sweep on national TV! I literally canāt believe it.”
I literally have no idea why this would surprise you in the least.
https://x.com/MLByahoosports/status/1724188676748394906 Cashman was 100 % correct on Stanton so why didn’t he have a backup plan? Stanton needs to be treated as dead weight.
BBA, not watching (I’m in Mongolia), but I’m not sure what Boone has to do with Cole sucking again. Or having only two great hitters and three OK hitters. I’m not sure better bullpen management could help much…
That being said, trade for Paredes, get Stanton back, bring up Jasson in a couple weeks, get Schmidt back, maybe a reliever, and all the sudden the Yanks are good again.
I would have Dominquez replace Verdugo and Stanton can’t stay on the field. The Yankees need 2 bats at least, 3B and DH.
Rama, sain banuu!
What’s up out on the steppe?
“I literally have no idea why this would surprise you in the least.”
Were you in a coma in May?
Rama zĆ¼geer baigaa gedegt itgeltei baina, Raven.
“Were you in a coma in May?”
Not at all, but three months ago is a lifetime (not literally) in the MLB.
Raven – first, we probably know each other – I was in publishing for a while, somewhat visible. You recently mentioned spending time there probably at the same time. Hope we meet in person during the Knickerblogger Finals Party coming soon…I always enjoy your posts.
Right now I’m sitting in a cafe having a Mongolian version of breakfast (no meal complete here without meat of some kind or nature) listening to Chinese pop looking at Soviet architecture. Seems about right for the experience so far. I came because my son is teaching English in a provincial town instead of going to college and I wanted to make sure he was in good hands. Figured if I came this far I may as well stay and look around a little. I won’t be back in the States until September. No real plans except for being connected the next few weeks (work) and being completely unconnected for a few weeks after that (meditation and soul reset). So that probably means Ulaanbataar and then Gobi, maybe? My dream is a monastery where I help them in the kitchen or something and have a small room and no Internet connection. Make friends with my thoughts and tame my mind… I’m already reading Marcus Aurelius, so I’m working on it….
Doogie, no idea what that language is, but you couldn’t type in Mongolian anyway, since the script is Cyrillic. Adds a bit of fun on top of trying to learn the language…
Let’s not act like the Mets have brought in a bunch of studs to turn it around. It’s all about chemistry right now. They have journeymen and rookies galore. They don’t have a single front-line ace pitcher. Their relief corps is hardly a who’s who of pitching, other than maybe Diaz who has not been all that awesome. They don’t have a better roster than the Yanks, not by a long shot.
I don’t give a shit how many injuries the Yanks have had. They still have more than enough to win games. Their Cy Young winner pitched like shit tonight. They were terrible in the field. They are underperforming, not being outmanned.
“Doogie, no idea what that language is, but you couldnāt type in Mongolian anyway, since the script is Cyrillic. Adds a bit of fun on top of trying to learn the languageā¦”
I know that, but Raven typed “How are you doing?” using our characters, so I thought I’d follow suit.
Š Š°Š¼Š° Š·ŅÆŠ³ŃŃŃ Š±Š°Š¹Š³Š°Š° Š³ŃŠ“ŃŠ³Ń ŠøŃŠ³ŃŠ»ŃŃŠ¹ Š±Š°Š¹Š½Š°, Raven.
Is that better? š
Keith Smith
@KeithSmithNBA
Ā·
Jul 3
Omer Yurtseven cleared waivers today. He’s now an unrestricted free agent.
Center market went VERY fast this year. Yurtseven could help a team that is looking for depth at the five.
Bring in Omer
3 recent former Yankees bench coaches are managers with 2 of them having their teams in 1st place and the other just embarrassed the Yankees while clueless Boone is on his 7th year of leading underperforming teams.
The Mets have a much deeper lineup than the current Yankees. It was very evident last night when the Mets decided they weren’t going to pitch to Judge and allowed the scrubs to try and beat them.
Yurt’s 15 points and 14 rebounds per 36 per game in 48 games for the Jazz last season doesn’t thrill me. .552 eFG%, too. But yes, the well is running dry.
Free Precious (from this seemingly interminable wait).
No manager is winning with 2 great hitters who you can pitch around and trash..Boone is just a scapegoat for the bigger issue
Ok Trivia question here: In the Athleticās headline about Thibsā contract extension they say that his 0.550 winning percentage ranks sixth in franchise history among coaches who lasted more than one season. So who are the five coaches? I donāt actually know but I have some guesses.
For extra credit, are there any coaches who lasted one season or less with a better winning percentage?
Red, Riley, JVG and Woodson are 4 of them for sure. I assume the 5th is the coach in the beginning of the franchise that lost in the NBA Finals but I don’t remember his name?
“Not at all, but three months ago is a lifetime (not literally) in the MLB.”
Being that you are the most annoying stickler for detail on KB, you must have been in a coma because it was actually only 6 weeks ago, not 3 months. On June 12, the Yanks were riding a 4-game winning streak to cap off a 29-8 run, and at 49-21 had the best record in baseball and seemed unbeatable. Meanwhile the Mets woke up on June 12 and were at 28-37 and miles away from a wild card spot. On that day, the idea that the Mets were going to sweep the 4-game subway series in embarrassing fashion seemed ludicrous.
“The Mets have a much deeper lineup than the current Yankees.”
This is nonsense. The Mets just left a million men on base, even in the game last night.
The Yanks are simply underperforming. They have more than enough to win games. They are in a funk, just like the Mets were in a funk early on.
He’s not 100% no matter what they tell you . He’s 2-3 mph short on his fastball. He was mostly 95 with it tonight with I believe 2 pitches at 97 the entire evening. His ERA is 5.40 ….
Riley and JVG are pretty easy ones. I’d guess Pitino also. Probably Holzman and someone from the 50s.
Doogie, in Mongolia it’s called a Ger, not a Yurt.
Rama, I spent two years in Mongolia, and over a decade after that with work connections and periodic visits. Fascinating and weird place. The Gobi is fierce but worthwhile. A long day trip (or overnight) from UB is Hustai Nuru, where you would get to see Przevalski’s horses (fuck the spelling, they’re called takhis) in the wild up close. Don’t have a good monastery to recommend, sorry about that. Make sure to eat some buuz.
And I couldn’t understand Doogie’s stuff either, but that’s par for the course…
way awesome rama…way way awesome…travel safe sir…
I was close: https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NYK/coaches.html
Right. Fucking rad Rama.
Joe Lapchick was the coach I was talking about!
“Heās not 100% no matter what they tell you . Heās 2-3 mph short on his fastball. He was mostly 95 with it tonight with I believe 2 pitches at 97 the entire evening. His ERA is 5.40 ā¦.”
Great pitchers know how to win games when they are less than 100%. He’s throwing 95, which is more than enough to get batters out. It’s all about location, not speed. The Mets didn’t run prime Jacob deGrom out there. Manaea couldn’t even get through the 5th inning.
There is a little more than that to it. They have a clean up hitter hitting .222. There starting line up had 3 guys hitting better than .233. DJ looks as done as a player can look.
Oswald Peraza’s bat has finally come alive as SWB hitting .274 in July. I’d put him in the lineup at second every day and hope to get a little juice going.
Maybe the Yankees should try getting a fast food mascot to throw out the first pitch.
This board never ceases to amaze. Thanks for the recs – will check out Hustai Nuru, maybe a quick trip when my son gets a few days off.
Z-man, for a dude on a blog focused on stats, you throw some stuff out there sometimes… The Mets had 7 players with an OPS over .700 in their starting lineup, the Yanks had 3. It really is two hitters and luck, whereas even the “bad” Mets hitters aren’t automatic outs. DJ LeMahieu has an OPS of .499. I mean… It’s not what you want.
Players constantly get to the Yankees and after having great success early they collapse. Gleyber is a prime example, not to mention guys like Sanchez, Andujar, Hicks, Voit etc. Look at how Volpe’s offense has cratered. You have others who injuries derailed them like Didi and Sevy. Not to mention the veteran pickups like Sonny Gray, Happ, Gallo etc. Hell even Verdugo, he has never been a great hitter but he’s currently having the worst offensive season of his career.
All this has happened under Boone and his coaching staff. Boone was hired because they believed the younger players were not gonna be able to develop under Girardi because he was too intense or whatever. Aside from Judge obviously the exact opposite has happened.
A few weeks ago, Lindor, McNeil, Nimmo, and Alonso couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag. The relief squad was held together with spit and polish. Their best starter was a Yankee castoff, and the rest of them were no-name #5 pitcher types. Mendoza looked way over his head. Then they made a few moves around the margins, Grimace and OMG happen, and it’s like a different team.
Anchovies rule….
Cashass and boonie and his sunflower seeds need to go…
I looked up the coaches in Wikipedia, Everyone forgot Mike Woodson, who coached two seasons with a 0.580 winning percentage. Pitino was good, but has 0.549 winning percentage. There were two coches with only one season coaching and a better winning percentage; Neil Cohalan in 46-47 at 0.550 and Don Nelson (!) fun 95-96 with 0.576 winning percentage.
I was going to say Don Nelson. People forget how good he was because he alienated Patrick.
Nelson alienated Ewing but he hated Starks even more.
“Doogie, in Mongolia itās called a Ger, not a Yurt.”
When I used “Yurt,” I was referring to Omer Yurtseven, who had been mentioned in a post just shortly before that. But you knew that, because I specifically said this:
“Yurtās 15 points and 14 rebounds per 36 per game in 48 games for the Jazz last season doesnāt thrill me. .552 eFG%, too. But yes, the well is running dry.”
I clearly wasn’t referring to any kind of tent. š
Two of them weren’t fish.
I already acknowledged that and wrote that I didn’t mind you pointing it out even though I knew what I was doing when I typed that. I don’t even mind you pointing it out twice. LOL
Herb Williams was 1-0 in 2004.
Good point