[ESPN] – Sat, 28 Sep 2024 02:30:00 GMT
- Sources: Towns to join Knicks, Randle to Wolves
- Karl-Anthony Towns trade grades: Knicks and Timberwolves both win in mutually beneficial blockbuster
- NBA Rumors: Karl-Anthony Towns Traded to Knicks; T-Wolves Get Julius Randle, More
- Leon Rose, Knicks still deserve trust after Karl-Anthony Towns stunner
- Knicks go all-in with Karl-Anthony Towns, but are they really all that much better?
[sny.tv] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 20:43:41 GMT
- Knicks Mailbag: With Mitchell Robinson out, will NY add a center before season starts?
- Why Mitchell Robinsons injury update might be a blessing in disguise
- Knicks Must Bolster Center Depth amid Isaiah Stewart, Nick Richards NBA Trade Rumors
- Knicks Mitchell Robinson out until December or January after ankle surgery: Sources – The Athletic
- Whom could Knicks target to fill in for Mitchell Robinson? Exploring 3 trade candidates – The Athletic
[Bleacher Report] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 23:52:54 GMT
Video: Paul Pierce Shades Knicks, Says NY Won’t Win NBA Title ‘in My Lifetime’
[Sports Illustrated] – Sat, 28 Sep 2024 06:45:43 GMT
NBA Champion Calls Out Lakers Following Timberwolves-Knicks Trade
[New York Daily News] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:51:20 GMT
Paul Pierce says Knicks won’t win an NBA championship ‘in my lifetime’
[Sports Illustrated] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 17:00:00 GMT
- New York Knicks May Have Major Hidden Gem
- New Three-Team Trade Proposal Helps Fix Knicks Center Problem, Hawks add Young Shooter
- The Knicks should refuse to trade young sharp-shooter
- Knicks’ Miles McBride: Set to reprise secondary role
- Knicks Trade Pitch Swaps Miles McBride, Pick for No. 2 Shot Blocker
[Empire Sports Media] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 17:17:23 GMT
- Knicks have done background work on possible trade for Blazers star center
- New York Knicks Forward Can Make NBA’s Biggest Impact
- New York Knicks’ Mikal Bridges Trade Most Impactful Move of Offseason?
- Knicks reportedly ‘interested’ in former No. 1 pick for potential trade target
- New York Knicks insider adds to speculation they could target former No. 1 overall pick to replace Mitchell Robinson
[Complex] – Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:29:33 GMT
Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart Are Using the New York Spotlight to Expand
85 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.09.28)”
Details are still up, especially from a salary cap POV, and the trade isn’t official yet but here are my two cents after the earthquake that finally put an end to this endlessy boring summer…
– First of all, we’re now definitively a title contender and I can’t wait to watch this team play.
At the same time this is “the move” we were waiting for and this will probably be the main group for the next 3-4 years (with moves to do around the margins to strenghten the bench).
With this both the chances to win the chip and the ones of crushing to earth have raised a lot.
I’d have really loved to give last year team a chance (see below) but I’m okay with it.
– For years KAT has been one of the few real candidates to the Knicks’ “star chasing” and Julius was the obviuos chip, so that part of the trade isn’t surprising.
I’ll let for later a more proper fairwell to Julius, when emotions would retreat.
– Add the questions about Julius’s full recovery and KAT’s offensive arsenal and it doesn’t look so insane.
Doubts about our defense are understandable, but Thibs is a renown defensive genius, he’ll probably find a solution.
Also, the move put Mitch back in the tactical weapon/backup center role whom I think he’s better suited for…
… If he’s not traded (but from a salary cap perspective he has a very good contract, IF HEALTHY)
– On the other end, I’m painfully hurt about DDV.
He and Benedict Hartenstein were two of my personal “boyz” (and Donte still is). Losing both of them stings, a lot.
I know we had a potential PT crunch at the wing position, but the guy gave us some incredible clutch shooting and unforgettable moments last year. We’ll miss you Big Ragu.
Also of note: never break the Knicks single-season 3-Pointers record, it brings you nothing good (see also Fournier, Evan).
We can call it the Starks’ Curse.
– This front office has well sized balls and is incredibly tight lipped, no one saw this coming and it makes all our collective conjectures very funny*.
Also, look at what they do with the secondary/minumum salary signings, every small move has a purpose and Aller is a cap genius.
We weren’t accustomed to this.
– KAT contract is insane (as many others**) and Bridges still has to extend.
Even if Mikal does it at a discount we’re going to be a very top-heavy team for at least the next 3-4 seasons.
That’s why contracts like Deuce’s are a blessing, we need more of them to replenish our bench.
– The “butterfly effect” started with Hartenstein betrayal.
If healthy, last year’s team plus Mikal’s would have been a real contender but I-Hart spurned the greatest city in the world and choose less guaranteed money (despite his wobblyng achilles) only to later whine in all the following interviews about how hard it was to leave his “brothers”, the fans that showed him so much love and the city.
Fuck you Benedict Hartenstein.
And please Knicks fans make his ears bleed with boos in january, when the traitor’ll come back.
* The sequence in the last 10 months:
– No chance Masai does trade with us because of Dolan’s cause
– No way Brooklyn will trade Bridges to us.
– He’ll never break the Nova Boys
Nice streak! đ
** I know I’m fairly naive but sooner or later we must start a discussion about the morality of paying a player half million a game or more (no matter the sport) when all the “western democratic countries” struggle to sustain a decent welfare (health, education, pensions) or workers salaries, job security and health safety in many environments.
I expect Thibs to go with Hart, his rebounding skills will cover a bit for the loss of Randle and I-Hart/Mitch, but the the coach bearded version is different so who knows… đ
Well, Deuce brings better shooting (even if he’s not as reliable as DDV), but that’s a very small backcourt for a lineup where KAT is your center. Hart brings more size and versatility, but teams won’t guard him as a shooter. On the other hand, if the other four guys in that lineup are Brunson, Mikal, OG, and KAT, does that matter?
So I would guess Hart starts, and Deuce comes off the bench with Precious, Kolek, and… Shamet? Mook? Chuma Okeke?!?!?! Dadiet?!?!!?!?!!?!?
At least until Mitch is back, and maybe even after, we’re pretty thin. Though now it makes slightly more sense that we had multiple vets sign for what seemed to be one end-of-bench spot. The FO knew they’d need some kind of depth pieces.
(For those who missed it, Bates-Diop is going to Minnesota in the deal, DaQuan Jeffries is going to Charlotte, and we may need to send out one more slightly above minimum free agent to make the math work with the aprons.)
So out of the 9 rotation players that began last season, 3 remain. And I predicted 50 wins last year, and will top that this year. Extraordinary.
well there goes my backup PF plan
Precious is our backup big man for now. Or him and Mook together.
We’re a bit thinner at the moment on the wing, though you have to assume that, when healthy one of OG and Mikal will be on the floor at all times. And maybe there’s lightning in a bottle from one of Shamet, Dadiet, or Okeke as the ninth man?
But certainly, the “we don’t have enough minutes for all these guys” problem has been alleviated. High-risk, high-reward move.
Honestly, I don’t see how you can dislike this trade unless you’re a Randle superfan. KAT’s shooting and ability to play the 4 and 5 are going to open up the offense. And for all of KAT’s defensive deficiencies he’s probably a little better than Randle on that end.
We all love DDV but post-Bridges trade we had a huge logjam at guard and wing and I can’t imagine DDV was going to be happy playing under 20 MPG which was what was probably going to happen this year.
On the Minnesota side, I’ve read some reports that they’re not actually interested in Randle and plan on moving him again within the week.
This is legitimately, 100% unhinged.
Wow, that’s wild! It’s 4 if you count Deuce but still. I guess that’s what happens when you make 3 blockbuster trades over the course of what, six months?
I fell asleep reading you guys on baseball and woke up to WTF?!
Lions and tigers and KAT, oh my!
Welcome to the strange new world, KBA!
One thing’s for sure: Knickerblogger is going to be a lot busier over the coming weeks than it was for the last couple of months.
Haha. My brain is blinking ârecalculating ⌠recalculating.â
Do we think Randle or KAT plays more games this season?
Gonna really miss DDV, but clearly no âNova lockâ on Leon.
LOL. Deuce beware?
PS – did we somehow become less ârootableâ?
One of Macri’s commenters raised an interesting point: we probably could have gotten Kessler or another good starting center for DDV, once we were willing to put him on the table. So then it’s a matter of which is more valuable for our particular roster: Julius + Kessler, or KAT?
Wait. If/when Mitch plays *with KAT. Twin towers re-dux?! Are we allowed to do that đ
But … January-Platonic-Ideal-Knicks, we hardly knew ye …
From Zach Harperâs trade analysis:
âTowns is too aggressive going for blocked shots and not timely enough to actually affect the shot. That leaves the offensive boards open for the opponent. He also struggles with help positioning and rotations when heâs the primary defensive big man. Thatâs the biggest part of Thibodeauâs defense with his big men.â
You could easily substitute âTownsâ and replace with âMitchell Robinsonâ. The fact that Thibs has said on multiple occasions that he loves KAT might signal that he thinks he did something wrong with KAT the first time around, learned and applied that to Mitch, and thinks he can do it to KAT as well on defense.
And offensively- forget it. KAT at the 5 is going to make this team unguardable. Porzingis is great at the 5 but KAT is a much better offensive player than KP is.
We can literally put 5 40% 3 point shooters on the floor at once if we put Brunson Deuce Bridges OG KAT on the floor. The rebounding might be iffy with that group (Donteâs rebounding was huge for us too) so you could substitute hart for deuce and it would still be amazing offensively.
Shew! Alot to unpack for me since I crashed early. Long week. But let me first try to go through the negatives IMO, then put a positive spin on it.
I like KAT as a player, I just question the fit with the roster as it stands. For starters- even though I felt like DDV would get traded in a possible big move after his breakout and us adding Bridges, I did not want to break up the Nova Knicks. And as Hahn Solo pointed out, we lost alot of toughness in this deal. Alot. KAT has to be the starting 5 now, and that brings into question who starts at the 4. Do you trust Anunoby as a full time 4? And if you do, who plays the wing with Bridges? Hart? Deuce? Either way, we have lost our awesome bench. Or..dows Thibs start Achiuwa at the 4 now, and will he be a consistent enough defender to make up for KAT at the 5? I like the player a helluva lot more than I like the trade. Now the positive spin…
KAT should be back to his pre-Gobert days on offense with this move. And this means he will be destroying opposing 5’s all season. I’m here for it. It creates a super intriguing dynamic for us on offense. This definitely puts us right there with Boston on offense if we scheme properly. Or damn close at minimum. KAT seems to be a player who naturally passes more than Randle, but I still give the slight edge to Randle in the playmaking department. I think the fact that KAT gives the ball up a little more often bodes well for the offense. If Achiuwa starts and plays the same switchable D he played last season, Thibs’ scheme could be better this season. And what we lost in DDV’s shooting, we have made up for with KAT’s ability to stretch the floor and pull opposing bigs away from the rim- thus possibly making up for the offensive rebounding we’ve lost when Hartenstein walked and Mitch’s rehab got stretched out. DDV leaving opens up more minutes for Deuce and Hart, and I think this is a good thing. Especially If Deuce keeps playing free and takes another step. I expect Mitch to be the backup 5 permanently at around 20mpg when he returns. With his injury history, that maximizes his time on the floor and creates a big and versatile lineup when we want to overpower teams for stretches with Mitch/KAT/OG/Bridges or Hart/Brunson. Thibs can use that when guys like Embiid, Giannis, or Banchero are getting the best of us. So..KAT gives us another offense mismatch on most nights with more reliable shooting and floor spacing. That’s gonna be great for Brunson, Bridges, and Anunoby. I really think our offense will be largely unstoppable- especially with this trade being made before camp and giving the coaching staff time to work our the kinks. Hell- maybe Mark Bryant can do for KAT what he did for Ayton’s growth. If so, that is SCARY.
Overall, I’m still a ‘meh’ on this trade. Intrigued, but still ‘meh’. Too many questions right now. Also, does this mean we are in the market for another 4? Or does Mook and KBD both make the team now? Shamet too. Does he now make the team as emergency shooting? There’s a bunch of options now, I just don’t know if they’re all good and if Thibs is gonna be flexible enough to explore them all
Oh! I do wanna credit Leon for not giving up a bunch of good 1sts in his 2 big offseason moves. He improved the team without seriously overpaying
I’m now left with a glut of useless posts in my notes app ready to demand “small ball” this season. I’m furious. Hahaha.
At the end of the day, Julius leaves NYC with a Knick TS% of .553 and some of the most godawful playoff displays you’ll ever want to see. He never worked for me as a key part of a really good team.
I’d always advocated for him to be the main piece in these “superstar” trades but never actually thought Leon could or would pull it off. Massive kudos to him for pulling it off.
I expect the Wolves to move Julius before season’s end. I don’t see him making much sense there. He didn’t make sense here with the new Brunson and Ant is even more ball-dominant than Jalen.
We won’t know what to complain about until Pagliacci sings.
Hah. Just occurred to me: once the deal is finalized, weâll almost certainly have an open roster spot, and THEN we can use the TPMLE
Knick Fanduel championship odds fell from +900 to +750.
Just from a pure talent perspective, I’m honestly shocked KAT was gettable for this package. I’m aware his salary is insane but we’re still talking about one of the best scorers in the NBA who is not yet 29. We thought we were all out of ammo and instead we reeled in an incumbent all-star fresh off a very good playoff run.
It’s hard for me to find any critiques on our end as long as we’re willing to foot the bill. I will miss Donte and Randle as people and wish them well, but KAT is a pretty massive upgrade on Randle and all it cost us was a guy we were having trouble penciling in for more than ~22 minutes a night (and the DET pick, which, “our 2022 draft wasn’t that bad” gang, we’re up today).
A lot of people will understandably be worried about the defense, but…are we sure it even got worse? Is KAT any more exploitable than Randle? Randle is a little more mobile but it’s not like we trusted him to switch anyway. KAT is of course coming from the #1 defense in the NBA and YES I AM AWARE RUDY GOBERT EXISTS but in 1,176 KAT on/Rudy off minutes from the last two seasons the Wolves’ DRTG is a perfectly solid 112.8. I think he’s just gotten much better since the reputation set in. I may have talked myself into the idea our defense is better than it was yesterday.
It’ll be fascinating to see how we decide to deploy the roster, but all the options look pretty damn good to me! Brunson/Deuce/Mikal/OG/KAT? Sure. Brunson/Mikal/OG/Hart/KAT? Also sure. I guess I’m somewhat partial to the latter because I think Hart’s shooting is passable at the 4 and we might want Deuce’s shooting off the bench, but I don’t feel super strongly. We have a ton of really good players.
When Mitch gets back my guess is we move KAT to the 4 in the starting lineup, but continue to deploy him at the 5 regularly. Again, sure. There are no bad options here.
Vegas watch: our O/U improved to 54.5, and your New York Knickerbockers are now in sole possession of the 3rd best title odds at +750, and a hair away from 2nd (OKC at +700). The money men think we did very well and I agree.
I wonder though- what kind of reception is Randle gonna get when he returns to The Garden? I know DDV is gonna get a huge reception, but NY fans can be very cynical? Do we think he’s gonna get the thumbs down when Minny visits? lol
It started with Jacquez taking out Julius. That was maybe the sliding doors moment of all time.
Thereâs a little bit of sadness on my end bc I really liked (and believed in) Randle. But also bc I believe that January Knicks formula was the way to build a championship team around Brunson and Randle (RIP Brundle). This is not that formula. Maybe itâs better but I donât know⌠largely because I donât know about KAT. Heâs better than Randle but do the pieces fit as well as they did with that old formula? We gain immense offensive ability but we lose the rim protection and the offensive rebounding.
I donât doubt this is a good move, I probably just need to see the pieces fit first.
Random thoughts:
I know this trade means Thibs is ok with KAT but are we sure KAT is ok with Thibs? He definitely seems like one of the guys who voted for Thibs in that poll.
I know we have the culture to do for him what Boston did for Porzingis. But itâs up to KAT to be willing. If it is at all possible for him to grow up, it should happen. But we canât rule out obstinance on his part.
KAT can bang with the 5âs. As a one-on-one defender heâs pretty good. No doubt whoâs guarding Embiid. And perhaps heâs a big enough star in his own right to not pick up those ticky tack fouls iHart accumulated so easily.
This makes us really thin and opens us up to the player overuse of last year. Weâre going to see game 7 rotations in January again, and all the cascading woes that come with that. I had no such concern with Josh and Donte on the bench.
FWIW I think we kept the better of the two Fugazi picks. The Washington pick converts to two seconds. The Detroit pick only converts to one.
I just realized: we traded both guys on this roster to inspire a Mike Breen double-âbang.â
I woke up. I remembered this trade happened. My brain won’t stop screaming.
Not much left on the market. Fultz could be a rehab candidate but he likely wouldnât get any playing time. Jae Crowder makes sense from a need perspective but is getting up there in age. Biyombo might help a bit in case Towns is a sieve at center.
I’m gonna go on record as saying I don’t like this deal. I’m not sure how much better KAT is than Randle. I have serious defensive concerns, and concerns about playing under pressure (even more than with Randle). I thought this was an at least ECF team with the previous construction. Now, i have doubts.
KAT should have been a knick in 2015 if we hadn’t fucked up the tank
Yeah Hubie, you’re right, I need to recalibrate my timeline.
Also, Julius’ injury and trade reminded me of another moment that caused a butterfly effect, KP’s injury.
Both never played a minute for the Knicks after being hurt and honestly that makes me sad, it sounds kind of cruel and lets a trail of unanswered “what ifs”…
I know what you mean, but this dream ended when Hartenstein left town. It was going to be very hard /impossible to get a Hartenstein clone for leftover bits and bobs. So they changed course.
I do think the plan is to slot KAT in next to Mitch but who knows anything anymore. The Knicks are a black box.
KAT gives Brunson a PnR partner that’s significantly more versatile than anyone else on the roster. Remember that Mitch was out for all of January and the Brunson/iHart PnR was our entire offense when Brunson went nuclear. Neither Mitch with his lack of range or Randle with his punch card computer processing speed could have replicated that dynamic. KAT doesn’t pass like iHart but that should be a deadly PnR combo.
It’s never as simple as “who got the best player in this deal” but sometimes it is. The Knicks got the best player in the deal, he fills a need and is a good fit. I really think this is going to help Brunson even more than the fit with I-Hart.
Towns is less of a shot creator than Randle. I think that means Bridges is going to be asked to do a little more off the dribble than we’d probably like if we were trying to maximize his efficiency, but I think he’ll be fine.
There may be lineups and matchups where Thibs decides to go big with a Mitch/KAT pairing, but I think KAT is more effective as a C and we have the perimeter defense to allow that. IMO, that’s the plan A.
After a good night of sleep, I still like this deal.
Yeah, I think KATâs PnR skill is the big motivation after the outside shot. Pretty sure weâre gonna hear Clyde say âthe oldest play in basketballâ a lot more this season.
10/10 times Thibsâ solution is to bench the bad defender.
Heâs not the kind of guy who invents new schemes. He demands rim protection and is willing to sacrifice offense for defense.
So if weâre playing Boston and KAT canât protect the rim, weâre not inventing a scheme to fix that. Weâre going bench him and close with Mitch & Hart.
Iâm pretty sure thatâs what happened to KAT in the WCF. I think he spent a lot of closing time on the bench bc they had to close games with Reid & Rudy.
As of now, I think we have 3. Obviously we may have less when it’s all finalized.
(1) 15th roster slot was open
(2) Randle-KAT cancels out
(3) KBD goes out
(4) Donte goes out
If we do have 3, I’m guessing Morris & Shamet become roster locks. I suspect Okeke doesn’t have a firm hold on his spot.
Wouldn’t surprise me if we keep 15 open still… of course, there’s always Archie.
I just realized something in KAT’s favor. While he’s no Mitch, he has averaged around 1.5 blocks per game for his career and he’s historically been a better overall rebounder than Randle- moreso with offensive rebounding. Maybe this trade isn’t as bad as it feels. I’m with Hubert when he says
This still is undoubtedly the most talented team Thibs has had with the most options to play with than he’s ever coached. The onus is definitely on Thibs to use them properly. He has to be careful though. Our 2 highest paid players have injury concerns. Maybe KAT can stay healthy not chasing mobile 4’s around all game. Maybe, even at 6’7.5″, Anunoby is better suited as a stretch 4. Who knows, but I hope Thibs can figure it out in camp
I will say this, not sure how the bench plays out. I imagine we’ll have to do a lot of staggering as opposed to hockey switches. I can’t even fathom the “bench unit” per se. Payne/Deuce/Shamet/Mook/Precious? Yeah, no. Kolek being a certified Guy would help but we’ll probably have to make some minor moves here.
Thankfully, in the playoffs we go as far as Brunson/Mikal/OG/KAT/Mitch/Hart/Deuce take us, and I think they can take us very, very far.
Iâm a little surprised you love this so much Strat bc it reminds me a little of the Jrue for Lillard deal you called out from the get go.
One note about Josh Hart. He was terrible from 3 last year, but his shooting was suspect from almost everywhere last year. He had an off year on offense. I think knee issues and maybe even becoming a father impacted him last year. Overall he’s not that bad from 3. He’s 34.4% including last year and his TS% is fine. So if teams are doubling Brunson inside all the space he’s sure to have with Towns, Bridges and OG, I think Hart is going to get a lot of wide open looks.
Looking at the play-by-play quickly, that does appear correct.
Hart isn’t a great shooter, but he’s better than both Randle & Mitch.
Even if you don’t think Randle’s shoulder injury affects him moving forward, KAT is a year younger and we should expect his game to age more gracefully than Randle’s.
This is a good trade.
Raise your hand if you thought the Knicks couldnât trade with Raptors because they were suing them. (I did)
Raise your hand if you thought the Knicks couldnât trade with the Nets because they were cross-town ârivalsâ (I did)
Raise your hand if you thought the Knicks wouldnât break uo the ânova boys (I did)
With OG and Bridges defending the wings the need for rim protection won’t be as extreme. And if it does become necessary, Mitch, OG, Bridges. KAT, Brunson is better offensively and defensively than any combo with Randle/DDV, IMO
I didn’t like the Jrue for Lillard swap mostly because the gap on the defensive end was so huge.
Depending on how you want to view this, Randle for Towns is probably a wash defensively, but KAT is much more efficient and a better spacer.
If you view it as KAT for I-Hart at C, on offense it’s a huge upgrade with better spacing and sliding OG to PF, adding Bridges, and inserting Hart back into the starting lineup I think mitigates the loss on defense.
I’m more worried that KAT is going to frustrate me at times with bad TOs like Randle and that I think Bridges is going to have to create more off the dribble and he may not be as efficient that way as I’d like.
I honestly never, ever thought this was a thing. If anything Leon has shown himself to be a coldblooded businessman to the extreme.
Brunson is out the door the second Shai becomes available.
Heâs been getting them for a year and a half! Wide open looks are his kryptonite.
I think what could make this offense incredible is taking Hart off the three point line and using him in the Hartenstein role on offense. That will force teams to put their second best perimeter defender on Hart for switching purposes.
The screen setting you get from KAT is pretty important. That is something that was potentially going to be a sneaky hidden weakness for the team. Now, no problem! KAT is a prolific screener and he can punish you both as a roll man and in the pick and pop.
Another boring day in Knickland LOL.
Just trying to make sense of the rotation…
PG: Brunson, Payne, Shamet, Kolek
SG: Bridges, McBride,
SF: Hart, Morris, Dadiet
PF: OG, Achiuwa
C: Townes, (Robinson), Simms, Hukporti
I’m not sure how good our depth is. I love the starting lineup. The Knicks will put up points and they have two great defenders.
I love everything about Randles game and losing Dante really hurts. Both will be sorely missed.
lmao đ
My point there was that he had a rough year last year and lost his confidence, but he’s better than that. I expect a rebound year. That won’t make him a great outside shooter, but he’s not Frank out there. đ
I’m sorry but I don’t understand the reservations here. Randle hasn’t been a good or even engaged defender since 2020-21 and spends multiple possessions every game arguing with refs instead of playing defense. If our defense is worse, it’s only very slightly worse.
KAT is clearly the superior shooter and opens up the floor better for the rest of the team. And KAT is an actual 5.
The team definitely makes more sense now. Hart was actually more effective at the 4 than Randle. We saw it in the playoffs. It made no sense to have a guy who was a main cog on one of the best teams in the game being demoted to a bench role. It made no sense to have the guy with the most threes in the history of the franchise come to off the bench either. You needed a center and got a top 5 player. Itâs an insanely great move. Leon is smarter than we are. Iâll root for Julius in Memphis lol
Aside from him tolerating Randle and RJ for years he literally coached Karl Towns before and that didn’t happen.
As Zach says,
‘If youâre scratching your head on this one, join the club. Itâs kind of a bizarre trade in many ways, and itâs a massive gamble for both teams.’
Plus not a fan of neck beards. At all.
Hartâs a good shooter when he shoots but heâs never going to be a gunslinger.
But thatâs fine. We shouldnât stand him on the three point line. He can set screens as well as Hartenstein did and heâs an even better playmaker if Brunson gives him the ball back.
Think Draymond Green on the Warriorsâ offense. Thatâs what Josh Hart could do for a lineup of Brunson, Bridges, OG, KAT. Movement, screening, playmaking⌠everything he does well. I think this could unlock the best version of Josh Hart.
I wonder if we’ll give McCullar a real look during the regular season as a backup to Josh
Morris is pretty strictly a 4/5 these days. GoNY. I also recalls Begley’s reporting that for the moment, Kolek is the backup point guard, Deuce is a backup 2, and Payne is in case of emergency. But that could change depending on preseason, obviously.
Correction. Top 5 at the position of center
On the last Lowe Post Ian Begley said he thought Thibs would lean towards starting the season with Sims starting at center and this is a much better option
HOW?! Please explain. Jrue’s value has always been his DPOY-caliber defense that he can play 1-4, doing a bunch of little things that don’t show up in the traditional box score, while being an average-ish shooter and offensive player; he’s been an advanced stats superstar, not traditional stats That doesn’t describe Randle at all whose entire value is his high usage and average-ish offensive output. This is nothing like trading Jrue for Lillard, it’s like trading Lillard for Lillard.
Leon Rose made a statement to the press when he took over as POBO, then disappeared from sight for eternity. His statement was this:
âNothing about this is easy, or quick, so I ask for your continued patience. What I promise you in return is that I will be honest and forthright. We will develop a plan that makes sense, both to jumpstart our short-term growth and ensure our long-term success. Our team will work hard, stick together and ensure we live up to the honor of wearing the New York Knicks jersey.
While I realize that there have been difficulties on the court, what has been remarkable to me is that your pride remains so strong, your loyalty undiminished. Rest assured, I will do everything I can to create a winning organization.
For the remainder of this season, I will work tirelessly behind the scenes while evaluating every aspect of the organization. Most immediately, we will support Mike Miller, his staff and our team, who have plenty of basketball left to be played this season. I want to thank Mike for his continued leadership and professionalism during this period.
Our team has young talent, significant future assets (including seven first round picks over the next four years) and an ample amount of financial flexibility in the coming years. Everyone â from ownership to athletes, to staff and especially our fans â wants this team to be a winner. We will have all the resources necessary to create a great organization â one that supports our efforts to build a winning culture and gives Knicks fans, and the city of New York, the team you deserve.â
I LOLed when the knicks hired this guy (you can read my work in the archives, if they still exist). I feel kind of bad about that now.
Hubert pointed this out yesterday, and I think it bears repeating:
If the Knicks can ever get to full health, with a healthy Mitch, they can throw two potentially devastating lineups at you:
Brunson/Bridges/OG/KAT/Robinson
Brunson/Bridges/Hart/OG/KAT
If they can get those lineups on the floor in the playoffs, they can compete with anybody.
Iâm glad Randle got a bag from Sketchersâ˘ď¸ before leaving town.
He won me over as a good teammate and a guy who at least kept trying to master the roles needed from him. And those roles changed a lot over the years!
He might even make an interesting sixth man/ball mover in Minny where thereâs less pressure and a strong supporting cast. I wish him the best.
Once Mitch is back and healthy, I’d expect something like this:
PG: Brunson – Payne/Kolek
SG: Bridges – Hart – Deuce
SF: OG – Hart – Bridges
PF: KAT – OG – Hart
C: Mitch – KAT – Sims
The reports I read said that Minnesota isn’t planning on keeping him, that they’re planning on rerouting him to another team within a week.
Iâm not sure re-routing Randle will be that easy, unless you just want a salary dump of sorts.
I think the Clippers could be an interesting spot for him. Iâd hate to see him go to a rebuilding team as an expiring, though.
Even though heâs a great player, Donte makes even less sense there. Ant is absolutely a SG and will play max minutes. Neither Donte or Ant make much sense at any other position, so how does that work? Maybe theyâll trade Donte, too, who knows?
I get that Minny sort of had to do this trade for money reasons, but itâs tough to see them butcher the 2nd-best team in a very good Western conference.
Rerouting Randle to a 3rd team might be what is holding this deal up. I’m sure Leon has given Mn pointers on who to call… as we offered Randle to a number of other teams.
Alan,
I agree but don’t think Morris is a backup 5. Just working it out in my head he’ll just play the 4. When they signed Morris I posted how much I liked the signing. He’s older now (35) and his MPG were cut significantly last season but up until last year he was a 25 MPG player. He’s a dark-horse starter.
As for Kolek, we all love his game. How can you not? But he’s a rookie. Let’s see how fast Thibs moves him into the rotation.
I like the trade, FWIW. I guess I like it more if Towns ends up playing more at the 4 than the 5, but we’ll see.
As talented as Randle is, the guy is coming off a pretty serious injury, and I won’t miss all his bickering with refs while the rest of the team tries to defend in transition, and his very spotty D in general.
I will miss Divo, but I guess the Knicks are selling high on him.
Possible injuries could definitely be this team’s Achilles Heel, but I guess a lot of teams are the same, and it would have been the same concern with another year of Randle. They really need OG to stay healthy come playoff time.
Leon is effectively “rolling up assets” by which I meant giving up 2 good players for 1 better player or star player. Leon has done that twice now with RJ/Quickley for OG and Randle/DDV for Towns. I think that’s an important part of the hybrid method. I think you almost always want to come away with the best player.
Interesting stuff here from DJ Ace with Towns and Gobert with Towns as the PNR ball handler:
https://x.com/DJAceNBA/status/1796220423522123826
Randle was great creating corner 3s but Towns also is a pretty good passer. And just so much more efficient than Randle.
Thibs has shown he will play rookies when he perceives them able to contribute net to the group.
For IQ… that was immediately. With Grimes it was the middle of the season. With Obi, he never thought his offense made up for what he gave away defensively.
Very good chance that one gets revisited this season, but of course that ship has sailed.
Which is to say, I’m not convinced Hubert’s lineups wouldn’t be even better with the swap undone given the TO/Olympic RJ we’ve seen and what it might portend, and now that the Randle issue has been solved. Certainly the depth wouldn’t be as much in question. But we’ll see and of course that ship has sailed. Net-net, this is a very, very good team.
Gets revisited? Because of RJ 0.1 BMP, IQ’s 0.6 and their 35% win percentage after the trade?
Just letting other people speak my words, since I’m relatively speechless. This from MIchael Pina:
‘Remember: Townsâs inability to anchor an above average defense was the biggest reason Minnesota mortgaged most of its future to get Gobert in the first place.’
Knicks are going to be a good defensive team though. Plus, Robinson is still here and now can take his time and not re-injure forcing his way back
Lol no we’re not. “This trade would not have happened without the single second round pick we threw in” is not a serious take that anyone wants to argue.
Dang, DaQuan got a 3 mil contract just for being in the right place at the right time. Good for him.
They had the 13th best defense in the league the year before they traded for Gobert.
Of course, it was a lot more PatBev/McDaniels/Vanderbilt than KAT. Normally I’d say our 3 wings will trounce any other trio in the league, but I’m actually not sure about those three.
Plus Towns showed he can play the 4 last season next to Gobert and Reid. Even if he can’t anchor a defense, he should still a better option at the 4 than Randle.
I wonder if we will move Mitch now? The Pels desperately need a center, and they could work out a 3-team trade where they send Ingram to the Pistons for Mitch and Hardaway Jr., and we would get Stewart and maybe even a future 1st. Iâm sure Thibs would prefer Duren, but I doubt thatâs possible.
Big questions for me:
(1) How good of a shooter is Donte?
If we regret this trade for non-injury reasons it’s because he goes nuclear. He was fantastic last year, what if he gets even better? More motion, more of a focal point, etc. Maybe he doesn’t regress, maybe he’s got another level just like Brunson keeps showing. Even playing at the same level may be enough to bridge the talent gap between Towns & Randle. He was really freakin’ good last year.
(2) Do we have enough non-Brunson playmaking?
Randle generates a lot of offense even if it’s as more of an innings eater. Even Donte was a capable ball handler and passer. Maybe the offense is better with the ball in Brunson’s hands on every possession, but I’m not sure he can hold up for an 82 game season like that. We’ll see what KAT & Mikal can do.
(3) Depth?
Having Donte was a great insurance policy for OG and could have alleviated Thibs’s minutes death march. Will Thibs trust Shamet/Morris/Payne/Kolek enough to avoid running guys 48min following an injury?
I’ll also just mention that I’ve been impressed (sic) with the glib “OG at the four!” commentary that one sees here. I do think he’d be great in most or at least many circumstances at that position, but it’s also worth remembering that three out of his seven seasons he’s played 50 or less games. It feels like extensive time at the four is a recipe for extensive time in street clothes.
This site uses User Verification plugin to reduce spam. See how your comment data is processed.