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Knicks Morning News (2024.10.30)


  • Knicks secure rights to sharpshooter Matt Ryan as potential depth piece – New York Post
    [New York Post] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 07:02:00 GMT
    1. Knicks secure rights to sharpshooter Matt Ryan as potential depth piece
    2. 2024 NBA G League Draft Results
    3. Matt Ryan, Landry Shamet expected to play for Knicks this season
    4. Knicks Make Unique Move to Acquire Former 76ers Guard
    5. Knicks select Landry Shamet and Matt Ryan in 2024 NBA G League Draft


  • Jerrod Mustaf, Former Knicks 1st Round Draft Pick, Dies on His 55th Birthday – PEOPLE
    [PEOPLE] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 20:50:17 GMT
    1. Jerrod Mustaf, Former Knicks 1st Round Draft Pick, Dies on His 55th Birthday
    2. Former Terps basketball star dies at 55, leaving complex legacy
    3. Ex-Knick Jerrod Mustaf, who left NBA after pregnant girlfriends murder, dead at 55
    4. Jerrod Mustaf, former Maryland star and Knicks first-round pick, dies at 55
    5. Sadly, Jerrod Mustaf Was More Than A Basketball Player


  • Jalen Brunson, Knicks working to solve their Karl-Anthony Towns mystery – New York Post
    [New York Post] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 23:56:00 GMT

    Jalen Brunson, Knicks working to solve their Karl-Anthony Towns mystery


  • Donovan Mitchell calls out Darius Garland detractors following teammates career night – cleveland.com
    [cleveland.com] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 07:17:00 GMT

    Donovan Mitchell calls out Darius Garland detractors following teammates career night


  • New York Knicks at Miami Heat odds, picks and predictions – USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire
    [USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire] – Wed, 30 Oct 2024 04:46:00 GMT
    1. New York Knicks at Miami Heat odds, picks and predictions
    2. Miami Heat vs NY Knicks Prediction 10-30-24 NBA Picks
    3. Top Player Prop Bets for Knicks vs. Heat on October 30, 2024
    4. Jimmy Butler Heat’s catalyst as they face uneven Knicks
    5. New York travels to Miami for conference matchup


  • Knicks Bulletin: Ive got to watch tape, its really simple as that – Posting and Toasting
    [Posting and Toasting] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:00:00 GMT
    1. Knicks Bulletin: Ive got to watch tape, its really simple as that
    2. Flush with sharpshooters, Knicks rank dead-last in 3s attempted: We have to generate more
    3. One is the Knicks volume of threes. New York took eight more shots than Cleveland on Monday, but
    4. Smart Knicks Fans All Understand Reason for Early-Season Struggles
    5. Mikal Bridges believes the Knicks’ struggles start with communication


  • Kenny Atkinson thinks Karl-Anthony Towns makes Knicks title contenders – New York Post
    [New York Post] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 07:31:00 GMT
    1. Kenny Atkinson thinks Karl-Anthony Towns makes Knicks title contenders
    2. New York Knicks Legend Analyzes Julius Randle’s Legacy
    3. “Can’t imagine KAT knows lyrics to Billie Eilish” – Paul George reviews Karl-Anthony Towns tuning into Timberwolves game during live concert
    4. Karl-Anthony Towns’ reaction to his blockbuster trade revealed by NBA star
    5. Intense Phone Call After Karl-Anthony Towns Trade Involving Paul Georges Wife & Jordyn Woods Revealed


  • Knicks could trade for $90 million former Lakers star to bolster offense – Sporting News
    [Sporting News] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:06:14 GMT

    Knicks could trade for $90 million former Lakers star to bolster offense


  • Knicks could trade for $158 million Pelicans All-Star to compete with Celtics – Sporting News
    [Sporting News] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:51:30 GMT

    Knicks could trade for $158 million Pelicans All-Star to compete with Celtics


  • Trash-talk maestro Anthony Edwards brutally tells Knicks fan why he wont be joining New York anytime s… – talkSPORT
    [talkSPORT] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 12:24:34 GMT

    Trash-talk maestro Anthony Edwards brutally tells Knicks fan why he wont be joining New York anytime s…


  • Knicks could trade for Pacers second-year player who fits Tom Thibodeau’s vision – Sporting News
    [Sporting News] – Tue, 29 Oct 2024 18:10:46 GMT

    Knicks could trade for Pacers second-year player who fits Tom Thibodeau’s vision

  • 97 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.10.30)”

    anyone else who is sick enough to care, take a look again at the play we ran with 2:35 left down 101-95. kat goes to screen for jalen, but jalen waves him off, hands it to anunoby at the top and clears out. the knicks run no apparent action. it looks to all hell like they are running an anunoby iso on…evan mobley here. what’s more, they have their ideal 5-out lineup since hart is injured, but they don’t space. kat is in the dunker’s spot. the play is literally og anunoby iso-drive into evan mobley and jarrett allen?

    and when that fails he kicks to deuce on the perimeter with 11 on the clock and we still run absolutely nothing. just iso deuce. and again kat is in the dunker’s spot instead of spaced. it’s just one play, but this is a pretty inexplicable sequence for a 5-out lineup down the stretch given that it looks pretty intentional. curious if anyone seems something else here?

    Hmmm…I wonder why Julius Randle was able to switch teams after a long layoff without missing a beat. Could it have something to do with the way he plays?

    Naaah.

    It looks like someone promised OG that he’ll have a bigger part of the offense. He’s shooting 3s from everywhere, instead of just the corner, and he’s getting many iso opportunities. Maybe they’re experimenting. Maybe they’re developing him for later in the season. Regardless it doesn’t work so far.

    I don’t want to get too deep into this Randle argument but I have to say I always thought “Julius Randle won’t be the same player any more bc he dislocated his shoulder when he was 29 years old” was an egregiously bad take and the early returns seems to indicate he’s recovered just fine.

    The OG play ptmilo described seems like we just took something from the Randle playbook and gave it to him without much thought. KAT’s probably in the dunker’s spot bc the old play was run with Mitch.

    If i were a Dodgers fan I’d be pretty upset about Roberts punting that game down 2 and letting the Yankees sit Weaver down and let their bats get a little warmer.

    His non-corner 3s are also from Randle’s spot. This would be pretty stupid, if that’s what they’re doing.

    Could it have something to do with the way he plays?

    Yes.

    It’s much easier to hold the ball, take off precious clock, dribble a lot and drive into a crowd. Then you can either either turn the ball over, make a dumb pass, or take a tough shot. At least you’ll fill up the stat sheet while not contributing much to winning.

    It’s tougher to get meaningful player and ball movement, higher quality shots and contribute to winning. 😉

    Sorry pt,
    I’m not a good example, with that lineup (Deuce in, Hart out) I’d run the JB-KAT P&R 90% of the time with the other three getting free outside the 3-point line, but I’m a simple man and watched too many Stockton-Malone games back in the days…

    To me they’re still tinkering and learning what to do, it’ll take some time.

    “Yes.

    It’s much easier to hold the ball, take off precious clock, dribble a lot and drive into a crowd. Then you can either either turn the ball over, make a dumb pass, or take a tough shot. At least you’ll fill up the stat sheet while not contributing much to winning.

    It’s tougher to get meaningful player and ball movement, higher quality shots and contribute to winning. 😉”

    Sure it is.

    It looks like someone promised OG that he’ll have a bigger part of the offense.

    The Knicks have TOO much firepower. 🙂

    IMO OG is a legitmate 3rd option on a contender. On this team he’s 4th option. And since defenses often have to choose their poison, they’d way rather leave Hart open. So even Hart may get more opportunities than OG on some nights.

    What we have to resist is OG forcing things trying to get X number of shots or points. He’ll just be less efficient. There will be nights he has a great matchup and he’ll get his points and other nights he may be 4th or 5th option and should concentate on being disruptive on defense, creating TOs, getting steals and hitting the boards on both sides. Not unexpectedly, our offensive rebounding has taken a huge hit. We need more from OG in that department.

    At least you’ll fill up the stat sheet while not contributing much to winning.

    Dude, you need to stop the Randle hate. He literally got us to the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade with the second best player on the team being a running on fumes Derrick Rose for the last third of the season and a sophomore RJ Barrett.

    We got to the playoffs three out of the four years Randle was here. He contributed to plenty of winning. He didn’t just “fill up a stat sheet.”

    There really is no reason to try and make Randle out to be some selfish ball hog of a player just to try and “win” an internet argument.

    The fact is, Randle for KAT is completely changing the way we’re going to play and it is going to take time for that adjustment to happen.

    Also, we do this every fucking year. The last two seasons the team was basically a 500 team through the first 20 games while Thibs figured things out.

    Can we stop the stupid dick measuring argument until at least mid December?

    Imagine taking a victory lap at 9 am because Randle scored 20 points in a loss the night before (in the fourth game).

    I bet Thibs is missing Robinson big time rn, and this new lineup makes him queasy.

    curious if anyone seems something else here?

    Obviously the goal of iso-ing OG there is to take Mobley out of position to help to make sure… *checks notes* …Mobley doesn’t do exactly what he did to Deuce on that play. Huh.

    “Imagine taking a victory lap at 9 am because Randle scored 20 points in a loss the night before (in the fourth game).”

    Yeah, imagine that.

    Dude, you need to stop the Randle hate.

    1. I don’t hate him. I think he’s a good guy and a plus player. I just don’t think he’s anywhere near all-NBA or what the box score alone suggests.

    2. The things he does well show up in the stat sheet and are measured well.

    3. The things he does poorly do not show up in the stat sheet (other than bad TOs) and are measured poorly.

    The net of all that tends to show up in his career on/off and how easily we replaced him and remained playoff contenders by simply putting a 6′ 4″ SG/SF like Josh Hart at PF. Had OG not gotten hurt, we would have made the conference finals without Randle.

    When any other team loses a star player (if he’s a legitimate star player that contributes a lot to winning) the impact is noticeable and significant. One exception may be KP (who imo is better than Randle), but that’s because Boston is one of the all time great teams with excesses everywhere and they have Horford to replace him.

    Randle is a great guy and good player. He’s just not “THAT” good.

    “The things he does poorly do not show up in the stat sheet (other than bad TOs) and are measured poorly…he’s just not “THAT” good.”

    Yeah, for example, he did a really shitty job of guarding Kyrie last night, but you can’t see that from the box score.

    Imagine taking a victory lap at 9 am because Randle scored 20 points in a loss the night before (in the fourth game).

    If you were referring to me, I wasn’t taking a victory lap based on a single game. I was pointing out a legitimate difference between Randle’s play and trying to incorporate Towns.

    I was agreeing with Z-Man on his point (in an admittedly snide way), but adding that in the end, imo what we are doing has a much bigger payoff on offense than Randle’s style once Brunson and Towns and the rest of the Knicks work it all out.

    There are times when you want or need a player to create something in ISO. The Knicks have Brunson to do that at a very high level and Bridges to do it at a good level. Towns/OG can even put the ball on the floor and drive at times. What we want in general is better spacing, more meaningful player and ball movement, more high quality shots, and LESS iso. That’s going to take more time, but the payoff is bigger if we do it well.

    Yeah, for example, he did a really shitty job of guarding Kyrie last night, but you can’t see that from the box score.

    I don’t care about last night’s game. I’m talking about Randle the player over several seasons.

    He’s a negative defender, ball stopper, take precious seconds off the clock, makes a lot of bad shot/pass decisions and is vulnerable to being moody and not giving enough effort. None of that shows up in the boxscore, but it shows up in how much better the team is with or wthout him.

    And to show I have no agenda here, Towns has also been vulnerable to not giving consistent effort on defense and making bad decisions that lead to dumb TOs.

    On a net basis though, I still think Towns is clearly a better player than Randle even if they have different skills and even if in the short term it’s easier to just dump the ball to Randle and let him do his thing.

    The net of all that tends to show up in his career on/off and how easily we replaced him and remained playoff contenders by simply putting a 6′ 4″ SG/SF like Josh Hart at PF. Had OG not gotten hurt, we would have made the conference finals without Randle.

    Hmm, The Knicks went exactly one game farther in these last playoffs without Randle than they did the year before with Randle. You can’t really draw any conclusions. Both years we lost to a lower seeded team in the second round. So we did not, in fact, do any better with Randle than without. In fact, you could argue the previous year we took out Cleveland, a higher seed, in 5 games but this year it took us 6 games to knock out a lower seeded team (philly).

    And hte year we lost to Miami randle was also hobbled. You can’t draw any conclusions about us doing better or worse in teh playoffs with or without randle.

    I think Towns is a better player too but the gulf is not that wide, especially these last few seasons. They are different players who have different strengths and weaknesses.

    I didn’t realize having good stats that show up in the box score were a ding on a player. KAT is also known for taking plays off and making boneheaded plays that don’t show up in the stat sheet either.

    You talk about Randle pouting but you also fail to talk about how he worked his ass off and set the tone for our team over these last few seasons. His teammates all loved him.

    Randle is not the only star player in the NBA who complains to refs.

    “When any other team loses a star player (if he’s a legitimate star player that contributes a lot to winning) the impact is noticeable and significant. ”

    KAT in 2022-23: team was 15-14 in games he played and 27-26 in games he missed.

    “KAT in 2022-23: team was 15-14 in games he played and 27-26 in games he missed.”

    I found it a little odd that you went through this exercise for 2022-23, but not for the more recent full season 2023-24. Last season the team went 42-20 (.677) with him, and 14-6 (.700) without him. No real appreciable difference there—if they’d won two more games with him it would be better than they were without him, and if they’d lost one more game without him it would be worse than they were with him.

    “You had sex with Jermaine Dye during the game?”

    I can’t even. And I am (thankfully) unfamiliar with who Jermaine Dye is, even after looking him up. 🙂

    The only Randle that matters is Randle post-Brunson acquisition. With the Knicks pre-Brunson, he a) played on mediocre teams with shitty PGs and no bonafide offensive engine besides Julius Randle (RJ? no.), and b) he tirelessly worked on aspects of his game and became a better all-around player. Except for the horrific stretch of 8 games to open the 2023-24 season, he and Brunson were a dynamite 1A-1B tandem, with both putting up similar efficiency numbers and both getting all-NBA consideration.

    To use career stats to justify any comparison in the here and now is disingenuous. The only question that matters is: who are they right now and who will they be going forward.

    I mean, are we going to use KP’s stats on the Knicks and Dallas to define who he is right now? (other than he gets hurt a lot.)

    For example, when healthy, who is the better player right now, KP or KAT? I think it’s an open question. In fact, if there was a guarantee that KP would have the same odds of staying healthy as KAT, I’d argue that KP is better because he’s just as good offensively and is a legit rim protector on D. And at their respective salaries, it would be no contest.

    But KP is fragile so just on that basis I’d rather have KAT.

    Beyond that, KAT (and by extension, Brunson and Thibs) certainly deserves a long leash in developing that kind of chemistry. Personally, I don’t think it should be taken for granted that he will, and have some concerns about how things have looked thus far that go beyond the “it’s only 3 games” stuff. I’m largely with swifty on this, just with more “show me” than unbridled optimism.

    Yikes! Overreaction after 3 games is insane! We played 3 really good teams and we lost 2. Big deal. The team will need at least until December to click. Just chill!

    I’m going to the game in Miami tonight. (I have to watch the WS on my phone!) Looking forward to punishing this Heat team. Lets Go!

    Yeah, for example, he did a really shitty job of guarding Kyrie last night, but you can’t see that from the box score

    If the power forward has to guard Irving, there is a problem with the team makeup (nobody better available to guard him) or the Mavs out schemed the Timberwolves and created a bad matchup. You really can’t hold it against Randle that it’s hard for him to guard Irving.

    How did Taylor Hendricks break his leg on a non-contact play? It just snapped in half while he was running up the court?

    Maybe the Yankee fans who tried to steal the ball out of Betts’ glove actually stole the Dodgers’ soul instead and now the Yankees are going to win the rest of these games

    How did Taylor Hendricks break his leg on a non-contact play? It just snapped in half while he was running up the court?

    do not take this moment to watch your first basketball. it was horrendous. it looked like he tried to decelerate but caught/stubbed his left toes and fell back with his right leg trapped beneath.

    “If the power forward has to guard Irving, there is a problem with the team makeup (nobody better available to guard him) or the Mavs out schemed the Timberwolves and created a bad matchup. You really can’t hold it against Randle that it’s hard for him to guard Irving.”

    Sorry, I thought the sarcasm was self-evident.

    At least you’ll fill up the stat sheet while not contributing much to winning.

    Julius Randle didn’t contribute much to winning. Right.

    I keep forgetting it was Leon Rose who lifted us from the basement to the playoffs, even though he ran back the exact same starting lineup from the year before.

    Shelled out for tickets for tonight before the series. Alas, would’ve saved a bunch of money had I waited, but fuck it, go Yanks.

    Hmm, The Knicks went exactly one game farther in these last playoffs without Randle than they did the year before with Randle. You can’t really draw any conclusions.

    If Randle was such a huge contributor to winning, we wouldn’t have finished last season so strongly and done so well in the playoffs without him. I was saying these kinds of things long before his absense and took those results as evidence I was right (beyond my more subjective analysis of the stats and him as a player). That where my point starts and ends.

    Not speciifc to this post, but I’m not sure why people see everything as one extreme or the other these days.

    IMO Randle is a good player, but imo he’s overrated when considered as an “all NBA player” or huge contributor to winning because of his points, rebounds and assists.

    You can be good without being “all NBA”.

    You can be good, but Towns better.

    Julius is mostly empty calories and hard to fit in, as the Wolves are discovering. Definitive juice not worth squeeze.

    In terms of pt’s initial post, I remember that possession. Big picture, I’m hard-pressed to see any indication that Thibs has changed his offense at all to incorporate KAT. There was a Bondy story in the NYT today about doing better at incorporating him, and Thibs was quoted thusly:

    ““Some of it, I want the game to tell him what to do,” Tom Thibodeau said. Some of it is if you’re getting double-teamed in the post, then there’s different ways he’s got to get in there, as well. “We’ve got to search that out, whether it’s transition post-ups or off of what’s going on in the game with cutting and movement.”

    IOW, get in the paint and post-up, Karl.

    Not confidence-inducing, to say the least.

    The only Randle that matters is Randle post-Brunson acquisition. With the Knicks pre-Brunson, he a) played on mediocre teams with shitty PGs and no bonafide offensive engine besides Julius Randle (RJ? no.),

    I agree.

    It was me that was probably his greatest defender during his down year when so many other people wanted to attach picks to his contract just to get rid of him.

    I defended signing him originally when most were skeptical and defended him during his down year endlessly when we had horrendous spacing and no PG.

    He drove me nuts at times with his decision making and lack of effort. That caused more than a few hot takes during horrendous games, but I’ve been pretty consistent that he’s a good player, just not “that” good and paid little attention to the short term swings in his stats that I could explain.

    “mostly empty calories and hard to fit in”

    Guess then you can say the same about KAT, because record (1-2).

    (For the real record, I think this entire discussion is stupid, because time.)

    Randle and KAT are both very, very good. We don’t know yet, give it more time.

    Julius is mostly empty calories and hard to fit in, as the Wolves are discovering. Definitive juice not worth squeeze.

    This is quite a terrible take.

    Look, if you want to make the argument that Randle is likely to cool off, I’ll buy that, largely because I don’t really believe a .700+ TS% with .625 3pt shooting is probably going to be sustainable in the long term. But so far he has been their best player by a mile. Tip your cap where it is due. It ain’t “empty calories” when you’re racking up those kinds of numbers, unsustainable as they may be.

    You might want to mothball your “Julius is bad and I was right all along” take until he hits a rough patch, amigo. Maybe go with “he won’t sustain this level of play” instead of “ackshually a .700 TS% player on 24+ USG doesn’t really help you win games.”

    Jesus, this is supposed to be a group of relatively bright folks. Can everyone please resist dick swinging until there is a reasonable sample size to draw any inferences. We are 3-4 games into the season FFS…

    If Randle was such a huge contributor to winning, we wouldn’t have finished last season so strongly

    So we’re ignoring the 2 months of barely 500ish play in February and March after Randle got hurt or it doesn’t count cause OG was also hurt?

    and done so well in the playoffs without him.

    But we didn’t “do so well.” It took us 6 games to beat the 7th seed when the year before with a hurt Randle (and no OG) we beat a 4th seeded Cavs team in 5 games.

    In the second round we went exactly ONE game further (out in 7 vs/ out in 6) also to a lower seeded team. The only difference being that this year the lower seeded team we lost to got their asses handed to them in the conference finals by Boston whereas the previous year the lower seeded team we lost to won the next round and went to the Finals.

    I’m not really seeing this whole “we did so much better in the playoffs without him” argument. If you mean the Philly series was more exciting and memorable and full of more heroics than the Cleveland series, sure. This year’s playoffs were more exciting but the end result was largely the same.

    “You can be good, but Towns better.”

    Yes, Towns is unequivocally better than I am at basketball. Thanks for the reminder.

    Anyone taking the over on the buck-18 ORat Rudy/Ant/KAT lineups put up last year, with Juilus now swapped in for KAT?

    Full disclosure, that trio’s at 110 this year with a negative net rating.

    In terms of the team, +6.6 net last year, third in the association. Zero.zero this year.

    (And before the strawmen start/continue:

    Minny coach: “I had Julius in NO and know what he brings and I know how to use him the way he functions best.”

    Knicks coach: “Karl needs to post-up and cut more.”)

    Yes, Towns is unequivocally better than I am at basketball. Thanks for the reminder.

    Take solace in the fact that you’re probably better than Julius Randle though.

    If you’re thing is that they should have just gone January + Mikal and played Thibs-ball this season, you should probably feel free at this point to announce that. It’s an ethos and a defensible one.

    Because it’s impossible to think both that, and that Leon did a bang up job with the offseason.

    If Randle was such a huge contributor to winning, we wouldn’t have finished last season so strongly and done so well in the playoffs without him.

    We were 29-17 (.630 winning percentage) when Randle got injured.

    We went 21-15 (.583) after his injury.

    We were 5-4 in the postseason, including a humiliating game 7 blowout against the 6th seed in the East.

    You were happy in the playoffs, you had a lot of fun, but you’re misremembering what actually happened. We beat Joel Embiid on one leg and lost in the second round to a mickey mouse team.

    This team did not excel without Julius Randle.

    This team did not excel without Julius Randle.

    So then January/Mikal/Thibs-ball? Or? Tough to figure out where you stand on the whole thing.

    “If you’re thing is that they should have just gone January + Mikal and played Thibs-ball this season, you should probably feel free at this point to announce that. It’s an ethos and a defensible one.

    Because it’s impossible to think both that, and that Leon did a bang up job with the offseason.”

    I’m beginning to worry that I might very well be thinking the first paragraph, but not the second paragraph, anymore.

    Yeah honestly I don’t even get the point of this Randle argument. Just say “I don’t like the KAT trade because XYZ.” That’s totally reasonable.

    Everyone here is nervous about the team — in theory — switching to an entirely different style of play this year (although it wouldn’t surprise me if Thibs eventually settled into a Mitch/KAT frontcourt that closely resembles our previous Mitch/Randle frontcourt.)

    And yeah, it sucks that the upgrade to KAT cost us DDV. Maybe some are saying the upgrade wasn’t worth DDV? Sure, OK. Pretty hard to say thus far, but it’s an argument.

    It’s amazing to me the way rabbits go down holes and make more rabbits that make more rabbit holes.

    So then January/Mikal/Thibs-ball? Or? Tough to figure out where you stand on the whole thing.

    That’s because I don’t. You don’t need to stand on everything.

    I miss the old team because I liked it. I’m defensive of Julius Randle because I think he’s the 2nd most important Knick of the century after Brunson.

    But I’m patiently waiting for this new team to develop. I express my skepticism when current events seem to confirm my anxieties about it. But I don’t have a stand other than it was a big risk and it better pan out.

    “Anyone else concerned about our game tonight in Miami?”

    A little bit — it’ll be a rock fight, as always, and we’re likely to be without our best rock thrower (Hart). Still, I’m going to enjoy watching the team ironing out the kinks in real time, regardless of the outcome.

    I’ll tell you what I do have a stand on… Those fans at Yankee Stadium who are getting criticized today!

    I watched the tape like 10 times. Mookie Betts went into the crowd (i.e. their personal space), initiated contact in the stands, and hit one of them in the face. Hit me in the face and I’ll rip your arm off, too.* It’s called “fuck around and find out”.

    I love those guys. I hope we put them back in the crowd tonight and comp their seats. And if they win again, send them to LA.

    * I probably won’t but I’d like to pretend I would.

    It’s not even clear who is fighting with whom here and on what. You guys lost the thread.

    It’s not even clear who is fighting with whom here and on what.

    Kinda what I was getting at.

    Everyone was fighting with Strat for taking a dump on Julius Randle. But I think it’s over now.

    Ripping the ball out of Mookie’s glove is bozo behavior, if baseball lets shit like that slide you’re going to have some players fighting fans in the stands

    Randle definitely would have helped in the playoffs because we ended the season down Mitch, OG, Brunson, and Josh Hart. If nothing else playing him earlier might have helped some of those guys stay healthy.

    Anyone else concerned about our game tonight in Miami?

    MIA doesn’t try very hard in the RS but I’m concerned about every game with this group. We can’t guard anyone and Thibs’ strategy so far has been paleolithic. There’s very little reason to be confident that he knows what to do with this roster.

    If we’re in a position where we have to wait for the six weeks Mitch will be able to stay healthy once he returns, this summer was a massive failure.

    It’s not even clear who is fighting with whom here and on what.

    Hubert is fighting with his conscience, and winning.

    If we’re in a position where we have to wait for the six weeks Mitch will be able to stay healthy once he returns, this summer was a massive failure.

    The failure is inchoate until the coach is replaced.

    The failure is inchoate until the coach is replaced.

    Damn, that escalated quickly, lol.

    Again, the last two seasons we started out basically 500 for the first 20 games. Thibs tinkers and tries stuff out and learns what the team needs to do the first part of the season. We’ve seen this play out before and the last 2 seasons the blog has somewhat collectively lost their shit about how the season is going down the tubes before we ripped off a bunch of victories.

    Lets just ride it out, y’all.

    This isn’t a roster or project warranting or needing Thibs to tinker and chase regular season victories.

    Some years and some situations, yes, that’s the objective. Not this year and this situation, though.

    Not this year and this situation, though.

    Sorry but this is a ridiculous take. Just because they should play a 5 out style doesn’t mean all they gotta do is have everyone sit back behind the three point line and then toss it around till someone is open and splash threes.

    The starting 5 has 2 new starters. KAT And Mikal. And really 3 because Hart didn’t start last year. And in some ways, you could argue 4 as OG only started for a month before he got hurt.

    These dudes do not have experience playing together. Not really. Its absurd to think Thibs can just say “hey guys, let’s play a modern offense!” and everyone will be like “cool! We can do that” without actual experience playing together.

    Think of the Warriors. They had the same core of guys for multiple years before Kerr could come in there and upgrade the offense.

    Maybe Thibs will need to go. Maybe he doesn’t have it in him. But I find it really hard to believe that Leon would go in this direction if he wasn’t at least somewhat confident Thibs was on board and capable of doing this.

    Thibs hasn’t even done Step 1 of the proper “adaptation” process, which is to install the new offense that has to be adapted to. There’s no reason to believe he ever will.

    Beyond that, I’m not really sure what “adaptation” is being talked about. They have some new players. Big deal.

    If it’s not “installing an offense that fits the skillset of his new players,” any tinkering or adaptation is pointless and counterproductive.

    If, as appears to be the case, Jalen Brunson is trying to figure out how best to work KAT into the offense because it’s an offense designed for a Mitch Robinson type at center, well then I hope is obvious to all at KB that that’s a fundamental system flaw. No adaptation or tinkering to “fix” that is warranted.

    Hubert is fighting with his conscience, and winning.

    When I came here an hour ago I was losing to my inner demons. What a turnaround!

    Let’s hope Aaron Judge experiences something similar.

    Sorry but this is a ridiculous take. Just because they should play a 5 out style doesn’t mean all they gotta do is have everyone sit back behind the three point line and then toss it around till someone is open and splash threes.

    Ok but it’s not just that they’re not playing hyper-modern, it’s that they’re playing 20th century basketball. Towns’ 3PA rate is similar to Josh Hart’s career low.

    The starting 5 has 2 new starters. KAT And Mikal. And really 3 because Hart didn’t start last year. And in some ways, you could argue 4 as OG only started for a month before he got hurt.

    Streeeeeetch. Hart started more games last year than he came off the bench, and started for the entire playoffs. Mikal and KAT are supposed to be among the most portable players in the association. The team is deliberately avoiding playing to its strengths. OG is averaging more FGA than Towns.

    Think of the Warriors. They had the same core of guys for multiple years before Kerr could come in there and upgrade the offense.

    If Kerr came in sooner he’d have upgraded it sooner. Jackson’s shitty coaching held them back. If the same was gonna happen to us this year, this is exacty what the beginning of it would look like.

    Ah, Pags and E kidnapping another thread. We’re in mid-season form.

    Examples of the troll kidnapping:

    “There’s no reason to believe he ever will.”

    (Because there’s no record of Thibs ever adapting to anything.)

    “The team is deliberately avoiding playing to its strengths.”

    (Because Thibs likes to lose games.)

    Love the hot takes. Keep them coming! Nothing means anything at this point of the season, so anything follows from anything! It’s a beautiful time of year where we get to kvetch across the entirety of logical space.

    (Also, we’re going to be fine.)

    P.S. to follow up/change the subject:I laid a few units on Kamala winning the EC at 40c a share so you all had better go out and vote for her or compensate me directly

    P.S. to follow up/change the subject:I laid a few units on Kamala winning the EC at 40c a share so you all had better go out and vote for her or compensate me directly

    I am betting the most money I have ever wagered on anything on a combination of her at 38c, and Gallego at 68c.

    Maybe I’ll lose my shirt, but these implied odds are insane compared to the best indicators.

    Noble, you’re betting on a US Army Practical Nursing Specialist? To do what, exactly?

    Ah, Pags and E kidnapping another thread. We’re in mid-season form.

    Wow, I can kidnap an entire thread with just two fairly mild posts!

    You guys betting on Kamala are brave. She has to win handily while the Grifter King only has to get within stealing distance, with a hundred different thumbs on the scale in his favor.

    My prediction is that they stop her from hitting 270 with bullshit and then the House elects Trump. If not, then Musk buying votes in PA will be enough.

    Don’t worry Pags I’ll [REDACTED] if the election is stolen. That or ask for my money back

    It will be interesting to see how Towns does against an excellent defender like Adebayo. If Towns gets shut down, tomorrow’s thread should be fun.

    inchoate

    Granted, my language skills lag far below my analytical skills, but I had to look that one up. 😉

    Bob if you’re going to wishcast, would you mind putting some money on your guy? Helps us get hilariously good odds. Thanks!

    So we’re ignoring the 2 months of barely 500ish play in February and March after Randle got hurt or it doesn’t count cause OG was also hurt?

    There were a lot of moving parts last season. IMO adding OG was critical. I was swooning over him for a couple of years because I thought he was the perfect piece to replace RJ (I hated giving up Quick though).

    But that’s not the point.

    The point is we were terrific without Randle. That simply does not happen if the player is a top star unless you are an all time great team with excesses (like the Celtics) or have an incredible bench piece replace him. IMO the evidence is overwhelming that Randle’s contribution to winning is lower than his face value stats. That’s why when he was out I thought we could still compete. He’s good, but not so good we couldn’t compete without him.

    Quite Frankly if Hart is out tonight I’d probably be more worried about that than losing Randle last year. Hart is limited in some ways but underappreciated. What he does well is not captured well. IMO, he’s especially critical because we have some rebounding issues and he’s a plus rebounder for his position.

    Bob if you’re going to wishcast, would you mind putting some money on your guy? Helps us get hilariously good odds. Thanks!

    My friend, I will guarantee you I have wagered more cash on horses, blackjack and poker than 99% of you folks… I don’t bet 3-5 favorites as a rule.

    As a general rule, never bet until you perceive you expected value exceeds the price you are offered. I don’t see that on either side of this wager.

    And, I hardly wishcasted…

    @ShamsCharania
    Lonnie Walker IV will sign with Zalgiris Kaunas of the Euroleague, agent George S. Langberg of GSL Sports Group tells me and @BobbyMarks42. The deal will include an NBA buyout clause until Feb. 18. The 25-year-old G has averaged 10 points in 20 minutes a game in six NBA seasons.

    Lonnie Walker IV, who has fans here, is signing with Zalgiris Kaunas…

    P.S.
    Alan beat me to it 😁

    The point is we were terrific without Randle.

    We were not. You are peddling lies.

    Jalen Brunson was terrific without Randle.

    Another term comes to mind….

    Overly optimistic about the moral standards and critical thinking skills of our electorate?

    As a general rule, never bet until you perceive you expected value exceeds the price you are offered. I don’t see that on either side of this wager.

    Given the significant variation in the odds on different betting platforms, isn’t it kinda impossible that you aren’t getting a good enough price somewhere?

    whoa, looks like we have a couple of more games on tonight…

    I may opt out, we’ll see…

    started my second toon in Fallout 76…first toon’s around 325 or so…

    there’s going to be an update in some weeks that will allow players to turn their toon in to a “ghoul”…sooooo, getting that second toon ready for that…

    When I came here an hour ago I was losing to my inner demons. What a turnaround!

    Yeah, there were several drafts of that post. By the fourth re-write I’d lost track of who was winning, then the deadline was up and I had to go to press. Not my best work, but, it was free, so until I get some of that Patreon dough Mile K is rolling in, you guys are going to have to deal with some occasional sub-par work from me.

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