Knicks Morning News (2024.11.24)

31 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.11.24)”

I had visions of a Batman-Robin, OG-Mikal tandem wreaking havoc on wing defense while Brunson draws charges and Kat/Hart clean up the boards. Seems problematic when someone beats Brunson or rotations can’t pick up a cutter.

Offense is working ok. Bridges should work on getting himself open for 3s and getting to the rim. I really have no problem if the offense is clicking with Bridges production being down. Who cares. Question is can he turn it up when someone is out or we need a boost because other shots aren’t falling. As long as he is playing good team basketball and we are generally winning…maybe he is just unlucky and we get a cheaper extension…and he doesn’t care because he likes it here and we are winning. Glass half full. If we win it doesn’t matter if we overpaid since I struggle to see a better option. We don’t need more star power, there would be too many mouths to feed. He is versatile, stays healthy (knock wood) and can slot into a number of roles with injuries. He has star potential given a bigger role, but an ego that allows him to accept a smaller offensive role. That is worth a lot. We are still early into the adjustment period. I still like the trade.

Two reflections from last night. The first was how both Brunson and Hart drove to the cup early on because moxie — and to their credit, it works almost all the time — but this time they found themselves in a forest of seven-foot arms and torsos. And unfortunately the Plan B was to shoot and miss threes.

The second was how at the end of the game guys were like, “I’m not taking another three, I don’t care if I’m open” — especially KAT, but I saw others do it too. It was minor league amusing.

Not sure what lessons one can take from that game. Except that if there are three enormous shot blockers on the other team, you should probably hit your threes.

Favorite pointless stat of the game:
Kat -34, Sims +19.

Less chuckle-worthy, Denver crushed the Lakers by 25 last night. Which normally would cheer me up, except…

We went on a 17-0 run when Utah took both of their seven footers out. Maybe Jericho really was the key but I think the lack of Kessler was more relevant.

KAT — 6 contests in 38:45
Sims — 3 contests in 9:15

Kessler — 23 contests in 35:13

As much as I love blaming Mikal, I don’t know that he was the main problem last night.

Kessler had me drooling. He had a block on KAT that was so squeaky clean and majestic. I was surprised how easily KAT got past him on the perimeter and surprised how easily he smothered him. It almost felt like a trap of some sort.

I miss Mitch. Kessler looks like the new Mitch.

And to think Leon balked at two firsts for Kessler but gave away the store for Bridges. We could have just replaced Hartenstein with Walker and brought back the same team everyone loved.

If that is the case Hubert I would be mad too. I think the price was much higher though.

I think Kessler and Towns would work well together.

As much as I love blaming Mikal, I don’t know that he was the main problem last night.

This is what I was posting late last night （it was daytime for me). The biggest blame should fall on KAT. He couldn’t score well inside and wasn’t hitting his threes. Defensively, he didn’t stop anyone from scoring.

I was only able to watch some of the first half and the offense looked mostly like guys missing, but the defense was kinda terrifying

You aren’t beating any team that shoots 56% from three.

I only saw bits and pieces of the game, were the Markiten and Sexton 3’s contested at least? Either way you can’t give up 121 points to the Utah Jazz

Oh, and who the hell is Johnny Juzang?

Juzang had a good tourney run with UCLA a few years ago. I remember that.

I am starting to agree that the move was to trade for Kessler instead of Mikal and save some ammunition. However, Mikal’s versatility, Iron Man-ness, and potential to step in as a number two option is not something that a Kessler level player offers.

Marc Stein reported the price as two firsts but it’s entirely possible Deuce would have had to be the player to make salary work. Nothing was reported on the player.

This was all after the Bridges trade and before the KAT trade, though. The fork in the road is when Leon was informed that Hartenstein was a goner and with that information made the Bridges trade when Kessler was available for much less.

I don’t know how the rest of the offseason would have went if we had just replaced Hartenstein straight away instead of making the Bridges trade. I imagine we might not have KAT if Donte isn’t expendable and we have Kessler to play C.

I can’t say I was pining for Kessler at the time. I spent most of the summer asking people who watched him what they think, bc I’d never seen him play. Having seen him last night, though, I certainly know what I wish we’d chosen.

I mean, there was zero justification for the Bridges overpay. At least KAT, came at a fair price, but even so, I am at best lukewarm on his game. His defense at the 5 is verging on Enes Freedom-level bad. Love his passing and rebounding, but he gives away so much momentum by being such a sieve in the paint. I fear that he HAS to play the 4 or we are going nowhere.

There’s a long way to go, but I haven’t felt great about a single game this year. The losses to Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, and Utah are starting to look like a pattern. We seem slow, slow, slow.

Getting Deuce, Precious and Mitch back will help. How much? We’ll see. If Bridges doesn’t pick it up, we have problems.

I know some people think we need to give Mikal Bridges lots of time but I am ready to pivot today. It’s not too soon. When you make a mistake, the best course of action is to rectify it immediately.

And we definitely made a mistake. Brunson, Hart, and OG is our 1-2-3. We don’t need Mikal Bridges.

I don’t think we’d be selling low, either. In fact we may be selling high. We’ll never recoup the premium we paid for him, but if Dejounte Murray yielded a majestic bounty after two disappointing seasons, I feel certain Mikal will have maintained much of his trade value after two disappointing months.

Sign me up right now for a three-team trade where he goes to a team that can send the assets to Ainge to give us Kessler.* We’d need to take back between $18-$20M in salary so presumably we’d add a useful bench piece from someone in the process.

* If I’m overreacting to anything, it’s Kessler. Maybe he’s not as good as he looked last night. He doesn’t have to be the target, though. Just pivot from Bridges ASAP.

I don’t think giving up on bridges makes sense.

We know he can be a productive player. We need him to get back to doing what he did in Phoenix.

The price was too high though.

Per NBA.com numbers:

DRtg last night: 117.5
DRtg season: 115.6

ORtg last night: 103.9
ORtg season: 120.9

If Mikal is supposed to be a 2nd option, last night was the night to show it. KAT was dreadful while Brunson was good but not particularly efficient. Mikal finally had an opportunity to carry the offense.

IDK, I’m just going to pretend this was a “drinks hit you harder at altitude” hangover game.

The main problems with Bridges are that he’s not hitting 3s and he’s not defending at the level we hoped. What makes that a major problem is that we were hoping (or at least should have been hoping) that in a smaller role as the 3/3a option in NY, he’d score less, but be more efficient and have the energy to defend at a higher level. We didn’t need the Nets version. We needed the Suns version.

To get that efficiency up to where it needs to be he has to start hitting 3s. That’s probably doable. I’m not sure what to make of his defense anymore. Maybe he was just always overrated as a defender, but I recall him locking players up and being very impressed at times in his Suns days.

The “number” of picks we gave up overstates their value because despite the issues we are having they are likely to be late 1st round picks. It was an overpay, but not as bad as it looks.

Mitch was on the bench last night – that has to be good that he’s back travelling with the team, right?

If Mikal is supposed to be a 2nd option,

Once we got KAT he was definitely going to be 3 or 3a option with OG. The 2nd option idea was always pre KAT. It was an open question as to whether he’d be able to do it or whether we were going to have to make another move for a scorer. Then the KAT trade was made and he dropped in the pecking order.

At this point, it looks like OG has done more to expand his game than Bridges. His handle is still a weakness, but I think it’s a hair better than before and he’s hitting 3s consistently from more places. He should be the 3rd option right now and Bridges should be 4th unless matchups suggest otherwise

If Mikal is supposed to be a 2nd option, last night was the night to show it. KAT was dreadful while Brunson was good but not particularly efficient. Mikal finally had an opportunity to carry the offense.

I guess the opportunity for Mikal was there, but it would take recognition by the players that should try scoring some other way than Brunson/KAT pick and rolls. I was watching the latter part of the game and I didn’t see any new approach. I have some sympathy with the players here. They may not have practiced setting Bridges up as the main man. They may also have felt they were just missing shots and the shooting would come around.

I have liked Kessler since draft time, but thought the asking price was too high. Might have been wrong on that, but whatever. He was very good last night,

The larger point is that Leon thought Bridges was worth THAT asking price. If Mikal returns to his post-Durant trade form, I could see it being just a clear but justifiable overpay. But for this guy? Damn.

Here’s to hoping that he will snap out of whatever funk he is in. If not, he better spend the entire off-season in the gym, including in the weight room.

If Bridges doesn’t pick it up, we have problems.

Bridges has 15,500 minutes of good basketball and 600 minutes of bad…. I’m going with the over.

KAT’s offense is sublime (excepting yesterday) but his lack of rim protection is the biggest problem. Playing with Mitch/Precious will help that. His work at the 4 last season with Gobert was fine.

Yesterday was a weird game and it wasn’t just my eye test. Monica made some comments to the same effect as did Wally and Hahn. The guys looked like zombies out there except OG and Payne.

Thx @antipioneer. I didn’t notice Mitch on the bench, but, yeah, that has to be a good sign. (Right? ;-))

I don’t think Mitch is the solution to all our problems, but he just may be for the specific problem we had last night in the paint.

As for the other team hitting 50+% from three, dunno what to do. Tip our caps or complain. I suppose that depends on one’s temperament.

“…while Brunson was good but not particularly efficient.”

I thought Brunson had a shitty game (for him) on both ends. Just not a particularly heady game. But only OG, Hart (at times) and Cam played winning basketball last night. When you get flame-broiled by Johnny Juzang, that pretty much sums it up.

We need him to get back to doing what he did in Phoenix.

I can’t think of many role players who briefly excelled in a leading role and then went back to being a role player.

I don’t think he wants to be that guy any more. And even if he did, it’s possible he just can’t be without his youthful athleticism.

And if he gets better on offense it’s just going to diminish OG or Hart.

He should be the 3rd option right now and Bridges should be 4th unless matchups suggest otherwise

Josh Hart has so much energy and the ball always finds him. Bridges is 5th. Quentin Grimes could be doing his job.

With Bridges it pretty much has to be an athletic decline. When a player can’t guard anyone or get to the foul line at all, that’s the fair presumption. He hasn’t defended at a high level for at least a full season.

I think the iron man thing ruined him. He has multiple seasons more mileage on him than OG and I suspect he played through stuff he shouldn’t have in service of the games played streak, just like Hali did to stay eligible for All-NBA.

Paying a Ferrari price for a fully loaded Toyota Camry is bad enough. To then find out the Camry is a complete lemon that can’t even handle your daily commute is devastating.

I’m with Hubs. This isn’t gonna get any better. He just doesn’t have the ability anymore. He hasn’t been bad for 600 minutes, he’s been bad for than plus an entire season before it. We bid against ourselves to get him so obviously there is no recovering the price paid. We should move on in whatever way we can before his current production erases all accumulated goodwill from his resume and reputation.

They laid an egg. Get over it. We had the luxury of size last year. Now we don’t and we are paying the price- forget point of attack. In 2 months, we may have size again. For now, work out the kinks. If we can stay relatively healthy into May and June – we have a shot.

This isn’t gonna get any better. He just doesn’t have the ability anymore

So it is written, so it shall be…

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31 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.11.24)”

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