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146 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.01.24)”
In light of the All Star news..
Am I the only one who would be disappointed if Hart doesn’t make the team as a reserve?
I don’t know if I would be disappointed if he didn’t make it but I think he deserves it.
FWIW (and I’ve said this a few times) I am only talking about this year. I think forecasting beyond the current season is silly. There are just too many variables.
This year, because the Bridges trade capped us at the first apron and OG’s contract put us right up against it, we can see quite clearly how limited the team and its options for improvement are.
But come the offseason, things will be much different. You can do Aller magic in the offseason. And I believe strongly in what ptmilo dubbed the ebb and flow of franchise tides.
This year feels very much like a low tide season for us. We’re just too thin and depleted. But I don’t think it says much about our prospects for next year, which I think will be a high tide season for us (and a low one for Boston and Cleveland).
We do have to get there in one piece, though, and Thibs is starting to scare me about that.
I can’t imagine Hart making the team, if for no other reason than that there are four guys on the Cavs who have a legit case, which means that if a final spot on the roster is open after Dame and the other gimmes are added, it will go to someone from the best team in the East.
Good morning, fellow Knickerbloggers?
As much as I’m happy for KAT and Jalen and for the recognition they are garnering, quite honestly I just want them to have a long weekend and rest up. I’ve been of the mind the past few years that I prefer our Knicks not to play in any “extraneous” games, and that includes All-Star stuff and even the Olympics.
Is Dame really still a “gimme”? I’m not so sure. (Maybe he is. I just looked at his season numbers versus his career numbers. Kind of impressive, and I had no idea.)
Jokic with 35/22/17 last night against our next opponent (the Kings). Hopefully he didn’t piss them off too much, and instead took their morale.
Yeah, i agree. This season will be hard for us to get past the 2nd round, because we need some adjustments that will only be possible in the offseason… unless Leon and Aller surprise again at the deadline. 😉
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/charlotte-hornets/news/lamelo-ball-all-star-nba-media-voters-say-hornets-star/a018e2cbccd667f8e279e1ca
I found this interesting: a Sporting News writer spoke to fans who voted for LaMelo to start the All-Star Game and to media members who won’t vote for him, to try to figure out the disconnect. Given how well he did in the fan voting, I wonder if he gets a bench spot, despite how bad Charlotte is.
Kudos to our two All-Stars for the historical feat!
Like I did for the last 30 years I wont watch the event (this year format is a travesty) and I agree with Z-man, LaClown as an ASG starter would’ve been a shame for basketball.
Now I hope Cade gets a well deserved spot in the East lineup (I think Ball will get a spot, as an homage to the fans).
Pointzzzz plus reputation plus the Bucks getting their act together in recent weeks means I would be shocked if he doesn’t make it. So you’ve got five starters. Dame is a gimme. There’s going to be at least one more Cav (probably Garland) and one more Celtic (probably Brown?), and both teams could potentially get multiple subs. So that’s at least eight spots taken right there. Cade probably gets a spot, both for his play and for how well Detroit is doing. That’s at least nine. Then just looking at guards alone, Trae, Maxey, Ball, and Hali all have to at least be in consideration, you’ve also got both Cleveland big men, Pascal… 12 spots is not a lot.
From Macri:
Almost as impressively, the three other Knick starters received ample praise from their peers. Josh Hart finished tied for 10th in player voting for the East backcourt, while Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby finished 11th and 13th in player voting for the East frontcourt, respectively.
Thomas Bryant with 9 points (4-of-5 shooting) and 3 offensive rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench last night for the Pacers.
Banchero 1-for-14 in a 22-point loss to the Blazers last night. No bueno.
Also this (thanks Alan!):
Brunson and Payne have shared the court for 202 non-garbage time possessions, and they’re killing teams in that time, thanks mostly to an absurd 141.6 offensive rating that is good for the 100th percentile league-wide. They also give up 125.4 points per 100, which is in the first percentile, but again, these lineups are throwing haymakers.
Well deserved, he’s having a great season, in my opinion the Knicks’ best when compared to the expectations.
Is Bruce Brown back? 17/5/3 on 55.8 field goal shooting over the past three games (22 minutes per game).
Cyber, I also think this is very much just a high tide/Cinderella season for Cleveland. Like Minnesota that one year with KG & Spree, or the 2001 Sixers. I don’t think they’ve established a long term gap. The gap is attributable largely to our respective tides.
I am really beginning to like this Denver team. I think they’re the ones with a puncher’s chance to win the title.
One thing the OG, Mikal and especially the Randle/Divo for KAT trades have proved to me is that what people think is off the table or impossible for Leon is, in fact, not.
No one thought the Nova Knicks would be broken up, at least not this soon, especially after we got Mikal. But Leon was willing to do that in order to get KAT.
No one thought we would trade with Toronto because of the lawsuit or The Nets because they’re our cross town rivals, but we did.
So, when I look past this season, I don’t think our assets are empty like a lot of people do because I think, for the right trade, all of our starters (sans Brunson) are probably available.
Now would Leon trade any of them to get back picks and start over? At this point, probably not. But I think he would use any of them in a larger trade for a superstar if that was an option.
So I think things are potentially more fluid than we think they are.
We had great numbers with Brunson and Quickley, too. There’s a lot of evidence two PG lineups with Brunson work well (and Randle wasn’t a PG but he was a good secondary ball handler, turnovers notwithstanding). Thibs is thick AF, though.
I want to point out that the 125.4 Drtg is 6 points worse than the worst defense in the league.
If our offense was 2pts better than the best offense of all-time and had that Drtg, then it would still be a losing team.
From Zach Harper in the Athletic’s “The Bounce” newsletter:
“Media voting: Mobley was the only other East frontcourt player to get a vote outside of the starters. Trae Young and Damian Lillard combined didn’t have as many votes as Cade Cunningham or Darius Garland.”
I believe Steve Kerr and his assistants for Team USA loooooved Hart. Thibs obviously does. So maybe he has a real shot at the coaches voting him in!
Does Maxey really deserve it on merit? .552 TS%, .333 3P%, close to 10% turnover rate. A 30%+ usage with those numbers isn’t that great. The only thing really keeping him above water is how many free throws he gets. Lillard has been significantly better (.622 TS%). Even Haliburton has been better than Lillard.
Obviously Garland should be the top guard reserve, though.
Respectfully, Swifty, you are equating “I didn’t think ___” with “no one thought ___”.
I literally predicted Leon would break up the Nova Knicks this season if the right opportunity came along. I also repeatedly cited sources who debunked the cockamamie ideas that the Raptors and Nets wouldn’t trade with the Knicks.
Those were simple things he did. Turning our current asset chest into a player capable of making a difference before the trade deadline is a lot harder.
“Does Maxey really deserve it on merit? .552 TS%, .333 3P%, close to 10% turnover rate. A 30%+ usage with those numbers isn’t that great. The only thing really keeping him above water is how many free throws he gets. Lillard has been significantly better (.622 TS%). Even Haliburton has been better than Lillard.”
As Alan alluded to earlier today, it’s doubtful that anyone is delving deeply into the advanced stats when making All-Star voting decisions. Seems to be more of an instinctual/gut type of thing.
I love KAT but if we traded him for Giannis I would be totally fine with it.
I love Giannis
https://x.com/eric_nehm/status/1882663511027073298?s=46&t=0wqff4cNt-sCGcDs-uMExw
That is a COLD take, my friend. :). And yeah, seems like a really good dude. As does KAT!
Re: Maxey when I hear “merit,” I think that some guys just become perennial All-Stars and get the nod even when they’re on the fence. So I think Maxey and Jaylen Brown have really good odds.
spent 15 minutes listening to bill simmons complain about the Celtics, good times
All-stars via advanced stats (min 1,00 minutes played)
Straight BPM:
East: Giannis, Tatum, KAT, Garland, Allen
West: Jokic, SGA, Wemby, Sabonis, Curry
OBPM:
East: Giannis, Garland, KAT, Tatum, Tie: Lillard/Brunson
West: Jokic, SGA, Curry, LBJ, Sabonis
Straight WS48:
East: Allen, KAT, Giannis, Mobley, Garland
West: Jokic, SGA, Sabonis, AD, Zubac
Straight PER:
East: Giannis, KAT, Allen, Tatum, Mobley (Brunson #6)
West: Jokic, SGA, AD, Wemby, LBJ
Straight EPM:
East: Giannis, Tatum, Garland, KAT, Spida
West: SGA, Jokic, Wemby, JJJ, Sabonis
OEPM:
East: Garland, Brunson, Herro, Dame, KAT
West: Jokic, SGA, Curry, Booker, Kyrie
Note: LaMelo just missed the minutes cutoff, or he would have been on several teams. Same (but less so) for Franz and Gafford.
Conclusion: Brunson is overrated (JUST KIDDIN’!)
Great quote, Owen, thanks. What a likeable dude.
His current theory is Jalen Brown is too jacked
LaMelo is an ideal player for the actual all star game itself, he might take it more seriously than he takes NBA games.
“Owen says:
January 24, 2025 at 10:55
I love KAT but if we traded him for Giannis I would be totally fine with it.
I love Giannis
https://x.com/eric_nehm/status/1882663511027073298?s=46&t=0wqff4cNt-sCGcDs-uMExw
DS says:
January 24, 2025 at 11:01
I love KAT but if we traded him for Gianni’s I would be totally fine with it.
I love Giannis
That is a COLD take, my friend. :). And yeah, seems like a really good dude. As does KAT!”
Weird. Owen (correctly) did not have a random apostrophe in Giannis’ name, but then when DS re-posted it showed up as “Gianni’s.” So many people style it as “Gianni’s,” and I’ve never understood why anyone thinks that his name has an apostrophe in it.
Jalen Brown may be too jacked, but Jaylen Brown is fine.
I wasn’t specifically referring to this deadline but more long term like you.
Maybe some thought those things would/could happen but I remember the general consensus being that we would not trade with the Raptors or Nets and that the Nova Knicks would not be broken up until at least this off season.
My overall point is just that I don’t think it’s off the table for Leon to trade any of the main guys this off season if the right move comes along. So I don’t think our assets are as depleted as some might think.
I don’t think the Celts are invincible or anything, but they probably are coasting a bit. They’ve not only coming off a championship, they’ve been to the conference finals or finals three straight years and 4 of the last 5. The regular season must seem like a boring grind to them.
Doogie, i think you have to write to the companies that make the autocorrect, because a lot of the errors you point out are probably the autocorrect misspelling words. And since we don’t have all the time in the world to re-read what we post, the error lives on. 😀
LOL
I’m with you, Owen. There’s not a lot of players i’d trade KAT for, but Giannis is certainly one of them. Great dude!
KAT is a great dude too, but Giannis’ defense puts him ahead. 😉
“Doogie, i think you have to write to the companies that make the autocorrect, because a lot of the errors you point out are probably the autocorrect misspelling words. And since we don’t have all the time in the world to re-read what we post, the error lives on. 😀”
That’s the thing though, cyber. The error didn’t “live on,” because it wasn’t there in the first place, meaning that Owen’s original post did not have the error in it. The error was only introduced when DS *copied* Owen’s original post. That doesn’t make any sense, and doesn’t seem to have anything to do with being an autocorrect error, since DS didn’t actually type it out.
So for the most part I wasn’t so much pointing out an error as I was pointing out the oddity, in this case.
It’s kind of hard to imagine Leon trading anyone on the team right now but I kind of agree that it might be our best route to improvement. I like the team as is, warts and obvious shortcomings included, so I don’t know how I feel about it emotionally, but it’s a possibility.
I agree there are probably some moves to be made in the offseason too.
I do love the Knicks fan base. There was some tweet the other day when the Lively injury news broke that was basically like, “Can I interest you in Jericho Sims?”
The most logical conclusion is that Owen committed the original error on Giannis’ name by sticking a random apostrophe in it and then noticed his error and fixed it (yay!), but unfortunately not before DS saw (and copied) Owen’s original post and used it as part of his own.
Doogie, I saw the mistake after posting it and corrected it. Someone had already replied to it though, which is what accounts for the discrepancy.
We would all appreciate it if you would refrain from commenting on the incorrect syntax, punctuation, and various misspellings that creep into postings on this site. It doesn’t add anything and definitely detracts from the overall experience here.
I don’t think you are violating any guidelines but please understand that it is annoying for others when you do so. If you could just comment on the typical basketball and off-topic topics that would be most welcome.
“Doogie, I saw the mistake after posting it and corrected it. Someone had already replied to it though, which is what accounts for the discrepancy.”
Yes, I already figured that out and posted as much. (I’m guessing that you didn’t see mine before posting yours, the classic cross-posting.
🙂 ) Thanks!
Players I would trade KAT for:
Giannis
SGA
Jokic
Mobley
Tatum
Luka
Wemby
Maybe Bam
Maybe AD (so injury prone but so good when healthy)
Maybe Ja (probably not just due to the character issues, but it would be a tough decision)
Need more data on J-Dub, Cade, Ant…would definitely look at pros and cons.
That’s about it. If it was just for a 1-2 year window, I’d obviously have to consider Steph and Durant, but the age issue pretty much rules them out.
Trading KAT back to Minny for Ant—now that would be something! (Let’s please not do it, though, or even consider it.)
Regarding Steph and Durant, I get the age thing, but we’ve been saying that about CP3 for about five years now, and he’s having a very productive year with Wemby in San Antonio right now. (I wouldn’t want Durant because of personality/chemistry issues, but Steph would be more than welcome. I doubt that he does anything other than retire as a Warrior, though. No way he’d join his hometown Hornets, right?)
I’d hang up the phone re Tatum, Mobley, or Bam, also AD and Ja. I’m even on the fence with Giannis. KAT brings a huge wealth of skills, including the three ball, that not many players have in the aggregate. And that changes the team and what it can do.
Put Giannis in place of KAT creates an entirely different team. Better? Maybe, even probably. But not definitively.
It doesn’t matter how many times you tell Doogie that his incessant grammar policing is rude and detracts from the site. He’s a fucking jackass and he seems to enjoy annoying the shit out of people.
At some point you just have to call it out for what it is. He’s a fucking jerk and an obnoxious troll. This is the last time I’m ever referring to him on this blog and I encourage everybody else to do the same. Seriously, from this point, let’s all stop reaching out to this clown and all ignore him en masse. No more replies. Don’t even reply to his non-troll posts. A complete freeze out might get him to lose interest and go harass some other community with his condescending horseshit.
This isn’t just some kind of thing where two people have a personality clash and it gets snippy. This is somebody who is intentionally making the experience of this place worse. There have been other trolls like this in the blog’s history, but he’s right up there with the very worst.
I think of KAT as very good, but is pretty clarifying to try to list who you’d be willing to trade him for. It’s a short list. Bam? No way.
No way to Cade as well, but I have to concede at this point that he’s better than I expected. He has a way to go before he’s better than Jalen, but it seems likely he’ll get there. We shall see.
JK47 lying it duwn!
KAT is pretty special and like Hubert I think we can make some moves next year to go from sr contender to ssr condtender supreme god commander contender. Giannis would be something though. Just might hurt my feelings. Anyone seen Emilia Perez?
Had me laughing, swift
I think Giannis is the only guy I would trade KAT for currently who is a remotely reasonable target. KAT is good!
Bam is a billion times better than KAT on D and no slouch on O. I Would seriously consider it…especially if I had enough scoring at other positions.
The Brunson/Cam numbers speak to what I think is a genuine blind spot of Thibs’ (who I think doesn’t get the fairest shake in general).
There are times it’s appropriate to play lineups, combinations, etc. that flatly suck defensively. Not all opposing personnel can exploit it, sometimes you’ll benefit from good ol’ missed shot luck, and sometimes depending on the game state it’s simply more important to put your best offensive foot forward.
To do a little armchair psychology, I get the impression Thibs has a kind of fundamental opposition to playing lineups that suck defensively, even in the situations it makes sense.
I don’t want to overstate the case—it goes without saying that there are no shortage of valid reasons to not play lineups with 125 defensive ratings. But with a team like ours where between Brunson, Cam, and Deuce, a disproportionate amount of the talent comes from small, defensively challenged/limited guards, seems to me he could stand to be more flexible.
“KAT is good!”
KAT is one of the worst defensive C’s I’ve ever seen. Defense is half of the game, and C is the most important position on D. Does that not matter here on KB?
I wouldn’t mind seeing more Brunson-Cam lineups but don’t really care much one way or another. I certainly don’t think we are losing games because of it.
Bam’s .519 TS% this season is pretty slouchy to me. No, thank you. KAT is better. His impact on the offense as a whole has been really underappreciated throughout his career.
hey JK, hope all is well for you…just wondering what you think of the Pete Carroll hire…
initially I was like: damn dude is 74…
however – he definitely knows what the heck he is doing…adds “stability” (3 year deal) and credibility to the organization…
the raiders are one of the more important teams in the nfl, it’s better when they’re better…
Z-Man – he’s one of the worst defensive centers I have seen too. But he is the best offensive center I can think of outside of Jokic and maybe a few well known gentlemen in the HOF
That may be true, but individual defense is nowhere close to half as important as individual offense — another thing the all-in-one’r, physics labs leave out of the analysis.
It’s probably closer to Total Individual Team Impact = (.85 * Individual Offensive Impact) + (.15 * Individual Defensive Impact). Even that might be too low for the offensive coefficient.
Players who bring James Harden’s defensive quality to the offensive end aren’t in the NBA.
KAT >>> bam
plus bam plays a bit dirty…don’t think he’ll get traded from miami…seems him and herro will be there a while…
now that I get to watch him play all the time – no question KAT is a championship level player…
he needs to play with another big on the floor – maybe at least a third or even half the time he’s out there…to help offset some of his defensive liability…
and what exactly is his issue on defense?
interesting thought E, on which end of the court can a player be more impactful…
seems like it would be harder to be a consistent and efficient scorer over an above average defender…
“I’d hang up the phone re Tatum, Mobley, or Bam, also AD and Ja.”
I actually think Brad Stevens would hang up the phone, and that the vast majority of executives would similarly prefer Tatum over KAT. Frankly, I don’t think it’s particularly close.
Evan Mobley is all about youth and potential. If he has peaked on offense, then sure, KAT is better overall. But I don’t think he has peaked on offense and he is a vastly superior defender.
I’d probably say no to Bam when it comes down to it, but I guess I think it’s much closer than many here.
Ja and AD have known issues, so on that basis I’d say no.
But Giannis? Come on. He is vastly more impactful on winning than KAT. It would be straight-up insanity to say no to a straight-up deal.
An individual offensive player who has the basketball in his hand is in full potential control of the team’s offensive output for that possession.
There’s no remote equivalent on the defensive end.
Moreover, sublimely perfect individual defensive is often still no match for world-class offense. There’s an offensive high-end that the defensive high-end can’t get to.
“Bam’s .519 TS% this season is pretty slouchy to me.”
His career TS% is 591. Miami is Team Turmoil this year. I’d consider it a chance to buy low on one of the most underrated players in the NBA.
been so long since I’ve seen him play, but jayden daniels kind of reminds me of joe montana…
a seasoned joe montana at that…
so comfortable in such a chaotic situation…
one of the biggest factors in nfl playoff success is turnovers…somehow, he’s been able to avoid giving the ball away…
Well, on the one hand he’s going to be the oldest coach in NFL history. So there’s that. It’s hard to imagine him doing the gig for more than a few years, although people close to him swear that he’s a very fit and energetic 74 year old. When I look at the list of other candidates who were in contention, I see a lot of one-and-done types on there, guys who would have probably gotten hired, stunk out the joint, then gotten fired. Maybe Pete Carroll brings them some stability and lifts them out of laughing stock status before he retires.
The Raiders seem to be miles away from any type of respectability, and the two pointless games they won at the end of the year were incredibly damaging. They went from a surefire top 2 pick to the 6th pick, which is right where the mega-elite talent starts to tail off.
Other than Brock Bowers (who looks like a HOF player) they are completely destitute at the skill positions. They will not get a top QB in the draft, and the QB situation in Las Vegas is hands down the worst in the NFL. There is one elite WR prospect in this draft (McMillan) and they should snag him if he’s on the board if for no other reason than to give the fans something to watch. The best player on the defense (Maxx Crosby) seems to want out, but maybe Carroll brings enough gravitas to keep Maxx in the fold. Years of horrible drafting has left the roster with an almost infinite number of holes to fill. The offensive line is a trainwreck, there are currently no viable linebackers who are under contract for next year, and the secondary is a collection of mediocre journeymen. Their needs are everything except tight end.
Mark Davis still cuts his hair with a Flowbee. That says a lot to me. Not good things.
Career Block Percentage:
Bam Adebayo — 2.8.
Karl-Anthony Towns — 3.1.
“Z-Man – he’s one of the worst defensive centers I have seen too. But he is the best offensive center I can think of outside of Jokic and maybe a few well known gentlemen in the HOF”
I would vehemently disagree with this characterization, and would posit that Giannis is actually the better offensive player. He routinely puts up .600+ TS% on usage in the mid-30’s. Even if you disagree with that, it’s pretty close, and Giannis also happens to be a perennial DPOY candidate.
It’s settled then. We should pair Giannis with KAT.
“That may be true, but individual defense is nowhere close to half as important as individual offense — another thing the all-in-one’r, physics labs leave out of the analysis.
It’s probably closer to Total Individual Team Impact = (.85 * Individual Offensive Impact) + (.15 * Individual Defensive Impact). Even that might be too low for the offensive coefficient.”
Thank you for once again making shit up.
yikes…although, you look what the vikings did with sam darnold, receivers move around a lot, running backs are always plentiful and cost efficient…
pete carroll should have them playing solid during the second half of the season…limit penalties and turnovers, that wins games right there…
i forget how they schedule in the NFL, but don’t consistently bad teams, like the giants, raiders, panthers have easier schedules during the season?
maybe mark davis will actually listen to pete…pete carroll knows football…
“Moreover, sublimely perfect individual defensive is often still no match for world-class offense. There’s an offensive high-end that the defensive high-end can’t get to.”
More made up bullshit, E’s stock-in-trade.
Carroll with the Raiders is pretty funny. I’ve followed Pete with the Seahawks for some years, and he’s a great coach, but he has the sunniest disposition you can have without being an actual nutcase. Fits the Raider’s mean, nasty culture like a butterfly on a rottweiler. He’s a player’s coach, everyone loves playing for him as he’s nurturing and supportive and creates a great culture, plus he’s smart and listens to other smart people on the staff. JK’s description of the Raiders, however, makes me wonder if anyone can turn that sunken ship around, and/or if Pete’s the right guy for that. Should be interesting to watch.
I agree that defense has a larger “team component” than offense. However, I think defense is underrated in some models because it’s not measured properly.
This phenomenon became apparent to me in one my horse racing studies.
I had two factors that from experience I thought should be weighed about 50-50 in importance. One I could measure very accurately and turn into a number. The other required a LOT of time consuming subjective analysis beyond my limits to do for a study. I did my best to turn it into single number, but I knew my formula was not as good as what I could do with a case by case subjective analysis.
The result of my regression said that “the easy to calculate factor” was way more important than the other.
Then it hit me.
It wasn’t nearly as important as the regression said. It was just way more important in that study because in my sample the other factor was not measured well.
That’s very similar to offense and defense is basketball.
We measure individual offense way more accurately individual defense.
So it’s likely we are underrating individual defense in many models.
Bam’s been taking a lot more 3s this year and it has not worked at all, he’s having a pretty bad season on offense. I don’t pay enough attention to the Heat to know if he’s fallen off on defense too.
If anyone was curious, the top OEPM is over double the top DEPM.
The top 20 OEPMs are higher than the top DEPM.
The value of an elite offensive option is worth significantly more when using EPM when compared to an elite defender. When you get past the top-20 it’s less clear that an offensive oriented player is worth more than a defensive player, at least per EPM.
Z-Man makes the classic mistake of the analytics, free data sports era which is to confuse “unable to be definitively shown by the tools of statistical inference” and “does not exist.”
I thought what the Suns did to bring in three 1st round picks for a likely better future one was something the Knicks might look at. The Suns didn’t just bring in picks of equal value. That doesn’t necessarily gain you too much. It appears they also figured out a way they could trade some of their own 1st round picks that were previously locked up because of the rules. The Knicks still have a couple of future 1st round picks/swaps. Someone that understands the rules and our draft pick status better would have to review the situation, but maybe we can eventually trade a far future 1st rounder for 2-3 weaker ones and get around the Stepien rule in a way that makes a significant deal possible sooner than we think now.
they literally show that individual offense is much more important than individual defense
“Career Block Percentage:
Bam Adebayo — 2.8.
Karl-Anthony Towns — 3.1.”
Before this shitshow of a year, Bam was in the top-5 of DPOY voting for 5 consecutive years. His teams have made it to the EC finals and the NBA finals in three of those years. Clearly that was on the backs of all-time offensive greats like _____________. (Insert dumb name here)
I’m sure that perennial DPOY candidate Jrue Holidays individual defense has nothing to do with the recent fortunes of the Bucks and Celtics. Nothing at all.
I also remember with great fondness when Enes Freedom was putting up a .630 TS% for us and how that totally negated his defensive shortcomings.
I’ve never understood the LaMelo Ball hype and can’t believe he came close to being an All Star starter. His shooting numbers are pedestrian and he turns the ball over a ton.
It’s probably the highlight reel crazy passes that get people hyped, but he’s honestly not that good.
bestest friend to geo will often listen patiently to me go on about – whatever, and then ask: really?
usually the best I can do in those situations: yeah, i think so, okay, let me check…
ugh, can’t remember the channel, but there was this show that used to demonstrate how the mind works, you know, like inputs data, and most interestingly fills in data in order to make the world right, make it make sense…
i think it was Brain Games…they used magic and other really fun ways to show just how easy it was for us to misread available data and come to wrong conclusions…
used to have daughter watch that stuff all the time…the emphasis being to think critically, assume the possibility of errors, to include yourself…
Trotting Enes out to make your point really isn’t fighting fair, Z-Man…
We can’t do what the Suns did, Strat, until the summer of 2026.
The worst part about the Bridges trade wasn’t the number of picks, it was the years Brooklyn got the picks in. If we had done ’24, ’26, ’28, and ’30 we’d have been in pretty decent shape. But Brooklyn really took Leon to the wood cleaners; they got a record number of picks for a mid player, and they got all of them in the years they wanted.
I think young people love him because a lot of the way the consume the NBA is through short highlights and LaMelo can do some incredible stuff. He’s also the least serious NBA player I may have ever seen, I don’t think he’s played in a meaningful game since he left Chino Hills.
Only way Hart can get in as the third banana before Cleveland’s third is if one of the guards is injured and can’t go. Still can’t belive Leon stole him for a salary filler and a late first round pick while many of us thought he overpaid.
i think his shoes look cool d-mar 😊
his popularity helps the game…fans pay the bill…
he looks sloppy and careless at times out on the court, plays like it’s an all-star game all the time…
it seems like he has a good coach…maybe he needs the right group of teammates around him to be a bit more serious about the game…
it’s funny how different him and lonzo approach the game…
I think it’s pretty clear in recent years that offense has become the priority for most teams across the league. Championships tend to go to teams with the best offense, not the best defense. Thibs himself, dinosaur people presume him to be, has changed his focus since his days in Minny from one side of the ball to the other. When he has no talent (year 1), he builds the defense, because it makes you respectable. (C.f. Orlando) But he obviously is much more interested in getting elite offensive talent on the team over a good defense.
“they literally show that individual offense is much more important that individual defense”
Not true. What they show is that individual defensive impact is not nearly as well accounted for in boxscore-based stats than individual offensive impact. For example, there is nothing in the box score regarding blocks missed or steals missed or PnR coverages blown, rotations missed, etc.
There is no boxscore data on how many times a player has to be hidden, or helped.
There is no boxscore data on how a player would fare if they were solely responsible for the opponent’s best player. For example, if Brunson had to guard his counterpart SGA full time, and vice versa, how would that matchup work out? Especially if the defender at the rim was KAT vs., say, Giannis?
There is (likely synergy-based) data on individual defensive impact, but even that has limitations.
I would guess (and only guess, not state as fact or something akin to fact) that Ben Wallace’s individual defensive impact was the single most important factor in the Pistons of the early 2000’s. Would love to hear the counterargument that it was actually individual offense that was responsible.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you tell Doogie that his incessant grammar policing is rude and detracts from the site. He’s a fucking jackass and he seems to enjoy annoying the shit out of people.
At some point you just have to call it out for what it is. He’s a fucking jerk and an obnoxious troll. This is the last time I’m ever referring to him on this blog and I encourage everybody else to do the same. Seriously, from this point, let’s all stop reaching out to this clown and all ignore him en masse. No more replies. Don’t even reply to his non-troll posts. A complete freeze out might get him to lose interest and go harass some other community with his condescending horseshit.”
Fuck you. I already posted about the fact that I was questioning an anomaly in timing more than I was questioning the misspelling of anything. As usual, you can’t read. Fuck you again.
“JK47 lying it duwn!”
And being idiotic about it at the same time.
Yes.
We are saying the same thing in different ways.
If you aren’t measuring an important factor well, a regression will say it’s less important than it actually is.
I have already adopted a personal policy of mostly ignoring Droopie’s posts and it has improved my board experience. Even the ones that aren’t pedantry related aren’t very good, so it’s really all upside.
This could be happening with EPM. It tries to predict future performance, which is pretty easy for offense because you have so many stats that are the same year-to-year but much more difficult on defense because the stats are fuzzier and impact is very context dependent.
“I have already adopted a personal policy of mostly ignoring Droopie’s posts and it has improved my board experience. Even the ones that aren’t pedantry related aren’t very good, so it’s really all upside.”
You’re another one who pretends not to know how to read, which is even more idiotic than *actually* not knowing how to read. The screen name has a “g” in it with no “r” and no “p,” but you already knew that.
I’m not sure this is true anymore. Boston sought 5 defensive stalwarts.
Denver had Jokic, but their big off-season move was trading offensive guards for KCP. They had the 3rd best playoff defense.
For the Warriors’ most recent championship, the team had the best regular season defense and 17th best offense
OKC is winning with historic defense this year.
Houston’s surge has been largely on the backs of Thompson and Eason while shelling out money for Brooks and FVV.
Regardless of how you feel about the moves, the Knicks paid a lot for wings best known for their defense.
As a decade+ lurker and daily reader of this site I am very much in favor of banning people that refuse to read the room and annoy most people in here. While available to all, this blog has a special vibe thanks to its core long term posters and it’s irritating to have to scroll past paragraphs of worthless dreck from the same repeat offender every day
I’m totally expecting a Doopie response of:
“I know you are but what am I?”
They may have, but they won because of an historically good offense. And the Nuggets were only in the playoffs for a similar reason – they had a middle-of-the-pack defense during the year. There is a detailed analysis here:
https://thenewleafjournal.com/examining-whether-defense-wins-nba-championships/
It’s certainly true that OKC and Houston, among others, are winning because of great defense this year – but let’s see how that translates in the playoffs. The point isn’t regular season, but top-end potential.
Of course, it would be great to have a fantastic defense, too! I just think the league has moved toward offense overall. (Though, again, it isn’t consistent year over year and great defenses win championships as well, like the recent Warriors.)
In lighter news today is the anniversary of Melo’s 62 pt game. The crazy part was as soon as he let go that shot from half court right before halftime I just knew it was going in.
Z-Man – The Wallace’s defense is a good example. I always think about the Iverson Finals squad too. They had some extremely rugged defenders who likely deserved a lot of the praise that was heaped on AI.
I suppose I don’t think of Giannis as a center but he’s very good offensively, no doubt. Hard to know how much to penalize him for his inability to hit threes and fts. That definitely puts some pressure on the team.
There was a YouTube clip I saw profiling Amen and Eason’s defense. It’s a legitimate way to win, especially when you can buy defensive production on the cheap.
By my count, there are three regular posters who have no interest (or no ability) to read the room. They either don’t care how annoying their schtick is to the vast majority of posters, or actually do care and kind of get off on it.
Look at this guy putting quotation marks around letters like he’s quoting someone! Go back to Literacyblogger until you’ve learned to write, you philistine!
You mean Doogie and E right? Who’s the third? 😉
“I’m totally expecting a Doopie response of:
“I know you are but what am I?””
That’s among one of the last things I would ever think of posting. By the way, the screen name has a “g” in it, not a “p,” but you already knew that. You’re being idiotic by pretending not to know how to read, too.
Denver definitely had a mediocre regular season defense but they had the 3rd best defense in the playoffs. Boston had the 3rd best defense in the regular season last year so I find it really odd to say the won the title solely because of their offense.
“Look at this guy putting quotation marks around letters like he’s quoting someone! Go back to Literacyblogger until you’ve learned to write, you philistine!”
LOL! Thank you for the laugh, Pags. It’s a “letter as a letter.” 🙂
I think Rama’s right about the balance tilting towards offense but you can’t have a leaky defense.
We still haven’t seen the damage a team like Boston can do when they begin to relentlessly target Towns and Brunson with spread PnRs. It’s not going to be pretty.
I have already adopted a personal policy of mostly ignoring Droopie’s posts and it has improved my board experience. Even the ones that aren’t pedantry related aren’t very good, so it’s really all upside.
good advice but in practice little heeded. and so the virus spreads. and the needed cure elevates from playing hopscotch over a single priggish mole to surfing a maelstrom of insufferably humorless erratum gazing and its discontents. it makes the place worse by a lot.
I know that there isn’t really any moderation going on here anymore, but I wonder if the mods here might make an exception. There is really only one regular poster here who truly needs to be banned, and I think we all know who that is. A teeny tiny bit of moderation would do wonders for this place.
“and the needed cure elevates from playing hopscotch over a single priggish mole to surfing a maelstrom of insufferably humorless erratum gazing and its discontents.”
Very elegant, ptmilo…….almost *poetic*!!!!!!!
By the way, I’ve done nothing to be banned. If you mean correcting the misspelling of players’ names (because I believe it is disrespectful to purposely spell someone’s name incorrectly) and like items, others have done that, as well, including to me. If I’m going to be banned, then there either has to be a policy that no corrections can be made, or others who make similar corrections must also be banned.
And for the third time, I had no posts today where the main purpose was to correct anyone on anything. It was a timing issue that I was querying.
Z-Man fancying himself the room-reading conscience of Knickerblogger is truly some Cletus-level material.
The shtick isn’t working. It never really did. It’s sub-Kenny Banya/Ovaltine. If you mean it earnestly and literally … well, let’s hope that isn’t the case.
Do you mean the pope, the Marvel Comics super villain, the character from Dukes of Hazzard, or the character in The Nutty Professor? Or perhaps the genus of true bugs? Perhaps you purposefully mis-spelled the NFL robot mascot to annoy a special someone?
(re Cletus)
The most bizarre part is that he’s utterly unwilling or unable to recognize that, if I may misquote one of my favorite lines, if everyone is calling you an asshole, maybe you’re the asshole.
If nothing else, this is a fascinating experiment in overcoming, or getting defeated by a troll.
Fuck this fake Aspberger’s “can’t read the room” shit. He has read the room, and has correctly figured out a bulletproof way to annoy the shit out of the room. It’s basic common courtesy that if a bunch of people ask you to stop doing something that everybody finds annoying, that you should stop doing it. If you don’t stop doing it, you’re just an asshole.
I think the consensus here is completely unanimous, as I have not seen one person come out to defend this dumbshit troll. This is clearly intentional on his part. Let’s make this the last day of this. If he isn’t banned tomorrow, let’s all make a pledge to not respond to any of his posts. Enough is enough already.
Or, if the group would prefer, we can move this conversation to a Discord thread with some moderation. Many of the regulars here would make a fine moderator. 99 percent of the people here know how to behave appropriately.
Those are the ways forward. Ignore, ban, or move somewhere else. No more of this shit.
Re Raiders: Tom Brady seems to be running the show and reports indicate he has a wealth of relationship capital to obtain intelligence to aid in decision making. The Carroll hiring seems to indicate that Brady is taking the change the culture first process. That seemed to work really well with the Detroit Lions hiring of Dan Campbell, and while I am unable to compare the baseline Lions Campbell inherited with the current Raiders, if Carroll changes the trajectory of the franchise then its a worthwhile move( see eg. Thib’s)The ceiling hinges on finding a quarterback and perhaps Brady can sniff out the next Baker Mayfield reclamation project.
I’m not sure the study you posted supports your thesis. Of the last 6 teams, half of them were better on offense and half better on defense.
The years immediately before those did bias offense, but I think that should be expected because GS had figured out something on offense that no other team had figured out — that 3 points were worth more than 2. Because they understood this, and nobody else implemented it yet, you’d expect them to have a much higher relative offensive rating. They had no equivalent defensive revelation. As teams have caught up on the offensive revolution, you’d expect that advantage to lessen and for relative offensive ratings to drop when compared to relative defensive ratings.
Overall, the study found an almost even split between offense better and defense better teams.
“Z-Man fancying himself the room-reading conscience of Knickerblogger is truly some Cletus-level material”
Groovy. Please tell us more about how beloved you are in real life.
Ted Nelson was banned for being annoying, and he was a major contributor to this blog once.
jon abbey was banned for being jon abbey, and he, too, was a major contributor to this blog once.
Pags was banned for being annoying. Bob was banned for being annoying. Italian Stallion was banned for being annoying. ClydePolice was banned for being annoying. Reub was banned for being annoying. Hoolahoop was banned for being annoying. Iyamwutiyam was banned for defending Isiah Thomas (i.e. for being annoying).
The list of people who have been banned for simply being annoying is long and well documented.
Interesting little defensive stat, on the season teams are shooting as well from 3 against us on wide open shots as they are on tightly defended ones. Our opponents 3pt % is essentially worst in the league (the nets opps are .1 % better).
“They had no equivalent defensive revelation.”
No, but they did have one of the very best individual defensive players of that generation on their team.
“I think the consensus here is completely unanimous, as I have not seen one person come out to defend this dumbshit troll. This is clearly intentional on his part. Let’s make this the last day of this. If he isn’t banned tomorrow, let’s all make a pledge to not respond to any of his posts. Enough is enough already.”
That’s utterly false. I’ve been defended, and more than once. Just because you don’t see, pretend not to see, don’t remember, or pretend not to remember something does not mean that it didn’t happen, double negative notwithstanding.
Does anyone have a direct line to the mods, if so please utilize it
This reminds me of the “Pele is mailing it in” controversy on the old New York Cosmos Arpanet list serve back in 1976. Everyone was banned. Some of are still waiting to be re-admitted. Lots of Franz Beckenbauer hot takes that went unseen.
If you don’t stop the annoying grammar police comments, i’m in favor of the ban. As JK said, enough is enough.
Might as well save the energy and leave them open? 😛 😀
dang donnie, whatever you are doing to make that memory work – it is working…
thinking on it, group silencing, only really works in a closed environment…i have most certainly though used it as a strategy in the past…sometimes there is no winning, then you’re either making a point or cutting your losses…
OT – Guitar Music
I still play a little guitar and continue to get better, albeit very slowly because I don’t have much time to practice. I’m always looking for songs that may be within my range with a lot of good guitar fills.
Drift Away done by Dobie Gray is terrific. That’s my current project. I love that song. I probably won’t be able to memorize all the fills because there are so many, but if I don’t come out this project a better guitar player I’ll be disappointed. I think Reggie Young was the guitar player, but I’m not 100% sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnDu1HHOo78
Knicks have the best team in decades. 2 legit superstars since 1975.
Can we jist get along and enjoy our success?
Doogie, I honestly couldn’t care less whether you are banned or not, but if you are, which seems increasingly likely, count me among those who won’t miss you, not even a little bit.
wasn’t there this one poster, who had gotten banned, then came back and started just saying really vile things…ha, i’m thinking it happened recently, probably happened about 3 years ago…
i kind of remember BC mentioning it, saying that he had figured out whom it was,, and blocked them again…
“If you don’t stop the annoying grammar police comments, i’m in favor of the ban. As JK said, enough is enough.”
Yeah, cyber, except for the fact that I didn’t even do any of those today. So…….
Hot take: this isn’t bad luck, our guys are just really shitty at tightly defending threes. If Towns were shooting threes tightly guarded by my 5’9″ ass I’m pretty sure he’d shoot like he was wide open.
This u?
“That’s among one of the last things I would ever think of posting. By the way, the screen name has a “g” in it, not a “p,” but you already knew that. You’re being idiotic by pretending not to know how to read, too.”
Small online communities are like gardens, they are easily overrun with weeds so you have to do a bit of pruning now and again
I meant initially. After being attacked for no reason that had actually occurred up to that point, then after that, sure. I apologize for my lack of clarity.
hi AL, just finished ready your run down on Star Trek films…that was such an excellent read, i really enjoyed it…thank you…
absolutely no disagreements, you did such a good job…
Just jumping on to second Geo’s compliment of Alan’s Star Trek piece, to second Cyber’s take (after all, he’s the voice of moderation here!), and to decry Pags only being 5’9″. Probably it’s the clown image that has always made me think of you as like a 6’3″ extremely skinny, slightly bent dude.
That’s indeed some sweet guitar playing on that track. Sounds like there are two players, one of them playing the smooth Curtis Mayfield-style licks, the other playing those country-style licks on a great twangy Telecaster. That does seem like a good one to learn, because it has so many short and tasteful fills that are a bit easier to figure out for an intermediate player. In learning those, I’d really focus on getting the phrasing down, really try to articulate those notes cleanly and with good timing and feel. None of them are technically very difficult, but there’s a lot to learn in there from that immaculate phrasing.
Where things get really difficult is when you start stringing together longer phrases. I have gotten into learning some of Larry Carlton’s solos, and those are a good example of how no one bar is all that difficult to play, but stringing the whole thing together is very challenging. The opening solo to “Don’t Take Me Alive” is like this, and the solo to “Kid Charlemagne” is the same kind of solo.
I’ve been working on my Travis picking, trying to practice that a little bit each day. I was feeling pretty good about myself until I started watching some videos of the actual Merle Travis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go8x_1fD5vM
LOL
That’s only barefoot! Like Trump and Ron DeSantis, my clown shoes have lifts.
Co-sign Geo on the Star Trek list. I had the biggest crush on Picard since I was a wee thing. Off to see the brutalist. I am never stoked about three hour movies. Pray for me.
There’s only like 5 posters who don’t constantly troll me and misread my posts and Doogie is one of them so I am against his banning. Frankly I think you all deserve him (except for JK, who is another one of the 5).
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