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Knicks Morning News (2025.03.04)

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  • Knicks vs. Warriors Prediction: Expert Picks, Odds, Stats and Best Bets – Tuesday, March 4, 2025 – Bleacher Nation
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  • Gary Payton II injury update: Hopes to play against Knicks – BasketNews.com
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  • Warriors vs. Knicks: Start time, where to watch, what’s the latest – Yahoo Sports
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  • A Comprehensive Guide to the New York Knicks? Future Draft Picks – Sports Illustrated
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  • New York Knicks Reportedly Sign 3-Year NBA Player Before Warriors Game – Sports Illustrated
    03/04/2025 04:39:24
     
  • Marjon Beauchamp signs with Knicks – Hoops Hype
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  • Game Preview: Warriors at New York Knicks – 3/4/25 – NBA.Com
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  • Knicks sign MarJon Beauchamp to two-way deal as they take flier on former first-rounder – New York Post
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  • Knicks And Raptors Set Arbitration Hearing In Data-Theft Suit – Law360
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  • Mikal Bridges is up against an invisible measuring stick – New York Post
    03/04/2025 02:10:00
     
  • Knicks shockingly predicted to part with Jalen Brunson in blockbuster trade for $120 million NBA champion – Sporting News
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  • 33 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.03.04)”

    I feel like some of it is Mikal’s role being unclear. He’s supposed to be the third option but with OG and Hart it’s kind of like JB and KAT are option 1 and 2 and then those 3 guys are all the 3rd option but it’s not totally clear?

    Exactly.

    There’s are only so many shot attempts in a game. So from time to time depending on matchups and other factors one or two of these guys is not going to get many shots. Initially, my thought was Hart would be 5th option and that would be fine because he brings necessary rebounding and playmaking to the table also. But he managed to remain effective scoring.

    So what we want from OG and Bridges is consistently high level defense, take what the other team is giving us on any give night, score efficiently and maybe a little more effort on the boards when the other team is hitting the boards hard (though Towns and Hart have that covered most nights).

    It’s OK if Bridges is not scoring close to 20 a night. If he does everyone will be whining that OG is only scoring 12 and vice versa. As long as they are taking smart shots, remaining efficent and playing defense we are fine.

    I would say both could do a bit better than they have, but it’s hard to tell how much of that is just adjusting, playing too many minutes, injuries etc…

    We need Mikal to be our Derrick White. The third or fourth option on offense, make 3’s when open and lock down your man on the defensive end.

    (And I understand that’s a high bar, because White might be the most underrated player in the NBA, but I do think it’s realistic)

    We need Mikal to shoot ~40% from 3 on 5 attempts per game and play great D. Period.

    He has not done that.

    Start Mitch, KAT, OG, Deuce, Brunson – Mikal, Hart, Payne, Shamet, Precious off the bench in whatever order the game demands.

    Mikal’s game as a Knick is just soft. He rarely creates his own shot, gets to the FT line on average once per game. Despite a high assisted basket percentage, his efficiency is mediocre. Has not shot the three well all season. He has made some good defensive plays here and there, but he shows flashes of good defense more than consistently strong play. Playmaking is down, rebounding is nonexistent.

    Add it all up and it’s pretty clearly the worst season of his career. He’s just not doing all that much out there. I’d be looking to cut losses and convert him into something more useful. A contract extension for his decline phase seems like a brutally terrible idea.

    Speaking of brutal…….Kyrie Irving is officially done for the season.

    I just noticed that ESPN has a new aoi metric called net points created by Dean Oliver. Looks pretty interesting. Hopefully, someone smarter than me can do a deep dive into its merit.

    Speaking of brutal…….Kyrie Irving is officially done for the season.

    What an unfortunate Dallas injury death spiral!

    That team is still VERY good. It’s a shame they didn’t get to show it.

    Look, maybe it will turn out that Doncic is every bit the lazy, self-destructive, locker room cancer Nico has made him out to be, and the Lakers will wind up regretting the extension they sign him to. But it sure feels like what we have here is an executive who is also a fitness nut, who simply couldn’t accept that his best player wasn’t as maniacal about diet and exercise as he was, and traded him away to prove some idiotic philosophical point.

    And, if so, this sure feels like karma to me.

    Add it all up and it’s pretty clearly the worst season of his career. He’s just not doing all that much out there. I’d be looking to cut losses and convert him into something more useful. A contract extension for his decline phase seems like a brutally terrible idea.

    He’s 28 years old. His next contract would not be his “decline phase” or at least most of it would not be.

    Plenty of good players have down years.

    I’m not saying we should extend him. It depends on the price. But I also think it’s short sighted to give up on him completely just because he’s had a down year. We’ve seen some nice stretches of play.

    For all we know this down year will all be erased with a really good playoff run.

    Mikal has one more year on his contract, then his extension will kick in at age 30. You’re getting his age 30-33 seasons on that contract. I’ve seen enough of his play this year to give that a firm “no thanks.”

    If we give Mikal a big market value extension, it will be solely because of the sunk cost fallacy. He is not a player I’d be looking to sign off the open market at that age.

    I didn’t realize he had one more year. Hmm. That changes things a bit.

    JK47, if he shows out in the playoffs and we get to the ECF or Finals because of that, would that change your mind?

    I’m just curious where the line is for people.

    Seems that, on average, our opponents have only played their benches 17.2 minutes to our 11.8 minutes. That’s not so bad (albeit a bit surprising!). But their benches are outscoring ours by 36.1 points to 21.6 points. Seems relatively significant, no?

    These numbers overall seem odd to me. Am I using a faulty site again? (It’s different than the one I used for the draft.)

    Kyrie Irving with nothing to do but watch videos for a year is a terrifying thought.

    Based on the quote from John Hollinger below, we should expect a two-way signing today.

    While you were chilling and catching up on college guys this weekend, NBA teams made 20 official transactions in 48 hours, and more will be added to the list on Monday.

    What was that all about? I thought the trade deadline passed?

    It has, but the catalyst here is the NBA’s deadline for signing two-way contracts on March 4 — this Tuesday. As a result, teams are furiously reshaping the back ends of their rosters — cutting loose two-ways they don’t want, and creating openings to sign players that interest them more. The secondary effect has been several teams signed two-ways to roster deals in that span, in some cases (such as with the Clippers’ Jordan Miller) also driven by the necessity that they had already used all 50 of their active-roster days as two-ways.

    Also a notable quote from the same article is:

    Incidentally, there should be one more mini-spree of two-way promotions the final week of the season. Teams with open roster spots often promote a two-way at that time to sign them to a contract that extends into the following season; the 20 teams headed to the postseason also are incentivized to do this because two-ways are ineligible for the postseason.

    But we can only do this if we don’t fill our last roster spot now.

    The quotes are from
    https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6170983/2025/03/03/lakers-nuggets-title-contenders-terrence-shannon/?source=athletic_thebounce_newsletter&campaign=12763624&userId=5989245

    Doogie, imho the minutes thing has at least some merit but it mostly overblown. Our bench has been compromised all year. First, Mitch has been out until now, and no one could really fill his role. Second, Precious was out with a hammy for a bunch of games, leaving only Sims and Huk as bench bigs. Third, Shamet blew out his shoulder and is only now rounding into form. Fourth, Deuce was out for a few games and took a few more games to regain his form. Finally, OG was out for a month and that put the onus on other starters to make up for his presence on both ends, since no on on the bench other than Precious qualified and he is a very poor representation of what OG brings.

    Add all of that up, and you have mostly a very shallow and often ineffective bench for most of the season. Combine it with Thibs’ well-known tendencies, and you have the minutes distribution numbers like the ones you posted.

    Hopefully now that everyone (save Huk) is at worst a bit dinged up and I would hope to see some leveling out of those numbers. We’ll see!

    Mikal was bound to be a worse fit in a team with KAT. On offense, he can create, but why are you going to let him do that if you can run the offense through KAT? On defense, he can defend very well his man and play the passing lanes, but opposing teams are going to stick to a two man game between their PG and C, because we give easy points this way. Mikal cannot help with centers, and he is miscast defending point guards. Then there is the low 3pt%, but that should improve.

    IMO, against the Celtics, our best bet is to have Brunson, Deuce, Mikal, OG, and Mitch on the floor, and Mikal makes much more sense in that kind of lineup.

    And cue the mavericks exit to Vegas…

    I could be wrong, but it doesn’t make any sense since I’m pretty sure Miriam Adelson didn’t by the Mavs for the hoops aspect, but rather to get a mega casino approved in Dallas.

    Carpetbagging the team to LV isn’t the best way to win friends and influence people in cowboy land.

    I just noticed that ESPN has a new aoi metric called net points created by Dean Oliver. Looks pretty interesting. Hopefully, someone smarter than me can do a deep dive into its merit.

    Seems interesting. They don’t give much detail into how it works beyond “we use play-by-play data”.

    On a per 100 play basis, Luke Kornet is the 3rd best player in the league and 19th in total net points.

    In per 100, Brandon Clarke edges out Jalen Brunson.

    I’m skeptical.

    I’m not engaging in the hot takes on Mikal beyond they sound an awful lot like the hot takes from the same sources that have since gone spectacularly awry. Mikal will never be worth what we gave up for him, but he’s a fine player for what he is getting paid and his next contract will also likely be just fine.

    Carpetbagging the team to LV isn’t the best way to win friends and influence people in cowboy land.

    There are rumblings in the personal trainer community in Dallas (they hear everything) that there is some shadenfraude to be had in the posturing for a new arena.

    It’s insane to me having watched him this season that Mikal ever averaged ~4 FTA a game, let alone that he did it in the two immediately preceding seasons. Dude avoids contact in downright Ntilikinian fashion.

    That and his defense often not being what it was made out to be have been the two most disappointing aspects of the Mikal experience thus far. I actually think his shotmaking has been more or less as advertised, though I wish he would stop tinkering with his three point form. He’s a reasonably potent “get you a bucket” option when all else fails–his midrange shooting has been excellent.

    But excelling in the midrange and nowhere else is notoriously a one-way ticket to 100 TS+ land, exactly where Mikal has resided this season.

    IIRC he claims this is all intentional and based on his playoff experience–he thinks FTA dry up in the playoffs and the midrange reigns supreme. Well…I’m skeptical, but hey, if he has a big playoffs I’ll forgive any and all moments of Ntikinism from him in the regular season.

    3 quick thoughts:

    1. Godspeed, Kyrie. He was finally playing the way his talent dictates consistently, and without LeBron. As a basketball fan- you hate to see that injury for him.
    2. I wonder what our guys in Westchester can do for Davis and Beauchamp. 2 guys on that squad with 1st round pedigree on the wing. 1 of whom is a legit 6’7″. I like the moves. If we can make something out of one of those guys, we win.
    3. I am ecstatic that Mitch is back. I know he’s not ready for starter’s minutes, but maybe Thibs should start him now and move Hart to the second unit to help push the pace so the guys can get used to those roles before the playoffs? Mitch doesn’t have to play 30 minutes until he’s ready, but if Thibs wants him to start beside KAT, I think he should start getting them minutes together now at the very least

    Yeah it drives me crazy when Mikal gets a pass going downhill and never takes it all the way to the basket. It’s not like he’s 5’11” or something.

    Even though his mid range jumper is pretty effective, it would be nice if he could at least try and attack the rim once in a while. Also helps in maybe getting opposing players in foul trouble.

    If we have to sign a two-way deal today, I would guess it will be Davis. Again, the chances of him becoming anything are awfully slim, but you have to hope that the combination of the pedigree and your superior ecosystem(*) might be able to unlock something in him.

    (*) While the Rose administration hasn’t been perfect, how remarkable is it that we can feel like we have a good infrastructure for developing talent?

    Bridges takes 20% of his shots within three feet of the basket and makes 77% of them from that distance. I’m not sure where the “never takes it all the way to the basket” sentiment comes from.

    I think it’s totally fair to criticize Mikal for his aversion to drawing fouls. He seems to prefer fading away from 10-12 feet to attacking the rim. But when you are shooting 59% from 2, it’s hard to criticize that all that much.

    The thing that is killing his TS% is his shooting from 3, and in particular, his shooting from above the break. He is taking 46% of his 3’s from the corner and hitting a very respectable 43% of them. But his overall 3pt% is only 35%, and that is just not going to cut it. Even if he got to 4FTA/36 and hit them at 90%, it’s not going to change his TS% very much. In the years he got to that mark, his 2pt% was 60 or more points lower than it is now.

    If he were shooting 38% or higher from 3, no one would be complaining about his offense. I think it’s fair to wonder who the real Mikal is from 3…is he strictly a corner guy or can he become more consistent all around the arc? For me, that’s the key for him being worth anything more than he’s getting paid right now.

    There are rumblings in the personal trainer community in Dallas (they hear everything) that there is some shadenfraude to be had in the posturing for a new arena.

    Could you put that in English for the slow boys like me? I’m guessing the personal trainer community in Dallas probably isn’t the biggest supporter of Trump’s biggest donor. 🙂

    https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/nba/mavericks/mavs-new-arena-irving-city-council-destination-resort/287-c027568d-dcb7-455c-bdbf-f0d7ad6dce15

    Bridges takes 20% of his shots within three feet of the basket and makes 77% of them from that distance. I’m not sure where the “never takes it all the way to the basket” sentiment comes from.

    The frequency is in the 21st percentile among forwards, and 35th percentile among wings (both per CTG). So yeah, that’s not a lot.

    As to Mikal’s defense, he is best suited to be a switchable 2 rather than a 3. I know that positional definitions are more blurred than ever, but there is still some merit to them. That’s why I think that either KAT needs to play the 4 or we have to get a NAZ Reid-type big who can play both the 4 and 5 defensively, and who can stretch the floor enough to not be sloughed off of and gum up the paint.

    The front line of KAT and any 3 of OG, Hart, and Mikal can’t be successful in playoff-level defense on a team with Brunson as your PG unless the other team is going small or is also weak on defense. That should be pretty obvious by now.

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