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New York Knicks Forward May Become Cap Casualty – Sports Illustrated
03/26/2025 11:00:03
Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns post triple-doubles as Knicks top Mavs – KNBR
03/26/2025 10:57:16
New York Knicks Forward Tells First Story of Kevin Durant – Sports Illustrated
03/26/2025 11:00:00
New York Knicks make NBA history with Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart’s extraordinary triple-double performance while Mavericks struggle in shocking loss to the injury-ridden team – Motorcycle Sports Australia
03/26/2025 10:06:24
Knicks Bulletin: ?It?s hard to describe what he is to the team? – Posting and Toasting
03/26/2025 10:30:00
Josh Hart surpasses Clyde Frazier for most triple-doubles in a Knicks? season – New York Post
03/26/2025 09:05:00
Clippers open important road trip at Knicks – Deadspin
03/26/2025 08:27:00
Clippers vs. Knicks Prediction: Expert Picks, Odds, Stats and Best Bets – Wednesday, March 26, 2025 – Bleacher Nation
03/26/2025 08:07:31
Clippers vs. Knicks Injury Report ? March 26 – iHeart
03/26/2025 08:22:51
NBA roundup: Josh Hart leads record night as Knicks top Mavs – MSN
03/26/2025 08:23:10
Knicks? Kevin McCullar Jr. scores first two points in NBA debut after long, arduous road – New York Post
03/26/2025 07:39:00
Clippers vs. Knicks Predictions, Best Bets and Odds ? Wednesday, March 26, 2025 – Bleacher Nation
03/26/2025 07:23:12
Dallas Mavericks vs. New York Knicks: live game updates, stats, play-by-play – Yahoo Sports
03/26/2025 07:13:59
NBA roundup: Josh Hart leads record night as Knicks top Mavs – Reuters
03/26/2025 07:02:42
How to Stream LA Clippers at New York Knicks: Live, TV Channel – Fubo News
03/26/2025 07:31:30
Clippers vs. Knicks Time, TV & Stream ? March 26 – iHeart
03/26/2025 06:13:31
Clippers vs. Knicks Time, TV & Stream ? March 26 – iHeart
03/26/2025 06:13:31
Special Knicks night came out of nowhere ? but at the perfect time – New York Post
03/26/2025 05:06:00
Racer Payne plays well in second start with Knicks – Murray Ledger and Times
03/26/2025 05:00:00
Mavericks vs Knicks Game Highlights – Yahoo Sports
03/26/2025 04:56:39
67 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.03.26)”
geo, if you want to find out about live music in your area, just sign up to get on mailing lists for a bunch of different venues. I’ve got e-newsletters coming at me from Live Nation Concerts, The Lyric Theatre up in Baltimore, Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore, Rams Head in Annapolis, the Strathmore in Rockville, Tally-Ho Theatre right here in Leesburg, Tarara Summer Concert Series at a winery, The Birchmere in Alexandria, Ticketmaster, and the Warner Theatre in Washington. (I’ve also got them from Angelika Film Center in Falls Church for movies, the DC Improv Comedy Club, and the Little Theatre of Alexandria for plays.)
You can also sign up for music-related Meetup groups; there is nothing that says that you ever have to go to live music *with* those groups, but you get a lot of good information about who is playing, where, and when. It’s the same way I get a shitload of information about the many and various hikes in my area.
Sorry to hear about your uncle, Brian. May his memory be a blessing.
I don’t know who to compare Kolek to. The low hanging fruit would be TJ McConnell, but he’s a way better passer. But he definitely has that level of dog in him. His brain moves faster than his body sometimes and it makes him look athletically awkward, but he has the tools and confidence to have a role. That being said- Deuce can take as much time as he needs to get healthy so Kolek can get some extra burn. I almost wanna say Kolek is better than Payne right now, but Payne has meant so much to the bench this season so I won’t go there just yet. But if Kolek doesn’t have a consistent role next season, then we have a coaching problem- no matter who’s the coach. As a Hoya fan, I hated Kolek in college, but I’m definitely a fan of his game
Oh..and about OG..
He’s that guy you hate seeing show up at the playground to hoop. He’s big for a wing, plays hard, he’s physical, and he doesn’t notice he’s bleeding or bruised- he just keeps goin LOL. He does not let up, and he goes even harder at you once he realizes he’s snatched your heart put of your chest. Great huy to have on your team and I enjoy seeing him aggressive like he was last night regardless of the leaky nose. Dude didn’t even wanna come out of the game to get patched up lol. “Lemme go on haid and wipe this blood on the inside of my jersey before the refs notice”
LOL
Which one are you saying is a better passer between Kolek and McConnell?
My girlfriend hates McConnell’s face. She may be on to something.
Get Kolek in the weight room this summer and give him as much burn as possible right now while Deuce and Brunson are out.
He should be the back up PG next season. Full stop. Deuce is more of a combo guard anyways.
A guy like Kolek is an ideal back up PG because he can organize an offense and help dudes get open shots. Especially if you have a bench where there aren’t a lot of scorers. You can have a bench of defense first dudes who can hold down the lead and Kolek can run an offense in such a way as to get those dudes easier buckets.
Right now, Kolek should be ahead of Shamet in the 9-man rotation. Shamet doesn’t really do anything well at this point, where Kolek is an elite passer. And Payne is more of a combo guard anyway. And it’s not like we would be that much smaller if Kolek was playing at the same time as Cam and Deuce, since he’s 6’3″, while Shamet is only 6’4″
I’d be cool with that. I guess he doesn’t score much right now? But doesn’t really seem to be much of an issue, especially once Brunson is back.
Kolek
So far Kolek looks like everything I hoped he was. He’s a very high level passer that can run the offense. He’s a true traditional PG. I was hoping he’d win the backup PG spot earlier in the season so he’d have enough seasoning to be used in the playoffs with confidence, but it took two injuries for Thibs to give him a chance. ugh! I’d be a little leary of giving him important minute in the playoffs unless we have to. I haven’t seen enough and he hasn’t played enough. But next year he should be ready. I have no problem with keeping Payne and Shamet for next year since the team seems to love both and I think Kolek can fit with Payne, Shamet or Deuce anway.
I think he can score, but he’s on a different mission.
When Brunson dribbles around he’s looking to create a shot for himself and passes when he either can’t get a good one or he sees an opening.
When Kolek dribbles around he’s trying to get to a position where he can make an assist generating pass. He shoots when they give him something or he has to.
This is a crazy comparison, but it’s only about PG style and not overall ability. Kolek reminds me of Nash. Nash would dribble a lot. He would penetrate, come back out, probe around, tell people where to go etc.. but he was looking for the right spacing and that one defensive breakdown where he could make the winning pass. Of course Nash was also a great shooter. But I see a little of Nash in Kolek’s style.
Nash was deceptively quick…Kolek doesn’t appear quick..he seems more plodding..he is going to need to be a scoring threat at some point to make sure they don’t slack off of him…but he definitely is a bona fide point guard…hopefully they give him the backup job next year…i think one of or both of shamet and payne are gone..deuce can be the backup 2…
I’d say that Kolek might do well to enlist some tutelage from Nash…….but then I remembered that Nash is RJ’s godfather and how that didn’t work out so well from a basketball standpoint.
See, I was thinking more prime Jason Kidd with a splash of Magic Johnson.
For the baseball fans here, here is a good article about pitching.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/magazine/baseball-pitchers-paul-skenes.html
That’s the primary issue right now, even more than the defense (which has been better than expected, if not brilliant). Defenses are already playing him for the pass. So until he starts demonstrating a Cam Payne-esque willingness to just let it fly, he makes the opponent’s scheme a bit easier to pull off.
I’m thinking you shouldn’t worry about giving him minutes in the playoffs. Defending well against the style you describe in the first quote is very different than defending well against Brunson. A team that sets up to defend against a Brunson led offense could be thrown off balance by Kolek (Not that Thibs is likely to try this tactic).
Nothing wrong for Tyler Kolek to sit and watch Brunson during his rookie year. Put in work at the gym and weight room and come back next season when playing time is earned and not given.
I like his quiet confidence & body language, he doesn’t get rushed, moves at his own pace and his passes are often on time, on target. If he gets minutes in the playoffs this season, that means we’re likely loosing that series.
For the remainder of the regular season, I would keep Deuce off the bench and lower Mikal minutes to ~25. Have Payne start and Kolek back him. 3rd or 4th seed finish is irrelevant.
I feel confident that if Kolek continues to get similar seasoning over the next suite of games he’ll be ready for some playoff action. He’s clearly not intimidated by settings. The only real question is whether his shot (which is definitely a thing) comes around in game time over the next stretch. If he’s like Deuce when Deuce first got some air (i.e., couldn’t make shit during his limited minutes at first), maybe he’s not a solution this year. Not at all concerned about next year, though.
Has Kolek been ok on defense? Haven’t been able to watch games. What I have seen has been a lot of guys draining shots over him.
We do have a pretty solid record. Don’t have the heart to complain.
Kobra Kolek is 23. He should be playing right now and into the playoffs if we’re serious about improving next year.
I’m at this joint called Willa Jeans in Nola right now and their shrimp and grits is absolutely the best I’ve ever had. Panty dropping and belt stretching.
I can imagine it being belt stretching; however, I cannot in any way imagine it good enough to be panty dropping. Go on over to Rouses Market across the street.
Koleksanity in the playoffs?
I think the big lesson/data learned so far is that you can throw him out there for a few minutes and he’s not gonna fuck it all up on his own. So I think if we had to use him in the playoffs for a few minutes, we’d be ok.
My panties are dropped. Love Rouses.
Kolek has shown good positional awareness, good activity, and good help-defense. Unfortunately, he is still a poor one-on-one defender as he is weak and slow. He is thus extremely vulnerable on pick and roll. Good offenses would put him on a skewer and grill him more than Greek souvlaki.
A second issue is his shooting. I expected but haven’t seen improvement on that front. If I remember correctly, he came into the league as a good three-point shooter.
Wow. Methinks you might drop too easily. LOL
It’s going to be difficult for Kolek to improve his shooting much given the amount of playing time that he’s (not) getting. His college career 3-point shooting is 35.5 percent overall, with a high season of 39.8 percent. (I had no idea that he played a year at local-to-me George Mason before heading to Marquette. He played with Jordan Miller of the Clippers there.)
I’m a shameless slut, Doogie. No qualifications on the easily necessary.
People say he is a hard worker, so I expect him to take a leap forward next year. It will be a lot of fun to watch as he is an extremely talented playmaker. He has shown that already. I only hope the Knicks won’t be forced to include him in a trade package.
Kolek seems like an awesome backup. If he can play himself into a taller more essential player for the team I’m all for it. Used to be people thunked defensive 4/5s grew on trees. We need some height, no?
Re the Kolek / Nash comparison:
Interestingly, the retrospect critique of Nash’s game is that, given his efficiency level, should have shot a *lot* more than he did
“I only hope the Knicks won’t be forced to include him in a trade package.”
Torn on this. On the one hand would love to see him develop as a Knick. On the other, if we are “forced” to include him in a trade package, it’s likely (1) someone wants him which means we are getting much better value than the typical 34th pick one year on; and (2) we really like the return.
Kolek’s playmaking is probably at a high enough level on its own to ensure he’s an NBA player, something that’s hardly a guarantee with any second-round pick. Personally, with all of the necessary caveats about the eye-test, I think he’ll need to become more of a scoring threat to be playable against better defenses than he’s seen so far. It won’t take long for the book on him to say that he basically never looks for his own shot, which sophisticated defenses can adapt to pretty easily.
I’m bullish on his chances to develop enough answers from a scoring perspective to take another step, though I doubt he can do that in time for this year’s playoffs.
In any event, I am having fun watching a young (ish) player we have signed on the cheap for a while succeed a bit.
OMG comparing a non-rotation scrub like Kolek to 2X MVP Nash is the stupidest thing ever posted here since some moron named Z-man compared Landry Fields to John Havlicek…
You’re right. He’s much more like prime Stockton with a dash of Kevin Johnson.
He’s Stockton if he’s anything.
Edit: jinx.
I think it was Dantoni who said something along these lines. That basically post-Warriors he realized that he should have had Nash shooting way more 3’s as he was like a 40 percent 3 point shooter. But at the time people thought it was crazy how many 3’s the Suns shot in general and you could not win that way. But if he had leaned into the 3ball revolution even more The Suns would have won it all.
LOL! Fields did look like a young Hondo for half a season.
I like the Stockton comparison.
“…since some moron named Z-man compared Landry Fields to John Havlicek…”
Agreed, no comparison. Landry cracked the starting line up game 1 in his rookie year. Havlicek took a full 7 seasons for his coach to have enough confidence to start him.
Both Kolek and Huk seem like rotation players next year, and that would be a huge win for the last draft.
No idea about McCullar, and Dadier seems further away. But still possible he makes it, and good wings are valuable.
lmao
The comparison was strictly on the way they dribble trying to set up teammates and not on physical attributes, athletic ability, ablity to shoot and score and do other things.
Nash often dribbled a lot of the clock off moving in out out of the paint, but he was doing it with the intent of finding the best quality pass to a teammate.
That’s kind of what Kolek is doing. He’s not focused on dribbling to create for himself or just moving the ball. He’s focused is on getting to the right spot and seeing the whole court so he can deliver a pass that leads to a quality shot. That’s why he’s getting so many assists per minute even though he’s a backup scrub. 😉 He’s killer good at that one PG attribute. He gets to the right spot, sees the open player a high percentage of the time and delivers the pass right in the pocket so the player can get the shot off quickly before the defender closes.
I’m not sold on Huk. I’m not sure he’s there with his spatial awareness on defense, but I definitely like what I see. He has the skills to be useful but I don’t know if it’ll be next year.
Dadiet won’t be ready during his rookie deal, if I had to guess. His g-league numbers are not promising.
McCullar better be ready, he’s a 6yr senior. I do think he’ll be able to step in right away based on what I’ve seen. Of course, there hasn’t been much to see yet
Kolek looks great. No notes.
Just to make part of what I am saying clearer, there are probably a dozen plays every Knick game where someone is open and no on sees him or someone sees him and makes the pass but it’s a bit high, low, to the left or right and by the time the receiver catches it, brings the ball to the shooting position and gets set to shoot, the defender is already on him. So he either doesn’t get the shot off or takes a contested shot. If that same pass was right in the pocket, he’s going to get that shot off and make it more often.
OG in particular really shoots fluidly with passes to his pocket. Less he has to think on offense the better he is.
I think comparing styles to those of the quintessential manifestations of those styles is perfectly fine. In that sense, I think the “Stockton” tree of play is the best one for Kolek to try to emulate, and if not, then the “Nash” tree. It took Stock a while to fully develop but he built his career primarily on his passing ability. He is the all-time leader in AST% but his career usage is only 18.9%, never cracked 21%. But his defense was built on guile, toughness, and court vision. Nash is almost a 50-40-90 guy for his career with a somewhat higher usage, but it took him a while to figure out how to score from 2pt range. He never developed all that much defensively, but was so elite on offense that it didn’t matter as much. The important thing is that neither guy had the size or athleticism to get away with so-so shooting, they had to become elite (Nash and Stockton both had career TS+ of 114; Nash twice led the league in TS%; Stockton three times.)
Like those two, Kolek has that “it” as a passer that just can’t be taught. But that by itself is not enough. You can be a terrible defender who is elite offensively (Trae Young) or a terrible shooter who is elite defensively (Kidd) but you can’t be just okay at one and bad at the other, or mediocre at both. Kolek has to become a 40-ish% 3pt shooter and a .600-ish TS% guy, and/or he has to start picking up steals by using his court vision and guile…CP3 is another great example of a little guy who is a formidable defender, so are Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet, but that also requires durability. Even if Kolek can improve on these things, can he physically hold up?
If Kolek can throw elbows at least half the rate Stockton did he’s gonna be okay.
“If Kolek can throw elbows at least half the rate Stockton did he’s gonna be okay.”
lol I think all good defenders who are undersized tend to take liberties…barreling through screens, chopping down on arms, submarining guys trying to draw charges…knees and elbows everywhere, riding on guys hips…whatever it takes!
If anything Kolek might become a drug-free, un-Clarence Boddickered Scott Skiles, but even that is a huge stretch
Don’t know if the numbers back it up but it feels like Shamet has been playing much better this past month. He also competes much harder defensively than I expected although physically he’s just not tall or athletic enough to defend the bigger wings.
Re: Clarence’s take on OG: That sounded a little dirty.
No one will be surprised to find out that I had no idea who Clarence Boddicker was until I looked it up. Also had no idea about Scott Skiles’ drug issues. But he did get 30 assists in a game, just like Kolek will.
A quick look at Shamet’s splits don’t tell the story of “playing better after the All-Star Game” or “playing better in March.”
I don’t think Lowry or FVV are good forward comp options, as both of them are basically blocks of wood. I don’t see Kolek ever getting to the point where he can muscle people like both of them can. Ditto Skiles.
I do agree with Z-Man that it’s going to be all about Kolek’s shooting (and possibly guile on D) if he’s going to move forward.
And I do like Shamet’s effort on D, but he plays like he’s 5’11”. Nice that he tries hard, but often to no avail.
Van Vleet, Lowery, and Paul are all examples that I wish Brunson would emulate more than Kolek.
Yeah the last thing I want is for Brunson to emulate FVV and Lowry.
Despite last night’s embarrassing 1st half effort the Knicks quietly are up to 13th in defensive rating. Nothing to brag about mind you but still somewhat noteworthy.
Defensively? They both have proven to be good enough on that end to win championships.
I don’t think Scott Skiles is a good comp because despite the 30-assist game he was really not a high-assist guy…never had a year where he averaged more than 8.9 per 36 or more than a 36.7 AST%. Kolek led the NCAA in AST% for 3 straight years at Marquette, and in the G-league he was at 39.9%, so his potential as an elite passer seems much higher. Skiles was a terrible shooter inside the arc, just okay from 3, and was just so-so as a defensive player. Hopefully Kolek’s ceiling is higher than that, but at least Skiles was a legit rotation player for a while, albeit mostly on bad teams. He did get to dump the ball to some rookie named Shaquille O’Neal one year before Penny made him expendable!
Actually Brunson tries to play defense a lot like Lowry and FVV, he just isn’t as good at it as they are at it, except at drawing charges.
I am. To me, he looks like a young Patrick Ewing but with a more well rounded offensive game like Hakeem.
He certainly hasn’t been shooting much better, his TS% was 63.4 in Feb and is 51.9 in March so far. His EPM dropped from -1.6 at the end of Feb to -2.2 now.
Swift immediately retires the Kolek-Nash comparison as dumbest since Landry Fields…
Yeah, it was definitely not on my bingo card today to see Huk compared to Ewing in any way. But it’s exciting, nonetheless.
While I enjoy making fun of Swift, I do think that Huk is a very raw but very likely useful NBA player going forward. Which wasn’t my first take, to be honest.
I guess I should’ve made my Shamet comment at the end of last month instead of this month…
Huk looks like he can play a bit. His ceiling seems to be significantly higher than Sims, and I don’t see any reason (other than health, of course!) that he can’t handle a limited backup role right now. Definitely too early to pencil him into next year’s rotation, but at pick #58, that’s all you can ask for.
It was actually me who favorably compared Fields to Havlicek. Here’s the Post story to prove it.
https://nypost.com/2010/12/24/knicks-walsh-says-fields-reminds-him-of-havlicek/
(You can’t just steal other people’s idiocy and expect to get away with it, Z-Man.)
“(You can’t just steal other people’s idiocy and expect to get away with it, Z-Man.)”
Sorry about that, I had a senior moment about your senior moment.
That court vision of Kolek seems pretty special or at least uncommon. Sometimes players like that make others better for two reasons. First, the game organization rubs off and dudes get the idea of where they should be after awhile. Second, the same dudes get rewarded by getting the ball in the right place. The team gets better by getting better shot opportunities. For me, this type of point guard plays chess and its really fun to watch. Add some offensive rebounding into the mix and you get more quality shot opportunities. Defense? I’ll take the 5th.