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177 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.07.02)”
I will say I don’t hate the idea of Mike Brown as head coach with Borrego as offensive coordinator.
agreed, brown with borrego sounds like a good move…
but will rick get the flick?
No, we’re stuck with Rick, per Stein. The only thing that’s tolerable to me about that is that Katz and the other beat writers are all adamant that Rick has zero interest in being the team’s head coach (or possibly a head coach at all). So it’s an awkward situation at best, a spy for the star player and/or owner at worst, but at least Rick won’t be angling to steal the job of whoever gets it.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6467095/2025/07/02/bucks-giannis-damian-lillard-myles-turner-gamble/?source=bsky_hq
I’d prefer Rick to be seated one row back, but I guess that’s the price for the son.
Agreed and agreed.
I wonder what Rick actually does
“I wonder what Rick actually does”
He reminds Jalen to not pass the ball to KAT until he starts playing better D…
If it ain’t broke don’t Ricks it.
———–
Why’d The Athletic give the Yabu signing at C+? “He didn’t make an impact for the Sixers?”
Agreed. I have no issue with Mike Brown as HC if he and the FO can cobble together a strong staff. If Borrego would accept an associate HC job with the Knicks, that would be great. I still want Mark Bryant and Mo Cheeks to stay too.
I wonder what Rick actually does
in the games i’ve been to he is usually the guy who turns to thibs and says something like “mitch is about to die of heat exhaustion you got to take him out” and thibs side eyes him like he just tried to order kung pao chicken
Spies for the owner.
Also serves an on-court function as recipient of salary and job title that makes his son, all else equal, far more likely to accept the early max.
In that sense, he’s very useful.
Paranoid much?
Why would Dolan need Rick Brunson to “spy” for him?
And why would Rick Brunson agree to do that? Leon Rose hired Rick Brunson, not Dolan. James Dolan probably had no idea that Jalen Brunson was even good at basketball until Leon Rose got here and put Jalen on our radar. Rick Brunson owes everything to Leon, not Dolan.
But yes, because the owner had a say in firing a coach who he had to pay 30 million dollars to not work for him, he must have spies everywhere! The palace intrigue! It’s like Game of Thrones!
He would tell Donte that his mother was a hamster and his father smelt of elderberries
I don’t hate the idea of any new coach, as my issues with the team’s performance were only slightly related to coaching and much more centered on personnel. Still, I was hoping for a higher ceiling/lower floor type, like a golden young assistant from a successful coaching tree rather than a retread. In any case, change from stagnation is good, and the Knicks had clearly stagnated under Thibs into something that, despite the success, seemed to have run its course.
Well according to E, either Jalen Brunson is a flat-out liar since he was publicly supportive of Thibs, or his father stabbed him in the back by privately throwing Thibs under the bus to his commandant. Which one is it, o wise one?
From Macri, in my attempt to like Yabu over Huk:
“Among players who saw at least 1800 minutes of court time last season, only 10 had a stronger offensive on/off than Guerschon. You’ll recognize the names: Jokic, Curry, SGA, Giannis, Haliburton, Trae, Franz Wagner, Ivica Zubac, Tyler Herro and Christian Braun. Falling just behind were James Harden, Jamal Murray, and the starting center for the Eastern Conference All-Stars, Karl-Anthony Towns.”
Also these bits:
“According to Cleaning the Glass, among bigs who played at least 1800 minutes and saw a majority of their time at center, Yabu was is one of five who put up at least 123 points per 100 shots while attempting at least three 3-pointers a night. The others were Jokic, Evan Mobley, Brook Lopez, and KAT.
Like Towns, Yabusele didn’t exclusively play the five, spending about a quarter of his minutes at power forward. As you might expect, the lineups with Yabu at center were extremely strong on offense, generating a 116.4 rating, but were sieves on D. The defense improved when he was at the four, but the offense also dropped off.”
I’m confused, and intrigued. Still sad for Huk, but maybe getting there…
Swifty, Dolan has a long history of being paranoid and using various employees to spy on one another. Herb Williams filled that function for him for a long time as various head coaches came and went. This has been widely reported. It’s not something a fully healthy organization does. But even when we’re good, we are never 100 percent healthy.
My main problem with James Borrego is that he’s a dead ringer for one of my least favorite actors ever.
I think Dolan has shown some slowwww progress as a human during the Leon run. Unlike other narcissistic executives, success in basketball is in wins and losses, and you can’t tell yourself you’ve won when the score says otherwise. Maybe that’s wishful thinking.
Who is that, Z?
The little I saw of Yabu play he was a monster. I’m very excited.
The Rick Brunson hiring has always left a bad taste in my mouth because of the sexual assault/abuse/harassment allegations. But I don’t think he’s here because of Dolan, Thibs had him on his staff in Chicago and Minnesota before hiring him. And he’s pretty clearly still here because of Jalen.
It stands to reason that Dolan would insist on being involved in any $30M decision anywhere in his corporate web.
There were zero indications that Dolan was involved in any kind of “meddling” way prior to that in the day-to-day running of the team. There were LOTS of indications that he wasn’t involved at all and left things completely in Leon’s hands, but was routinely kept informed about team ongoings, as any objective observer would assume is pretty routine across the sports ownership world.
There were LOTS of indications that sources in Leon’s orbit were not pleased with Thibs, going back to WWW not being a fan during the 2021-22 season, Thibs being on the hot seat 20 games into the 2022-23 season, Thibs giving newly acquired Cam Reddish sporadic playing time, and permabenching Fournier while purposely blowing out Kemba’s knee.
Dolan probably reads the papers, and/or has folks around him that read the papers. He surely heard about Bridges complaining about playing too many minutes, and about the general criticisms of Thibs. But gues swhat? Leon probably is aware of those perceptions as well, and probably found it harder and harder to defend his buddy Thibs against tendencies that were getting ripped in the press.
No one knows whether Dolan demanded that Leon set up the exit meetings where players “privately” threw Thibs under the bus, or whether Leon suggested to Dolan that he light $30M of his money on fire because he was exhausted from defending him to WWW (he clearly was in Leon’s ear about a new coach for years) and put the onus on the players to do the dirty work. In any case, firing a head coach after the most winning season in 25 years looks ugly no matter how you spin it, but if it is the right thing to do (as just about everyone, most vociferously E himself, agree that it was), really, who cares how it came down?
“Who is that, Z?”
If it’s not obvious, it must be just me.
Bad process/good result = bad.
Especially where Dolan is involved in the process.
He owns the team, lol.
The weirdest thing about Dolan’s recent involvment is his presence at the player exit meetings, which according to the Athletic beat guys is highly unusual among owners (or governors, or whatever), but honestly, seems perfectly logical to me..and especially so when it was the basis for a decision to burn $30M that the POBO just handed his buddy in an extension.
The only outcome that would raise eyebrows for me is if Leon was begging Dolan not to fire Thibs and actually trying to say to Dolan, “hey, I just invested $30M of your dollars in the guy and you want me to piss it away?” and Dolan responded, “I don’t care how much it costs, get rid of the bum…and the same goes for you if you fuck up with my millions again!” Is it possible that that’s what went down? Who knows? Maybe someone was in Dolan’s ear after game 1 saying “Hey boss, you see that guy making the choke sign on your home court? Leon passed over him to draft that other guy who made some monster plays against your team after Leon let him go for nothing because Thibs hated him!”
Keanu Reeves?
“Bad process/good result = bad.
Especially where Dolan is involved in the process.”
I wish Dolan was more involved when the decision was made to fork over all 5 of our tradable firsts for Mikal Bridges. But that would have been bad process/good result, so whatever.
I would prefer Yabu play the 4 and limit his minutes at the 5 to when the other team goes small. He played more 5 for the 76ers because Embiid was always out.
I think the Mitch/KAT lineup should be reserved for when other teams (like OKC, Houston) go to a two big man lineup.
Other than that, I want to play 5 out as much as possible.
I would prefer at least trying Deuce in the starting lineup instead of Hart. That gives us better spacing, better POA defense and frees Mikal to defend a wing like he’s supposed to. Mitch would be off the bench. If rebounding becomes a huge issue in that starting lineup, I’d even try some of Towns, Yabu, OG, Bridges and Brunson.
Huk’s role will be dependent on how much we use Mitch/Towns together. The more we use them, the more of a role for Huk.
Keanu Reeves?
this seems like a crazy mismatch, but also why does zman hate jeremy strong?
I found it ineresting that when Presti was recently talking about all the injuries in the NBA he pointed out that it was about more than just minutes. It was about how much more active the players are on both sides of the ball than just 10 years ago. He seems very in favor of reduced minutes, giving players games off etc… That may also explain why he’s so interested in building a DEEP team as opposed to a top heavy one like the Knicks.
This guy doesn’t look like this guy?
i’m starting to see why mo bamba passed your eye test
Cataract surgery recently?
Some good Begley tidbits:
Begley tends to be iron clad, but I’m not positive his math here is right.
I’ve got us at $204,291,498 for our 12 guaranteed roster spots, giving Yabu the full TPMLE and Clarkson the vet-min.
Another vet-min puts us at $206,587,772, $1,236,228 below what I believe is the confirmed second apron of $207,824,000.
The baby minimum is $1,272,870, so with two full weeks of proration in-season, plus a gimmicky non-guaranteed deal that buys you more time, I believe we could threat the needle without a trade.
But yeah, it would be tight to say the least. I just don’t like the idea of a trade because I actually have some level of investment in everyone on the roster!
Not sure which social medias do and don’t require a login to see at this point, but hopefully most of you can see one of these or the other, from an event I did last night in LA with the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
https://bsky.app/profile/sepinwall.bsky.social/post/3lsyfjorz522v
https://www.instagram.com/p/DLm75eupSNP/
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:qpqyay6mqatzyyet3jdgxiwi/bafkreih722t4uqdrlp3iquw4wfrq764weedf4fvdllk34leeox42eptcoi@jpeg
I would prefer that the coach experiments with lineups using all 14-15 guys on the roster for 3 solid months in various sets against various teams before settling in to a rotational philosophy, which may involve changing lineups, substitutions, and strategies/tactics situationally vs. different opponents.
In terms of Yabu, like most of our players, he has glaring flaws that need to be masked, so how he is utilized should reflect the opponent’s ability to exploit those flaws. In he’s case, he doesn’t seem particularly athletic, especially vertically, doesn’t get many defensive rebounds, doesn’t protect the rim at all, doesn’t pass much, doesn’t get to the line much, and is a low-ish usage player.
However, he is a super-strong wide-body with an excellent wingspan, has decent defensive footwork, sets bone-crushing screens, can bully to the rim in straight-line drives, can hit spot-up 3’s, has a great motor, plays with emotion, and hits the offensive boards.
Thinking outside the box, maybe he can get into top shape (seems overweight) and adapt to a PJ Tucker-type role in certain situations.
yabu is listed at 6-8/260 while tucker is listed at 6-5/245 6-8/260 does seem a little big mitch is now listed at 7-0/240
Begley tends to be iron clad, but I’m not positive his math here is right.
seems like you agree on the math? give yabu $36K less and fit in a vet min. check your dms de’anthony!
“i’m starting to see why mo bamba passed your eye test”
Definitely don’t have x-ray vision.
“Cataract surgery recently?”
Can we at least agree on the least favorite actor part?
I see what z-man is talking about, but it’s hardly a dead ringer. Jeremy Strong is pretty damn close. Keanu Reeves is also a human male.
His math is right. It’s just easy to forget about that option. Aller is the only one to pull this stuff.
I’ve always liked Melton but he’s never healthy.
we can get shake shake shake back
I’ll pointlessly fall on my sword and admit I was thinking John Turturro, who is not everyone’s cup of tea (but somehow I would have thought Z-Man would like him). I get Keanu because of the very questionable beard trim, at least in recent Wickian days.
I read somewhere (here?) that if Yabu takes 40k less we can do more. Which sort of matches what’s being bandied about…
That’s a bit extreme. There are only so many players that are going to be part of the rotation. We want to test the “major” question marks.
Mitch/Towns
Deuce with the starters instead of Hart
Both Mitch and Towns at C with Yabu at PF and Yabu at C.
Both Clarkson and Kolek with various players assuming the latter even makes the rotation this year.
Other than that, most of it will be injury related or garbage time.
seriously i think we should sniff around larry nance jr or karlo matkovic
I guess saying “I’m not positive his math here is right” was my pre-coffee way of saying “I’m not positive he’s drawing the correct conclusions from the math.”
Cavs are getting Larry Nance Jr.
how fitting for nance since that is where his dad starred i really do like matkovic on a cheapie tho 15/10 .574 per 36 6-10/231
PJ was a wide-body who played lots of small-ball PF/C for Houston, despite not being particularly athletic, and the key was his ability to body up bigger players, stay in front of smaller ones, and nail the corner 3. I think Yabu can handle that role situationally.
The availability of 2.0 bpm big with the one year vet minimum makes the Clarkson signing even more appalling.
There goes your “you have to pick your poison” argument.
Right, bc Larry Nance Jr. has no glaring flaws.
Well, Larry Nance played 463 minutes last year due to something called a “right medial femoral condyle fracture” and with Yabu in tow he’d be our 4th big. So I’d argue there was some poison there too.
matkovic may not be available how about chris boucher languishing in raptorville 21/9 per 36 with 36.3 3fg
Why would we want Nance, who’s always injured, instead of Yabu?
Nance is good. Clarkson is bad.
Just hubert being a cappuchino-chuggin’ curmudgeon, as usual.
we did not want nance instead of yabu we wanted nance in addition to yabu again i offer boucher
James Borrego is: ‘The Clarkson Whisperer’…
Current favorites to star in this movie are David Schwimmer, Keanu Reeves, and John Turturro.
Why wouldn’t we want both?
We only have quality bigs right now: Towns, Mitch, Yabu. An injury to anyone forces Hukporti into the lineup. Nance would have been a good 4th.
i think huk will be able to function pretty well by end of season still not a bad idea to have another big hell even bismack biyombo would not be bad to bring in
Leon: “What do we need on the bench?”
Entire staff: Scoring
WWW: How about Clarkson? He used to be a 6th man of the year and still puts up pointz.
Leon:: OK let’s get Clarkson
The fact that he’s not any good and plays no defense for a team that also needs defense never factored into it.
It’s tough to get a quality player for cheap, but personally, I’d rather have scoring issues on the bench and a better player (Wright) than Clarkson. I’d actually rather have Payne and I was never a big Payne fan. Until his playoff flameout Payne was pretty good for us.
I definitely think another ball handler and shot creator, albeit a deeply flawed one, was a better use of scarce resources than a 4th big who just fractured the same knee he had arthroscopic surgery on in 2022.
Personally I give Jordan Clarkson a somewhat significantly higher chance of being relevant in the NBA in 2025-2026.
I think there’s a much better chance of Huk being a decent backup big than Kolek being a decent backup guard. For what we need, I’d take Clarkson over Nance Jr. every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I appreciate that you said relevant instead of good or productive.
I’m betting the rookie spot will go to Nnaji, even though I prefer it going to Rokas.
That leaves us with 1 proven PG on the roster in Brunson. Not sure who’s available there, other than CP3 who I doubt comes, but I’d like another PG or combo guard.
Interesting thought.
The bar on “decent backup big” is pretty low, so in one sense you’re right. Jericho Sims is a “decent backup big”, for instance, and sure Hukporti could reach that lofty level.
The bar on “decent backup guard” is pretty high. Tyus Jones, for instance, is a decent backup guard, and he’s struggled to find work. It’s true that Kolek may never be that good.
But if Kolek is a level below a decent backup guard, and Hukporti is decent backup big, I think Kolek is more valuable.
i really think kolek can work if he is asked to do the right things distribute the ball from the paint only look for his own shot if things break down and he is open and try hard on defense he is much more of a pure point than brunson is i would have loved to have kept delon are we sure that we are not
“But if Kolek is a level below a decent backup guard, and Hukporti is decent backup big, I think Kolek is more valuable.”
Which is exactly my point. We HAVE both Kolek and Huk, so the question becomes: for which player is a realistic plan B more of a priority? Seem like you agree that a backup plan in case Kolek is unplayable is more important.
We can certainly quibble over whether Clarkson was the best choice to be that guy…if you would prefer Payne, or Delon, or whatever available backup guard was available for the vet’s minimum (Shamet isn’t really a guard) then that’s a more valid argument than saying Nance a) was a better choice and b) is devoid of poisonous attributes.
PS Tyus Jones just signed for $7M…so it seems like he actually had no trouble finding work, nor could he have been had at the minimum (even last year he probably signed on a make-good basis and guess what? It worked! Who is that player today? Could it be Jordan Clarkson?)
Clarkson is not the Knicks version of D-Rose (that for some reason was 9th place in the MVP vote in 2021) and is definitely not IQ, but I think maybe mgmt. is seeking someone in that mold.
FWIW I can’t imagine why anyone would be down on Tyler Kolek after 296 minutes of mostly garbage time. In that little 7 game stretch of basketball Thibs actually gave him run he averaged over 12:1 assist to TO per 36 minutes. And that’s with Mr. Make One Mistake And You’ll Never Play Again breathing down his neck.
He’s a bad defender but so is Clarkson.
There’s no doubt in my mind who I would like to see as the backup PG next year, and I’m surprised anyone here would prefer Clarkson.
That ship seems to have sailed, EB. If Rokas ever does come stateside, it will be after we’ve thrown his draft rights into a bigger trade.
No, I don’t.
I think what you missed is that I believe “decent backup bigs” are terrible basketball players who I never want to see play for my team (and who don’t typically play on good teams at all).
Indiana, for instance, had good backup bigs. Isaiah Jackson, Thomas Bryant, and Tony Bradley are all more than decent. They’re actually kings good.
It’s important to have good backup bigs like Larry Nance. Decent backup bigs like Sims and Hukporti are flotsam and jetsam.
one has to squint pretty hard to view clarkson as anything but a shooting guard i think trying to make him a point brings us back to point alec burks territory i doubt that mike brown or anyone else would think that way
kolek 8.5 ast per 36
brunson 7.4 ast per 36
clarkson 5.2 ast per 36 (payne and hart averaged more ast per 36 than this)
I still think Kolek has the potential to be a very good bench player.
He has an ELITE skill in that he sees the court very well, either moves the ball or dribbles to locations “with purpose” and delivers passes that are spot on in the pocket so shots can get off quickly. That’s a good underappreciated skill. He’s far and away the best passer on the team.
All he has to do is hit wide open shots (he can) and be as good as Brunson defensively (not a high bar) and he can add value. Personally, I think he’s eventually going to be able to do more than just hit open shots on offense. He’s just going to have to be teamed up with some defense first players. If he’s on the court with Clarkson at SG and Yabu at C we are going to have some serious defensive bench issues.
“But if Kolek is a level below a decent backup guard, and Hukporti is decent backup big, I think Kolek is more valuable.”
Just to fully respond, I don’t think Kolek has established himself as whatever “a level below decent backup guard” is intended to mean. From what I’ve seen, he has established himself as “virtually unplayable in any situation other than garbage time due to lack of physical tools” sub-replacement level scrub. Hukporti has the physical tools to play his position, and his main negatives are things you expect from rookie bigs…foul-prone, turnover-prone, game too fast for him stuff. Maybe Kolek puts in the work to toughen up on D and diversify his game on O, but his size/athleticism profile is not promising.
Clarkson, to me, is a lateral move from Cam Payne. I thought Payne wasn’t bad as a vet min backup PG.
My hope is that the new coach gives some developmental minutes to Hukporti and Kolek, both of whom could potentially stick as back-of-rotation bench pieces. Spread out the minutes, try some different combinations, see if Huk can give you ten MPG of decent rim protection and if Kolek can run your offense for eight MPG. Maybe you get one of those guys to stick.
I would have thought you were taller from your posts
“…be as good as Brunson defensively (not a high bar)”
I think Kolek was miles away from being as good as Brunson defensively. If it weren’t for his passing, he’d be sub-G League. Can he get to the point where he can actually be played? Maybe! I sure hope so!
But I also wouldn’t count on it in any way. I would waaaaay rather count on Hukporti becoming an actually good backup C (i.e. better than Nance) than Kolek becoming an NBA rotation player. But I wouldn’t count Kolek out, he will surely work his ass off to get better, and if he does make the leap, he will certainly be fun to watch.
That’s a bold conclusion from his first 296 minutes.
Just FYI his numbers in those minutes are pretty close to Jordan Clarkson’s current three year average.
Who do you think is more likely to improve next year?
So eye test and rose-colored glasses take. Still feel good about both of them.
I think Kolek is better than unplayable. I DO think the current version of him, and perhaps always and forever, is largely unplayable in the playoffs. But I think he can and should get regular 10-15 minutes against other teams’ scrubs, and I think he’ll surprise many of us. In a positive way.
I also think Huk is (was) already a perfectly cromulent backup big. I can’t back it up with numbers because 25 games, but I saw someone who, after the usual first few games of head-spinning, was a) processing the game faster than Sims, b) had more offensive skills than Sims, and c) was more of a solid screen-setter and rim protector than Sims. As with Kolek, I think he deserves 10-15 minutes regularly during the season to see if that’s real.
I would have thought so, too. My listed height is taller than Brunson’s. And yet there is that picture.
“I think what you missed is that I believe “decent backup bigs” are terrible basketball players who I never want to see play for my team”
That’s a pretty weird definition for “decent” in any context. And it makes even less sense if you think “one level below decent backup guard” is someone you’d want to see play more than “decent backup C.”
If you are shitty for your position, you are shitty for your position. Decent is always better than less than decent. Seems pretty simple to understand.
Just looking through the deals and am shocked Sandro Mamukelashi was available for so little. I liked him as much as (maybe even more than) Yabu.
Hukporti is a better bet to stick as a rotation player because “rim protecting big who occasionally catches a lob and dunks” seems like an easier job to learn than “point guard who can run an offense.” There’s more of a learning curve for the latter.
Apparently the Knicks didn’t practice all that much last year? I don’t really know how true that is, but if it is true, the young guys really had very little opportunity to develop. Limited practice plus garbajh-only minutes is not a great scenario for a fringy, developing player. I hope we invest more time in developing the young players this year.
“That’s a bold conclusion from his first 296 minutes.”
Sorry, that’s all the evidence I had. Other than his 144 shitty G-League minutes (.518 TS%.) He’s also 24 years old.
Anyway, that’s what he is as of this moment. Any other conclusion based on what he has done so far would be ludicrous. Can he get better? Sure!
“Just FYI his numbers in those minutes are pretty close to Jordan Clarkson’s current three year average.”
Kolek posted a .453 TS% on a 15.8% usage. Clarkson’s 3-year average TS% was somewhere around .540 on around a 27% usage. If you think that’s pretty close, whatever.
“Who do you think is more likely to improve next year?”
Silly question. Better to ask: who do you think will help the team win more (or lose less) next year? I feel pretty sure that it will be Clarkson by a very wide margin, but would LOVE to be wrong!
25-26 Knicks Season Bold Prediction # 1:
People who are bashing Clarkson are going to love him by the end of the season.
I will be a bit disappointed to see rick brunson on the staff when the season begins…not a huge deal, but…just feels like it is time to move forward in that regard…
I do hope though we get a repeat performance from our medical staff…they kicked butt last season…
less will be more with jordan clarkson…
hopefully though he inspires mikal to spend a little more time going to the rim…
“I think Kolek might become better than unplayable.”
FIFY. As to “so far”, he’s a terrible shooting PG who gets targeted and abused defensively at will by any decent NBA player. I don’t care how well he passed, that is unplayable.
Again, yes, he can improve! But he is 24 years old and not going to physically grow, or run much faster or jump much higher. He can certainly get stronger and more aggressive, which would help to a point. He can definitely get better at creating space for himself the way Brunson does, but there’s a pretty big gap there and who knows where he hits the wall in that regard? He needs to improve a whole lot before he becomes a rotation-level player, and I haven’t seen enough to be able to count on that happening any time soon, and we urgently need a backup guard who can actually play more than token minutes.
DeVito’s Elevator Crocs doing a lot work
Clearly we need to know who the new coach is going to be and how they view the personnel, but I’ve always like the idea as Josh Hart as the backup point guard, albeit an unconventional one.
Reasoning: If Josh has the ball, you have to guard him. He becomes a threat. You can’t play off him. It also allows Brunson to move off the ball, which redirects the defense’s concentration, and also allows Brunson to act as a decoy. It adds a different flavor to what they’re doing.
But we’ll see what the new coach thinks.
okay full disclosure with this one:
each and every photo of you Al will be forever referenced to: Al’s crazy cat eye pic while riding subway back to work…
that was just too perfect a moment in time to ever ever being topped…
I will say though sir – you are looking pretty healthy and sexy there Al…job done well brother…
ugh, decided to fire up this old fat/bmi measuring device I’ve had for years…
although expected, those were not some pretty numbers (28 or so % on both)…I’m getting older and softer…ugh…
I’m gonna get my shit together though and get sexy like big Al 😊
Boy the Rockets and Nuggets did really well.
I think that MPJ trade showed us what the cost of getting out from under OG’s contract will likely be when we get to that point.
So did the Hawks
The “Lebron is getting traded” rumors are really starting to pick up steam. That may explain why LA has been so quiet and hasn’t addressed its issue at C. I suspect there’s a huge multi team deal being dicussed that moves Lebron, but to who I don’t know.
steveoh, I don;t think Hart has enough dribbling chops to play PG. I also think that you can indeed lay off of him, since he’s no threat to shoot and you could just sit back and wait for him to start his drive. He got lots of assists in his role, but mostly as a secondary ball handler. I don’t see that changing much, even with Brunson off the floor.
Shams says it’s Mike Brown.
Yeah the Hawks are the new Pacers (the frisky team in the East).
The Magic are the new Knicks (#3 with a bullet).
And now it’s us and Cleveland instead of Boston and Cleveland.
The Celtics of 2019-2020? 😉
Specifically
So does Bondy.
For the record, I heard that Mike Brown loves Kolek and wants to use him as the backup PG. So maybe I won’t hate him. 😉
If he brings in Borrega, I may do a 180 on my initial down vote.
I like NAW and Kennard, but I don’t love them. Trae is still their only offensive engine. KP is going to get hurt again. Very good team, but not great.
Bojan Bogdanovic retired. I know that killed a lot of dreams of bringing him back.
Knicks interested in Ben Simmons?
any chance kolek can ever be a poor mans tjmcconnell
mamukelashvili
please no ben simmons do not ruin a great couple of days
Hard to get too excited by an NBA coaching retread, but I’m gonna keep an open mind and hope he’s more flexible and creative than his predecessor.
What can Brown do for us?
The sneaky thing about the Hawks is they have a $26M trade exception and can trade their own 1st in ‘29, ‘30, ‘31, ‘32.
They also have that Pelicans pick but I imagine they want to keep that.
amendment ben simmons is fine if we are only giving him money and no players are going out i like our current roster
“Hard to get too excited by an NBA coaching retread, but I’m gonna keep an open mind and hope he’s more flexible and creative than his predecessor.”
Yeah, exactly my thinking.
Just saying that Mike Brown has installed vastly different offenses in Cleveland, LA and Sacramento, all designed to get the most out of the rosters he has. And he has always lifted the defenses above their personnel.
I’ve always been impressed by his versatility and ability to adapt to the roster he has – which is a big difference from Thibs.
Clarkson isn’t very good so I don’t blame people for being skeptical, but I think some are underrating how badly we needed a bench creator and/or ball handler, even a bad one.
Non-Brunson lineups held up decently to start the season when Payne was playing well and we staggered Brunson and Towns a bit, but after January 1, which we all agree was some kind of D-Day for our offense, non-Brunson lineups had a 111.6 offensive rating, which would’ve been 24th in the NBA for the season.
In the playoffs the non-Brunson number dipped to 106.8, which speaks for itself.
It’s very hard to get Brunson sufficient rest when scoring without him is such a grind. In today’s NBA there’s not really any such thing as a lineup so defensively stout you can hang in those minutes without scoring on your own.
Clarkson doesn’t have to be very good to nudge these numbers in the right direction. The missed-floater-to-Mitch-putback pipeline should do the trick.
Yeah, they aren’t a contender yet like Denver or Houston, but they had a good off season and may not be done. I can see Trae and the Hawks giving us a tough time. Teams in the east are seeing the situation with the Celtics and concluding now is the time to make some moves and hope for some luck in the east.
That may be why Lebron wants out too.
He’s see how ridiculously strong the west is and how far away the Lakers are. He wants to contend and win another title. He has a way better chance to get to the finals in the east. Lakers have to find a trading partner that gives them something tolerable and leaves the other team with enough to be attractive for Lebron.
That’s a bar that’s impossible to not reach. 😉
Maybe if OG has career threatening back surgery and looks hobbled half the time on the court. Otherwise, I don’t think this is true.
The actual correct term for the so-called “Kobe assist” is “breaking down the defense,” and it’s a very important offensive skill that extends beyond getting a shot up to the rim.
What that means for Jordan Clarkson and what he does here, I’ll leave to others to decide.
Brown has an objectively impressive record, IMO. Obviously LeBron deserves 99% of the credit for this, but those Cavs teams drastically over performed what anyone looking at their rosters would think they’d pull off. Then with the Kings he implemented a high-assist, high-3PA offense and played a deep rotation. Seems to check a lot of our boxes.
My guess is we see some more creative offensive sets, with “let Brunson cook” being a prominent but downsized feature.
Here’s an article outlining the circumstances around Brown’s firing. While there are substantive differences with the Thibs saga, my main takeaway is that both coaches seem to have a limited shelf life when their teams hit a ceiling and they get defensive about it.
I’m not expecting Brown to be around very long. Three years tops unless there’s a legit championship run.
I’m actually kind of excited.
A lot of my favorite coaches were retreads: Joe Torre, Joe Girardi, Tom Coughlin, and yes, even Tom Thibodeau was one of my favorite coaches, believe it or not.
I will like it a lot more if we also get the Borrego hire, as expected.
Brown isn’t exciting because he doesn’t have an identity. With Thibs you know you’re getting defense. With D’Antoni, you know you’re getting offense.
Mike Brown doesn’t have that type of extreme reputation, but that’s not really a referendum on his coaching ability.
The sneaky thing about the Hawks is they have a $26M trade exception and can trade their own 1st in ‘29, ‘30, ‘31, ‘32.
they took naw into that exception. they have a $13.1mm exception.
Brown will definitely be less Thibs-like than Malone or Budz. Not sure about whether he was the choice over Jenkins. Brown seems pretty charming and probably interviews very well. He definitely has good answers for the questions related to Thibs’ most annoying tendencies.
He lost De’Aaron Fox by making veiled criticisms in the press that culminated in directly blaming him for blowing a defensive assignment in a critical moment. Given that one of the things that came out during the Knicks’ post-mortem period was that players were frustrated with KAT’s defensive tendencies, I wonder whether that will become a thing.
So does that mean NOLA can block Borrego from coming if he wants? If we make him “associate head coach” or somesuch, does that allow him to leave his current job?
a little ironic to read that with thibs we knew that we were getting defense our defense was actually pretty bad
1RP to bring in a player who is arguably better, is that the cost?
“Tom Thibodeau was one of my favorite coaches, believe it or not…”
(Z-man vomiks in mouth…)
I don’t get this at all. The Nuggets attached a good pick to MPJ to get a substantially cheaper, better player. What did it show us other than “you can often upgrade your team at the cost of draft capital?”
The LeBron opt in saga is fascinating. I don’t think he wants to be a Laker and I don’t think anyone can afford to trade for him without gutting their team. What if he’s actually agitating to get bought out so he can sign wherever he wants? It’s ballsy AF but I wouldn’t put it past him.
From his POV, he’s been criminally underpaid every year of his career. The Lakers just got a $10 billion valuation in large part bc he resuscitated the brand, and he “only” made $250M working for them. I think he is keenly aware of that imbalance and would feel justified opting in and then demanding to be bought out.
Of course the Lakers will try to get something for him first, but when there is no market for him bc no one can match his salary, he may be able to convince them that he’s earned that $50M buyout.
Now that we have Brown, can LeBron be far behind?😂😂
KAT
It showed exactly how much it will cost to upgrade from an elite role player making almost $40M to a better player at half the cost.
They also got JV, Brown, and Hardaway out of the deal with the money they saved. It was essentially a 4-for-1 deal.
Once the Bridges extension kicks in next year and we’re over the 2nd apron, I imagine the first thing we’re going to look at is doing something similar with OG.
If we can turn OG into a better player next year and add three depth pieces with the money we save, at just the cost of the ‘33 pick when it becomes available, I’d like to think we’d jump at the chance.
Now that you mention, I see it. It’s the eyes and nose. They could pass for brothers.
This is honestly the best of both worlds. In Borrego, we get one of the top young assistants to modernize our offense and with Brown, we get instant buy-in from the players, which protects from the risk of said young assistant failing to get over with the locker room and thus their modernized schemes never coming to fruition.
I’m not super motivated by the Mike Brown pending hire, but communication is said to be one of his big strengths, and it was a major problem with last year’s team.
This front office is working to address last year’s issues, seen and unseen. That, I like a lot.
A starting lineup of 40yo LeBron, Mitch, OG, Bridges and Brunson with a bench of Hart, Deuce, Yabu, Clarkson, Huk, Kolek, etc. would sure be fun to dream on. Alas, Father Time is, you know…
Fuck that. Lebron, push for a buy out and then come here for the vet minimum!
I don’t hate the idea of Lebron taking the vet minimum to come here and play off-ball destroyer.
doug is writing as if we got borrego too is that the case i am not seeing it anywhere
I read someone earlier make this comparison, hopefully going from Thibs to Mike Brown is similar to going from Buck Showalter to Joe Torre.
Stein: “League sources say Denver recently sought permission to interview James Borrego for the top spot on David Adelman’s bench. That request was denied since such a move was deemed “lateral.”
“The Pelicans naturally granted New York permission to interview Borrego for its HC vacancy.”
Again, can we give him a better title and bring him in, or can NOLA block any move that’s not Borrego as head coach?
It does feel like this new 2nd apron business is reinvigorating the buying out expensive players trend. Felt like that stopped being a thing a few years ago but now is back again.
Could be a good thing for a team like The Knicks!
begley:
James Borrego is currently employed by the Pelicans and under contract, so there would be hurdles to adding him to a potential Mike Brown coaching staff. Also, Knicks like Borrego and he’s still viewed as head coaching candidate at this point in process. Same goes for MIN assistant Micah Nori. But Mike Brown does see Borrego as an important addition on his staff if Knicks deal goes through, as @TheSteinLine noted. Borrego’s viewed across the league as a coach with strong offensive sets/creativity and one who places an emphasis on ball movement, spacing, player movement.
this obviously has not been updated to account for the brown hire but still relevant
Looks like Brown deal is done
Maybe we should have named Borrego HC and hired Brown as the top assistant.
That’s a bold statement…
I know!
I wanted Nance over Yabu because he’s a better player, but it would absolutely have been more risky since he’s hurt so much. Yabu is a solid get instead, not as good but more reliable.
But complaining that we then didn’t add Nance instead of Clarkson makes no sense – this isn’t the time for “best available player” in the win curve, it’s the time for fit. And with Yabu lined up, the best team-building move for fit was a penetrating small off the bench who could create offense. I don’t like Clarkson, but at the vet min it’s hard to complain about him. I don’t think it’s a lateral move from Payne at all; Payne’s offense was getting hot from 3, whereas Clarkson creates by going to the hoop, as Noble showed with his stats yesterday. Adding Yabu and Clarkson makes a lot of sense to me.
https://x.com/jalenbrunson1/status/1940192014513185258?t=UVupIOTBs6dSRe97I8KzIw&s=19
Ok, pretty funny
Yeah but we didn’t get that. We got Jordan Clarkson.
Jordan Clarkson doesn’t fit on a team trying to win a championship. He fits on teams that are tanking.
He doesn’t create offense, he takes shots.
LOL, this is ridiculous. Just because he’s not as efficient as you would like doesn’t mean he doesn’t create offense. This is getting a little ridiculous.
i was told that we are only supposed to use xcancel here is that not the case anymore
Jordan Clarkson ORtg for the last 6 years (league ranking in parantheses)
109 (22nd)
109 (26th)
108 (27th)
109 (31st)
107 (31st)
107 (31st)
For the last three years, you’ve been worse than the worst offense in the NBA when he’s on the court.
He doesn’t create offense, he kills them.
Hahn is really pushing the possibility of LeBron wanting to be traded to the Knicks…
and yeah the pellies can block corrego from leaving for a lateral move meaning another assistant coaching gig but why would they want him to stay if he does not want to be there it is the same as forcing a player to play for you even if he does not want to be there it usually does not go well
Sports Illustrated:
“A trade package of OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and some small salary filler would be enough to match James’ $52.6 million. The Los Angeles Lakers should have strong interest in putting both players next to Dončić as well.”
“A starting five of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, James and Karl-Anthony Towns would be one of the NBA’s best, especially offensively. With so many stars sidelined next season in the East, the Knicks’ only real competition may come from the Cleveland Cavaliers. That’s a far cry from the West where every single team (save for the Utah Jazz) should have playoff aspirations.”
this is all kind of academic since we are at the second apron correct
I know the name of the game for “underachieving” teams is to just get talent in the building, but hwhat in the entire fuck is Charlotte, Phoenix, and Sacto doing?? Somebody needs to remind Charlotte that there’s only one ball there, and the one they have takes a ton of shots. Seriously though? LaMelo, Sexton, Dinwiddie, and Tre Mann? I don’t see the vision.
Meanwhile…I am gonna reserve judgment on the Mike Brown hire until I see what assistants he gets. I have faith in him with this roster, and I think he did the best he could with the skullduggery in Sacramento. But he is gonna have to be “Coach of the Year Mike Brown” for us, and alot of that is gonna depend on his assistants being good buffers and adding value to the strategy
i would love borrego to come along but realized that i am putting too much thought into who the assistant coaches are it is not really accurate to think that assistant coaches affect that much unless it is a offensive coordinator/defensive coordinator kind of setup which is not what this would be
Yeah let’s have less defense and less depth.
for the record i am not on board with trading for lebron now we should leave things alone as they are pretty good and we obviously have a pretty promising path in front of us as it is
hubie that’s not what ortg on bref means. it’s a throwback rube goldberg type stat from the original dean oliver book. the jazz ppp with clarkson on is actually 116.9 over the last six years, about 3 pts per 100 better than average, though i wouldn’t take too much from that alone.
I don’t know what you’re looking at but here’s Utah’s offensive rating with Clarkson on the court for every season he’s been there, with on/off differential in parentheses:
2024-2025: 109.6 (-2.5)
2023-2024: 115.9 (-0.1)
2022-2023: 118.7 (+5.2)
2021-2022: 117.6 (+0.5)
2020-2021: 117.9 (-0.1)
For the last signing I would love to see us go after either Melton or Boucher. Either would be huge additions. Melton would be my first choice but I doubt he plays for the minimum even with him still being in recovery.
As for LeBron, the only trade that makes any sense would be for KAT. Moving multiple pieces and losing defense wouldn’t make us better.
Thank you for the correction.
Ok, Swifty, I was wrong.
Thanks for admitting it.
I’m not saying he’s amazing, but for the vet minimum we could do far worse and he brings something to the table we need.
I’m more worried about his health/decline than I am about his specific skill set or bball skill level.
I was actually going to chastise Fred Katz (not that he reads this site anymore) in that he should be ashamed for writing the ultimate click-bait article about trades for LeBron. Maybe James gets traded and I apologize to Fred. But I’m not holding my breath.
I’m fine with an LBJ trade as long as we can get Bronny too.
ha
Agree with all of this. Which isn’t to say that
1) we can sign Melton or Boucher, because we’re limited by the apron to rooks (correct?), or signing vets 2 weeks into the season (and why would they wait?) and
2) that I would make that trade for LBJ. But it’s the only one that makes sense, and is a pretty close match in salary.
rent is too damn high and LeBron is too damn old. i’m ok with KAT as a trade chip but not for a guy 10 years his senior.
maybe the Knicks/Lakers get freaky with the rudderless Raptors?
something like Poeltl+LeBron to NYK, Hart+PJ to Toronto plus Laker picks, OG+Mitch to Lakers
New thread!
Seriously?
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