07/20/2025 11:00:01
07/20/2025 11:00:00
07/20/2025 09:30:00
07/20/2025 02:58:36
07/20/2025 02:19:00
07/19/2025 22:56:32
07/19/2025 22:49:30
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Knicks Morning News (2025.07.20)
07/20/2025 11:00:01
07/20/2025 11:00:00
07/20/2025 09:30:00
07/20/2025 02:58:36
07/20/2025 02:19:00
07/19/2025 22:56:32
07/19/2025 22:49:30
24 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.07.20)”
Welcome to the dog days of Knickerblogger!
Rough
That was about as disappointing as the summer league could be.
I didn’t see anything to make me think our bench is going to be stronger next year based on youthful development.
I think Yabu will be a step up from Precious on offense, but a step down on the boards and probably on defense.
We are losing some combination of Shamet, Payne and Wright.
I don’t like Clarkson at all.
The best chance for this team to be better and keep up with all the younger teams, injured teams and teams that added through the draft is for Mitch to be healthy and productive for a full season. Other than that, sure Boston and Indiana declined due to injury, but most of the rest of the league got better. I hope Brown unlocks something on offense because as much as I love Mitch and as much as I think he can add wins if healthy, he’s not highly dependable.
I’ll give a full-throated response since there’s nothing else going on.
“I didn’t see anything to make me think our bench is going to be stronger next year based on youthful development.”
Summer League is not really a great indicator, so whatever. As I said, let’s wait until at least preseason before being out on Kolek, beyond reinforcing that using the last vet’s minimum spot on a backup PG would be advisable. Dadiet and Huk actually looked okay. Most importantly, 3 months is a long time in the life of a young player, they can definitely improve on things in the time between now and training camp. That especially goes for Diawara, who looked pretty good for a 20YO before he started forcing things in the last game.
“I think Yabu will be a step up from Precious on offense, but a step down on the boards and probably on defense.”
He’s almost certainly a better overall player, and probably by a considerable margin.
“We are losing some combination of Shamet, Payne and Wright.”
All of them are scrubs who can be replaced at a moment’s notice. If you are concerned about losing any of them, that’s a “you” problem.
“I don’t like Clarkson at all.”
Also a “you” problem. He’s way better than any of those other three scrubs.
“The best chance for this team to be better and keep up with all the younger teams, injured teams and teams that added through the draft is for Mitch to be healthy and productive for a full season.”
That would help, but the “best chance?” Come on.
-You were very adamant in calling for a coaching change. Brown is a very different coach than Thibs, far more likely to implement the changes you have been advocating for. Why would that not be out “best chance?”
-The core of the team has an entire year together to build off of, including 3 tough playoff rounds. Shouldn’t that experience be invaluable?
-I can’t fathom how you are the least bit concerned that our bench will be underwhelming, especially compared to last year, and especially, especially with a coach who theoretically will be less rigid about how he uses his bench.
Not full-throated, more like muttering into my coffee.
Summer League felt like biting into a lemon. I probably block it out every year, but man that was bad play. Makes me realize that the big difference between scrubs and the professionals is the ability to actually make baskets — finish plays, etc. Seemed the most common play by far was charge to the basket, throw the ball wildly off the backboard. Sure they were all kids, but it felt worse than what I’ve seen at the Y. Taller by a lot, but not any better. I’d like to think that’s not true, but man.
It’s also indicative of almost nothing. We saw a game of Kolek being cromulent, or at least a half game of it. So it CAN happen. Can it be consistent? We’ll report back in January… Diawara is an interesting specimen, sort of like a butterfly on a pin. So pretty… He’d be perfect for those end two minutes of blowouts either way, just to see him against semi-professional bench players. A year, maybe two or more, but more there to build on than most. Pate seems like a poor man’s Diawara — a lot less to build on, so likely a slowly developing G-Leager until he goes elsewhere.
Clarkson is my very favorite rorschach test. He has more raw basketball talent than those other guards, but he could also be worse in various unpleasant ways. Very much looking forward to seeing whose imagination is more accurate.
And yeah, the big hope is that Brown unlocks things. It’s going to be a super-weird first half of the season while that happens (or fails to happen), speaking of rorschach tests.
What the fuck is a labubu. I go away for a couple months and the timeline shifts. Fuckery.
im sorry clarence i have no idea what or who a labubu is and it sounds dumb enough that i dont want to waste any time looking it up great to hear from you tho
Oh it’s alright Knicks 2025. Thanks for the apology. I don’t expect you to know everything.
I must say I did not care for the 1100+ minutes of Precious Achiuwa last year. The best thing I can say about those minutes is that he blocked an occasional shot. Offensively he gives you nothing other than an occasional putback, and he is almost a Bargnani-level team defender. That’s probably the easiest 1100 minutes to upgrade. Yabu can stretch the floor and is adept at attacking closeouts, and isn’t as utterly hopeless as a team defender as Presh.
And Clarkson’s game may not be pretty, but there is brute force value in a guy that can create his own shot off the bench with decent-ish efficiency. If he can cut down on his turnovers a that’d be great.
We also only got 290 minutes of Mitch last year. I’ll take the over on that this season. 1500-1800 minutes of Mitch would do wonders.
Man, you’re really behind the times if you’re only asking now. Those things blew up over a month ago and I have no idea why.
Yabu will almost certainly be more valuable than Precious who was complete garbage last year. Even Achiuwa’s defense looked worse than it did in his first half season.
Yabu also gives us a little more versatility. Sure, Precious could hold up okay defensively at the 4, but him & a traditional C was abysmal on offense.
If Dadiet can dial in that 3pt shot a little more, he could be useful in spot minutes.
I’d trade Kolek for nothing, or even give some small value just to roster another vet or McCullar. I don’t believe.
Pate needs to put on some serious muscle. He bounces off defenders like a superball.
Nnaji is garbage. Not worth a 2-way. Would rather keep the draft rights to any of the 10 30+ year olds than him.
There’s a reason Toronto threw Precious (and Evil Donte) into the OG trade – he’s basically a below average NBA player and it’s hard to pinpoint something he’s actually good at.
I think the upgrade from Precious to Yabu is pretty huge.
The Lakers have made some surprisingly decent moves around the edges, and they still have some assets they could use to get one more real guy.
That annoys me.
One thing I like about Yabu is that he adds some of what we kind of lost with the Julius trade…a guy who it physically hurts to play against, whether going around one of his hard screens or taking a charge when he’s barrelling to the rim. On defense, he’s not going to be easily backed down in the post, and will not be easy to box out.
I also think there is some room for development and refinement in his new role. Even though he is already 29, he has only played 2,381 minutes in the NBA, mostly last year. A good chunk of those minutes were after Embiid went down, i.e. in an outsized role on a tanking team. He started 43 games, and played over 30 minutes 28 times.
I think he can be a very dynamic PnR partner with Clarkson, especially with, say, KAT, OG, and Mikal surrounding them while Brunson rests. That’s a lot of offense, and just enough defense to hold the fort. If necessary, substitute Mitch for KAT in that lineup and let Clarkson cook a bit more while Mitch dominates the offensive glass and protects the paint. Or play Yabu as a small-ball 5 with OG, Hart, Mikal/Deuce and Clarkson.
“Nnaji is garbage.”
Yeah, I don’t see how anyone saw any value there. He makes Skapinstiff look agile. At least Skap could shoot a little bit.
Los Angeles remains by far the number 1 market for Free Agents. It’s a huge reason why the Clippers decided to stay in LA.
Kolek will need to show something in the regular season or he’s a wasted roster spot. He was drafted to be a plug and play guy. His passing will translate around better players, but everything else is bad.
There was some cap logic in giving Kolek such a large contract for a 2nd rounder, right? Worst case, can’t he be swapped out for another vet’s minimum from another team at any point, maybe with a shitty second or cash attached if necessary?
Yeah.. with the increasing salary it would make it easier to find a deal for him
FROM SHAMS:
The Los Angeles Lakers have waived guard Shake Milton, sources tell ESPN. Milton’s $3 million contract for next season would have become fully guaranteed today. Lakers are clearing space for signing of Marcus Smart.
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OAKAAK!
said it a bunch, will say it again, i LUV me some KB off-season mode…
very real real-world type potential performances/stories to occur
almost every day, a blank slate to work with…appreciate how skillfully big al is able to guide and direct a rabble such as we are, on those days he’s able…it’s like some kind of magic…
watching and taking notes 🙂
summer league was a bit disappointing to me…it really didn’t feel like we were playing cohesively until the last game against the wiz…bad bad bad basketball for long long long stretches of play…
not a good sign of: anything…
considering where we are on the “win curve”, i get not being able to check-in on better draft choice(s)…was happy with some of diawara’s and pate’s play…
ariel did what he needed to do…say it again – we are going to have a really high energy bench…it’s gonna be a lot of fun to watch them defend and run…
thinking about win curve again – i’m in favor of cycling through young players at a quicker pace…highly skeptical kolek will ever really matter here in new york, or at least for the knicks, let him go play (or not) for the nets…
Just did a 7 hour drive yesterday collecting my son from camp. Dog day indeed.
oh man, market is teetering, folks pull out all their money and sink it all in to those super cute labubus…
now there is some sound financial advice you won’t pick up just anywhere…
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