08/06/2025 11:00:03
08/06/2025 11:00:01
08/06/2025 10:43:27
08/06/2025 08:22:44
08/06/2025 07:34:00
08/06/2025 07:27:25
08/06/2025 04:30:32
08/06/2025 03:02:57
08/06/2025 02:22:51
08/05/2025 23:59:04
08/06/2025 00:01:44
08/05/2025 23:20:00
08/05/2025 23:29:31
08/05/2025 23:18:40
78 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2025.08.06)”
I normally avoid the clickbait, but the Lin article was too unusual, so… This quote says it all:
Scott set a target of 10 3s per game. That was only a decade ago! Shockingly, the Lakers went 21-61 that year. Not sure that Lin was “the dumbest person in the world.”
As for the possibility of Simmons, still feel it is a high-risk high-reward move worth making. Boucher would have been good, but somewhat redundant with Yabu.
Bummed about the Pacers coach, though. It would have been surprising if he were to leave Carlisle’s side, but awesome for us. Oh well. Hope Leon got another coach paid….
It’s almost 10 a.m. Has Aaron Boone been fired yet? If not, why not?
So Prigioni and Weinar turned us down. I’m wondering how usual it is for coaches to turn down assistant jobs. I’m guessing we never hear about it happening because other teams aren’t the Knicks in the midst of a tumultuous coaching search. Still, you’d think a raise would convince most coaches to jump ship.
I’ve never spent a minute thinking about assistant coaches outside of “Who’s that guy sitting there?” and “I wonder what he actually does besides sit there during games.”
I would imagine, in my ignorance, that the Knicks opportunity would be pretty good for a lot of assistant coaches. As EB says, mo money is likely, Mike Brown seems like a decent guy (what do I know), and doing well (which the Knicks are supposed to do) should buff up one’s resume. Although I get the family thing, if you’re not hugely ambitious about a head-coaching job, maybe staying put in a nice situation where the kids are in a school they like and the wife has a good career and/or friends is a smart choice.
Yeah I mean assistant coaches make far less than even a minimum NBA player so getting a 10 or 20 percent raise but having to uproot your family is probably a big deal.
Also, some people just do not want to live in the NYC area, especially if the aren’t making millions of dollars.
All these coaches rejecting us feels eerily similar to the days when free agents used to reject us. I wonder how much of it has to do with the way Thibs was fired after reaching the conference finals vs. the pressure and expectations of coaching in NY vs. working for Brown with this roster. We have to be offering more money. Maybe it’s NYC. NYC seems to be in a bit of a secular decline in terms of cost vs. quality of life . So maybe these guys are telling the truth. They don’t want to raise their families here. I know I wouldn’t if I had kids. The only reason I’m still here is that I am caring for my 90 year old mother and special needs brother and they are still in Queens.
I’d also imagine (now having thought about it for a minute) that what might make an assistant coach’s job good — the head coach’s trust, willingness to take and implement your suggestions (and they actually work!), players open to your suggestions, etc. — all things that take time and patience, and none of which are guaranteed in a new situation, even if the head coach and the players all seem like decent guys.
Anyone here been (or know) an assistant coach? Curious if I’m way off base.
I love the Simmons idea.
I can think of a several lineups where adding size, a high level defender, playmaker and rebounder would enhance the Knicks even if he can’t shoot. As long as he gets 10 efficient points per 36 in transition or around the basket, sign me up. I’ll take the injury and headcase risk for a guy that imo will definitely add some value.
Also, he’s been with Carlisle since 2008 (all his coaching life) uprooting from Dallas in 2021. So obviously in a situation he is comfortable with, and if his ambition is to be a HC someday, sticking with Rick has got to be better than a semi-lateral move under Mike Brown. And realistically, no matter how well the Knicks do, I can’t see Mike Brown lasting 5 years, so yet another family uproot would be facing him.
without knowing what we’re offering it’s hard to get a read on these coach moves. Is it Jimmy being cheap? They don’t like our roster? Mike Brown issues? Something else?
Hard to say that the gap between living in Indiana and NY is that lopsided in Indiana’s direction when holistically considering all aspects of life.
Poaching loyal and highly competant people is very, very difficult. It requires significant overpay + opportunity to contribute and achieve something special together that will catapult their career.
And its still subjective to where the person is in their life with respect to their risk and change appetite. Look at Zuck @ Meta. He had to give an engineer a billion dollars over 5 years to go build for him.
The best way to poach is to offer the job and tell them “call me when you’re ready, had enough of this place and want to make some real money”.
I woudn’t read too much into this.
I would have loved to have Prigs for the jokes but the other guy seems like a bigger loss.
Still, they seem to know what this team needs. More threes.
It needs more purposeful ball and player movement to create more quality 3s.
According to Yossi Goslan, who is as good as anyone when it comes to cap-based reporting, Bridges’ trade kicker is actually substantially below the maximum allowable figure of 15%:
So the kicker is a non-factor in any potential future trade.
I concur with Goslan that the contract will be movable if we want to move it, but given our place in the league at the moment the primary concern should be with how much value Mikal returns on it as a player for the Knicks.
He’s probably the toughest guy on our roster for me to peg next season, since he’s made so many seemingly random adjustments to the way he plays over the years. One thing I know for sure is the “playoff hooper” strategy of foregoing shots at the rim, FTAs, and even 3PA to a large extent in favor of good ol’ middies did not in any shape, way, or form pan out. So I hope Brown et al. tell him to shelve that whole thing.
Its’ good Mikal has those middies in his bag but I agree, it should be a go to only when no other good shots are available.
Mikal and mid range
We’d have to calculate his TS% from mid range vs what his TS% would be if he went to the rim. The latter would involve the extra FT attempts, extra “and 1s” vs the possible extra misses through contact where he got no call.
It’s that latter point that’s most important.
He argued that by mastering the mid range and fade away he could remain very efficient despite fewer foul calls His experience in the playoffs was that he was not getting as many foul calls going to the rim as he did in the regular season. So when he missed due to contact he got nothing. He’d rather work on mid range efficiency and know he can still get a good shot for himself in the playoffs.
It’s tricky to calculate because he was certainly very efficient from 2 vs the typical player and good on that fadeaway, but we have no idea how many extra foul calls he would have gotten in the regular season if he tried to finish, how many “and 1s” he would have gotten and how many times he would have come away empty because he missed through contact and got no call.
Standard belief is that the playoffs get more physical but it’s also hard to compare stats because the defenses are WAY better on average on top of that.
I think he should worry less about going to the rim and more about hitting a higher percentage of his 3s. If he gets his 3p% close to 40% it will make it easier to get to mid range or the rim depending on what the defense is giving him.
Knicks should be a lot more worried about the Pacers poaching their assistants. If they had any.
So I totally agree with the points about what Mikal needs to do going forward, but seemingly forgotten in the “He only shoots the midrange!” outcry is this:
Most corner 3-pointers made over the last three seasons combined:
Mikal Bridges — 263
Malik Beasley — 237
OG Anunoby — 214
I can’t find this ranking just for last year, but definitely remember that this past year had numbers like that as well (i.e., he didn’t fall off a cliff from the corner, or maybe not fall out of bounds?).
Not entirely sure what that’s worth, but maybe it’s something.
Mikal shot a pretty incredible .588 from the 3-10ft range in the playoffs. Of course, this is still lower than the .676 he shot within 3ft even before accounting for and 1s. Meanwhile, he shot .390 from the 10-16ft range.
So yeah, I’m still going with Mikal needs to get to the basket more and shoot middies less. It’s a fantastic option to have, but still strictly worse than a layup. He should shoot them, but only if nobody can get to the basket or find the space for an open 3. That player might be worth his contract.
48 games left in the yanks’ season, as they slowly grind their way back down to being a .500 team…
wonder if they’ll even make the wildcard…
really wish boone and cashman were gone already…
Mikal’s issue last season was above the break 3s, not corner 3s.
But, yes, he needs to shoot more 3s overall.
An argument that aged like milk after a playoffs in which he indexed on midrangers even more heavily than he did in the regular season, and put up a .518 TS% on 19% usage. So he should really scrap the whole idea and just try to be as efficient as possible.
The flip side of being good from the corners is that Mikal hasn’t been great from above the break. Looking at the last several years, he’s never been all that great above the break. At least one source (no idea how reliable but couldn’t find elsewhere) said league average above the break is 1.05pps, which would be 35%. He’s only reached that number a few times and didn’t exceed it by a full percentage point in the years I looked at.
More generally, the issue isn’t him taking midrange jumpers, it’s him doing so instead of going to the basket. Going to the basket is always better.
FWIW, OG seems to have a similar above the break issue despite shooting very well above the break this past season.
We were 20th in the league in FT/FGA, and Mikal’s eight billion minutes with 30 free throw attempts definitely didn’t help
Simmons’s offensive AIOs are abysmal and overshadow his good to great defensive numbers.
Weirdly, 2yr – 5yr RAPM judges his offense to be a positive and his defense a negative as of this year. I’m chalking that up to Simmons not playing enough minutes recently as the numbers are closer to what you’d expect if you look at previous years.
At the end of the day, I just find it difficult to say no to a 6’10” defender who is a stone’s throw from averaging a per 36 triple double whether the numbers I usually use back it up or not.
Yeah I’m warming up to the idea of Simmons. I think one potential diva/malcontent in the locker room is easily controlled by the group if everyone else is on board and single minded in the purpose of winning a title. We have a strong group of veterans that I think can keep him in line.
I like this game, like mikal we could go through each and every player on the team and dig in to what they need to do better this season…
KAT with his defense, mikal taking the ball up the court more and also driving to the basket more, OG with his handle, mitch staying healthy, jalen playing faster and getting off the ball more, josh pulling the trigger on his shot, deuce keeping his dribble alive around the basket to pass…TBD for yabu and clarkson…
My two cents. We’re never going to have KAT be a good or even mediocre defender. But what I do think is realistic is getting him to cut down on dumb fouls. If he can just do that and not get into foul trouble so early so often, that would be a huge improvement for him.
and yeah, if anyone has anything else they’d like to bitch about, I’m there for it…
for some reason woke up today wanting to scream fuck the world…
all that stupid anger management stuff has left me a bit impotent in the rage department…kind of an empty feeling there now…
feels good to feel ornery…
Ok, thanks Geo. How about the Mets racing the Yankees to an out of a wild card spot by getting no-hit today ( and go hitless for last 15 innings)?
Mikal just isn’t really that good a player, and the worry about him defaulting to the middie areas the other teams don’t care about (*) is that he’s realizing he can’t really do much in the areas the other teams do care about and in which the better players in the league can do a lot in.
There was really no question that Dolan/Leon were going to re-up him at the max or essentially the max so no surprise from that standpoint, but not a good basketball move in any serious sense.
(*) Potentially his own version of reverse Moneyball.
oh well, Soto breaks up no-no…. Mets still playing like garbage
I like Simmons but honestly I think he’s high-risk, low-reward. He tops out as serviceable 9th man and bottoms out as complete waste of our last vet minimum slot.
We don’t need Boucher. I’m not saying we need Simmons, either. But we need more playmaking and/or more shooting at the end of the bench. So either a PG type or a Shamet type.
freaking mets, freaking yankees…all that flipping money – and they’re still clown shows…wtf, seriously…
Bo truly does know 👍
A raise and a promotion. Seems fishy when coupled with the head coaching search.
Clutch ninth-inning hit for Dom Smith!!
One “word association” thing that comes to mind re Dom is another example of a guy utterly falling off a cliff at an age that should be his prime — LaMonte Wade, Jr., the 1B Dom replaced in SF. After Evan Fournier, Knicks fans need no reminder of the fact that for a *whole* lot of players, the downtrend from peak isn’t slow and gentle lasting until the player’s mid-to-late 30s but instead the sports equivalent of a flying leap off the GW Bridge.
Non-zero chance Mikal’s gonna plummet. He’s showing signs. Inability to get to the cup and the line is a big ol’ red flag. We’ll see.
I know a lot of people want to believe that the Knicks have been de-Dolaned and that’s a salutary and honorable way in which to go through one’s life — but in reality, they haven’t really been at all.
Minnesota said the same thing for years. I don’t think the dumb fouls are ever going away at this point.
Hard to really know if Simmons has lost anything on defense, but he’s still only 29 and a few short years ago was an ultra elite defender. He can still organize bench unit offense effectively.
Seems like a pretty good fit for a team needing versatile defense and a backup true point.
Anyone got any Edinburgh recs?
from a bleacher report article reference shitcanning boone:
i kind of remember in the past the vet heavy yank teams would start slow and get better as the weather warmed…
Leave
That bad?
I naively thought this Yankee team was different than the ghosts of second halves past. What’s weird is the underlying indicators are still strong. Our pythagorean record is 5 games better than our actual one, we actually have the 3rd best run differential in MLB, and we actually lead the league in Fangraphs’ BaseRuns (a more granular record predictor than a simple pythag calculation, accounts for random variation in the sequencing of offensive events).
But far be it from me to say any of this means everything is just fine, actually, and we merely need to sit around and wait for the regression. I sense the exact same lack of attention to detail, bizarre fundamental mishaps, and general malaise as everyone else. This is of course difficult to quantify, but it sure feels like an “I know it when I see it” situation.
I suppose it’s possible we’re truly just dealing with noise and retrofitting narratives to explain it, and that’s probably what I would assume if I was quickly analyzing a team I never watched. But the Boone Yankees have an unmistakable “there’s just something in the damn water” stench and barring a massive turnaround I definitely don’t want him to return next year.
My wife and I just got back from Edinburgh and loved it.
Admittedly, the royal mile is EXTREMELY touristy, but overall I loved the vibe of the city.
That’s not what the recent numbers say. Unplayable in the playoffs, maybe, but regular season he was a solid contributor, certainly adds good as you could expect for the vet minimum. That is high reward for that slot.
@Clarence
What are you looking for? I love that town, and my daughter just graduated from U of Edinburgh last year, so we’d probably have some options for you.
Best UK city to visit if you have just one choice. By far. About 5th if going just for great meals.
Here’s Caitlin Cooper interviewing Rick Carlisle. She’s the most smartest reporter in the league. There’s a lot more insight into the game than your normal fluff interview.
https://youtu.be/zTkNAb3Bvd0?si=cFJJElUmTSjUaEs7
Clarence – if it’s sunny, do the walk along the river to Leith for a crab lunch at the Ship on the Shore – beautiful walk, great end point, lovely food. If you can do it on a Sunday, Stockbridge Market on the route is a good coffee stop option.
Botanical gardens are lovely. Arthur’s seat too.
Rama, I’m going for some friends’ shows at fringe which will likely lead to a general gay old time… creatives. But… I’d love good eat and date recs, like where I can take my hubby of twenty years and be like romantical. We’re stopping through London after so there’s that but figured ya’ll are some discerning motherfuckers and regular crowdsourcing is fucking weak on this shit.
Amazing. Thank you thank you. Hubbys gonna kiss me like I’m the hottest guy he’s sleeping with.
caitlin cooper for sure is the most smartest reporter
Will Malik Beasly return to league this year?
MB at league minium solves everything.
no it doesnt he plays next to zero defense unsure as to how he solves our not enough good defenders problem
not even at league minium if indeed he would even take that which i kind of doubt
Clarence, not sure about good romantic spots, but Franco Manca has good pizza (great gluten free pizza, so much so that my daughter will no longer eat pizza here) and Mary’s Milk Bar is the chic and delicious ice cream spot – probably good on a date, because it’s near the old (romantic) part of town. Alas, the only bespoke meal I had was at a private castle situation, so can’t help you there. But if he or you are into cats, there’s the Maison de Moggy (a cat cafe) – something a bit different!
And yes, botanical gardens are great, Arthur’s Seat maybe, but it often rains and is actually a somewhat challenging climb at times, if that’s an issue. Beautiful spot, though.
romantic spots
Well at least the Yankees (and the Mets) didn’t do what the Rockies just did, which was to lose 20-1.
This is where I am, his reasonable ceiling is a useful enough rotation player who you cannot trust a minute in the playoffs.
Dunno, we win a few more regular season games at the expense of developing a clear rotation of players we can trust in the playoffs. Sounds very Thibsian to me.
Brilliant. Thanks Rama and English…
The expected return for the vet min is actually quite high now. We just got 1,000+ minutes of solid backup PG play from Cam Payne; that’s the new normal for the vet min.
So if you sign a guy like Simmons and he flakes like he has done before, losing those 1,000 quality minutes (that you could have gotten from someone like Boucher, for instance), is a pretty good loss.
Simmons size and defensive versatility really give you the off ball Brunson option. I hope he signs here it will be interesting.
nuh uh
As Doogie has posted many times, there aren’t a lot of minutes for the bench after the top 9, so Simmons is a many-faceted option to employ depending on who gets hurt. He could be the point with KAT, OG, Mikal, and Deuce if Brunson misses time. Or the 4 in certain lineups if OG is hurt. Or the 5 if Mitch is hurt. The flexibility is appealing despite the limitations.
But if no one is hurt, he probably won’t see the floor much except situationally. Starting 5 plus Clarkson, Josh, Yabu, Deuce will eat all the minutes.
We hiked Arthur’s seat. In August the weather should be great. Do it early in the morning and it’s not too crowded. It was steep but it’s not too long.
We did the national museum of Scotland on a rainy day. It’s free and huge.
Also if you want a touristy thing that is still fun and interesting there is a literary pub tour/crawl that we did that was super fun. It’s not really a pub crawl as it only stops at three pubs but it’s a small group that caps at like 10 people and the performers who lead it are great and hilarious. Edinburgh has a great literary tradition so it’s a good way to get some interesting history.
Also super touristy but I loved Edinburgh castle. I think it’s definitely worth the admission as you can spend three or four hours there and you get great views of the city.
This is my first season of baseball watching in 16 years. You guys may be used to it, but watching a guy hit a 440 foot home run then strike out the side is something that I can think of no other sporting equivalent to that is a regular, normalized thing.
arthur must have been pissed
starters: brunson (34) bridges (30) anunoby (32) towns (34) robinson (24)
dynamic bench: mcbride (20) hart (18) yabusele (16) clarkson (12) hukporti (12) dadiet (8)
the rest: mccullar kolek beauchamp diawara
pg: brunson 34, mcbride 14
sg: bridges 24, clarkson 12, mcbride 6, dadiet 6
sf: anunoby 32, hart 8, bridges 6, dadiet 2
pf: towns 22, yabusele 16, hart 10
c: robinson 24, towns 12, hukporti 12
have two of anunoby robinson mcbride on the floor at all times except for of course blowout minutes thats where mccullar kolek beauchamp diawara come into play
absolutely no room for simmons
I care about the same about who we sign to the last ver’s minimum spot as I do about who Brown has as his assistants. As in very little.
Honestly, if the hope is that our 10th non-rookie/soph is a critical decision, that sort of suggests that our drafting for the past 2 years has sucked. Meaning, if our rotation breaks down to the point where #10 has to sub in for one of the top 9 and we can’t count on one of Huk, Kolek, or Dadiet to hold the fort, what was the point of drafting and rostering them?
So my hope is that we sign a guy who has lots of upside and downside rather than a certified scrub. Roll the fucking dice and move on. Simmons would be a very good outcome for a dice roll.
Werk. Thank u.
not all that difficult
munoz better finish this one out for the mariners 8-6 with two runs on base for white sox kirby 9 k would be ruined two down now (sosa and benintendi) please get luis robert out
and he did love munoz now
This site uses User Verification plugin to reduce spam. See how your comment data is processed.