Knicks Morning News (2025.08.20)

“I agee with all that, but imo the goal for bench players is to be above average on one side even if they are below average on the other. The latter is why they are on the bench.”

This is a very superficial take on bench players.

First, bench players vary both with the team in question and with the place in the pecking order on the bench of that team. There’s an enormous gulf between the 6th man on a contender and the 9th man on a lottery team. The former might be a starter on many teams, the latter wouldn’t get off the bench on many teams.

Second, there are all kinds of reasons why guys from, say on average 4th through 7th in the pecking order, either start or come off the bench. It’s not just about one side of the ball or the other. It’s about fit with a given set of teammates in a given system.

Now as you move down the rotation to the 8th and 9th spots, one would expect that those players would have flaws, but the nature of those flaws might not fit neatly under the heading “above average on one side, below average on the other side”. Some players are pretty good at certain things on both sides but also pretty bad at certain things on both sides of the ball. The “value” (positive or negative) of those skills varies situationally.

but id rather watch jalen than sga as boring as brunson can sometimes be with his forays towards the hoop sga is the epitome of unexciting basketball

Not sure I agree about SGA and Brunson.
Brunson’s forays to the hoop are like circus tricks — it’s all “No he didn’t just do that!!”
SGA’s are more “Yup, he did it. Again.”

For a purist SGA is hugely exciting because it’s trying to figure out how he makes something so hard look so easy and effortless.

But it does look so easy and effortless. Which is not really as exciting to watch as Jalen clearly doing the impossible with what appears to be the utmost of effort. Also inexplicable, but a very different experience.

I still can’t believe I actually read these statements. Shai is the epitome of unexciting basketball? So easy and effortless?

Sorry if this comes across as insulting, guys, but this comes off to me as homerism at its most extreme.

Here’s a SGA mix from 2025

Here’s a Brunson mix from 2025

I would find it hard to believe that any non-diehard Brunson stan would conclude that SGA makes what he does look any easier or less exciting than what Brunson does. They are doing the Same. Exact. Stuff.

If you want to say that Shai is better at that same exact stuff because he’s 4″ taller, sure. But there’s no doubt that he’s better at virtually everything except 3pt shooting and assists, and even those things are super-close. And that’s just on the offensive end.

It’s one thing to have a preference…but the reasons given above are nonsense. If SGA isn’t exciting, neither is LeBron, or was MJ. I guess maybe he needs to be more of an asshole or attention hound to resonate with fans.

“I love watching Brunson’s footwork in the paint and his counters, to free up space to make shots. I actually a lot of times find it effortless when he’s doing it because he does it so often. But then he also does make a lot of crazy and ones, etc.”

So do I, swifty! Just to be clear, my post was not to bash Brunson, I absolutely love watching the guy and am thrilled he’s on our team. It is more about how SGA is being dissed, in my view, very unfairly. His footwork and counters are equally unbelievable. On top of that, he will dunk on folks in traffic and block shots at the rim.