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Recently waived Jonas Valanciunas among centers on Knicks’ radar – SNY
Jordan Clarkson re-signing with Knicks on one-year deal – SNY
Sunday Posted & Toasted Notes: Dead-set Kayil, Senior Jose, Wemby controversy!? – Posting & Toasting
Knicks Bulletin: ‘That’s why I went into the draft’ – Posting & Toasting
Josh Hart Jokingly Responds to Tim Hardaway Sr.’s Podcast Comments After Knicks Won NBA Title – BleacherReport
Knicks Vs Pistons Summer League Watch Along | Game 3 – Knick of Time
PISTONS vs KNICKS | LAS VEGAS SUMMER LEAGUE | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | July 13, 2026 – NBA
Knicks Rookie Jack Kayil Impressive In A Win Over The Pistons – Knicks Fan TV
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106 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2026.07.14)”
Okay, this isn’t quite interesting enough for Question of the Day status, but just as a thought experiment based on the three SL games so far:
Assume the Knicks don’t sign or trade for a veteran backup big man. The only available players to fill the 14th roster spot and the three two-way spots are guys who are either on the SL roster or were on the team last year (i.e., Kevin McCullar). To whom do you give the 14th spot, and which three guys do you want on two-ways?
I can’t believe that I watched the summer league game on replay at 6 am today. What deranged person watches recorded summer league games?
What did I see? They were a tad better. There was no explanation as to why Diawara and Dadiet didn’t dress. It’s curious that the team won without them.
Yes Liam Robbins (15 Pts, 5 Reb, 3 Ast, 4 Blk, 2 Stl, 6-13 FGs in 24 minutes) was interesting. He has size (7’0″ 250lbs) and he can shoot 3’s. How does he compare to Hukporti? There’s not a lot of alternatives but as a 3rd string center that get garbage time play he might be okay. I was less impressed with his blocks than the steals. His hands were fast. He sets good picks. I think he deserves a camp invite and perhaps earns a 2-way deal.
Other players are worth mentioning. Kayil has game and is fast. I just don’t know how it holds up in the NBA but it’s worth developing in Germany. Tyler Nickel can knock down 3’s but his effort, defense and playmaking is what I was impressed with. 2-time world champion Dillon Jones is not a zero. He doesn’t seem to like to pass but he can score.
And seeing Alan’s question, I give it to Robbins.
From Macri’s newsletter today:
LeB…. I mean Sochan.
I think he has the versatility to fill two important needs: big forward and emergency center.
The big forward need is understated now that double big with KAT and Mitch is no longer an option (fuck you, Dolan). All our 4s are really 3s, and over the course of the regular season we’ll have games against big physical teams and need an option.
The caveat is he seems like a nut job. But they know him well enough to judge.
To me, the possibilities are Kevin McCullar Jr., Trey Jemison, Dillon Jones, Liam Robbins, Jeremy Sochan, Tyler Nickel and Jack Kayil. Is there anyone I’m missing?
We need at least one more big. I don’t trust Jemison so that leaves Sochan and Robbins. Give Sochan a real roster spot since he’s not eligible for something else and give Robbins a two way. The other two ways go to Kayil and Nickel. But it’s possible we could fit fifteen players with one vet minimum like Sochan and the second round drafted rookie first year minimum scale for Kayil or Nickel. Then I’d pick Dillon Jones for the last two way spot.
Seems like an indictment of Dadiet & Diawara.
Cant help but wonder if the actual injury is partying a little too hard.
Note: Sochan is also a two time world champion.
I highly doubt that Kool No Dee and Daddy-A were actually injured. They likely just wanted to see what the lesser-known quantities could do, and those lesser-known quantities on the whole played pretty well.
If not Lebron, then Sochan.
For the reasons Hubs said but also he is a good defender and now that we’ve lost Mitch, we’re gonna need to try and make up for the loss on defense in other ways and having a versatile defender like Sochan is one way to do that (the other is hoping Diawara makes a jump forward).
Also, Sochan is still very young and I think probably still has the most upside of all of our young guys (him and Diawara). So unless Lebron is coming, I’d sign Sochan.
Speaking of Lebron…he still has not signed with Cleveland yet. For something that is supposed to be inevitable, sure seems like SOMETHING is holding him up. 🙂
That’s Dillon Jones. Sochan was the guy who was guaranteed a ring regardless of who won the series.
I agree with Sochan as the 14th.
Are we sure they won’t sign a 15th? Nickel would be a cheap contract for that spot.
Otherwise, he gets a 2-way, Kayil gets a 2-way, and maybe Robbins gets a 2-way? Idk I’m just very unimpressed with Jemison, and Robbins can at least shoot.
I like McCullar, but there’s just no room. I might actually take him over Dadiet, who still can’t seem to shoot very well and doesn’t do much else (Kev Knox vibes). I sorta like Jones too but no room for him.
There’s been speculation that LeBron may be waiting until after the final World Cup match next Sunday, at which point there will be no other stories in the world of sports to overshadow his Big Reveal.
Makes sense to me. Egoists gonna ego trip.
Very sober take on the second apron’s impact on front office decision-making. (As an aside, I really like most articles posted in realgm. This one was written by Wes Goldberg.)
It essentially says that for a long time, contracts for star players weren’t really negotiated. Front offices routinely gave such players the max they were eligible for. He concludes that :
So the new “hard cap” of the second apron is forcing GMs to consider paying players what they are actually worth:
So whether one likes the new CBA or not, it is working in a way the will ultimately benefit the rank-and-file player. While I don’t fully agree with the very jaded analytical takes on Brown’s value put forth in this article, There is no question that Brown was never deserving of a full-max deal, and possibly not even a 25% deal. There is a whole slew of NBA players that have been grossly overpaid because of antiquated assumptions about their value and/or fear of these players becoming disgruntled. And although their situations and how they arrived at them are quite different, it seems like the Knicks, Thunder, and Spurs are all at the vanguard of this sea change.
It might ultimately mean that NBPA’s recent bluster goes nowhere as salaries balance out. One thing seems certain: the preponderance of owners are thrilled with how things are playing out and are not going to allow for the virtual hard cap to be anything more than marginally softened.
I also liked that the article rebutted my idea of counting 35% max salaries as 25% in terms of cap hit.
I’m not a Sochan guy but he’s more of a ” whatever” for me than a hard no. He’s not really a C, even when compared to other diminutive C’s.
I like the idea of Robbins more than Robbins himself. Looking good in Vegas is something like beer goggles. Preseason is a much better lens. Give him a camp invite, or even an immediate 2-way deal.
Jemison’s pretty chiseled and athletic, but his biggest problem is turning it over, both with dumb offensive fouls and hands of stone. Not sure anything can be done about it at this point. In any case, guys at his level are a dime a dozen in the G-League clearance bin.
It’s worth noting that Sochan may not be willing to accept 14th man status. We’d have to offer him an actual role.
Let’s look at the likely rotation.
1 Brunson, Alvarado, [Kolek]
2 Bridges, McBride, [Clarkson]
3 Hart, Shamet, [Clarkson]
4 Anunoby
5 Towns, Drummond
The first 9 seem set, and the two guys in brackets likely occupy the 11th & 12th roster positions as injury replacements.
You can see we have a need for a 10th man and a big forward.
It would be great if Diawara is ready for that role, but it’s also quite risky to count on it. We’re already taking a huge risk with Drummond. If we role snake eyes, it’s going to be KAT and nothing.
Then again, look at that second unit… lineups with Sochan and Drummond are going to make us long for the days of Taj Gibson and Nerlens Noel. Whatever, though. It’s just the regular season.
Honestly, to me, what the team does with it’s 14th or 15th spots is pretty irrelevant. We’re really talking about the 12th spot.
As things stand, we have the 5 starters, plus Deuce, Drummond, Shamet, Alvarado, Clarkson, and Diawara.
By a country mile, the 12th spot needs to prioritize a 3rd C. That is the player who is most likely to see important minutes out of necessity rather than choice. It should be someone who can be close to a rotation-level player for more than a game or two. I’d probably prefer a “has-been with at least a bit of gas left in the tank” to a “certified scrub” (Jemison, Moses Brown, Skap, and probably Robbins, to name a few) I’d also prefer a person with positional size and skill. Maybe a Kelly Olynyk-type.
Agree with all that Z just said, and would only add that I want them to pick someone for that third center spot right now, rather than waiting for…….something. I understand that it is only a personal preference of mine to have the first 12 guys on the roster filled out right now, and that YMMV.
Maybe there is a secret plan to use Diawara as our third center, and if that has a chance in the world at working, I’d be down for that over playing Sochan in that spot, bad Summer League showings notwithstanding.
100% agree with Hubert. Diawara could easily not be ready for important minutes. At least we know Sochan can defend. Plus we need a guy who will get under the other team’s skin.
I’m sorry but it’s incredibly hard to look at this and not be angry again at James Dolan for needlessly hard capping this team. Kudos to the front office for preserving as much as it could, but man, Mitch leaves such a big hole that we can’t possibly fill. He single handedly made every second unit playable by providing space and second chance opportunities on one end and all world defense on the other. The flaws of Alvarado, McBride, Shamet, and Diawara will become glaring without him, and the starters are going to have to work a lot harder to overcome the drop-off in net rating we’ll get from Drummond.
Agree with everything you wrote about the unforced Dolan error of now having this Mitch-sized hole in our lineup and all the ways it is going to affect us. I’m just doing my best to move past the anger/disappointment/frustration, and would rather focus on what to do about it than the fact that it happened, at this point. I’m starting to be more frustrated about our inaction on that front than I am about the Dolan aspect…….or at least just as much frustration.
If Sochan has a better opportunity than this somewhere else he should take it. I doubt he does.
Drummond was the action, though, and that’s about as good as they could have done given the circumstances.
Now we have to wait and see.
It’s possible the starting 5 just dominate everyone like they did all playoffs. Then backup center is pretty irrelevant. No need to do more now.
I don’t mind the wait. It may be needed. Valanciunas didn’t get waived until a few days ago and then had to clear waivers. I’m sure other teams are courting him too. It’s not surprising he didn’t decide quickly. He’s someone probably worth the delay. The Knicks also get to see how everyone on their summer league team does if they wait a little longer.
“The Knicks also get to see how everyone on their summer league team does if they wait a little longer.”
fify: The Knicks also get to see how all players across the Summer League teams do if they wait a little longer.
I will continue to believe that having an ownership willing to pay even a dollar in luxury tax at any point in time is a bonus, not an expectation or entitlement. My hatred of James Dolan has little to do with this particular decision, or the Jeremy Lin decision. I’m pretty confident that nearly every principal owner or ownership group would have made the same “business” decision.
I’m with the “Leon should wait and not lock up any of the remaining cap in a rush to fill the 3rd C spot.” Better solutions that ones available today will almost certainly shake loose before that spot has to be filled with anything other than a 2-way guy. I believe the 14th player doesn’t have to be added until a couple of weeks into the season.
We’re a Bogut(Mitch) away. It’s the dearth lineup.
Sochan can hit FTs, so he has some 3pt upside. He’s a big wing who can pass. He’s also not worse at C than any of the guys people are listing.
I don’t love Sochan, but he fills needs and has upside as a difficult to find archetype.
We’re probably waiting on Duren to get resolved before some centers are willing to commit
“I’m with the “Leon should wait and not lock up any of the remaining cap in a rush to fill the 3rd C spot.” Better solutions that ones available today will almost certainly shake loose before that spot has to be filled with anything other than a 2-way guy. I believe the 14th player doesn’t have to be added until a couple of weeks into the season.”
My head agrees. It’s my fan’s heart that is being impatient and wants to try to fill the hole right now rather than wait.
Can someone please humor me…how much would Dolan have to pay in penalties if Leon handed Mitch a 1yr contract for $25 million?
Team gets to maximize odds of going to finals again and Mitch gets paid. Next summer, – we see what we do with KAT and go from there…
It’s already done. Why make ourselves feel worse by constantly re-litigating it?
For me, the most important thing is being able to pivot to plan D prior to the playoffs (mostly meaning by the trade deadline but allowing for post-deadline waiver pickups) should plans B and C not work out.
I suppose you can look at one or Deuce or Shamet, plus perhaps a non-minimum guy acquired with a dollar over the minimum as pre-deadline outgoing salary to aggregate. Maybe Sochan is a good placeholder in that regard. And maybe, just maybe, a full offseason working with our shooting coach can help him marginally improve his 3pt form and get him up into the low-mid 30’s. Still, more of a meh for me than anything else.
“It’s already done. Why make ourselves feel worse by constantly re-litigating it?”
Exactly.
Yeah, it’s pretty fucking annoying about Mitch.
the second chance opportunities with the offensive rebounding plus the defense make it so much easier for a second unit to tread water and not give up a lead or get further behind when the starters sit. And oftentimes it was those second chance buckets off of offensive rebounds plus stops on the other end that led to our comebacks.
I think you’ve got the psychology backwards, Doogie. Processing something isn’t the same as re-litigating it. And people generally don’t feel worse when they talk through difficult experiences. They feel worse when they ignore them and move on.
Trade someone like Dadiet to free up some money. He doesn’t really look like he will be a rotational player. He came in pretty bad and still looks lost.
Then sign a 3rd center and Sochan. Gives us more options for another PF and small ball Center, and a possible legitimate 3rd center. It worked out last year, but we are pretty small on the bench. I think Drummond also plays smaller than Mitch, b/c he doesn’t really defend the basket.
It’s also the case that as options come off the board and our realistic alternatives narrow, the full scope of the damage resulting from cheaping out on Mitch comes into view. It’s less something that happened and is over than something we’re still dealing with.
I mean, in the immediate aftermath we had people saying it was merely step one in the front office’s grand plan to make the team affirmatively better equipped to compete for another championship. New datapoints allow us to put such theories to bed. So I imagine it will continue to get discussed as its blast radius becomes clearer.
Since the cost of being over the apron for 1yr is only money…then the total cost amount is the single relevant decision making data point.
Looking closer and closer to being the LeBron/Steph/Dray show in the Bay, either with or without Mr. Glass coming to join. Not a done deal yet, but seems to be inching closer to reality…….
“Since the cost of being over the apron for 1yr is only money…”
Disagree. The cost of being over the apron during that year includes losing important options to effect a mid-season trade should the need arise to fill a gap due to an injury (for example, to Mitch…).
I say get that 7’9″ guy from UF, Olivier Rioux. Put him in for defensive possessions late in close games to defend the rim. Then swap him out for Andre on O. It worked with Mitch, how bad could that be…
Tongue-in-cheekly, he transferred to UC-Irvine, and just committed to them at the end of April for at least for next season, so he too is unavailable.
Hahn speaks about the second apron and Dolan
https://x.com/KnicksFanTv/status/2076819024315564488/video/1
Damn it.
Speaking of tongue-in-cheekly, I’m pleased with the rumor that LeBron is going to jump out of Lindsey Graham’s coffin while it’s lying in state, wearing the jersey of his new team. Egoists gonna ego…
“I mean, in the immediate aftermath we had people saying it was merely step one in the front office’s grand plan to make the team affirmatively better equipped to compete for another championship.”
More disingenuous paraphrasing.
We will never know what the “blast radius” from Dolan’s decision will be. We will only know how folks will pointlessly and annoyingly pollute game threads with whining based on the 100th%ile outcome of retaining Mitch, while ignoring any and all downside of retaining him at that price. But hey, no surprises there!
The Rudderless Mess sails on!
Disagree. The cost of being over the apron during that year includes losing important options to effect a mid-season trade should the need arise to fill a gap due to an injury (for example, to Mitch…)
If they have season ending injuries to one of the top 5 players, then they’re not winning a championship and they don’t have to bother for a trade.
If Mitch gets hurt argument is flawed because he’s already out….
“Processing something isn’t the same as re-litigating it. And people generally don’t feel worse when they talk through difficult experiences. They feel worse when they ignore them and move on.”
LOL, this is a thinly-veiled excuse to have license to whine about this for years to come at every opportunity. We’re not talking through stuff in the aftermath of a tragedy here. We’re raging about a questionable management decision made by a notoriously (and predictably) mercurial owner on the heels of one of the greatest championships in the history of NY sports.
Because the tax is progressive, that would have been the least cost effective to handle it.
Back of the napkin math… it would have cost about $120M.
But if we’d offered him something like the deal he signed with Boston, it would have only cost $50M.
$50M, coincidentally, is the exact amount of money Wemby left on the table to keep a championship team together. So now you’ve got players making sacrifices owners aren’t willing to. Pretty crazy.
“If Mitch gets hurt argument is flawed because he’s already out….”
No Director, that’s my point. If you are going to exceed the second apron, you obviously keep Mitch. But that is in a sense doubling down on Mitch staying injury-free, given the apron constraints.
Don’t get me wrong–I despise Dolan, his decision to draw a redline on the second apron is indefensible given his history and our chip, and I love(d) Mitch, perhaps more than any other player given his quirkiness, battling back from injuries, and clutch performances in turning around games (eg Cup Final). But I do wonder if the FO, given the freedom to exceed the apron, and having the benefit of the medical staff’s insight to Mitch’s physical and mental toughness, would have countered the Boston offer.
When we look back at it all, though, it might turn out that the draft picks we were forced to incinerate on account of the mandate were just as consequential as Mitch. Seems like there were some decent options available at 24 & 31 that would have been nice to have in the future pipeline.
Well, Drummond actually mitigates losing Mitch’s offensive rebounding pretty nicely. It’s losing Mitch’s defense that will be the problem. Before this finals run, it would’ve been hard to fathom KAT as our best rim protector but here we are. It helps that we have Alvarado now, but we are gonna need a lot of hustle on that 2nd unit.
Hustlebunny center.
We’re basically down to Cisse, his teammate Olivier Sarr, and Christian Koloko now.
Forgot Sarr went to Cavs. He’s available, though.
As a purely rhetorical question beyond the actual merits: If the non-financial second apron penalties were not in place, would Dolan would have allowed Mitch to be retained? Conversely, if it were only the team-building penalties but no luxury tax, would Dolan have allowed it?
Being that luxury tax penalties have always been a thing, and that Dolan has been willing to pay it in the past, that the non-financial 2nd Apron penalties were specifically instituted to create a “virtual” hard cap, and that Dolan used the word “suicidal” to describe going over the 2nd Apron, it seems like the non-financial stuff weighed most heavily. That doesn’t mean that he would have paid the additional $50M to keep him without that stuff, or accepted the restrictions even with no tax-related repercussions (and I get that these are separate issues) but to me it seems like more the restrictions.
I used to be pro France in soccer but now I just see an extension of Wemby, so it’s nice to see them down a goal and without Saliba.
no serious rooting interests in this cup semi…
spain/france match is okay so far…hopefully it stays close ’til the end…
tired of seeing argentina with the favorable calls, so will be rooting for the english side tomorrow…
Jets QB Geno Smith in the clear.
Yeah, France v Spain feels so… refined… like I’m watching two gentlemen duel at dawn to determine who is the better swordsman.
England v Argentina gonna be a bar fight.
Is the soccer game over yet? Please?
Timothee Chalamet seems understandably less bothered by the Wemby connection than me.
OK. If I was a fiduciary & Mitch was costing me $120m for one playoff run, – I’d likely pass too. Thanks, Hubert.
Ballmer must be pissed…that shmuck would pay whatever it takes to be relevant and go on long playoff runs.
This is just an absolute defensive masterclass. Tremendous watch.
wow, spain just made france look very ordinary…
Spain executed to perfection….au revoir les Bleu
French athletes with Championship DNA in 2026:
Kylian Mbappé ❌
Victor Wembanyama ❌
Mohamed Diawara ✅
Pacôme Dadiet ✅
Knicks Memes
So 50 million MORE than the 47 million for 3 years Boston gave him?
For a guy that is probably close to his downside phase (athleticism is his strong point and usually first to go), that might not last 3 years given his injury history, whose under/over for a season is probably less than 50 games, who can’t play late because of FT issues, that has some mental health issues and that would impact our ability to make deals going forward and could cost us huge pick value later if we stayed over the 2nd apron too long?
50 million?
You guys used to complain for months if we gave up 5 cents on a dollar to roll out a pick so we had something available to trade later for a veteran finishing player like we evetually did.
But 50 million extra for a guy that at best added 1 point to our SRS last year and with all the potential downsides is nothing to consider?
I liked Mitch a lot and we are clearly not as good without him, but this was a closer call basketball wise LONG TERM than conventional wisdom and a no brainer financially for Dolan.
IMO, we are going to make a deal. I just don’t when, for who and what’s going to go out, but we may be better overall after it’s done.
Strat we are talking about luxury tax payments James Dolan would owe that have no impact on the payroll of the New York Knicks.
It is of course your prerogative to fight for his right to make the team worse in order to save money despite sitting on a ~$10 billion dollar asset, but surely you can understand why this is not particularly moving to people who root for the Knicks to win basketball games.
You’re not paying $50M for Mitchell Robinson. You’re paying $50M because you’ve spent several hundred million on a collection of talent.
Won’t someone think of the shareholders?
You’re also investing at a potentially immense monetary return
Gunships flying by Jacob Riis today. And fucking noseeums. And this shake they’re smoking smelling like napalm. In the evening.
“Gunships flying by Jacob Riis today. And fucking noseeums. And this shake they’re smoking smelling like napalm. In the evening.”
Good evening, Clarence! What are you on about? 🙂
Whatever you think about the Mitch decision, there is simply no way to justify it in basketball terms. We went with a cheaper and worse player and the only upside to the move is that more money will remain in James Dolan’s pocket, and that James Dolan will get to claim some dumb spireful victory. In basketball terms there is no defending it.
If you don’t like Mitch’s flaws I suggest you avert your eyes when Andre Drummond attempts to defend a pick and roll.
Warcopters sand bugs and skunk
My understanding (limited for sure, so feel free to correct this) is that by going into the second apron at repeater tax levels, then in 2027-2028, if id the rosters and salaries stayed proportionally the same, Mitch’s $16M that year would increase the tax so that it would be a lot more than $50M. Is that correct? If yes, by signing Mitch to that deal, you are guaranteeing that you will have to salary-dump either him or someone making more money to get out of the second apron, but even if you got below it, you’d still be paying some sort of repeater tax. So you’d be breaking up the core anyway, and doing it without any leverage. And that’s if Mitch stays healthy.
You’re basically going all in on a hand that has only an outside chance of repeating even if things go perfectly. Sure, you can counter that it’s the best outside chance you will have in the Brunson window, but it is still an all-in bet that could be crippling if it fails.
Again, I don’t think the vast majority of Knicks fans (meaning, folks who root for the Knicks to win basketball games) are dwelling on this at all. Nor do I think they will once the season starts. I would caution against imprinting one’s personal takes on other fans. I’m as big of a fan as anyone on this board or anywhere else, and I’m way past it already. Seems like some other KBers are as well.
OK. That didn’t help a *whole* lot, but it did help a little bit. Thank you!
Putting my faith in Leon Rose and Mike Brown to do what they need to do to maximize this team’s chances to repeat, even working against James Dolan’s edict. That’s all we can do right now, and those two gentlemen have earned our trust now, even if I can’t understand the entire plan at the present time.
How is it crippling? If we salary dump Mitch in 2027-28 we end up exactly where we are now except we get an extra year of Mitch and maximize our chance to repeat this year, which is very likely the best chance we can possibly have in this build cycle.
Delay only ages our core, increases their cost, and makes it harder to keep a good supporting cast.
The outcome you claim to be crippling is already here.
Yes! WIN CURVE! We are at the top of it now. 1 SRS point is worth shitloads more than it would be if we were a 0 SRS team.
We are probably a 6 SRS team without Mitch. 6 SRS teams win the championship about 15% of the time. 7 SRS teams win about 25-30%.
If Mitch adds 1 SRS he doubles our championship equity or close to it. That is easily worth $50m of Dolan’s money.
I thought we all understood this kind of shit here!
Oh, stewardess? I speak jive.
Clarence is at Rockaway Beach. Military aircraft are in the sky. So are lots of very small bugs. The odor of marijuana is pervasive.
you vape Warcopters, old school blue dream blueberry flavored treat…
you eat sand bugs, playful term for some yummy potent caramel and chocolate 25 milligram morsels of deliciousness 😋
skunk is – well, we all know what skunk is…sticky icky…
Delay only ages your core, increases the cost, and makes it harder to keep a good supporting cast.
it’s as though you speak of life…just get to what’s gotta be done…
i bet you get a great night sky where you’re at…
it was nice, 2 straight days of overcast, cut the temp, excellent for july…sun is back working hard again today…good thing is, it doesn’t get dark ’til late these days…safe to venture out in the evenings…
hubert cleared it up (thank you!!!), and then geo proceeded to muddy it up even more than it was originally. LOL
that would seem to make sense…
mitch himself as a player seems fine at what the celts paid him…think the celts paid extra just to make it harder for us to match…maybe it was a risky overpay on their behalf…
maybe it was personal some how, some one in the front office or dolan lost trust in mitch for something present or past…
second apron thing is just a smoke screen to justify letting mitch walk without letting other reasons out…
maybe they value trade flexibility later in the year more than a 15 to 20 minute backup center…
tough part is, we’re already short a backup power forward…
and seemingly little good options heading in to next season…
small ball all day and all the way!!!
Isn’t Diawara the backup PF?
Apparently The Ringer ranked OG #21 in the entire NBA (Jalen 5, KAT 12, MB 61, Hart 64). Interesting how much a ring will elevate a play in these types of things.
https://nbarankings.theringer.com/
That’s the rub.
Given KAT’s propensity for fouling, our second unit’s lack of shot creation, our second unit’s lack of height, and our need for a power forward, there is literally nothing this team needs more than a 15-20 backup center who can impact both sides of the ball and allow KAT to play at the 4 when needed.
Hence, sigh.
The simple fact is that once the secret key unlocked the door, we utterly decimated the top teams in the NBA with that particular roster. Demolished them (well, outside of the first quarters of the finals…). The by far best option for repeating is to run it all back. Maybe it’ll all be magic with Dumbo Drummond and his enormous… ears. Maybe, you know, not.
I’ll be honest that I don’t track contracts well enough to know what the 2027-2028 season will bring us, but from commentary here I’m gleaning that some significant changes may be coming whether we get a second chip or not. In which case you push everything into the pot this coming season.
Except we didn’t.
Correct. We already didn’t.
Man, the leadup stuff for the All-Star Game is interminable.
I am not over Mitch and I likely never will be.
Maybe someone will explain to me why staying under the second apron is worth ruining the one great thing we have ever had. So far no one has. Not remotely.
And I think the idea that people should be over losing Mitch or not say James Dolan is exactly the @$*¥ we have always known him to be, because it’s crying over spilt milk under the bridge, well, I think it’s one of the most absurd takes I have ever heard. It’s just wild.
Move on with my life? Not remotely. I figured out how to post a jpeg to Gravatar because I love Mitch that much. (It wasn’t easy at the time.)
Not angry about the take or annoyed by it, but I feel quite certain at least 70% of people on this board or lurking think Mitch should still be here.
Owen, I concur with pretty much everything that you wrote. I hate hate hate that Mitch is gone, with a passion. But two disparate things can be true at the same time, and although I hate that Mitch is gone for very asinine reasons, I have to move on from it for my own mental health because there is nothing that can be done with it. That in no way means that I’m “OK with it.” I’m not at all OK with it. Yes, definitely, Mitch should still be here. I am only doing my best to practice acceptance of the reality that he is, truly sadly, gone.
I actually remember feeling the same way when DDV was traded, because I felt much the same way about him. I had to go through the same process then. I hope that helps put things into a different light.
In response to Owen, I would say that as far as killing the awesome buzz of the best championship of my adult life here on KB is concerned, James Dolan is way down my list.
I am going to be riding this high for a long time. Possibly the rest of my life to be honest.
And again, maybe Dolan is right and it will be revealed in time.
But people have every right to be upset about it with absolutely no statute of limitations.
G-d help everyone on this blog if Mitch plays 70 games next year, starts 50 of them, averages 25-30 minutes per game, and ups his FT percentage to 60 percent.
“But people have every right to be upset about it with absolutely no statute of limitations.”
To be fair, no one is trying to tell anyone else how to feel. It’s totally possible to harbor the strongest feelings of resentment and anger without being a buzzkill for those who have a different perspective.
“Not angry about the take or annoyed by it, but I feel quite certain at least 70% of people on this board or lurking think Mitch should still be here.”
The odd thing here is that the hate for Dolan is pretty universal, as is the affection and respect for Mitch. I would say that it’s more like 95% on the board or lurking feel that Mitch should still be here. That’s not the issue. Not at all.
Frankly, I admire that you, as Mitch’s unabashed biggest stan over the years, have been very measured in your venting. I just wish that others would follow your example.
We’re the most die hard Knicks fans out there and also the most obsessive. I mean why else would most of us comment on this vlog daily for the last ten or freaking fifteen years even when all we had was freaking Frank and Mudiay!
So yeah, people are gonna be upset about Mitch even if we did just win the chip. Thats just how we roll.
That being said, I do think Z-man is right to some degree that at some point we gotta move on.
What has given me comfort is that while Dolan might still suck, he would not be the first sports team owner to not “run it back” bc of “financial reasons” after his team won a chip. And, in fact, we basically are going to run it back except for one player who, as good as he is, is nevertheless still a back up who also has serious holes in his game.
I mean there have been championship teams in some sports that have literally fire sold the entire team right after they win a chip. And Leon was able to get GTA and Shamet back for cheap and resign Diawara for cheap. So the fact that Mitch is the only casualty of this stupidity is not bad. His loss could be big or Leon and then Brown might figure out a way to make up for it. We could still end up being better than last year by the time the playoffs come.
There’s still juice to squeeze with this team. A move can be made. Diamonds in the roiling can be found.
So yeah, I’m mad but I’m also over being mad about it.
That Robin Byrd doc on HBO is great.
i don’t know why they have all star games anymore in any sport..they all suck…i did see an interview on pbs yesterday with a dude who wrote a book on the origin of the mlb all star game…that was pretty cool…seems like it would be a good read.
Can I take the under on that wager?
He came close to doing that once when he was 23, but nowhere close in his last 4 seasons
Z-Man, respectfully, I agree you’re not talking about telling people how they should feel, but you are definitely telling them how they should behave. This is a Knicks blog, and Mitch is currently (and likely for while) the biggest recent news since the championship. Many people feel betrayed — yes, betrayed — by a senselessly stupid decision that is damaging and has almost zero rationale.
I think it is not only apropos but in some cases necessary and cathartic to write how you feel about a Knicks decision on Knickerblogger. I’m sorry if it is a buzzkill for you, but perhaps you could take a break from here for a while until people’s anger and bitterness scale down to a level you find acceptable.
I don’t think it was the “ring” anywhere near as much as the quantum leap in performance over the entire 17 game run where he was literally the best player in the NBA.
For his career his TS% was .588. In the playoffs .721. His BPM for his career was 0.4 and in the playoffs was 9.4.
But it just wasn’t the playoffs (against the best competition). His post all star break numbers of 40.7% from 3 and TS% .649 and his FT% of 88.2 were all NBA level for the PF position.
That’s 43 games of really terrific basketball.
When you think about what signing Mitch would have cost us, you should also consider that maybe Shamet, Alvarado, Clarkson and Diawara would have asked for more if the Knicks made it clear they were going over the cap to bring back the team
Fair point, KFinNJ
Or maybe we would have gotten Mitch and two out of the other four, but not all four. That line of thinking helps me feel better. A little bit.
I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooved Mitch, but I got over it pretty quickly because everyone agreed it was a dumb, douchey thing Dolan did, c’est la vie.
The only time I am even slightly pulled back into it is when someone is, like, “Ack-shually, it WASN’T a bad move.” So long as we don’t get that, and we all just agree, “Yeah, it sucks, but what’s done is done,” I’m totally cool with moving on.
Here’s an interesting trivia question. 15 players in NBA history have made over 2,200 three pointers. Can you name them? Eight of them are active players, seven are retired (one of the seven just retired after this past season). Only one of them started his career in the 1980s, and only three of them started their careers in the 1990s (one of the three literally debuted in 1999, so I don’t think of him as a 1990s guy at ALL).
I would NEVER have guessed #15 on the list (he just got to 2201 after this past seasson).
Raven, respectfully right back (and I do have great respect for you both as a poster and a person), telling people how to behave is not just the purview of Z-man. Some of the folks whose current posting behavior I find annoying right now have been very active in calling out posters who they have found to be annoying because of their posting behaviors, e.g. E, Pags, Doogie, etc.
As to feeling “Many people feel betrayed — yes, betrayed — by a senselessly stupid decision that is damaging and has almost zero rationale,” again, no one is telling folks how to feel (although “betrayal” seems over the top to me because it implies that there was trust in Dolan to NOT do that, which history has shown to be a fool’s errand). It also creates a climate where anyone who doesn’t see things this way is going to be made to feel at best misguided and at worst stupid.
And we have a long posting history here of the same folks who are the most hysterical about this (in their posting behaviors, not their feelings) making posters who disagree with their takes the target of condescending, sarcastic, scoffing remarks. And, as I said, of getting vocally annoyed at other posters’ behaviors.
There is a pretty significant list of prolific posters who NEVER engage in these sorts of posting behaviors. Brian, Alan, and Cyber are three great examples (PS great post above, Brian!) Are they any less “betrayed” by Dolan’s decree and losing Mitch? My guess is no. They just know how to express their feelings without, in this case, killing the overall championship vibe.
And no, I’m not going to take a break from here for a while (which is kind of rude to say, but whatever.) . Let the bitter folks take a break until they calm down and post without incessently whining. Although I don’t expect it to ever stop unless this team repeats.
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