[theknickswall.com] — Monday, June 20, 2022 7:02:20 AM
Free Agent Wings the Knicks Should Consider This Offseason The Knicks Wall
[www.hoopsrumors.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 7:32:00 PM
Eastern Notes: Celtics, Agbaji, Knicks, Heat hoopsrumors.com
[dailyknicks.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 5:00:00 PM
Knicks 2022 NBA Draft: No. 11 pick prospect Ochai Agbaji Daily Knicks
[www.newsday.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 4:45:43 PM
Ohio State’s Malaki Branham could land with Knicks after rapid rise as NBA Draft prospect Newsday
[clutchpoints.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 3:30:51 PM
Storm news: Sue Bird’s message to New York amid WNBA retirement tour will make Knicks fans smile ClutchPoints
[www.amny.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 1:22:53 PM
Knicks look to move up in the NBA Draft, target Purdue’s Jaden Ivey: Report AMNY
[www.cbssports.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 12:45:08 PM
NBA Draft 2022: Ranking the most intriguing teams, from Knicks trying to move up to Blazers’ crucial decision CBS Sports
[heavy.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 11:30:39 AM
Eastern Confernce Exec Urges Knicks to Avoid Nostalgic Reunion Heavy.com
[www.lineups.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 10:30:43 AM
New York Knicks NBA Draft Picks, Needs, Targets: Dyson Daniels A Playmaking Option At 11 Lineups
[dailyknicks.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 10:00:00 AM
Julius Randle must be part of the Knicks’ plans going forward Daily Knicks
[www.postingandtoasting.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 8:29:45 AM
Checking out Knicks draft options through the aggregate mock draft Posting and Toasting
[dailyknicks.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 8:00:00 AM
3 Knicks draft prospects that could be off the board at No. 11 Daily Knicks
[www.bostonherald.com] — Sunday, June 19, 2022 7:48:45 AM
NCAA Tourney hero says getting drafted by Knicks would be ‘a dream come true’ Boston Herald
The players projected in the 1st round that we’ve worked out are: Dyson Daniels, Mark Williams, Malaki Branham, Ochai Agbaji, Tari Eason, TyTy Washington and MarJon Beauchamp. Don’t know what to make of this list.
From the Hoopshype aggregate mock draft (they analyzed 11 mock drafts) there’s 5 players always on the Top6 – Jabari, Chet, Banchero, Ivey and Murray.
The rumors still say that “Portland is a prime trade candidate as it looks to dangle the pick for some win-now help”.
I’m still in the camp that we must trade up with them, they’d still keep a 1RP to use in a 2nd trade for more win-now help and at 7th we’d have a chance to draft one of Daniels or Mathurin. I don’t think that we’ll have the same kind of talent at 11th.
Guys I’d be thrilled to draft in a trade-up:
Ivy, Sharpe
Guys I’d be happy with at #11 (or in the teens after a trade-down):
Daniels, Murray, Mathurin, Duren, Sochan
Guys I’d be okay with but not excited about beyond blind faith in the FO:
Branham, Ogbaji, Eason, Dieng
Guys I’d be meh at best with:
Griffin, Davis, Mark Williams, TyTy
I’d be shocked if we targeted anyone not on this list at #11 or anywhere after a trade up or down.
Second rounders all seem so raw, slow or undersized that it isn’t even worth making a list. I couldn’t care less if we kept, traded or punted on this pick beyond having another guy to root for in summer league.
Hoo boy. Shams says the Nets and Kyrie are at an impasse and they may start exploring trades soon — and this part:
And this part:
Do. Not. Want. No matter how talented that dude is.
Less explosive from Shams, but with a greater likelihood of happening:
So my biggest hope is that both Griffin and Davis go before we pick, which would ensure that one of my faves would be available Then I’d hope that we don’t pass on that player.
I would vomit in my mouth if we traded this pick for Brogdon. We already have an oft-injured overpaid former all-star PG.
I would hate Kyrie at any salary. But if it happened, I’d have to devolve into “root for the laundry” mode.
Definitely an Alonzo Mourning gif kind of moment: On the one hand, I want nothing to do with Kyrie, and probably only want Brogdon if the Pacers are giving him away. On the other, these two news items should in theory bring an end to our Wigginsblogger period. So… yeah.
lol well I still have a lot to say about Wiggins but have moved on for your benefit. My hope is that the draft/FA period brings about a demise of Badmoviemusicminiseriesblogger….
Brogdan is a good player when he’s not hurt, but he’s often hurt, getting older, and on a contract longer than I’d be comfortable with given his age and injury history. That’s a pass for me, especially if it involves us giving up a pick.
The Knicks do need a real PG though because neither Quick or McBride may work out as the starter. Rose is not a starter anymore and too much of an injury risk to count on.
I’d hate to go through another season like last year. But I don’t think Brogdan is the long term solution. He’s the kind of guy I wouldn’t mind putting into cap space for a year as a placeholder while we search for a long term solution, but he belongs on a team that’s closer to contention than us.
It really is a mystery as to what will happen with Kyrie. Does he dare opting out? Would anyone offer a big contract to him ever again after what he has pulled in BOS and BKN? I’m fascinated about where he will be for the next 2-3 years.
How hilarious would it be if a Nets/Lakers swap resulted in simultaneous reunions of Kyrie and Lebron and Durant and Westbrook?
I’m not sure Tyus Jones is good enough to be the starter on a contender, but if we are going to give out multiple years, I’d rather take a shot on him than Brogdan.
I don’t think the Knicks will trade for Kyrie. The article was sort of speculating when it got to that part. But honestly, if the price was low enough, we should do the deal. Kyrie might be a flake, but he’s a brilliant scorer.
Boston just went to the finals with a guy that very few people thought of as a “real” PG. IQ nd Deuce are “real” enough in today’s NBA. Certainly real enough to not give up assets and young players for the likes of Brogdon.
I want an exciting young team that pushes the pace. Brogdon ain’t that.
Kyrie flies in the face of what Leon has professed in rebuilding the Knicks image by assembling a team of high-character guys. I can’t see it happening at any price.
I should add that I’m thinking getting the remaining year on his contract. If we have to extend his contract to get him, then no way.
You could certainly be correct about that. And I don’t mind if we don’t get him. I just think his expiring contract is better than Kemba Walker’s so the team could be better.
Z-Man
Boston has 2 legitimate high volume efficient scoring options that can create for themselves. Despite that, IMO, if you asked them right now, they’d probably tell you they are looking for a PG. Marcus Smart is a terrific player, but they were able to win with him at PG because they had Tatum and Brown. We don’t have that luxury. We need someone that’s going to help our other players get easier shots so they can be more efficient. Maybe Quick is that guy. He surprised me a bit at the end of the season. I have a LOT of faith in his work ethic, but unless they are sure, IMO they need a playmaking PG. But I agree that Brogdan is not the answer.
Kyrie is a pass for me too. He’s a great talent, but I never really loved his game. I’d be willing to put up with some whacky shit for the right player, but I’m not so sure for Kyrie.
I would be livid if we traded for Kyrie. On top of his stupid beliefs he’s always hurt and has flaked out of 3 straight teams.
Kyrie’s agent telling Shams to report the Lakers and the Knicks are expected to show interest with a straight face
Boston could have really used Kyrie in the finals when their guys couldn’t create good shots.
Trading our pick for Malcolm Brogdan would be spectacularly stupid.
I have no issue with adding veterans on short contracts. You have to put something in available cap space. I think it’s a good idea to retain flexibility if the team isn’t good enough to attract top tier talent or no one is available that year. The alternative of taking on a bad contract for a pick is also a reasonable option, but a deal like that isn’t always available and the compensation isn’t always good enough to give up flexibility.
The one thing I am against is giving out long contracts to players that are not the long term solution at that position we are asking them to play.
That’s why I haven’t been enthusiastic about Fournier, would pass on Brogdan, and am skeptical of Kyrie but don’t really mind guys like Rose, Taj, and Burks.
***Kyrie’s agent telling Shams to report the Lakers and the Knicks are expected to show interest with a straight face***
Kyrie’s agent is his step-mom, Shetellia, which is straight-face challenging no matter what the interest is.
As in, don’t believe anything Shetellia…
If we acquire Kyrie he will eat Vaseline at the introductory press conference
You need those high-volume scoring options and finding those should always be priority #1. Focusing on getting a “real” PG before you have two of those is ass-backwards. In fact, your PG can be one of those guys (Steph, Trae, Morant, Kyrie, Garland) or you can have these two guys at any non-PG position.
Actually I think Washington would be interested in Kyrie. They are reported to want a point guard. I don’t know how they find matching salaries though.
Kyrie or Brogdon? Both sound like terrible ideas.
I like Tyus Jones but I don’t see why we can’t find our own
I might hate the Brogdon idea even more than the Kyrie idea. In any event, they would both be stupid. The fact that we’ve worked out so many guys gives me some hope we aren’t seriously considering moving the pick for Brogdon, because I have to think if we were willing to do that the deal would’ve happened already.
IQ and Deuce both deserve a shot to be Tyus or better. Really no reason at all to spend any money on the PG position at this time. And that goes for Brunson too, although I could live with that if there were no assets going out.
So a guy re-routes our target (KD) to Brooklyn and now we would trade for him? Well isn’t that the epitome of Knicksy?
I wonder if Leon is on the clock with Dolan and if so, how much it influences his moves at this time.*
*Previous Ranger FO did a great job of stocking the pond. Most of the contributors to this season’s run were obtained by the prior FO.
If they’re hell bent on trying to win now, which i don’t agree,
i’d much prefer to sell the farm for Dame than to trade a lot of pieces for Kyrie.
(i just made a rhyme, this day is starting to look promising! LOL)
You might be right, lately Dolan gives 3 years for the FO to show results. If that’s still the case, Leon would want Kyrie badly, to have a big move on his belt when Dolan thinks about this next April.
I agree with hell no on Brogdon or Kyrie. I think Quick and RJ would actually make a nice backcourt if we could find an SF who can pass some and defend… perhaps Daniels?
Then maybe we can grab Bamba because we will need to stretch the floor next to either Randle or Obi.
Macri is the biggest “IQ should start at PG for the Knicks” fan in the world, and he is 100% convinced, based on both his observations and whatever sourcing he’s developed over the past few years, that the Knicks don’t want to have to start IQ at PG.
So either the team is much higher on Deuce than it seemed last season, Thibs will insanely keep the Point Burks experience going, or the starting PG is not currently on the roster. Whether it’s someone we draft (Ivey? TyTy?), trade for (Brogdon?), or sign (Brunson? Jones?).
If we can steal Kyrie, I would support the move 100%. Any trade in which Randle goes out and we don’t have to give up draft picks would qualify as a steal for me.
Is it better or worse to trade vets including Randle and/or Fournier for Kyrie than Westbrook?
Short-term, Kyrie is better because he can actually play when available. Long-term, Russ is better because he obviously sucks and would not be kept past this season, whereas Leon would be acquiring Kyrie as an ongoing piece, despite Kyrie being a flake who is nearing the age at which smaller guards usually fall off a cliff.
Don’t be silly comparing Kyrie to Westbrook.
I won’t waste the keystrokes as long as it’s in the wild rumor stage. But should it come to pass I believe there would be reasons to be optimistic.
I am about one billion percent certain that “Kyrie Irving, New York Knick” ends up as a dumpster fire. Kyrie is a dead end. Yes, he is a skilled player, and yes, he fills our #1 need, but he comes with more extraneous bullshit than any other player in the league. You simply can’t count on him.
Even downslope Kyrie would be the best PG this team has had in like 30 years but he’s going to be really expensive, is a fucking nutcase, and most importantly-as JK says-you can’t rely on him to show up.
It’s sufficient to not want Kyrie bc he’s a hard guy to root for. But something like this is probably coming from the emotion mind.
Kyrie is about to enter his age 30 season, and with relatively little wear and tear. His engagement is going to be the challenge. And you’ll have to do things to placate him (bye, Thibs). But if you get engaged Kyrie, you’re probably getting him at the beginning of his second peak. I just don’t see a cliff approaching.
To me, it’s a calculated gamble. What has the greater odds:
1. Kyrie being engaged for the next two seasons
2. The Knicks ever engaging in a legitimate, multi-year rebuild
3. Leon Rose threading the impossibly small eye of the hybrid-method needle.
Those aren’t three great choices, but I’d take my chances on 1 all day.
Other than being a total head case Kyrie really is a perfect fit. It wouldn’t work out but it also wouldn’t be the most far fetched thing I’ve talked myself into. If it’s just cap space I’d at least consider it; I think Rose is probably under quite a bit of pressure to get a big name in here some time in the next ~18 months (it’s the main reason he got the job) and this is actually a relatively low downside way to do it imo.
Hubert is absolutely right that objections to Kyrie are more vibes based than anything else, and yet I’m still going to hold firm on my objections.
We’ve all developed a great sense for moves that will end in complete disaster and this is obviously one of them even if the specific reasons are hard to predict right now.
You guys are thinking Kyrie is gonna come cheap? In what world do you live in? It’ll be several players and several picks to get him.
Meaning, it’s a “no, thank you”.
I almost hope that the Knicks do acquire Kyrie, just so I can have the satisfaction of coming on this blog for the lulz when he decides to sit out a season because he saw an Instagram video that said basketballs are made out of dolphins.
Kyrie has a player option for next year, he can just waive that and hit free agency.
Oh, also, Kyrie is eligible for, and will expect, a 5-year, $245M extension. Oh yeah, this seems like a fine idea.
I think Kyrie would not fly with Dolan. The guy holds grudges like no one else, and he is right to hold a grudge against Kyrie. For once our owner’s flawed personality is an asset.
LOL, indeed. We’ve come to one of the times in the day when the broken clock is right. :D
Hard no on Kyrie. Brodgon for 11 is crazy. If you could assure me he’d play 70 games a season for the rest of his contract maybe I’d trade the Dallas pick for him (he’s a better version Burks and when healthy better than Jones or Brunson) but since no assurance is possible I’d give them salary relief and a couple of decent seconds if Jones/Brunson are off of the table. I actually think TyTy has a decent shot to be a Brunson level player so trading back for him wouldn’t bother me- taking him at 11 would be a stretch but wouldn’t kill me. I’d still rather give IQ the chance to earn the job next year.
My question was specifically acquiring one as a way to shed the vets. Our vets are useful players. It’s the lakers and nets could benefit from our vets I believe.
I think I’d rather have Westbrook. He isn’t a head case in the same way Kyrie is. IE, I’ve never questioned Westbrook’s desire to compete and play hard no matter what. If we shed Randle and or Fournier to get him for a season, I could live with it.
Kyrie is better but scares the bejesus out of me for culture reasons.
That is correct. Moving Randle and Fournier with a first attached to each would be enough to open the cap space needed for the 4/184M contract we can offer him in free agency. But i don’t think he wants that, he’ll prefer the sign and trade to sign the contract that JK was talking about (5/248M). Has one more year, but it’s a 64M differential.
Seth Davis does an annual feature where he gets a bunch of college scouts to anonymously focus on the biggest warts on each prospect who played in the NCAA. He then combines a bunch of quotes from different guys into a single, sometimes self-contradictory, scouting report from the fictional scout “Finch.” This year’s version has some interesting blurbs — some of them quite positive, despite the mandate of the piece — on guys we’re discussed a lot here. Here are a couple of examples:
Kyrie is in theory a top-20 player in this league. In practice he has mostly been a fraud. I have a Celts fan friend who would cackle up a storm if we were ever stupid enough to fall for his bullshit. It would be an utter disaster that would set us back years.
But yeah, it’s not gonna happen so why waste time stressing about it?
I would take Westbrook over Kyrie, and that’s not a compliment to Westbrook. Kyrie would be that last person in the league I would want on my roster. I’d rather run Kevin Knox out there as our PG than Kyrie.
I really don’t care what Celtics fans think of Kyrie. He left Cleveland with a title and is going to leave Brooklyn with Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons. He most likely would have delivered a title to the Nets, too, if not for an ill-timed ankle sprain.
We should all hope for a better outcome than Kyrie. But if it comes to pass, I think his next two seasons will be excellent. And unlike anyone else Dolan’s ever brought in, Kyrie can actually deliver another star.
Do you think Kyrie has any idea that Brother Mouzzone is the worst-written, most-cartoonish character in The Wire, a character who replaces all of the series’ characteristic gritty realism with over-the-top literary pretension? Or not, because Kyrie is one of the most pretentious American athletes to ever exist?
***Kyrie is about to enter his age 30 season, and with relatively little wear and tear.***
Little wear, but considerable tear. Torn shoulder, torn knee cap, torn finger, torn cerebrum, and maybe that “undisclosed toe-injury” that kept him from playing college basketball too.
Indeed. The hardest of passes. Titanium pass. Diamond pass.
I mean, I won’t even argue that he might play two seasons of top 20 player ball. Still don’t want him.
I’d vote for Scott Templeton as worst ever character from The Wire.
Brother Mouzone is pretty lame, but he’s sort of a minor character. Scott Templeton was a main character in the not-as-good-but-still-pretty-damn-good fifth season.
No objections to this. Even as a supporter of the idea, I also know it will end in complete disaster.
But I suspect something great could happen before that. And “complete disaster” is pretty much our default state, anyway.
Once we inevitably max RJ and hold Randle past the short window we have to move him, we’ll be treading water forever while Leon Rose enjoys immense job security.
I’d rather hand the reigns to Kyrie, see if he can recruit a friend again, and maybe have a few exciting years before he brings the whole Rose regime crashing down and we return to our regularly scheduled program.
Yeah, I’m a 4-3-1-2-5 guy, but even the fifth season is better than almost all other TV I’ve seen, granted I haven’t kept up on the flood of content over the past several years.
Look at it another way: what kind of bad marriage to you want?
The one we’re in now with Leon Rose is a slow march to disaster that wastes a decade of our lives and leaves us old and broke at the end.
The one we could have with Kyrie is going to be like marrying an Italian supermodel. The fights will be crazy, the sex even crazier. You’ll fly around the world, see and be seen, and have the time of your life before you crash and burn.
And I know you want to have a good marriage, but you chose the Knicks. All we get to do is choose the best of the worst. Kyrie, IMO, is the best bad choice we have.
big Hubert vibes
You mean like the exciting years he had with the Nets. LOL
Sign Kyrie, do well for 2 years, trade him for a Phil Jackson preferred buttload of picks after he stops caring, stop following the Knicks because it’s Kyrie.
Brogdon should be viewed as neutral value *at best* on his contract, so trading a lottery pick for him should be a non-starter. The only thing I could somewhat begrudgingly abide is letting Indiana take on some of our expirings to dump him on us for nothing.
Sounds like we at least had Eason work out with us, which is nice to hear. Getting him in a trade down remains a great option. Berman reported a month ago that we planned to workout Sochan too, another fave of mine.
Should be some fairly exciting options available, so we should perhaps not trade this pick for Malcolm Brogdon.
Sounds like Ivey is trying to push his way to NY as much as possible. I don’t think that helps us but it’s nice to see.
“How hilarious would it be if a Nets/Lakers swap resulted in simultaneous reunions of Kyrie and Lebron and Durant and Westbrook?”..
Now that would be some serious Karma for Lebron and Durant that I would love to see. Rooting so hard for this now… Picturing Durant standing around watching Westbrook and Simmons do their thing – priceless
No thanks to Kyrie. A little crazy is good for a team, but Kyrie is way too far over that line. Very Hard pass
I haven’t been paying much attention really since the NBA regular season ended, the incredible Yankee season has been occupying me plus I have to say the Rangers playoffs run made me a pretty big fan again. Haven’t really paid much attention to the Rangers since the glory days and guys like Richter and Leetch retired. Although I did root for them during the King Henrik playoff runs. But this current group is insanely fun to watch, amazing how lottery luck and Dolan mostly staying out of the way has worked out for the Rangers.
But I’m definitely back in Knicks mode with the draft and offseason rumors swirling so should be fun next few weeks including Summer League. Put me in the hell no to Kyrie camp although there is no denying what an amazing basketball talent he is.
I’m with you Hubert.
Kyrie with a chip on his shoulder playing right across the river will max the odds of him being engaged and give a shit. His presence will instantly make Randle a better player by removing the ball from his hands early in the shot clock. Decision making is his weakness and that led to his attitude decline. Julius can instead focus on being a finisher, rebounder and defender. Maximize his elite athleticism instead of his average leadership cerebral ability. (see Wiggins as an perfect example,
Send IQ, Frenchie, Kemba and the Dallas #1 Pick to anyone who wants to help us clear cap space to sign Kyrie outright or to Brooklyn for a sign and trade.
Kyrie, DRose
Burks, #11, Grimes,
RJ, Cam
Randle, Obi
Mitch/Noel
That’s easily the most talented Knicks team in over a decade. All starters under 30. The personal, chemistry and character risks are evident and tolerable…this is when coaching actually matters and someone like Kenny Atkinson might be needed by the trade deadline.
Kenny Atkinson didn’t want to coach Lamelo and Bridges in Charlotte you think he’d want to reunite with Kyrie who basically got him fired in Brooklyn?
Brogdon kind of fits with what we want, that you may take on his contract and see how his health holds up. Big no to giving draft capital.
Kyrie Irving: Lately, our embarrassments are limited to the basketball court, let us keep it that way.
Kenny Atkinson didn’t want to coach Lamelo and Bridges in Charlotte you think he’d want to reunite with Kyrie who basically got him fired in Brooklyn?
lol…hear you. my bad; poor example…my thought was that Thibs and others with previous head coaching experience (both ego & baggage) are not what would be needed here…but a young, smart, well respected, high integrity, humble person who is ready for the next step. Sam Cassell is probably a better example…
I’d take Brogdon for the right price. I’m not sure what price that would be. I doubt they’re trying to outright dump him.
Yeah sure, go get Kyrie, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
Just recently, I was writing how we really don’t know how most contentious contact negotiations are like. For instance, I don’t know if Mitch told the Knicks, “I’m not signing for the mini-max extension period.”
However, there are rare occasions where I’m very confident in who the unreasonable person was in the negotiations (eventually we learn the truth later, but I mean before then). The example I was talking about at the time was Neve Campbell and the producers of Scream 6. There’s no way that she was the “problem” there. Similarly, with how important he is to their whole setup, there’s no way that the Nets are the “problem” here.
Isn’t that basically what Boston said? That now now the he was out from Lebron’s shadow and had his own team he’d be engaged and give a shit? And then Brooklyn thought the same thing because he chose to go to Brooklyn, he was bringing his friends with him, and he was going to have a large say in the front office? I don’t know how anyone can look at this dude’s career and say, “Yes, as long as we do X we can keep Kyrie engaged and happy.”
“Yes, as long as we do X we can keep Kyrie engaged and happy.”
You’d need to find the right medication for his mental illness
It depends. If you take Kyrie’s behavior, yeah he’s the problem. But if you take Sean Marks’ May 11 press conference where he said “We know what we’re looking for: We’ve looking for guys that want to come in here and be part of something bigger than themselves, play selfless, play team basketball and be available. That goes not only for Kyrie, but for everybody here.“, then maybe Marks is the problem too.
More on the press conference here: https://nypost.com/2022/05/11/sean-marks-send-clear-message-to-kyrie-irving-about-nets-future/
And this is why i say that Zion’s extension is far from a done deal. David Griffin already said he wants to put protections on the contract, probably that’s what Marks tried to do too. We have to wait because if the protections are heavy, Zion will decline and it gets to the same point that the Nets-Kyrie deal is now.
banchero was 20-1 to go first overall a couple days ago. just now down to 4-1.
That’s fascinating. Certainly sounds like whatever the insider trading equivalent in gambling is called.
Eason might be an idiot/have bad bball IQ but that LSU team was run by a crook who could only recruit.
I don’t really get the Banchero hype. Pretty inefficient scorer for a guy with his size and alleged ability. But I also watched like 2 Duke games last year
I just don’t like the way Eason moves. But hey, if the Knicks like him and draft him, I’m all in. He seems like a real project on offense, so I’d rather roll the dice on a younger player like Dieng, but that’s where the trues for the scouting staff comes in. I’m just not seeing it myself.
For Star Trek fans, this is a Tritanium or Rodinium Pass.
Yeah, he’s a strange kind of “can’t miss” guy…the more scouting reports I watched, the more I warmed up to him.
Banchero isn’t like a sure bust to me, just not a guy I would take #1.
Ivey is not a PG, right? The odds of him going to the Knicks are falling enough that I’ve actually started reading up on him a little
Certainly not a Chris Paul PG
I’m with Hubert in this one, provided we only give up players who are close to their contract value and that are basically there to provide competent play until we need cap space after next season. It’s true Kyrie is a flake, but I have faith Thibs can keep it under control. Unlike the Nets, Thibs has never played a player because he’s friends with some one else. Kyrie had got to know that’s the way it is with Thibs, so if he comes here presumably he’s willing to put up with that and maybe even likes the idea.
I think in the NBA Ivey will be a PG, in the style of young DRose, an attacking PG. It’s good we have DRose, if Ivey comes, because this way he can teach Ivey to be more than an attacking PG, just like he learned during his career.
I don’t see how we move up for Ivey, though. I bet he ends up in Detroit.
At 11, I’m really leaning towards Sochan if he’s still there. I like Eason a lot too but Sochan is younger and it feels like he could literally play 2-5 on offense or defense. He’s just got massive energy and body control. Plus, he reads the game very well.
Hopefully he’ll learn to shoot in time.
Right now we are banking on RJ being one of those two scorers eventually.
Boston has those 2 scorers, but they still need a playmaking PG.
IMO there’s nothing wrong with getting the playmaking PG first. We don’t need a PG that’s also going to give us 20 per 36. We need a playmaker. If we could get someone that could do both, that would be great. But we need playmaking to help RJ, Randle?, Mitch? etc.. That’s where we are weak. The only time you can get away without the playmaking PG is when you are running something like the triangle or have several very good playmakers and a lot of ball/player movement like the Spurs/Warriors. That’s actually my preference, but then you start getting into the limitations of finding players that fit the system.
Mermaids
If she can also cook this is a no brainer for an Italian like me. :-)
I have no idea why anyone would have faith in that. Kyrie doesn’t listen to anyone but himself…not his coaches, not his teammates, no one. He doesn’t defer at all. He is the loosest of loose cannons. He doesnt care about the impact of his words or deeds on an organization. Once he believes he is right about something, he stops listening. If anything, Thibs would bring out the worst in Kyrie. The thing that drives a stubborn person most crazy is another stubborn person that disagrees with him.
I mean, can you imagine what would happen if Thibs benched Kyrie for not playing hard enough on D, or worse yet, purposely played Kyrie a billion mpg in a 4 game in 6 nights stretch like he did to Kemba? You think Kyrie would handle it publicly in the classy way that Kemba did?
It would be a fucking disaster. And that’s not even accounting for the fact that he’s getting old and has missed a bunch of games due to injury. Please, please keep that asshole as far away from the Knicks locker room as possible.
I don’t see how we move up to 4 either, the best assets we have are picks and that’s what Sacramento doesn’t want.
My first instinct is that Kyrie would hate Thibs and get him fired before the first season. Derrick Rose could be a key there. If Kyrie respects Rose and Rose can get Kyrie to buy in…
He was great his first season in Boston. They won 55 games in his first season and the city unequivocally loved him. Then they went on that Tatum-Brown-Rozier led run to the conference finals, and things got awkward when it became obvious that it was smarter to build around the kids and Kyrie wasn’t excited about that.
I’d like to break this down:
1.Thibs would bring out the worst in Kyrie.
2. The thing that drives a stubborn person most crazy is another stubborn person that disagrees with him.
3. can you imagine what would happen if Thibs benched Kyrie for not playing hard enough on D
4. or purposely played Kyrie a billion mpg in a 4 game in 6 nights stretch like he did to Kemba?
These all sound like Thibs problems.
I admit there are 1,000 reasons to not want Kyrie. But “I don’t think he could handle all the incredibly stupid things our coach does” is not one of them.
By the way how did Tom Thibodeau leave his last two stops? You’ve already bought into one thing we know is going down in flames.
Case closed.
What was my opinion on hiring Tom Thibodeau at the time?
You definitely didn’t say anything like: “It would be a fucking disaster… Please, please keep that asshole as far away from the Knicks locker room as possible.”
And once he was hired, you went all in. You certainly didn’t “devolve into root for the laundry mode” and refuse to support him. You became his biggest acolyte. Would you do that for Kyrie?
So how come we have two indisputable assholes with a history of carnage, but we only find one of them to be irredeemable? And ironically, it’s the one with the mediocre talent, not the one with the all-world talent.
This is abject trolling. Out of deference to the board, I’ll leave it here and let our comments speak for themselves.
The appeal to Banchero isn’t necessarily that he’ll be a great scorer. He’s a legitimately great playmaker at the 4, as in he doesn’t rack up his assists in the Julius Randle “hold the ball forever and wait for a double” way. He is genuinely great at setting up teammates within the flow of an offense.
As for his scoring, it’s true he wasn’t all that efficient in college but that tends to be less important in terms of NBA translation than a more granular analysis of how a guy got his points. Banchero finished at the rim at a 68% clip on high volume, and while I don’t think he’ll ever be a pull up/off the dribble threat it seems likely he’ll at least have to be respected from 3. He tanked his overall efficiency with a bunch of midrange garbage any half-decent NBA coach will not allow.
The idea is something like a fully optimized Julius Randle, actually. This sounds like an insult, but if Randle was a much, much smarter player I think he’d be a regular all-star. Picture something like 22-8-5, .590 TS%, passable defense.
It’s true that Thibs also has a record of leaving teams on bad terms and it’s absolutely worth reflecting on why the two are discussed so differently despite that commonality.
That said, I would prefer not to rack these guys up.
I said “we” not “you”.
And I wasn’t going there (the lady doth protest). I think Thibs and Kyrie have similar personalities and track records. Thibs has left more carnage, and Kyrie has had more success. Kyrie has more talent. And he’s a player, which matters infinitely more.
So why are *WE* willing to suffer one and not the other?
There seems to be a lot of irrational hatred for a man we really know very little about.
Banchero reminds me more of Blake Griffin without the hops than Randle. Higher BB IQ and more offensive polish but weaker on the boards than Randle. Is that better than Smith who looks like Rashard Lewis 2.0? Maybe, but I’d take Chet over either.
Banchero sounds like the title of a late 60’s western. That’s a good thing, I think. I’d take him over Chet…dude’s too skinny! OKC could roll the dice with him since they have so many picks.
The life of a martyr, bro
I’m not sure Sochan can play *any* position 2-5 on offense. He can’t shoot 3s, his first step is too slow, and he’s good vertically but not a great PnR lob threat.
He could improve as a shooter, but right now he’s a 4 with a limited offensive game. With the Knicks spacing, I don’t know how he plays unless we move Randle or Obi.
He could have or develop a Boris Diaw type game, but if he could legitimately play multiple positions offensively he’d be going higher.
He’s going to be a PG, or at least try it. He’d at least initiate a decent amount as a SG.
Ivey’s assist numbers would look better, but Trevion Williams is a virtuoso out of the post and the offense ran through him.
Boone in quite the bind here…never envy managers in this situation.
He’s definitely limited offensively in ways that make hesitation understandable, but I think this oversells it. His first step isn’t great, but he makes up for it with incredible burst and I think that’s reflected in the numbers. Also, I don’t think his 3PT shot is completely broken. The counterpoint is there’s nothing empirically to support that–his FT% is brutal. Totally fair, I guess I just like his form.
I think he’s a legit DPOY candidate if he can stay on the floor offensively. Of course, that’s easier said than done but if it was a given he’d be in the running for #1 overall. At 11 it’s the kind of upside I’d love to bet on.
Hey, that’s my line…
All kidding aside, I agree with your take 100%. For me, he’s in the same tier as Duren. I know we disagree on that, but I think Duren’s offense will be better in the NBA than he showed in college, and I like the way he uses his body, and how even bigger players get the worst of it when he collides with them. But I think Sochan will generate lots of transition play with his defense, and maybe could play small-ball 5 with Obi. I’d be fine with either guy. Or not.
I think even if his shooting does come around Sochan is going to be a 4 with low usage. He’s young enough to add to his game, but I don’t see much offensive upside even with a 3pt shot.
He’s definitely not Frank Ntilikina but it’s difficult to play non-shooters.
It’s a draft philosophy thing for me. I trust the numbers. It’s why I have Eason so high despite the awkward shooting form and game and Sochan significantly lower despite a shot that doesn’t look broken.
Me too, but every draft model I’ve seen has Sochan ranked pretty well (high steal rate, high 2PT%, high fTR is what seems to do it). The counterpoint is he wouldn’t be the first prospect to be ranked well by models that busted because the models can’t really account for the fact that you almost have to be able to shoot a jumper in the NBA these days to be anything other than a full-time center. He’ll probably need some semblance of a jumper to really hit.
I’m just not seeing a comparable upside play at 11. There are, what, 10 players in the NBA who can guard 1-5, and guard 1-5 well at that? I’m very high on Eason too but he’s two full years older than Sochan.
Which are your favorite draft models?
I find that this one tends to hold up pretty well over the years, though as its creator readily admits it suffers from the same big man boost you see in just about all models: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P3k8beglT4YL_KAA1IP8-SGcOFEFJhtr8psdUhKIKF4/edit#gid=1182161930
Kevin Pelton’s model has made some good calls too, though it weighs overall college performance, as opposed to performance in the areas that tend to be important for NBA success, too heavily IMO: https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/34055752/2022-nba-draft-ranking-top-30-prospects-based-stats-scouting
Not to come here and brag or anything, but I called Warriors in 6, and I called Todd Rundgren.
Very interested to see how Kessler works out because stats models LOVE him but I haven’t seen any scouting reports that think he should go in the lottery
Did you guys like Hustle? I thought it was surprisingly good. (When I saw He Got Game back in the day, I felt like I was watching basketball players trying to act. But Hernangomez, Edwards, and especially Kenny Smith, seemed like actors trying to play basketball players. And 5 years ago, you’d never have seen Adam S and Queen Latifah as a married screen couple (thank god they didn’t try to pair him with Jennifer Aniston again, this time as his Philly jock wife).
You forgot to mention the cameo by Scott Perry and the possible ( I did not rewind to check) Andrea Barnagni joke.
I missed Scott Perry. When did he cameo in the movie?
The Athletics’ “Scouts candid opinions” article cited above isn’t very positive about him but not totally negative. To quote;
There was a scene earlyish in the film that took place in a restaurant/bar where Scott Perry was seated at a table with other FO types. Shortly after that came the Barnagni joke. One could watch the movie and play a game name the NBA-affiliated person.
Seems to share my enthusiasm for the two last name guys…
@Alan: Halfway through “Shining Girls” (what a fantastic show!) your words are making total sense – “Just don’t expect to come out of it being able to explain a lot of what happens.“. :)
I’m having a hard time projecting Kessler as more than a backup C in the big league. And if we go for a backup C, i’d much prefer to try to trade up in the 2nd round and get Koloko. To add to that, i think Kessler is a “he is what he is” kind of prospect, whereas Koloko might have some untapped potential. Just don’t waste assets on a guy like Kessler is what i mean.
Oh btw, Z-Man, that spreadsheet isn’t nice to your favorite (Duren), he is behind both Kessler and Williams on the list to be just 4th among Cs.
This list is super high on PGs too. If we make an adjustment to Kessler and Williams, as i don’t think they should be higher than 15th, and Koloko to 25th. We’d have the PG list like this: 1 – Dyson Daniels (#6 overall); 2 – Kennedy Chandler (#7) !?; 3 – Jaden Ivey (#12) !?!?!?; 4 – JD Davison (#20); 5 – TyTy Washington (#26);
Well, Kennedy Chandler said “I’ll be the next guard that proves everybody wrong” so this bodes well for his statement. But Ivey is totally undervalued here, don’t you think? At least they agree with me about JD Davison. :) I still think it’d be a good move to try to get him with a 2RP and place him on a 2-way slot.
I used to think there was nothing the Knicks could do to make me not root for them…or actually that’s not a totally true statement – I root for them to lose all the time, but maybe what I mean is that there was nothing they could do to make me totally apathetic. But if we had Kyrie Irving on this team, I might literally pack up my basketball fandom and, I don’t know, root for the Grizzlies or something until he is off the team.
I truly believe Kyrie is the product of and now producer of everything that is wrong with the world short of true evil, although I wouldn’t put true evil past him if basketball didn’t exist. Total narcissist, unbelievably inflated self-worth, cares not a bit about anyone but himself – he literally burned the Nets’ chances this year down around him on a whim. It is true he hit an amazing shot to basically cement the Cavs’ title over the Warriors, but really only Lebron James at the height of his powers could drag that dude to a title. He is the the absolute shining product of a youth/college/pro basketball system that elevates talent over just about any other redeemable quality, and gives endless rope and chances to anyone who can dribble in fancy manner and get the ball in the hoop. He literally might be THE person I dislike most that I don’t personally know.
Frank, what is faith if it is never tested?