I’m very curious about Blake Wesley who apparently projects as a possible PG. An article in The Athletic by David Aldridge has some scouts raving about his upside and work ethic. Very, very athletic and big. Might he be a perfect fit for us to drop down and also get additional assets?
Do you have any opinions on him?
Btw, love the newsletter and appreciate your hard work keeping us entertained and informed.
I’d turn around your comment a bit and say if the Knicks front office has shown us anything, it’s that they are tremendously risk averse, think safe, middling rather than gamble to maybe great, and a semi-satisfaction with being a middle of the pack team. I say this because we are now into our third year of this regime and there has not been one deal that has been made that could significantly improve the team, and several made to kick the can down the road.
For a team desperate for a PG, they have passed on Halliburton twice. For a team that was mediocre and yet had a ton of cap space, they passed on high risk, high reward guys like Dinwiddie and DeRozan to sign their own, safe, Burks and Rose.
My prediction for Thursday night though is similar to yours. They will trade down once, but not much low than their spot and acquire a couple of future seconds to draft either Williams out of Duke or Duran of Memphis as they also know Robinson is gone.
100% agree on their kicking the can down the road. That said, would be surprised if they traded down while only picking up second round draft equity. As for the centers, while taking one wouldn't *shock* me, I'd be more than a little surprised.
What’s really interesting is when you compare pre-Rose admin to current Rose admin:
Julius Randle, acquired by pre-Rose; the most significant deal was made pre-Rose (KP); pre-Rose admin cleared books for cap space; team’s top player (RJ) also acquired by pre-Rose; most first round picks acquired also by pre-Rose.
The Rose admin? Used massive cap space primarily on existing team (and team performance has suffered); highest draft pick used, Toppin passing up Halliburton; 2021 had two mid-level first round picks and selected Grimes and moved down for additional 2 round pick (s).
I guess the best move the Rose admin has made is drafting Quick and then second best, still tbd, Grimes.
I’m not saying install Perry has top decision maker again. But I am saying this is Rose’s last shot. If the team does not show measurable performance improvement, then I think Rose is gone.
And no to sound too much of an insider but Aller (conservative) vs World Wide Wes (aggressive) is what is really hurting team management. Not so much because there is a split in strategy but rather that Aller keeps winning.
I disagree with Dbn123, I think that this is their last shot and that this is the year that they have to make "the gamble". If it's true that the Knicks front office is risk averse, wouldn't that mean they would have also sought out assurances from James Dolan too? Maybe to get an additional year or two in principle to turn this year into a contender?
We know that this year has a poor free agent class and a weak draft class so they definitely know it. It wouldn't make much sense for such a calculated front office to push in all their chips at THIS moment. Because of that, this one line really stuck with me - "What I do know, however, is that this front office values value itself above all else." Maybe they know and they've always known that they're kicking down the can for a specific date/draft (next year's) to cash in where it's most valuable. Maybe they project to be more active at this year's trade deadline when Burks, Rose, and Noel will definitely be flipped for draft capital or young players to be flipped later when those players' value is highest to teams desperate to get in or make runs to the playoffs. I see them trading down more for future seconds, packaging those seconds and others they've accumulated in year's past with each one of those three above and getting some firsts in return.
I’m very curious about Blake Wesley who apparently projects as a possible PG. An article in The Athletic by David Aldridge has some scouts raving about his upside and work ethic. Very, very athletic and big. Might he be a perfect fit for us to drop down and also get additional assets?
Do you have any opinions on him?
Btw, love the newsletter and appreciate your hard work keeping us entertained and informed.
Love Wesley, and would love if they ended up with him. Raw lump of clay with skills you can't teach. And thank you for the kind words!
I’d turn around your comment a bit and say if the Knicks front office has shown us anything, it’s that they are tremendously risk averse, think safe, middling rather than gamble to maybe great, and a semi-satisfaction with being a middle of the pack team. I say this because we are now into our third year of this regime and there has not been one deal that has been made that could significantly improve the team, and several made to kick the can down the road.
For a team desperate for a PG, they have passed on Halliburton twice. For a team that was mediocre and yet had a ton of cap space, they passed on high risk, high reward guys like Dinwiddie and DeRozan to sign their own, safe, Burks and Rose.
My prediction for Thursday night though is similar to yours. They will trade down once, but not much low than their spot and acquire a couple of future seconds to draft either Williams out of Duke or Duran of Memphis as they also know Robinson is gone.
100% agree on their kicking the can down the road. That said, would be surprised if they traded down while only picking up second round draft equity. As for the centers, while taking one wouldn't *shock* me, I'd be more than a little surprised.
What’s really interesting is when you compare pre-Rose admin to current Rose admin:
Julius Randle, acquired by pre-Rose; the most significant deal was made pre-Rose (KP); pre-Rose admin cleared books for cap space; team’s top player (RJ) also acquired by pre-Rose; most first round picks acquired also by pre-Rose.
The Rose admin? Used massive cap space primarily on existing team (and team performance has suffered); highest draft pick used, Toppin passing up Halliburton; 2021 had two mid-level first round picks and selected Grimes and moved down for additional 2 round pick (s).
I guess the best move the Rose admin has made is drafting Quick and then second best, still tbd, Grimes.
I’m not saying install Perry has top decision maker again. But I am saying this is Rose’s last shot. If the team does not show measurable performance improvement, then I think Rose is gone.
And no to sound too much of an insider but Aller (conservative) vs World Wide Wes (aggressive) is what is really hurting team management. Not so much because there is a split in strategy but rather that Aller keeps winning.
I disagree with Dbn123, I think that this is their last shot and that this is the year that they have to make "the gamble". If it's true that the Knicks front office is risk averse, wouldn't that mean they would have also sought out assurances from James Dolan too? Maybe to get an additional year or two in principle to turn this year into a contender?
We know that this year has a poor free agent class and a weak draft class so they definitely know it. It wouldn't make much sense for such a calculated front office to push in all their chips at THIS moment. Because of that, this one line really stuck with me - "What I do know, however, is that this front office values value itself above all else." Maybe they know and they've always known that they're kicking down the can for a specific date/draft (next year's) to cash in where it's most valuable. Maybe they project to be more active at this year's trade deadline when Burks, Rose, and Noel will definitely be flipped for draft capital or young players to be flipped later when those players' value is highest to teams desperate to get in or make runs to the playoffs. I see them trading down more for future seconds, packaging those seconds and others they've accumulated in year's past with each one of those three above and getting some firsts in return.