Briefing: June 28
Twitter Jail
Good Afternoon,
It’s been one of those days lol.
Last night, I received an email from Twitter saying my account was suspended for copyright infringement. They cited three tweets that included video breakdowns of Ron Baker. I have no details beyond that, but I’m assuming it has something to do with the music used in the videos. I always cite where I get information/videos/music from, but sometimes broad claims are made by music companies, and if you don’t have the rights, you don’t have the rights.
After getting started, I switched to Royalty-free music, so hopefully this is just a temporary thing for a few older videos. I’m working on getting everything back up and running as soon as I can. But the keys to Twitter Jail are in Twitter’s hands, and they don’t give you much detail on the severity of a suspension.
Find me tweeting at @jeffreybellone until things get resolved (fingers crossed).
For now, let’s get to Jonathan Macri’s latest…
I went forward in time, to view alternate futures, to see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict...
How many did you see?
Fourteen million six hundred and five...
How many did we win?
One.
We are indeed in the Endgame, folks.
The odds aren't quite 14,000,605-to-1, but there are days where you wake up as a Knicks fan and feel like the deck is almost that stacked against you. Maybe it's because of our history, maybe it's because good press can be hard to find, or maybe it's just because we're New Yorkers, and if you're like me, you were raised to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
Regardless, as we near 48 hours and counting until free agency kicks off, things are less clear now than maybe they ever have been.
On the Durant front, this week we've had Brian Windhorst telling us that the Nets are gaining confidence, which was backed up KD's friend Kendrick Perkins calling Brooklyn the frontrunner. Then Stephen A. Smith (who, granted, does not have the most pristine track record) told us that KD & Kyrie to Brooklyn is all but done.
But "all but done" isn't done. Marc Stein said as much on Bill Simmons' podcast a few days ago after he cautioned everyone to take everything surrounding KD with a grain of salt because no one knows anything right now. Woj called KD's decision-making process "clandestine" (aka: secretive), while Chris B. Haynes said early yesterday he thought Brooklyn would only get a meeting out of respect to Irving and that he still had the Knicks in front.
Finally this morning, Ian Begley reportedthat the idea Brooklyn is the frontrunner is patently false, also noting that it's unclear whether KD will even take meetings - an idea supported by Haynes yesterday
I've long thought about who would wind up being Patient Zero in this year's free agency class - the first domino to fall which sends all the other ones flying. It appears that after all the noise, despite an injury that will likely see him go 16 months without stepping foot on an NBA court, it will be KD. As it should be.
The other major domino here is Kawhi, who according to Chris Carter will meet with both LA teams on Monday and Tuesday, then possibly/probably the Knicks, then Toronto. And as we know in these things, who gets the final meeting is often key.
Then there's Kyrie, who may now be back in play for the Lakers according to Marc Stein. Who the hell knows what Jimmy Butler will do, and whether he has it in him to turn down a five-year max that will be offered from Philly as soon as free agency begins.
All along, I haven't made any predictions in here as to what I think will happen, but given everything being reported, there's two things I'm betting at this point:
Durant dictates Kyrie's decision, not the other way around. We keep hearing that everything changed once KD got injured. The assumption has been that Kyrie and KD were a package deal for the Knicks before the devastating events of June 10, and that it was what happened to KD in Game 5 that caused Kyrie to backtrack because he doesn't want to carry a team on his own for a season. I'm not sure I buy that. The Kyrie-to-Brooklyn rumors started before the torn Achilles, and the Knicks were concerned about the two of them teaming up with the Nets even prior to the injury. My read is that the famously fickle Kyrie became intrigued by the idea of going to Brooklyn, which then gave Durant some pause about the Knicks (as opposed to making him set on the Nets). Now though, with Durant knowing he'll be shelved for a year, other considerations have entered the fray for him. So much can happen over the course of a year, and it feels like he's weighing this decision even more heavily than he otherwise would have been, and that he'll do it on his own. He knows if he chooses Brooklyn, Kyrie will follow, but not necessarily the other way around. Despite everything that's been said, I still think it comes down to Brooklyn and New York. I have zero confidence in picking one or the other.
If Durant chooses New York, all hell break loose. The Lakers (it would seem, along with the Knicks) are Kyrie's backup plan if KD chooses New York. Maybe he still goes to Brooklyn regardless, at 6:01 pm on Sunday night. Or maybe he waits. If he waits and KD signs, does LA bypass the apparently very real possibility of Kawhi to jump on Kyrie? With Durant in New York and Kyrie in limbo, does Jimmy Butler consider the Knicks as a possible destination, especially with the possibility of a Kawhi team-up with the Clippers far less of a certainty than it was once assumed? Or do the Clippers try to jump on Butler first as a way to entice Leonard? Oh, and how likely is it that Golden State doesn't offer Klay the full five-year max, which, if they don't, means he's absolutely taking meetings with both LA teams?
Seven max spots (Two each in New York, Brooklyn and the Clippers, plus one in LA) for anywhere between one and five players, because four of the names I just mentioned could absolutely stay put, with only Irving a sure bet to leave.
If I had to bet, I say Kawhi leaves for one of the LA teams, Klay stays, and either Tobbias Harris or Jimmy Butler are a Sixer next year, but not both. If Kawhi stays in Toronto or goes to the Clips, Kyrie is a Laker, unless KD picks Brooklyn, in which case Irving follows him. If neither Kawhi nor Kyrie joins LeBron and AD, Jimmy heads there instead. The Lakers will not go home empty handed.
That's all I got. Everything is on the table. All we can do now is sit and wait.
#FreeKFS forever baby.