Good Morning,
Today marks the 49th anniversary of the Knicks winning the 1970 championship.
The jersey Walt “Clyde” Frazier wore during Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals will be auctioned off, starting at $15,000, according to Stefan Bondy.
Perhaps the most iconic game in Knicks history, the Knicks won Game 7 over the Lakers to secure the franchise’s first championship. After Willis Reed inspired the team by limping out from the tunnel and scoring the first two baskets, Clyde took over, finishing with 36 points and 19 assists.
The jersey will be auctioned at the Lelands Spring Classic 2019 Auction. Bidding started Tuesday and will continue through the first week of June.
Draft Watch
David Fizdale says the Knicks know who they will take if they win the lottery on May 14. He then gave what Dan Patrick joked was a “San Diego” poker face when it was suggested they would take Zion Williamson. “That was not South Central,” Patrick joked.
Watch:
An ESPN panel ranked the 14 lottery teams on how likely they are to help Zion Williamson reach his superstar ceiling. I braced for the Knicks to be ranked near the bottom, but perhaps a subtle sign of perception change, they ranked 5th.
“Williamson would be walking into a clean slate with the Knicks,” Bobby Marks writes. “Without a starting power forward, head coach David Fizdale can use Zion either at small-ball 5 or next to Mitchel Robinson. Despite a bare roster, New York has one thing other teams in the lottery do not: $70 million in room to build a roster around Williamson.”
Ian Begley reports that while the Knicks do not know where they will pick yet in the upcoming draft, “some Knicks talent evaluators are fans of Duke forward Cam Reddish.”
By many mock draft accounts, Reddish would probably be available in the 4-5 range of the lottery, meaning the Knicks would likely be considering him if they land outside of the top 3 picks.
Since there is close to a 50% chance the Knicks pick 5th, it makes sense that they are scouting players in that range as much as they are players at the top of the draft, where the decision is usually easier given the consensus top talents in Zion Williamson and Ja Morant.
MUST READ: Would trading Zion to build a Knicks superteam be a mistake?
Kevin Pelton weighs the pros and cons of using Zion Williamson to trade for a win-now star:
“Given Williamson's strong pedigree as a prospect -- he has the second-highest projection behind Davis of any college player in my database, which dates back to 2003.”
“Just four first-year players have even seen any action in this season's second round, according to NBA Advanced Stats, and only one of them (Philadelphia's Jonah Bolden, who played two seasons overseas after leaving UCLA before coming to the NBA) has played more than 10 minutes.”
Ja Morant’s college coach, Matt McMahon, joined MSG 150 to discuss the lottery prospect that many mocks have slotted 2nd in the upcoming draft. Here are some highlights from the interview:
Could he handle New York? “He’s just such a special player. I think he’s gonna sell a lot of shoes, he’s gonna put people in seats because everyone wants to see what he’s gonna do next — whether that’s jumping over a 6-foot-8 guy to dunk on him or a lob pass from behind half court. He just plays the game in an exciting way that few people can match.”
Worried about small school? “I would laugh at them. If you look at his performances in our Power 5 games, he averaged almost 28 points a game, 8.5 rebounds. I think everyone tuned in and watched his dominant performance in the NCAA Tournament [against Marquette]. His game, if you know anything about basketball, speaks for itself.”
The move after the lottery
By Jonathan Macri
We're getting close...
With under a week to go before the opening salvo of a summer that may come to define the franchise for years to come, the interwebs have started to perk up and conversation among the fan base is flowing.
At this point, there seems to be some vague general consensus that a) Ja Morant and RJ Barrett are the second and third picks in the draft, b) it would be ok if the Knicks landed at least a top-three pick because these guys are both really good, and c) if they don't get into the top-three, the team can and should explore scenarios where they either trade down or trade out of the draft altogether to get a win-now veteran.
There's about a hundred different ways I can go with all that (especially since, like some, I'm not sold on either RJ or Ja, and taking either has a host of other implications on free agency and the current roster), but I want to focus on one specific scenario that - at this point at least - is the most likely: the Knicks don't get in the top three. Based on the new lottery odds, there is just under a 60% chance of this happening (~48% chance of 5th, ~12% chance of 4th).
First, the obvious caveat: the idea that you make or trade the pick with free agency in mind isn't really something you can do. The draft happens ten days before free agency begins, and for as much as some fans want to believe KD or Kyrie or whoever is a done deal, it sounds like these guys are going to take meetings. If they're taking meetings, nothing is done.
So then do you approach the pick ignoring free agency completely? On one hand, that seems foolish, because the NBA is ultimately an asset management league; those who do it best win. On the other hand, taking someone who you think is the most attractive candidate for a trade at a later time is just as fraught. NBA draft picks have been compared to new cars - they lose 10% of their value the minute you drive it off the lot.
Any way you cut it, making this pick is not going to be easy. Scott Perry sounds like he's going to go best talent available, which is probably smart given all of the above.
The scenario which seems to have everyone most excited, of course, is trading the pick for someone who can help them win now. If New York does sign two max players, this is the route everyone seems to want to go. There's only one problem: money.
Among really good NBA talent, there are essentially two salary classes: max or near max players, and rookie scale players. Scroll through the NBA's middle class (guys making between ~$8 and $15 mil next year - in other words, someone you could get by packaging the draftee with one or two of the Knicks current young players) and it's bear bones.
There's Joe Ingles and Marcus Smart, but those teams aren't trading those guys. The Heat's asking price for Josh Richardson's would likely be too high. Robert Covington is interesting, but are the Wolves really interested in taking a step backwards? Maybe, but with Towns maybe already getting antsy, I doubt it. I can't imagine the Kings dealing Bodgan Bogdanovic, and even if they were, do we really see the Knicks' brass going the European route? Lou WIlliams and PJ Tucker are cornerstones for their franchises. Joe Harris is great, but aside from the obvious Knicks/Nets complication, he's expiring after next season.
That's about it. So you're left with max players like Bradley Beal (who the Knicks would need to literally trade every young piece to even have a chance of fitting under the cap with two max slots - don't bet on it) and rookie scale guys. The issue with rookie scale players is simple: if they're goo enough to help a team win right now, their current franchises are not going to give them up.
Scouring the league, there's one player who stands out as a possibility because of the unique circumstance of his team: Taurean Prince.
The Hawks, despite their success last season, are in a multi-year rebuild. Prince, meanwhile, is extension eligible this summer and a restricted free agent in 2020. Aside from John Collins (keep dreaming) he's the one promising young Hawk that's a holdover from the previous Atlanta regime, and there were already rumblings this season that they could put him on the trading block.
Is he any good? Depends who you ask, but at the very least, he's a true small forward that has the tools to be a good defender and is a plus shooter from long range. Is it disconcerting that he arguably took a step back this season while pretty much every other young Hawk took a step forward? Yeah...but he was also dealing with injuries that could have hampered his progress (sound familiar?)
He strikes me as a Perry/Fiz type of guy. Just a name to keep in mind, but more importantly, this little exercise should show that all the roads which lie ahead for the Knicks are winding, intersecting, and complex. One week from today, we'll find out just how tough the process of navigating them will be.
Steve Mills and Scott Perry joined MSG 150 to discuss the offseason with Alan Hahn. Here are some highlights:
Shooting: “We want to add some guys that can shoot the basketball. The way the game is going now with the great number of three-point shots, you need guys who can make shots,” Perry said.
Identity: “When we went into the beginning season, we said, ‘when we come out at the end, we want to have developed an identity and a feeling inside the organization that the people feel like we are an organization that cares about them, as people, and as basketball players, we get our players better, and this is a place that they all want to come back to. And we accomplished a lot of those things over the course of this season,” Mills explained.
The betting odds place Brooklyn’s chances of landing Kyrie ahead of the Knicks, and every other team, according to BR Betting.
Kyrie Irving has struggled over the past three playoff games against Milwaukee, and there are some hints of displeasure with the situation in Boston. Kyrie was seen leaving the floor before the final buzzer in the team’s Game 4 loss.
What this means: Betting odds are betting odds. The Knicks were recently given the fourth best odds in the Eastern Conference to win the 2020 NBA Championship. Sports books are taking advantage of the free agency hype to drive New York money into their hands.
Todd Midler’s series “Madison Square Garbage,” is a fabricated photographic archive of a fan’s love/hate obsession with the New York Knicks. The series will appear in VICE Magazine’s upcoming Photo Issue.
What inspired Midler: “I became obsessed with basketball fan culture. I decided to study the viewers of the game rather than the players. I was very interested in the different ways that fans expressed their loyalty to their favorite teams.”
Read more about Midler and his Knick fandom.
MUST LISTEN: Mike Breen joined @JimmyTraina to discuss his commute to and from every Knicks game on the LIRR, free agency rumors, and the magic of the Garden: “There was a stretch there were it was the most electric building in all of professional sports.” [Listen]
Remember when…
May 8, 1999: Knicks open the first round of the playoffs with a 95-75 victory over the top-seeded Heat in Miami. Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell score 22 points apiece.
May 8, 1995: Anthony Mason named NBA Sixth Man Award winner for the 1994-95 season after averaging 9.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 77 games (66 off the bench). He received 47 of a possible 105 votes.
May 8, 1994: Knicks overcome a 15-point third quarter deficit to defeat the Bulls 90-86 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals opener at Madison Square Garden. Patrick Ewing leads the way with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
May 8, 1970: Knicks win first championship, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 113-99 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Willis Reed’s last-minute entrance and two early baskets ignite the Garden as few believed he would play. Walt Frazier posts an epic performance with 36 points and 19 assists. [Vivek Dadhania with more]
Thanks for reading, talk to you tomorrow!