Keep saying it. We go as far as KAT takes us. With this tough slate of games coming up curious to see what comes of it. If KAT is playing well these games should be no problem.
I'm with both of you on this - and have said as much in other chats - but it's not cause I 100% believe it's the right choice but that because it's the only choice we have. Basically it boils down to the fact that KAT is not going anywhere at the moment (we will see about the off-season) so since we have 24 games left and hopefully a very deep playoff run ahead of is it is imperative that KAT gets activated. And that means almost forcing the ball into him early and often to get him going. Not saying it's the 1st choice of how to run an offense or even the ideal choice but it feels like the only choice. So it was great to see him go off again last night.
I really love your Knicks coverage. I discovered it about three years ago, and am a loyal listener after each game. I started following the Knicks back in elementary school when they played the Lakers in the finals the first time. I would play basketball recess. Watching those two championships as a 10 year-old and 13-year-old brings back many fond memories. My favorite player was Earl Monroe, and I remember being ecstatic when the Knicks signed him from the Bullets. . I had a book that Phil Jackson wrote about the first championship, and would flip through it until it was dog geared, looking at all the box scores scores and details of each game. Thank you so much for your great coverage. It definitely adds a lot of pleasure to my life.
Hey Adam, thank you so much for taking the time to comment and share! I wonder how many other Knick fans are out there who loved Pearl like you did because I know the teams were rivals. In any case, really appreciate your support and (hopefully) more positive coverage from here.
Always tough to win a b2b so I give them credit for that.
He had to play Huk obviously and if you're trying to get a look at Sochan a game against the Bulls is probably it.
Either way there's simply no time to really work him in. He'll be a situational guy and hopefully they get lucky and he finds something shooting.
At 32 or 33 percent he's a super useful player but it's becoming impossible to play a wing like that unless you pair him with a stretch five.
I could see KAT/Sochan/Bridges/Shamet/Alvarado being a good lineup though. But you're not going to blow up your rotations to try and save Sochan unless OG is hurt.
Hopefully Shamet feels he finally has found a home and won’t be tempted to sign elsewhere. The man has earned something he has never had…a serious contract. I think he has become the 4th most important Knick. At least he has been playing like it for sometime. Good to see kat playing like KAT.
A great game by KAT last night, albeit against mediocre centers. It would be nice if this became the norm rather than a sample size that disappears after a few games. We saw this last season & has Jon pointed out, he was even a more integral part of the offense. And then, after a slew of games, his offense would disappear. I'll be interested to see how he fares against Allen on Tuesday.
Brunson looks tired. There's no oomph on his 3 point shot. He's struggling to get off his shots. Being the entire offense game after game, with little help seems to have taken it's toll on him. He'll fight his way through, but it would be nice for all his teammates to pick up their contributions on offense a notch or two!
Didn't think I'd ever say this, but I miss Thibs & his set rotations & set playing time. Because Brown is a constant source of confusion! Stay safe KFS, this storm is a monster! #LGK PS-Hukporti is the Venus de Milo of NBA Centers! lol
There's a temptation to look at these two notable developments -- KAT picking up, JB looking off -- and connect them. I've often had the feeling that JB doesn't respect KAT -- or perhaps resents him. It wouldn't be shocking for a short, not particularly gifted athlete who was disrespected at each successive level despite being a consistent winner to resent a guy like Towns, a 7-footer and #1 pick who was the top high school prospect as a freshman. Could be absolutely wrong, but I think for guys like Josh and JB who know what it takes to win but haven't always been the most sought after players it can be frustrating watching KAT's now-you-see-me/now-you-don't rhythm.
Josh’s end of game running like he was part of 3 Stooges. KAT being fed and happy. Landry being Landry and OG being everywhere on D. A fun end of game. Can we just do this for 3 out of 4 quarters please?
Is there a reason we’ve seen little to no Diawara minutes ? He’s been playing his best ball and will continue to space the floor well.
KAT has the highest plus/minus in the league over the last month. The resurgence has been happening for some time but man it’s nice to see the 3 pointers unlocked again. Brings a totally different dynamic to the offense. Pumped for Tuesday.
Cosign. I understand you need data to figure out where Sochan can be used situationally, but in a game without Mitch and with Huk as the 5, for the love of all that is holy, put someone with some offensive skill and defensive ability that we could also use more data on!
The Sochan minutes didn't look great. I'm not really seeing the fit on the team for another non-shooter when we already have Hart and Mitch. Would prefer to see Diawara get a consistent role instead.
The Sochan minutes make ZERO sense and it's the first real legit gripe I have with Mike Brown. We legit have a better version of Sochan on the team, Mo D, who has already shown he can contribute. Sochan has given the NBA 3 years of proof that he's not good and really is a "break in case of emergency" type guy. Every minute that he gets right now is literally taking time away from the development of Diawara which I see as one of the most important things this team can do over this last stretch of the season.
Agreed. Makes me wonder if they promised him a chance to play if he agreed to sign with them. They’ll phase him out to a break glass in case of emergency role.
I’ve become angry at the “told ya so” KAT defenders over the past couple of games. We all know he’s talented. We’re all sort of willing to put up with his nonsense if he plays like he did for most of last year (aka consistently making shots). The “told ya so” folks are acting like we are crazy for being mad that he was playing poorly, and are also acting like two good games is a guaranteed sign of things to come
I don't see any more "laughers" on the schedule (not that the Knicks have a sense of humor lately), so yeah, enjoy this one while we can. Has anyone created a GIF yet of Josh dribbling out the clock? I was laughing out loud when my son and grandson called to say THEY were laughing out loud at Josh.
Only two back-to-backs in the next five weeks so Hukporti can resume his place on the bench. He's had a few moments this year, but not enough to make me cancel my auto-renew on antacids.
You are so right about Shamet, Jonathan. He, Mitch and that dude from Christ The King can turn a game around on a dime (although, Jose, some of those three attempts are ugly. More discretion, please.)
Wasn’t pretty, but it’s a long season and there’s gonna be some ugly wins in there. Much closer than I would have liked, but found a way to win on the second night of a B2B.
For now, in this inaugural season of the Mike Brown era, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. As he tinkers with his rotation of players and minutes I’m confident he’ll find the best production from those combinations. I remember the bitching about how Thibs never seemed to give players enough opportunities in his lineups to see what actually worked. When he did it was too late because he had no idea what the players outside of his so called “Circle of Trust “ could do and therefore had no confidence in them. In the end that had to contribute to his dismissal.
Looking back at the mid season grades and some players needing more of an opportunity to get involved in the offense, it’s obvious that KAT falls into that category. KAT’s strengths are his ability to knock down threes, therefore opposing players have to play up on him. His ability from three creates opportunities for his dribble drive to the basket. He also has a decent post up game when gets into the right spots. The more opportunity he gets in live game action the better the results. In order for JB’s teammates to contribute more to the offense, they have to be involved in it and that should lead to more production. As with anything else in life, practice makes perfect right. KAT and JB can be the dynamic duo for this Knicks team if they learn to play off each other more.
In the middle of this game I should say I simply said we stink. We will live and die with Kat. Something is off with Brunson and I hope it's mental and not physical cause he's still the greatest thing since sliced bread in my humble opinion in line with the way I will treasure and still hold a torch for Quickly. I have no idea why he wasn't using Mo. The kid is real. When you see something is that off with Brunson give him a rest and for God sake maybe put Kolek along with Alvarado , necessarily at the same time. The first half I felt like I was watching five guys shooting bricks. Awful offensive production. Sorry I was not a happy camper last night. Chicago is crap and we should've blown them away. Nice to see YabuseleLand on his feet or at least getting playing time. maybe the snow is making you kinder Jon.
Jon - I'm really not a Mikal Stan. But, just listened to your post-game pod where you said Shamet is having a better season than Mikal. To be fair, part of the reason for trading for Mikal is that he plays every game. To date, Mikal has played in 58 games (4 more than any player on the team) and Landry has played in 33 games. Mikal has played a team leading 1,982 minutes (144 more than any player on the team) and Landry has played 736 minutes. Mikal has scored 906 points (3rd most on the team) while Landry has scored 332 points. Mikal has made more threes, more free throws, has more assists, rebounds, blocks, etc. than Landry. Mikal also has the highest effective field goal percentage of any of the players in the starting lineup. Landry has had some nice moments but has missed 25 games. Lest you think it's a coincidence, in the previous 3 years, Landry played 50, 46, and 40 games. As they say, Mikal's best ability is availability.
Did I hear that right, I think Novak said it, there’s 10 guys on the Bulls roster that weren’t there at the beginning of the season? That would have to be a record. Btw I think Novak is doing a good job in a tough big-shoes-to-fill situation.
Keep saying it. We go as far as KAT takes us. With this tough slate of games coming up curious to see what comes of it. If KAT is playing well these games should be no problem.
Spot on. I've been saying it in this column every day
Sure enough can’t wait to see how it plays out
I'm with both of you on this - and have said as much in other chats - but it's not cause I 100% believe it's the right choice but that because it's the only choice we have. Basically it boils down to the fact that KAT is not going anywhere at the moment (we will see about the off-season) so since we have 24 games left and hopefully a very deep playoff run ahead of is it is imperative that KAT gets activated. And that means almost forcing the ball into him early and often to get him going. Not saying it's the 1st choice of how to run an offense or even the ideal choice but it feels like the only choice. So it was great to see him go off again last night.
Jonathan,
I really love your Knicks coverage. I discovered it about three years ago, and am a loyal listener after each game. I started following the Knicks back in elementary school when they played the Lakers in the finals the first time. I would play basketball recess. Watching those two championships as a 10 year-old and 13-year-old brings back many fond memories. My favorite player was Earl Monroe, and I remember being ecstatic when the Knicks signed him from the Bullets. . I had a book that Phil Jackson wrote about the first championship, and would flip through it until it was dog geared, looking at all the box scores scores and details of each game. Thank you so much for your great coverage. It definitely adds a lot of pleasure to my life.
Adam
Hey Adam, thank you so much for taking the time to comment and share! I wonder how many other Knick fans are out there who loved Pearl like you did because I know the teams were rivals. In any case, really appreciate your support and (hopefully) more positive coverage from here.
The season is long and full of terrors
Always tough to win a b2b so I give them credit for that.
He had to play Huk obviously and if you're trying to get a look at Sochan a game against the Bulls is probably it.
Either way there's simply no time to really work him in. He'll be a situational guy and hopefully they get lucky and he finds something shooting.
At 32 or 33 percent he's a super useful player but it's becoming impossible to play a wing like that unless you pair him with a stretch five.
I could see KAT/Sochan/Bridges/Shamet/Alvarado being a good lineup though. But you're not going to blow up your rotations to try and save Sochan unless OG is hurt.
Hopefully Shamet feels he finally has found a home and won’t be tempted to sign elsewhere. The man has earned something he has never had…a serious contract. I think he has become the 4th most important Knick. At least he has been playing like it for sometime. Good to see kat playing like KAT.
He'll def be tempted to sign elsewhere
A great game by KAT last night, albeit against mediocre centers. It would be nice if this became the norm rather than a sample size that disappears after a few games. We saw this last season & has Jon pointed out, he was even a more integral part of the offense. And then, after a slew of games, his offense would disappear. I'll be interested to see how he fares against Allen on Tuesday.
Brunson looks tired. There's no oomph on his 3 point shot. He's struggling to get off his shots. Being the entire offense game after game, with little help seems to have taken it's toll on him. He'll fight his way through, but it would be nice for all his teammates to pick up their contributions on offense a notch or two!
Didn't think I'd ever say this, but I miss Thibs & his set rotations & set playing time. Because Brown is a constant source of confusion! Stay safe KFS, this storm is a monster! #LGK PS-Hukporti is the Venus de Milo of NBA Centers! lol
Totally agree. 14.5 inches in Somerset btw. Something is off with Brunson
There's a temptation to look at these two notable developments -- KAT picking up, JB looking off -- and connect them. I've often had the feeling that JB doesn't respect KAT -- or perhaps resents him. It wouldn't be shocking for a short, not particularly gifted athlete who was disrespected at each successive level despite being a consistent winner to resent a guy like Towns, a 7-footer and #1 pick who was the top high school prospect as a freshman. Could be absolutely wrong, but I think for guys like Josh and JB who know what it takes to win but haven't always been the most sought after players it can be frustrating watching KAT's now-you-see-me/now-you-don't rhythm.
24 inches in Manalapan SMH
Well the plows dug us out at the end of the day yesterday. Stay safe out there Bill
You too Mike!
Josh’s end of game running like he was part of 3 Stooges. KAT being fed and happy. Landry being Landry and OG being everywhere on D. A fun end of game. Can we just do this for 3 out of 4 quarters please?
Is there a reason we’ve seen little to no Diawara minutes ? He’s been playing his best ball and will continue to space the floor well.
KAT has the highest plus/minus in the league over the last month. The resurgence has been happening for some time but man it’s nice to see the 3 pointers unlocked again. Brings a totally different dynamic to the offense. Pumped for Tuesday.
According to the coach its because he wants to get a look at Sochan, which...ain't going great
Cosign. I understand you need data to figure out where Sochan can be used situationally, but in a game without Mitch and with Huk as the 5, for the love of all that is holy, put someone with some offensive skill and defensive ability that we could also use more data on!
The Sochan minutes didn't look great. I'm not really seeing the fit on the team for another non-shooter when we already have Hart and Mitch. Would prefer to see Diawara get a consistent role instead.
The Sochan minutes make ZERO sense and it's the first real legit gripe I have with Mike Brown. We legit have a better version of Sochan on the team, Mo D, who has already shown he can contribute. Sochan has given the NBA 3 years of proof that he's not good and really is a "break in case of emergency" type guy. Every minute that he gets right now is literally taking time away from the development of Diawara which I see as one of the most important things this team can do over this last stretch of the season.
Agreed. Makes me wonder if they promised him a chance to play if he agreed to sign with them. They’ll phase him out to a break glass in case of emergency role.
He should be only used as a OG replacement when stars needed to be guarded and for 3 point corners.
I’ve become angry at the “told ya so” KAT defenders over the past couple of games. We all know he’s talented. We’re all sort of willing to put up with his nonsense if he plays like he did for most of last year (aka consistently making shots). The “told ya so” folks are acting like we are crazy for being mad that he was playing poorly, and are also acting like two good games is a guaranteed sign of things to come
I don't see any more "laughers" on the schedule (not that the Knicks have a sense of humor lately), so yeah, enjoy this one while we can. Has anyone created a GIF yet of Josh dribbling out the clock? I was laughing out loud when my son and grandson called to say THEY were laughing out loud at Josh.
Only two back-to-backs in the next five weeks so Hukporti can resume his place on the bench. He's had a few moments this year, but not enough to make me cancel my auto-renew on antacids.
You are so right about Shamet, Jonathan. He, Mitch and that dude from Christ The King can turn a game around on a dime (although, Jose, some of those three attempts are ugly. More discretion, please.)
Wasn’t pretty, but it’s a long season and there’s gonna be some ugly wins in there. Much closer than I would have liked, but found a way to win on the second night of a B2B.
Happy for KAT. I hope the turnaround is real.
For now, in this inaugural season of the Mike Brown era, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. As he tinkers with his rotation of players and minutes I’m confident he’ll find the best production from those combinations. I remember the bitching about how Thibs never seemed to give players enough opportunities in his lineups to see what actually worked. When he did it was too late because he had no idea what the players outside of his so called “Circle of Trust “ could do and therefore had no confidence in them. In the end that had to contribute to his dismissal.
Looking back at the mid season grades and some players needing more of an opportunity to get involved in the offense, it’s obvious that KAT falls into that category. KAT’s strengths are his ability to knock down threes, therefore opposing players have to play up on him. His ability from three creates opportunities for his dribble drive to the basket. He also has a decent post up game when gets into the right spots. The more opportunity he gets in live game action the better the results. In order for JB’s teammates to contribute more to the offense, they have to be involved in it and that should lead to more production. As with anything else in life, practice makes perfect right. KAT and JB can be the dynamic duo for this Knicks team if they learn to play off each other more.
In the middle of this game I should say I simply said we stink. We will live and die with Kat. Something is off with Brunson and I hope it's mental and not physical cause he's still the greatest thing since sliced bread in my humble opinion in line with the way I will treasure and still hold a torch for Quickly. I have no idea why he wasn't using Mo. The kid is real. When you see something is that off with Brunson give him a rest and for God sake maybe put Kolek along with Alvarado , necessarily at the same time. The first half I felt like I was watching five guys shooting bricks. Awful offensive production. Sorry I was not a happy camper last night. Chicago is crap and we should've blown them away. Nice to see YabuseleLand on his feet or at least getting playing time. maybe the snow is making you kinder Jon.
Jon - I'm really not a Mikal Stan. But, just listened to your post-game pod where you said Shamet is having a better season than Mikal. To be fair, part of the reason for trading for Mikal is that he plays every game. To date, Mikal has played in 58 games (4 more than any player on the team) and Landry has played in 33 games. Mikal has played a team leading 1,982 minutes (144 more than any player on the team) and Landry has played 736 minutes. Mikal has scored 906 points (3rd most on the team) while Landry has scored 332 points. Mikal has made more threes, more free throws, has more assists, rebounds, blocks, etc. than Landry. Mikal also has the highest effective field goal percentage of any of the players in the starting lineup. Landry has had some nice moments but has missed 25 games. Lest you think it's a coincidence, in the previous 3 years, Landry played 50, 46, and 40 games. As they say, Mikal's best ability is availability.
very fair point Andrew
Did I hear that right, I think Novak said it, there’s 10 guys on the Bulls roster that weren’t there at the beginning of the season? That would have to be a record. Btw I think Novak is doing a good job in a tough big-shoes-to-fill situation.