Knicks Media Day: Overreactions vs Under-reactions

Let's have a little fun.

Good morning! I had some fun with today’s newsletter. Hope everyone enjoys.

Knicks Media Day: Overreactions vs Under-reactions

Leave it to Andrew Claudio to pee in the punch bowl.

There we were, kicking off the unofficial first live stream of the new season - and in my brand new podcast space, no less! - and I was all kinds of excited to dig into the assorted takeaways from Knicks Media Day.

But Andrew, being the level-headed chap that he is, summarily dismissed the event in its entirety as a whole lot of talk that amounted to nothing.

I do appreciate his demeanor though, because it gave me the idea for this here newsletter. The gimmick: I’m going to go through five quotes, giving each one an overreaction, an under-reaction, and then my opinion on what should be the correct reaction.

We start with the only actual news of the day…

Hart Hurt

“I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I got a procedure on it and I kind of re-aggravated it somewhat recently, so I’ll probably just rock out with a splint this season, and try to fix it again next summer.”

“I hate playing with anything on my hands, I don’t have a good feel for it. Might take a little getting used to, but that’s the best scenario for me right now. I want to be out there with these guys.”

For those who are unaware, Hart was referring to his finger, which looks like this:

Overreaction: Hart’s greatest flaw was already his reluctance to shoot even more than his inconsistent shot. Now with a bum finger on his shooting hand and the apparent necessity of a splint, one figures he’ll be even more reluctant. Even if it isn’t an issue right away, there’s no telling when the condition may worsen, and the longer he goes without surgery, the greater the odds are that it could impact his availability for the playoffs, whereas biting the bullet and having it taken care of now would probably be the most sensible thing to do, especially with a month to go before the season starts. On top of all that, as DJ noted yesterday, the Knicks’ wing depth is somewhat non-existent, and the loss of any one of Hart, Mikal or OG for an extended period of time could spell serious trouble.

Under-reaction: Outside of Mitchell Robinson, there is no player in the Knicks rotation who relies on a consistent jump shot less than Josh Hart. Hart’s ability to impact the game regardless of whether he’s feeling it from outside or not has been well-documented. Bum finger or no bum finger, Mike Brown was brought in to get more creative with how Josh is used, and that shouldn’t change. Worst case, he plays a few weeks, decides its untenable, and has surgery with more than enough time to go before the postseason. Given the poor state of affairs in the East, the loss of Hart shouldn’t deprive the Knicks of a top-two seed, which is all they should care about anyway.

My reaction: Man, what a gnarly digit.