I’d love Kolek to get 10 minutes a game while Jalen is out. The kid is not a good defensive player but he is maybe best passer on the team and he is a good three-point shooter.
C’mon Thibs, give the rookie some playing time. Those 10 minutes won’t hurt the team, and maybe it will help the team — plus, get some development time in for a guy who has potential.
I can't help but think we the fan base are making a bigger deal of the Draymond situation. Gotta think the locker room will of spoken about it beforehand.
I’m not that worried about the rest of the regular season because Thibs is a great floor raiser.
I’m worried about the playoffs because he’s married to the idea of Hart as the most indispensable part of the team. We lost the series vs Miami because he wouldn’t put Grimes back in the starting lineup until it was too late and we’ve had a whole season this year without trying to play 5 out with actual shooters as our main lineup.
Thibs could probably have Coached the wizards into the playin this year. But he’s just the wrong coach to take us to the ECF or to the promised land. He could get us there if he could be more flexible it he can’t. So he’s kind of a tragic figure
That gif of Mikal wasn’t a turnover, he was fouled by Draymon. They were going to challenge it and Draymon told Kerr not too.
Even still, another enjoyable article but sadly still the same questions that need answers. I think we will get all those answers during the playoffs, just not sure if we are going like what we get yet
Precious, Payne and Hart all usually play better than they did (although Precious is the least consistent of the three). But all athletes have bad games and no one knows when those will happen. Even Mariano blew some important saves.
You are totally right the offense needs a second initiator. Neither deuce nor Mikal have the type of handle that allows them to get to their spot whenever they want to. Cam, sadly, is the best we have in the absence of Brunson and he has been in a bit of a slump.
But right now, he is not as good as Cam is at it. When we keep talking about depth and minutes, we are talking much more about our wings than the point guard.
To me, this is one of the reasons why Cam will likely continue to play over Kolek, as well as the fact that he is able to get up 3’s at a pretty high rate. Sure, we hope he starts hitting them more consistently again, but for a team that struggles to generate 3’s, that’s important.
I wonder if we hadn't played Precious, or if Payne or Hart had made their FTs, we could have gone 3-1?
I want to see how KAT vs Hart ball handling can be improved to drive more fluid offense. Often at times, we had to resort to bail out mid range shots from Mikal especially
Leon Rose. The KAT & Bridges trades were made to catch up with the Celtics & compete for a title THIS year! You don't give up 5 firsts for a window of opportunity. Yet, Leon's lack of building even a half way decent bench after that is beyond revolting. Trade deadline-we trade Sims (a young big, that although we all knew his shortcomings, could make contributions with his rebounds & defense) for a 32 year old, end of the bench, "veteran presence" in Delon Wright, who has & will make no contributions to a short & shaky bench. Then, last week, the signing most were hailing as a great add of a "Veteran presence" in P.J. Tucker, a 39 yr old, 15-20 pound overweight 6-5 (Leon loves to collect players that size) SF who will make no actual contributions besides his "veteran presence"! Then throw in 2 24 yr old 10 day signings who will only see the court in blowouts & Leon's adding of bench players that can actually help is nil!
Now, none of this actually matters since with a coach like Thibs, his stubbornness in only playing certain players, regardless of whether or not they are contributing in a particular game, is his norm! Thank God the Warriors couldn't hit the broadside of a barn in the second quarter, as we saw a 5 that included Mitch, Precious, Hart & a totally ineffective Cam Payne. Not an offensive threat in the bunch. Kolek can't see the floor. The 2 10 day kids can't see the floor. And the "veteran presence" of Wright & Tucker are enjoying watching the games from the best seats in the house! Four total points from this bench from hell Saturday night, while the Warriors had 26!
Finally, we as fans believe that this Knicks team is "family" & they all have each other's backs. Well, as KAT quickly left the court at the end of the game, it seemed to be a family reunion with Green, as, from Thibs on down, all were greeting Green like he was a long lost family member. Unless what is said on/off the court is similar to how the WWE works, it was extremely disheartening to see! Listening to a discussion on WFAN's Boomer & Gio this A.M. as to which team, last year's or the current team was/is more complete. I don't think there is any doubt, IMO, if both teams are healthy, that last year's edition was a much more complete version. And that after making trades to challenge for the NBA title THIS year, is very, very sad!
why would one subject themselves to listening to Boomer & Gio. The next time they make a sensible point on the Knicks will be the first time. Gave up listening to those MAGA wannabes years ago and never looked back.
For me, they are tolerable as long as Boomer doesn't go on one of his political rants. Then, I immediately turn it off. And, as for this week, Gio is off & Jerry Recco is in his seat & I happen to like Jerry!
Why do you think the trade was made for a championship this year. Very few folks do, even Dolan doesn’t if you watched his podcast appearance.
Not that most folks are throwing in the towel on this year but unrealistic expectations color every other observation you are making. There was never going to be much flexibility to add to the bench once we made these trades and got hard capped. Some of the salary cap issues we have been pressed against reset next year and we also begin to reload first round picks.
Why do I think that? Well, for a very long time, Knick fans were told Leon has this cache of draft picks & he's waiting for the absolute right move to use them to put the Knicks over the top! As I said above, you don't trade 5 1st round picks to establish just a window of opportunity. There certainly were/are players that could have been brought in that would have been positive additions to the bench. Additionally, they drafted 4 kids that they kept & with the exception of Huk (who was used in emergency situations), they haven't seen the light of day. The obvious problem is Thibs, who won't play rookies & won't go further into his bench unless forced to. Other coaches play their bench, their 10 days-most notably Kerr who at one time was playing 12 guys a night.
Now, what type of contributions are we going to get from Wright & Tucker? Hell, any of the 3 Westchester Knicks-Brown, Warren, Okeke could have brought more to the table than we're going to get from our veteran presence. As far as draft picks go, The First Round picks are almost gone. We have Washington's 2025 but it's 1-10 Protected, so no first, as Brooklyn has our 2025, 2027, 2029, 2031, with 1st round pick swap in 2028. Also, we forfeited our second round pick in the Brunson tampering. We do have our 2026 & 2030. So unless we trade away current players on the roster, I don't see how we reload first round picks!
My unrealistic expectations have only become that for you & others as the season progressed & the realization that there are too many holes in this roster to make a very long run. I don't remember anyone, Dolan included, making those statements at the start of the season. Hindsight is always 20/20!
I’d love Kolek to get 10 minutes a game while Jalen is out. The kid is not a good defensive player but he is maybe best passer on the team and he is a good three-point shooter.
C’mon Thibs, give the rookie some playing time. Those 10 minutes won’t hurt the team, and maybe it will help the team — plus, get some development time in for a guy who has potential.
Great recap! I’m glad you mentioned Precious. That airball on the 8 foot jumper needs to be GIF’d for eternity.
Still hurts.
Great article Jon!
I can't help but think we the fan base are making a bigger deal of the Draymond situation. Gotta think the locker room will of spoken about it beforehand.
Keep up the great work
This was Fred's take on today's pod, FWIW
I’m not that worried about the rest of the regular season because Thibs is a great floor raiser.
I’m worried about the playoffs because he’s married to the idea of Hart as the most indispensable part of the team. We lost the series vs Miami because he wouldn’t put Grimes back in the starting lineup until it was too late and we’ve had a whole season this year without trying to play 5 out with actual shooters as our main lineup.
Thibs could probably have Coached the wizards into the playin this year. But he’s just the wrong coach to take us to the ECF or to the promised land. He could get us there if he could be more flexible it he can’t. So he’s kind of a tragic figure
hopefully he disproves this narrative (which I don't think is totally unfair, FTR)
That gif of Mikal wasn’t a turnover, he was fouled by Draymon. They were going to challenge it and Draymon told Kerr not too.
Even still, another enjoyable article but sadly still the same questions that need answers. I think we will get all those answers during the playoffs, just not sure if we are going like what we get yet
Precious, Payne and Hart all usually play better than they did (although Precious is the least consistent of the three). But all athletes have bad games and no one knows when those will happen. Even Mariano blew some important saves.
You are totally right the offense needs a second initiator. Neither deuce nor Mikal have the type of handle that allows them to get to their spot whenever they want to. Cam, sadly, is the best we have in the absence of Brunson and he has been in a bit of a slump.
But right now, he is not as good as Cam is at it. When we keep talking about depth and minutes, we are talking much more about our wings than the point guard.
Kolek can serve as that initiator if given the opportunity.
To me, this is one of the reasons why Cam will likely continue to play over Kolek, as well as the fact that he is able to get up 3’s at a pretty high rate. Sure, we hope he starts hitting them more consistently again, but for a team that struggles to generate 3’s, that’s important.
I wonder if we hadn't played Precious, or if Payne or Hart had made their FTs, we could have gone 3-1?
I want to see how KAT vs Hart ball handling can be improved to drive more fluid offense. Often at times, we had to resort to bail out mid range shots from Mikal especially
Leon Rose. The KAT & Bridges trades were made to catch up with the Celtics & compete for a title THIS year! You don't give up 5 firsts for a window of opportunity. Yet, Leon's lack of building even a half way decent bench after that is beyond revolting. Trade deadline-we trade Sims (a young big, that although we all knew his shortcomings, could make contributions with his rebounds & defense) for a 32 year old, end of the bench, "veteran presence" in Delon Wright, who has & will make no contributions to a short & shaky bench. Then, last week, the signing most were hailing as a great add of a "Veteran presence" in P.J. Tucker, a 39 yr old, 15-20 pound overweight 6-5 (Leon loves to collect players that size) SF who will make no actual contributions besides his "veteran presence"! Then throw in 2 24 yr old 10 day signings who will only see the court in blowouts & Leon's adding of bench players that can actually help is nil!
Now, none of this actually matters since with a coach like Thibs, his stubbornness in only playing certain players, regardless of whether or not they are contributing in a particular game, is his norm! Thank God the Warriors couldn't hit the broadside of a barn in the second quarter, as we saw a 5 that included Mitch, Precious, Hart & a totally ineffective Cam Payne. Not an offensive threat in the bunch. Kolek can't see the floor. The 2 10 day kids can't see the floor. And the "veteran presence" of Wright & Tucker are enjoying watching the games from the best seats in the house! Four total points from this bench from hell Saturday night, while the Warriors had 26!
Finally, we as fans believe that this Knicks team is "family" & they all have each other's backs. Well, as KAT quickly left the court at the end of the game, it seemed to be a family reunion with Green, as, from Thibs on down, all were greeting Green like he was a long lost family member. Unless what is said on/off the court is similar to how the WWE works, it was extremely disheartening to see! Listening to a discussion on WFAN's Boomer & Gio this A.M. as to which team, last year's or the current team was/is more complete. I don't think there is any doubt, IMO, if both teams are healthy, that last year's edition was a much more complete version. And that after making trades to challenge for the NBA title THIS year, is very, very sad!
why would one subject themselves to listening to Boomer & Gio. The next time they make a sensible point on the Knicks will be the first time. Gave up listening to those MAGA wannabes years ago and never looked back.
For me, they are tolerable as long as Boomer doesn't go on one of his political rants. Then, I immediately turn it off. And, as for this week, Gio is off & Jerry Recco is in his seat & I happen to like Jerry!
Why do you think the trade was made for a championship this year. Very few folks do, even Dolan doesn’t if you watched his podcast appearance.
Not that most folks are throwing in the towel on this year but unrealistic expectations color every other observation you are making. There was never going to be much flexibility to add to the bench once we made these trades and got hard capped. Some of the salary cap issues we have been pressed against reset next year and we also begin to reload first round picks.
Why do I think that? Well, for a very long time, Knick fans were told Leon has this cache of draft picks & he's waiting for the absolute right move to use them to put the Knicks over the top! As I said above, you don't trade 5 1st round picks to establish just a window of opportunity. There certainly were/are players that could have been brought in that would have been positive additions to the bench. Additionally, they drafted 4 kids that they kept & with the exception of Huk (who was used in emergency situations), they haven't seen the light of day. The obvious problem is Thibs, who won't play rookies & won't go further into his bench unless forced to. Other coaches play their bench, their 10 days-most notably Kerr who at one time was playing 12 guys a night.
Now, what type of contributions are we going to get from Wright & Tucker? Hell, any of the 3 Westchester Knicks-Brown, Warren, Okeke could have brought more to the table than we're going to get from our veteran presence. As far as draft picks go, The First Round picks are almost gone. We have Washington's 2025 but it's 1-10 Protected, so no first, as Brooklyn has our 2025, 2027, 2029, 2031, with 1st round pick swap in 2028. Also, we forfeited our second round pick in the Brunson tampering. We do have our 2026 & 2030. So unless we trade away current players on the roster, I don't see how we reload first round picks!
My unrealistic expectations have only become that for you & others as the season progressed & the realization that there are too many holes in this roster to make a very long run. I don't remember anyone, Dolan included, making those statements at the start of the season. Hindsight is always 20/20!