Saying Hello to Old Friends

The Knicks face off against Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Just another game, right?

Good morning! The Knicks are finally back in action, and what a game we have to look forward to. Tip off is at 8pm, and I’ll be on halftime. As you might expect, Julius and Donte both went out of their way to downplay the hoopla, but we know the juices will be flowing. I’m utterly fascinated to see how KAT reacts to what will surely be a raucous reception.

I’ll have a full write up and reaction tomorrow, but today, we finish off our two-part mailbag.

Midweek Mailbag, Part II

I told you yesterday that I got a lot of responses in my call for mailbag questions, and I wasn’t kidding. In today’s Part II, I got 23, yes 23 questions and answers for you to chew on.

Jus Richards starts us off:

My question is about vibes. The Knicks have profiled as one the best teams in the NBA yet it just feels as if fans really don’t like them or are just overall frustrated. I might be asking you an impossible question here, but can you find the source of that frustration? Is it as simple as raised expectations? Or is there a fundamental play style that fans simple do not like?

I have so many thoughts, but I’ll boil them down to five points…

1. I’ve been Mr. Glass Half Full this season, but it’s unfair to say the Knicks have been one of the best teams in the NBA. Looking at net ratings, there’s a gap between the Thunder, Celtics, Cavs and everyone else. Being fifth in net rating and third in the East would normally mean more, but the context here is important.

2. The Knicks were billed by everyone - media, NBA people, fans, etc - as a Tier 1 contender, and they haven’t played up to that billing. That’s the root cause of the frustration, and them being a clear notch down from the OKC/Bos/Cle group has emboldened this angst.

3. There is a prevailing sentiment among fans both young and old that teams who don’t defend aren’t serious people, and the Knicks have not adequately defended to this point.

4. Comparisons to the ‘23-24 squad (and specifically the “never say die” post-Julius/OG injuries version) are inevitable. Maybe folks were getting caught up in the moment, but throughout the spring I heard from various fans who remembered the title teams and still maintained that last year’s group was their favorite ever. When you’re eight months removed from that experience and stuck watching relative no-show jobs against the Pistons and Hawks, then yeah, there’s gonna be some push back.

5. This is supposed to be the final product after years of build up, and the issues we’re seeing are significant enough to raise skepticism about whether they’ll ever scale the mountaintop despite having gone all in.

All this being said, I’m not sure whether the online discourse is really indicative of how most people feel. My guess is that there’s an awful lot of fans out there who are perfectly happy with what the team has done so far.

Next up, a question from Jessica Elsener:

Should the Knicks get Donte back? If so, can they even? I would love if they could but it does not solve center issues.