Season Predictions, Part II
Let the hot takes flow.
Good morning! Media day came and went without much fanfare. We’ll touch base on that, plus finish up my predictions for this season, right now…
🗣 News & Notes ✍️
🏀 The Knicks held both content day and media day yesterday, neither of which generated any headlines. Jalen Brunson had nothing to offer on the tampering front, saying only that “there's nothing really to investigate.” He was also clear on what his role is and isn’t this season: “I want to be myself. I'm not a savior in any way, shape or form.” Julius Randle claims he “learned a lot” about being a leader last season, so we’ll see how that goes. RJ Barrett, meanwhile, said he went into isolation over the summer to ignore the trade talk, adding that this year’s Knicks are going to “shock the world.” We can only hope.
Oh, and Derrick Rose went topless, showing off his slimmed down physique that apparently resulted from a challenge issued via email by head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Rose, who never shies away from saying what’s on his mind, also had what I took as the most notable quote of the day regarding his keys for this season:
“I would say holding everyone accountable. Once you do that, we’re going to be a very good team. Making sure everyone on the team…from the person on the end of the bench to the starters…everyone [has] a voice. You should be able to hear everybody’s voice and really care about what they’re saying. As long as we hold each other accountable, we should go pretty far.”
One more time for the folks in the back: We can only hope.
🏀 After 23 years of reporting about (and often needling) the New York Knicks for the New York Post, Marc Berman is hanging up his credentials for good.
Like a lot of Knicks fans, the most common emotion I associated with Berman for many years was aggravation. Aggravation over so many seemingly baseless trade rumors, aggravation over distorting the facts, and most of all, aggravation over the unnecessary jabs, kicking a man when he’s already down. I still remember a John Wall trade rumor he snuck into a random mid-season column years ago that absolutely sent me off the deep end. And that was just one of dozens of instances over the years that made me want to throw my phone (or in the old days, throw out my newspaper).
And then, thanks to my brief time covering the team in person for SI Knicks, I got to meet Berman in person. More than just a nice guy, it was evident to me that he was genuinely kind…which was an unsettling thought after being so unkind to the Knicks over the years. He took me under his wing in ways that went above and beyond, sharing stories and tips from his years on the beat that evinced a man much deeper than the caricature he paints of himself in public.
At the same time, Berman the caricature is what we’ll all remember, and that’s probably how he likes it. Love him or hate him, Marc’s coverage was an inextricable part of the fabric of Knicks fandom for the last 23 years. Regardless of who replaces him, it will not be the same without him.
(Now that all that’s out of the way, the Knicks were a great team before Berman got here and his arrival just so happened to coincide with more than two decades of mostly losing. Marc, if they start winning regularly in your absence, you know who’s getting the blame).
🏀 And finally, if you care about such things, here are the Knicks’ new statement jerseys:
Not bad, not bad at all (says the old guy with no taste).
Season Predictions, Part II
Let’s keep it going, starting with a spicy one…
Prediction 3: No Knick Averages Over 20 Points
Originally, I was going in the opposite direction with this one and was going to predict that the Knicks would become the 8th team in the least 30 years to have three guys top 20 points a night.
My rationale was simple: Last year, New York had two players top 20 points per game, albeit barely, with Julius Randle clocking in at 20.1 and RJ Barrett hitting the number on the nose at 20.0. Now, they’re adding Jalen Brunson to the mix, who averaged 20.4 points in 17 regular season games without Luka Doncic. Add it all up, and that’s 20/20/20 vision1.
But then I started digging a little deeper on the other seven teams in the last three decades to have high scoring triplets on the roster. Those teams - the ‘07-08 Warriors, the ‘13-14 Kings, all three KD Warriors teams, the ‘18-19 Pelicans and the ‘19-20 Celtics - ranked 5th, 17th, 1st, 3rd, 1st, 12th and 4th in offensive rating, respectively. If we add in the two teams who had a 20-point scorer for only part of the season (Brooklyn in each of the last two years, first after and then before trades involving James Harden) we can add offensive ratings that ranked 1st and 10th to that list.
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