The Journey Begins

Knicks Basketball happened. Plus, Big Pat is back, and some KFS announcements.

GOOD MORNING! Surely everyone reading this was GLUED to the scintillating action in Charlotte last night as opposed to watching playoff baseball or the NFL. Regardless, welcome back to the mothership for another season of Knicks basketball. We’ll get to breaking down New York’s first live game action of the ‘24-25 campaign in a bit, but first, some special announcements…

KFS Announcements!

Happy New (Basketball) Year!

Before we get to the news and our first game recap of the year, a few quick announcements…

KFS at MSG for Knicks vs Magic

We’ve selected our game for the annual KFS outing to watch the Knicks at MSG: Monday, January 6 at 7:30 vs the Orlando Magic.

Tickets will cost $225 per person, which includes food, soft drinks, and of course, the game! A Knicks alumnus also usually stops by the lounge for pictures and small talk.

If you’re interested in going, fill out the survey by clicking on this link.

Newsletter Format Changes

While I think we’ve arrived at a solid format after much trial and error over the years, I want to make a few small tweaks for this season.

The biggest difference is that instead of postgame write-ups that feature a short recap of the game (“In a New York minute”) and then deeper dives into the biggest takeaways (“Three Things”), I’m going to condense those into a few opening bullet points, designed for someone who didn’t watch the game but wants to get the gist of what happened in just a few seconds. Then, I’ll have a traditional game writeup that will hit on all the important stuff, but in a more free flowing fashion (which is something I wound up doing for significant games anyway).

I’m going to keep “Stars of the Game”, but will likely morph “Play of the Day” into something that appears in a follow up newsletter and use it to highlight a few plays that had a significant impact or were revealing in some form or fashion. Again, I’m sort of already doing this, but now it’ll be the norm.

I’m also finally going heed years and years worth of pleadings from Andrew Claudio, who has literally begged me to engage in more self-promotion, and start including a section on off-days that touts some of the other great content KFS is producing. We have an entire team of talented people doing so much good work that the least I can do is make sure you all know what they’re up to.

Hell has Frozen Over

On the note of shameless self-promotion, I’m now on TikTok!

Yes, that’s right…the old dog is learning some new tricks, if desperately trying to keep up with a changing media landscape can be considered a new trick. My plan is to utilize TikTok in the way I always used Twitter, but in video form. I’m actually pretty excited about the chance to expand on what you already see here, even if I do qualify for the senior discount on that app.

We’ll see how it goes. To follow the hilarity, click here, or follow me on Instagram, where I’ll be posting occasionally as well.

Substack Chats

Last thing: I’m still going to be posting on the Substack chat app, but it’s going to look slightly different. Instead of starting a thread and then leaving it high and dry or dipping my toe in here and there, I’m going to have set Q & A periods, where I’ll block out some time to interact with full newsletter subscribers at least once per week. I’ll try to give everyone as much advance notice of this as possible, but as always, check your email for notifications about a new thread starting.

OK, enough of all that. Let’s get to basketball.

News & Notes

🏀 It’s about damn time.

Testing the limits of how many good vibes one offseason can hold, on Friday the Knicks rehired franchise GOAT Patrick Ewing to be their “basketball ambassador,” a role that will include working with both the front office and the coaching staff.

Three words came to mind when I heard the news: Karl. Anthony. Towns.

Not only is Towns the most talented Knicks center since Ewing, but both men have had the pleasure of playing for the man known as Thibs. For Ewing, that experience was quite different than KAT’s, with Thibodeau toiling away as an assistant in the late 90’s as opposed to being the head of basketball ops in Minnesota.

Still, if there’s anyone who can relate to what Towns has been through (and is about to go through), it’s Pat. For that reason, I’d expect them to become fast friends ahead of a season with massive expectations all around.

🏀 According to Marc Stein, Mikal Bridges is likely to wait until after the season to hammer out a contract extension that could be worth up to four years and $157 million, rather than sign either a two-year extension now or the three-year extension he’ll be eligible for following the six-month anniversary of his trade to New York.

For a much deeper dive on Mikal’s extension options and the impact they can have on New York’s cap / apron issues moving forward, read my detailed primer from this summer.

🏀 Also per Stein, the Knicks “made multiple trade runs at Utah's Walker Kessler” according to league sources, but were ultimately rebuffed, as the Jazz sought “at least two future first-round picks” in exchange for the young center.

My takeaway: the Knicks were never, ever going into this season without a reliable, healthy starting center on the roster. It was just a question of whether they were going to pay Minnesota’s asking price for Towns or go in another direction.

🏀 According to our own Kris Pursiainen, the Knicks have had “internal discussions” about Marcus Smart, who is currently slated to start for Memphis. Kris notes that this isn’t the first time the front office has kicked the tires on Smart. I can confirm as much, although my understanding is that they were summarily shot down in the past. Who knows whether that would be the case now, although it’s worth noting that functionally trading for Smart’s $20.2 million salary now would be very difficult.

🏀 According to James Edwards III, second rounder Kevin McCullar is “with the Knicks in Charleston but is rehabbing.” On a possibly related note, Ian Begley guessed that fellow second rounder Ariel Hukporti would be the two-way rookie converted to an NBA contract, thus filling the 14th roster spot, but noted that it was because Hukporti plays center, not because McCullar is hurt.

🏀 One more note on Begley’s latest: make of it what you will, but I sure didn’t come away from reading the following thinking that Mitchell Robinson is a safe bet to be here past the trade deadline:

In a perfect world, the Knicks could bring Robinson along slowly with the goal of having him healthy for the postseason. But things are rarely perfect in the NBA. Injuries or sub-par individual performance could lead the Knicks to seek an upgrade via trade. Robinson is on a team-friendly deal (making $14.3M this season and $12.9M in 2025-26, the final year of his contract). If you look at the current Knick roster, Robinson and Miles McBride are probably their best (realistic) trade chips. I would assume there is not much support for moving McBride. The Knicks, as currently constituted, will need him on both ends of the floor. The situation with Robinson is obviously a little different.

We shall see what happens.

Game Recap: Knicks 111, Hornets 109

• The starters - Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Ananoby and KAT - started and finished the first half but didn’t take off their warmups after halftime. They were rusty but fine.

• A five-man backup unit consisting of Cam Payne, Deuce McBride, Landry Shamet, Precious Achiuwa and Jericho Sims played a ton and looked pretty good.

• Tyler Kolek impressed in his NBA debut, but appears to be on the outside looking in for a rotation spot.

And we’re off!

For a season starting off with more anticipation than any since Patrick Ewing was in his prime, last night had an odd feel.

On one hand, it was a preseason game, and preseason games don’t matter at all (unless of course they do. We’ll get to what mattered here shortly).

On the other hand, so many resources have been put into this team that even a meaningless game played at three quarters speed against a bad opponent felt significant.

Thankfully, no one will remember anything about last night six months from now, and probably even six days from now. For the moment though, it’s all we have to go on, so everything will take on outsize importance.

For one, any remaining questions about who will start have seemingly been answered. Josh Hart has been one of New York’s most important players since he arrived, and proved last season that whatever he lacks in shooting he makes up for in countless other areas. Those little things should be the glue that keeps this starting unit humming, or at least that’s the early indication of Thibs’ hope.

Not that Deuce McBride is going to be at a loss for playing time…or shots. Playing 25 minutes, McBride led the Knicks in attempts (18) and points (22) and was loudly calling his own number as the guy steering the second unit. One of the big questions that remains unanswered is which starter (or starters) sees time during the non-Brunson minutes, but for right now, Deuce looks ready to shoulder any and all responsibilities placed on him.

Alongside him, Landry Shamet not only seems to have a roster spot locked up, but a rotation spot as well. The veteran sharpshooter drained 4-of-8 threes in 26 minutes and was firing away with DiVincenzian abandon. Like with McBride, which starter(s) Shamet sees minutes with should go a long way in determining how significant his impact will be.

As for the backup point guard, we already got a taste of what promises to be a spirited debate amongst the die hards. Cam Payne got first crack and was fine if inefficient (he made just 1-of-7 from deep, but the one was notable, giving the Knicks a four-point cushion with under a minute to go).

But Kolek? The kid hit like a lightning bolt, looking confident from deep (3-of-5) and making several of the nifty passes he became known for in Vegas. It does not seem like he’ll concede the job without a fight.

Of course, this being the Knicks, the game ended with some unnecessary drama as Precious Achiuwa fouled OAKAAK Duane Washington Jr on a 3-point attempt with two seconds to go and New York up two. Thankfully, DWJ missed the first two freebies and nothing came of his intentional miss on the last attempt. Sorry Duane. Best of luck overseas.

Was there anything to take away from the players who will actually determine this team’s fate? Not in their execution (which predictably left much to be desired), but you could see the vision, even in such a clunky performance. Towns is like some state-of-the-art gadget that dad unwraps on Christmas morning but doesn’t quite know what to do with¹. His movement around the court is something that will clearly take some getting used to, but the possibilities it opens are endless.

He was also responsible for the one eye-opening number among the starting five: five threes attempted in just 14:46. If this gambit pays off, expect his 3-point rate to be the highest of his career when all is said and done. Inject this directly into my veins:

Other than that, the hope is simply that they will look a little bit better with each passing preseason affair. They still have more than two weeks to go until the season opens for real, but it’s going to go by in a heartbeat and there are no picnics in the early slate.

The time for cohesion is now.

💫 Stars of the Game 💫

⭐️ All of us: For not having to watch that game go into OT.

⭐️ ⭐️ The Mets: For getting the split they needed in Philly, even if yesterday’s loss was a heartbreaker.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Mike Breen: Forget turning foliage. The smooth sound of Mike Breen’s voice calling a basketball game is the only sign I need that the seasons are changing.

Final Thought

Always nice to start off with a win, even if it doesn’t count.

🏀

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

1. I’m dad, just to be clear.