Jalen wasn’t quite as bad as Towns but he was also far from prime Jalen. I took some solace from us keeping it close despite that and despite them hitting 47.5 percent on threes. We tend to lose when teams hit threes at a high percent and it has happened at least a few times. Bad D or sometimes they’re hot? Who knows but probably they should take Finney smith seriously after his 20 th consecutive made three (an exaggeration I know-going by feel here not stats).
Today, in order of priority, I care about OG, the trade deadline and tonight’s game. The Laker game is way off my radar.
In hindsight, it was just one of those nights. KAT was just bad on defense. Jalen missed 5 free throws and missed a number he normally makes.
I thought Hart set the tone on defense for the team letting the lakers have multiple open threes in the 1Q which he didn't contest and were practice shots. It was annoying. I would give him 2.5 stars.
Can we use Mikal in place of Precious to help be an outside or inside threat unlike Precious who's purely an inside one? I felt that the exit passes often went to Precious instead of Deuce or others like Mikal who could punish Lakers for regularly doubling our stars
I think the gambit is to just get him far out of the way, but teams ignore him so blatantly that the strategy seems to backfire. It did more often than not on Saturday, although I do think he helped their offensive rebounding total.
Yes, but I think the key is that defenses are ignoring PA, which is why he's a natural outlet for those passes. I might be oversimplifying or missing your point, but that's my initial reaction.
I would prefer Precious to stand near the hoop or free throw line to cut and save Mikal for corners and backdoor cuts. Right now I see the inverse, which makes it easy for Lakers to leave Precious open and guard Mikal who's at the elbow or near the non corner three point lines
I prefer to start Precious at the 4 in place of OG. Precious is fine on defense at the 4 but is better placed on the low post or at the top of the key on offense, where JB or Kat can find him. Precious is getting better on moves to the basket. On offense, Deuce can move to the 4 with Bridges at the other wing. I would like Thibs to provide Toppin or Ryan more minutes, especially when Payne or Shamet are not producing. If nothing else, Toppin and Ryan need to be showcased as trade bait in conjunction with Mitch or Sims.
I wish Toppin / Ryan could fetch anything but sadly both are on a 2-way so that's a no go. I wouldn't mind Precious starting but they need to revamp his role in the offense a little bit to make it work.
It’s amazing to me that the NBA does not do a better job enforcing honesty as it relates to player injuries. We already know that the Knicks have proven to be out and out liars and so it would not surprise any of us if OG is out for the season or back against tomorrow. That shows the gap the Knicks have shown when being honest about injuries.
However, watching him go down with no contact, combined with a variety of MD’s on X combines with OG’s history of taking a long time returning from injuries, I think all of us would be happy with him out 4-6 weeks.
This season might come down to Mitch Robinson. Is he really healthy and ready to practice? And if so, will it take 3-4 weeks for him to practice and then be ready to play? Or will he practice once and then get injured and knocked out for the season? Or will he practice for a week and come back to near historical Mitch? The range is so wide that the Knicks need to decide in three days whether to keep him and hope or trade him for the best deal available.
I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the balance of the Knick season depends upon Mitch and the Knicks decision around Mitch. What we do know is that the Knicks were 26-6 last season with OG in the line-up and 14-17 without him. Adding in this season’s 32-17 with OG in the lineup, the Knicks are 58-19 with OG in the lineup since he arrived.
As I read Jon's opening comments about defense & offense, it brought back this quote from Mickey Rivers, the Yankees CF in the late '70's, & a king of malaprops (there are even web pages of Mickey Rivers sayings), "You can't improve on what's bad, you can only build up what's good!" Now, we've seen glimpses, especially recently, of an improving defense, but it is our offense that has truly been the focal point all season! Now our best defender (and his offense has come around recently as well!), OG, goes down with a non-contact injury & I agree with Jon's cookie analogy that believing Knicks management's statement about a foot sprain would be foolhardy! A doctor on X, breaking down OG's injury, said if it is indeed a sprain, OG could be out 3-4 weeks. A starting 5 that would include Precious & Josh would allow opponents blanket coverage on JB & KAT & to a lesser degree, Bridges. I've been ad nauseum this season about our lack of size & with OG down & Mitch "close to a return" (how many months has he been close?), the trade deadline needs Leon to become a magician & make some size appear! That being said, I'd go smaller in the starting lineup & start Deuce instead of Precious. Deuce brings another offensive threat & would force teams to focus less on JB & KAT.
Now, looking at available FAs that could be signed for the veteran's minimum (Matt Ryan, we hardly knew you!), I came up with the following: 1. Marcus Morris (was almost a Knick this year); 2.Bismack Biyombo (predicated on what we do with Sims, what happens with Mitch & if they get smart & bring Moses Brown up!); 3. Robin Lopez (sharp decline the last couple of years, but good as a stopgap); 4. And the 3 Westchester Knicks who could immediately contribute-Moses Brown, TJ Warren & Chuma Okeke. Don't know what type of shape the top 3 are in, but having 6-4 Landry Shamet as your backup wing isn't the answer! Also, Reggie Bullock is still out there, a wing we are familiar with & we know can shoot the ball! None of these may be the ultimate answer, but unless Mitch is included in a trade, we are limited monetarily! Let's hope that doctor's analysis is close to correct (I can live with him being out a month, but not the season!) & OG will return. For now, it'll be interesting to see what Thibs does in terms of rotation & how many are in that rotation. Guess we'll get some answers starting tonight! P.S. Just saw Mo Bamba was released by Utah after the Clippers trade & he would skyrocket to the top of the list! New York kid, born in Harlem. Bring him home!
Thanks for the thoughtful comments Bill. Keep an eye on the Green kid on the Pels. Makes no money and I bet he'd get 10-15 minutes a night here. No one guards him but his 3pt% is good.
My favorite Ricers quote is “ain’t no use worrying about things you ain’t got control of cause you ain’t got control of them. And no use worry ing about things you got control of cause you got control over them.”
Second favorite, to Reggie Jackson, who was boasting about how smart he was” Reggie, you can’t even spell IQ”.
He had 3 Reggie quotes that were hilarious.1. "No wonder you're all mixed up. You got a white man's first name. A Spanish man's second name and a black man's last name!"; 2. "You'd better stop reading & writing & start hitting!"; 3. When Reggie told him he had an IQ of 160 "Out of what, a thousand?"
Jalen wasn’t quite as bad as Towns but he was also far from prime Jalen. I took some solace from us keeping it close despite that and despite them hitting 47.5 percent on threes. We tend to lose when teams hit threes at a high percent and it has happened at least a few times. Bad D or sometimes they’re hot? Who knows but probably they should take Finney smith seriously after his 20 th consecutive made three (an exaggeration I know-going by feel here not stats).
Today, in order of priority, I care about OG, the trade deadline and tonight’s game. The Laker game is way off my radar.
Re: 3-point variance, we've done ok winning games in which we don't hit 3's, but we're now 0-10 when opponents hit at least 45% from deep.
I put like and then realize I liked that you responded but did not like that they were 0-10
In hindsight, it was just one of those nights. KAT was just bad on defense. Jalen missed 5 free throws and missed a number he normally makes.
I thought Hart set the tone on defense for the team letting the lakers have multiple open threes in the 1Q which he didn't contest and were practice shots. It was annoying. I would give him 2.5 stars.
Fair. Hart 100% eases into games defensively and it costs them.
Jeez KAT taking strays from every direction!
Can we use Mikal in place of Precious to help be an outside or inside threat unlike Precious who's purely an inside one? I felt that the exit passes often went to Precious instead of Deuce or others like Mikal who could punish Lakers for regularly doubling our stars
Disclaimer: I'm not an X and O guy but it boggles my mind that our corner guys are Precious or Hart and not OG, Deuce or Mikal
I think the gambit is to just get him far out of the way, but teams ignore him so blatantly that the strategy seems to backfire. It did more often than not on Saturday, although I do think he helped their offensive rebounding total.
Yes, but I think the key is that defenses are ignoring PA, which is why he's a natural outlet for those passes. I might be oversimplifying or missing your point, but that's my initial reaction.
I would prefer Precious to stand near the hoop or free throw line to cut and save Mikal for corners and backdoor cuts. Right now I see the inverse, which makes it easy for Lakers to leave Precious open and guard Mikal who's at the elbow or near the non corner three point lines
I agree that having PA in the corner is a waste. No smart team will guard him out there. Might as well just stick him in the dunker's spot.
I prefer to start Precious at the 4 in place of OG. Precious is fine on defense at the 4 but is better placed on the low post or at the top of the key on offense, where JB or Kat can find him. Precious is getting better on moves to the basket. On offense, Deuce can move to the 4 with Bridges at the other wing. I would like Thibs to provide Toppin or Ryan more minutes, especially when Payne or Shamet are not producing. If nothing else, Toppin and Ryan need to be showcased as trade bait in conjunction with Mitch or Sims.
I wish Toppin / Ryan could fetch anything but sadly both are on a 2-way so that's a no go. I wouldn't mind Precious starting but they need to revamp his role in the offense a little bit to make it work.
It’s amazing to me that the NBA does not do a better job enforcing honesty as it relates to player injuries. We already know that the Knicks have proven to be out and out liars and so it would not surprise any of us if OG is out for the season or back against tomorrow. That shows the gap the Knicks have shown when being honest about injuries.
However, watching him go down with no contact, combined with a variety of MD’s on X combines with OG’s history of taking a long time returning from injuries, I think all of us would be happy with him out 4-6 weeks.
This season might come down to Mitch Robinson. Is he really healthy and ready to practice? And if so, will it take 3-4 weeks for him to practice and then be ready to play? Or will he practice once and then get injured and knocked out for the season? Or will he practice for a week and come back to near historical Mitch? The range is so wide that the Knicks need to decide in three days whether to keep him and hope or trade him for the best deal available.
I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the balance of the Knick season depends upon Mitch and the Knicks decision around Mitch. What we do know is that the Knicks were 26-6 last season with OG in the line-up and 14-17 without him. Adding in this season’s 32-17 with OG in the lineup, the Knicks are 58-19 with OG in the lineup since he arrived.
As I read Jon's opening comments about defense & offense, it brought back this quote from Mickey Rivers, the Yankees CF in the late '70's, & a king of malaprops (there are even web pages of Mickey Rivers sayings), "You can't improve on what's bad, you can only build up what's good!" Now, we've seen glimpses, especially recently, of an improving defense, but it is our offense that has truly been the focal point all season! Now our best defender (and his offense has come around recently as well!), OG, goes down with a non-contact injury & I agree with Jon's cookie analogy that believing Knicks management's statement about a foot sprain would be foolhardy! A doctor on X, breaking down OG's injury, said if it is indeed a sprain, OG could be out 3-4 weeks. A starting 5 that would include Precious & Josh would allow opponents blanket coverage on JB & KAT & to a lesser degree, Bridges. I've been ad nauseum this season about our lack of size & with OG down & Mitch "close to a return" (how many months has he been close?), the trade deadline needs Leon to become a magician & make some size appear! That being said, I'd go smaller in the starting lineup & start Deuce instead of Precious. Deuce brings another offensive threat & would force teams to focus less on JB & KAT.
Now, looking at available FAs that could be signed for the veteran's minimum (Matt Ryan, we hardly knew you!), I came up with the following: 1. Marcus Morris (was almost a Knick this year); 2.Bismack Biyombo (predicated on what we do with Sims, what happens with Mitch & if they get smart & bring Moses Brown up!); 3. Robin Lopez (sharp decline the last couple of years, but good as a stopgap); 4. And the 3 Westchester Knicks who could immediately contribute-Moses Brown, TJ Warren & Chuma Okeke. Don't know what type of shape the top 3 are in, but having 6-4 Landry Shamet as your backup wing isn't the answer! Also, Reggie Bullock is still out there, a wing we are familiar with & we know can shoot the ball! None of these may be the ultimate answer, but unless Mitch is included in a trade, we are limited monetarily! Let's hope that doctor's analysis is close to correct (I can live with him being out a month, but not the season!) & OG will return. For now, it'll be interesting to see what Thibs does in terms of rotation & how many are in that rotation. Guess we'll get some answers starting tonight! P.S. Just saw Mo Bamba was released by Utah after the Clippers trade & he would skyrocket to the top of the list! New York kid, born in Harlem. Bring him home!
Thanks for the thoughtful comments Bill. Keep an eye on the Green kid on the Pels. Makes no money and I bet he'd get 10-15 minutes a night here. No one guards him but his 3pt% is good.
where do i sign for 3-4 weeks for OG?
Problem with Green is he's another 6-4 body. If the Knicks were playing in a 6-5 & under league, they'd dominate! lol
He is 6'4" but I think he plays bigger. He can guard bigger at the very least.
My favorite Ricers quote is “ain’t no use worrying about things you ain’t got control of cause you ain’t got control of them. And no use worry ing about things you got control of cause you got control over them.”
Second favorite, to Reggie Jackson, who was boasting about how smart he was” Reggie, you can’t even spell IQ”.
He had 3 Reggie quotes that were hilarious.1. "No wonder you're all mixed up. You got a white man's first name. A Spanish man's second name and a black man's last name!"; 2. "You'd better stop reading & writing & start hitting!"; 3. When Reggie told him he had an IQ of 160 "Out of what, a thousand?"
LMAO....these are great
I have been trying for 40 years to get my wife to adopt the ain’t no use in worrying about things you ain’t got control over one.
What are the odds for OG playing tonite as being Questionable? I would say about 0% :)
as good as the odds of me playing