New York Knicks at San Antonio Spurs at 8:00pm on Friday, 3/29/24 - Wemby vs the Best Center Duo in the NBA!

[cgmw]

Brunson in the paint vs Wemby should be epic

[TrueWarrior]

He was phenomenal the other night. When healthy, he is everywhere on the court. He's a smart big man with a nose for the ball.

Yeah Im just letting everyone know that we have ourselves a 25 year old 7 foot center with good athleticism who is an elite defender, passer, and rebounder. He can hit free throws, floaters, catch lobs, and has some basic post moves/hooks. Also just seems like a top shelf energy/locker room guy.

All the advanced stats rank Isaiah as one of the league’s best players, not just on our team. When healthy he absolutely is. Dude is still being slept on, even by our fans, because he’s new to starting and doesnt score a lot, but that’s changing.

He’s being more aggressive lately. If he shot more he’d easily be able to average double digits, as he only takes 5 damn shots a game. His free throws look solid enough to take a couple jumpers here and there. I have no doubt that will come at some point. Gotta keep and develop the man further.

If it comes down to Mitch or Isaiah I'd have to choose iHart. He is already one of the best centers in the league. I'd love it if we have both, but I'd want Mitch off the bench then. I like being able to put Mitch against big frontlines or when we need to seal the paint against teams that are getting inside on us.

But Isaiah is integral to our offense now. Most plays have him touch the ball because he is capable of scoring or passing and setting the screen on the handoff. Lots of us have been craving good PnR ball for years and now it is happening with him. Guys are finding him on the roll as they are getting used to each other and you can see how difficult it will be to defend us if teams have to keep the paint loaded to prevent him from getting those easy PnR points.

One of the things I said when we got him was he makes Bill Walton type passes. He got slept on because he needed to heal up the first half season after he got here, but then he started to ramp up and become the guy we see now. His passing is a weapon for us. He gets a fair amount of hockey assists that don't show up on the stat sheet because lots of plays go through him at the top of the key. This is by design.

Thibs has to love him for all of the reasons you say and because it gives him the play action he got from having Noah when the Bulls were good. Remember when Phil wanted to build a "Triangle" team? He needed a young iHart, not a broken down, disrespectful party whore like Noah.

Agree on all that.

We signed Isaiah because he had great per minute numbers and advanced stats on the Nuggets, Cavs, and Clippers. He was an uncut gem. The Clips wanted to keep him but chose Zubac and John Wall over him. Their loss. Zubac is very solid, just like Mitch, but Isaiah is better with more potential.

He started last season slow because of his achilles, and the pretty past numbers didn’t seem to translate. Was basically playing mediocre, like he did when he re-injured it 1-2 months ago. When he’s feeling good though he does it all besides score/shoot, and he will score and shoot more eventually.

If all these other big guys can start nailing threes out of nowhere, then so will Isaiah. Jonas V, Brook Lopez, Vucevic, even Taj lol. If he can ever do that, and put the achilles injury behind him for good, then he will be a problem for many years.

Anyway, last time we played Wemby Isaiah and Mitch smacked him around. He’s gotten better since then. Will be a fun thing to watch.

[aggo]

im kinda on the side of keeping both Mitch and iHart.

I would only trade Mitch for a rookie contracted SF/PF that can shoot threes. A kid or player like Tari Eason would be very interesting, but I dont think Houston is interested now that they have Steven Adams.

otherwise I now see the value in just having Mitch play vs the other teams' backups.

I really hope Thibs and the Knicks see the easiest avenue to upgrade the team is to actually give Mitch and iHart more touches to score. If we can just get 50% more PPG out of the C position it would bring a lot more balance to our slow pace and we'd no longer have to depend on late clock action. if there's an opening for iHart and Mitch mid-action they need the green light to take shots vs re setting and doing another late-clock action.


it is also unignorable that the team is a lot more confident feeding iHart. the last 2-3 weeks you have seen brunson and our wings completely confident in feeding iHart in the mid-post off dribble drive. it's unmistakeable. you see it happening more and more and the team is already adjusting to his expanded capability to score. its small details like this which make me very confident that thibs knows that brunson prefers to play with iHart on the court because he can do so much more.

[TrueWarrior]

im kinda on the side of keeping both Mitch and iHart.

I would only trade Mitch for a rookie contracted SF/PF that can shoot threes. A kid or player like Tari Eason would be very interesting, but I dont think Houston is interested now that they have Steven Adams.

otherwise I now see the value in just having Mitch play vs the other teams' backups.

I really hope Thibs and the Knicks see the easiest avenue to upgrade the team is to actually give Mitch and iHart more touches to score. If we can just get 50% more PPG out of the C position it would bring a lot more balance to our slow pace and we'd no longer have to depend on late clock action. if there's an opening for iHart and Mitch mid-action they need the green light to take shots vs re setting and doing another late-clock action.


it is also unignorable that the team is a lot more confident feeding iHart. the last 2-3 weeks you have seen brunson and our wings completely confident in feeding iHart in the mid-post off dribble drive. it's unmistakeable. you see it happening more and more and the team is already adjusting to his expanded capability to score. its small details like this which make me very confident that thibs knows that brunson prefers to play with iHart on the court because he can do so much more.

There’s no reason to trade Mitch just to trade him. He’s on a nice descending contract and, even with his limitations, is still a very good center.

I just think it’s clear that Isaiah will only come back if he is starting. Why would he return to play 20 mpg? Other intriguing teams with cap space like the Magic and Spurs can offer him more money and a starting job.

So if Mitch is cool playing 18-22 mpg, then sure keep him. If Isaiah ever begins hitting corner threes then they can even play together a bit. Otherwise trading Mitch for a more versatile forward/wing could make sense.

We have both for now. Let’s see what they can do together since Isaiah has leveled up. Mitch looks like he’s ready to prove himself again too. Chips all over their shoulders.

And yes definitely agree that we need to look for our centers on offense more. Especially Isaiah. They also have to be more aggressive though.

[2020]

Read on Twitter

Sucking and fuqqing! Wait...what? Shytting and spitting? No that's not it. Precocious neophyte!!

Wanking and Spanking...I mean Spanking and thanking (he says this right?)

[duetta]

Aren't they going to need to trade Mitch to a team with cap space (for a pick) to resign Hartenstein?

[Davis18]

Let's see how our centers do against Wemby.
Keep the winning streak going!!

[stuporman]

Aren't they going to need to trade Mitch to a team with cap space (for a pick) to resign Hartenstein?

No, they can only offer him $16.8mil starting unless they have the space to pay more under the cap and trading Mitchell for just cap space doesn't create it.

Don't fret, he's being promised the starter spot and given that salary with 8% escalators thus will be coming back. He loves it in NY, his teammates and his role.

[god shammgod]

oh sh*t, melo at the game. wow.

[god shammgod]

shart not ready for prime time. sad.

[stuporman]

Not a good way to start...c'mon Knickerbockers wake yo asses up

[Im Coming Home]

Damn, didn't know Wemby was a flopping little bitch.

[F N 11]

Mitch bout to eat

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Seeing other centers that are 7 feet tall standing next to Wemby is crazy, IHart looked like a small forward in front of him.

[MrDollarBills]

Where is Hartenstein?

[thebuzzardman]

I see the refs are already very involved. As I said. LOSS.

NBA Marketing and rigging in effect.

[stuporman]

Wemby floppin...geeze

Dude literally turned around to see where he was going to fall to before he threw himself down...

[F N 11]

3 center rotation tonight. It’s good to have depth.

Spurs tryna play tough it won’t last.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Where is Hartenstein?

Two offensive fouls.

[god shammgod]

melo got a son ?