Knicks Draft Kevin McCullar (56) and Ariel Hukporti (58)

[nykballa2k4]

I am thinking that Knicks are going to try to put knickles together to get a quarter back (see what I did there?)
Kolek, Deuce, Pac, Huk combine for Donte's contract.
KAT/Mitch
OG/McCullar
Bridges/Hart
Donte/Shamet
Brunson/Payne

Looks like something management would do.

I don't hate that, though I don't think Mccullar is a PF.

I'd like to get a legit 6'10 PF or another center (and move Kat to PF). But Donte would be a nice guy to bring back.

We both know Thibs is going to play 6'4" Hart at PF and McCullar will only see time during catastrophic injury.

[RHODEY]

They better play their asses off

The coach better play them so they can play their asses off.

Read that out loud to yourself. He won't.

Maybe there an outside chance we'll have a different coach by then.

[Luv those Knicks]

I am thinking that Knicks are going to try to put knickles together to get a quarter back (see what I did there?)
Kolek, Deuce, Pac, Huk combine for Donte's contract.
KAT/Mitch
OG/McCullar
Bridges/Hart
Donte/Shamet
Brunson/Payne

Looks like something management would do.

I don't hate that, though I don't think Mccullar is a PF.

I'd like to get a legit 6'10 PF or another center (and move Kat to PF). But Donte would be a nice guy to bring back.

We both know Thibs is going to play 6'4" Hart at PF and McCullar will only see time during catastrophic injury.

This is what everyone says, but I think McCullar is perhaps a Thibs style player. Also, lets wait and see if Thibs is coaching NY next year.

[WaltFrazier]

Without trades, maybe Huk, McCullar and Kolek would provide the depth and young legs next year to have a deeper team.

But I fear it'll take a different coach to make that work

Edit - oops, and Dadiet. That's a real 4 man young bench with most positions covered

[Jalen Bluntson]

Without trades, maybe Huk, McCullar and Kolek would provide the depth and young legs next year to have a deeper team.

But I fear it'll take a different coach to make that work

Edit - oops, and Dadiet. That's a real 4 man young bench with most positions covered

In a perfect world we hit on all 4 picks. We should have a much better idea of what these players can do but. 3 of them have been injured and when they aren't, they never play anyway. We did see some small glimpses though from Huk/Dadiet/Kolek but. McC is a mystery to me so far.

[nykballa2k4]

I don't hate that, though I don't think Mccullar is a PF.

I'd like to get a legit 6'10 PF or another center (and move Kat to PF). But Donte would be a nice guy to bring back.

We both know Thibs is going to play 6'4" Hart at PF and McCullar will only see time during catastrophic injury.

This is what everyone says, but I think McCullar is perhaps a Thibs style player. Also, lets wait and see if Thibs is coaching NY next year.

McCullar is 100% a Thibs type of player, but you know they like to bring guys along slowly. It's not like with Grimes where Evan was just so bad defensively that Thibs was about to lose his job.
Realistically, Thibs only wants to play 8, so McCullar and Shamet will be squeezed.

[Wildcat]

Without trades, maybe Huk, McCullar and Kolek would provide the depth and young legs next year to have a deeper team.

But I fear it'll take a different coach to make that work

Edit - oops, and Dadiet. That's a real 4 man young bench with most positions covered

The way Thibs coach, only 1 of those players will see playing time. Barring a Mitch trade.

[Nazrmohamed]

Without trades, maybe Huk, McCullar and Kolek would provide the depth and young legs next year to have a deeper team.

But I fear it'll take a different coach to make that work

Edit - oops, and Dadiet. That's a real 4 man young bench with most positions covered

Wanting Thibs to coach aside ( cuz I got reasons to want a change separate of playing rookies), I think it could be likely. We forget that Dadiet is a very very young rookie. On a lotto team he'd be young only having turned 18 near draft night. I'm terms if this particular coach its simple, you play defense and work hard and you'll be rewarded. Sometimes early based on injury. I don't think Thibs has done anything wrong in his approach to rookies on a contending team.

-Kolek plays behind Brunson, then Payne, then McBride. If you wanna argue for Kolek then you'd need to argue why I shouldn't play all of those players first before looking his way. I don't think it's anything except that we got a few guys ahead of him

- Dadiet I already shared. He's young and raw and we wanna contend. Its just hard to justify outside of forcing the issue for the pure sake of development and at his skill level Gleaghe was used.....it's just not his year

- McCulkar was injured to start the year and we have multiple wings from Hart,Bridges,OG,Shamet, even Deuce.

- Hukpurti actually appeared to get the most opportunity and we brought him along slowly. Then he got hurt but had he not gotten hurt I think he would've been a regular.

Again, I have other reasons to consider a coaching change. I don't think Thibs is perfect but his use of rookies is a non factor in that decision making process for me.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Without trades, maybe Huk, McCullar and Kolek would provide the depth and young legs next year to have a deeper team.

But I fear it'll take a different coach to make that work

Edit - oops, and Dadiet. That's a real 4 man young bench with most positions covered

Wanting Thibs to coach aside ( cuz I got reasons to want a change separate of playing rookies), I think it could be likely. We forget that Dadiet is a very very young rookie. On a lotto team he'd be young only having turned 18 near draft night. I'm terms if this particular coach its simple, you play defense and work hard and you'll be rewarded. Sometimes early based on injury. I don't think Thibs has done anything wrong in his approach to rookies on a contending team.

-Kolek plays behind Brunson, then Payne, then McBride. If you wanna argue for Kolek then you'd need to argue why I shouldn't play all of those players first before looking his way. I don't think it's anything except that we got a few guys ahead of him

- Dadiet I already shared. He's young and raw and we wanna contend. Its just hard to justify outside of forcing the issue for the pure sake of development and at his skill level Gleaghe was used.....it's just not his year

- McCulkar was injured to start the year and we have multiple wings from Hart,Bridges,OG,Shamet, even Deuce.

- Hukpurti actually appeared to get the most opportunity and we brought him along slowly. Then he got hurt but had he not gotten hurt I think he would've been a regular.

Again, I have other reasons to consider a coaching change. I don't think Thibs is perfect but his use of rookies is a non factor in that decision making process for me.

I would agree except, we didn't have Payne/Deuce/Shamet/Precious for large chunks of the season and we could have used Kolek much sooner. We could have used Huk sooner too but, his injury gives Thibs another pass. The short rotations are a problem so, not going deeper down the bench when we had injuries ALL YEAR is a problem that includes not playing the rookies enough IMO.

Shamet was out for months. Payne and Deuce were playing musical chairs with injuries early on. Thibs made no effort to use his bench. Kolek absolutely could have played sooner and more often. No Precious or Mitch to start the year, Huk should have been getting more minutes but, he got hurt so, Thibs gets no heat for that. We were starting SIMS FFS.

His rookie track record consists of two players. Grimes and IQ. That's it. Deuce hardly played as a rookie so he really doesn't make the list but. I'll expand to let him in if it makes people happy. We haven't really had any other rookies until this season. Thibs didn't have to worry about playing them.

[cgmw]

We both know Thibs is going to play 6'4" Hart at PF and McCullar will only see time during catastrophic injury.

This is what everyone says, but I think McCullar is perhaps a Thibs style player. Also, lets wait and see if Thibs is coaching NY next year.

McCullar is 100% a Thibs type of player, but you know they like to bring guys along slowly. It's not like with Grimes where Evan was just so bad defensively that Thibs was about to lose his job.
Realistically, Thibs only wants to play 8, so McCullar and Shamet will be squeezed.

You’d think the FO would have the pull to force Thibs into playing rookies for 20 game stretches for no other reason than promising him a trade for whatever Alec Burks, Landry Shamet, Marcus Morris trash-ass vet that he’d actually play.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Without trades, maybe Huk, McCullar and Kolek would provide the depth and young legs next year to have a deeper team.

But I fear it'll take a different coach to make that work

Edit - oops, and Dadiet. That's a real 4 man young bench with most positions covered

Wanting Thibs to coach aside ( cuz I got reasons to want a change separate of playing rookies), I think it could be likely. We forget that Dadiet is a very very young rookie. On a lotto team he'd be young only having turned 18 near draft night. I'm terms if this particular coach its simple, you play defense and work hard and you'll be rewarded. Sometimes early based on injury. I don't think Thibs has done anything wrong in his approach to rookies on a contending team.

-Kolek plays behind Brunson, then Payne, then McBride. If you wanna argue for Kolek then you'd need to argue why I shouldn't play all of those players first before looking his way. I don't think it's anything except that we got a few guys ahead of him

- Dadiet I already shared. He's young and raw and we wanna contend. Its just hard to justify outside of forcing the issue for the pure sake of development and at his skill level Gleaghe was used.....it's just not his year

- McCulkar was injured to start the year and we have multiple wings from Hart,Bridges,OG,Shamet, even Deuce.

- Hukpurti actually appeared to get the most opportunity and we brought him along slowly. Then he got hurt but had he not gotten hurt I think he would've been a regular.

Again, I have other reasons to consider a coaching change. I don't think Thibs is perfect but his use of rookies is a non factor in that decision making process for me.

I would agree except, we didn't have Payne/Deuce/Shamet/Precious for large chunks of the season and we could have used Kolek much sooner. We could have used Huk sooner too but, his injury gives Thibs another pass. The short rotations are a problem so, not going deeper down the bench when we had injuries ALL YEAR is a problem that includes not playing the rookies enough IMO.

Shamet was out for months. Payne and Deuce were playing musical chairs with injuries early on. Thibs made no effort to use his bench. Kolek absolutely could have played sooner and more often. No Precious or Mitch to start the year, Huk should have been getting more minutes but, he got hurt so, Thibs gets no heat for that. We were starting SIMS FFS.

His rookie track record consists of two players. Grimes and IQ. That's it. Deuce hardly played as a rookie so he really doesn't make the list but. I'll expand to let him in if it makes people happy. We haven't really had any other rookies until this season. Thibs didn't have to worry about playing them.

Edit: I forgot about Obi. He was jerked on and off the court all season though. Almost like Thibs begrudgingly played him.

[robillionaire]

This is what everyone says, but I think McCullar is perhaps a Thibs style player. Also, lets wait and see if Thibs is coaching NY next year.

McCullar is 100% a Thibs type of player, but you know they like to bring guys along slowly. It's not like with Grimes where Evan was just so bad defensively that Thibs was about to lose his job.
Realistically, Thibs only wants to play 8, so McCullar and Shamet will be squeezed.

You’d think the FO would have the pull to force Thibs into playing rookies for 20 game stretches for no other reason than promising him a trade for whatever Alec Burks, Landry Shamet, Marcus Morris trash-ass vet that he’d actually play.

They do have the pull, which should let you know the FO is more than content to have these guys develop in the g league in year 1 and letting the “trash ass vets” (that the FO themselves signed) play as the primary reserves

[WaltFrazier]

Without trades, maybe Huk, McCullar and Kolek would provide the depth and young legs next year to have a deeper team.

But I fear it'll take a different coach to make that work

Edit - oops, and Dadiet. That's a real 4 man young bench with most positions covered

Wanting Thibs to coach aside ( cuz I got reasons to want a change separate of playing rookies), I think it could be likely. We forget that Dadiet is a very very young rookie. On a lotto team he'd be young only having turned 18 near draft night. I'm terms if this particular coach its simple, you play defense and work hard and you'll be rewarded. Sometimes early based on injury. I don't think Thibs has done anything wrong in his approach to rookies on a contending team.

-Kolek plays behind Brunson, then Payne, then McBride. If you wanna argue for Kolek then you'd need to argue why I shouldn't play all of those players first before looking his way. I don't think it's anything except that we got a few guys ahead of him

- Dadiet I already shared. He's young and raw and we wanna contend. Its just hard to justify outside of forcing the issue for the pure sake of development and at his skill level Gleaghe was used.....it's just not his year

- McCulkar was injured to start the year and we have multiple wings from Hart,Bridges,OG,Shamet, even Deuce.

- Hukpurti actually appeared to get the most opportunity and we brought him along slowly. Then he got hurt but had he not gotten hurt I think he would've been a regular.

Again, I have other reasons to consider a coaching change. I don't think Thibs is perfect but his use of rookies is a non factor in that decision making process for me.

I see your point about Dadiet and McCullar. But Kolek, the reason to play him he's the best distributor, the best assist man aside from JB. I don't mean heavy minutes but for some minutes rather than zero minutes.

Huk was just starting to get minutes, then got hurt. But when he got hurt Mitch returned right after. Thibs might have just forgot about Huk's minutes as soon as Mitch was playing anyway. Or else Huk would get DNP'd then abruptly play when Mitch sits on back to backs

[RHODEY]

He might be the only one on the roster next year. We trade our kids with the quickness

Yeah, I could see them exploring a bunch of trades. Kolek, Dadiet & Huk could all be trade options, though Kolek might have a backup role next year. I think Dadiet's timetable doesn't fit the team so he's the most likely trade candidate. Huk could go either way.

I am thinking that Knicks are going to try to put knickles together to get a quarter back (see what I did there?)
Kolek, Deuce, Pac, Huk combine for Donte's contract.
KAT/Mitch
OG/McCullar
Bridges/Hart
Donte/Shamet
Brunson/Payne

Looks like something management would do.

I cant see the Knicks being that dumb. You give up one of the best contracts in the league -Deuce, one of the best (if not the best) rookie passer-Kolek, Our backup center (who might allow us to move Mitch) , and PAC for Donte? Way way too much. You lose scoring , playmaking (that we desperately lack) , and mortgage or future in the process. Donte is nice but he isnt worth all that imo.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Yeah, I could see them exploring a bunch of trades. Kolek, Dadiet & Huk could all be trade options, though Kolek might have a backup role next year. I think Dadiet's timetable doesn't fit the team so he's the most likely trade candidate. Huk could go either way.

I am thinking that Knicks are going to try to put knickles together to get a quarter back (see what I did there?)
Kolek, Deuce, Pac, Huk combine for Donte's contract.
KAT/Mitch
OG/McCullar
Bridges/Hart
Donte/Shamet
Brunson/Payne

Looks like something management would do.

I cant see the Knicks being that dumb. You give up one of the best contracts in the league -Deuce, one of the best (if not the best) rookie passer-Kolek, Our backup center (who might allow us to move Mitch) , and PAC for Donte? Way way too much. You lose scoring , playmaking (that we desperately lack) , and mortgage or future in the process. Donte is nice but he isnt worth all that imo.

It's not economically responsible either. We would then have to replace 7 players with 17mil in cap space. I don't see it at all. Sign and trade Precious or sending out Mitch seem like the only options I can see to trade for Donte. Why would Minnesota do either?

[nykballa2k4]

I am thinking that Knicks are going to try to put knickles together to get a quarter back (see what I did there?)
Kolek, Deuce, Pac, Huk combine for Donte's contract.
KAT/Mitch
OG/McCullar
Bridges/Hart
Donte/Shamet
Brunson/Payne

Looks like something management would do.

I cant see the Knicks being that dumb. You give up one of the best contracts in the league -Deuce, one of the best (if not the best) rookie passer-Kolek, Our backup center (who might allow us to move Mitch) , and PAC for Donte? Way way too much. You lose scoring , playmaking (that we desperately lack) , and mortgage or future in the process. Donte is nice but he isnt worth all that imo.

It's not economically responsible either. We would then have to replace 7 players with 17mil in cap space. I don't see it at all. Sign and trade Precious or sending out Mitch seem like the only options I can see to trade for Donte. Why would Minnesota do either?

Minni could use Deuce and his team-friendly deal. Wolves might not be able to afford to keep Donte past next season. That's really all I got.

[Jalen Bluntson]

I cant see the Knicks being that dumb. You give up one of the best contracts in the league -Deuce, one of the best (if not the best) rookie passer-Kolek, Our backup center (who might allow us to move Mitch) , and PAC for Donte? Way way too much. You lose scoring , playmaking (that we desperately lack) , and mortgage or future in the process. Donte is nice but he isnt worth all that imo.

It's not economically responsible either. We would then have to replace 7 players with 17mil in cap space. I don't see it at all. Sign and trade Precious or sending out Mitch seem like the only options I can see to trade for Donte. Why would Minnesota do either?

Minni could use Deuce and his team-friendly deal. Wolves might not be able to afford to keep Donte past next season. That's really all I got.

That trade would wipe out all of our youth/depth and leave us 7 open roster spots that we only have 17mil to fill. It doesn't make any sense for the Knicks. Why would Minnesota want Precious or Mitch was my question. Those are the only two viable options to match salary and not hurt the team.

[robillionaire]

It's not economically responsible either. We would then have to replace 7 players with 17mil in cap space. I don't see it at all. Sign and trade Precious or sending out Mitch seem like the only options I can see to trade for Donte. Why would Minnesota do either?

Minni could use Deuce and his team-friendly deal. Wolves might not be able to afford to keep Donte past next season. That's really all I got.

That trade would wipe out all of our youth/depth and leave us 7 open roster spots that we only have 17mil to fill. It doesn't make any sense for the Knicks. Why would Minnesota want Precious or Mitch was my question. Those are the only two viable options to match salary and not hurt the team.

I was thinking Precious was just on a 1 year deal anyway so we can’t trade him

[robillionaire]

I looked into McCullar and watched some of his g league highlights, it jumped out to me that he’s shooting 20% from 3 in 11 games so possibly still gonna need some work

[nykballa2k4]

I looked into McCullar and watched some of his g league highlights, it jumped out to me that he’s shooting 20% from 3 in 11 games so possibly still gonna need some work

80% ft in college and in the G-league bodes well.
34 attempts, 7 makes. Pretty small sample size.