KAT To The Knicks Part 2

[sol537]

As a neutral, I absolutely love this for the Knicks. I've never been a Randle fan and the team proved they can win without him in the playoffs. KAT has his flaws but he's a great fit for the current team, especially with Brunson. The defense and depth will definitely be a problem, especially since guys like OG, KAT and Robinson get hurt so much. But it's easier to find depth on the fringes.

Offensively this team will be fantastic (health permitting). Brunson/KAT pick & roll with bridges and OG in the corners and Hart crashing the boards. Defensively will be a challenge but they have the flexibility of playing Robinson with KAT in the playoffs (again, health permitting).

Odds are, Knicks don't make a move until near the trade deadline, but trading Mitch for a healthier rim protecting big like Kessler + a depth piece, or perhaps Grant Williams + Nick Richards, I think could set us up for a big time playoff run.

do the Knicks have any assets left? I know bridges trade took most of it.

NYK has Mitch Rob, Precious, Deuce, Dadiet, Kolek, the WAS protected 1st, many 2nd rounders, additional 1st round swaps and at least one very distant future 1st they could trade I believe. Not to mention some of the other kids we drafted this off-season. I don't think Leon is quite done... I expect at least one more pre-deadline trade to add additional depth for a long playoff run (recall that we added key difference makers in Rose, Hart, and OG in past years before the trade deadline).

[3toheadmelo]

Melo is deeper into the disinformation game these last few days than when the actual Melo was traded. Wild.

I’m just trying to be like you buzz

[F N 11]

Real fans going in on yall for crying

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[E-Balla]

This **** still claiming he got me muted but responding to me lmao. He want me to like him so bad.

[Jalen Bluntson]

As a neutral, I absolutely love this for the Knicks. I've never been a Randle fan and the team proved they can win without him in the playoffs. KAT has his flaws but he's a great fit for the current team, especially with Brunson. The defense and depth will definitely be a problem, especially since guys like OG, KAT and Robinson get hurt so much. But it's easier to find depth on the fringes.

Offensively this team will be fantastic (health permitting). Brunson/KAT pick & roll with bridges and OG in the corners and Hart crashing the boards. Defensively will be a challenge but they have the flexibility of playing Robinson with KAT in the playoffs (again, health permitting).

Odds are, Knicks don't make a move until near the trade deadline, but trading Mitch for a healthier rim protecting big like Kessler + a depth piece, or perhaps Grant Williams + Nick Richards, I think could set us up for a big time playoff run.

do the Knicks have any assets left? I know bridges trade took most of it.

Not much. We have Mitch. WAS FRP some 2nd rd picks. The rookies. Trade rights for Rokas. That's about it unless some lunatics want to trade Deuce.

[DaGawd]

kolek should’ve taken number 30

[Context]

I will. He's not that guy. 19ppg on mediocre shooting percentages isn't taking us over the edge. The Pacers scored 124 points per 100 against us. The Sixers scored 118 points per 100 against us. He don't fix the reason we lost last year (lack of depth and defense). If OG and Mitch out again I don't see how he improves us even a little bit unless we trying to outgun Indiana and Philly with less offensive talent than they have.

Did you watch every one of our games bro in the playoffs?

I watched most of them twice even. Maxey got what he wanted. Embiid got every whistle ever. TJ, Hali, and Nembhard cooked us. Our defense was just awful. We had no control over the pace of games and our defense was swiss cheese especially without OG and Mitch. Brunson alone had our offense running smooth, that's not why we lost. Hell him, Miles, and Donte were cooking against Indy. We lost a game where they had 70 combined points.

We beat Philly irrespective of Embiid getting that pass on being ejected. We had an injured Mitch and Ihart but no Mikal. Today we have Towns, Mikal and Mitch at the moment. Maxey was shut down on one of those philly games so he didnt get what he wanted by my definition. And PG3 doesnt scare me...

On to Indy...we would have swept them if OG remained healthy- end of stroy bro. You want to talk to me about Boston ok but the burden of proof is on Philly to beat us next in the play-offs. We get credit for beating them last year. As far as Indy is concerned
they want to hang their hat on our depleted team that they beat- I'll beat anyting we kill them this year.

[Context]

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[nyknicks09]

A dream come true! Now let’s win a NBA Championship!

KAT can post up and can get open shots all day without trying hard.

[Jadoogar]

Odds are, Knicks don't make a move until near the trade deadline, but trading Mitch for a healthier rim protecting big like Kessler + a depth piece, or perhaps Grant Williams + Nick Richards, I think could set us up for a big time playoff run.

do the Knicks have any assets left? I know bridges trade took most of it.

Not much. We have Mitch. WAS FRP some 2nd rd picks. The rookies. Trade rights for Rokas. That's about it unless some lunatics want to trade Deuce.

i wouldn't consider MItch an asset. If he's healthy, Knicks would be better off to just keep him. If he's not healthy, no one really wants that.

If one of the rookies pops, i would look to move them for established vets

IIRC, Precious can't be moved this year.

[aggo]

I would argue we didn't improve our talent at all. We lost more talent than we gained this offseason. iHart, Randle, DDV, Bojan, picks > Towns and Mikal

If we keep Randle and DDV and focus on getting a reliable big, not a star, and a reliable backup PG, not a star, we would still be ahead in talent over KAT and Mikal. We gave up way too much to get those 2.

Stars get u championships. Not role players

We already had 2, we made all these trades, sacrificed our depth and picks, and still have 2. So again, I don't see how we improved talent wise.

Stars don’t quit in playoff games (he’s done it twice, vs atl and vs Miami)
Stars don’t have 45% career TS in the playoffs
Stars don’t have 14 DNPS last playoffs
Stars sign extensions

[Iron Mantis]

OG never sounds thrilled anyway lol. But I think he thought he was going to be a legit 3rd option on the team, especially given who was traded for him (the two guys who were the 3rd options on most nights). Then they brought in Mikal.

Circling back, doing the Bridges trade first instead of the KAT trade may have ruined the good vibes. I hope not but theres a chance of that now as opposed to what we probably all thought at the beginning of the offseason when the Bridges trade first happened.

I think he wanted to be here with Mikal. He resigned with us after we traded for Mikal. But he definitely sounds different about losing Randle and Donte imo.

He's feeling what the pro-Randle squad is feeling. We wanted to see what that January team could do.

Sorry for your loss, but that 12-2 dream is dead forever.....thank you Leon!!!

He knew it was reg season fools gold against lotto teams and it would never translate to playoff success. Randle is garbage in the postseason.

Bye Randle. Welcome home KAT! So who is our superstar(captain Brunson) and the troops facing in the finals???

[TheGreenArrow]

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Get this guy out of here man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ctorres]

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[Chanel Bomber]

Our offense will be good, but you can’t survive KAT at C. We have years and years of data that show it doesn’t work. That’s why the Timberwolves paid a high premium for Gobert.

I'm not sure that is definitively true.

Per bball-ref he played 100% of his minutes at C in 2017-18 where they made the playoffs and led the West for a chunk of the season. Same in 2021-22 where they also made the playoffs.

Of course Minnesota's defense and record would be better by trading picks for Gobert. He's one of the best rim protectors in NBA history.

Lack of talent and poor management explained Minnesota's mediocrity to a large degree. Moreso than which position KAT played imo.

They never got past the first round with KAT at C. Their defensive ratings were in the lower end of the league when he played C. These aren’t good signs man.

What was their talent for all these years?

They didn't have Anthony Edwards or Rudy Gobert. Jimmy Butler got hurt in his only full season with the team. Otherwise their second-best player was Andrew Wiggins who was RJ Barretting his way to 20 ppg before going to Golden State, where he only gave a speck of effort for one season. D'Angelo Russell? A young Zach Lavine?

I agree that the defense will suffer with him playing the 5 but the offense will benefit greatly.

I guess we will see but I think Minnesota's lack of success had more to do with a general lack of talent than any positional issues with KAT. They were 3rd in the West when Butler got hurt before the playoffs, and KAT was playing the 5 then. I think a lot of Minnesota's issues were contextual. Think who they even traded Butler for - Saric, Bayless and Covington lol.

[ctorres]

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Get this guy out of here man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh no

I was hoping Mitch and KAT would play together

I don't see it happening anymore

[2010]

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Get this guy out of here man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mitch goofy asl.

[TheGreenArrow]

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He’s gone(hopefully)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Knick4Real]

I couldn't take any more of the whining from last night in the old thread and left early. Now, I come back today and it's STILL going on???????

Did any of the usual suspects still crying even go to sleep???

Okay, it's been an entire weekend of whining and complaining, but it's time to let it go and move on. What's done is done and that's a fact. Either get on board with the team we have, or go join the Timberwolves forum so that these threads can go back to real discussions as we get ready for a new season. No more sad bytch and moan sessions that will change nothing. PLEASE!

LET'S GO KNICKS!!!

[bronxknicksfan1]

Blows my mind that people are still ignoring the fact that we very likely take the celtics 6 or 7 if we just have OG out there. Bottom line is that we traded away all our depth and picks for pieces we didn't really NEED. All we NEEDED was a center replacement for iHart after he left us for OKC and a secondary PG to facilitate things while Brunson rests

We didn't NEED mikal and we definitely didn't NEED kat. We were already a top 3 team in the league as is.

If you applied this logic to the Boston Celtics they likely don't win a title last year because they wouldn't have traded for Jrue and KP because they didn't "need' either of them. They gave up useful depth pieces and assets to get them and were clearly a top 3-5 team when healthy already.

Not saying this is the exact same situation but, you shouldn't avoid improving your talent level just because you may lose some depth in the process.

I would argue we didn't improve our talent at all. We lost more talent than we gained this offseason. iHart, Randle, DDV, Bojan, picks > Towns and Mikal

If we keep Randle and DDV and focus on getting a reliable big, not a star, and a reliable backup PG, not a star, we would still be ahead in talent over KAT and Mikal. We gave up way too much to get those 2.

Bringing up iHart is insignificant here since he was never coming back. So we’re looking at Randle/DDV/Bojan vs KAT/Mikal. The latter 2 win that argument every time.