Breaking: KAT to the Knicks

[BKlutch]

Was there a trade last night? LOL

You're just dreaming. Go back to sleep, OMW (Old Man Wingo).

[Phish Tank]

Cost of being in a contention window.

[KnixinSix]

Deuce is gonna have to take a step and fingers crossed Shamet surprises. Replacing what DVo did here won't be easy.

DVo was good when given 40 minutes. When given bench minutes he was not.
Deuce was solid both ways but plays better defense.
Lastly, it’s looking like DVo was not totally happy here, strange if true.

Deuce probably will come off the bench, where he is superior and cheaper.
I wanted DVo here, but (oddly) the Mikal trade changed things.

To be honest I didn't really see where Duce was getting minutes before this trade. Since we couldn't go long stretches with Randle at the 4 and the organization views Duce as more of a 2 than a point guard, he seemed like he was going to be the guy to get his minutes cut. Now, Duce has a real role on this team.

I think the smart thing to do is to bring Hart off the bench, even though he is likely in the finishing 5 with Brunson, Towns, Bridges, and Anunoby. Frankly, I kind of like Duce in the SG slot.

Brunson-Duce-Bridges-Anunoby-Towns

I think Bridges/Anunoby are better at the 3/4 than the 2/3 and the point of attack and wing defense offsets not having a true rim protector. Plus there is a little more ball handling and shooting in this lineup.

The bench is a concern for sure. I think Kolek and Payne battle it out for the 15 or so MPG that Brunson rests. Hart will get 33-35 MPG as a Swiss army knife between the 3 wing positions. To start the season Precious should get 25 or so MPG, I would assume 15 as the backup big and 10 next to Towns.

Brunson (33)/ Kolek or Payne (15)
McBride (28)/Hart (20)
Bridges (35)/Hart (13)
Anunoby (32)/ Precious (10)
Towns (33)/ Precious (15)

In this breakdown, there are about 6 open minutes which I'm putting at PF (although with Hart it's interchangeable) which could expand by cutting some Duce and/or Precious minutes. I think it will be an open competition between Morris, Shamet and Dadiet for that role as the 9th man. Come playoff time, this 9th man isn't in the rotation. And once Mitch gets back, he takes Precious role - where he could be very valuable in a limited bench role.

The Knicks are actually set up nicely to absorb the injury woes of Mitch. But unless Dadiet develops into a rotation piece, losing OG for an extended period of time is going to be a real issue.

This is Thibs, he prefers more height. He didnt play Quicks /Brunson nearly as much as we thought he should.

Hart will get more minutes overall than McBride and probably start at the 2 over Deuce. Bridges might get some minutes at 2 and OG at 3 too.

[gavran]

I'm shocked you don't like the trade. Shocked, I tell you.

Anyway, Knicks were on the treadmill, so why do you care?

I pay money to watch the games, unlike during the good times, when I pirated all of them. They sucked then, that's why I care now.

But this shouldn't bother you, as you are vehemently on record that the Knicks were on a treadmill after the Bridges trade.
Now they are on a modified version of that same treadmill.

Seems odd to be bothered in that case.

You must be confusing me with someone else. I was saying whole last season the Bridges would be the missing piece, and when the trade actually happened, I had a semi.

[BKlutch]

Deuce is gonna have to take a step and fingers crossed Shamet surprises. Replacing what DVo did here won't be easy.

DVo was good when given 40 minutes. When given bench minutes he was not.
Deuce was solid both ways but plays better defense.
Lastly, it’s looking like DVo was not totally happy here, strange if true.

Deuce probably will come off the bench, where he is superior and cheaper.
I wanted DVo here, but (oddly) the Mikal trade changed things.

To be honest I didn't really see where Duce was getting minutes before this trade. Since we couldn't go long stretches with Randle at the 4 and the organization views Duce as more of a 2 than a point guard, he seemed like he was going to be the guy to get his minutes cut. Now, Duce has a real role on this team.

I think the smart thing to do is to bring Hart off the bench, even though he is likely in the finishing 5 with Brunson, Towns, Bridges, and Anunoby. Frankly, I kind of like Duce in the SG slot.

Brunson-Duce-Bridges-Anunoby-Towns

I think Bridges/Anunoby are better at the 3/4 than the 2/3 and the point of attack and wing defense offsets not having a true rim protector. Plus there is a little more ball handling and shooting in this lineup.

The bench is a concern for sure. I think Kolek and Payne battle it out for the 15 or so MPG that Brunson rests. Hart will get 33-35 MPG as a Swiss army knife between the 3 wing positions. To start the season Precious should get 25 or so MPG, I would assume 15 as the backup big and 10 next to Towns.

Brunson (33)/ Kolek or Payne (15)
McBride (28)/Hart (20)
Bridges (35)/Hart (13)
Anunoby (32)/ Precious (10)
Towns (33)/ Precious (15)

In this breakdown, there are about 6 open minutes which I'm putting at PF (although with Hart it's interchangeable) which could expand by cutting some Duce and/or Precious minutes. I think it will be an open competition between Morris, Shamet and Dadiet for that role as the 9th man. Come playoff time, this 9th man isn't in the rotation. And once Mitch gets back, he takes Precious role - where he could be very valuable in a limited bench role.

The Knicks are actually set up nicely to absorb the injury woes of Mitch. But unless Dadiet develops into a rotation piece, losing OG for an extended period of time is going to be a real issue.

I fully agree about Deuce being a 2 and needing more time - his D is critical to our team. I also think putting Mikal/OG at the 3-4 is going to be good for us. There will always be minutes for Hart off the bench and maybe finishing.

A lot will depend on how well Mitch comes back and how he meshes on the floor with KAT. This trade, as I see it, has solved 3 problems: 1. Losing iShart 2. Too few minutes at the SG position and 3. We weren't able to really play 5-out with Randle.

[Jeffrey]

There were already questions about Randle playing the 5 for 10-15 minutes. The small sample that we saw was not good, it was probably due to inexperience more than anything. Whereas, KAT was a 5 for a long time, like the mod from Minnesota's board said that KAT can hold his own on defense as long as they are not switching on his arse every turn they get.

KAT is a 50/40/85 stretch 4 or 5. Only a few players can do that and we have him. He runs multiple offensive sets to get his shot up.

Brunson and KAT PnR will be deadly. I don't know if KAT is a willing passer when he rolls, can someone help me with that? What iHart did so well is that he can find the cutters or corners if a defender gravitates towards the rim.

I also see a Brunson/Mikal, PnR which we know that can run pretty smoothy especially with Mikal's midrange game.

DDV was a great sniper that has a quick trigger. I'm' hoping Shamet can provide that but he doesn't have DDV's crazy range. I loved that about DDV's game.

[seren]

What an awful trade. I don’t see a single thing KAT does better than Randle and we lost valuable depth and gave away a first round pick in the process. Very difficult to come back from a blunder like this financially. We went from a deep team with a lot of grit to an overpaid squad with lots of injury history. I don’t want to hyperbole too much but this team is one injury away from McDyess years.

Better scorer, better rebounder, better shooter, better defender. He’s better at everything except passing.

As a Knicks fan, I truly wish this was true but unfortunately I watched KAT enough to know he is pretty much a disappointment. If the center was such a big need, it would have been better to go after Gobert. At least he delivers on the defensive end. KAT plays little of it and he is quite easy to stop on the offensive end with a smaller player. Add the injuries and constant foul troubles, expect to see lots of Sims and Precious this season.

[F N 11]

Either my phone is trash or real gm is trash now. My damn phone keeps reloading in the middle of a damn long post.

[DaGawd]

Either my phone is trash or real gm is trash now. My damn phone keeps reloading in the middle of a damn long post.

happens to me too

[Movics]

Y’all got a great player and an even better person off the court. His defense is criminally underrated on this site and in the national media. Someone asked if he’s a willing passer off the roll. He assisted Gobert the most behind Conley and he had a great pick and roll game with Rudy. He will also find the open players on the perimeter. I’ll have to start following this team more closely again after the Melo-Amare era. See you guys in June

[F N 11]

Either my phone is trash or real gm is trash now. My damn phone keeps reloading in the middle of a damn long post.

happens to me too

Is there a work Around? Like a ad blocker or app idk. It’s annoying and makes not want to post.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Someone give me some defensive stats on KAT at center and why he isn’t good there so I can use them in my current and future arguments.

Thank you kindly.

They were 13th defensively the year before they traded for Gobert, they were trending in the right direction, all we need is a top 10 offense and defense. The Nuggets showed you don't need to be elite defensively, just good enough if your offense is overwhelming which ours should be.

[Gravy]

We traded our Randle for their upgraded Randle, both talented and flawed players. They had to do something after IHart left, I just need to see how this looks on the court to get more excited about it.

Think about how they turned Elfrid, Bullock, RJ and Randle into Brunson, Mikal, OG and KAT in 4 years. That's pretty amazing.

[3toheadmelo]

I’m hoping we can tap in to KAT’s post work instead of just jacking up 3s all game. He’s pretty damn good when he’s playing like a big man instead of a fake KD.

[Jeffrey]

People are looking at the depth chart when you should be looking at top 9 players that will be playing. I will be surprised but I am hopeful that Thibs can stretch it out to 10 man rotaiton especially when OG and KAT are brittle. There's really no more position except for Ballhandlers, Wings and Big man.

Based on Thibs comments that Randle can play 10-15 minutes at the 5, I'll use that as the base for KAT and Sims as the starting center. That doesn't mean Sims close the game or plays more than 20 mins. His minutes are situational.

240 minutes total
Brunson (35)
Mikal (34)
KAT (32)
OG (32)
Hart (30)
Deuce (20)
Sims (18)
Payne (14)
Precious or Mook (22)

Mook will be KAT's replacement if he gets injured or load management. Mook is the only big man that can stretch the floor and keeps the offense in a consistent flow without KAT.

There are still some interesting players to replace KBD/DDV... Justin Holiday, McDermott, Reggie Bullock

I wish we could sign DSJr. his defense and athleticsim would be nice on this team.

I had these nearly these exact totals in my head while taking a walk this AM.

I'd swap out Sims 18 for Mook and give Precious the 22, until Mitch comes back and then it's either Precious or Mook to the DNP-CD status, probably Mook.

So you have Precious starting?

[seren]

KAT and OG are huge injury liabilities. Together they will make over 90 million a year for the next four years. We can’t back them up with reliable bigs since we have no cap flexibility nor enough draft picks or youth. We turned two high minute rotation players to one who as I said can’t rely on to survive a whole season. In the process, we managed to downgrade our defense if that was even possible, downgrade our offense as we lost two creators and gained none. Despite the good looking three point shooting, I believe we downgraded our shooting as well with the loss of DDV. This is a massive loss. Anyone who thinks this team is better than last year, I have bad news for you.

[sol537]

Death lineup with Hart can be…deadly. WOW.

[isiah_thomas]

KAT and OG are huge injury liabilities. Together they will make over 90 million a year for the next four years. We can’t back them up with reliable bigs since we have no cap flexibility nor enough draft picks or youth. We turned two high minute rotation players to one who as I said can’t rely on to survive a whole season. In the process, we managed to downgrade our defense if that was even possible, downgrade our offense as we lost two creators and gained none. Despite the good looking three point shooting, I believe we downgraded our shooting as well with the loss of DDV. This is a massive loss. Anyone who thinks this team is better than last year, I have bad news for you.

Landry shamet can fill the shooting role

[thebuzzardman]

People are looking at the depth chart when you should be looking at top 9 players that will be playing. I will be surprised but I am hopeful that Thibs can stretch it out to 10 man rotaiton especially when OG and KAT are brittle. There's really no more position except for Ballhandlers, Wings and Big man.

Based on Thibs comments that Randle can play 10-15 minutes at the 5, I'll use that as the base for KAT and Sims as the starting center. That doesn't mean Sims close the game or plays more than 20 mins. His minutes are situational.

240 minutes total
Brunson (35)
Mikal (34)
KAT (32)
OG (32)
Hart (30)
Deuce (20)
Sims (18)
Payne (14)
Precious or Mook (22)

Mook will be KAT's replacement if he gets injured or load management. Mook is the only big man that can stretch the floor and keeps the offense in a consistent flow without KAT.

There are still some interesting players to replace KBD/DDV... Justin Holiday, McDermott, Reggie Bullock

I wish we could sign DSJr. his defense and athleticsim would be nice on this team.

I had these nearly these exact totals in my head while taking a walk this AM.

I'd swap out Sims 18 for Mook and give Precious the 22, until Mitch comes back and then it's either Precious or Mook to the DNP-CD status, probably Mook.

So you have Precious starting?

Yeah. I think Thibs like the flexibility of Hart first sub in.

[DaGawd]

I’m hoping we can tap in to KAT’s post work instead of just jacking up 3s all game. He’s pretty damn good when he’s playing like a big man instead of a fake KD.

you’re coming around already fam