Deeeez Knicks wrote:TrueWarrior wrote:Deeeez Knicks wrote:Good article from Begs highlighting some of Randles changes. Credit to Randle for changing his game up and it’s paying dividends. I hated the way Randle played last year but glad he’s proving me wrong so far…it’s like 2020/21 all over
?s=61&t=IaWT7w5LF75xycmgqFVr4A
This is all we wanted him to do last season though, and he could have but didnt want to.
We arent Randle haters. We just hated the way Randle played and acted lol. And Im not about to come up with all these excuses why he was a brat last year. To me it was obvious that his head got too big and he thought he was gonna LeBron us to the playoffs, and when that failed he humbled himself a bit (again).
This is the Julius Conundrum though. Most fans wanted to trade Julius before the season if he recouped some value, and now that hes playing well most seem to want to keep him. Exactly as I predicted. Im sticking to my guns, and want to ship him to wherever asap. Obi and Cam can fill in.
If Randle is playing well and the Knicks are winning they won’t trade him. If he’s playing bad then nobody wants him. It is a conundrum. But def prefer him playing this way overall. I think the Knicks probably will have to move someone eventually…I think that’ll take some time to figure out especially since teams don’t usually make moves this early.
The times when the Knicks play good basketball are far and few in between so will just try to enjoy the moments while they last.
The Knicks are going to pick Julius over Obi for a variety of reasons (as long as he's playing well) and they are mostly justifiable. Fans won't like it but it makes sense in a lot of ways:
-They already committed major money to Randle for the next 4 years. Dolan is going to want to see some return on that investment. Also makes Randle less appealing as a salary filler in a bigger trade for a disgruntled star or good starter. Obi isn't due to get paid for another 2 years and can be cost controlled through his prime. Makes him easier to trade without getting negative value back.
-Everything with Obi is theoretical until proven otherwise (which again won't happen as long as Julius and Thibs are breathing). We know when Julius is playing well he is a legit starting level player and at his peak an All-Star level player.
-Obi has a much shorter timeline where he is a valuable trade chip on a rookie deal especially given the fact that he is old for this stage of his career. Once he gets a new deal he is officially a paid role player.... again until proven otherwise. Potential starts to change to reality passed the age of 25 which Obi turns this season. Also, one of Obi's main appeals is freakish athleticism. That tends to decline faster than most other skills.
-You most likely will have to sell Randle to a contender which means you will not be getting upgraded pieces back and likely some longer term salary. Given the tight window to trade Obi that I outlined above you need to act soon if you want to possibly trade Obi for some sort of upgrade. The Randle trade from a pure asset perspective has a much larger window given that he is still only turning 28 this season and his future cost is a known quantity.
-The downside of picking 2 productive players from the same draft is that you have to pay them at the same time. Again as long as Randle is playing well this team has much more of a need for Quickley long term than it does for Obi. We already have over 350 million committed for Brunson, RJ, Randle and Mitch. Is it palatable for the Knicks to then possibly tack on another 100 million for IQ+ Obi? That's not factoring in Grimes or even Cam's potential paydays. MOst likely at least one of these guys will have to be sacrificed.
There's a lot of time left in the season so maybe things change but unless the Knicks go into tank mode which doesn't seem to be the case, then there doesn't seem like there are a ton of avenues for trading Randle over Obi from a macro perspective.
RIP mags
Cam's been playing well on both ends. Seems motivated. So that's good to see.
Is this the tl;dr summary? 
