Brunson-led Knicks look like the real deal

[cgf]

fwiw, Barrett and Randle's TS% have plummeted even further so far this season with Brunson and a healthy Rose.

Part of the problem with players like them is how to go about getting the most out of them. If you just want someone to play some 2-man-game and knock down 3's ... well you saw first hand what a former star like Kevin Love could do or even just a guy happy to take open shots like Dean Wade can do.

Given shooting is not Randle's or Barrett's strength and you have other guys who are more effective creating shots and finishing around the rim ... how do you carve something out of the offense so they can be efficient too?

And just for the record, at the moment Barrett's TS% is sitting at 47.9%, Randle's is at 52.2%, and Quickley is at 47.9%. By comparison the guys who seem to have a clearly defined role are doing well.

Unfortunately, we are going to need to wait to see how they do with JB since to put any stock in their current #s we'd also have to assume that RJ & Julius will continue to shoot <25% from 3.

FWIW Randle's percentages last didn't tank last season until Rose went down, and the year before it was the acquisition of Rose that helped catapult Randle & Barrett to new heights.

So let's see where things stand once we've got enough of a sample size to learn anything from this season's numbers.

Of course ... you have a very reasonable/rational view of the Knicks and if I was a Knicks fan I'd be hoping/counting on things getting better too.

It's a combination of accepting the organization's flaws and choosing to love it despite them; which took many years of begging the team to tank on the knicks board while cursing my childhood self for picking such a godforsaken team

...and my other teams satiating my need for sporting triumphs: as I've watched the German NT win the world cup in record breaking fashion; I've watched the Avs stomp through the NHL playoffs; and my favorite team in all of sport is not just surviving in the top division of german football -- something that I genuinely thought would only ever happen if I became wealthy enough to bankroll it -- but twelve weeks into the season they are still leading the Bundesliga.

It's a lot easier to accept the knicks' flaws when all of my other teams have rebuilt from less than nothing to flourish lol.


Plus the current FO has made things better than they were when they took over...and even if how to go from where we are to where we want to be isn't as clear as it could be, there's something to watch for with all of these kids getting the chance to learn in a competent environment.

[cgf]

another low i.q player to add to the collection

cam you'll find no argument from me about. He's been defending well for the most part...but his mind still wanders far too often, causing him to get out of position, and I never know what he's going to do on the offensive end lol.

He'll be traded for a left handed player shortly. Clearly that's the plan right now.

Zach Lavine isn't left handed

[Ray Donovan]

How is Mark Cuban & the Mavs front office not taking more heat for letting Brunson walk for nothing ??? Cuban has been saved by Dirk & Luka, smh...

[Swish1906]

How is Mark Cuban & the Mavs front office not taking more heat for letting Brunson walk for nothing ??? Cuban has been saved by Dirk & Luka, smh...

Explained a gazillion times. He was gone before FA and cancelled a meeting at the start of FA.

He wanted to get his stats to have a shot at allstar

[leolozon]

How is Mark Cuban & the Mavs front office not taking more heat for letting Brunson walk for nothing ??? Cuban has been saved by Dirk & Luka, smh...

Explained a gazillion times. He was gone before FA and cancelled a meeting at the start of FA.

He wanted to get his stats to have a shot at allstar

The damage was done before that though. They thought they could use him in a trade at the deadline.

[djsunyc]

they definitely look like the real knicks...that's for sure.

[BlazersBroncos]

Play in team if everything goes perfect with a low ceiling and a gaggle of youngsters that max out at nice role players at best.

They are going nowhere.

[kane0801]

NYK will not success with RJ and Randle these two inefficient combo

[iLLmatic860]

NYK will not success with RJ and Randle these two inefficient combo

Its just a horrible fit

Randle is the one who needs to go before its too late

[Memories]

Knicks definitely need real franchise talent because RJ is not it, and the rest are just not good enough to compete.

If they can somehow get something for Randle (they really should have sold high on him when they had the chance), trade any of their pieces that won’t be around in the future like Fournier and Rose, they can then just go full blown young core + Brunson and see if they can lucky in the lottery.

Brunson
Quickley
RJ
Toppin
Robinson

For the rest of the season.

[Mavrelous]

I think people are selling them short, they played well, except 2 collapses, give them time to develop chemistry, Randle looks promising with real PG next to him, they do need to upgrade Fournier or move him to the bench for fresh blood and more energy.

[iLLmatic860]

I think people are selling them short, they played well, except 2 collapses, give them time to develop chemistry, Randle looks promising with real PG next to him, they do need to upgrade Fournier or move him to the bench for fresh blood and more energy.

Randle looks promising? Hes back to the same Randle. Theres no way you watched last night

[Mavrelous]

I think people are selling them short, they played well, except 2 collapses, give them time to develop chemistry, Randle looks promising with real PG next to him, they do need to upgrade Fournier or move him to the bench for fresh blood and more energy.

Randle looks promising? Hes back to the same Randle. Theres no way you watched last night

I switched when they were up 23 I thought it was done, and posted that Nate McMillan is on the hot seat on game thread.

[76thBearCub]

NYK will not success with RJ and Randle these two inefficient combo

Its just a horrible fit

Randle is the one who needs to go before its too late

It's much too late already unless you want just bad money deals

[cgf]

How is Mark Cuban & the Mavs front office not taking more heat for letting Brunson walk for nothing ??? Cuban has been saved by Dirk & Luka, smh...

Explained a gazillion times. He was gone before FA and cancelled a meeting at the start of FA.

He wanted to get his stats to have a shot at allstar

That's only part of the story, the part that came after Dallas didn't re-sign him early; which gave us the opportunity to woo him in the first place.

But the Mavs had the opportunity to lock him up last summer for significantly less than we ended up paying him, they were just hesitant to do so and wanted him to prove he was worth it more first.

Which was understandable since he hadn't yet shown the progress he did this past season & they still hoped they'd be able to use him in a trade for a bigger star at the deadline.

..but it's also understandable why that would make Brunson feel like the Mavs organization didn't believe in him the way ours so-obviously did.

[LBJKB24MJ23]

complete 180 within a week LMAO. i do feel sorry for Knicks fan. bruh. Knicks have resources (money and NYC lure) to be a good team but are ran by incompetant people.

[cgf]

I think people are selling them short, they played well, except 2 collapses, give them time to develop chemistry, Randle looks promising with real PG next to him, they do need to upgrade Fournier or move him to the bench for fresh blood and more energy.

Randle looks promising? Hes back to the same Randle. Theres no way you watched last night

I missed the second half so he may have stunk it up while I wasn't watching, but Randle played very well in the first half last night...Julius, Obi, & (despite his awful finishing) RJ had been our best players when the game went to half time and I had to go back to the lab.

Julius & RJ can't keep shooting like s***, but I don't think anybody expects them to stay under 25% from 3 on the season...so some positive regression should be on the way, sooner or later, and we'll need to see where things stabilize for both of them.

[cgf]

complete 180 within a week LMAO. i do feel sorry for Knicks fan. bruh. Knicks have resources (money and NYC lure) to be a good team but are ran by incompetant people.

I'm confused by this comment. What changed in the past week? Despite our youth, we're a solid team that's most likely going to land in the play-in given how stacked this conference is now just like we were then. Losing to teams that are expected to finish ahead of us doesn't change that, does it?

[cgf]

I think people are selling them short, they played well, except 2 collapses, give them time to develop chemistry, Randle looks promising with real PG next to him, they do need to upgrade Fournier or move him to the bench for fresh blood and more energy.

The hope is that with Grimes getting healthy again, Fournier won't be long for the starting lineup...as Thibs had no qualms starting the kid over Fournier last year, and Grimes should replace Fournier's spacing while also being able to help us compensate for Brunson's shortcomings on the defensive end.

[cgf]

Knicks definitely need real franchise talent because RJ is not it, and the rest are just not good enough to compete.

If they can somehow get something for Randle (they really should have sold high on him when they had the chance), trade any of their pieces that won’t be around in the future like Fournier and Rose, they can then just go full blown young core + Brunson and see if they can lucky in the lottery.

Brunson
Quickley
RJ
Toppin
Robinson

For the rest of the season.

I think the realistic-ish best case scenario (aka the lotto gods don't gift us Wemby) is that on draft night we can use our 2023 FRP, our 2025 FRP, the Dallas, Detroit & Washington FRPs we own, and the then-expiring contracts of Rose & Fournier, to bring in a tier 2/3 star...someone like Lavine feels like the sweet spot of quality/cost.

That way we'd still be able to offer our '24, '26, '28, & '30 FRPs...since we'd have drafted someone in 2023 before trading them away and we'd have the bucks pick with which to draft someone in 2025...as well as pick swaps + prospect(s) + one or two of our starters, if/when a tier 1 star hit the market.

Leaving us with something like this until a Zion / Booker / Luka / Tatum caliber player became available via trade:

Brunson | Quickley | McBride
*Lavine* | Grimes
Barrett | Reddish | Hunt
Randle | Toppin
Robinson | Hartenstein | Sims

That team would have a 2nd round ceiling without that 2nd big trade for a title-caliber #1 option, but it should be a consistent playoff team and everyone should fall into roles that they could excel in.