PG: Knicks vs Hornets: 12-5-24

[Jeff Van Gully]

Iron Mantis ain’t **** for targeting this run. Thank you.

[KnixinSix]

Precious gone get his minutes, especially in lineups with smaller bigs. We needed him, and he’s showing up just in a nick of time.

This is a culmination of everything Ive been hoping would happen over the last two years. 3 of the 5 guys I talked about the most are Knicks now and its coming together even better than I imagined. When Precious came in in the 3Q they went to a switch everything defense and shut the Hornets down 38-16.

The Hornets played hard but when we switched everything in the 3Q they couldn't do anything. Precious is going to help team defense in more ways than I thought.

Precious returning/healthy bench was something I have been waiting for all season. His fit next to KAT is going to be amazing. His fit next to Bridges/Hart/OG on defense looked insane immediately. Add Deuce to those four and teams are gonna have serious problems trying to score. Mitch entering the chat will make things even more difficult for teams to score. Then the defense can catch up to the offense and we start dominating teams on a nightly basis!!

People want to talk about trades and we haven't even seen the team fully healthy yet. Not even for one game. I think we have everything we need on the roster to get the job done right now. If Shamet(or another decent vet) can come back 100% we are stacked even deeper. Thibs will be confused with himself trying to find minutes for more than 7 players.

In a perfect world we make the playoffs with a healthy roster.
Brunson/Deuce/Kolek
Bridges/Payne/(McCullar)
Hart/Shamet/Pac
OG/Chewy/Sims
KAT/Mitch/Huk

I can see the desire for a trade to upgrade the backup 3 and a healthy Mitch replacement but, fully healthy we should be one of the toughest teams in the league as is. Thibs needs to consider the long term more than going all in for regular season wins. We know he won't but, hopefully at some point he has everyone available to make it easier for his thick skull to get the point.

I want to see this team fully healthy and, what is this McCullar kid all about. That's all I am looking forward to this season. IDGAF if we make any trades and, I fully trust the FO to solidify this roster as they see fit. I am starting to get those 90s vibes from this team. Where we are a constant playoff threat vying for a title. The two plus decades since then have been miserable. The 94/99 seasons seem like a dream until now. We were good once and we are good again. Finally! It's almost unbelievable it took 2 decades to get here.

Thibs is proving it was more acclimation period than issue with him. Yes he still might overplay guys but aside from that the team is gelling masterfully right now.

Bridges light bulb turning on was a huge part of the equation too. Whether it was personal reasons, Thibs having to make an adjustment or just acclimation process, he is now playing like the guy whose value was 5FRPs.

And the ability to play straight full 5 switching basketball will be a legitimate weapon with Precious . We should not be trading him away in any potential deal. Precious while not an amazing offensive player is still light years better than Sims in that department . Notice how Sims minutes basically went to 0 yesterday.

[Jalen Bluntson]

They could have dumped Gobert/other players though. They took the wrong path to cut costs IMO. I can't speak to what was available to them but, this trade hurts championship hopes just to save potential money in the future. What are they gonna do moving forward? You can't replace what KAT brings with Randle and he's due an extension soon. DDV was great for us as a starter but, his value as a bench player his whole career was not that high. I fail to see what Minnesota does moving forward to make sense of this trade. Not saying they can't figure something out but, Ant/KAT makes more sense to me than Ant/Gobert to build around.

Good luck moving forward but, I think this trade will hurt more than help you guys in the long run. If Ant man gets frustrated and wants to leave........

I think there were a couple of reasons the FO didn't go with the path of keeping KAT and moving Gobert.
1. Keeping KAT hasn't brought us any success in past, because you need a very specific PF to accompany him in order to maximize his output and there have only been two instances in the last decade where we had that: KG's corpse and Taj Gibson. At PF KAT's defense is not as bad as at the C, but his offense at the 4 is severely limited. So trading Gobert and keeping KAT would be rerunning the team from three years ago and probably playoff troubles unless the team would be able to trade for a guy like OG, JJJ or Siakam.

2. Goberts return wouldn't haven been as good as KAT's and like I said, it should have brought back a very competent 4.

3. Trading Gobert by the same FO that brought him in would have meant to admitting they made some mistake. Paying 4 1st round picks and then trading him again for a lot less is not something a FO can sell easily.

Not trading KAT and going all in this year could have been an option, but I think the FO though that last year was the maximum that squad could achieve and running it back with the same guys would have not resulted in a Finals appearance, so pivoting was the least bad choice.

The Gobert trade was dumb. Trading KAT to make up for it is even worse.

[KnixinSix]

They could have dumped Gobert/other players though. They took the wrong path to cut costs IMO. I can't speak to what was available to them but, this trade hurts championship hopes just to save potential money in the future. What are they gonna do moving forward? You can't replace what KAT brings with Randle and he's due an extension soon. DDV was great for us as a starter but, his value as a bench player his whole career was not that high. I fail to see what Minnesota does moving forward to make sense of this trade. Not saying they can't figure something out but, Ant/KAT makes more sense to me than Ant/Gobert to build around.

Good luck moving forward but, I think this trade will hurt more than help you guys in the long run. If Ant man gets frustrated and wants to leave........

I think there were a couple of reasons the FO didn't go with the path of keeping KAT and moving Gobert.
1. Keeping KAT hasn't brought us any success in past, because you need a very specific PF to accompany him in order to maximize his output and there have only been two instances in the last decade where we had that: KG's corpse and Taj Gibson. At PF KAT's defense is not as bad as at the C, but his offense at the 4 is severely limited. So trading Gobert and keeping KAT would be rerunning the team from three years ago and probably playoff troubles unless the team would be able to trade for a guy like OG, JJJ or Siakam.

2. Goberts return wouldn't haven been as good as KAT's and like I said, it should have brought back a very competent 4.

3. Trading Gobert by the same FO that brought him in would have meant to admitting they made some mistake. Paying 4 1st round picks and then trading him again for a lot less is not something a FO can sell easily.

Not trading KAT and going all in this year could have been an option, but I think the FO though that last year was the maximum that squad could achieve and running it back with the same guys would have not resulted in a Finals appearance, so pivoting was the least bad choice.

That KAT contract was a tough pill considering their small market status and burgeoning payroll under the new CBA. It significantly worse than Goeberts salary especially in years 3 and 4. KAT also is a player that has to be utilized in a certain way to maximize his effectiveness as we are seeing now. Wolves thought Naz would be a good enough replacement who plays better all around defense at a much lower salary.

[TheGreenArrow]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=W09F6FrMDfp5_y1gKYgF1g

We’ve come a longggggggggg way Folkssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU LEON ROSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guano]

Knicks +/- for the season:

OG +171
Mikal +153
Brunson +149
KAT +140
Hart +120

Bench Guard Duo:

McBride +98 & Payne +52

Sims gets no love?

I got you.


Absolutely insane that thibs morphed this beach volleyball player into a decent nba player. Sims mins haven't killed us.

[mpharris36]

who had Josh Hart almost as a 60-40-90 split guy before the year started???

[Gravy]

The missing piece. Possibly better than Trevor Keels.

Watch on YouTube

;t=139s

The law of draft picks states as long as we don't see him play he could either be Michael Jordan or Bronny James. Aka the Rokas rule

[Jalen Bluntson]

Knicks +/- for the season:

OG +171
Mikal +153
Brunson +149
KAT +140
Hart +120

Bench Guard Duo:

McBride +98 & Payne +52

Sims gets no love?

I got you.


Absolutely insane that thibs morphed this beach volleyball player into a decent nba player. Sims mins haven't killed us.

Gotta give him a little respect. Only took him 4 years to learn how to play a sport he probably never heard of before he got here!

[KnixinSix]

I'm not trading Mitch unless we have a very good reason to do so.

Having the option of playing him alongside KAT or letting him flat out dominate opposing benches can make us unstoppable.

For a healthy younger Nick Richards, Kessler or even Poetl I would absolutely consider it.

[TheGreenArrow]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=W09F6FrMDfp5_y1gKYgF1g

Bring him to the mecca!!!!!!!!!!!

[KnixinSix]

Knicks +/- for the season:

OG +171
Mikal +153
Brunson +149
KAT +140
Hart +120

Bench Guard Duo:

McBride +98 & Payne +52

Sims gets no love?

I got you.


Absolutely insane that thibs morphed this beach volleyball player into a decent nba player. Sims mins haven't killed us.

More context:
He is also lifted up by playing with really high level players besides him for a lot of those minutes.

Its not a coincidence that sims minutes went to almost zero when precious came back

[TheGreenArrow]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=W09F6FrMDfp5_y1gKYgF1g

[GettinitDone]

Dang missed Precious debut !~!

Precious and Mitch off the bench would be great

Thibs only played the great rim protector Sims 3 mins now Precious is back lol

I'm sure the players must feel like they're playing in a mini All Star game the last few weeks

Hart's 3p shooting is on point the past few weeks

JB scored 24 on 8 FGA is crazy efficient

[Jalen Bluntson]

Sims gets no love?

I got you.


Absolutely insane that thibs morphed this beach volleyball player into a decent nba player. Sims mins haven't killed us.

More context:
He is also lifted up by playing with really high level players besides him for a lot of those minutes.

Its not a coincidence that sims minutes went to almost zero when precious came back

You're sarcasm meter is broken. Not to say Sims hasn't played better than a warm body though. He was a positive on the floor with his own play at times. Miracles do happen if you look hard enough!

He could have played a few more minutes last night too. Thibs played 7 dudes basically and one only played 12 minutes. Meanwhile he's got Bridges in there the ENTIRE GAME up 20+ at times.

Bridges 47!!!
OG 40
KAT 39
Hart 38
McBride 28
Brunson 27*
Precious 12
Sims 3**

*Brunson left the game and no mention of what's going on yet but, something happened.

**GT. Really? That's it? 6.5 man rotation?

It's gonna be a problem if this keeps up. OG has random injury concerns every year. KAT has missed time as well. You gotta do better when you have 20pt leads against scrub teams. Do we really need to test the iron man abilities Mikal has? It's over the top to me and I'm not gonna debate it but, I apparently can't ignore it either. DAMN YOU GULLY!

[Iron Mantis]

Iron Mantis ain’t **** for targeting this run. Thank you.

[GONYK]

I got you.


Absolutely insane that thibs morphed this beach volleyball player into a decent nba player. Sims mins haven't killed us.

More context:
He is also lifted up by playing with really high level players besides him for a lot of those minutes.

Its not a coincidence that sims minutes went to almost zero when precious came back

You're sarcasm meter is broken. Not to say Sims hasn't played better than a warm body though. He was a positive on the floor with his own play at times. Miracles do happen if you look hard enough!

He could have played a few more minutes last night too. Thibs played 7 dudes basically and one only played 12 minutes. Meanwhile he's got Bridges in there the ENTIRE GAME up 20+ at times.

Bridges 47!!!
OG 40
KAT 39
Hart 38
McBride 28
Brunson 27*
Precious 12
Sims 3**

*Brunson left the game and no mention of what's going on yet but, something happened.

**GT. Really? That's it? 6.5 man rotation?

It's gonna be a problem if this keeps up. OG has random injury concerns every year. KAT has missed time as well. You gotta do better when you have 20pt leads against scrub teams. Do we really need to test the iron man abilities Mikal has? It's over the top to me and I'm not gonna debate it but, I apparently can't ignore it either. DAMN YOU GULLY!

Bruised ribs. Thibs said he could have come back if we needed him.

[Jalen Bluntson]

More context:
He is also lifted up by playing with really high level players besides him for a lot of those minutes.

Its not a coincidence that sims minutes went to almost zero when precious came back

You're sarcasm meter is broken. Not to say Sims hasn't played better than a warm body though. He was a positive on the floor with his own play at times. Miracles do happen if you look hard enough!

He could have played a few more minutes last night too. Thibs played 7 dudes basically and one only played 12 minutes. Meanwhile he's got Bridges in there the ENTIRE GAME up 20+ at times.

Bridges 47!!!
OG 40
KAT 39
Hart 38
McBride 28
Brunson 27*
Precious 12
Sims 3**

*Brunson left the game and no mention of what's going on yet but, something happened.

**GT. Really? That's it? 6.5 man rotation?

It's gonna be a problem if this keeps up. OG has random injury concerns every year. KAT has missed time as well. You gotta do better when you have 20pt leads against scrub teams. Do we really need to test the iron man abilities Mikal has? It's over the top to me and I'm not gonna debate it but, I apparently can't ignore it either. DAMN YOU GULLY!

Bruised ribs. Thibs said he could have come back if we needed him.

JESUS! I knew I missed something.

Who we got next? DET? Rest him. Deuce can play 48 minutes next to Mikal and we got 42 each from Hart/OG/KAT. Precious can drop a fat 12 and we can play Sims 6 minutes. Problem solved.

[FrozenEnvelope]

Morning thoughts

1. OG was such a great trade that I hated and was against at the beginning. Honestly did not think he would be this good! His defense is insane and he might just be the best defensive player I've ever seen. The only guy in history that had this much of impact defensively was prime Oakley.

2. Love how Mikal is balling! You can see he feels more confident and thus is playing with more energy and motor.

3. Hart is now shooting 40% from downtown! Never thought that was possible so credit to him for working on that shot. We are legit contenders if he keeps this up cause teams were banking on sagging off him. Hart has already shown he can hit the big 3.

4. Game might have gotten out of control if it wasn't for Brunson in that 1st quarter. He had like 20 and hit a bunch of threes but we cannot keep starting off these games that slow.

5. More proof that KAT is not soft when he put on a second pair of shorts to cover a cut and blood. A soft player like Bargnani or Ntilikina would have went in the locker room and be out the rest of the game. KAT is a lion.

6. So good to have Precious back! I wonder what this means for Sims. Thibs was angry at him and benched him last night for a turnover. Sims is one of the best rim protectors and rebounders in his role so I don't think we should bench him completely but he's got to stop passing up open shots near the rim.

7. This is the best offensive Knicks team in history. Almost another game with 30 assists!

8. Gotta get OG his own mic!

9. Emmy Rossum is such a hottie.

[rajajackal]

Read on Twitter