Buttah304 wrote:3toheadmelo wrote:NoDopeOnSundays wrote:A 7 game sample size? Brother, you need to let that Jan stuff go, that team wasn't going to win anything and everyone knows it, even the front office knew it. That team would have been the equivalent of the 60 win Hawk team.
The Knicks front office in 2014 also thought it was a good idea to change our identity that won us 54 games and we saw how that ended. We’re just replaying the same scenario but 10 years later. The never ending cycle of the mid knicks.
We finally had a championship contender and we blew it all away to be the Sacramento Knicks. Next up we’re gonna scapegoat Thibs like we did to Mike Woodson and go through another coaching drought for the next 8 years.
Can you explain to me, and I’m genuinely asking, how this would be a championship contender without iHart? Replacing Holmgren is no easy task, yet he’s filled in admirably going 22-2 with OKC in the SL.
There is simply no feasible, logical, mythical or fantastical way that DeAndre Ayton or Myles Turner could have mirrored what iHart did for us last year had we kept the same team & traded for one of them this season.
They don’t nearly have the same DFG% at the rim, offensive rebounding, consistent boxing out/putting a body on someone, flawless screen setting ability, elbow passing, shot tipping, and high IQ/winning plays that Hartenstein has.
For all the talk about Mikals defense, and the never ending reminiscing you do about last year, you easily forget how often we complained about DDV defense. The unnecessary gambling, getting beat back door, posted up, and just moved physically due to lack of size.
I only bring up DDV because Brunson and Randle defensively are both below average, but their effectiveness or lack-thereof was mitigated by OG/iHart being smothering blankets.
And with this January stuff, it’s as if you hold that Knicks group in that same light as the 20-21 Denver team that went 26-5 in February and March (felt they could win a title) and then Murray got devastatingly injured, missed the following season and when he did come back they indeed won the championship.
You really think running it back with DeAndre Ayton in place of iHart, no Precious for nearly 2 months, no Mitch, and an often-injured McBride would be a championship contender?
It’s as if you’re saying that Randle/DDV were so unbelievably impactful but why is it that Minnesota is now 21-19 but last year they were 30-10. Are we saying that those players SpaceJam like special abilities only come out under Thibs?
Don’t get me wrong last years January was a great run, but we beat up Denver and Philly badly just like we did this year. Who else was such an amazing win in your eyes?
We beat The Houston Rockets who were 19-22 at the time.
We beat Miami who had lost 6 CONSECUTIVE games coming into our matchup they were 22-21.
The Minnesota game was a perfect storm. OGs first appearance just cutting/moving without knowing any of the players and Randle was phenomenal down the stretch.
We still got blown out by Dallas with no Luka and lost to Orlando with no Franz.
Listen, I think it’s normal for everyone to wax poetic about a time in their life when they could have gone left instead of right. Could have taken the road less traveled. But in the same respect when talking about a prior love things always seemed sweeter than they were. Thats the crux of you not letting go of a 30 day January team. You were in love with that group, you still are, and even though it’s in your best interest to let go you would rather stay encapsulated in that fleeting moment.
