Game Thread: Chicago Bulls at New York Knicks Thur, Feb 20, 2025 7:30pm

[TheGreenArrow]

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oh ****

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[Guano]

Windhorst has been moving like a pompous @sshole for awhile now.

[Jalen Bluntson]

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Says the fat guy who never played a game of basketball in his life! FOH!

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

We are still improving as the season rolls along though. We have another gear to kick in when Mitch comes back as well. There are a lot of ifs but, let's not act like OKC/CLE have won anything yet either. Boston deserves the credit of having won it all. OKC is still figuring it out and so is Cleveland. They have more continuity than we do but, that's really the biggest advantage they have unless you want give them the coaching edge. I would.

I agree we haven't proven where we are yet but, don't sleep on this team. We see what we almost did last year on fumes. We are a much better team right now than any point last season. I think our team health has to be 100% though to make any serious run. The ECF is my goal. The finals are within reach at that point. Still got work to do. Still have reason to believe we will improve this season. Fun times.

[Jalen Bluntson]

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oh ****

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Soon!!!! I think Mitch might sit a couple more games but, soon!!!

[G_K_F]

Lol the mental and physical makeup of the team is entirely different than last year.

They played much differently last year defensively and on the glass.

Zero comparison with last year and this year.

[TheGreenArrow]

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[MrDollarBills]

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Says the fat guy who never played a game of basketball in his life! FOH!

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

I think the window is wider than 4 years.

This is year 1. The team is flawed. Does that mean that they can't win in the playoffs? I don't agree.

Get KAT, JB, Mikal, OG, Josh, Mitch, Deuce to the playoffs healthy and I give them a chance against anyone.

[MrDollarBills]

oh ****

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Soon!!!! I think Mitch might sit a couple more games but, soon!!!

Folks can keep sleeping on this team.

[MrDollarBills]

Windhorst has been moving like a pompous @sshole for awhile now.

I don't hate Windy but f*ck him

[Jalen Bluntson]

Lol the mental and physical makeup of the team is entirely different than last year.

They played much differently last year defensively and on the glass.

Zero comparison with last year and this year.

Which team? The first two months? The third month? The two different teams we had from Feb-April? Or the two different playoff teams? We had ZERO continuity last year as a team. We had Brunson/DDV/Hart/Shart through all of it. That's the only continuity. With Deuce off the bench. That's it. #2 seed and game seven of the semis.

We now have Mikal/KAT instead of DDV/Shart and a whole bunch of OG to go with it. Along with Deuce and Payne and Precious and Shamet. With Mitch coming back. We were using the corpse of Bogs and MJ Burks last season.

You're right. ZERO comparison to last year. Much improved actually.

[3toheadmelo]

Says the fat guy who never played a game of basketball in his life! FOH!

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

I think the window is wider than 4 years.

This is year 1. The team is flawed. Does that mean that they can't win in the playoffs? I don't agree.

Get KAT, JB, Mikal, OG, Josh, Mitch, Deuce to the playoffs healthy and I give them a chance against anyone.

We have a long way to go to have that type of confidence. We’re 0-5 against Cleveland, Boston and OKC. Like others have said, we will need to make upgrades this summer.

[RHODEY]

Says the fat guy who never played a game of basketball in his life! FOH!

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

We are still improving as the season rolls along though. We have another gear to kick in when Mitch comes back as well. There are a lot of ifs but, let's not act like OKC/CLE have won anything yet either. Boston deserves the credit of having won it all. OKC is still figuring it out and so is Cleveland. They have more continuity than we do but, that's really the biggest advantage they have unless you want give them the coaching edge. I would.

I agree we haven't proven where we are yet but, don't sleep on this team. We see what we almost did last year on fumes. We are a much better team right now than any point last season. I think our team health has to be 100% though to make any serious run. The ECF is my goal. The finals are within reach at that point. Still got work to do. Still have reason to believe we will improve this season. Fun times.

For a newly formed team to be just outside of contender status, without its defensive anchor, and bench size /depth is very impressive. Yes, out of the top teams we have more runway to improve. Who's to say how we look fully loaded after 28 games...

[G_K_F]

How is a team with worse defense and rebounding - staples to a championship squad - "better" than last season?

The team is dead last in opponent 3 point FG% and league average defending anything inside the 3 point line.

Their rebounding is worse as OG isn't a rebounder at the 4 like Randle was. And I don't even like Randle.

Statistically speaking, the team is worse than last year.

Having a better record because you can outscore your opponents in the regular season doesn't mean you're a title team. Ask Mike D'Antoni.

[3toheadmelo]

Lol the mental and physical makeup of the team is entirely different than last year.

They played much differently last year defensively and on the glass.

Zero comparison with last year and this year.

Last year when we were at full strength we had a great balance of offense and defense. This year we’re a better offensive team but we made quite the downgrade on defense. You have to hope Leon can address that in the off season or this is going to be a treadmill.

[Wildcat]

Says the fat guy who never played a game of basketball in his life! FOH!

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

We are still improving as the season rolls along though. We have another gear to kick in when Mitch comes back as well. There are a lot of ifs but, let's not act like OKC/CLE have won anything yet either. Boston deserves the credit of having won it all. OKC is still figuring it out and so is Cleveland. They have more continuity than we do but, that's really the biggest advantage they have unless you want give them the coaching edge. I would.

I agree we haven't proven where we are yet but, don't sleep on this team. We see what we almost did last year on fumes. We are a much better team right now than any point last season. I think our team health has to be 100% though to make any serious run. The ECF is my goal. The finals are within reach at that point. Still got work to do. Still have reason to believe we will improve this season. Fun times.

Respectfully, this sounds very much like homerism. OKC and Cleveland aren't figuring it out. They are -- like Boston -- are accomplishing their game plan on most nights, which is keeping opposing FG% and 3P% low (OKC 1st in both regards, Cleveland 6th & 20th). Knicks are 20th & and last.

Mitch or no Mitch, the Knicks of 24/25 season aren't going to miraculously become a better perimeter and interior D team. This team is fundamentality different than last year. Path to the ECF is through Boston. This team too many exploitable weakness that can't be corrected during the course of the season. An offense season and maybe a coaching change might fix that, but right now, I don't see the Knicks beating Boston in a 7 game series. I'd happily eat crow, but I see no evidence to suggest that'll change.

[sol537]

Says the fat guy who never played a game of basketball in his life! FOH!

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

I think the window is wider than 4 years.

This is year 1. The team is flawed. Does that mean that they can't win in the playoffs? I don't agree.

Get KAT, JB, Mikal, OG, Josh, Mitch, Deuce to the playoffs healthy and I give them a chance against anyone.

5 year window seems right.

KAT 29
Brunson 28
OG 27
Mikal 28
Hart 29
Deuce 24

Our top 6 guys all under 30 years old, entering their prime years and all under multi-year contracts except Mikal who is expected to extend on a pretty fair deal this off-season. The interesting thing is that not only is our window 5-6 years (including this year) we shuffle the decks at any point if a better fitting piece becomes available. All of our guys have healthy trade value, thankfully.

[Jalen Bluntson]

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

I think the window is wider than 4 years.

This is year 1. The team is flawed. Does that mean that they can't win in the playoffs? I don't agree.

Get KAT, JB, Mikal, OG, Josh, Mitch, Deuce to the playoffs healthy and I give them a chance against anyone.

We have a long way to go to have that type of confidence. We’re 0-5 against Cleveland, Boston and OKC. Like others have said, we will need to make upgrades this summer.

No one is saying there isn't work to do. They have been putting in the work all year and Mitch is coming back. Hopefully everyone stays healthy. Then we can see just how much work is left to do. Meanwhile, don't sleep on the 4th best team in the league. There's no reason to count them out of. conversation so easily. 0-5 and two of those games could have been a W. Expecting a championship is silly. Having fun rooting for anything is possible is not. This is a damn good team right now.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

sham potentially coming back is the worst possible news.

[Wildcat]

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

We are still improving as the season rolls along though. We have another gear to kick in when Mitch comes back as well. There are a lot of ifs but, let's not act like OKC/CLE have won anything yet either. Boston deserves the credit of having won it all. OKC is still figuring it out and so is Cleveland. They have more continuity than we do but, that's really the biggest advantage they have unless you want give them the coaching edge. I would.

I agree we haven't proven where we are yet but, don't sleep on this team. We see what we almost did last year on fumes. We are a much better team right now than any point last season. I think our team health has to be 100% though to make any serious run. The ECF is my goal. The finals are within reach at that point. Still got work to do. Still have reason to believe we will improve this season. Fun times.

For a newly formed team to be just outside of contender status, without its defensive anchor, and bench size /depth is very impressive. Yes, out of the top teams we have more runway to improve. Who's to say how we look fully loaded after 28 games...

History and statistics tells us that. For better or worse, we have a very methodical coach. And that makes him exploitable. I would have to go down a rabbit hole, but I don't recall many ECF/WCF teams that had awful perimeter D.

[Jalen Bluntson]

I don't disagree with his thoughts. Knicks are a Tier B team on at 3-4 year window. They're not at the levels of OKC, Boston, and Cleveland. That narrative could change if they can pull some real wins against them, but every one of these teams have exploited the weaknesses we see.

We are still improving as the season rolls along though. We have another gear to kick in when Mitch comes back as well. There are a lot of ifs but, let's not act like OKC/CLE have won anything yet either. Boston deserves the credit of having won it all. OKC is still figuring it out and so is Cleveland. They have more continuity than we do but, that's really the biggest advantage they have unless you want give them the coaching edge. I would.

I agree we haven't proven where we are yet but, don't sleep on this team. We see what we almost did last year on fumes. We are a much better team right now than any point last season. I think our team health has to be 100% though to make any serious run. The ECF is my goal. The finals are within reach at that point. Still got work to do. Still have reason to believe we will improve this season. Fun times.

Respectfully, this sounds very much like homerism. OKC and Cleveland aren't figuring it out. They are -- like Boston -- are accomplishing their game plan on most nights, which is keeping opposing FG% and 3P% low (OKC 1st in both regards, Cleveland 6th & 20th). Knicks are 20th & and last.

Mitch or no Mitch, the Knicks of 24/25 season aren't going to miraculously become a better perimeter and interior D team. This team is fundamentality different than last year. Path to the ECF is through Boston. This team too many exploitable weakness that can't be corrected during the course of the season. An offense season and maybe a coaching change might fix that, but right now, I don't see the Knicks beating Boston in a 7 game series. I'd happily eat crow, but I see no evidence to suggest that'll change.

I am aiming for the ECF this year. Cleveland and OKC are clearly ahead of us in development. Boston proved themselves already. All things I said in my post. Miraculously improve? Never hinted at it. You may think we need to miraculously improve to make a run. I do not. I think we are closer than you do for sure. We still have a very good mid season addition to what we have already accomplished. No reason to think we don't improve. Just how much remains to be seen.