thebuzzardman wrote:MrDollarBills wrote:sol537 wrote:Our window is this year and the next 3 years after this one.
I don’t think KAT is part of the solution. I do think JB, Deuce, Mikal, and OG can be part of the solution.
Honestly at this point? I don't trust Karl anymore and it's hard to see us making a finals run when we don't know which Karl Towns is gonna show up any given night. Like sure, I think he needs time to get used to the new style of play but the stupid fouls and inexplicable decisions aren't being cleaned up and it's clear it doesn't matter who is coaching him. I feel like he is going to let this club down in a major way when it really matters.
Outside of a Giannis trade i don't know what the path forward looks like, but Brunson needs someone as his #2 who is locked tf in.
The sad reality is the Knicks forked over 5 1st round picks for a role player you hyped up, instead of a bonafide #2 option is who a three level threat to score, pass and shoot.
5 FRPs for the slightly souped up version of THJr was madness.
Sinking 40 million dollars into one dimensional OG was also insane. Herbet Jones gets, what, 23 million per year? That makes OG roughly 17 million $ per year overpaid. Great deal! Knicks could have had a whole other NBA human who doesn't suck playing off the bench for that, instead of bootleg JR Crawford.
To top it all off they trade Randle and Divo (the only Knick besides Deuce and Brunson who can truly make 3s) for KAT, essentially trading a 25% upgrade in outside shooting in KAT vs Randle (maybe) for 25% less creative ability with the ball, with an equal exchange of indifferent and inconsistent defense. But all for the low low price of 2X TIMES THE PRICE!
And that move might have been driven by the fiction that Towns could play the 5 in a 5 out offense, but his defense sucks so hard the Knicks are forced to play "Can't Make a Jumper or Pass to Save His Life" Mitch Robinson, thereby destroying 5 out. Or Sukporti, not ready for the NBA, or some journeyman big like Jamison. Because KAT blows at defense.
Then there's Hart off the bench at 18 million per, basically 18 million a year tied up in a 6'4" PF who can't shoot. I guess the rebounding is nice. Might as well say Brunson is making $52 million a year since now the Knicks are forced to carry his sh*tty non shooting buddy.
Leon Rose traded and signed his way into a f*cked up soup sandwhich of a roster featuring overpriced roles players with the most $ tied up in KAT, the biggest weirdest tweener in the the history of the NBA. He scores! Can he defend? No! Is he an elite passer? No! Is he a good center? No! Oh, he must be a PF then. No, he's too awkward and lumbering for that and he's even less valuable!
What a sh*tshow.*
*If the Knicks win two in row I'll change my mind
yea can't argue. I thought the front office moves started becoming questionable when they dumped grimes for old bogi. there were moves before that to criticize but weren't as obvious yet - like passing on J dub/duren just to salary dump (there were other ways to make the salary for brunson). We still had our war chest of picks etc to get a Giannis or other superstar at some point... instead they trade for bridges, i understood it at the time... and if he actually was something close to his 1st half year in brooklyn, maybe it wasn't so bad... then if the plan was "the big Nova 4" and going all in on friendship... cool I guess... but instead they turn around and trade Divo and Randle for Kat... which again if Randle wanted a max contract, maybe there was some logic there... but they had no foresight to the free agency being dead that year, so they had leverage. Then they give OG 15+ more mil than everyone expected. He was supposed to get 25-30. His contract is a big reason the team is up against the cap. They would have had way more flexibility if they kept Randle/Divo and kept OG at a lower number. Prob not fair to critique because we don't know the whole story, but even signing Ihart to only a 2 year deal with no team control beyond that etc.
Even Brunson as great as he is, is a flawed player and probably not good enough to be the #1 on a legit contender, unless the rest of the roster is really optimized around him (4 other starters are all +defenders, with at least 1 secondary playmaker - plus a stout bench etc). Instead we have no secondary playmaking, and Kat is a negative defender. The bench is decent but flawed.
To make things even worse the Detroit pick actually conveyed, the bucks pick was decently high etc. We dumped our war chest to be a team with as you say, no promising youth and a bunch of flawed role players and only 1 actual elite superstar (who is also flawed).
Not sure what moves can even be made at this point. Even if they pull off a miracle and land Giannis, the team will be depleted (losing at least 1 of OG/Bridges, if not both - plus probably Deuce).
I still think if everyone goes well the team has a decently high ceiling - ECF or maybe even getting to the finals. But hard to think the team is a favorite to do either at this point without major luck.
