Locker Room Issues?

[Scoot McGroot]

I think we have to accept it’s likely that one of the players is Warren

and if we are talking about starters, the other one is likely to be Victor. I don't remember either Victor nor Warren frequently pointing at themselves to admit "my bad."

I'm not at all concerned about Warren having trouble staying on Butler or not voicing self-criticism. Butler's a monster. I am concerned about 3 point defense. I'm willing to blame some of that on the system, but if what players were unhappy about were failures to follow the system ...

Doesn’t necessarily have to be starters. But also could be something that gets better over time with the locker room gelling more. Who knows, especially until if and when we ever learn what the issues are.

[Moooose]

https://knicksfilmschool.substack.com/p/risk-vs-reward

Staying in Indiana for a moment, fresh off reports of an unsettled locker room and one Eastern Conference executive betting that the Pacers trade two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo before next season, I heard from a league source that “he wants out,” and that there are whispers of the Knicks being a potential trade partner. 2 days ago – via Knicks Film School @ Knicks Film School

I found a snippet of this on Hoopshype. Interesting read. But again, not sure about the source.

I think we have to accept it’s likely that one of the players is Warren, but I don’t think it has to mean that he’s a terrible locker room guy, maybe just a cold and distant guy. Every interview with players about him has some mention of “yeah, he’s different, but he’s cool”.

Add in that we lost the vet that truly was our locker room leader in Thad, too, and you could see that the locker room might be fine, or ok, and yet that would possibly be a huge and noticeable downgrade from the past.

Interesting. Warren has admitted that he is an introvert and just loves to read. He said maybe that is why he played well in the bubble because he is away from distractions. But I don't think him being quiet is kind of disruptive. Brodgon is a serious guy and nobody complains about him. But if he's a loner who doesn't want to mingle around teammates, that's a totally different story.

The only outspoken, outgoing guy I can think of is Vic, and maybe McConnell. I really can't tell who among the guys has an attitude problem. But if being different is what it is, Warren might be one of those couple of guys.

I agree on Thad. Since he left, I believe the locker room leader duties was assumed by Vic. And for the first time, in a long time, we are missing that "real" locker room veteran we had with Thad, Al Jefferson, CJ Miles, and Wes Matthews (for a short time). The guy with the most experience (years) on our team is Jeremy Lamb.

[Scoot McGroot]

https://knicksfilmschool.substack.com/p/risk-vs-reward

Staying in Indiana for a moment, fresh off reports of an unsettled locker room and one Eastern Conference executive betting that the Pacers trade two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo before next season, I heard from a league source that “he wants out,” and that there are whispers of the Knicks being a potential trade partner. 2 days ago – via Knicks Film School @ Knicks Film School

I found a snippet of this on Hoopshype. Interesting read. But again, not sure about the source.

Interesting to remember that new Knicks GM Leon Rose is Oladipo's former agent, and has already been caught sneaking rumors into the media via Ian Begley of SNY to "sow discontent" in the Oladipo situation.

I think we have to accept it’s likely that one of the players is Warren, but I don’t think it has to mean that he’s a terrible locker room guy, maybe just a cold and distant guy. Every interview with players about him has some mention of “yeah, he’s different, but he’s cool”.

Add in that we lost the vet that truly was our locker room leader in Thad, too, and you could see that the locker room might be fine, or ok, and yet that would possibly be a huge and noticeable downgrade from the past.

Interesting. Warren has admitted that he is an introvert and just loves to read. He said maybe that is why he played well in the bubble because he is away from distractions. But I don't think him being quiet is kind of disruptive. Brodgon is a serious guy and nobody complains about him. But if he's a loner who doesn't want to mingle around teammates, that's a totally different story.

The only outspoken, outgoing guy I can think of is Vic, and maybe McConnell. I really can't tell who among the guys has an attitude problem. But if being different is what it is, Warren might be one of those couple of guys.

I agree on Thad. Since he left, I believe the locker room leader duties was assumed by Vic. And for the first time, in a long time, we are missing that "real" locker room veteran we had with Thad, Al Jefferson, CJ Miles, and Wes Matthews (for a short time). The guy with the most experience (years) on our team is Jeremy Lamb.

Yeah, we don't even know if it was terrible, or rather, how it was terrible. We know it wasn't great. And if you don't have a lead vet to coordinate it and keep everyone accountable, it can seem weird. We had a lot of great dudes, and at a glance, no one is an obvious malcontent. But, we had a lot of situations that might have created conflict. We had Aaron and Justin Holiday moved around to different situations everyday. We had guys that were never developed or played rarely during the regular season since Nate had his set rotations (Sumner, Leaf, Goga, and Alize). We had Oladipo rehabbing away and then Lamb rehabbing, so by himself mostly. Jakarr had the long injury that kept him out of practice. Brogdon being an intelligent, social activist kind of guy.
Warren being a silent, loner type. Oladipo on Masked Singer and releasing albums. All with Justin Holiday being the oldest on the roster at 31. It's a recipe for a weird, maybe unsettled locker room.

[Scoot McGroot]

https://knicksfilmschool.substack.com/p/risk-vs-reward

Staying in Indiana for a moment, fresh off reports of an unsettled locker room and one Eastern Conference executive betting that the Pacers trade two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo before next season, I heard from a league source that “he wants out,” and that there are whispers of the Knicks being a potential trade partner. 2 days ago – via Knicks Film School @ Knicks Film School

I found a snippet of this on Hoopshype. Interesting read. But again, not sure about the source.

So, I finally clicked through on that Knicks Film School link and had to laugh a bit. They used this quote from a Brian Windhorst article from back in July ( https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29544380/nba-owners-current-financial-turmoil-portends-future-payroll-problems ).

Herb Simon, the Pacers’s owner, has reportedly seen his company’s stock decrease by $25 billion (with a "B") in total value since January.

SO I LOOKED INTO IT. Simon, being an insider for Simon Property Groups (SPG), has to report his trades as an insider. On 12/12/2012, he sold 928,200 shares of SPG at a price of $149.75 (for a total value of $139m in sold shares), leaving him with roughly 2,000 shares still owned. He was largely divested. His next buy/sell of SPG wasn't until 3/18/2020 when he purchased 188,572 shares of SPG at a price of $52.68 (for a total investment of $9.9m). The company is trading at $68.00, as of close on 9/3/2020, leaving his total investment of SPG valued at $12.98m.

You can look up some of his trades at the following link. He's also been buying a lot of Emmis and Cheesecake Factory. Obviously, this isn't ALL of his market trades overall, but it's anything that he is affiliated with (position with the company, board of directors, etc), or anything that he owns 10% or more of the company overall.
https://www.gurufocus.com/insider/simon+herbert/name


So, if you see a report that claims that the Pacers will move Oladipo just to save money, you can call some bull on it and point them back here.