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What is up, fellow thermonuclear a
Eppers. I am at Damp Valley coming

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at you with some good old fashioned, really crappy MBA content before we get

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into it, just a usual reminder
and also my plea to subscribe to us

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on videos, engage with the community. We're really trying to build up Hardwood

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Knox on YouTube. It's been a
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help us out. Hit the sub
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what is very saturated. We get
it basketball content market. But look,

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if you're in the comments and you
hate us or you hate listening, we

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really do put a lot of work
into covering the league as thoroughly and as

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unseriously yet seriously as possible. For
this I want to talk about my MVP

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ladder. I do that every two
weeks for Bleacher Reports. I'm gonna go

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through it. I will maybe stop
doing it once it becomes relevant, but

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early on there are shifts at the
top. This is only our second one.

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We're not even a month into the
season, and I think a lot

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of things have changed. You can
go back and check out the first one

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that I did two weeks ago.
Again, these are done on a biweekly

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basis. Right now, I want
to remind us all though, that I

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do have a set of criteria where
I understand that the MVP criteria is subjective.

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I don't wait record as much.
I'm looking at players who are most

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impactful, but I'm also trying to
separate, oh, do they actually just

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play on necessarily shitty teams and they're
able to ease uplift shitty teams? Because

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that's not necessarily a hard baseline to
stick with. That's not to say that

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net rating swings aren't impressive. It's
just that if you know if in the

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Warriors case, let you steph the
bench has been by and large awful.

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He has propped up this team and
is really good. He's on this ladder

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on make it clear, But how
much do we wait that and that's what

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I struggle with the most. You
can let me know what you think in

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the comments are on Twitter, get
at me on our discord, join our

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discord channel. The link to that
is in the YouTube and the podcast descript

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shown. But yeah, let's get
into this. Throw it up on the

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screen for anyone who's following along on
YouTube. Get to my You know,

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I blow through the top, I
mean number six through ten. I have

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a tie at number ten right now
in the honorable mentions department. I have

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Kevin Rant and Joel Embi. They
were both previously unranked in the last MVP

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Ladder, and Beat is averaging forty
points, five point three assists, two

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point eight blocks, and sixteen point
five free throw attempts per game since rejoining

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the Philadelphia seventy six ers rotation four
games ago. He hasn't played enough to

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be placed any higher than this,
but his case will continue to strengthen while

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James Harden his sidelined, especially if
he's putting up these mind melting numbers.

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Durant, meanwhile, is just on
fire. He is shooting and scoring and

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passing and defending his butt off,
and the Brooklyn Nets look like an actual

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basketball team. Following Kyrie Irving's suspension. I would keep my eyes on Katie's

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MVP stock too. He could look
either they're doing it without Kyrie Irving,

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in which case he gets the narrative
boot and vow he's doing it without Kyrie

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and what is Ben Simmons right now? Or Kyrie does eventually come back after

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he finishes, you know, his
laundry to do list after being suspended for

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promoting the anti Semitic documentary. We
don't know when he's gonna come back,

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but if he comes back, he'll
be a distraction. And if Katie can

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lead the nets through this and prevent
them from blowing up. I have my

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doubts, but Durant is balling out
right now. I would say everything about

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him is stood out, but the
defense in particular some of the help rim

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protection. He's been really good.
So those two are tied at number ten.

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I didn't want to choose Nikolaokis comes
in at number nine. For me.

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I think people will campaign to put
him higher. I do as who

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I think should win the award,
not who I think is going to win

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the award. I don't think Yokich
we finished in the top ten. Maybe

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he's not gonna win the award because
voter fatigue is a thing, right,

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wrong, It's a thing. Whatever. The Nuggets are starting to look dominant,

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though their schedule has something to do
with it. They're beating the Thunder

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and the Lakers. They beat the
Spurs, But he owns the highest net

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rating swing in the league. That
is a testament to some wonky bench returns.

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But it's also wild because some of
the bench lineups have been good and

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Yokich has just visibly deemphasized his scoring
and three point shooting. Not shooting the

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three ball well, not shooting it
as often, just not as aggressive as

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a score. I think there's probably
value in that. Let's get these other

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guys reps so they can figure it
out and be ready for the playoffs.

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You also have Jamal Murray and Michael
Porter Jr. Coming back from their injury,

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so you're trying to integrate them,
working with KCP to get his chemistry

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down. Having Aaron Gordon's score within
the flow of the offense, giving the

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ball to Bones, not necessarily playing
a ton alongside Yoki rolls. It's other

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players, so there are other players
that have the ball are operating as play

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finishers. That doesn't dilute his case. I just want to make that clear.

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But I'm splitting hairs here. We're
four weeks into the season or whatever

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it is. This is a tough
field to crack. Jokis was eighth last

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time around. John Morant comes in
at eighth. He was four last time

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around, falling four spots. Not
unprecedent at this time of year. It's

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also not a big deal. The
Grizzlies do spit spot fire when Morant is

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on the floor, But over the
past two weeks since I last did this,

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he's shooting under thirty one percent from
three and sub sixty seven percent from

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the foul line. That's just something
to monitor here. And also during this

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stretch, guess who leads the Grizzlies
in scoring, Desmond Bane, not John

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mart That's not really a demerit against
him. I just thought that was a

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fun fact. Long lived Desmond Bain
Devin Bookers at number seven. He was

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previously ranked fifth. There's nothing he's
done to warrant dropping down two spots.

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It's just that the field in front
of him is huge. You have,

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but look at the Suns and they're
coming off this loss to the heat,

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they did almost win scoring regression from
Chris Paul an injury to Chris Paul heal

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injury, Cameron Johnson knee injury,
out for a while, Still no Jay

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Crowder, borderline vanishing acts at times
from DeAndre Ayton, and yet the Sons

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are just this regular season machine.
Booker is the primary reason why. He

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is that steadying force on both both
on and off the ball, who scales

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to so many different lineups and offensive
approaches that I'm at the point where quantifying

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his impact is just impossible for me. Almost a good start, though he

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ranks third in plus minus for the
season. Under the circumstances, that's pretty

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damn impressive. That wraps up my
honorable mentions. There is no sixth because

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I have a tie for fifth place. It is Steph Curry and Shay Gilgist

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Alexander. I think this might surprise
some people, and I don't think that

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it should. The response that I'm
expecting to get is, oh, Steph

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and Shay both play for sub five
hundred basketball teams right now. It's true,

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but wins aren't a player stat.
Choosing between Steph and SGA when it

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came down to it was hard,
so I say didn't, and I can't

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bring myself to care that the Golden
State Warriors are comfortably below five hundred and

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combusting on defense, or that the
Oklhoma City Thunder ended their four game losing

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streak by beating the shorthanded Toronto Raptors
and the sad sorry direction list Nicks who

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might talk about in a few minutes. Both step and SGA are only responsible

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for what's happening when they're on the
floor and their teams are winning those minutes.

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Let's look at steph. Golden State
is a plus seven point nine points

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per one hundred possessions when Curry plays. That's a twenty seven point two point

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increase over its differential when he's not
on the court. It helps that he's

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playing within a killer starting five.
It also helps his case, that statistical

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case right there. It's not a
good thing for the war Is, want

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to make that clear, but it's
helped this net rating swing. That the

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bench is absolutely terrible, that doesn't
make his job any easier. Curry up

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lifts everyone around him just by virtue
of existing. He needs neither the ball

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nor actual numbers to break defenses,
and yet he's got the numbers anyway,

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thirty two point eight point six point
five assists while finding nylon on sixty four

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point eight percent of his twos and
forty three point four percent of his eleven

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point nine three point attempts per game. I need to fan myself off.

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That's a lot of three point attempts, putting Curry any higher though than fifth.

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For me, it feels a little
off. Over seventy percent of his

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possessions have come alongside Draymond Green and
Andrew Wiggins the Warriors, the other two

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best players. I would say,
if you want to argue for Jordan Poole,

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I would I would say absolutely not
playing a little bit better lately,

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but not as good as those two. So and then the bench just being

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so bad it unnecessarily exacerbates step and
Steph's importance. If the Warriors were,

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you know, like nine and three
right now, in spite of that bench

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and this, it was sort of
the same story than, Yes, Steph

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case is stronger. I guess they
would have to win the win minutes by

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more when he's on the court.
I'm just saying it didn't necessarily have to

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be like this. The Warriors chose
to stack the deck with youngsters who are

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either they're not gonna play like Alah
James Wiseman and then in which case they're

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taking up a spot on your or
they are going to play. I'll also

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James Wiseman previously and struggle and hurt
you. I don't know how that should

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you know affects Steph Curry's case.
He's in the top five. For me,

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that's a compliment. SGA. Meanwhile, thirty one point one points,

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five point seven assists, two point
one steals in one point five blocks per

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game on mine melting efficiency of his
own. Among everyone two attempt at least

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thirty five pull up jumpers this year, only Steph and KD have a higher

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effective a field goal percentage. SGA
is shooting seventy three percent at the rim

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and fifty one point seven percent on
step back jumpers. This all comes,

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by the way, on what can
only be described as end all usage.

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Out of two hundred and seventy three
players to appear in at least ten games,

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Luka Danchich is the only one with
a higher share of unassisted buckets through

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it all. Meanwhile, SGA has
kicked it into high gear on defense end

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the Thunder have outscored opponents by thirty
three points when he plays. In total,

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that's one point more than the Dallas
Mavericks of out paced opponents by with

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Luca himself on the court. Again, these are not perfect comps, but

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I would argue when you look at
the Mavericks on paper and their second and

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third and fourth best players just having
Christian Wood, Spencer, Dinwoodie, Dorian

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Finney Smith, I don't know how
close the Thunder come to rivaling that direct

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supporting cast as shallow as the Mavericks
are. Lu Dort is great. Josh

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Kiddy will show flashes Poku like dude, He's been amazing of late everything,

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just even just like blocking a crap
ton of shots. I mean, it's

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not he was a novelty at one
point, and he is a favorite of

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this podcast because this game is just
so quirky looking. He's a good player

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now. So I'm not trying to
discredit what the Thunder have going for them,

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But like you look at the supporting
cast. Everyone thought, okay,

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see was tanking Shay being able to
lead them to not just respectability, but

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decided the net positive point differential when
he's on the court. That's impressive.

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And I think it's worth being fifth. We can get into lay later in

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the season seeing how far below they
might be below five hundred. They're closer

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to five hundred than the Dubs right
now, and a bunch of other teams

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for that matter, So I'm not
getting, like I said, two caught

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up in the record. Steph was
previously ranked sixth, by the Way,

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and Shay was previously ranked seventh.
Donovan Mitchell comes in at number four for

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me. His previous ranking was two. He drops two spots from last time

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through no fault of his own.
The top five landscape is just a gauntlet

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of megastar power. Mitchell missed two
games because of an ankle issue over the

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past two weeks, and he had
a couple of shaky performances from beyond the

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arc that set the stage for this
teenc weens dip. Is it splitting year

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invisible sized tears? Hell fucking yes? Do I hate myself? App so

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freaking lutely That's how it goes atop
this early season mountain. Overall, though,

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Mitchell just continues to slay defenses from
basically everywhere. The share of his

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shots coming at the rim is at
its highest since twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen,

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A pretty substantial feat given some of
the lineups in which he works.

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When you're talking about he has two
or three non shooters on the court with

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him, more disarming, he's dropping
in seventy five percent of those looks at

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the basket. That's a logic liquefying
number. Even by early season standards,

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exactly one player is a better high
valu high volume excuse me, off the

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bounce three point shooter flamethrower right now. By the way, Mitchell is shooting

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forty point seven percent off the dribble
triples on more than five attempts per game.

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The only player with a higher success
rate on those looks with that volume

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00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:37,120
Steph Curry himself. Everyone should be
to me, in my opinion, impressed

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with how Mitchell has handled playing in
a new environment. Some of the timing

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and placement of his passes can get
weird, but his turnover rate has not

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exploded, and he's averaging as many
assists per thirty six minutes as he did

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00:12:48,159 --> 00:12:52,840
over the past two seasons while going
with his career high scoring rate per thirty

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00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:58,600
six minutes. Darius Garland is back
had that fifty point explosion on Sunday night.

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His return will diminish Cleveland's reliance on
Mitchell. That's actually a good thing.

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Mitchell's averaging over thirty nine minutes per
game for the season. That Ken

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and will and must come down.
Whether they'll pullback alongside Garland will adversely impact

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Mitchell's MVP case. That remains to
be seen. It hasn't yet. It

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00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:18,519
also doesn't matter and it will continue
not to matter as long as the Cavs

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look like contenders with him, because
that's what they still are in my book.

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They've had rocky performances, lost to
some pretty good teams, had that

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heartbreaker against the Oh my god,
the Warriors the other night, just really

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shoot drawn blanks. There they are
in the probably the second tier of contenders.

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Still for me, that is the
more important factor. But it will

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be interesting to see if Garland and
that dynamic impacts Mitchell's case at all,

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just because when you have so many
good players, I do think it's easier

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to dilute in MVP case three.
For me, this one look, before

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I even get to it, this
hurt, and I want to make it

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clear he's not gonna stay here,
and it's it's wild to me that number

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three is going to be considered an
insult, but it's the honest. He

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was number one last time, and
there's exactly one number that prevented him from

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being number one again. Three left
knees soornis cost him three of the Milwaukee

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Bucks his previous four games. Entering
Monday night, he now ranks outside the

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top one hundred and fifteen minutes played
quality over quantity. It's early, blah

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blah blah blah blah blah blah,
but the margins are just razor thin so

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early into the season, other players, including the two to come, are

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providing profoundly impactful performances across larger samples. That counts for something to me again,

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And as I reiterated, it doesn't
mean Yannest will be here forever.

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He won't. He was my MVP
pick for the year, by the way,

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and I would still pick him to
win it. It's just in the

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meantime when you don't have the sample
I have to I just have to make

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this change in the spirit of everything. But you dig into the numbers and

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it's like, well, is this
still sort of hopeless? If Jannie is

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going to stay healthy the rest of
the way, he's averaging thirty one point

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eight points, twelve point two rebounds, five point three assists, one point

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one steals, and one point four
blocks while downing fifty nine point four percent

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of his two and deleting entire possessions
from existence on defense. Both on and

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away from the ball, opponents are
shooting fifty percent against him at the rim.

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That's one of the seven stingiest marks
allowed amongst seventy eight players to contest

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as many close range attempts as Jannis
so far. I do think there's an

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over indulgence from the perimeter, and
that's probably the sole non availability knock against

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Yannis right now. Should almost one
third of his looks be coming from mid

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range if he's shooting twenty five percent
from there, perhaps not. I'm a

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big advocate though, of there's value
in the volume. The same goes for

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his pull up threes, which he's
not really hitting at a high clip himself.

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They keep defenses on tilt. Also, sub thirty percent from mid range

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is low for Yiannis, so that
will come up. Also, Also,

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none of this matters. He's a
dominant anomaly even when he's not hitting hitting

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those shots. Number two, This
is Look, it's a it's a majacolpa.

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Here. Number two is Jason Tatum. He was unranked in the last

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MVP ladder. I look, talk
about your big, bloated, inexcusable missus.

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I left him off. I too
heavily waited what happened in the Boston

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Celtics lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers and
the Chicago Bulls, along with Jason tatums

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slumping efficiency on off the dribble jumpers. I was wrong, and I'm sorry.

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I'm correcting it here. I'm not
over correcting it here, though,

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he came pretty darn close to topping
the whole ladder for me, his numbers

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induced rule. He's averaging thirty two
point three points and four point one assist

248
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,399
per game on sixty five point three
percent true shooting while getting to the foul

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line at a career eye clip.
His pull up jumper, as I already

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mentioned, it continues to miss the
mark, but he's somehow converting eighty percent

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of his looks at the basket while
getting to the line of ton That is

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definitely going to offset any sort of
perimeter wonkiness. It also helps that I

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think Boston has streamlined a lot of
his three point attempts, more of those

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are assisted than last year, and
he is banging in those. With that

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said, Boston has increased its reliance
on Tatum over the past couple of weeks.

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He has responded by reminding us all
that, yeah, the playmaking leap

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is real. His potential assist up
during this stretch, and he's never been

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more unpredictable or on target as a
live dribble passer. Even just over the

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shoulder kickouts, those have been fantastic
from him as well. I also look

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at it this way, no other
player, almost no other player, is

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as important to his team at both
ends of the floor. There's Yannis,

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maybe Shay at this point, and
that's probably it. It feels like the

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Celtics have Tatum checking harder assignments.
He remains disruptive away from the ball,

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and he's turning blocks from behind into
an art form that Tatum, by the

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way, is doing so much too. Damn near everything with a left wrist

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injury makes zero sense. Sure,
his MVP credentials maybe hard pressed to fend

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off Jannis and a certain someone who's
coming up over the course of a season.

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But if he recaptures any of that
off the dribble jump shooting mojo.

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I think we're looking at the most
complete player in the NBA, which then

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is going to significantly bump up his
MVP credentials. So he's at number two.

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Sorry for leaving him off the first
time. I do not think number

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one is going to come as a
surprise for anyone. It's Luca don Chich

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And what's interesting, I'm sure many
people had him number one from the start.

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I had him number three last time. The extent, and this for

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listeners of this podcast, who are
you know? Religious listeners want to again,

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I love you all, but this
is gonna sound repetitive. The extent

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to which Dallas is relying on Luca
is staggering, and it's also historical.

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Two other players have posted a higher
usage rate twenty sixteen seventeen Russell Westbrook in

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twenty eight twenty nineteen James Harden.
Even more absurd, almost ninety one percent

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of Dontess's made buckets have now gone
on assisted. Among every player to average

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at least fifteen minutes and appear in
five or more games, his ninety point

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seven percent mark would be the largest
share of unassisted field goals made in the

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NBA's tracking database, which goes all
the way back to ninety six ninety seven,

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and based off where are those numbers
were trending, I would argue it

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might be the highest share in NBA
history. I don't know enough about the

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history of the game how it was
in like, you know, the sixties,

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and I don't think it would be
in like that in the seventies,

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but the eighties maybe. But as
we were getting into the early twenty nineties,

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the people who led the league in
the share of unassisted field goals made

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were in like the seventy percent range. Now, let's be clear, all

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consuming usage doesn't automatically translate to substance. There will be those who argue Dontchets

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cannot play any other way, that
he has to be an unprecedented focal point.

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Maybe there's validity to that stance,
but we wouldn't know. The mass

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have never armed the offense enough to
explore just placing Donchez from the ball left

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untouched. This roster isn't built to
make that shift. Now. Either Spencer,

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Dimity, and Christian would combine to
open additional offensive doorways, but Dallas

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has opted so far against playing all
three together. And here's the other thing.

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For me, Donchitch is wrecking worlds
playing this way. His thirty four

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point three points per game lead the
league and come on sixty point nine percent

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footing inside the arc, including about
a fifty percent clip from mid range.

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His sub thirty percent success rate from
beyond the arc will rankle people, and

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it did for me last time.
It played a part in holding him back

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to that third spot. Since that
first MVP ladder, though, he's shooting

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thirty five point six percent entrees while
still getting to the foul line more than

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I can count. I also think
that his eight point one assist per game

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don't do his passing justice. He
is third in potential assists per game at

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00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:30,519
sixteen point three, so Dallas is
connecting on fewer than fifty percent of his

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assist opportunities. I would say there's
a lot they could go into that.

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Or are they getting grenades at the
end of the shot clock. Are they

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just not taking high quality looks but
only hard and Tyrese Halibert and have generated

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more potential assists per game. That's
a big deal. And I had people

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in the YouTube comments saying that done
isn't a good passer. If you have

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a problem with the ball dominance,
fine. Dontech is not a perfect player,

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but could we not pretend that he's
not a transcendent passer. Conventional wisdom

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00:20:56,839 --> 00:21:00,880
does suggest that he can't keep this
up because we've never seen anything like this.

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He's looked tired in certain games too. But the all done everything model

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is working. The master eighth in
net rating despite being just two games over

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five hundred. And if there's anyone
who can sustain this unreal usage, it's

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the twenty three year old who has
never been on a Dallas team equipped to

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saddle him with anything other than unreal
usage. That's where I'm landed with my

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MVP ladder, just to recap,
and we'll do the reverse order so that

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the ties were computing. I've done
at one, Jason Tatum at two,

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Janni's attend to Kumbo at three,
Donovan Mitchell at four, Steph and Sga

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are tied for fifth, so we
jumped to seventh. That is going to

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00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:42,519
be Devin Booker. Eight was John
Morant, nine is nicolea Yokich and a

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tie for tenth for me right now, Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant, who's

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your MVP. Let me know you
can get at me on Twitter. The

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socials are in the YouTube and podcast
description. Let's talk some New York Knicks,

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shall we. I have already noted
that I think the Nicks should fire

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TIBs. I do stand by that, but it's really time to talk about

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their overarching direction. And this was
something I thought about a lot after their

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loss to Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Most NBA teams have a discernible direction.

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These directions aren't always urgent. Think
about Orlando or successful think about Brooklyn.

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Some are reflected in singular players.
You can think about Dallas. A few

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00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,920
you have to squint to see,
like Chicago, but you can in fact

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00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:33,319
see them. Others are complicated by
surprise stop Utah or disappointment Minnesota, but

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they're nevertheless visible. Scattered throughout the
league, though, are a handful of

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00:22:38,279 --> 00:22:45,640
organizations without concrete course. The Knicks
are one of them, if not leading

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00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:49,759
that aimless charge. This has been
semi clear for longer than many will care

340
00:22:49,839 --> 00:22:55,880
to admit. It is painfully obvious
now on the heels of another telltale loss,

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this one one forty five to one
thirty five Sunday defeat at the hands

342
00:23:00,079 --> 00:23:03,400
the Oklahoma City Thunder that evoked a
fusive booze from the Madison Square Garden crowd,

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and justifiably so. In many ways. This ended up being the quintessential

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Knicks loss, a conflux of everything
that remains wrong, both fixable and absolute,

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with a nod to their Jechal and
Hide extremes. They opened with a

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00:23:18,039 --> 00:23:22,400
forty eight point first quarter on twenty
of thirty one shooting. Nine different players

347
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scored in the first twelve minutes.
New York led by as many as thirteen

348
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over the next two quarters, though
the Thunder out score the next by twenty

349
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:34,200
eight. Shankillin took center absolutely roasted
New York's defense. He scored twenty one

350
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:38,319
of his thirty seven points in the
third alone. Oklahoma City ranked hellfire from

351
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:44,240
three, going thirteen of eighteen,
which is over seventy two percent on its

352
00:23:44,279 --> 00:23:48,240
triples across those two quarters. That's
not bad for a team that entered the

353
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,960
game twenty fifth and point scored per
possession and twenty ninth of thirty teams in

354
00:23:52,079 --> 00:23:59,160
three point accuracy. One loss is
not typically all revealing. Letdowns happen over

355
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,839
the length of an eighty two game
regular season inexplicably blown leads in all but

356
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,359
this Knicks loss, like many others, featured many of the same issues that

357
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,400
have plagued them all year end.
In seasons past, New York's defense has

358
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:18,000
allowed teams to bomb away from deep
without much resistance since this season specifically,

359
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,000
tipped off closeouts on these threes range
from half assed to non existent for long

360
00:24:22,039 --> 00:24:26,599
stretches, and the primary offenders are
exactly who you think they are. Just

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00:24:27,039 --> 00:24:32,920
I'll leave it there. Only the
Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors allow a larger share

362
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,279
of opponent shots to come as completely
uncontested threes. The Knicks ranked twenty seventh

363
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:42,319
overall in the frequency with which they
surrender long range attempts, and they don't

364
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:48,200
counteract this volume that they forfeit with
the detectable identity elsewhere. They limit looks

365
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:52,039
at the rim, but when you
watch them, that does feel like a

366
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:56,920
function of offenses not needing to venture
inside the arc for quality shots. The

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00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:02,880
Knicks don't force turnovers or effectively as
the defensive glass. They're twenty sixth in

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00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,519
forcing turnovers and twenty fifth in defensive
rebounding. That defensive rebounding issue is new

369
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:12,359
that doesn't make it any less damning. Julius Randall right now is the only

370
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:18,720
Knicks big who averages at an above
average rate on the defensive glass. That

371
00:25:18,799 --> 00:25:22,079
was a terrible way of saying it, but he's the only Nick big who

372
00:25:22,079 --> 00:25:25,920
places better than the thirty eight percent
high in defensive rebounding. Think about that.

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That's not good. Oklahoma City,
going back to that game, did

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not win the fast break battle on
Sunday. It was a fourteen to fourteen

375
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:37,759
stalemate. That's something of a minor
miracle because the Knicks rank inside the bottom

376
00:25:37,799 --> 00:25:42,880
five of both transition frequency and points
allowed per possession. They are dead last

377
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:48,920
in points allowed per possession after committing
a turnover. That's according to in Predictable,

378
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:52,160
the first few stats were from cleaning
the glass. Sitting a hair below

379
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:56,319
five hundred fewer than fifteen games in
the season shouldn't be the end of the

380
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world. But this also presumes that
the Knicks are built to be better,

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00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:06,839
that their biggest obstacles are coaching,
injuries or work in progress chemistry. Coaching

382
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:08,799
comes closest to being the answer here. Like I said, I already called

383
00:26:08,799 --> 00:26:12,720
for the next to fire TIBs.
After there it was a November second loss

384
00:26:12,759 --> 00:26:18,920
to the Atlanta Hawks. People with
let's say, clearly vested interests in this

385
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,480
situation weren't thrilled about it. I
stand by it. My issues with Tibbs

386
00:26:22,759 --> 00:26:29,480
are neither original nor specific to this
season. Stubborn roster mismanagement has been his

387
00:26:29,559 --> 00:26:33,279
default, even dating back to his
Coach in the Year campaign in twenty twenty

388
00:26:33,319 --> 00:26:36,680
twenty one, and it was on
full display in the Thunder Games. Specifically,

389
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,920
RJ. Barrett picked up his fourth
foul with nine minutes fifty eight seconds

390
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,759
left in the third quarter. Timms
then proceeded to sub him out for Evan

391
00:26:44,839 --> 00:26:49,160
Fournier. RJ. Barrett never saw
the floor again. When when Tims was

392
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:56,119
asked about this after the game,
his response predictably lacked substance. He said,

393
00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:00,400
we just got behind by so much
that we were just looking for and

394
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,880
that group that was in there after
Barrett subbed out gave us a little bit

395
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:07,119
of a spark, so that's what
we went with. That's asinine logic.

396
00:27:07,599 --> 00:27:11,519
Fournier has played most of this season
like he deeply wants the Knicks to land

397
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:17,039
Victor Woman Yama. In no world
is he the answer over Barrett. Never

398
00:27:17,079 --> 00:27:19,680
mind, that Fournier went over three
during his fourteen ish second half minutes.

399
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:27,079
He was a he was a plus
I think six during that span. But

400
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:32,799
whatever, Barrett is no worse than
the second most important player to this organization.

401
00:27:32,799 --> 00:27:37,240
When you're looking at on the court
stuff, it's Jon Brunson and then

402
00:27:37,319 --> 00:27:40,519
him, and that like that's like
you're hoping RJ. Barrett Popps. You're

403
00:27:40,519 --> 00:27:44,400
hoping Jon Brunson continues to play as
well as he has. You don't rope

404
00:27:44,559 --> 00:27:48,160
RJ to the bench for the chance
to maybe, possibly, if you're lucky,

405
00:27:48,319 --> 00:27:53,839
potentially win a November matinee against the
thunder spelling Barrett for foul trouble.

406
00:27:55,039 --> 00:27:57,599
I get it, But that's also
debatable in itself, and you could also

407
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:02,680
point to him not having the best
season. His performances are littered with drives

408
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:08,359
to the basket that have unplanned or
unknown destinations, and he's been frustratingly inconsistent

409
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,039
on defense. He was two of
ten when Tims pulled the plug on Sunday.

410
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:18,279
Still, his play over the previous
seven games, when he was averaging

411
00:28:18,599 --> 00:28:22,079
twenty one point five points while shooting
fifty three percent on twos and forty three

412
00:28:22,079 --> 00:28:26,039
percent from three warranted benefit of the
doubt two Tims's credit, he did at

413
00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:30,960
least dust off Quentin Grimes to chase
around Shay. Oh no, wait,

414
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:34,960
he didn't. That's right, because
Grimes is situational, because his conditioning isn't

415
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,400
up to stuff, because he suffered
a left foot injury that's largely kept him

416
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,160
out of the rotation, and because
the Knicks are clearly too good, clearly

417
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:47,640
too good to give him reps outside
garbage time. And also though, because

418
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,519
Grimes might still be injured based off
things that we've heard, in which case,

419
00:28:51,839 --> 00:28:56,720
why is he situational? Not just
out? Transparency has never been the

420
00:28:56,759 --> 00:29:00,799
Knicks' preferred mode of operation, so
I reckonny that Grimes's status might be above

421
00:29:00,839 --> 00:29:06,240
Tips's pay grade. The continued lack
of invention behind lineups and rotations is not

422
00:29:06,799 --> 00:29:11,160
Remember when he actually played Randall and
Obi Toppin together for ten glorious minutes against

423
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,079
the Sixers, and how the Knicks
were a plus fourteen during that stretch and

424
00:29:15,119 --> 00:29:19,240
how they came from behind the beat
the Sixers that game. That duo has

425
00:29:19,319 --> 00:29:23,559
logged dirty two total minutes since and
didn't play against the Thunder. I don't

426
00:29:23,599 --> 00:29:27,400
care about the plus minus the two
are twenty eight since that Sixers game.

427
00:29:27,759 --> 00:29:33,720
It's heavily skewed by their November November
fifth loss to the Celtics. The sample

428
00:29:33,799 --> 00:29:37,079
overall, though, is just too
small to be deemed conclusive one way or

429
00:29:37,119 --> 00:29:41,039
the other. It's on tips to
make it conclusive. Mitchell Robinson's out with

430
00:29:41,039 --> 00:29:45,799
a knee injury. Thoroughly explore the
fucking pairing for crying out loud, especially

431
00:29:45,799 --> 00:29:49,000
if it ensures Toppin never winds up
logging fewer than eight minutes in a game

432
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,000
like he did against the Thunder on
Sunday. Yes, I want to make

433
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:57,160
it clear Toppin's core time has been
up during Robinson's absence. That doesn't make

434
00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:04,519
this excusable, so that Tims needs
to be criticized for not implementing different lineups

435
00:30:04,599 --> 00:30:10,359
or changes elsewhere. Top and Randall
remaining breaking case or emergency that receives the

436
00:30:10,359 --> 00:30:15,400
most attention, but nearly ninety percent
of Barrett's possessions still come alongside Randall.

437
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,319
That's a problem, and heaven forbid
Tims play more than two of his perimeter

438
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,759
youngsters at a time. The Strickland
had this very interesting tweet that said,

439
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:30,000
if you're like me. You probably
saw Cam Reddish and Emmanuel quickly defending their

440
00:30:30,039 --> 00:30:33,039
asses off Amiss the chaos, and
thought, what would the two of them

441
00:30:33,079 --> 00:30:36,799
look like next to RJ? How
could they help him? The trio of

442
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,240
Iq, Reddish and RJ has played
four minutes together the entire season. Think

443
00:30:40,279 --> 00:30:44,079
about that. That's the end of
the tweet. This ship matters because self

444
00:30:44,079 --> 00:30:48,200
discovery matters. The Knicks are not
title contenders right now, They're not even

445
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,599
a playing team. Developing kids and
plumbing unproven lineups should be at the top

446
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,799
of their to do list. And
yet I will say, while Tims deserves

447
00:30:56,799 --> 00:31:00,720
plenty of the blame, the front
office of Leon Rose and his primary decision

448
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,599
makers have not done nearly enough to
justify keeping their jobs. Maybe they have

449
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,759
a problem with the way Tibbs coaches
the roster. They're also the ones who

450
00:31:07,759 --> 00:31:12,559
assembled it, who rushed to extend
Julius Randall after his outlier twenty twenty one

451
00:31:12,599 --> 00:31:18,160
campaign, who gave Evan Fourier three
guaranteed years, and who, most recently

452
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:23,359
and worst of all, continue to
give Tibbs a depth chart that allows him

453
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:30,359
to overindulge his commitment to veterans and
rigidity that he disguises his continuity. Armchair

454
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,880
idiots like myself can call for Tibbs's
job, and look, if we're being

455
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,759
honest, we know this ends with
him losing it. Ian Begley went on

456
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:42,279
SNY and said that thibodeaus seat is
warm, and Ian Begley's is plugged into

457
00:31:42,279 --> 00:31:47,839
the New York Knicks as any one
person could be. If he also said,

458
00:31:48,079 --> 00:31:51,400
does per sn why if you have
another few of those games on the

459
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,839
upcoming road trip where the Knicks look
just terrible, I think there's going to

460
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:59,519
be a big change made, whether
it's Thibodeaux or something else. Tibbs is

461
00:31:59,559 --> 00:32:04,000
not the only problem. He probably
isn't even the Knicks' biggest problem. Another

462
00:32:04,119 --> 00:32:07,799
coach could take over and prioritize development
or functional flexibility, and that's not going

463
00:32:07,839 --> 00:32:12,599
to rescue the Knicks from the carefully
crafted, vague position they're in now.

464
00:32:13,079 --> 00:32:15,480
Jalen Brunson is their best player.
Think about that. He's really good.

465
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:20,240
But you can only go so far
as a team when your best player is

466
00:32:20,279 --> 00:32:23,240
maybe a top fifty guy. That's
why New York is biding its time to

467
00:32:23,279 --> 00:32:28,599
trade for a superstar, is what
people are gonna say, and sham Sharania

468
00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,200
just said it. He noted during
an appearance on FanDuel TV. Executives around

469
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:35,880
the league believe that the Knicks are
kind of hoarding their first round picks,

470
00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,480
just waiting for that next mega star
to become available. This theory, though

471
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:45,039
a titillating headline, is just making
fine powder out of a record already broken

472
00:32:45,079 --> 00:32:49,559
down into smithereens. Acquiring a star
has supposedly been this front office's plan all

473
00:32:49,599 --> 00:32:53,920
along. They then proceeded to not
acquire Donovan Mitchell, a star who wanted

474
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:58,599
to play in New York. Whether
mortgaging the farm for him was the right

475
00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:01,599
call is a separate matter. The
Knicks were literally one first round pick away

476
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:07,119
or a Quentin Grimes away for making
it happen, according to Sharrania, In

477
00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,079
reality, they're probably better off.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were actually one trade away

478
00:33:10,079 --> 00:33:14,400
from imminent, if not instant,
title contention. The Knicks were not,

479
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,519
and draining their asset pool could have
locked them into just a glitzier looking bubble

480
00:33:17,519 --> 00:33:22,880
of mediocrity that they're drifting within now. But what does that say about New

481
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:27,400
York that it was prepared to give
up so much just to Chase early playoff

482
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,880
exits. I guess is that that
Mitchell was the first of multiple stars.

483
00:33:30,519 --> 00:33:34,960
Good luck with that. The superstar
trade market, as we've talked about a

484
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,839
lot around these parts, isn't conducive
to acquiring more than one anymore. Landing

485
00:33:38,839 --> 00:33:45,119
Mitchell and Rudy Gobert drained draft pick
Cachets in Cleveland and Minnesota, respectively.

486
00:33:45,519 --> 00:33:50,319
Ideally, you want at least one
star or a future star in place before

487
00:33:50,359 --> 00:33:52,799
you go all in on another.
The Knicks don't have that player. They

488
00:33:52,799 --> 00:33:57,079
don't. Barrett is the closest they
get to a blue chip cornerstone, and

489
00:33:57,079 --> 00:34:00,440
he's apparently not a lock to play
over Evan for Jay when Tips is searching

490
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,359
for life, it is here to
me where New York differs from so many

491
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:08,519
other not good teams. Oklahoma City
has its timeline with Shaye Gilgert, Alexander,

492
00:34:08,679 --> 00:34:13,559
Josh Giddy, the injured Jet Homegrin. The Houston Rockets have their timeline

493
00:34:13,559 --> 00:34:15,760
with Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr. Alpery, and Shane Goud. The

494
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:20,760
Magic have Theirs Pallo Bank, Carol
Franz, Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Wendell

495
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,599
Carter Jr. The Detroit Pistons have
theirs Kay Cunningham, Jane and Ivey,

496
00:34:23,679 --> 00:34:29,519
Jalen Durhan, so on and so
forth. It doesn't matter whether you believe

497
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:34,400
in the long term viability of these
young cores. The fact is they and

498
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:39,920
the possibility they bring exist, and
their teams are built around optimizing and prioritizing

499
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:44,760
their development. The Knicks front office
hasn't done that for their young guys.

500
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,039
Worse, they haven't put the team
in a position to even find that pull

501
00:34:49,159 --> 00:34:53,320
star prospect. Skirting in actual rebuild, while questionable, this is someone who

502
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:58,480
wants the Knicks to actually do an
overhaul recognize that that they won't it that

503
00:34:58,639 --> 00:35:01,840
idea though. Skirting build does not
without merit when you're in the star acquisition

504
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:06,880
game. But the Knicks don't appear
married to that either. Mitchell alone would

505
00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:09,360
not have altered them into contention,
but there are maybe five players in the

506
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:13,320
league who would, and none of
them are on the verge of getting dealt.

507
00:35:14,119 --> 00:35:16,840
Meanwhile, the Knicks themselves seem to
know they won't stumble into star arrivals

508
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:22,920
during free agency. Red carpet names
aren't leaving the open market anymore, and

509
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,239
we sure as hell know new York's
front office hasn't amassed all those first rounders

510
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:29,840
to draft and develop. Much of
this could be forgiven if the Knicks were

511
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:35,360
at least invested in fully coherently exploring
the hand they have now they're not.

512
00:35:36,079 --> 00:35:40,519
We wouldn't be here together as a
family discussing another meltdown that wanted for rhyme

513
00:35:40,679 --> 00:35:45,679
and reason. If they were is
New York rebuilding? Are they open to

514
00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:50,760
it? Are they devoted to the
superstar chase? Are they worried about re

515
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,039
entering the top six of the East
first and figuring out the rest later?

516
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:59,239
Do they aspire to have a charlotte
esque monopoly on the nine through eleven seeds?

517
00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,239
These are based sick questions, and
the inability for New York to answer

518
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:09,360
them is equal parts maddening and long
standing. Fundamental directions are mirrored in how

519
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:15,119
a franchise is built and managed.
Built by Leon Rose, managed by Tom

520
00:36:15,119 --> 00:36:21,239
Thibodeau. These Nicks are the spinning
image of an organization that hasn't the faintest

521
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:27,519
idea of what it's doing or where
it's going until next time. I'll leave

522
00:36:27,519 --> 00:36:30,079
you with the shout out to the
one, the only, the indelible a

523
00:36:30,159 --> 00:36:35,360
former nick who could have turned everything
and anything around Frank Nilikina