Speaker 1: What is up?
Speaker 2: Feula Siko's I'm Dan fora Valley coming at you with
my certified fantabulous host, mister Grant Hughes end. As we
roll out another twenty twenty five twenty twenty six NBA
season look ahead, we are joined by Andrew Claudio of
Nick's Film School to talk about the Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 1: No excuse me, sorry, we're.
Speaker 2: Talking about the Knicks, which means we get to talk
to g MAC. I don't know who called you, Gmac,
but it's GMC around these parts. Follow Andrew on the
Socials Machine at Andrew Claudio underscore spelled exactly as it sounds,
and it's on the screen, and it's in the podcast
and YouTube description. Andrew, welcome back for year like five
or six of you doing this. Thank you so much
for coming back on How are you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm good. It's good to be back. I gotta mean
that for Valley that I texted you when you texted
me about like it's time for the preview to do
this show again. That my reaction to seeing your text
on screen was like, I've been waiting for this text.
I said to my wife, you know I've been waiting
for fivality to text me about when we're gonna talk
about the Knicks. And after years of you wanting the
Knicks to fire the head coach and you being on
here to be like Whenther, the Knick's gonna get rid
of tibbs, We're finally here to talk about the Knicks,
having fired the coach that you wanted. Gone so happy
to be here, and obviously I'm also happy that I
finally get to do one with Grant as well. Well.
Speaker 2: Grt, I just very clearly are you taking notes about
how you should be reacting when I text you about podcasting.
Speaker 1: Time? Every single time you text Dan. I turned to
my wife and I say like, oh, thank god I
got to hear from Dan again. It's a blessing exactly. Yeah,
I mean this is fancy.
Speaker 3: I feel like I can't wait to get into this,
especially with the TIBs of it all, because I know Dan,
over the years you have advocated for some things with
regards to TIBs that not everybody else has. But also
because I talked to you so often, I know that
there have been times where you walked it back. So
I'm just this, I don't know, we don't need to
segue anything, right, we should just get into the first question,
which is really Andrew, like, where do you.
Speaker 1: Land on the tips firing? And will let Dan say
his piece? But do you think he did enough to
get another year out of this or was it just time?
And if so, why can he answer both questions be yes?
Like I thought he did enough to get another year.
I left the Conference finals being like that was a
pretty horrific coaching performance by Tibbs. I don't think it's
even the reason they lost the conference finals. Divine intervention
and blowing a fourteen point lead with two and a
half minutes in Game one is to me why they
lost the conference finals. And I give him a ton
of credit for why they beat Boston, like he had
Missoula going to hack a mitch on Mitchell Robinson just
to get their backup center out of the game, like
I actually thought he Jedi mind tricked him because the
three point variance was going his way in the Celtics series.
And I think all of those feelings I'm expressing the
maddening tendencies and principles that he holds true to, and
then how they benefit you when you least expect them.
In situations where the margins are so tight are the
TIBs conversation Like that is the entire Tibbs experience. And
I think he's a really good coach. I think the
further you get into the playoffs, his weaknesses are on
full display. And it's that his inflexibility doesn't allow him
to go to option C, Option D, option E. And
when you're going up against the coach like Carlisle, who's
going to like Tony Bradley and Thomas Bryant and Ben
Shephard and guy eleven, twelve and thirteen on his bench
and he knows he can because he used the regular
season to see how those guys can contribute, Whereas Tibbs
was like, I have my seven and that's why I'm
going to play during the regular season. He doesn't have
that option. So I landed at the end of the
season being like, how are you going to fire a
guy that made it to the conference finals, while also
saying if they went a different direction, because next year
is the year, I would understand that I'd welcome it.
And it's how I ended up reacting to the news
like I understand that I welcome it, So I know
you guys live.
Speaker 3: This was more of a day to day thing for
you guys, but it's you're pulling me back to like
the postseason and all the conversations we had about how
like everything that's good about Tibbs is also bad, like
from the rigidity to like there's like all of the
speechures are bugs in a certain way because it's like, yeah,
he doesn't go deep enough into the bench, but you
guys know who's.
Speaker 1: Playing, and you know how many minutes it's gonna.
Speaker 3: Be, and like there's something to be said for the
just like the hunker down and get after it of
it all, but also it wears everybody out, like all
the positives were negatives. I think, like, did you this
is sort of how I think as I think about
it now. Distill it was like how good is good
enough for the Knicks because and that's what you're saying,
like he gets to the conference finals. Maybe that's sort
of a sub question here is like was there a
coach on planet Earth that would have gotten this roster
farther had it been used differently last year?
Speaker 1: Well, so that not to spoil the rest of the show, Yeah,
it's literally the test case we're about to see with
Nip Brown. I think the Knicks will be better during
the regular season this year. I think they'll be We'll
learn more things. They'll use the regular season for data
collection and to see what an actual five out lineup
looks like, and to see what playing with more pace,
and to seeing what guy eleven, twelve, and thirteen. Like
I mentioned the Pacers did last year, like I think
they'll be more flexible. I think there'll be a more
creative plane in place other than just hitting the same
button over and over again, even if the button is
leading to some winning. I think the well will be
much more entertaining and will look better on paper. This
year they lose in the second round, it's technically not
as good as last year, and it's technically around earlier
than they were eliminated the year before. And it's why
the unfairness of the job really was how I processed
his firing, the fact that you can get a team
like the Knicks that hasn't been to the conference finals
in twenty five seasons, to the conference finals, like dethrone
the Celtics. I know Tatum got hurt, but they were
down nine, about to go, got to go down three
to one in Game four when that happened, and again
I say, they get to the next they get to
the Pacers series and lose, and I said, if they
fired Tims, I would understand it. Like it's just the
nature of the business that if you wonder if a
team has the next level to go to, you want
to fire the coach first and see if someone else
can get them there. And then if that coach can't
get them there, you don't go full Matt Ashpia and
just keep hiring coaches until you eventually blow up the roster.
I think if Mike Brown can't and this pivot into
leaning more of an offensive mindset, if that doesn't get
them there, then we'll see some roster shake ups next year.
But I'm at the point of I need to see
if they're deployed differently, if this looks different, if it's
more sustainable, And I think that's more the motivation behind
going on to a new coach.
Speaker 2: When you look at what Mike Brown is trying to
implement and the buzzwords, the stuff that he has said
ever since coming where it's played with more pace, we
have more three pointers, five out lineups using Galen Brunson
off the ball, using Karl Anthony Towns as a playmaker
of all of the things he wants to incorporate, this
would be a two fold question. What do you view
as sort of the most difficult thing for him to
implement and what is the one that most intrigues you.
If they're the same thing, that's of course fine.
Speaker 1: Well, some of these principles they can flick, Like if
you're going five out, that means Cat is at the five.
So your rim protection is going to be garbage. Like
you said it, I just like I saw it for
eighty two games last year, and Kat played dropped the majority,
the majority, the entirety of last season. And then we
got to the playoffs and they're switching against the Celtics
and then they're starting Mitchell Robinson in the Conference finals.
You don't have any possessions. You might know this already, Dan,
you have any possessions. Jalen Brunson, Mitchell Robinson and Karl
Anthony Towns had played together before suddenly Cat became the
starting center in Game three of the Conference Finals. How
many they had played together in their lives before that?
Wasn't it like one hundred and eleven or something? Ridiculously low.
No way less, way less forty not possessions minutes, minutes.
Speaker 2: Oh minutes, I'll say forty.
Speaker 1: The answer fourteen. The answer is two. There you go,
like a couple out of bounds possessions like it's basically
what they did. They played the double bigs with with
Brunson like barely at all during the regular season, and
I think Mitch is about to be the starter, so
you're about to see a lot more of it during
the regular season. I think the most difficult thing to
and it's why I think we could get to the
end of this year and come to the same conclusion
that you did when you fired Tibbs. It's that I
don't know how sustainable a defense you can actually create
with both Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns on the
floor at all times. I do like some of the
offensive principles that he's trying to creatively instill, whether it
be like you said, Brunton off ball, taking more threes,
you know, running the offense through cat like a hub.
I like, Kat's not Hartenstein, so it's gonna be so
much more difficult to do that. Add TIBs, run the
offense through like Randall at the at the nail or
Hartenstein at the nail extended, and like you saw ways
that the Knicks actually got creative with the right center.
I just I think it's some of the complications with
running an offense through Kat. So all of this to say,
the defense, and a sustainable playoff defense in particular, is
the most difficult thing. I'm excited to see why of
the offensive principles that he's going to install, because I
think that's why you went and got him is a
focus now needs three to a back on the offense
on this team, and especially with the roster that they
put together.
Speaker 2: So I do think we all agree that Robinson is
the favorite to be the final starter for the season.
Is that who you would start?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Is that the right answer? Because the word you mentioned
before is conflict And this runs completely counter to the
five out model. And I know you don't have to
play the entire game like that, but if Josh Harden
is coming off the bench, you presume he's in aw
of minutes. And it was like eighty eight percent of
Townses and Brunton's minutes came with Josh hart last year.
That's not five out I'd like, Josh Hart's a really
fun player, but that's not five out, and so I
just don't which again, if you're concerned about the defense,
then sure that makes some semblance of sense, but you
might have again the worst of not the worst, but
this problem where we'll catch the five, but we're also
not five out, and that's just like, okay, well what
are we what's happening here?
Speaker 1: So I've been on record I would start duce to withcbride.
Speaker 3: Yes, oh you guys, you guys became best friends.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, it's not even I do have the same
concerns that Tims did and maybe other people have about
the two small guards, like I do have concerns towards
that the numbers are just astronomical when Brunton's next to McBride,
and the eighty three possessions we saw of Deuce in
place of Josh Hart, plus the starters like also astronomical.
I just want to see it until it stops working,
like the data at a certain point is allowed to
just be right for a while, even if it's like
visually is like, oh wow, how am I going to
protect against two small guards? And this is honestly one
of the biggest buggaboos with TIBs is like he did
this to Manuel quickly too, where two small guards is
just such a principle He's never going to uh instill
and and I guess more specifically abandon like I believe
in size more than anything, and it's why like RJ.
Barrett was playing over at Manual quickly, even though one
was more effective than the other, I would start Douce.
I don't think they're going to I also think there's
a lot of pros to Mitchell Robinson being the starter
you Mitch. I think if you get creative with staggering,
could just be like an impactful six minutes at a
time player. I thought that's what you saw in the playoffs.
He comes in for six minutes, messes stuff up like
secures your defense becomes the rimp protector, the offensive rebound
like possession battle machine, and then you go to somebody else.
So if you go six minutes at the beginning of
each half with Mitch, then you go to your five
out concepts, then you bring you go to Josh Hart
and Mitch, and you're leaning even further into the possession
battle like you have multiple ways to do it. I'm
less tied to the five out thing, like with Deuce
being the starting lineup than I am. I needed to
see it, like I need more than eighty three possessions
this season? How about like fifteen a game? Like the
four minutes a half? Why can't I see five out
in the first and second half, which is to Dan's point,
is not what happens when either Mitchell Robinson or Josh
Harder on the floor. So they should be partners in
the second unit or taking advantage of second units. And
it's why I'm very curious how much we're going to
see it this year.
Speaker 3: It feels like what we're getting to here is is
now we definitely it's gonna be interesting to see what
Mike Brown does, like tactically, like how does he increase
the pace? How does he get the Knicks to not
be one of the slowest teams in the league to
just get into the first action like all that kind
of stuff. But it feels like the real test of
Mike Brown is gonna be based on what you guys
are talking about, like how effectively night to night can
you use these different looks that you're gonna have based
on the situation, Because like there isn't a perfect one, right,
Like if you if Cat's the five, then like you said,
the rim protection's terrible. If he's the four, you guard
him with a small like it just neutralizes what's great
about him. Now you don't have any space, You have
less spacing. But like the point is, these are all
buttons that Tibbs had available to push and didn't, and
so just does Mike Brown push more buttons? It feels
like it just like mess around a little bit. And
I think would you say, like it's a data collection season,
which I think that's really what this is, right, It's
not so much like can.
Speaker 1: They play faster?
Speaker 3: It's just like can you use the what you have
in more were like creative ways.
Speaker 1: I guess I'll go a step further, like available buttons
to TIBs last year? Right, I'm I'm I'm almost positive
Dan knows this, But like, are you guys aware how
many possessions the starting five that the Knicks had last year?
How many they played together? It was by far the most. Yeah,
it was by far the most, by far the most,
by eight hundred possessions. And it wasn't like a Gangbusters
starting five. It was plus I'm going to it now.
So it played eight hundred now, hold on, I had
my notes better yesterday. It ended up being like when
you included the playoffs, they ended up being like dead
even in point differential for the year. Yes, so regular
season they played four hundred and forty more than anybody else,
eighteen hundred and forty eight possessions that starting five played
together finished finished plus four, which the fifty first percentile
according to Clean the Glass. And like the playoffs, there
were a negative and if you really you're really sorty,
you gotta go from January first on at that point,
and teams had started to do this, but it was
really the Thunder game on January third that we saw it.
Teams decided, we're going to put a center on Josh
Hart and put our biggest wing on Cat and that's
just how we're going to guard the Knicks for the
rest of the season. And it neutralized any of the
Gangbusters offense that we saw from the first two and
a half months of the season, and Tims never adjusted.
He was just like, I love Josh Hart. Everything he
does is great, And to be clear, I love Josh Hart.
A lot of the things he does is great. I
think on a team that has Hartenstein or doesn't have
Karl Anthony Towns, I think I would start Josh Hart
because I want the possession battle. It's just that we
saw it for two years, whether it be the Cavs
series or the Sixers series. You deflate teams by having
three and four and five possessions every time on one
side of the court. And it's how you create open
three point looks is off of offensive rebounds. And if
you want to play that way, you can. You can't
play that way if you have Karl Anthony Towns on
the floor. And Tibbs never adjusted at any point. So
let's see what we could do if we put a
fifth shooter that teams are going to guard differently, have
Cat matched up against the center, which no center could
really guard him. We saw him one on one against
rudygo Bart in Minnesota and he went for forty and
twenty last year. Like I, he didn't utilize Kt the
way he could be best utilized on offense. And then
if you have him as your center on defense, it's
like having him in without Rudy Gobert. So I all
these buttons you're right were available to him last year,
and he didn't push them, which is why I was
going into this season thinking I see to see it,
like can I see it? And then come playoff time,
hopefully those same concerns we all have, you know, aren't
as fully realized as they were in the Pacers series
last year. The Josh Hart.
Speaker 2: Stuff is interesting because I think one of the stronger
cases to not start Duce McBride is that you don't
necessarily want Josh Hart at Mitchell Robinson playing together all
that much. The data on that last season was really bad,
and when you're talking about the Knicks were outscoed, their
offensive rating was in the toilet or close to it,
and their defensive rating was in the toilet when those
two played together. When you're talking about those like Josh
Hart like a non relative non shooter, he will shoot
defenses don't care, and then Mitchell Robinson an actual non shooter, like, yeah,
I guess there'd be benefits on the glass defensively, but
it speaks to I think how difficult of a fit
Josh Hart can be for maybe the way that the
Knicks would want to play or what should be their
core lineups. And so I'm just curious as to where
you land on that. And then also just we have
the injury news coming out of media day, does seem
like the back is fine coming out of that first
preseason game, But where do you see like him working
with a finger splint outside of the shooting, which is
going to be ify to begin with, do you see
that impacting like and or are you worried about it
impacting any area of his game, whether it is the rebounding,
the rim pressure, or whatever.
Speaker 1: So let's start here. I actually do believe in the
Josh Hart Mitch line ups in sec against second units.
I think some of the lineups that she saw that
didn't work out the most, Like in the playoffs, they
were a positive and it was largely second units that
they were taking advantage of. And it's why, like the
cleaning the glass data for the postseason ends up being
not as good as it was before they started playing
together most of the Pacers series. All that to say,
I think you lean into Tibbs ball. When Josh Hart
plays at Mitch Robinson, you go full possession battle. You're
putting your two best rebounders on the team and just
I'll say, like better than Kat as a rebounder because
I think Josh Hart gets to he doesn't get the
fifty to fifty balls, he gets to eighty twenty balls.
He's like the best guard rebounder outside of Rust that
I've ever seen. I think all the things you mentioned,
the fingersplint, the I mean, the back issue, I'm not
even that concerned about watching the game yesterday, I think
he would have went back in the game if I
think they might have even said that. So he got
He got ejected because he threw the ball into the crowd.
He was upset and that he did he did a josh.
He did a josh again. He's just trying to give
souvenirs and they're penalizing him. I think he was very
nervous about the Yankee game later that night and just
wanted to go take the rest of the game off.
If you see him on Saturday, he might do it
again because the Yankees play at four o'clock on Saturday
and he wants to make sure he has they have
his undivided attention. I think the finger splint more than anything,
and and the surgery he had in the off season
is even more of a reason why he can't be
your starter, because if he's already unwilling to shoot, if
he has five working fingers on each hand, how much
like is it gonna translate on the court. You're still
like a very h a shooter that hesitates more often
than you should. And I also wonder if having an
injury or or a sensitive digital one of his hands
takes away some of his aggression, the ability to go
get those rebounds? Does that go? Are you avoiding contact
because of that that injury? So look, I need to
I've talked so negatively about him. I think the world
of Josh Hart like he was a playoff hero and
it's still a playoff hero. We did this this countdown
over at Nicks Film School of the top twenty five
Nicks of the past twenty five season, and the man
finished in the top nine, and I had him as
high as sixth. Like, I think Josh Hart is outstanding.
I don't think he underperformed last year. I think he
was overexposed. I think he's a twenty five to a
twenty to twenty five minute player that Tibbs was playing
forty minutes. And the more you play him, the more
his weaknesses are on full display. So I think if
he goes back to that twenty to twenty five minute
change of pace guy, I think you're looking at a
very productive player, and I think that's what he'll be
this season.
Speaker 3: I'm sure we'll get back to some of the bigger names.
We haven't really talked Brunson much, for example. We'll get there,
just because this is kind of a more immediate, I
don't know piece of the puzzle. So right now, there's
a bit of a roster crunch. There's a couple some
fairly decent sized names that you know are in camp,
and it essentially you can you can put a finer
point on this if if you want, But like the
Knicks may need to dump somebody that's younger in order
to onboard a couple of these veteran minimums to fit
them on the roster. Talking about guys like Malcolm Brogden,
Landry Shammitt. I can't remember who the third potential candidate is,
but it's a situation where they can't keep all these
guys unless or can't keep two of them, even unless
maybe Tyler Kohleik goes.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's Pacom Doatier.
Speaker 3: We can talk about like Deuce McBride, kind of getting
thrown into this like who's gonna go conversation like that
feels more tied to contract status and ain't like there's
just no way that he's not gonna be on this team.
If you had to choose how this all shakes out
from a you know, end of the roster perspective, how
would you go about it? Who do you think makes
the most sense to keep from from the group. That's
sort of you know, hiffy right now.
Speaker 1: So I want to be clear it's like a top
nine for me and then everything else while respecting like
what NBA players are and that this is a business
and that these guys have jobs and livelihoods that I
hope are not affected too much by me saying this.
Everybody else is indispensable, Like I have a top seven
really that made it to the conference finals last year.
I like Malcolm Brogdon. I like Jordan Clarkson in theory.
I like Clarry Shamitt in theory. I like the kids
have Poorty and Tyler Kolek have had moments, and Pacom
Dottie is an unknown at the moment, I assume pocom
Dottia is going to be the one that gets moved
so you could keep the veterans onto minimums that can
help contribute to your team. This year, I've heard that
they've been trying to move Tyler Kollach but just makes
too much and is already at the point in his
basketball car he's going to be twenty four years old.
It might already be twenty four years old, which in
NBA years, it is just not much of a unknown,
like we kind of know what you are at this
point in your basketball life. The Douce stuff was interesting
because I don't I agree with you, Grant. I don't
think it's You're not a serious organization if you're trying
to win a championship and you trade Duce McBride. In
my opinion, I think he just contributes to winning and
has shown to contribute to winning and the majority of
his NBA career, even when he couldn't shoot in the beginning,
he was going into the rotation and being a lockdown
defender as a fallaway jumpers saw it. So I look,
I I think it'll end up being pocom daddier. I
think it's a it's a game of musical chairs for
the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, spot. And it's why again
that those two words data collection being what this season
is all about for me, Like I want to see
you what Tyler Kullak looks at in spots. I want
to see what like Ariel have Porty when Mitch doesn't
play because he's not going to play back to backs
this year, Like what he looks at looks like as
like a backup center. Like there are a lot of
looks this team could give this season that will allow
us to learn come playoff time. Can I go to
this in an important spot? Can I? Is this a
sustainable thing? That this seems to be working for a game.
Let's see if it works for the next game. I
as far as the roster is concerned, I think Comb's
going to be the one that eventually gets dealt.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Clarkson obviously was the veteran name which inexplicably I
couldn't remember, because he's the one that seems most interesting.
Like if you're talking about liking Josh Hart and Mitchell
Robinson on Second Units, isn't I mean Clarkson probably doesn't
have his fastball anymore. I think he's thirty two or
thirty three and we haven't seen him in a winning
environment in a long time. But like, isn't he the
guy that maybe you throw out there to run a
second unit and he's like, well, I'll get you a
couple of shots, Like I don't know how good they'll be,
but if if you're built around heart Mitchell Robinson to
go get those misses like that kind of makes some
sense on paper, Right, is he someone that knicks fans
or you? I don't speak for everybody, but like feels
like he might be a piece that's maybe should be
like viewed a little notch above Brogden or Shammitt.
Speaker 1: Well, so I actually forgot the guy that I'm actually
the most excited about for the eighth man, and that's Yabu. Sure,
and we'll talk about him in a second. But I
looked at the Jordan Clarkson signing the way I looked
at the campaign signing last year, like this is a minimum.
If we get anything of value out of him, then
it's a positive. And the Knicks have just they've needed
bucket getters on the second unit pretty much since they
traded him manual quickly. They haven't had that. And a
guy that can create his own shot, a guy that
can create for others. Now, very interesting first game, first
preseason game, the joke on Twitter. I don't know if
you guys play two K at all, but the what's
that the NBA NBA two K the video game. The
A button I think is to pass on the Xbox,
And everybody was saying that Jordan Clarkson doesn't have an
A button and the man just would step on the
court regardless of shot clock or situation or even where
the defense was. I was like, I'm gonna get my
shots up today, and if some of those tendencies show
during the regular season, I don't think he's gonna play
very long. I reacted to the move in the moment
that yes, he could run your second unit offense. I
also think there's a world where if we just need
a guy to go out and get some buckets on
an important game in a second unit, I think he's
a perfect spot for that. And unlike the campaign situation,
if it doesn't work out, they can pivot. The Knicks
were so bereft for depth and talent and it's Tibbs,
so you're already like, aren't allowed to make a mistake
or two that he was like, all right, you're a veteran.
I'm gonna put you in the rotation campaign. Here's five
first half minutes. I think we'll be more flexible with
with that this year and what the standards are, at
least during the regular season. So what intrigues you most
about Gershon Yabuseli's fit. We talked about a lot about
five out right, and we talked about how Douche, being
as small as he is, may not allow them, or
maybe a coach maybe has has a may hesitate.
Speaker 2: Is there like something not even to derail us from there?
But I know that you're kind of smaller, but it
also allows you to not have assuming he's on the court,
Michale Bridges defend at the point of attack, which seems
like pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: Yes, But I don't think Yabu can defend at the
point of attack either. I think Bridges is a lot
better point of attack. Where were you going with that
when you.
Speaker 2: Were talking about deuce, I thought you were saying you
were reluctant to play yeah, because too small. It was
bringing us back to the starting lineup to score, like
playing deuce with the starters with the reluctance of having
two small guards. I'm like, well, you also then don't
have Michael Bridges like being guarding like guarding at the
point of attack, which is pretty.
Speaker 1: Dope preaching to the choir. He becomes your best point
of attack defender by default, and then this whole wing
stop thing that you built actually puts them on the
wing like it's the one hundred percent the well, okay,
fifty percent the other incentive for why I would start
to do so, he becomes a better point of attack
defender and uh, you put your wing back in their
proper spot. Anyway, I'm laughing that you saw it. I
was talking about it was kind of confused.
Speaker 3: I don't think Yabu's gonna survive out there on on
job morinth.
Speaker 1: Yeah. What I do think though, is that Yabu next
to Kat could be a great pairing. And then if
if like Yabu's your you're in place of Mitch Starter, right,
then that's a five out lineup, and that's something I
can I can believe in that I can trust. It's
one of the looks you can go to. I think
the biggest thing I again trying not to be completely
disrespectful to NBA players who have accomplished way more from
a basketball was there like an NBA player or front
office executing your DM recently no recognizing where I stand
on the totem pole. Also shout out the game theory.
People now listen to what I say more offense, so
I need to make sure I'm not as disrespectful. Shout
out to the city of Philadelphia who apparently had some
people in their coaching staff knew who I was when
I shut up the game theory. Regardless, Yabu's not precious Achua,
Like I could see a four that actually can space
the floor in Tony twenty five and Tony twenty six.
You can just do more things offensively, and on a
team that has Karl Anthony Towns, I think you need
to lean into guys that can do more things offensively
that will make like each other better. Like spacing is
a thing, gravity is a thing, and the way you
create more room for people to operate is by putting
more space around them. With guys who attract gravity, I
think Yaboo will command more respect, absolutely more respect than
what I've been seeing over the past couple of seasons.
So there are a lot of lineups. Whether he's like
as a three, as a five, like you could go
a lot of different ways with Yaboo. Then I'm intrigued
for them to experiment with I really hope we don't
see him at the three. I just want to scrow
that out there. Okay, the lineup is Cat, Yaboo, Ananobi,
all right?
Speaker 2: Well that I would call Yabu the four, and that
that scenario like they're gonna do.
Speaker 1: Think it's interchangeable if you want to, but in that
specific lineup, like isn't Yaboo and Annob isn't Anenobe technically taller.
Speaker 2: I think what you're doing is you would just take
Yaboo and put him on like the weakest defensive assignment
at the like the three. Like to me, it just
wouldn't be a I wouldn't do it as Yaboo at
the at the three.
Speaker 1: I guess you could argue he might operate on offense
more like a three than Ananobi, but give him what
we saw from og by the end of last season,
I don't even think you could say that anymore. So
I'll go a step further. It's like Yaboo instead of
Josh Hart in those Mitch Cat lineups, Like then at
least there's a floor spacer out there, and then if
you want, you have your your five and your four
covered and then he's still covering it three, but at
least you have some rim protection. I'm not even saying
it's my favorite lineup. It's just one of the lineups
that he could go to because he's not a liability.
From a shooting standpoint.
Speaker 3: We gotta we gotta pivot from ya. This is a
little more yabus, a lot of yabu. Sorry this would happened. Sorry,
but no, we haven't really touched on the brunts and
of it all. And maybe partly that's because, like he's
just gonna be an MVP candidate and there's not a
whole lot to really get into. But to me, it
seems like a huge portion of the optimism or maybe
like the expectation of, if not better different under Mike
Brown hinges on Brunson playing differently or being used differently,
and so I think there's kind of two core issues
there that I'd like to get at your take on.
The first is do you think Brunson can you know,
be used effectively off the ball in all these different
ways so that I always joke with Dan like my
enduring image of Nick's offense after a point last year
was Brunson pounding the dribble and looking for space for
fifteen seconds, finding none, giving the ball up and sprinting
to go get it back so he could do it
for another you know, ten nine seconds? Can he be
used differently than that? And then does he want to
like he doesn't seem like this type of player, but
does he want to be used differently than that? Like
if sort of like once the player's on the ball,
just a ridiculous usage rate.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's hard to like throttle that back. So can he?
Will he? And then assuming all that.
Speaker 3: Is like okay with everybody, do the Knicks have the
surrounding personnel to make the Brunson off ball different looks effective?
Which is to say, are there enough other playmakers to
like make use of him as a decoy as a
catch and shoot guy as a guy coming off screen?
So multi prong question, but just sort of makes sense
of the brunts inside of this under Mike Brown.
Speaker 1: So I'll say this, the heliocentric Brunson offense was effective
two years ago when Randall went down, when Julius Randall
dislocated his shoulder. It's what turned him into a top
five MVP candidate. You know, I thought last year, going
into the year, we didn't know healthy Randall was gonna be.
We didn't know what the team like. They traded for
Michael Bridges at the beginning of the summer and you thought, okay,
that's their move. Right right before training camp, they traded
for Kat and they never really had a chance to
develop any chemistry or synergy. And you saw some of
it over the first half of the year. But this
is what I'm talking about. By around January, when team
started to guard Kat differently, the pivot was like, all
r let's go back to what worked last year, and
catches became a floor space there, which is not how
you use cat but is also how Brunson gets to
be Clutch Player of the Year. The can he play
that way is a very big yess for me because
Julius Randall made All NBA two seasons ago, and go
look at Jalen Brunson's catch and shoot three point numbers,
like that's a lot of the success that Randall and
Brunson had together was that that Randall attracts a double
team finds Brunson on the wing or in the corner
and he's just getting more and more catch and shoot threes,
and that like element had disappeared with last year when
they were just learning all how to play together. The
does he want to of it all? I think is
a crunch time question for me, because I think it.
I think he can. For the first like segmented first
forty three minutes of a game, crunch time is Brunson time,
and it has been for the past three years. It's
also been very successful, you know, like you don't become
the clutch player of the year for no reason. But
I do agree like the one of not to make
this an anti Josh Hart segment again. One of the
most frustrating stats that I remember from last season is
the crunch time field goal attempts. Number one was brunts
in by a large margin. Number two was Josh Hart
had more field goal attempts than Karl Anthony Towns in
crunch time. It's because the other three can go Are
we allowed to curse on here? Oh yeah, okay? The
other three can go fuck off and go like space
the floor and then we're gonna have the Villanova pick
and roll and have Josh come bring the center into
the action and then either they double brunts in and
then hearts available in the short role, which works, or
like they just switch it and then it's brunting against
the center. And it led to some decent offense offense,
but like on nights it didn't work. It's like, you know,
we should probably try to get involved in the action,
Karl Anthony Towns. This all NBA player is just standing
on the way watching all of this play out. Oh yeah,
the guy you traded five picks for in Michal Bridges.
Oh yeah, the guy he gave two hundred and twelve
million dollars to uh og Anobi. So that is one
of the biggest challenges for Mike Brown is to create
twenty different looks for Brunson to go through and as
the point guard, then recognizing, Okay, this isn't working. It's
not just me trying to create my own shot. Even
though I want to make clear he's been very successful
at just making something out of nothing the last three years.
It just should be the last resort play. I liken
it to like Aaron Rodgers in his prime was the
best in my opinion at the play breaks down and
it's the most successful play that we had. That shouldn't
be your offense, but it's a nice card to pull
if things go wrong. Got it.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Karl Anthony Tow's not being involved in enough
of the crunch time actions, specifically Mike Brown. Sounds like
he's going to make that a point of emphasis throughout
the entire course of the game. We've heard a lot
about he will be using the handoff situations. Maybe we'll
see some inverted picking rolls. That would be pretty fun.
I'd kill to see more of those. What does that
look like though, like kind of unlocking Karl Anthony Towns
as a playmaker, And do you think that he has
because look, Karl Anthon Towns gets downhill. I think we'll
see more of that, him turning a corner in Mike
Brown's offense coming like out of those handoffs. Maybe more
free throw attempts, maybe more attempts at the rim is
passing like when he's kind of live like live dribble
getting downhill like it's not existent for the most part,
one of the lowest pass out.
Speaker 1: Rates on drives last year. Where do you just land on?
Speaker 2: What does unlocking Karl Anthony Towns as a playmaker ideally look.
Speaker 1: Like this season. Can I tell you my favorite play
from this meaningless preseason game in Aoi's Abbi yesterday, please,
Kat at the top of the key, at top of
the three point line drives to the rim. Guy on
his hip so he's not like he has a path. Center,
rotates over Bridges, kicks out to the three point line
in the corner. Kat from last year takes that to
the rim because he's he's a monster and it could
probably get contact, probably get the shot in and probably
get the bucket. He passed out to the corner yesterday
and actually hit Bridges in for three and it went in.
Apparently Bridges changed the shot again and that these are
gonna be more smoother and shout to Fred Katz who
noticed this. It's like, does Bridges shot look better this year?
It's like, I'm not doing any more content on. Doesn't
Macal Bridges shot look like anything? It went in? That's
what it looks like. It went in. Uh more of
those Dan. I don't think you could run like the
Hartenstein offense. I don't think you'd run the Randall offense
through through Cat. I just don't think he's that good
a passer in the sense of like has the same
court vision that the other two do. I think all
of his abilities as a passer, like from the three
point line, are because he's tall and like can see
the floor better than anybody, So like the obvious back
door cut that you that you put in front of him,
he'll see. But the guy is the guy's a scorer,
the guy is a rebounder. The guy is an unstoppable
force on offense that I recognize might leave some people
more frustrated when he isn't and he's just he's a
little more timid. But the things he's really good at
I don't think involved passing as much. So it's little
things like like you said, driving kicks, recognizing when when
there's more movement on the court, which I also think
Mike Brown will institute just more movement in general and
more cuts. So yeah, I'm less, I'm less like excited
or intrigued by a cat hub on offense and more
so just more opportunities in like short examples for him
to create for others. More. What do you think about
the Bridges extension. I thought it was a good number.
There was a weird stretch last year where I wondered
if they were gonna have to trade the guy they
just traded five picks for. And part of it was
coming from Bridges Camp that he's just not happy here,
and some of that was TIBs related for sure. Look
always thought that when you traded for him, he's eventually
going to be extended too. And I don't buy too
much into the like took up hay Cut because he
took six million dollars less. But when in this world
of first and second aprons, those six million dollars in
space might actually come in andy if you're looking for
a minimum payer or a mid A taxpayer mid level here,
like it actually can't help at the end of the day.
It's just not it's not the brunts and sacrifice that
some made it out to be.
Speaker 3: Well, Dan and I have real group think a lot
of the time, but we both thought we were like
missing something because there was.
Speaker 1: Some backlash to the extension, and I just.
Speaker 3: Anchored to like, well, if he h's free agency, he's
getting way more than that, or you're gonna have to
pay way more than that to beat the market to
keep him, and I kind of stopped the analysis there.
Speaker 1: I don't know, Daniel, what were you gonna say.
Speaker 2: Well, he was just talking about the thin margins they're working,
like how that helped, and it's their roster right now,
is proof with what they're trying to do to sure
in a second veteran minimum. So I don't I'm not
like dislocating my shoulder trying to pat him on the
back for taking six million dollars less.
Speaker 1: But in a way, he took way.
Speaker 2: More than six million dollars less because had he hit
the open market, like I know, some teams, there's like
ten teams that could have cap space next year, some
of that will.
Speaker 1: Win go down.
Speaker 2: Say what you will about Michale Bridges, this salary makes
him like the fifty first highest paid player in the
NBA is of right now.
Speaker 1: When the extension kicks in, that's he's.
Speaker 2: Probably like the fortieth to fifty best player in the
NBA as of right now. So that's right where I
just I found the And really it was wasn't just
one person, but like John Hollinger of the Athletic Quote,
whom I very much like, he just was so against it.
I was just like I was not that I was
shocked he signed it, but when they traded for him,
I was like, well, they better hope he signed the extension.
Otherwise you gave up control of five first round surrendered
to control of all these first round picks, and then
you're gonna go pay two hundred plus million dollars for
this guy. So I thought the extension was actually a
huge win for the Knicks. Yeah, I mean this was
the outcome you hoped for when you traded for him,
right like this this is a best case. I mean,
you'd like you would like to for him to have
not faced questions about a shot and all this other
stuff this past season, But like, I don't know, I
feel like that one got overthought. Andrew On the court though,
whether it's Mike Brown related or just Bridges, you know,
kind of altering how he plays sort of individually, Where
do you see the room for him to improve the most?
Just and you can completely not discuss shooting for him
if you want to.
Speaker 1: So I see on the dock, my answer is in
parentheses that I'm not allowed to say about say three oh,
just like I think on defense, he is what he
is at this point, like top three defensive player of
the year MCGA. Bridges isn't coming back. I also as
much as he's taken a step back on ball, like
at the point of attack. When Brunson sprained his ankle
last year and missed a month. We saw Deuce in
the starting five, and when Deuce then got hurt, we
saw Delon Wright in the starting five and you actually
saw how you can use It's why I'll do it
this time. Dan, to bring back why the Duce McBride
starting five is so appealing, as I saw what happens
when you put Deuce at the point of attack and
you put bridges on the wing. What about Yapu at
the point of attack? Well, even better, if yap is
this point of attack, it still puts bridges on the wing.
I think if bridges can be like five percent better
at point of attack, and it's it's better as a
pick and roll defender because it's not Cat in an
endless drop into oblivion and it's Mitter Robinson in pick
and roll coverage instead, and he actually has a center
that he can count on to protect the Maybe he's
more aggressive on defense. As far as offense is concerned.
The whole point of hiring Mike Brown is that the
hope is that more people get to eat and maybe
more being more engaged on offense getting more on ball reps.
The other thing that happened during when Brunton was out
for a month, as we saw Anonobi and Bridges gonna
have the offense run through them during stretches. One of
my favorite out the tips. I don't even know if
this is like a specific tips thing, but it seemed
like they were calling a lot of plays for Bridges
in the playoffs in second units. I go look at
the beginning of the fourth quarter of the Boston game
two or Bridges scores fourteen un answer points by himself,
and it's just like, get to get us back into
this game. I'm just gonna run everything through you, and
everybody else is just going to be setting screens in
the second unit. So like there are options for him
on ball more on offense, while recognizing he's gonna need
to shoot thirty six thirty seven percent from three for
this offense to really reach its full potential. So hopefully
he gets back up to that and doesn't give us
slake three months of wondering if he changed his shooting
form and as a result, he's now our J. Barrett,
no disrespect to RJ. Please don't send your people at
me in Canada.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Oji Anonobe and specifically the stretch that he
had while Brunson was out last year.
Speaker 1: How much do you read into that?
Speaker 2: I mean, like the foul rate went up, the drives
went up, and then how do you just view his
fit in the larger context of not just what Mike
Brown is trying to implement. But you mentioned it before,
This team is weird because I don't think they have
an elite like Second Creator, but they have a bunch
of dudes that are gonna want to have plays on
the ball for them, and so you say everybody needs
to eat, Like, how do you see Ananobe fitting in?
Is he like someone who could maybe when you're trying
to juice the touches for bridges and towns? Is that
someone who in the past, like this goes back to
his time in Toronto, he has been the person that's
fallen by the wayside. Is there a way to make
sure that doesn't happen to him here? Especially again, given
what he showed during that time that Brunson was out.
Speaker 1: I think if you ask Anonobe that question, it's different
from reality of what he should be given. I think
the fact that look that stretched, without brunsaying as much
as I liked what I saw from Bridge, I liked
what I saw from Ananobe some of its opponent dependent.
They played some bad teams in there, and both of
them cooked during that stretch. And then if I remember
correctly to the schedule, I'm trying not to be like
specific about small sample sizes, but they took care of
the Miami Heat, who were at that point in full
tank mode. They took care of another bad team, and
then they played the Clippers, and it's like, that's Kawhi
Leonard now guarding you. That's like if it's a zoobots
waiting for you at the room, that's Chris Dunn. You know,
like they have all these different ways to stop you.
And I think OG going downhill can be effective in
certain moments when it's also like mixed in with like
a pick and pop for Kat and like a brunch
in drive that attracts the defense. And it's why having
the offense move more I think will create opportunities for
these guys to cook and to eat more. I maintained
that the best version of OG Andnobi is a guy
taking eleven to twelve shots a game and half of
them are threes. So I'm hoping that he's okay with
that because I think it's a very valuable thing to have,
and you know, I'm hoping a more creative offense, Like
I think this is maybe more of a subconscious thing,
but just touching the ball on a possession can also
go a long way, which I know it might not
seem like a lot to the casual basketball fan, but
just having a chance to be like, all right, I
got involved in the this. This wasn't just me standing
around and, like I said, fucking off in the corner
while these two Villanova teammates play pick and roll with
each other.
Speaker 3: You know, We've talked to fair amount about Josh Hart,
so I'm gonna I feel like we have a good
sense there I want to talk about. I mean, partly
because he said it and partly because it would be
difficult for the reverse to be true. There should be
more minutes distributed to bench players this season under Mike Brown.
Maybe this is a little Devil's advocate kind of question,
but like a lot of the guys that are expected
to stop up those minutes have some questions or some uncertainties,
Like you know, Malcolm Brogden, great name. There's probably a
reason that he's in camp on maybe a minimum. You know,
Clark's and Yabusele's track record is very short as an
NBA player. Do you have any concerns that like maybe
this idea of like, well, we're just gonna play more
guys is not like a cure all, just because some
very few of these players are givens as like net
positive contributors when they're out there.
Speaker 1: I go back and forth. I want to be clear,
I want more guys to play in the regular season,
like the core seven come playoff time. Being healthy is
what matters to me. And I've actually like I've gotten
into it with some people at Nicks Film School that like,
this is my case for Mitch being a bench player,
if you wanted to go that route, that there's one
series that I need Mitchell Robinson healthy for and it's
that Cavs series if they make it to our conference finals,
and if that means putting him in bubble rap and like, sorry,
you don't get to be a defensive player that you're
candidate or the All defense candidate because you played fifty
five games, but you're healthy against the team that still
has nightmares of you getting offensive rebound after offensive rebound
against them two years ago. Then that's fine, and I
think just to might should have turned this into a dream.
Anytime I say data collection, it's what the regular season
has to be about for me. Now, as far as
the day to day rotation is more specifically what you're asking.
The Knicks had a bottom six net rating in the
fourth quarter last year. I'm not going to completely apply
that to or attribute that to TIBs and minutes, and
I would largely was fine with playing your best players
a lot. I like watching the best players play. I
didn't think they had guys last year. To go eight
and nine and ten deep with this year is different.
I think Yabu can play in a lineup, in a
lot of lineups. I think you know the guys you
mentioned the veterans on this team at the very end,
and maybe a Tyler Kohlik or an Ariel Hipporty can
play in certain lineups. And more specifically, I think you
should find out this season what you have in all
of those guys. So a long way of saying, like
last year, I thought guys did look very exhausted come
fourth quarters, and the data kind of backs that up
this year. Let's see what like mckel bridge is playing
thirty seven minutes or thirty six minutes, or Ennobi playing
thirty two minutes or thirty three minutes on average, Like
if certain games he has to you got to extend
your guys, Fine, but I think you did to. The
front office did a really good job given the limited
assets that they have to them in actually giving Mike
Brown some options, and he seems very willing in the
regular season to explore them. Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3: And the reason that's kind of a Devil's advocate question
is because whether those guys need to play fewer minutes
or not. We know McBride should be playing more than
twenty four or twenty five, and so get him to
thirty and you can knock down, you know, one or
two from a couple other guys and like you kind
of have solved they're not solved it, but you know
what I mean, Like that's right, that's the working big
to small.
Speaker 1: Approach to that depth issue.
Speaker 2: Right, Which youngster, whether it's like a Bahama Diara up
Dottie A, is it still Tyler Kolek if you want
to talk about one of the two way, guys, do
you like yourself some dingk Pate, But like, who's like
the youngster associated with this team that intrigues you the
most long term?
Speaker 1: Right now? I know I'm talking to the president of
the Frank nil Keina High Fan Club UH support group
at this point, But I gotta be honest. Because of
how good the team is, I'm a net neutral on
all of them. Like, if you want me to pick one,
Ariel Hookporty seemed to be the one that showed the
most promise, the most NBA ready out of all of them.
I have some very big concerns about Tyler Kolik as
a shooter. I have some even bigger concerns about Tyler
Koleik as a defender. As a pastor, I think he
might be he might be the best passer on the team.
To be honest, already, I just don't know. I just
don't know how you necessarily build an offense around a
guy that teams don't respect as a shooter. So he
could potentially get get better, but as I mentioned, how
old he is at this point in his career, it'd
be difficult. And the Diouara and dink Pate and any
of these other names that showed up at Summer League
and I had to learn who they were. Diuara seems
very athletic, and I am intrigued by his athleticism and
how it could translate into the NBA. This guy that
in his non NBA career shot twenty seven percent from
the field, I believe, And is that good? It's not good.
I'm I'm intrigued by the the NBA roster, not necessarily
the potential NBA roster, is my unfortunate answer to that question.
But this is this is the cool part about being
a Knicks fan now, is that we're past the point
of ifs and hopes were actually at the point of
some certainty, which is is always a good thing.
Speaker 3: From someone that didn't scrutinize the Nick as much as
either of you guys. Can you give me the thumbnail
sketch of Dottier and like, why what was hoped for?
And what did not happen that chick?
Speaker 2: Haven't you've seen his practice analytics? Grant, I'm just come on, like,
I'll only remember as this time a year ago is
like well, of the of the rookie class, like this
is probably the one you're gonna want to keep an eye.
IM not saying you guys said that, but that was
the impression I got.
Speaker 1: I think it's you look at his build.
Speaker 2: He's six what is he six' eight six,' seven and
he's a wing and he's someone who in theory could handle.
The ball the hope was that his jumper would have
been more bankable than, it was but then it has
been IN. THE nba i think even in the first,
preseason game you saw that this is someone who's not
completely unaware on the, Defensive END like i think that's
probably where he stood out to me again that first
game for the, most PART and i think also why
you could make the case that he's the. Most important
and this comes BACK to i know we're talking about
the end of roster, spots Here but Oji had andobi
last year was just basically an anomaly with, his availability
and if something happens, to him something Happens. To bridges
this team doesn't have a ton. Of Wings It's, josh
Hart it's og And It's. Michel bridges like what are
you doing if one of those guys needs to? Miss
time like who are you? Turning to Is It?
Speaker 1: Landry shammitt the.
Speaker 2: Three six drave you you can down, AND look i
totally get that you can downsize. And stuff but the
Theory OF dottie a to me is so intriguing because,
it's okay like if you need an, emergency wing you
do not. Have it and like we already Know That
josh hart is dealing with the finger splint injury and
with the amount of time that he spends on the
floor or they're like making those hustle plays like that's
someone who could feasibly. Miss time so it's very into.
The weeds we're getting past the top maybe eight of,
the rotation eight nine of. The rotation but for as
talented as they are at the top on, the wings
they're like. That's it, after that it just.
Speaker 3: It just seemed from a distance that it flipped Quickly.
On dattier from, my, perspective.
Speaker 2: Well they also what do we know about him because
they didn't and THIS is i didn't weigh in on the,
Tib stuff like this IS what i went back and,
forth on is that he should have Let's use andrews some, data, collection,
Like yeah dottie should have been you should have. Done
more actually think the starting lineup hurt.
Speaker 1: Them, here wow nice grant. Hold done oh why they
pay me?
Speaker 2: So much because the starting lineup was, so rickety Especially post,
january first you didn't find yourself in a lot of
low leverage situations to where you, could, say yeah it's empty.
The bench but you also Know that tims wasn't gonna do.
It anyway everyone points to when they're right that Game
in charlotte with myself for just pay like forty seven
minutes or. Some shit so but we, don't know and
so there's that intrigue. There STILL but i don't mean
to inflate.
Speaker 1: His IMPORTANCE and i CAN tell i Think that gmac
disagrees with me here a. Little bit but like the, wing.
Speaker 2: Rotation it can Get very there's a point where it
could become very fragile because it seems Like the knicks
are placing a lot of stock In one we're gonna
play two bigs at once a, lot maybe, which okay fine.
To me that's why do You Have Karl anthony towns
as Much Then Karl anthony Towns. AND yaboo i get
it five, out there but it's also they don't have
reserve wings on. THIS team I Guess josh hart as a,
reserve technically but beyond those three it gets a. Little
fragile and so that's why someone who Stands at DOTTIER
size i, See.
Speaker 1: Him, i'm, like, okay yeah like that's going to. Intrigue
me so the ONLY intrigue i have Grant for dottier
is that enough people have told me that they're tracking
his shots, in practice and as, a result it's a
lot Of flashbacks toduce McBride how they were tracking his shots,
in practice and they're they're, going in and when they're
going in, more consistently you're going to see it translate TO.
The nba i'm intrigued by that, happening again Potentially that
dottier is just suddenly going to show up and be
a forty percent three, point shooter Because the knicks have
a track record of it happening Once the deuce's shot
had a hitch in it Worse Than, michael bridges and
then suddenly he showed up and was like a knockdown
Shooter that DAN and i were wanting to get it.
One Day gonna opine should Play, over yabuseli Even though
yabaseli might be better at the point, of attack this
is a. Great bit we're gonna use. This, all yeah
there's gonna be people. Who don't they're like they've Never
watched yabelli play. A minute You mentioned ananobi In the
anomaly Of last. YEAR'S health, I do i do agree.
With that you do have a very easy pivot if you.
Want to now It means josh hart becomes a starter
or also could also mean uh uh deuced for pride being.
A Starter josh harten has played at least seventy five
games the last. Three seasons mcalbridges hasn't missed the game since.
High SCHOOL so i think built into the Calculation with
dottie is that nothing's gonna happen. To them AND and.
Speaker 2: I know i'm an alarmist, by trade, BUT yeah i,
see that and it's well like those guys, are, Dude
dude that's HOW think i see more of a trend
that they have a track record of not.
Speaker 1: Missing, Games Now JOSH hart i think is due for
like as intense and fast paced and reckless he can
be at TIMES like i could see something. Happening There
mcal bridges goes out of his way literally to go
out of, people's way like your voids goes Back like
i've never seen a fade away layup Until mcal bridges
came into. My life oh you Never Watched DeAndre ayton,
Play this maybe it's. Even funnier but the fact that
does everything for, the layup, the drive the get to,
the rim, the elevation and then suddenly a, TILT back
i did not know that was a thing that could happen.
UNTIL then I Think piccomb dadier may be something in
the future because of what some people behind the scenes.
Have said i'm at the POINT where i need people
that can contribute to the twenty, twenty five Twenty. Six
knicks and, while yes the first preseason game looked like
he knew where he could be, on defense looked a
bit of a mess on. Offense unfortunately, and yeah those
were some wide open threes that he missed over five
from three and a couple of live. Ball, TURNOVERS like
i just, He's twenty like he's not supposed to be
that ready, to play especially when you play as little
as he did. Last Year to, dan's Point and i'd
actually pushed back on there was no point of. Low
leverage brunt had missed. A month that whole month should
have been about, data Collection Put tyler kolick in. The
rotation i'm not saying.
Speaker 2: That there shouldn't have been, data collection but it's so
there's there's never.
Speaker 1: Such things if the runout, of, excuses yeah right up
forty in the conference final and the game six Against
the celtics when they Clinched and missoula's pulled all his
starters in the mid, third Quarter and tibbs, IS like
i need to get. The lead just make sure it
gets up. To, FIFTY like i agree. With you like
all of his betting a, live spread we. Don't, know
look if, that's True then TIBs should go over to
my friends OVER at i actually don't know if you have,
a SPORTSBOOK so i don't want to compete any mentioned
any conflicting, Sponsors. Regardless TIBs if if you have, any
tips then. Let's, TALK okay i might know.
Speaker 2: Some, people andrew are you ready to enter The cookie
Cutter slash lightning?
Speaker 1: Round port let's, Do it grant you want to start us? Off,
here yeah what's the biggest need on this roster? Right now? A,
Championship no. I'm kidding the biggest deal on the roster
right now is a defined backup. Point guard and, That's,
interesting like, even so what's out signing all these? Cards
right a defined BACKUP point i don't know who it. Is,
YET oh i. Don't know if, you're.
Speaker 2: Saying like you want someone who's not on, the roster
they need to go out and GET.
Speaker 1: They i gotta, Be honest i'm so out on the
transactional like. They did they've done so much already as
far as getting OPTIONS that i think there's enough Here
until february for me to say whatever they need is
probably already on. The roster they just got to find
It Is malcolm brobben the backup? Point Guard Is? Jordan
clarkson the backup? Point guard do you Go to deuce
as a backup point guard and just be a little
bigger Next? To shammitt do you See If tyler kohlech
can be your backup point guard in at this point in?
His career so like a guy to run the second
unit is really More what, I'm saying AND that's i
think their biggest need because they just haven't had it
since they traded. A, manual quickly what's.
Speaker 2: Something About the knicks strength? Weakness storyline whatever player development
that's flying under the radar that you think deserves.
Speaker 1: MORE attention a healthy Season Of mitchell robinson if you
want to talk about the, biggest if like Knocking, on
wood a healthy Season Of mitchell robinson could put him
in conversations next offseason that he becomes too expensive For. The,
knicks now that might just be, by default like a
thing that's gonna, happen anyway because where they are against The.
Second APRON but i think a Lot of, knicks fans
because of his, descending salary have Looked at mitch as a,
positive asset like when he, comes back he'll, be fine
and he's so injury prone that like will always be
able To. Keep mitch BUT like, i mentioned we spent
this summer doing the top Twenty five knicks of the
past twenty. Five seasons it's crazy to think he's the
Longest tenured nick of the past twenty. Five seasons the
moment he starts playing, this season like he becomes the
Longest tenured Nick After. Carmelo anthony that's mellow. Plate seven
he will be entering into his, eighth season Is what
i'm trying. To say regardless that this Could Be mitchell
robinson's last year In a, KNICKS uniform i think is
an under the radar thing and who knows how it
could potentially end as romantic as that could. Potentially be
if If the knicks gets as far as a lot
of people think they could, GET to i will SAY what.
Speaker 2: I think could bode well for them is that there
will be other bigs on the market. Next summer and
so if they this is just an issue they don't
want to pay him mid, level money, then, like fine
that's a different that's a. Financial CONUNDRUM but i would
be pretty surprised if there's like any team That's Making
mitchell robinson even like their plan be, or.
Speaker 1: See yeah maybe the health is going to matter to
me as far As if i'm another team Looking At,
MITCHELL robinson i see what he is to See how
i'm backtful? He IS am i getting more than thirty
games out?
Speaker 3: Of, him yeah more relevant this year than the. Last
five let's discuss the ten man rotation because there might
actually be one which is, really like There's seven yabaseli
probably makes eight kind of. Non negotiable so this is
really a Question about we've talked. About starters you can
reiterate there who you think? Should start and then who's
nine and ten of the?
Speaker 1: Guys left so this is mine OR am i operating
off OF what i Think the knicks? Will do however
you want to? Answer it what would her? Two be
what would you? Mind eight Of Course garrison. Matthews, FORGOT
yeah I Love, matt ryan but like, the quarterback not the.
Speaker 3: Basketball player you need someone to fall down when he
runs into screens, A, lot garrison this is a superstar.
Speaker 1: At that i'm going to answer it in Reality and
i'll go with What the knicks. Will DO but i
Think the knicks. Will do and so that's Brunts, In
Bridges annobie Kat and mitch as, starting Five, With deuce Josh,
Hart Yabuselli, jordan clarkson And Then malcolm brogden as the
last the, last Starter With landry shammitt being the next
guy off. The bench with the, CAVEAT that I Think,
ariel porty if And when mitch, misses time will be the.
Backup center that sounds.
Speaker 2: ABOUT right I like shamy way more than, everybody Else
so i'd probably throw him.
Speaker 1: In THERE but i Understand The clarksondent brockton appeal of.
Speaker 2: It, all yeah this is this is to a large
extent matchup DEPENDENT and i think especially With. The knicks
but what do you think will wind up being their
most used crunch.
Speaker 1: Time unit, this year? Last year? Starting five how do
you Feel about so nothing's going. TO change i think
there will be more options in. Crunch time, But again
josh hard for as FRUSTRATED as i can be on
the offensive side of, the ball his ability to secure
the biggest rebound of, your game let alone your season
sometimes is an. Important thing it was less about ability
and even Performance, with josh it. Was deployment it's the
most anti TIPS thing i could be here is that,
LAST year i don't think he was a good fit
from a principal and a style standpoint for the collection
of talent. They Have If mike brown can show, more
variety more creativity and this just looks different and is
not has a bigger margin for error than hopefully brunts and,
saves US then i think those five can still, be
EFFECTIVE and i think potentially they will be. This year,
and look as MUCH as I want mitch, TO play
i don't want him nowhere near the court when teams
can go to Hack a mitch in crunch time like
needed up up Three, with however like three minutes left
and the Hack of mitch can.
Speaker 2: Be deployed some argument for starting him too is that
teams aren't in, the pen like you're not the Teams
the knicks before they're in the.
Speaker 1: Bonus. Exactly now my hope is, that, like Oh the
deuce McBride lineup, is working and dash har the need.
To close, i've, Decided right i've also decided because the
data has also decided that. It's working, So yeah i'll
say last year, starting five if we accomplished nothing else
is that you guys have firmly convinced Me that duce
needs to start and.
Speaker 3: Finish Games so i'm this is this has been a journey.
FOR me i just want to, see it. THAT'S all
i just want to.
Speaker 1: SEE it i want to. That's, Point Yeah i'm. I'm.
Speaker 3: In yeah so, any, weird quirky unconventional lineups you think they,
may try or hope they, will try, you.
Speaker 1: Know like we're gonna see enough, of yaboo just ending
the point. Of it, besides that what what are you hoping?
TO see i gotta, BE honest i had a joke planned,
for this and it's just we've already discussed it so
much that it doesn't. Even land, it's, LIKE yeah i
got this crazy, Lineup ready so take last year, starting
Five Take josh hart out And put duce McBride. In
boom it's, crazy, Lineup. RIGHT tibbs i think they can
go to some very good defensive LINEUPS without i mean
it's literally the lineup we saw last Year, without kat,
without bruntsing and you Go, to mitch you Go to
deuce in. THEIR spots i think there's some really good
offensive Lineups like yaboo at the five, Intrigues, me like
if A game mitch, doesn't play do You go Yaboo,
And Anobe Deuce bridges brunt and it's just like a five.
Out lineup but it's like The diet rico, cola whatever
the old soda that you get it at the, dollar
store used to be version Of the warriors, death, lineup
right because it doesn't have anything to stop people. On offense. On,
defense yeah there's there's some really creative offensive lineups they
can go to with two, small guards three. SMALL guards
I know clarkson is like technically, six seven but he
profiles like a. Smaller guard so if you wanted To
like yaboo with, The Five josh hart at the four
Next to clarkson and Do some, brunson like that's a
really good offensive lineup in. My opinion he's, six seven?
IS he i thought it was six five and most,
my god but so even that he's not six to
one like he doesn't he's not a, small guard but
he profiles like play a. Small, guard Yeah like josh
six six three on b ball refs. SIXTY things i
looking at it six, Seven, yesterday LaMelo? What's up maybe?
SIX seven i JUST realized i, did, THAT man i
didn't do that. ON purpose i would like To see
yabu at.
Speaker 2: THE five i would Go like yabu like in sort
of the, secondary units Give me Bridges.
Speaker 1: And anobi yabu at the Five with Shaman. And deuce
that's A lineup i would like. To, SEE yeah, I
mean i mean for all the creative lineups that you could come.
Up with, BELIEVE me i didn't see them.
Speaker 2: Last year before we force you to make. Some predictions
is there anything we haven't discussed about this team that
you think needs to be.
Speaker 1: TALKED about i think there's a playoff conversation to be
had about this TEAM that i think we're about to
HAVE that i think will be the only thing missing from. The,
conversation okay.
Speaker 3: So then we will now force you to make. A
prediction this is more, REGULAR season, I suppose but how
many games do you have? Them winning and then where
do you see them finishing In.
Speaker 1: The east this should comes to no surprise. TO anybody
i Think the knicks are going TO The nba finals.
THIS year i think now paths are different. Every season
this is a principal eye person me believe. In TIBs
like you can't, just, say hey they made it the
conference finals, last year so the next step is Like
the pacers are gone Because, of haliburton and Like the
celtics are gone Because. Of tatum so Clearly the knicks
should be the one to, go There RIGHT so i
have no Idea what orlando could potentially be as a hindrance.
To that atlanta is actually a team that scares me
because they can do the thing that the knicks biggest
weakness is, really well and it's defending pick, and rolls
especially if they get any hint of Help. From PORZINGIS
but i think they have enough and there's enough guys
there that are battle tested that you play enough playoff,
games together you know how to get through certain situations
that a lot of these younger teams. Just don't and
when it comes to Them, VERSUS cleveland i like our
guys better than. Their guys just don't know what else to.
SAY it i Like the knick's ability to take advantage
of the calves weakness weakness on the boards more so
than their ability to take advantage Of the knicks' biggest
weaknesses in the pick and. A ROLL so i haven't
gone through. THE finals i have. FIFTY five i believe
it is the number of Wins that i've predicted for
this season or picked for. This SEASON so i have
them hitting the over with the Caveat and i'll wait
for the for the the worry that could potentially come in.
A second but that's my that's my prediction for. This
season they're going to, the finals they'll probably, lose it
and then they'll reassess in. The offseason what were you
saving the? Worry for that was you answered the prediction
question before we even like the additional, prediction question fore
we even got. To it so what do you filling up.
Your chest the, nightmare scenario the absolute nightmare scenario. FOR
me i Mentioned. The hawks knicks wins. Sixty games it's
the most Fun any knicks fan has had watching a,
team since like since two. Years ago but like now
it's a sixty. Win team it's not just Like this
TIBs team that we all fell in love with because
they tried harder than, everybody, Else, right like it's actually
we're excited because they're winning. Every night they're going on
ten and eleven game. Winning streaks the offense, is great,
is great the vibes. Are immaculate brunson's a TOP five.
Mvp candidate two guys ARE. All nba they sneak in
with A Third. ALL star i don't. Know who it,
will Be probably yaboo after he's also at all. Defense candidate,
right deuces they still. Take positions it'd be at the,
guard spot right Like dus is winning the three point
contest and after seeing so much five out and then and,
it's like see didn't, need tips, you know we we
got rid. Of them then they get to. The playoffs
they play the second round Against, the hawks and their
biggest problem during the playoffs, last year and a team
can just Pick On Karl, anthony towns Pick On. Jalen
Brunson It's trey young getting downhill doing whatever he wants Against,
the knicks and, like bitch because of his, injury history
he's worn down come, playoff time like a bad Injury to.
Mitch Happens And, trey YOUNG who i wanted to just on,
the record is eleven and twenty five in his career Against.
The knicks now actually gets to claim that he Dominates
the knicks for, His career like want to, be clear
like eleven and, twenty one eleven and, twenty five whatever.
IT is i know he has seven regular season wins
Against the knicks in, his career but there's this one
playoff Series Where julius randall And the House of cards
That that knicks team was, Like collapsed and now he gets
to claim like He Owns Madison square garden because of
one playoff series and a in season tournament game that
like nobody. Cared about now he actually has something to
claim Over, the knicks and it's that the year that
they won, sixty games and this was supposed to be,
their year he eliminated them in the, second round and
that is my, biggest worry that it's a team like
that that can take advantage of the knicks biggest weakness,
on defense will exploit it for however many games in a,
playoff series and then it's a round earlier then they
got eliminated, last year which will bring the so why'd
you get Rid of tibbs conversation all the? Way, back
yeah so it's, my nightmare to be. Completely honest it's
The thing i've thought a lot about this offseason that
if there's a way this season goes, catastrophically wrong it's
not even like they win forty five games and it's not.
That good it's they're too good in the regular season
to create, any doubt and then come, playoff times we
don't even get the matchup Against.
Speaker 2: The cavs is as someone who's predicting them to MAKE
The nba finals and knowing what the expectations are and
what the. FRONT office, i mean they said it in their,
press release but what it infers that You fired TIBs
and didn't even have the which. Is fine the guy
picked Out Like mike brown was one of. Many options
they really believe that this is a. Championship roster is
there any scenario there where this can be? A progress
isn't linear situation, where, it's oh they didn't make it
as far as, last year but we saw this happen
and so like we are still encouraged by what's? The,
ord no you think that they kind of have to
meet THAT bar i would say at Least The eastern conference,
finals again and That again i'm asking with someone who
has them going TO The.
Speaker 1: Nba, finals no there's no version where. They lose there's
no version where they lose anything but game seven of
the conference finals. Or later that progress is that you
could consider. THE season i don't know how you Know
what i'm trying. To say i'm trying, to say like
it's a failure unless they get to game seven OF
The Nba, Conference finals like that's what. They've created, that
is unfortunately the situation they've now created for their coaching
staff or, their players for their franchise and their. Fan
base you told us getting further than you had then
in the last twenty five years wasn't. Good enough and
it took again divine intervention from a team on a
heater in crunch time that took the eventual champs to
seven games that almost beat them in Seven games like
that wasn't. Good enough so if you don't get to,
that again it's not good enough just by. Your definition
so There's, no hey look we won, sixty games like
the scenario. Lime painting we won sixty games and then
lost in the. Second round, but like we're still working.
At something it's a first year. Head, coach no you
told us getting to game six two wins away from,
the finals six wins away from a championship isn't, Good
enough so next year you have to be better. Than that.
Speaker 2: This, was, great gemask thank you so mush for giving
us a bunch of your time.
Speaker 1: Once again are you able to just.
Speaker 2: Tell our audience where they can find you in all
the work that, you're doing not ONLY a kfs.
Speaker 1: But elsewhere you could find Me on Twitter AT. Andrew J.
Claudio underscore my Burner is starduce, twenty six, twenty five,
twenty six.
Speaker 2: Not yabo poa gobu lockdown l opoa ldpoa.
Speaker 1: Excuse me you can find Me At Nick's. Film school on,
all socials we got a lot of stuff going on
on every social that you can follow as well as our,
YouTube channel which is Fastly Growing game theory With. San
vassini i'm doing a lot more stuff with them. THIS
season i haven't talked about baseball that much throughout, this
CONVERSATION but i also Have A mets therapy TikTok and
Twitter and instagram ACCOUNT where i just give my three
minutes thoughts About The New, york mets and boy do
they make me check in for a lot of sessions
with how they treat their. Fan base so those are
all the places you could. Find. Me guys it was
always good to make this, week weekly yearly trip to
The hardwood knox and to talk about a basketball team
that has kind of taken over my life over the past.
Five years so it's good to be with. You today, Thank.
Speaker 3: You andrew the feeling, is mutual and YOU know i
don't always close these with, other.
Speaker 1: Teams but since, you're here everybody rate. With you subscribe
to all.
Speaker 3: Those Things Apologies, jared allen Shout Outs, frank milakina