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KnickDanger wrote:Who predicted the descent of last year or the ascent of the previous? I certainly expect improvement, how much depending on the progress of our many young players and on what the presence of Brunson does for all especially Randle. The East has become much tougher - who are you up against in the play in or first round? I say the Hawks and we move on from there.

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Depends on how Randle handles a new role playing off ball.

Alpha1971 wrote:This team won't make the playoffs but will develop it's younger players and raise Randall's trade value by being competitive. Expect Randall traded before the deadline and Rose as well. Team will acquire more picks for future traded as a result. Team will finally draft in the top four of the draft and also get a good talented player with the Dallas pick as well, which will ll be pick 15-21.

I think we can easily make the playoffs depending on injuries. The Rose injury killed us last season and we still managed to win enough games to keep us from a decent draft pick. Randle might have gotten a lot of credit for our breakout season but we were set to miss the playoff before the Rose trade. Rose is way more important to us than Randle is.

Moonangie wrote:Impossible to say due to variables...

• How will Randle adapt to not having ball and how well will he play?


• Does Jalen take the next step as the primary PG?


• Will we have DRose off the bench?


• Do we have Grimes in starting unit? If not, who'll anchor our perimeter defense...RJ?


• Does RJ take a next step, especially with improved shooting?


• And lots of other open questions...

But my guess (barring unforeseen injuries or trades) is this squad at least makes the play-in.

Mitch comes in with full summer to improve. he rehabbed last year and basically played into shape. With a new contract he couldr get soft on us or moves up a notch. Hope the latter.
RJ gets better every year. I hope that continues!
EF off the bench or starts. Good question. Grimes on the other end of it. Or, is RJ the 2, Cam Reddish the 3? and EF traded?
Drose is part of the Brunson circle with Uncle Leon and Uncle Wes. Were does he and IQ play and how much?
Despite Burks exiled, we still deep at the wing.

I don't see a reason for us to repeat being out of the playoff hunt. But then I did not see last years chemistry issues either. I don't know if Thibs is on the line yet but I thought he was spot on when he said he needs to coach Randle better going forward. Im not into the blame game. I'd like to also consider minutes with both OBI and Randle on the floor with Ihart? Or as a in game small ball line up.....

His first season was with Fiz, the tank, Knox, Mook, and Frank in and out. It was a bad year for all! Fiz got fired. Miller did good stepping in but if we talking continuity and culture i'd like to see what can be doing forward. What we don't know is what the deal was with Randle and what he can do to rectify his outward appearance and play.

Clean wrote:

Alpha1971 wrote:This team won't make the playoffs but will develop it's younger players and raise Randall's trade value by being competitive. Expect Randall traded before the deadline and Rose as well. Team will acquire more picks for future traded as a result. Team will finally draft in the top four of the draft and also get a good talented player with the Dallas pick as well, which will ll be pick 15-21.

I think we can easily make the playoffs depending on injuries. The Rose injury killed us last season and we still managed to win enough games to keep us from a decent draft pick. Randle might have gotten a lot of credit for our breakout season but we were set to miss the playoff before the Rose trade. Rose is way more important to us than Randle is.

We looked good in the games in which rose and Kemba were both available and healthy last season which was the first 20 games of the season. We were the 6th seed at the time. Then both point guards physically fell apart and so did our season

Thibs is a good coach. Its a mostly young team that has some quality depth, balance and size. He has less to manage and more to coach. When that is the case he's one of the best.

LAst year the Knicks were a top 5 defense when Kemba wasnt on the floor. Not only was he bad defensively we was terrible offensively. His TS% were just above the also terrible Randle/RJ. This isnt about blame, its about fixing a problem. Kemba was 8th on the team in minutes and started 37 games. This is just such a huge upgrade. Brunson will be a Lowry type leader for us and that's a great. Brunson has some defensive shortcomings but he plays defense. Kemba didnt at all

Backup center: This is a really important spot and man we got a really intriguing player. Hart's advanced metrics are eye popping. We really got a young skilled guy who's really poised to help us. Noel was trash last year, Sims was cute and so was Taj.

I expect Randle/IQ/RJ/Obi/Grimes to all see upticks in their play from last year for various reasons. Maybe not in production (RJ/Randle) but in EF%

Xfactors: Rose/Reddish

Gotta stay healthy. Gonna be hard to play 10 guys, this is a GREAT bench and should give Thibs lots of 2nd half options if a starter is struggling
Rose/IQ/Grimes/Obi/Hart

GustavBahler wrote:

fishmike wrote:47 wins, 5-6 seed, first round exit

Thibs is a good coach. Its a mostly young team that has some quality depth, balance and size. He has less to manage and more to coach. When that is the case he's one of the best.

LAst year the Knicks were a top 5 defense when Kemba wasnt on the floor. Not only was he bad defensively we was terrible offensively. His TS% were just above the also terrible Randle/RJ. This isnt about blame, its about fixing a problem. Kemba was 8th on the team in minutes and started 37 games. This is just such a huge upgrade. Brunson will be a Lowry type leader for us and that's a great. Brunson has some defensive shortcomings but he plays defense. Kemba didnt at all

Backup center: This is a really important spot and man we got a really intriguing player. Hart's advanced metrics are eye popping. We really got a young skilled guy who's really poised to help us. Noel was trash last year, Sims was cute and so was Taj.

I expect Randle/IQ/RJ/Obi/Grimes to all see upticks in their play from last year for various reasons. Maybe not in production (RJ/Randle) but in EF%

Xfactors: Rose/Reddish

Gotta stay healthy. Gonna be hard to play 10 guys, this is a GREAT bench and should give Thibs lots of 2nd half options if a starter is struggling
Rose/IQ/Grimes/Obi/Hart

The difference between a first or second round exit could be D. Rose's health. Would like to see Rose put on a minutes restriction during the regular season. If anyone is a candidate for that policy, its him.

A relatively healthy Rose in the playoffs could be a game changer, as far as advancing past the first round.

Lets just get there and get better. Its a young squad. Lets move the growing pains from the regular season to the post. That would be a good step for next year.

I hope they win a title... I dont think we have that kind of talent tho