martin wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Nalod wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Caruso doesn’t score but he will hit open 3s and keep the ball moving. Would be an ideal glue guy for the second unit.

Who goes and who stays for that to be a thing. Your not wrong, but how does that happen?

Rose and a first round pick (the lesser of the Knicks/ Dallas picks this summer) for Caruso and either Drummond or Jones Jr. Caruso replaces Deuce in the rotation. Bulls are asking for 2 first round picks. A good first round pick (both Knicks picks likely land in the 15-20 range) plus a rose reunion is a good compromise. If it doesn’t happen at the deadline, I can still see it happening during the draft. Bulls don’t have a first round pick this year so I assume they would welcome getting pick in the middle of the first round. If the Knicks came out of the draft with a Caruso trade plus drafted a big wing like Max Lewis, Kris Murray or Jalen Wilson with the other pick, that’s a really good draft.

Caruso is a nice player and fits Knicks style of play but realistically what *added* benefit are you getting for a player who is 6'4" and averages like 50 games a year who has 2 additional years on his contract?

Does his benefit - at a position where you have RJ, Grimes, IQ all locked and loaded (and with IQ, Grimes going to demand more minutes next year) - outweigh the flexibility of having a rookie contract (and recall the last 2 players the Knicks drafted in this range are exactly IQ and Grimes) and perhaps salary cap flexibility in summer 2024?

Caruso may be an upgrade from McBride this year but would be useless in the next 2 years of his contract IMHO

Knicks need more wing players IMO, like 6'7" and bigger who can shoot.

Caruso is my ultimate glue guy.
Wanted him in FA.
But what several fans forget to factor in when wanting a certain player is the FIT and the COST to add them. They focus on the couple of strengths, ignoring the Knicks needs and that players weaknesses.
It's easy to say Caruso is a hard nose glue guy. However, is that what we really need right now?
Especially if it means giving up assets and committing to contract.
As you mentioned, we need two way players that can shoot the three.
Cam, Rose, Deuce can also be called glue guys, but as we have seen, the fit and level of shooting does not fit well with our other main pieces.
Now if it means take Cam and EF, sure.

So far the Feb. trade deadline rumors have the Knicks trading for talent they already have like Caruso's skills equal a young Quickley & McBride's performance.
The 6.7 SF Anunoby's skills equal Cam Reddish & RJ Barrett's performance.
The Knicks have two young players (Grimes & Quickley) working their way to be better than Lavine & Ingram on both sides of the court before their rookie contract end.

Don't know what Rose's status is, but I think he would help unlock Obi's scoring and would take some of minutes pressure of Brunson if he was back in the rotation. He's not a defender, but Thibs loves him, so what's the deal here?

Nalod wrote:

VDesai wrote:McBride shouldn't be in the rotation right now - he just doesn't offer enough of a threat scoring. He is capable of doing better, but its just not showing up right now.

Don't know what Rose's status is, but I think he would help unlock Obi's scoring and would take some of minutes pressure of Brunson if he was back in the rotation. He's not a defender, but Thibs loves him, so what's the deal here?

Did you see his playing when he did? It was not pretty. Thibs loves him, and he is being paid, but he did not play from early January of 2022, just 26 games. Same for this year but played only 12min a game. 40% from teh field and 30% from 3pt. he is 34 and while he came in skinny, he looked bad. Might be the end for him. Team did better when Jules had his birthday and Thibs stopped experimenting and went with his rotation.
Its a tough business. Deuce brings defense and he was hitting his shot early on.
For what its worth we are playing a lot of young players.

Yes, we seen the lineups Thibs put D.Rose in for 4 or 6 min to watch Randle & Barrett pass the ball to each other.
D.Rose success with the Knicks had Quickley, Burks, Obi, and Taj Gibson.
The poor defense of Randle and Barrett ball-stopper performance on offense has made way to many of their teammates look awful in a lineup the past 4 season.

Randle showed vs LA, why relying too much on too few players for scoring can put a team at a disadvantage.

GustavBahler wrote:If Thibs is the defacto GM, or plays an outsized role in building the roster. Believe its fair to say that the FO might want to consider playing more of a role in roster building.

Randle Knicks showed vs LA, why relying too much on too few players for scoring can put a team at a disadvantage.

Fixed. Gus, your not wrong, but this is a team and while players matter for sure, there are a lot of moving pieces to it. While JB is lighting it up he is not an MVP that can carry this team far alone. We are just not that good. Or not that good yet.
About half way in and we over .500 with JB and others still working it through regarding chemistry. We start two 22 year olds. RJ is in his 4th year I understand. Its frustrating I understand.
All this fan can do is shrug, try to enjoy what we can, and conjure up more patience.
The expectation was struggle to make play in game. This team is living up to and might be exceeding by a slim margin that expectation.