Best SL in league: Brunson/DD/OG/Jules/Isaiah
Bench: Rokas/McBride/Josh/Bog/Mitch

Death to every team come crunchtime (notice this is a bomb and will only destroy opponents for a few minutes and is for end of games only)

Brunson/McBride/Josh/Jules/OG(center)

I think we draft a guy and trade for a later pick. Our first rounder has real value for apron teams needing cost controlled role players

Knixkik wrote:

martin wrote:

Knixkik wrote:I really feel great about the healthy starting 5: Brunson, Donte, OG, Randle, Hartenstein. Brunson has arrived as a top 10 guy and one of the best closers in the league. Randle is a satisfactory 2nd option. Donte, OG, and Hartenstein are the cream of the crop as far as elite level role players. What they do, they do among the best in the league. If you can upgrade from Randle to Giannis, sure, you do it. But otherwise it’s really tough. I’d gladly go after P George and Bridges, the 2 most common names floating around. But P George is older and injury prone, so replacing Randle with him shortens the window for contention. Bridges replacing Randle doesn’t really help with the lack of scoring around Brunson. And adding him to the lineup alongside Randle gives a good scoring option with the defense, but if you’re replacing Donte with him you lose the shooting gravity. It’s just really tough to replace any of our starting 5 in a vacuum due to their individual skill sets being perfectly suited around Brunson (and Randle to a lesser extent.) long story, longer, the starting 5 fits like a glove and we saw that in a one month sample size.

Now when I say we need a 6th man, I’m not talking about a Hart replacement. I’m talking about someone who can carry offense in some ways. Hart will do what he does whether he’s off the bench or starting in place of OG, Donte or Randle if and when one of them is out. But we need someone who can really bring offense to the second unit to prop it up at times. We need a real Quickley replacement, regardless of position. It will be bogey plus picks that don’t mortgage the future.

Imagine if we could move that package for Kuzma and get him to buy into a bench role as a 2-way combo forward who can score, rebound and playmake? Or maybe it’s as simple as revisiting Brogdon, a former 6th man of the year. Similar to his teammate Jerami Grant. Does he buy into a 6th man role if it means competing for a championship? We need that level of guy. Knicks healthy starting 5 is elite. We need to get that elite bench back. Imagine back a couple of years ago when the starting 5 was trash but the bench would carry this team to wins. What if we could put that all together? Outside of a Giannis or maybe PG level player coming onto the market, that should be the goal. Find that guy.

I don't want to divert your topic - I think you are spot on with the 6th man upgrade - but I want to ask everyone if there is even a semi viable upgrade over Randle that is out there.

Giannis. He prob is not available for at least a year?

Paul George? He has LAC and Philly options and would need to specifically pick the Knicks?

Booker? Not for a couple years?

Donovan is awkward.

Who else is even a remote'ish possibility?

I don’t see a semi viable upgrade over Randle out there Outside of Giannis. PG and Mikal are different sorts of upgrades, but when you factor in the things Randle does they may not be true upgrades. The other names like Markkanen and Ingram might both be slightly better players than Randle, and younger, but aren’t better to the extent that it will be a difference in any real way.

We can get Lebron if we trade up to draft Bronny. He’d be perfect for our starting lineup as the 4. He will have no problem deferring to Brunson on offense but if he has to step up and drop 30 any given night he will do it

martin wrote:

Knixkik wrote:I really feel great about the healthy starting 5: Brunson, Donte, OG, Randle, Hartenstein. Brunson has arrived as a top 10 guy and one of the best closers in the league. Randle is a satisfactory 2nd option. Donte, OG, and Hartenstein are the cream of the crop as far as elite level role players. What they do, they do among the best in the league. If you can upgrade from Randle to Giannis, sure, you do it. But otherwise it’s really tough. I’d gladly go after P George and Bridges, the 2 most common names floating around. But P George is older and injury prone, so replacing Randle with him shortens the window for contention. Bridges replacing Randle doesn’t really help with the lack of scoring around Brunson. And adding him to the lineup alongside Randle gives a good scoring option with the defense, but if you’re replacing Donte with him you lose the shooting gravity. It’s just really tough to replace any of our starting 5 in a vacuum due to their individual skill sets being perfectly suited around Brunson (and Randle to a lesser extent.) long story, longer, the starting 5 fits like a glove and we saw that in a one month sample size.

Now when I say we need a 6th man, I’m not talking about a Hart replacement. I’m talking about someone who can carry offense in some ways. Hart will do what he does whether he’s off the bench or starting in place of OG, Donte or Randle if and when one of them is out. But we need someone who can really bring offense to the second unit to prop it up at times. We need a real Quickley replacement, regardless of position. It will be bogey plus picks that don’t mortgage the future.

Imagine if we could move that package for Kuzma and get him to buy into a bench role as a 2-way combo forward who can score, rebound and playmake? Or maybe it’s as simple as revisiting Brogdon, a former 6th man of the year. Similar to his teammate Jerami Grant. Does he buy into a 6th man role if it means competing for a championship? We need that level of guy. Knicks healthy starting 5 is elite. We need to get that elite bench back. Imagine back a couple of years ago when the starting 5 was trash but the bench would carry this team to wins. What if we could put that all together? Outside of a Giannis or maybe PG level player coming onto the market, that should be the goal. Find that guy.

I don't want to divert your topic - I think you are spot on with the 6th man upgrade - but I want to ask everyone if there is even a semi viable upgrade over Randle that is out there.

Giannis. He prob is not available for at least a year?

Paul George? He has LAC and Philly options and would need to specifically pick the Knicks?

Booker? Not for a couple years?

Donovan is awkward.

Who else is even a remote'ish possibility?

I've been on the trade Randle for Lauri Markannen bandwagon for about 3 years... he gives you similar production, more length and positional flexibility, more efficiency from deep, not a ball holder, similar defense lapses, etc

So if the Knicks are actually looking at upgrades for Randle - this is the guy. He's not the best possible upgrade from a talent perspective (Giannis better) - but he plays in a way that can be a seemless fit (much like OG). You can plug him in and he can fit on most any team and even adjust his role. Once he matured and got injured less - he started to be consistent. He played pretty well on Cavs and now on the Jazz. If we landed him and he didn't fit - would be much easier to find him a home as a 7ft outside shooting forward that can play spot minutes at C. He fits the timeline as well.

So I think he's worth adding a few picks with Randle despite them having similar production.

If not - Randle upgraded to KD as a 2 year rental could work. KD always seems unhappy wherever he goes so that should be a caution flag... but on the court if you swapped KD for Randle we would ease the Brunson load and not lose much besides some physicality.

ToddTT wrote:Here's the 6th man we need...

No kidding.

ToddTT wrote:Here's the 6th man we need...

Would you make more suggestions for 6th man? I’d like to consider all the options

martin wrote:Would you make more suggestions for 6th man? I’d like to consider all the options

martin wrote:

ToddTT wrote:Here's the 6th man we need...

Would you make more suggestions for 6th man? I’d like to consider all the options

I've said the medical team and training staff made some dubious decisions. I would say I would not question anything she said or suggested.

Philc1 wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

martin wrote:

Knixkik wrote:I really feel great about the healthy starting 5: Brunson, Donte, OG, Randle, Hartenstein. Brunson has arrived as a top 10 guy and one of the best closers in the league. Randle is a satisfactory 2nd option. Donte, OG, and Hartenstein are the cream of the crop as far as elite level role players. What they do, they do among the best in the league. If you can upgrade from Randle to Giannis, sure, you do it. But otherwise it’s really tough. I’d gladly go after P George and Bridges, the 2 most common names floating around. But P George is older and injury prone, so replacing Randle with him shortens the window for contention. Bridges replacing Randle doesn’t really help with the lack of scoring around Brunson. And adding him to the lineup alongside Randle gives a good scoring option with the defense, but if you’re replacing Donte with him you lose the shooting gravity. It’s just really tough to replace any of our starting 5 in a vacuum due to their individual skill sets being perfectly suited around Brunson (and Randle to a lesser extent.) long story, longer, the starting 5 fits like a glove and we saw that in a one month sample size.

Now when I say we need a 6th man, I’m not talking about a Hart replacement. I’m talking about someone who can carry offense in some ways. Hart will do what he does whether he’s off the bench or starting in place of OG, Donte or Randle if and when one of them is out. But we need someone who can really bring offense to the second unit to prop it up at times. We need a real Quickley replacement, regardless of position. It will be bogey plus picks that don’t mortgage the future.

Imagine if we could move that package for Kuzma and get him to buy into a bench role as a 2-way combo forward who can score, rebound and playmake? Or maybe it’s as simple as revisiting Brogdon, a former 6th man of the year. Similar to his teammate Jerami Grant. Does he buy into a 6th man role if it means competing for a championship? We need that level of guy. Knicks healthy starting 5 is elite. We need to get that elite bench back. Imagine back a couple of years ago when the starting 5 was trash but the bench would carry this team to wins. What if we could put that all together? Outside of a Giannis or maybe PG level player coming onto the market, that should be the goal. Find that guy.

I don't want to divert your topic - I think you are spot on with the 6th man upgrade - but I want to ask everyone if there is even a semi viable upgrade over Randle that is out there.

Giannis. He prob is not available for at least a year?

Paul George? He has LAC and Philly options and would need to specifically pick the Knicks?

Booker? Not for a couple years?

Donovan is awkward.

Who else is even a remote'ish possibility?

I don’t see a semi viable upgrade over Randle out there Outside of Giannis. PG and Mikal are different sorts of upgrades, but when you factor in the things Randle does they may not be true upgrades. The other names like Markkanen and Ingram might both be slightly better players than Randle, and younger, but aren’t better to the extent that it will be a difference in any real way.

We can get Lebron if we trade up to draft Bronny. He’d be perfect for our starting lineup as the 4. He will have no problem deferring to Brunson on offense but if he has to step up and drop 30 any given night he will do it

do we need to trade up for Bronny? I've thought since we have 2 picks in the later first round that we could pick up Bronny with that second - and I would take him for himself - Tell Lebron he can stay in LA. I like that he would handle the pressure of playing in NYC- he's a defensive minded with a good outside shot.

I would love to add someone like LeBron - unreal how he is producing! But I worry about him clashing with the Thibs/Villinova culture.

NYStateOfMind wrote:It makes no sense to trade Lauri for Randle. Randle is better, yet we have to overpay to get similar talent, and extra grossly overpay because of Dhead Ainge, pass. I'd rather overpay for Sabonis.

I can see both sides to this. Lauri thrives in a free flowing style and doesn't need the ball to be effective. But what we're seeing in these playoffs is that you need guys who are physical and can manufacture tough shots. ISO is the way, like it or not, for the most part in the post-season.