DLeethal wrote:

martin wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Most already hit on this. Thibs has coaching deficiencies but honestly I love a good old Thibs team the way it should be built. They play hard and tough and physical and I love that ****. Veering away from that in favor of more finesse and offense never really works with us and Thibs. It just gets awkward once you veer away from that tough and physical identity. I also think the league is trending back that way after the 3 point high octane love affair. Seems defense and rebounding is making a comeback.

I would keep Thibs and get a high level offensive assistant like Terry Stotts. I would explore all KAT trades. I wouldn’t take a step backwards though just to dump KAT. If you cant trade him fill the gaps as much as possible with more defense and toughness and ball handling.

I’d do the KAT for Durant swap in a heartbeat. Idk if PHX would but that’s a Finals team and a Thibideau team.

I'm trying to figure out a better spot for Durant, assuming he wants to go to a contender, my list is Houston, Minny, NY, SAS, OKC. I don't think SAS cause Durant's window is too small to give up young assets and they got better options? Minny is complicated cause of contracts that are expiring on Minny side of things. OKC there is history and I have no clue if it wants to be repeated or broken up as they already in the finals. Houston or NY, dependent on where Durant would want to go?

The East is a much easier ride than the West, both Durant and Giannis will know this.

Is Booker's relationship with KAT good enough? What other realistic options does Phoenix have to grab player/players that'll make them playoff bound? And do you HAVE to work with Durant or do you send him anywhere?

Durant will be 37yo in Sept. Does he have 2 or 3 more good years left? Is that a good enough window for the Knicks?

For me, he is a much better fit with Jalen than KAT. I would do the deal if I could tack on 2-3 years on Knicks cap terms. I don't know what that means but probably descending. Even starting at $50M, that would be $7M less than KAT in year 1 and a even more the following when Mikal/Mitch extensions kicks in, that wold be helpful.

I don't love love it but I'd probably do a Durant/KAT swap. You rely on Mitch and hopefully sign an Al Horford type and probably another vet min center.

The way I see it, barring a Giannis miracle, it's the best realistic option that ends with Knicks getting better. Any other trade is going to be more of a salary dump or getting bad contracts in return. This trade flips us into a legit contender. Not perfect, but trading KAT is not gonna be perfect.

I wouldn't be shocked if Suns came out better for it too, gives them much better floor balance instead of having all of their max talent at the wing. And they are desperate for Booker to not request a trade at this point.

If you are Leon, are you OK with a KAT/Durant swap knowing that it perhaps shortens your window by a good bit? You are pretty much stuck with Durant for his duration.

What is the extension you are comfortable with? And is a straight up swap good enough for Leon?

martin wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

martin wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Most already hit on this. Thibs has coaching deficiencies but honestly I love a good old Thibs team the way it should be built. They play hard and tough and physical and I love that ****. Veering away from that in favor of more finesse and offense never really works with us and Thibs. It just gets awkward once you veer away from that tough and physical identity. I also think the league is trending back that way after the 3 point high octane love affair. Seems defense and rebounding is making a comeback.

I would keep Thibs and get a high level offensive assistant like Terry Stotts. I would explore all KAT trades. I wouldn’t take a step backwards though just to dump KAT. If you cant trade him fill the gaps as much as possible with more defense and toughness and ball handling.

I’d do the KAT for Durant swap in a heartbeat. Idk if PHX would but that’s a Finals team and a Thibideau team.

I'm trying to figure out a better spot for Durant, assuming he wants to go to a contender, my list is Houston, Minny, NY, SAS, OKC. I don't think SAS cause Durant's window is too small to give up young assets and they got better options? Minny is complicated cause of contracts that are expiring on Minny side of things. OKC there is history and I have no clue if it wants to be repeated or broken up as they already in the finals. Houston or NY, dependent on where Durant would want to go?

The East is a much easier ride than the West, both Durant and Giannis will know this.

Is Booker's relationship with KAT good enough? What other realistic options does Phoenix have to grab player/players that'll make them playoff bound? And do you HAVE to work with Durant or do you send him anywhere?

Durant will be 37yo in Sept. Does he have 2 or 3 more good years left? Is that a good enough window for the Knicks?

For me, he is a much better fit with Jalen than KAT. I would do the deal if I could tack on 2-3 years on Knicks cap terms. I don't know what that means but probably descending. Even starting at $50M, that would be $7M less than KAT in year 1 and a even more the following when Mikal/Mitch extensions kicks in, that wold be helpful.

I don't love love it but I'd probably do a Durant/KAT swap. You rely on Mitch and hopefully sign an Al Horford type and probably another vet min center.

The way I see it, barring a Giannis miracle, it's the best realistic option that ends with Knicks getting better. Any other trade is going to be more of a salary dump or getting bad contracts in return. This trade flips us into a legit contender. Not perfect, but trading KAT is not gonna be perfect.

I wouldn't be shocked if Suns came out better for it too, gives them much better floor balance instead of having all of their max talent at the wing. And they are desperate for Booker to not request a trade at this point.

If you are Leon, are you OK with a KAT/Durant swap knowing that it perhaps shortens your window by a good bit? You are pretty much stuck with Durant for his duration.

What is the extension you are comfortable with? And is a straight up swap good enough for Leon?

I personally think all of this window talk is a bit overstated. Teams always operate on 2-4 year windows and they morph into new things. Our window based on contracts of KAT, OG, Mikal upcoming extension is 3-4 years. After 1-2 years this team is probably gonna look different, as guys contracts get closer to the end and they become more tradeable and the team looks to maybe retool a bit. So I think Durant lines up well with the "first" window. Just look at Boston over the years. They had their early window with Smart and Rozier and Robert Williams. Then they pivoted to Jrue and KP and Derrick White. Now they are gonna pivot again. That's how I view it personally. I think Brunson had 6 years in him where he will be elite-ish. And on the latter end we will need to pivot to get fresh blood and more youth around him most likely.

So to answer your question, I don't see KAT here for more than his 3 years regardless, so I think Durant lines up just the same. And is a better fit for those 3 years. He is at the age where he needs to settle into a 2nd option role and him and Brunson would be absolutely deadly especially in the clutch. And it allows us to go back to defense and rebounding at the 5 spot where we already have Mitch and Hukporti and just need one more guy for a great platoon once again. I love this move for so many basketball reasons.

Knixkik wrote:Key is to not overreact. A real offseason healthy and training camp will go a long way to helping this group. Continuity matters. Chemistry will improve and I think the Brunson/KAT combo will look better.

Brunson and Kat struggled on the defensive end since they have been in league so I'm not sure how they will improve individually. Team wise, the coach could help them by implementing a zone defense to protect them, at times, but there is no guarantee that will work. Bottom line, the blueprint is out and I expect the first bullet point on all teams gameplans will be to attack Kat and Brunson in the pick n roll. At that point the ball will be in Thibs hands to sragger the lineup and or Rose's hands to fix the roster...

Uptown wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Key is to not overreact. A real offseason healthy and training camp will go a long way to helping this group. Continuity matters. Chemistry will improve and I think the Brunson/KAT combo will look better.

Brunson and Kat struggled on the defensive end since they have been in league so I'm not sure how they will improve individually. Team wise, the coach could help them by implementing a zone defense to protect them, at times, but there is no guarantee that will work. Bottom line, the blueprint is out and I expect the first bullet point on all teams gameplans will be to attack Kat and Brunson in the pick n roll. At that point the ball will be in Thibs hands to sragger the lineup and or Rose's hands to fix the roster...

There’s always ways to work around it. Denver did with Jokic and Murray. Both are bad positional defenders. There’s just system and scheme ways to keep KAT and Brunson out of mismatches as much as possible. It’s up to the coaching staff to figure it out.

Knixkik wrote:

Uptown wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Key is to not overreact. A real offseason healthy and training camp will go a long way to helping this group. Continuity matters. Chemistry will improve and I think the Brunson/KAT combo will look better.

Brunson and Kat struggled on the defensive end since they have been in league so I'm not sure how they will improve individually. Team wise, the coach could help them by implementing a zone defense to protect them, at times, but there is no guarantee that will work. Bottom line, the blueprint is out and I expect the first bullet point on all teams gameplans will be to attack Kat and Brunson in the pick n roll. At that point the ball will be in Thibs hands to sragger the lineup and or Rose's hands to fix the roster...

There’s always ways to work around it. Denver did with Jokic and Murray. Both are bad positional defenders. There’s just system and scheme ways to keep KAT and Brunson out of mismatches as much as possible. It’s up to the coaching staff to figure it out.

Celts have 3 bigs who are suspect on the perimeter and they have a top notch defense. I asked my basketball-nerd Celtics friends how they do it and they can't (or won't) tell me, but they somehow manage

Also, still not convinced we lost because of our defense (Pacers score a lot against a lot of teams) as much as we weren't ready for their defense (especially game 6) -- and not just their pressure on Jalen, they started pressing everyone with the ball and picking them up way out