Randle, at times, falls back into trapping himself at times, but who can blame him with the rest of the team goes ice-cold. Overall, he is deserving of his All-Star nod, an extension while it is cheaper, and all the Garden love. He is a stud, Z-bo with better def and a 3 pointer shot.

The biggest issue, we MUST get rid of Elfrid, he is killing this team. Shooting 24.1% for 3s, a career-low of 3.7 assist a game and doesn't space the floor for this team. He is often the catalyst for a poor 1st, even poorer 3rd quarter. We usually lose games in those quarters and Elfrid is part of the blame. His Assist to Usage is near the bottom in the NBA and dead last for all eligible PGs. He has the worse +/- of the 13 players who have played most of the season.

Next, Knox & Rivers. Knox had seemed to improve offensively, while Rivers started out so strong. The good and bad, both are top 6 for our 3pt shooting, but are also the team bottom dwellers on +/-. Neither has a role at the moment unless Elfrid is out. Please be out.

The loss of Robinson, one of only 6 Knicks with a positive +/-, is a blow. Better team spacing with a true starting PG will boost his PPG stats.

The Burks/Bullock combo are negative on +/-. Burks pre-injury was a 20pt scorer but has faded. Bullock is our worst PER player that gets into games, to me that suggests he doesn't add much to the team winning.

IQ/Rose combo is doing well, inconsistent but well. Expected from a rookie. Rose's stats seem to fade after 15 minutes, maybe he didn't train as hard as the Knicks did in the off-season, but I'm not sure. IQ needs to think shooting is a priority. He is so hesitant and 2nd guessed his shot selection, it is affecting his confidence and shows up with his floater % dropping of late. Several Knicks are hesitant when the ball is in their hand.

Toppin, given floor spacing, can be a nice piece of the puzzle, especially since he can hit from 3pt land.

RJ is an enigma, some games he is super aggressive, others he lays off and forces shots. If his confidence is shaken, then he goes softer to the rim. If you can't shoot the 3pt shot well, attack the rim, draw fouls, and do pull-ups from 15-18 ft.

Noel/Taj, I love their energy. But, Noel has hands of stone and no offensive confidence unless it is PnR alley-oop. Combined they are averaging I think just over 11 pts a game.

Ok, now to potential upgrades/fixes:

Drummond, as an expiring contract, if obtained with say just 2nd rd pick and either of Knox/Rivers/Frank/Taj/Noel/Braz(maybe 2 of them), is a NO-BRAINER for the New York native. People complain about his defense. Here are some stats to consider, his PER would place him #1 on the Knicks, just ahead of Randle. His PPG would be #2 on the Knicks, ahead of RJ. And his +/- is -0.3, so almost 8th for this team and pretty much break even. But what he would provide in added scoring and rebound domination, would be HUGE. Plus a free try out for his chemistry when a FA, maybe Thibs can improve his D, he has for others.

I would not bet the farm on Beal, Lavine, Heild, McCollum, and a big hell no to Dipo.

Other than Drummond, a 3pt sniper ala the days of Novacane would do wonders, heck, why not 2 shooters. Kyle Korver isn't even on an NBA roster. In the past decade, Kyle has averaged 44.5% at the Key 3 pointer and 50.7 with Thibs favorite corner 3. The G-League confuses me, not sure if we still own rights to Powell, but he is a confident shooter, playing well(46.9% from 3), besides IQ is more of a SG.

Our quarter-by-quarter stats have slightly decreased since last year, while our points against have significantly improved. Our offense this season by quarter is ranked, 25th 1st, 27th 2nd, 30th 3rd(when we usually blow games), and 28th 4th quarter. 2019-20 overall off/def were 26th in the league, 2020-21 16th. Heading the right direction.

Minimum moves could add 5-8 wins to our 2nd half. A 5-8 seed and a fun yet dangerous team, that most teams already don't want to play. That's my opinion.

***GO NY GO NY GO***

Alan Hahn said it messes up our chemistry? Why? Noel is ok take is ok but y can’t Drummond fit in but as a much superior player to either? He gets us offensive rebounds— lowers second chance rebounds and with our team should score much easier than playing w Cleveland

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:I’m not sure why people have something against Drummond at the cost of nothing?

Alan Hahn said it messes up our chemistry? Why? Noel is ok take is ok but y can’t Drummond fit in but as a much superior player to either? He gets us offensive rebounds— lowers second chance rebounds and with our team should score much easier than playing w Cleveland

At the cost of nothing, it's a whatever move. But it's not going to cost nothing just because of his salary. Remember, Drummond defense is bad. Also, I don't see how his offense suddenly improves playing on a worse offensive team.

We don't need his offense to increase, maybe his defense, but just play his regular game is a definite improvement. If Drummond was so bad defensively, he wouldn't have a +/- of almost zero. Elfrid often said to play solid defense is -3.1 +/- RJ -2.5, but they are both considered plus defenders, but not elite. He is on an expiring contract and we have wasted cap space this year, so it is nothing to take him on for the season 2nd half.

BigDaddyG wrote:

NYStateOfMind wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:I’m not sure why people have something against Drummond at the cost of nothing?

Alan Hahn said it messes up our chemistry? Why? Noel is ok take is ok but y can’t Drummond fit in but as a much superior player to either? He gets us offensive rebounds— lowers second chance rebounds and with our team should score much easier than playing w Cleveland

At the cost of nothing, it's a whatever move. But it's not going to cost nothing just because of his salary. Remember, Drummond defense is bad. Also, I don't see how his offense suddenly improves playing on a worse offensive team.

We don't need his offense to increase, maybe his defense, but just play his regular game is a definite improvement. If Drummond was so bad defensively, he wouldn't have a +/- of almost zero. Elfrid often said to play solid defense is -3.1 +/- RJ -2.5, but they are both considered plus defenders, but not elite. He is on an expiring contract and we have wasted cap space this year, so it is nothing to take him on for the season 2nd half.

How much does he have left? We still have to send something to make it work. Drummond's defense is due to a lack of awareness and his inability to keep dude in front of him. That means the comfort level of everyone goes down because and the overall defense goes down. Ultimately the best you can hope for is a lateral move.

You really think Noel and Drummond is lateral? Not sure on that 2

NYStateOfMind wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

NYStateOfMind wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:I’m not sure why people have something against Drummond at the cost of nothing?

Alan Hahn said it messes up our chemistry? Why? Noel is ok take is ok but y can’t Drummond fit in but as a much superior player to either? He gets us offensive rebounds— lowers second chance rebounds and with our team should score much easier than playing w Cleveland

At the cost of nothing, it's a whatever move. But it's not going to cost nothing just because of his salary. Remember, Drummond defense is bad. Also, I don't see how his offense suddenly improves playing on a worse offensive team.

We don't need his offense to increase, maybe his defense, but just play his regular game is a definite improvement. If Drummond was so bad defensively, he wouldn't have a +/- of almost zero. Elfrid often said to play solid defense is -3.1 +/- RJ -2.5, but they are both considered plus defenders, but not elite. He is on an expiring contract and we have wasted cap space this year, so it is nothing to take him on for the season 2nd half.

How much does he have left? We still have to send something to make it work. Drummond's defense is due to a lack of awareness and his inability to keep dude in front of him. That means the comfort level of everyone goes down because and the overall defense goes down. Ultimately the best you can hope for is a lateral move.

You really think Noel and Drummond is lateral? Not sure on that 2

Lol, no way is it lateral. At the very least it is a stop-gap until Mitch is back. The last time I checked he is #2 NBA in rebounding stats, I think that is enough in the tank for this year, haha. Our offense needs to improve, our defense is mostly fine. So, you want Noel's D & no hands for pass/rebounds or Drummond's Off plus rebounds, BigD?

Rebounds have become increasingly overrated. Most teams sacrifice offensive rebounds for transition defense. I don't think Drummond's inefficient 17 points a game on 30% usage moves the offensive needle much, if at all. I'd rather have Noel. Not saying Noel is great, just don't think Drummond offers much of a solution.

Stevo718 wrote:State of the Knicks... we have something to work with at our 4 and 5, would still take Drummond on the cheap and hopefully he plays well here and we can still resign him for a more reasonable contract and make him attractive to other teams for some future trade because I don’t see us becoming a championship team with him.

If you look at our 1,2,3 in essence we don’t really have anyone. Barrett and IQ are not proven yet but we need to continue to develop them and reassess them in a year. I think we stand pat and the only trade for a 1,2,3 should involve no more then ONE first round draft pick and filler/2nd round draft picks. Let these kids play and get in the post season and increase their value and then make some big splash on draft night. We have to go for tier one talent. Beal is tier 2 talent and doesn’t make you a championship team and would eat too much of our future. Get the most bang for your buck and take advantage of desperate teams trying to make it or advance to the finals. Small ball, sabrmetrics, get 75% of production at half the price kinda ****.

No moves we make this year are going to make us champs. But Drummond could be a piece, then get a bonafide star as a FA and draft well. Then they really compete.