This is about ten days old and is Oubre talking about Thibs and the Knicks.

The knock on him is that he never completed the big step forward. To be clear, this is why he is available as a FA.

25 years old. 6’7 with a 7’3 wingspan. Tremendously athletic and can score. It’s hard to push for Oubre without acknowledging my criticisms of Terrence Ross.

His outside shooting last season at 31% 3pt% and career best with Phoenix was 35% 3pt%. In free agency, I am generally overlooking 3pt% IF the player has good length, athleticism and defensive instincts.

The word used to described the Knicks most recently is “hard nosed” as Oubre does in this interview. His criticism of the Dubs is that they didn’t have 5 players wanting to play tough basketball.

My biggest question mark on Oubre is price. He is making 14.5mm now and seems to want a raise, but that doesn’t seem to be warranted by anything other than his 7’3 wingspan.

I see him as a similar position to Randle when we signed him. 2 years with a team option for a 3rd at 20mm or less seems reasonable. Would need to increase his shooting efficiency but if he did, he could be a max player type.

smackeddog wrote:No no no to Oubre- if you can't play with Steph Curry good luck in finding players yo can play well with. Also if he's not willing to pass to Curry, and thinks he should prioritise his own shots over Curry, what do you thinks going to happen when he plays alongside RJ?

Like reub, I'd rather sign Fournier or Duncan Robinson, or even Otto Porter on a one/two year redemption contract

Not every player is a good fit, Oubre has the THIBS mentality

"I'm a tenacious basketball player. I love to grow," Oubre said. "I'm looking for an organization that is growing, obviously, in the direction. I'm looking to compete for a Finals, and I'm looking to continuously get better. I want to be in a situation where it's just a family environment. Where I can come in and make that place my home for however long I sign my deal for.

GSW has a finesse offense and culture and that's not his flow

"I'm just looking for [a team that plays] defense, hard-nosed defense, scrappy, fast-paced, athletic open-floor offense. That's what I thrive in. Kind of just getting after it, man. Just having a team full of hard-nosed dog individuals. That's ideal.

Fournier is soft and so is Robinson, porter is cool, but not sure he has the NY mentality, that rugged I'm not backing down mentality.

People said Randle played selfish under Fizdale, and look what happen a yr later

knicks1248 wrote:

smackeddog wrote:No no no to Oubre- if you can't play with Steph Curry good luck in finding players yo can play well with. Also if he's not willing to pass to Curry, and thinks he should prioritise his own shots over Curry, what do you thinks going to happen when he plays alongside RJ?

Like reub, I'd rather sign Fournier or Duncan Robinson, or even Otto Porter on a one/two year redemption contract

Not every player is a good fit, Oubre has the THIBS mentality

"I'm a tenacious basketball player. I love to grow," Oubre said. "I'm looking for an organization that is growing, obviously, in the direction. I'm looking to compete for a Finals, and I'm looking to continuously get better. I want to be in a situation where it's just a family environment. Where I can come in and make that place my home for however long I sign my deal for.

GSW has a finesse offense and culture and that's not his flow

"I'm just looking for [a team that plays] defense, hard-nosed defense, scrappy, fast-paced, athletic open-floor offense. That's what I thrive in. Kind of just getting after it, man. Just having a team full of hard-nosed dog individuals. That's ideal.

Fournier is soft and so is Robinson, porter is cool, but not sure he has the NY mentality, that rugged I'm not backing down mentality.

People said Randle played selfish under Fizdale, and look what happen a yr later

The FrancoPhile in you is coming out. Fournier is French so he must be soft. Duncan is white shooter, so he must be soft? Do you what knicks need? Shooters. Shooters are not not soft, they get you buckets.
Oubre quotes are just him saying what you want to here in free agency. He has “NY mentality”? He wants the best long term deal he can get. Nothing wrong with that. Personally I like the guy but lets not get all in love with him based on a quote. Nobody is that naive to based a bias on a quote.
Porter is “Cool”? Why, his first name has two letters used twice? Can you tell us why you like him or want to emulate his sense of self?
In your backwards way just said Frank is touch “Thibs” kind of player. We all know that might not be true but. If you put defense first, and yes dudes that play defense are tough, you contradict your self once again.

Nalod wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:

smackeddog wrote:No no no to Oubre- if you can't play with Steph Curry good luck in finding players yo can play well with. Also if he's not willing to pass to Curry, and thinks he should prioritise his own shots over Curry, what do you thinks going to happen when he plays alongside RJ?

Like reub, I'd rather sign Fournier or Duncan Robinson, or even Otto Porter on a one/two year redemption contract

Not every player is a good fit, Oubre has the THIBS mentality

"I'm a tenacious basketball player. I love to grow," Oubre said. "I'm looking for an organization that is growing, obviously, in the direction. I'm looking to compete for a Finals, and I'm looking to continuously get better. I want to be in a situation where it's just a family environment. Where I can come in and make that place my home for however long I sign my deal for.

GSW has a finesse offense and culture and that's not his flow

"I'm just looking for [a team that plays] defense, hard-nosed defense, scrappy, fast-paced, athletic open-floor offense. That's what I thrive in. Kind of just getting after it, man. Just having a team full of hard-nosed dog individuals. That's ideal.

Fournier is soft and so is Robinson, porter is cool, but not sure he has the NY mentality, that rugged I'm not backing down mentality.

People said Randle played selfish under Fizdale, and look what happen a yr later

The FrancoPhile in you is coming out. Fournier is French so he must be soft. Duncan is white shooter, so he must be soft? Do you what knicks need? Shooters. Shooters are not not soft, they get you buckets.
Oubre quotes are just him saying what you want to here in free agency. He has “NY mentality”? He wants the best long term deal he can get. Nothing wrong with that. Personally I like the guy but lets not get all in love with him based on a quote. Nobody is that naive to based a bias on a quote.
Porter is “Cool”? Why, his first name has two letters used twice? Can you tell us why you like him or want to emulate his sense of self?
In your backwards way just said Frank is touch “Thibs” kind of player. We all know that might not be true but. If you put defense first, and yes dudes that play defense are tough, you contradict your self once again.

Fournier - At an expect AAV of $18mm, I understand the appeal of Fournier. The Scott Perry connection (he drafted him) makes me believe his presence is possible if not likely in the same way we got Elf Payton. Dollar for dollar, Elf had a good contract EXCEPT that he appeared to have some sort of starting promise and the 1 year nature created a no trade clause. The benefit of signing Fournier without a S&T is that we take $18mm of cap from Boston without giving a trade exception. He is a solid veteran that plays defense, but has limited upside. If it’s Fournier at 18mm or Oubre at 25mm, I take Fournier.

Porter — He is another guy that takes on difficult defensive assignments. That’s what I like about him. He got too big of a contract too soon so that he “underperformed” his contract value despite being an effective and talented player. If he had gotten 20mm instead of a max, we’d never have a bad word to say about Porter except for his injury issues. I think he will make someone very happy on a reasonable contract. If we were able to manage the capholds to remain “over the cap” to get a 9.7mm MLE, I’d be all about getting Porter on that contract — which is probably what he gets this offseason.

Robinson — Feel like the numbers thrown around to pull Duncan from the Heat are ludicrous. He is a great shooter. That said (I) I don’t see him leaving Miami and (II) I don’t see him providing the defensive toughness we talk about. A guy like Robinson is special because he went undrafted. Miami found rotation talent in a very unlikely spot. There is a difference between this and the dollars we discuss ($20mm?!?) and I just don’t see it. I hear pundits saying he will get $15mm per, even that I think is questionable. Again, I see him getting bid up to the MLE and matched by Miami at approximately 4 years 40mm, but I find it hard to believe he is going higher than that as an RFA cause guys with cap space will not want to wait around while Riley wheels and deals. I often underestimate the market, but this doesn’t feel like a bidding war we should be part of.

Re: Dubs Oubre vs Suns Oubre — Not sure what this argument is. Dubs offense is about eFG and getting the ball to Curry. Oubre saw a clear decline in his “money” stats in GS. He was a victim of Chris Paul choosing Phoenix but was a solid contributor to that surprise bubble team. I would expect to get something closer to Phoenix Oubre. The issue is whether that 35% 3pt shooter can get even better? I don’t see $25mm for him, but a 2+1 contract like what Randle got makes sense to me. He seems like the kind of player Thibs can get the most from.

Nalod wrote:Eric Fournier was drafted by the Denver Nuggets and played two years there before being traded to Orlando.

You're saying his playoff performance was so bad that he had to change his name?

Pepper wrote:

TheGame wrote:We should have drafted a SF. Oubre just does not seem like he is a longterm solution, and he will cost too much. If we got him cheap, then I would give him a chance but I am not paying him $17-$18 mil on a multi year deal. If he wanted a one year overpay deal, I might do that but he needs to prove himself before we sign him longterm.

I mean, yes, we should have drafted a SF.

But 'long term' is relative. If the Knicks sign him it wont be for any longer than the remaining contracts of RJ, Randle and/or Mitch. The core that they are trying to build around. That would be max 3 years. The Knicks have a ton of options and they can extend Randle but they are not in rebuild mode and I would be fine to bring in Oubre knowing he will want decent money as long as in 2-3 years we can make a move if things don't work out.

I think this approach however also means if Oubre wants TOO much, the Knicks will balk because bringing in a playmaker PG is more important and that is where they will be looking to spend their money.

Everything is relative. He makes $14.5 mil now. If he was willing to take a 3 year deal at $15 mil for the chance to start, then maybe. But he is probably looking for $19-$20 mil per year and he has not proven to be worth that. The dude is going into his sixth year and he has never shot better than 35% from 3, and most years he has been below league average at 3s. His defense is decent but he does not move the needle enough offensively or defensively for us to pay him $20 mil a year. Even at $15 mil, i am not sure Oubre is worth it. I think we would be better off resigning Bullock for $7-$9 mil, which I think we should be able to do.

He's a wild athlete. He's got another level in this league that can be unlocked. Could this be the coach/team/org that provides that environment? Streaky shooter but is more a Sprewell type scorer and he's a great 3rd/4th option because when he's hot he's really a difference maker. His warts (and they are there for everyone to see) is what's keeping his cost managable. We cant afford 2 max guys but we could afford Oubre/Lowry for the $53ish whatever we have in cap space even if its $20/$30 respectively. I would love that. We bring back Taj as a vet min and eventual Herb Williams coaching role. Here's our squad for next year:
PG Lowry/Luka/McBride
SG RJ/IQ
SF Oubre/Knox/Grimes
PF Jules/Obi
C Mitch/Sims/Taj

Thats a big starting 5 that can really bruise you. Its backed up by a squad of long 2 way shooters who get after you on D and have young legs except for Sims who will just vacuum boards and block shots

I love this squad as its loaded with young guys and we have 4 FR picks in 2 years and its got enough guys developing you can be patient and grow chemistry. Aside from Lowry who's our new Derrick Harper and Taj its a really YOUNG team loaded pieces if a star shakes free