Let’s start with Brunson.

Jalen Brunson had an insane playoff series and in Doncic’s absence he obliterated defenses with his drives into the paint. His aggressive drives led to 40 point performance. Donovan Mitchell was the only player with more drives in the playoffs. I think if Brunson is given that free will to drive in NY, and the Knicks can spread the floor around him, I think his insanely good eFG for a Point Guard will be a huge asset.

A healthy Derrick Rose is fantastic. He makes smart plays and wills the team to win. Only person that loses from Rose coming back is IQ.

Fournier/Grimes as a 1/2 combo come in with pretty solid eFGs also. Forget defense for a moment, that’s a team sport and Brunson will hold down PG better than Kemba did which will allow Fournier/Grimes to do better as well. Smart money moves Fournier to the second unit and let’s Grimes pick up the tougher defensive assignment while Brunson is on the floor.

Barrett/Reddish. Barrett and Reddish have a couple things in common. SF. Duke. Propensity to take the toughest defensive assignments. These guys like picking up the best offensive players. With Barrett’s new contract maybe the game slows down a bit and he can focus on other aspects of the game rather than the money stats. I think lock down defender is is best place to get those bonus checks. Reddish is in a contract year and has struggled to stay on the court. But his biometrics, his FT%, all say that he can be the penultimate 3&D player in the league. No joke. I am serious. He needs to commit to being that kind of guy - a Kawhi like defensive stopper and then the rest will come. The minutes, the points and the recognition. A big line up with Barrett/Reddish/Toppin can bang with the biggest lineups in the league. I’m a believer in Reddish. I though my he had the highest upside of the Duke trio. Still do. Zion was the monster with health risk. Barrett was the surest bet. Reddish had the best upside.

Randle/Toppin is a fantastic duo. Completely different looks. Slim Randle looks like he used the offseason to get ready to play next to Brunson. His defense is legitimately among the best at PF in the league. For all the headaches last year and forced shots, if he commits to this team as a defensive stopper, a willing passer and a third option scorer, we are legitimate contenders. And he is all NBA again. He’ll get 20/10/5 as a third option on this team.

Robinson/Hart/Sims is a really fantastic combo. Robinson and Sims have some of the highest FG% in the league. Hart is coming off a campaign that with added role, looks like a Jokic clone. The passing, the trailing 3 and the commitment to defense will help this team dramatically.

Best thing this team can do is forget starting vs second unit, it needs to spread the floor and play defense.

I think this
Brunson/Rose(IQ)
Grimes/Fournier(IQ)
Barrett/Reddish (Fournier)
Randle/Toppin
Hart/Robinson

I think moving Hart and Grimes to the first unit with 24 minute splits makes this team better. Hart next to Randle will give a bit better spacing where Robinson can be more aggressive in the second unit. Love love Robinson and don’t want him to be slighted in the second unit. It’s only about floor spacing. I think Fournier’s defensive shortcoming disappear in the second unit.

If the Knicks increase their passes per game (they were among the worst in the league last year) I think they use the offense to pressure the other team and wear them down.

There’s a lot to like here. Hopefully these guys have career years.

And also, I get the sense they are not asleep at the wheel ever. No Danny Ainge or whomever is going to fleece the Knicks with their pants down. The team and coaching give me optimism sure, but it is the current FO that gives me real hope of a stable, sane organization going forward. In the swirl of fans and media who are anything but.

Knicks look like they have at least one rotation player too many.

wargames wrote:Just reading this thread’s statements I am hesitant to give the FO too much credit. They are definitely smarter than what we are use to. However, it’s a backhanded compliment. They completely missed the target last year by thinking that playoff Knicks team was as good as if not better than the majority of their contract year performances deserve.

They had to move pick #11 to get a Brunson because of how bad last year’s plan turned out. Their plan for Kemba plus running it back with the majority of that 2020 team was unrealistic. Right now as a FO I have them on par with Griffin’s FO in NO, but unlike NO the Knicks just have bad luck. The Knicks moved KP for Dennis smith and picks, NO moved AD for Ingram and picks. The Knicks had the worst record in 2019 and fell to #3rd in the draft to pick RJ, NO moved up for Zion in that same dradt. The Knicks have a lot of movable trade assets for Mitchell but Ainge is a notorious tightwad, meanwhile NO got CJ McCollum for peanuts because Portland is trying to save money.

I say all of this to say the FO is good or at least good enough to admit it made a mistake last year, and take the steps to fit it, but man do they need some good luck. I am optimistic they will get some good luck. Either in an unexpected trade or whatever they do in the draft.

I am firmly against a DM trade unless the asking price comes down drastically.

I am very optimistic about the 2023 draft where Knicks hold 4 1st rounders:
2023 Own
2023 DAL
2023 DET
2023 WAS

Did not list protections because there is a good chance we get:
Knicks Pick
Likely 2 picks in 15-9 range
Likely 1 pick in 21-26 range

This is outstanding draft capital to have in 2023 where the 1yr college restriction will be removed.
Some are counting this next draft as really 2 in 1, next years' draft will be weak as a result.

I want to try to keep as many of these picks as possible in any trade scenario.
I am all about trading the Knicks 2024 1st round pick in any deal(cannot trade two years in a row, so this protects our pick in 2023).

The other thing that makes me very optimistic is we have so many young players that have shown flashes, we are bound to get lucky and have one of these guys go to the next level. Knicks should keep the team mostly in tact and see what they got with a solid PG running the floor.

wargames wrote:Just reading this thread’s statements I am hesitant to give the FO too much credit. They are definitely smarter than what we are use to. However, it’s a backhanded compliment. They completely missed the target last year by thinking that playoff Knicks team was as good as if not better than the majority of their contract year performances deserve.

They had to move pick #11 to get a Brunson because of how bad last year’s plan turned out. Their plan for Kemba plus running it back with the majority of that 2020 team was unrealistic. Right now as a FO I have them on par with Griffin’s FO in NO, but unlike NO the Knicks just have bad luck. The Knicks moved KP for Dennis smith and picks, NO moved AD for Ingram and picks. The Knicks had the worst record in 2019 and fell to #3rd in the draft to pick RJ, NO moved up for Zion in that same dradt. The Knicks have a lot of movable trade assets for Mitchell but Ainge is a notorious tightwad, meanwhile NO got CJ McCollum for peanuts because Portland is trying to save money.

I say all of this to say the FO is good or at least good enough to admit it made a mistake last year, and take the steps to fit it, but man do they need some good luck. I am optimistic they will get some good luck. Either in an unexpected trade or whatever they do in the draft.

1.Burks lived up to his contract. The worry was Knicks would overpay Randle and give him a max. They didn't. Noel and Rose were injured.

2. A whole lot of picks got moved around on those deals, including a bunch of 2nd rounders. I think net the Knicks have more 1st round picks than before, though many are protected and might not convert.

3. The Knicks didn't want to sign KP so they got two draft picks to trade him to Dallas.

4. CJ is much older than DM.

I'm not saying the front office has been perfect, picking Obi over Halliburton was a big mistake. I think their moves made sense at the time and even in hindsight look good.

gradyandrew wrote:The issue with Robinson is the free throws that basically preclude him from being in the crunch time lineup of a close game. Rotation wise it gets tricky. That being said, if RJ can't finish better at the rim, you need Robinson in there for the putbacks.

Knicks look like they have at least one rotation player too many.

I find your lack of optimism in this thread disturbing.

Nalod wrote:Yes Optimism. TOo many picks and too many players. We need to consolidate.
Brunson for 11th and we got 1st round picks to move Kemba, not a mistake, an adjustment. Duran might be good in a few years, we have mitch now.

Draft night we lost our minds because we tilt to negative when we don’t understand. Now we do.
Clearly its time to give this FO some respect and some benefit of the doubt. Knicks have choices and options and can be in the game for two more trades. We locked up a potential all star in Barrett. With cap going up our contracts are nice. They are tradable. Thats all you need.
The games will tell the story. Should be fun team to watch. Many things still to happen. I do think Randle gets traded to Charlotte or PHX. Brunson contract actually declines and cap goes up. If we get DM and it don’t work he is tradable. He is paid middle of the pack now.
How it all unfolds? Not sure. But optimism exists due to flexibilty.

I think the best logic here is that Ainge wants to be in our position not his. Give Brunson a chance to be who he is and then you can think about Mitchell at the trade deadline if you think he changes the mechanics for the better. I’m ready to give this team a chance to succeed. I think next years draft will lead to more possible draft and stash foreign players as well. KnicksEurope could be stacked.

MaTT4281 wrote:I share your optimism (I'm always optimistic in September!!! Be nice to hold onto it through Christmas...)

One big thing I disagree with though is your rotation - there is no way IQ is out of the regular rotation, even with a healthy Rose. When Randle shut it down, IQ was our second best player on the court - there could be an argument he was our best!

Just like RJ, IQ very noticeably found his stride the second half of the season after struggling with the PG role. I questioned the need to spend on Brunson vs. handing the keys over to Quick. I really want to keep the core of RJ/IQ/Obi together. I love the chemistry between the three of them.

I think you find Quickly at backup SG (with spot duty at PG/full time if Rose goes down). Grimes gets pushed to SF. Reddish on the outside looking in (although I do hope he gets a chance this year...the tools are all there!)

You might be right. But as Andy said, we may have 1 too many rotation players. A consolidation move should happen unless they think Rose is going to be shut down significantly. I think the camp battle for minutes with Fournier/IQ/Grimes is going to be the think to watch.

gradyandrew wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:

gradyandrew wrote:The issue with Robinson is the free throws that basically preclude him from being in the crunch time lineup of a close game. Rotation wise it gets tricky. That being said, if RJ can't finish better at the rim, you need Robinson in there for the putbacks.

Knicks look like they have at least one rotation player too many.

I find your lack of optimism in this thread disturbing.

I think you infected me with your worries about RJ's shooting efficiency! lol

I think Perry has a pretty well established philosophy of putting teams of above average players together that fit in their roles and the Knicks reflect that. You were right to point to the Brunson signing as being huge. We've all kind of been distracted by the DM situation all summer but there was a good reason the front office went all in on Brunson at the beginning of the summer. He will elevate the starters game. The bench has been one of the best in the league for 2 seasons and there shouldn't be any change.If anything the return of Rose paired with the end of season improvement we saw from Obi and IQ should make them better.

Can Randle jam up Giannis?
Can Robinson eviscerate Embiid?
Can RJ tie down Tatum?
Can Brunson yoke Young?

Truth is this team has good defenders across every position and now should have enough fire power to punish the weak links on other teams. The East is going to be competitive every game so playoff positioning will come down to focus during that January to March stretch. The Knicks schedule looks great. Not many big road trips or long stretches of games against elite teams.

Afree last season I don't want to jinx it.

That was before he signed his extension.

wargames wrote:Well this was a jinx thread…. Drama has found the Knicks yet again…. Cam is requesting a trade for lack of playing time…. In the Offseason. You can’t make this up.

Also this

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https://twitter.com/BigKnickEnergy_/status/1565368732955942915