I figured this is big enough news to give it its own thread.
Remember when the Knicks signed Obi’s brother and it was, like, “Huh?” because we were all pretty darn sure that the Knicks were going to be trading Obi Toppin, so signing his shitty brother was…odd. And now he IS traded, so…yeah.
Anyways, whatever, these moves were both highly anticipated (in the sense that we assumed they were going to happen). I like DiVincenzo a lot, but I just find it hard to believe they’re just going to have a bunch of similar players and say, “Eh, figure it out,” so I think a trade of one of the other rotation guys is coming. I just have no idea who it will be for. And when the dust settles from that move, then I think we can fully determine what we think of these moves overall.
It was nice of DiVincenzo to take a sliiiiiiiight pay cut to help the Knicks with avoiding the luxury tax this year.
In any event, welcome to the Knicks, Donte! You’re a good player, nice to have you here, I just wait for what the next shoe to drop will be.
20 replies on “Knicks Sign Donte DiVincenzo, Trade Obi Toppin”
Dillon Brooks getting $20M AAV is further proof that we are living in a simulation
You are fucking kidding me. Guy should be sent to the Adriatic league.
The plan is definitely to make a move to free up minutes. We just need to wait and find out what it is.
Grimes or RJ are the logical choices to go. I’m not sure how viable moving IQ will be unless we’re okay with DD & Deuce running point. But obviously it depends on the guy we get.
Curious to see RJ at the 4. There was some talk here about how he might look better there than at the 3. It’s not like a 6’6″ PF with strength is crazy in today’s NBA. He’s basically the same size as Miles Bridges who plays PF when he’s not beating up women.
Most 4s are more wings than bigs and RJ and Hart probably match up about as well as, if not better than, Obi in most cases.
Yeah, I absolutely can’t be mad at this DiVincenzo contract when Dillon Brooks is getting paid this much. It’s also 13 million overall less than what Max Strus got from the Cavs, and Donte is definitely a better defender and more productive overall player, even though Strus is a better shooter.
I’ll miss Obi but honestly, it was very clear that he wouldn’t ever have the space to develop with the Knicks so at least we got some minor assets back.
i’m not gonna repost.. but there’s a lot of tactical concerns about donte replicating his warrior year here…. and we’re probably getting some bucks / ihart version of him which is still probably an ok player but a lot like the guys he’ll cannibalize minutes from… reggie bullock.. i mean donte div.. i mean grimes…
that probably means this isn’t adding much in the win column but also simultaneously adding weight onto a cap that’s about to get a lot heavier once we find out what the hart and IQ extensions look like….
it is very uplifting to see a reunification of that nova squad tho which was an absolute joy to watch and i only hope to see jay wright come back to the helm which would be the only right move at this point….
brunson was an ok high school prospect but none of these guys were on anyone’s radar when they hit nova… and he really did build that program in a cave made of scraps… and it’s a testament to his leadership that the seeds he planted has grown to what it is today and he should be very proud of what each of these guys have become….
The problem with the Donte signing is the pressure Thibs will have to play their new acquisition. That combined with Thib’s natural preference to play vets and it will not be Donte getting squeezed. Hart’s and RJ’s minutes are pretty safe as well, so my guess is Grimes or IQ get squeezed even if they are outplaying Hart, RJ, and Donte. Remember RJ played like crap most of last year and still played more than IQ or Grimes.
That or we trade IQ for some nebulous future picks so we can stockpile assets for the “big” trade.
Winning games made me forget how much I dislike the coach, management, and star (Randle) but it is amazing how much that hate just floods back once we start fucking up the offseason.
As of now, my assumption is that RJ and Grimes will still start. IQ and Hartenstein will spell Brunson and Mitch while Hart and Donte will spell the swingmen.
RJ and Hart will likely get some run together on the 2nd unit, so one of them would be the de facto PF. Randle better stay in good shape!
Mark my words. Every single poster who is questioning this or worried about redundancy will absolutely love this signing once he starts playing.
We just picked up another hard nosed, unselfish player who plays good defense. Oh and he can shoot the three ball well too. We absolutely will love him. Yeah we need an insurance PF but Sims can fill in that role and all of our guards and wings rebound well for their size. We’ll be fine.
We could have used a dude like this against Miami. We got him now.
People really need to chill out and have just a little bit of faith in leon. He’s got this.
un lapin agité?
Indeed
We need a nickname for DDV.
The Italian Hustlebunny?
Ginger Hustlebunny?
Donte DeHustlebunny?
Sorry. That’s all I got.
I thought that initial Sabonis contract report was ridiculously low, this one makes more sense.
Obi will probably show that he is better than he has been here… but I think he will play akin to John Collins, who was not conductive to winning and neither had lots of trade value, as we have seen recently. In any case, good luck Obi, you have landed in a great situation, make the most of it.
About DDV and minutes, I hope he takes from RJ’s minutes, not Quickley’s or Grimes’, and that is a positive.
Maybe we should knock them about trading Tari Eason for RJ in some fashion. Do they still have cap space to absorb RJ’s contract?
Welcome to move number 2.
Grade in itself: B+
I love DDV, he’s far from a star, but a very solid player.
He give us much needed shooting and he’s a stout and willing defender with a good BB-IQ.
And the money is good, especially if you compare it to what the Dillon Brookses and Max Struses of the world are getting.
Him, IQ and J-Hart all play bigger than their size under the boards (RJ and Obi are the opposite, Grimes is neutral) giving us a lot of flexibility to play smallball against specific lineups with the assurance to have enough shooting always on the floor (using some combination of JB, IQ, Grimes and DDV).
From a playing time standpoint, with the current roster, I’ll expect DDV to play 15 minutes (Obi’s ones, now shared as backup-4 between RJ and J-Hart) plus 5-9 more (depending on the game) from the wings batch.
At the same time I understand @Djphan’s doubts about “how” DDV will be used by our coach, we’ll see (fingers crossed).
Plus, I love the Villanova Connection and while getting Mikal could be really difficult, maybe it’s time to pry Jay Wright out of retirement…
Grade in the grand scheme of things, while we wait for the big trade: TBD
Considering the way Obi was used (corner howitzer) we’re a better team today with Donte in that role.
I’d rather have a bigger backup-4 for the grit and grind of the regular season (and as insurance for Randle’s injuries/rest) but Maybe Sims and I-Hart will work on their shot this summer…
Anyway I don’t think Leon’s over, a big trade is in the cards and (for good or bad) it will shake our roster like an earthquake.
P.S.
Barring the next big trade, you know what would have been great?
Find a way to ship Fournier somewhere, keeping Obi and signing DDV in Evian’s cap space.
A bench of IQ, DDV, J-Hart, Obi and I-Hart would have been fantastic…
According to Katz, Thibs has been obsessing over this particular hustlebunny since draft night 2018.
Hasn’t the time come for this franchise to move beyond the peculiarities and baked-in low ceiling of Tom Thibodeau? I submit that it has.
Let the record reflect that it took E 36 hours and 10 minutes into 2023 free agency to post his first “hustlebunny.”
Honestly, I’m impressed by the restraint.
It’s really mind boggling how Rose managed to fuck up signing both Harden & FVV for the $12M exception
Sucks we need to settle for the best player available that will actually take the MLE this year
Again, imagine being mad that we sign and draft players who play hard.
“Hasn’t the time come for this franchise to move beyond the peculiarities and baked-in low ceiling of Tom Thibodeau? I submit that it has.”
You make some valid points. However, posting it here over and over again won’t make it happen. It definitely won’t be happening in the off season after a second round loss. Unless there is a serious implosion, I expect both Rose and Thibs to get contract extensions. I think we should all sit back and enjoy the ride as much as possible.
Now that they have lost FVV, Quickley should be more attractive to Toronto than ever. We should see if there is a reasonable offer for OG that Masai will accept.