"Death to the Pessimistic State of Mind" - Nas Voice: NYK '23 Pre-Season Thread

[DPresidential]

Team did all the right moves. I'm extremely proud right now.

Same.

As each day passes, I'm happier and happier.

 

[Big Mountain Hélà]

Once again. Shane Larkin, Alex Schved, Lou Amundson, Jared Jefferies. We will be iight yalll relax

You forgot Lance Thomas

 

[DPresidential]

You forgot Lance Thomas

What's funny is people seem to forget that the promised land isn't the star. It's the challenge of doing what's right to maximize that star's potential.

We all agreed that D.Mitch was no where near the final piece.

And, if we were thinking about maximizing D.Mitch, that means bringing someone else in through moves.

It would have been like playing MyGM on hard mode with trying to put pieces around Mitch AND bring in another star with the pieces we would have had left.

 

[Miles Davis]

You forgot Lance Thomas

You leave Lance “Gotdammit” Thomas outta this

 

[Wargames]

Look at @Wargames with some optimistic gems... I see you playa

I judge it how I see it.

Knicks came into the season with Taj as the starting Center because Noel and Mitch was out. Noel was out basically all last season and Rose was gone by December. RJ missed about a month. Kemba was basically playing injured after the second game and then Thibs tried to bench him on a power trip that added drama.

Last year was a mess but this year is looking stable.

Can’t remember where I saw this, but the person said that having all those picks actually hurt us. It’s kinda like when a player is up for a contract extension and wants the max, even if your offer is still above everyone else, that player knows you skimped out on them. Ainge wanted everything we had and we said no. Cavs gave them everything they had.

We might probably be better off making a trade for the robin before trading for the Batman.

i think it’s also who you are negotiating with. McHale didn’t drag out the KG trade with Ainge for extra assets. However, Ainge sure made a point to drag this trade negotiations out with the Knicks to take them to the bank.

Health and defense will be crucial that alone will allow Thibs to grind out victories and get us into the playoffs like he did in ‘21 over teams that our perceived as more talented/in spite of “parity”

I think the bench will again outplay the starters consistently

The bench should outplay the starters the Knicks have a better bench than most teams so they are normally facing either tired starters or weak bench squads.

Rose/IQ
Grimes
Reddish
Toppin
IHart

Are better than some of the starting squads this team has had.

 

[Ironman]

You forgot Lance Thomas

Lance Gotdammnit Thomas™ is good over here

 

[Knicksman20]

i actually think they are playoff bound.

I think a lot of people are underestimating how much of an unmitigated disaster the 2021 offseason was for them to only win 37 games. They knew they needed a PG because Rose has injury concerns and should have an unofficial minute cap, and they brought in Kemba who unfortunately is cooked. They re-signed all the vets except Payton and Bullock and those two were Randle’s best friends on the roster and he pouted. Rose got injured relatively early and missed the majority of the season. Then the vets they did bring back were injured (Rose, and Noel) or played significantly out of position (Burks). The only vet who came back well was Taj and he was played out of position a lot too at Center. They tried to have Randle initiate more of the offense from the perimeter (maybe the give RJ and Kemba driving lanes…who knows) and him starting the offense further from the basket made it easier for teams to double at the rim. Also Fournier/RJ unlike Bullock/RJ couldn’t hide Randle well enough that he could focus on defending the weakest wing/forward offensive threat which led to him getting cooked.

Plus worst of all that was Thibs stubbornness. A year from COTY and he spent most the season acting like his strict vet heavy rotations were above being questioned. Burks is not a pg but Thibs played him that way. Even when the youth played well, he benched them due to his vet bias.

I honestly think both Randle and Thibs were having tantrums and self sabotaging all season long because they hated the offseason moves that much.

Anyhow all that dysfunction and the Knicks still won 37 games, four games less than .500.

They now got Randle and Thibs Buyin with Brunson. Plus the kids have been doing voluntary workouts or working with personal trainers all off season. Everybody is coming in healthy. They have a PG, and enough centers that they should have 48 minutes of rim protection a night. People say Randle sucks he is still putting 20/10, RJ is inefficient too but that is what a PG is for. A lot of that inefficiency was them having to create for themselves.

So, I have them slotted in to be at least .500 and in the midst of another playoff run. They didn’t get a star this year but they are deeper than most teams and Thibs is going to have to coach to win this year or get fired.

The other teams in the league have always been more talented… The Knicks if working makes the game ugly enough they pull the win out anyway.

I'm not trying to be negative, but as long as we still have the duo of Randle/Thibs, we'll be fighting for a play-in spot at the most. One of them should've been shown the door before the season starts but it looks like we're stuck with both for now. Which means we'll be seeing more iso Randle ball with TO's, bad decisions, temper tantrums & Thibs over reliance & blind loyalty to dude

 

[storyteller]

Dolan will fire Thibs if they don’t make the playoffs. Dolan can’t justify raising the ticket prices without getting shyt on in the newspaper if they don’t make the playoffs.

The way I see it, Thibs is coaching for his job. Plus I think the Knicks pivot from hoarding assets to chase a star because as @ISO said there aren’t many going to available. I see them making a general roster improving trade sooner than later unless the Knicks go on a great winning streak.

That's a good point. I do feel strongly that this trade deadline will be good for opportunistic gm's. 2018 is the last class that's looked this promising heading in IMO...the prospects are gonna have gm's open to tanking if they start to worry about stagnation. This should be a good year to test how the play-in game really effects decision-making at the deadline.

 

[Peter Popoff]

Who's better Jalen Brunson or Fred Van Vleet.

 

[Peter Popoff]

If Grimes could be as good as Scottie Barnes and Toppin becomes a starter, team might be decent.

 

[K-Deini]

Rj rated higher than Julius in 2k. You know he heated

 

[Wargames]

Rj rated higher than Julius in 2k. You know he heated

He’ll probably play better than his score. The rating will just make him hard to trade…. Like real life.

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Rj rated higher than Julius in 2k. You know he heated

Julius should have like a 79 overall

 

[ISO]

Rj rated higher than Julius in 2k. You know he heated

RJ being an 85 is

 

[RickyGQ]

Who's better Jalen Brunson or Fred Van Vleet.

Probably Fred. Better shooter and defender. Brunson is better at getting to the rim though.