Post by irish2u2 on Apr 15, 2021 17:09:54 GMT -5
I'm on several Knicks centric forums on Facebook as are some of y'all here. I find it absolutely amazing how manic Knicks fans can be. They go from praising Randle, RJ and Thibs to trashing them. There is a evenly divided love/hate for Frank and just all out hate for Payton. There is the contingent that says management sucks because they didn't go after Drummond or Oladipo but they fail to acknowledge the addition of Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel in the off season and the trade for Derrick Rose as a huge part of why the Knicks are in the playoff hunt. Don't even get me started on Obi. 
I don't know if the Knicks will make the playoffs. They are still a bit of a Jekyl/Hyde team with a bunch of tough games still left including a 6 game West Coast trip but what most Knicks fans are missing while they rail against the team and management and go off the rails when the Knicks lose a game (especially if Randle has a shot to tie or win the game) is that our beloved Knicks shouldn't be competing for the playoffs this season. This team is at least a year ahead of it's rebuilding schedule. Maybe more.
Going into this season the Knicks were coming off a 21 win season last year when COVID-19 shortened the schedule to 66 games and 17 wins the season before in a 82 game schedule. We had a new coach. A new management staff and 7 new players. This is not the recipe for massive improvement but here we find ourselves at 29-27 and right in the playoff mix fighting for that all important first round bye. What???
Offensively the Knicks still don't score enough points but they have made a meteoric improvement in 3 point shooting which was a key weakness. Defensively? What can you say when you are almost the worst defensive team in the NBA last season and you are now first or second in many key defensive categories this season. I can't tell you how many games the Knicks have played where I felt they were overmatched yet somehow their amazing team defense and unity plus exemplary teamwork has resulted in a win. Even more important is they have been competitive against the better teams. VERY competitive.
I would have expected this level of play, or slightly better, next season after a season of development, a draft that should net the Knicks 3 good young players and an offseason where the team has money to spend and good players who will take that money. The Knicks have all their draft choices, significant cap room and still field one of the NBA's youngest teams. Next season my expectations would have been significantly higher though in my heart I actually feel a 2 year window is more prudent and reasonable.
Let's also take a stab at objectivity. Thibodeau makes mistakes. His substitution patterns defy logic sometimes and he has huge trust issues but the players like him and play hard for him. Management has made a series of smart moves acquiring certain players and taking a hard pass on others. So far their judgement seems more than sound. Randle has his occasional lapses and RJ can be maddeningly inconsistent but all this is normal. No coach is perfect. No player is perfect. The consistent and overwhelming positive is the players play hard. They never quit.
But sometimes our fans quit. I used to think our fans were the smartest and most loyal in the NBA. I don't feel that way so much anymore. Y'all are pretty much the type of Knicks fans I want and respect but a lot of our brothers and a few sisters have their heads up their butts. To me their boorish and entitled behavior is a bigger issue than the Knicks losing games. How could fans who have weathered almost 2 decades of awful basketball feel so entitled? I don't. I know what the Knicks have done wrong in the past and I see what they are doing right now but it's a process. Patience is the key for Knicks fans and if in the 2023 season this team isn't competing at the highest level then bitch and moan. Till then STFU.
I look at this summer as a huge opportunity for the Knicks. They have two first round draft picks and a very high second round pick from Detroit. Essentially they have 3 first round picks in a very deep draft. While the Knicks have played themselves out of contention for one of the coveted top five picks they should add good players. Maybe they can parlay their picks into a lottery pick. I like the Moody kid from Arkansas. Iggy and I are discussing on Facebook the merits of Lonzo Ball. I'm warming up to the lad. Iggy isn't there yet. We signed Burks and Noel out of nowhere and both are key components I hope get extended this summer. I think we should keep Derrick Rose. I'm hoping for similar magic this summer when signing free agents.
IMHO the Knicks are a big time scorer away from championship contention. I believe they can get by with the PGs they now have if they can get a big time scorer like Bradley Beal or Brandon Ingram. If the Knicks can somehow get Lonzo Ball AND swing a trade for Beal without losing Randle or Barrett the sky is the limit. Beal has a player option in 2022 which is why I say 2 years might be the optimum window. Ingram is signed for the next 4 years with no options. He'd be a straight trade option. BTW, Norman Powell is a free agent this summer too. Just saying....
I don't know if the Knicks will make the playoffs. They are still a bit of a Jekyl/Hyde team with a bunch of tough games still left including a 6 game West Coast trip but what most Knicks fans are missing while they rail against the team and management and go off the rails when the Knicks lose a game (especially if Randle has a shot to tie or win the game) is that our beloved Knicks shouldn't be competing for the playoffs this season. This team is at least a year ahead of it's rebuilding schedule. Maybe more.
Going into this season the Knicks were coming off a 21 win season last year when COVID-19 shortened the schedule to 66 games and 17 wins the season before in a 82 game schedule. We had a new coach. A new management staff and 7 new players. This is not the recipe for massive improvement but here we find ourselves at 29-27 and right in the playoff mix fighting for that all important first round bye. What???
Offensively the Knicks still don't score enough points but they have made a meteoric improvement in 3 point shooting which was a key weakness. Defensively? What can you say when you are almost the worst defensive team in the NBA last season and you are now first or second in many key defensive categories this season. I can't tell you how many games the Knicks have played where I felt they were overmatched yet somehow their amazing team defense and unity plus exemplary teamwork has resulted in a win. Even more important is they have been competitive against the better teams. VERY competitive.
I would have expected this level of play, or slightly better, next season after a season of development, a draft that should net the Knicks 3 good young players and an offseason where the team has money to spend and good players who will take that money. The Knicks have all their draft choices, significant cap room and still field one of the NBA's youngest teams. Next season my expectations would have been significantly higher though in my heart I actually feel a 2 year window is more prudent and reasonable.
Let's also take a stab at objectivity. Thibodeau makes mistakes. His substitution patterns defy logic sometimes and he has huge trust issues but the players like him and play hard for him. Management has made a series of smart moves acquiring certain players and taking a hard pass on others. So far their judgement seems more than sound. Randle has his occasional lapses and RJ can be maddeningly inconsistent but all this is normal. No coach is perfect. No player is perfect. The consistent and overwhelming positive is the players play hard. They never quit.
But sometimes our fans quit. I used to think our fans were the smartest and most loyal in the NBA. I don't feel that way so much anymore. Y'all are pretty much the type of Knicks fans I want and respect but a lot of our brothers and a few sisters have their heads up their butts.
To me their boorish and entitled behavior is a bigger issue than the Knicks losing games. How could fans who have weathered almost 2 decades of awful basketball feel so entitled? I don't. I know what the Knicks have done wrong in the past and I see what they are doing right now but it's a process. Patience is the key for Knicks fans and if in the 2023 season this team isn't competing at the highest level then bitch and moan. Till then STFU. I look at this summer as a huge opportunity for the Knicks. They have two first round draft picks and a very high second round pick from Detroit. Essentially they have 3 first round picks in a very deep draft. While the Knicks have played themselves out of contention for one of the coveted top five picks they should add good players. Maybe they can parlay their picks into a lottery pick. I like the Moody kid from Arkansas.
Iggy and I are discussing on Facebook the merits of Lonzo Ball. I'm warming up to the lad. Iggy isn't there yet. We signed Burks and Noel out of nowhere and both are key components I hope get extended this summer. I think we should keep Derrick Rose. I'm hoping for similar magic this summer when signing free agents. IMHO the Knicks are a big time scorer away from championship contention. I believe they can get by with the PGs they now have if they can get a big time scorer like Bradley Beal or Brandon Ingram. If the Knicks can somehow get Lonzo Ball AND swing a trade for Beal without losing Randle or Barrett the sky is the limit. Beal has a player option in 2022 which is why I say 2 years might be the optimum window.
Ingram is signed for the next 4 years with no options. He'd be a straight trade option. BTW, Norman Powell is a free agent this summer too. Just saying.... 