Post by irish2u2 on Jan 9, 2023 0:34:22 GMT -5
It's been awhile. 
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year y'all!!
I used to tell my daughter all the time that life can get inconvenient and that's the story of the last few months. But I'm not here to share my woes. I'm here to talk Knicks basketball and it has to start with a 70% win percentage since Quentin Grimes was inserted into the starting lineup. Grimes is a classic 3 and D player with the added luxury of a superb ability to get to the basket off the bounce and either score or pass. He's an extremely smart kid who lets the game come to him. The interesting point is as good a defender as he is Deuce McBride is better. His insertion into the rotation is also a factor of the Knicks improved play. The real good news is both will get better, especially Deuce on offense, and that brings me to the Big 3.
Randle has been playing out of his mind averaging 30,12 and almost 49% shooting the last month. He should be an all-Star. Brunson, as pointed out by Axios, is everything we hoped he be. He can score and he can pass and his defense is better than advertised plus he is so smart on the floor. A real team leader. Maybe another All-Star candidate. Till he got hurt RJ Barrett was averaging 24 PPG on 47% shooting following some time spent with his shooting coach during his last 10 games. For the season Randle is averaging 24.9 PPG along with 10 RPG, Brunson is at 20.9 PPG and 6.6 APG while RJ is at 19.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 2.9 APG.
Mitch has been a monster and while RJ has been out Quickly has also made massive strides at both ends of the floor. Couple that with the solid play of Isiah Hartenstein and Jericho Sims and things look pretty good and they will get better when Obi Toppin returns.
But it isn't enough. The Knicks are a plus .500 playoff team. They are deep and they have talent. But do they have that one difference maker who can take over ANY game pretty much at will? No. I like this team a lot but they are an average 3 point shooting team in a league where the best team shoot the best from the 3 point line and they lack that one explosive scorer. Put a 25 year old Carmelo Anthony on this team and watch out. Of course a 25 year old Melo would take most of the shots so maybe not.
There has been talk about Zach LaVine. I like him. Great player, great numbers and still just 27 BUT he misses games, he's WAY overpaid and IMHO he is not a superstar. Some Knicks fans are still lamenting not getting Donovan Mitchell especially after his 71 point game against LaVine's Bulls but he's 6'1 and we all saw the miserable defensive rating of another explosive but short backcourt in the Cavs when they had Colin Sexton paired with Darius Garland. Glad we passed. The Knicks most immediate need is better 3 point shooting. Patience may be the key there because Randle, Brunson and RJ have improved their perimeter games while Grimes is a dead eye shooter with a super quick release. The player to watch is IQ. When he gets his feet and shoulders right he's deadly and he can get his shot when he wants it. You get Quickly north of 38% and things get interesting.
Over the next few years we drop some salary. We still have tradable contracts and all those draft picks. The Knicks are a player in any star trade scenario. So right now patience is the answer. The Knicks are playing fairly well though that 5 game losing streak was scary. They are young and players will get better especially with this new rotation which brings us back to what happens when RJ and Obi return which should be this week. RJ isn't so much a problem as he can play either SF or SG as can Grimes depending on the matchups. Obi is another issue all together. I like Jericho Sims at PF. He's not the scorer that Obi can be but his defense and rebounding are much better and he's a much stronger player. Should be interesting to see if Thibs sticks to a 9 man rotation or stretches it out to 10. I'd like to see Randle get some more rest.
And what about Thibs? Amongst the Knicks faithful Thibs is not popular and yet the team is winning mostly because they are playing his style of basketball. While I think he still plays Randle too much he does play the younger guys and he's made some key adjustments in his philosophy.
We are at home tomorrow against Milwaukee. That's a great test of this team. Giannis is one of those guys who can shoulder his team. Does our sum of the parts approach work against such a massive virtually unstoppable talent? We shall see though I'll be watching football.
I'd like to see the board get humming again and I'll try to do my part. Love to all of you.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year y'all!! I used to tell my daughter all the time that life can get inconvenient and that's the story of the last few months. But I'm not here to share my woes.
I'm here to talk Knicks basketball and it has to start with a 70% win percentage since Quentin Grimes was inserted into the starting lineup. Grimes is a classic 3 and D player with the added luxury of a superb ability to get to the basket off the bounce and either score or pass. He's an extremely smart kid who lets the game come to him. The interesting point is as good a defender as he is Deuce McBride is better. His insertion into the rotation is also a factor of the Knicks improved play. The real good news is both will get better, especially Deuce on offense, and that brings me to the Big 3. Randle has been playing out of his mind averaging 30,12 and almost 49% shooting the last month. He should be an all-Star. Brunson, as pointed out by Axios, is everything we hoped he be. He can score and he can pass and his defense is better than advertised plus he is so smart on the floor. A real team leader. Maybe another All-Star candidate. Till he got hurt RJ Barrett was averaging 24 PPG on 47% shooting following some time spent with his shooting coach during his last 10 games. For the season Randle is averaging 24.9 PPG along with 10 RPG, Brunson is at 20.9 PPG and 6.6 APG while RJ is at 19.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 2.9 APG.
Mitch has been a monster and while RJ has been out Quickly has also made massive strides at both ends of the floor. Couple that with the solid play of Isiah Hartenstein and Jericho Sims and things look pretty good and they will get better when Obi Toppin returns.
But it isn't enough. The Knicks are a plus .500 playoff team. They are deep and they have talent. But do they have that one difference maker who can take over ANY game pretty much at will? No. I like this team a lot but they are an average 3 point shooting team in a league where the best team shoot the best from the 3 point line and they lack that one explosive scorer. Put a 25 year old Carmelo Anthony on this team and watch out.
Of course a 25 year old Melo would take most of the shots so maybe not. There has been talk about Zach LaVine. I like him. Great player, great numbers and still just 27 BUT he misses games, he's WAY overpaid and IMHO he is not a superstar. Some Knicks fans are still lamenting not getting Donovan Mitchell especially after his 71 point game against LaVine's Bulls but he's 6'1 and we all saw the miserable defensive rating of another explosive but short backcourt in the Cavs when they had Colin Sexton paired with Darius Garland. Glad we passed. The Knicks most immediate need is better 3 point shooting. Patience may be the key there because Randle, Brunson and RJ have improved their perimeter games while Grimes is a dead eye shooter with a super quick release. The player to watch is IQ. When he gets his feet and shoulders right he's deadly and he can get his shot when he wants it. You get Quickly north of 38% and things get interesting.
Over the next few years we drop some salary. We still have tradable contracts and all those draft picks. The Knicks are a player in any star trade scenario. So right now patience is the answer. The Knicks are playing fairly well though that 5 game losing streak was scary. They are young and players will get better especially with this new rotation which brings us back to what happens when RJ and Obi return which should be this week. RJ isn't so much a problem as he can play either SF or SG as can Grimes depending on the matchups. Obi is another issue all together. I like Jericho Sims at PF. He's not the scorer that Obi can be but his defense and rebounding are much better and he's a much stronger player. Should be interesting to see if Thibs sticks to a 9 man rotation or stretches it out to 10. I'd like to see Randle get some more rest.
And what about Thibs? Amongst the Knicks faithful Thibs is not popular and yet the team is winning mostly because they are playing his style of basketball. While I think he still plays Randle too much he does play the younger guys and he's made some key adjustments in his philosophy.
We are at home tomorrow against Milwaukee. That's a great test of this team. Giannis is one of those guys who can shoulder his team. Does our sum of the parts approach work against such a massive virtually unstoppable talent? We shall see though I'll be watching football.
I'd like to see the board get humming again and I'll try to do my part. Love to all of you.
