The Putback with Ian Begley: Knicks Offseason Updates with Steve Popper | SNY

The Putback with Ian Begley: Knicks Offseason Updates with Steve Popper | SNY

[Music] welcome to the putback with ian begley here on sny.tv i’m ian begley sny’s nba insider and we’re here to break things down knicks draft off season coaching search the whole thing for the next 30 or 40 minutes we’re joined by a fantastic guest today news day’s steve pauper has covered the knicks for a long time travels with them he’s with him all the time so he’s he has great insight into what’s going on what’s coming and what’s happened and uh we’re really excited to get started and as always we will get started with the baseline baseline now is our head coaching search and where are we on the coaching search what’s the timeline who’s in who’s out and what can we expect going forward here so steve i want to start with you with taylor jenkins and mike brown did you hear anything on those interviews and and how they went uh look i think uh everything is sort of a process that’s what i keep hearing due diligence and and you know i think i think we hear every one of these interviews goes well and and they should like mike brown is a qualified candidate taylor jenkins did a good job in memphis these are guys who are well respected uh mike nori got added to the list today um all good candidates are they all an upgrade from tom tibido are they a guy you know a reason that you fire a guy who got you to the eastern conference finals i’m not sure it’s a good sell and and i think that’s part of the problem here for the for the knicks is you know when when you make a move like this i kind of wrote in a column i think a week ago you know you can make a trade trade trade a star player you want to be able to tell your fans your base that next day or that day we’re bringing back this guy this is why we did it this is what we have coming uh to to fire a guy who’s done what tibido did you really have to have a good answer of this is what you know we we knew when we got rid of him we had this coming in and the feeling i’ve gotten all along from everyone i talked to is jason kid was that guy he was the one guy they considered an upgrade a good fit for this team where they’re at now um and and just now that it’s sort of you know still in limbo i think every day it ticks on everyone gets a little bit more questions in their head you know why did we do this i you start seeing dick vital and other people start saying maybe the right thing is to call tibido back uh and obviously that’s not happening but but you you just feel like if you’re going to make a move like that you’ve got to have a good answer right away and and due diligence now to me is different than due diligence in 2020 when you were coming out of a you know disastrous period and just setting up your your team i i just think it’s a different situation yeah it is totally different um i would add to that jason the jason kid list that you mentioned i would add mada i think he was a guy who you know maybe there was a wedge in there that they could have exploited obviously that wasn’t the case and chris finch too uh with minnesota uh i would put him there with kid and the kid thing is going to be interesting until it’s not he’s going to be uh in my mind a candidate until he puts pen to paper and signs an extension with the dallas mavericks because it’s has this is where it’s sat for a while now i don’t think anybody steve me anybody who’s covering this thing has closed the door on jason kidd um and then the reason for that is you know we know the knicks like him i i can’t speak for jason kidd but i know how he felt about his time playing in in new york uh with the knicks and and i would assume that you know coaching here is an enticing proposition so until the mavs come out and say “we’ve extended jason kidd he’s not going anywhere.” uh to me he’s a candidate and i know he’s a candidate so that’s where this thing turns you know if jason kidd does do that where do you go uh do you go mike brown do you go taylor jenkins i mean it’s going to be interesting because this thing to me hinges on dallas and how long can you wait there for the owners to react and put something together for kid well i think you’re right and to me the interesting thing about the kids situation is you know that’s a good team there and you’re getting cooper flag tomorrow uh i i think i think it’s an interesting situation but everything i hear there is that things are sort of in disarray and they’re losing you know they just lost his lead assistant they let walk with never negotiating with him um and he’s going to be associate head co coach of san antonio i’ve heard rumors about jared dudley leaving uh god shamgod possibly to orlando um some of these some of some of these things i’ve heard uh if you see his staff falling apart you haven’t negotiated you know we saw right away billy donovan in chicago and mayoka as soon as their names came up they were they were getting extension talks with their teams that hasn’t happened with jason kidd and i think he isn’t sure what’s happening because when you look at when you look at it it’s just you know you’re losing your your assistance um there’s some uncertainty i think on the roster uh there’s some uncertainty about what happened last season with luca donic it it’s a strange situation strange ownership group it’s not like it was when mark cuban was sort of an open door guy um i i i think i think he’s still alive in the mix and and look as hard as this may be to imagine the knicks are the stable organization that he could probably point to as as as a better situation for him right now the thing that’s fascinating to me there too steve is they they share the same agent uh excel sports represents i should say jason kid and nico harrison sorry share the same agent uh excel sports and so that just is another wrinkle there to me that that’s kind of fascinating and you know houston came out through source reporting and said i mean it’s not going anywhere it’s not happening chicago comes out uh and extends billy donovan though i don’t i don’t haven’t seen that one come come officially yet um and then you know houston extends adoka the the mavs declined the knicks request to interview but they beyond that they have not come out even you know through the media and said this is there nothing’s happening here kid’s not going anywhere here’s our guy so that also to me is a little bit curious and it and it kind of leaves me towards what you’re saying in terms of maybe kid not even being sure where things stand and so that to me is kind of in a big picture sense where things are at but now with uh with micah nory and then i assume they’ll bring in some other assistants what’s your read there in terms of the uh likelihood that m a guy like micah could end up with a job well he’s an interesting candidate because he he did do some filling in very well respected been the assistant a long time but to me again this is a situation you’re taking a team that went to the eastern conference finals um has huge expectations and you know we we can see sort of the east has opened up a little bit with injuries um you’re going to be the expectation is you win the east that’s that’s what tibido didn’t do and what sort of is on on the hook for the next candidate so to me to give a guy who’s never been a head coach other than filling in when finch you know broke his leg u i i have a hard time believing they’re going to go that route i think it’s more due diligence um there were other guys who were offered uh sean sweeney who we mentioned one of dallas’s top well dallas’s top assistant uh was offered an interview and turned it down and instead took that associate head coaching job so i think that kind of probably gives you an indication that you know maybe he didn’t feel confident that an assistant was getting this job right right yeah i agree with you i think that if their plan a and b has to be and i think it is getting an an a head coach with experience somebody who’s done it before if you’re turning to that assistant and it’s going to be his first time on the sideline in that role i think things have gone very poorly for your coaching search uh and what about uh a resolution obviously they’re not going to get this thing done before the draft which is tomorrow night uh what do you think about a potential timeline steve i had heard from people that it wasn’t going to be done before the draft but that the ideal scenario was they wanted to have it in place before summer league and ideally uh before that free agency period because that’s going to be a vital thing for them too to try and add to this roster um when it was tibido it was easy to say “we’re going to we’re going to try and sell some you know veteran got you know veteran for some minutes here we’re going to give you an opportunity take a one-year deal uh we can give you a championship contending team you know a good good high-profile spot for you.” but when you don’t know who the coach is it’s really hard to pick out who fits you know when you don’t know what the system is when you don’t know what what you’re going to be stepping into and to me if you don’t have a coach in place july 1 i’m i’m not interested in talking to the knicks if i’m you know a 10-year guy in the league uh and i’m certainly not taking less money not knowing who the coach is going to be right it it certainly complicates things on the free agency front um i think similar to you um i don’t know if i don’t know if they look at free agency june 30th as a a must date to have a coach in place by um the thing that you know is lingering out there too and not to connect the two but the giannis anticompo uh thing where you know sham shirania mentioned yesterday that giannis holds things close to the vest and he’s still kind of thinking about what he’s going to do and he wants to see what milwaukee does in free agency you know do you wait that out and and if you’re a head coach do you even a potential head coach do you wait that out to see where he lands because obviously uh trading for giannis in tedmpo uh makes it a very different job than it was than it would have been without that trade so i just wonder how that factors into uh giannis i know he said to an overseas outlet that he wants to go back to the finals uh with the bucks but to me you know we haven’t seen a a full pledge uh a full um renewing of the vows so to speak between giannis and the bucks yet so that to me is interesting as you get closer to free agency what’s your read there steve i i mean i i’m guessing here because the knicks aren’t saying but to me everyone in the league is interested in giannis but the knicks have the advantage here at least in this one scenario that it’s they’re the only ones with a coaching vacancy so it’s not like a coach you know like not like taylor jenkins is going to say “i’m going to wait to see if he’s interested in the knicks yes i’m going there if he’s interested in miami i’m going there.” what you know whatever it was right i i i i i think that uh the coach is not so much a situation i think your other point though is is valid that the knicks made big moves last summer um and probably kicked themselves a little bit now wondering if maybe we held some of these assets you know for a giannis chase uh that would have been hard for anyone to anticipate particularly when they got lillard last summer and and you thought that this was you know an all-in effort by the bucks um i i i understand why they made the moves they made last summer i think they probably are kicking themselves a little and probably on hold here you know and want to whatever chips they can push in there figuring out a way to do it and and and i don’t you know you and i sit here and conjecture about things but i i i’ve seen them do miracle work with the cap uh you know deals that i didn’t think they could make so i i don’t rule anything out uh do i think giannis is coming to new york i don’t but do i think everyone is you know crossing their fingers and hoping there’s a way that they could do it like every other team in the league they are right yeah absolutely obviously all 29 teams probably even throw milwaukee in there at this point because of the uns teams are at least keeping an eye on that situation and obviously you know for me it only works if he demands to come to new york and and milwaukee then decides to send him to where he wants to go because outside of that scenario the trade packages other teams could make obviously far surpass what the knicks could offer um but but that’s a a topic probably for for another day maybe for closer to free agency i’m curious al although maybe maybe it’s time to offer the thasses the head coaching job ah there you go there you go theis drafted by the westchester knicks am i right about that i think he won yeah we saw him we we did see him here a little bit yeah great guy by the way really really uh wonderful guy uh fun to talk to and get to know um i should say this because i didn’t say it earlier we’re also going to be taking questions from the audience we have some in the shoot but if you have any more be feel free to leave them in the replies and we’re going to get to some of those uh later in the show and we want to get hit quickly steve on the finals uh i know it’s been a couple days now but obviously some nick ties uh obby top and isaiah hartenstein hartinstein getting the ring with okc and and as you know that was one of the i think tipping points for him to go to go leave the knicks was the idea that he had a chance to win a ring with oklahoma city and uh you know obviously it worked out that way and uh couldn’t have worked out better for him knicks i think still uh kind of trying to fill that void in several different ways not just positionally but just the spirit of that group hartinstein being a big part of it um you know and then you have on the other side tophin playing a role and uh hallebertton obviously going down unfortunately with that achilles injury uh what do you think that means for the east as as you look at that injury well i think first of all the injury just like the jason tatum injury the dame lillard injury knowing those guys are either out for the whole season or most of the season next year makes it just so wide open i look look cleveland had the year that they had um best record in the east and probably come out as favorites again um but they’ve disappointed regularly in the playoffs um so i don’t think anyone i don’t think anyone considers them some unbeatable force uh any sure thing i i think oddsmakers already have made the knicks the favorites for next year which is really odd not knowing who’s coaching or what’s happening um the the one thing for the knicks is this year things worked out great uh you and i know and anybody watching knows tibido milks every bit of blood from the stone with the team uh won 51 games got to the conference finals and we’re pretty good luckily with injuries this year obviously you know mitch missed most of the year um and then you know the the jaylen brunson ankle you know late in the year but for the most part they didn’t have any devastating you know big losses of injuries for long periods of time and uh you know does that happen next year does og anobi uh his history sort of come into play or does he do what he did last year and be out there almost every game um these are things that that next coach is going to have to consider in expectations that can they live up to what they were this year or was that the absolute ceiling for this team yeah and also to me where does orlando end up how big of a jump do they take with the desmond bane trade that they made that’s a pretty pretty good team on paper and uh and and and detroit we saw in the playoffs are are a hard team to play yes and they’re not going anywhere um and then we saw last night boston sending out drew holiday to portland uh to me that’s one of a few moves that the celtics uh are likely to make here as they i think try to just shed some money because that tax bill becomes so ownorous uh for that new ownership group it’s just crazy uh porzingis’ name chris porzingis’ name has been bounced around a lot the thing that i wonder there with boston in the money is like do you resign al horford can you resign al horford if you can’t resign al horford would he consider taking less money that what the knicks exception would he consider that to come to new york obviously we know the relationship with carl towns towns um saw him as a mentor even going way back to their their days on the dominican national team when towns was very young so that’s that’s kind of what i look at with boston and the money situation just from a nick perspective what do you see steve well i think free agents they’re going to have to see a reality and let people go um because i was talking with somebody about this in the league earlier it’s you know i we’ve all heard chrisap’s name but business is so hard for them because they don’t need to just lose his 30 million in a trade if they bring 30 million back they’re in the same situation right they need to find holes in other people’s caps um it’s real tough i mean i think they were entering entering this off season looking at a over $500 million tax bill um and i think you know when when new ownership takes hold uh that is not something they want to do be a repeater on this second apron um they’ve got a long way still after the holiday to get under it um and very restrictive ways to do it so i think any of the free agents i think luke cornet corford i think i think any of those guys um are probably long shots to stay in boston uh and you start finding holes where you know roster spots where they can fit big men i think are at a little bit of a premium this off season in a way they haven’t been lately um we’ve seen teams kind of looking for that you know rim protecting defense um which i think is interesting to the knicks with with what they do with mitchell robinson in the final year of his contract and as we talk about health that they can get they could open up room if they move mitch um you know it’s it’s a pretty good chunk of money that they can move with him in an expiring contract i think that’s something worth keeping an eye on yeah and they could get underneath that first apron i believe which gives you access to that bigger exception i think that exception would start at 14 million as opposed to where they currently are with the $5 million exception and uh a few days back uh the day of game seven kevin durant moved to houston uh you had reported it and i’ve been saying it i never thought the knicks were in there in a serious way i know that there was i think some reports from espn that the knicks were uh interested and and were one of the suitors but i i never got the sense that that was going to be a real thing that they were actually going to give up what it took to get him and then extend him um so your thoughts there on how that played out for durant yeah there’s not a lot of openness among the knicks front office but that was one i heard pretty pretty uh openly that they were not going to be a bidder for him and look it didn’t make sense as great as kevin durant is and he’s still amazing and still great at his age but you know the injuries you know the possibility when you get at this age um it just and what they would have to give up again locked in by the apron by the cba they were going to have to give up some a lot of talent either a carl anthony towns or multiple players starting with either you know bridges anobi kind of player and then something else maybe like uh robinson uh it was going to be a huge uh ask for them to get into bidding on that and i i got the sense they were never interested at all yeah the extension to piece to me is is interesting because that’s where obviously if you’re durant you want to go somewhere that uh they’re going to sign you for that three-year deal uh whatever it may be and i guess there hasn’t been much reporting on the rockets yet in terms of extending but i know like a lot of the teams that had interest in durant i think the timberwolves included were were wary of of that extension the idea of giving him that full three-year extension and and having him play into i guess uh what would it be late 30s uh obviously he’s going to be able to score until uh you know until he loses his driver’s license but you worry about a guy kind of breaking down and and you’re giving him that kind of money at the end of his career it’s just it’s a it’s a risky proposition and uh obviously houston willing to roll the dice in mayoka who we mentioned earlier uh gets his guy in durant and uh for the knicks they do have some uh kind of end of the roster business to to take care of uh there’s a team option for pj tucker which i don’t i don’t know what you think steve i think they’re gonna decline it because if you want to bring him back you could do so on a on a smaller deal so i would assume that that’s the case what’s your read there that’s what i i had written earlier was that possibility of doing it on a cheaper deal um one you didn’t use him at all this year so i don’t know if you even want him um he is respected in the locker room he is that kind of guy and maybe the next coach does find some use for him um but but what i’ve heard is that they could pick up the option and use that as part of a trade package right um as a possibility so so i i have heard some some rumblings about that possibly getting it picked up to use it as a chip yeah i think that would that was the the idea with the team option if there’s something there the other thing from a trade perspective is when do you extend male bridges if you extend him you know let’s say you do it on june 29th june 30th then you can’t you cannot trade him uh for 6 months so you’re talking about a significant trade if you see the knicks go ahead and extend bridges and he puts pen to paper june 30th july 1 uh you could pretty much count them out i think on on a significant deal for a star obviously towns is is tradable at any time but that to me also is something to keep an eye on but where are you um on landry shamut you think he’s a guy who comes back who they discard i mean i i know that tom thibido was a big big proponent supporter of shamid so now without tibido there i think it’s less likely that he’s back what’s your read there well exactly what you said we we just don’t know because we we knew what tibido felt about him um and him him being injured early and fighting his way back through it i think they felt tibido felt that there was a spot for him next year who who knows now and on the bridges thing the one thing i’ve said all along is that’s interesting is with him it’s the knicks front office has shown if they don’t want to extend you they’re not letting you get to free agency and walk they’re going to find a way to get uh what they can for you and and make a deal and they did it with you know emanuel quickley they did it with julius randall they did it with obop and guy guys that they didn’t want to if they didn’t want to give that extension that they felt it was going to cost they move you so i i i don’t know i felt all along that pay maybe that was going to be the case with bridges this summer but the price they paid for him you know i’m a believer uh after years of watching the league that that sunk cost theory of economics you know don’t worry about what you paid for him you know if he’s not part of your future make the move and get what you can but but i think that you know one a new coach coming in um two some of the things he did in the postseason i think maybe maybe pretends that the future will be better for him than much of the regular season was um so i think that’s worth watching i i just can’t we again we can’t get a sense of all these things until we know who the coach is what they value yeah that is definitely the tricky part and uh and with that we’re going to get into some of your questions uh some of the audience has submitted some questions and our friend matt spanley the big spend is going to join us to give us some of those questions and and steve and i are going to get into it matt how are you what’s up guys doing well hope everyone’s staying cool today you guys able to stay cool feeling all right no very very warm i was doing i was only doing this indoors i would have liked to do it from about the seventh hole on a golf course but not today we appreciate you steve we need our our good friend burman a couple years ago in the florida sun would have been a nice addition to the show today um steve i want to come to you first because you had mentioned mitchell robinson so we have i’m going to combine a couple questions here from our guy eddie brown and um triplem what’s up triplem on twitter uh eddie is asking with the daniel gaffford extension do you think the knicks could look to sell high on mitchell robinson so gaffford just signed a three-year about $60 million extension with um dallas and then triplem’s asking “what is mitch robinson’s trade value is it possible to get a starting shooting guard level player for mitch or are the knicks leaning towards keeping him?” so let’s talk about mitch and how the knicks are approaching him as an expiring contract heading into offseason yeah again the same thing we said with bridges that you’ve got to decide what the future is you know he could be an unrestricted free agent um after the season do you want to go long term with a guy who was very productive in the postseason but has a injury history that is just horrific um right now his value is probably about as good as it’s going to be uh he had a great playoffs uh defensively rebounding um he’s you know he’s still fairly young and he’s uh not super expensive uh with the sense that i get more is not just that they you know that they might want to move him it’s one do you want to extend him and two um as we talked earlier freeing up some cap space if they can uh make a move where they bring him into a deal without bringing back the 14 million um that sort of frees them up some some space to do different things um free agency wise tradewise uh that i think they they’d be interested in doing um and i do i i do think there’s some confidence that the guys they have behind him that ariel huckport is a guy who can do some of the things mitch does not as well defensively maybe not as well rebounding but better offensively um again how the coach values offense in a center is a different thing tibido we know preached over and over again rim protection rebounding uh as important things you know will the next coach want a guy who can do sort of what hartinstein could do he could play off him as a a play initiator yeah absolutely and with hog porty we’ll see what his role is ian do you think with mitch off of what steve said too do you think that the knicks are viewing it as a piece that could be reallocated depending on how a coach or the front office wants to organize the team this year or would they just like to have mitch at at that price that they have so i guess just generally how much do you think his role with the team in the future with the team matters compared to just this year this expiring contract well the interesting thing that i had heard at least not not on the nick side but more so on the player side was that their expectation was they were going to be here and and this was kind of what they what their read on the situation was now this was maybe a week ago uh so um things are fluid but i did find that interesting when i was checking in just around the league the the thought around robinson was that hey we’re we’re here we’re not going anywhere so um that to me you know tells you a little bit about maybe what the knicks are thinking uh but obviously if you’re going to if you’re going to shed salary if you’re going to try to make that kind of a move uh robinson is the obvious candidate i just don’t know i guess you would be doing that for what to get under that first apron to have that bigger uh exception available to you i’m just i’m not sure of the the re in a real sense like how much upside there is just to dumping his salary off um but like steve said earlier nick’s pulling off a trade that they didn’t no one thought they could pull off in the carl towns move so i’m not going to question the wisdom of the the number crunchers and the cba guys over there yeah they’ve tended to to have measures there the one the one the one thing i’d add to what ian said is um when a player believes they’re going to be here all i remember is julius randall breaking ground at the monroe school last year getting a court named after him and uh being very upset later on finding out that they already knew he was on the way out and uh he thought he was here long term that was a wild one the whole front office was there was uh once i saw that i was like all right maybe i could relax a little bit i thought he might get traded but there’s no way after this and then there we were life comes at you fast uh all right steve back to you because i something we’ve we’ve talked about here and i’m curious how you feel i’m going to use a question from from someone here to kind of tee this up so jason cop 16 how likely are free agents like luke canard malcolm brogman who we’ve talked about on the show spencer denwitty etc when the team can’t offer big money to role players so i’m curious for you we’ve talked about the lack of a coach um and how that might impact the type of players they end up signing so i’m curious if you think that will have an impact um on a on a real level or if you think the front office will kind of want to build the team in their image and um the type of player that they might look to target well one of the things you just worded there is an interesting thing that that i mentioned in my column today is is the next coach his own man is the next coach just doing implementing a plan that maybe the analytics people feel is the way we’re going to play it um and is sort of a yes man and a frontman for it um versus a coach who is going to play his own style uh if it’s a coach who’s a who’s his own free thinker uh i’d have a hard time positioning as a player my my dog absolutely agrees with that he’s very much against signing without knowing the coach um to me it’s i i think i think if you if you want to be a player you know we knew it when tibido was here you can you can kind of say this is what my role is this is what i’m going to get you know this is what this is what is valued on this team i i just think we just don’t know now and uh to me the the scary part is if if a player signs without knowing the coach that probably is a bad indication that that coach is going to be a guy who’s going to be able to think on his own and put in implement his own plans which seems to never work out and poor jeff hornosk rip his time here in new york when he had to try and do the triangle uh unwillingly those are fun times i forgot about that and thibida you know it was always i don’t want to say always but you know a large percentage of the time when they’re making a move it was his tom playing this guy is tom in favor he had a big voice in terms of a lot of the things they did and did not do um and so maybe just because logic tells you uh they fired trell so logic tells you maybe they want to go away from that maybe they want do want a little bit more control or uh you know synergy or less put push back whatever you want to call it uh with this next coach i think you guys bring up an interesting point about how the potential free agents do fit the coach and what the what coach uh what the coach play says there and what kind of a role he plays there because thibido had a big one sure our guy um billy bearer on the same topic i’m curious because it’s it’s reminding me you know we obviously cover baseball very closely here and a big topic whether they think baseball becomes front office building the team more in its image and then the manager is there to assign all the pieces and play the game accordingly right um so billy is asking with the okc win do you see a shift to a progressive analytical focus with all teams like an mlb are the knicks ahead of the curve so i think you know a sense of around the league how much that kind of matters do you think maybe if there’s any big takeaways from okc winning and just how they approach team building um ian what do you think the big takeaway is to find a shay gildas alexander type and to have an a veteran who’s getting close to 30 who a team still wants and uh fleece the team for the trip i think that’s the big takeaway uh no disrespect at all to the analytics guys and i do think the knicks they have a robust analytics group and i think if you look at kind of shot profiles year-over-year and for individual players um and and what thibida would talk about in in press conferences i i do think that they um they have influence they’re they’re using the analytics and they’re not ignoring it in any way i think those the the numbers guys men and women and the uh the message that they have with their numbers or how they’re interpreting the numbers i think you do see that on the floor with this team uh maybe not in a way that’s as publicized as a baseball you know with the a’s way back when but i do think it’s it is a factor in what they do and i’ll add to that having covered baseball i love the movie moneyball but they left out a lot of important things in that movie um a lot of the the great analytical moves didn’t actually win them uh what they what you know what they did there they was you know they also had three of the best pitchers in the game the mvp uh in a steroid era there’s a lot beyond uh you know just you know finding somebody who walks a lot steve why let the facts get in the way of a good story man come on the movie didn’t so we shouldn’t right it was it was a great it was a great book and a great movie i love it yes it is fantastic so we can we can uh you know quill but it’s pretty good all right uh steve i want to come back to you with one our guy um akiva kivy015 do you think any of the players from the 24 draft have a chance to be in the rotation next season so i know when you’ve been on the show earlier we’ve spent some time talking about tibs and a guy like tyler kick that had struggled to defend at a high level was just never going to really be able to to carve out a role we’ve obviously talked about hucki given that the knicks um you know their salary cap situation all the things that that going into the offseason what are the odds that you think one of those players could emerge uh and be a rotation player as the season goes on well i think that’s something that the next coach probably in his interview should stress because i know there was some voices in the organization that weren’t happy about that that they didn’t have bigger roles um as fingerpointing happens you know in the organization and you know uh i guess people want to justify their decisions um so i i think playing them is something they should promise i think we’ll we’ll know more in the summer league coming up we’ll see how these guys have developed uh they’re all interesting to me i think ariel huckporty had some good moments last year um and showed showed hints of a guy who could be a backup center in the league um as i said earlier i i wouldn’t be shocked if he took mitch’s role you know in in that rotation if they move mitch um i i think pakcom dier is an interesting guy he’s a lot of offensive talent good size um strong you know u you know he’s still so young uh ideally you know i i don’t think there was ever a plan to use him much last year and kic is an interesting guy he’s he’s a very good ball handler his assist to turnover numbers uh when when brunson were out were great um he’s got to figure out a way to get stronger to or or to do the things jaylen brunson does where i mean jaylen brunson is a much stronger sturdier physique than him but but jaylen knows how to use his body he knows how to draw charges uh he’s always in the right position um just to get to that level of being a defender i think if cola can do that i think he could be a regular contributor and and i think they need those guys to be because there’s one draft pick this year and they may not even use it so you know those are the tough choices that a team in the knicks position has to make we’ve seen over the years teams that are spending at this level are going to have to make tough calls um you i want to come to you with one a specific name from our guy baby chrissy 23 chrissy23 on twitter is malik monk a name the knicks could show interest in feel like he would be a perfect fit as a secondary ball handler so monk’s under contract for three more years has a player option for about 21.5 million um in 2728 and i always think these conversations are important to couch given that a lot of the trades are difficult for the knicks at this point given their salary cap position um where they’re at matching salaries all these different things are part of the apron and make things challenging but for a type of player like monk at that contract level um chrissy’s asking if the knicks could have interest in that yeah look the the interesting thing to me there is scott perry former nick gm taking over in sacramento and obviously when a new regime comes in uh a lot of the times some of the guys who are part of that old regime uh are on their way out and so could monk be had in a trade i i don’t know that but i i do think that if you’re putting that kind of salary together to make a deal i would assume if you’re the knicks maybe you want a player uh that’s going to make a more consistent impact than malik monk that’s just a guess on my part but i do think that with sacramento uh i think a lot of those veterans uh at the very least you can have conversations with the kings because of the regime change and scott perry uh looking to put his imprint on things and i would say this though i do remember uh with perry and steve mills that there was some interest in monk so maybe that tells you a little bit about how perry values monk i do know there was some interest way back then and so uh again you’re putting salary like that together to make that kind of a trade i would assume it’s a bigger name more consistent player coming back sure monk 17 points a game last year like you said you know has been in the league since 2017 not displayed a high level of consistency but i think the type of player generally is um you know what a lot of the fans have been asking about steve i want to come to you because you talked about um muel bridges earlier and our guy andrew guerrero on youtube is asking how likely are the knicks um going to extend bridges so we’ve talked about bridges extension eligible status going into the season you had talked about it before so um your feel on the bridges situation and if the knicks did decide to go a different direction why they might make such a decision well i i think the contract is the thing do you want to tie yourself up to a i think what right now is a 4-year 156 um is the max he can get right now um and and look maybe he negotiates a less expensive deal i’m not sure he would do that um when when he’s looking at possible free agency next year um to me i i thought he had his moments on both ends of the court um in the playoffs and and i guess if i’m a gambling man in the front office who put a lot of chips on the table for him i’d say you know look that’s the guy we got and without tibido we’re going to get more out of him um and maybe you do and and that’s a reasonable price for a guy who plays every game um they don’t i i think i would think we’ll see something this summer happen if not because i don’t think they’ll let it ride to next year um it just hasn’t been what they’ve shown uh the the their purpose with these things they they want to make a move and and not take that to the end of course so we’ll keep an eye on bridges and how they approach that ian i want to ask you one about the coaches because i know you guys were talking coaches before and i want to circle back something that you talked about when we did um an episode last week was about the experience level of coaches and how the knicks will have to have a coach that’s going to have experience at this level um you guys had mentioned nory before he’s not a guy that has a level of experience that we’ve discussed do you think there’s any universe in which the knicks could decide that a guy like nory is the type of coach they’d want to target and then they bring on a very experienced staff behind him we’ve seen other nba teams do that do you think that that’s something that they could eventually decide knowing that you’ve talked a lot about the experience factor i’d be surprised if it ended up that way um but the one thing matt when you ask about nory and then interviews i think the interview process matters uh in a big way and i you know i always kind of assume when these coaching searches happen that people have a top candidate in mind and he’s always there in the background and and there other guys who interview are kind of uh break the glass in case of emergency but in this case you know taylor jenkins mike brown i the interviews matter significantly and so if neither guy blows nick brass away in the interview process you know maybe they go to plan b and maybe if micah nor uh mory does really impress the nick’s brass and i don’t know when when owner james dolan gets involved but uh if that’s the case you know maybe he does leaprog these guys but i i would be really surprised though if that were to be the case if they went uh with a with a first-time head coach over the experienced candidates that they’ve already talked to and the names that we’ve talked about earlier in the show with a a kid and uh and everybody else steve you come from the same place when it comes to the experience too you have that same feel i i i do and and the one thing i think like i think as we’ve talked about timeline i think for the knicks front office it’s important in a lot of ways for the knicks to get a coach in place but the one thing i would say about the patients like they could have had a great interview with mike brown or taylor jenkins and maybe taylor is the front runner who knows but in normally a normal case you may get blown away interview and you’d say we got to lock this guy up before you know ex team x gets in the running here there is no team x so the knicks can go through this process well well i think it’s not ideal they can patiently go through the process they can still wait on jason kidd because they’re the only game in town there’s you know taylor jenkins isn’t going anywhere else right now lots to still decide i want to get to a couple more things because we have the nba draft later this week obviously the knicks only have one pick this year i’m sure you guys can remember a lot of draft nights that were uh more exciting than the one that’s to come um steve i want to start with you don juan 607 this one’s for steve and your mock you have the knicks taking kobe bryer if he’s off the board before they pick is there another prospect you could see them taking a swing on or being interested in again this is so difficult because one uh if i have a true belief about the draft it’s that the knicks are going to make me drive to brooklyn on thursday for this uh wait through the 50th pick and then they’re going to deal it for a future pick so they don’t add any any salary on their cap that’s that’s my worst case scenario and and i fear it might be the one that comes true look there are some other names guys that i thought about putting there who we don’t know if they’re going to go 35 or they’re not going to go drafted um jamir watkins from from florida state uh is a similar profile a guy who can play two ways uh and again i’m thinking in my head how the team played this year what tibido valued um you know a guy who can play defense who can shoot from the outside um i i i saw a couple times tyrese proctctor from duke um he’s another guy who i think will go a little bit higher but possibly could be there and and the history of the this knicks front office is they never take the pick that is in front of them that they’re always you know that they’re going to trade from 50 to back to 52 plus 56 uh then up to 48 and then we’re going to be scrambling you know writing ridiculous things and tweeting things that don’t matter it’s going to move all around and and i think ultimately they may move out of the draft so keep the notifications on everyone so you know what’s going to happen be bouncing around that’s how it’s going to go i’m i’m gonna i’m gonna i’m gonna text w and ask him come back for one night we need a if there’s one night that’s got to be the one it’s got to be the one to come back um ian just on just on the draft so we can get your take on it too our our old friend max fucci fucci main do you see the knicks trading up in the draft or making a move of any kind sending pat so just generally um any other additional thoughts with the draft tomorrow uh and thursday this week i don’t see them moving up um several reasons one is is because of where they are in the build in the team building process they’re trying to win you need win now players also you’re adding more salary to your books if you move up uh particularly in the first round and so i i can’t see that happening i would assume that you know whatever they do that player at 50 or wherever that player ends up or whatever they end up picking i should say ends up being a two-way deal uh just for cap reasons that’s the easiest way to add that kind of a player i do know that uh i think it was on monday they brought in uh rutgers alabama uh product cliff omiori uh a big guy 611 uh 76 wingspan uh he was wellliked at alabama he was up there for a workout earlier this week uh you know we talked about them having the depth at center uh but they did bring him in to take a look he was part of a a multiplayer workout so uh that’s something to note as we get towards thursday i guess it’ll be late thursday night when the knicks make that pick we’ll keep an eye on all those guys there’ll be names thrown around and like you guys said who knows what’ll happen might be driving home without without much uh in the holster but that’s what i got today you guys stay cool all right be safe drink water all that good stuff wear sunscreen too oh man well steve thank you so much man really appreciate your time and your insight uh that’s going to do it for us but keep an eye on steve popper’s work in news day and on twitter i think what are you steve stp it’s very it’s oh no you’re steve you are steve popper really hard really hard to figure out at steve paer keep an eye on him there uh as for us we will be back with you at some point before free agency starts i believe to kind of set the table there maybe react to some nick moves and we’ll see where things go from here with that coaching search too uh so thank you for being with us and we hope to see you then [Music]

On The Putback with Ian Begley, SNY’s NBA Insider alongside @newsday’s Knicks writer Steve Popper answer your questions about the Knicks head coaching search and offseason plans.

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