Answering questions from Knicks fans! | NY Got Game

Answering questions from Knicks fans! | NY Got Game

Welcome to New York Got Game. What’s good everybody? Dexter Henry, Brian Fa here. We throughout the offseason with the Knicks, which was a very interesting offseason, Brian, because the Knicks got rid of their head coach and Tom Tibido. They hired a new head coach in Mike Brown. We talked with you fans a lot. We broke down what trades for certain players could look like. We also broke down what the Knicks could do with their taxpayer mid-level exception, some free agents they could target. And through all of that, all of that stuff that we did here on New York Got Game, we got a lot of questions, a lot of questions from fans, somes that we didn’t get to answer in the comments, some that we were able to answer on live shows. But what our wonderful producers here at the New York Post have done is they’ve put a lot of these questions together. So, what we’re doing today is a Knicks mailbag where we’re going to answer some of your questions that you’ve had throughout the off seasonason for myself and Brian, and we’re going to try to answer them as best as possible. So, we’re going to get this thing tipped off. We’re going to start with Javer Stubs 7809, who sent us this. He said, “The job of a coach is just not to put your players on the floor, but he or she should develop other players and use their skill set in your team chemistry.” Tibs didn’t do that. Mike Brown will use his rotation and develop his young players. Okay, strong commentary there from Haver Stubs. And look, did I miss the question? Not a question. It was just a statement, we’ll say. But I guess the question here’s a here’s a question out of that. He’s making a statement here. Yeah. He’s saying that he believes Mike Brown is going to use his rotation and develop his young players in a way that Tom Tibido did not. Do you think that’s the case? I mean, that’s why they hired him to be honest with you. So, what you’re saying is it better be. Yeah. It kind of has to be. Yeah. That was the whole point. Like, that was the whole point of doing this and and and them saying, “Hey, this is a championship level roster, which is something that I keep going back to on the press release when Tom got fired.” And the idea was they’re going to hire somebody with new ideas, fresh ideas, probably somebody, and we heard this from different reporters, Stefan Bonnie included, who said like, “Yeah, going deeper would be recommended is kind of how it was phrased in other words, right?” So, this coach, and now we know it’s Mike Brown, had to be able to do that. So, I I think it’s a necessity to go 10 deep to develop young players. I think um Dier especially is is probably the one I’m looking at to maybe take a step forward because I could see an NBA role player there who can potentially play in a playoff series like the best version of what he can be in terms of a potential multi-positional defender in terms of what he can add in terms of offensive versatility and positional versatility. Um Tyler Cole we’ll see he had some summer league moments he had some moments that were great and he had some moments that were not so great. But, you know, I I I think there’s a like if he’s a year away, then okay, I don’t know if you have another year, but like, you know, there’s a version of him that, you know, the floor is like, okay, he’s a really good playmaker. He can shoot a little bit. Can he survive defensively? That’s the big question there. And then Ariel Hawk Party, for example, since we’re talking about development, I think he’s the player that has to me the cleanest path toward minutes because Mitchell Robinson might miss some games. car. I think Towns might miss some games. You’re not that big right now outside of that. Like I I kind of think and as of when we’re talking about this, they haven’t signed that last player on the roster. And I know that they’re targeting ball handling as Stephan Bonnie mentioned to us. I kind of do think you should look for a big like just in case you decide to go double big and then Hawk Party’s the backup and who’s behind him like your Gershon Jabelli is not really a five. So, I do think though to answer the question or to answer your question off of this comment, I I think that depth and playing young players, giving them an opportunity, a real opportunity will be um an emphasis for Mike Brown. Yeah, I think it’s going to be emphasis. I think he’s going to do it because that’s also been his nature. We saw him do this recently in Sacramento. I think he’s going to want to do that. I think the Knicks, one of the things I’ve been saying from the time they let Tom Tibble go, they deserve credit for saying, “Hey, this is a part of our philosophy that actually has to change.” Like, we have to change this one. I think it’s imperative that you do play deeper in the NBA now. I don’t think you can go with 78 deep. Some people say, “Oh, you still can and you know, trust seven, you know, what is it? Trust eight, play seven, all the other stuff.” I mean, people have had other outdated takes, too, like you can’t win with the scoring point guard. We’ve seen that disproven. This can happen, too, here. So, I’m not I’m not locking into that. I think you need coaches that are more malleable. To take a word from my friend Kavita Davidson who sat here with us during the watch alongs, but I think that’s what you’re looking for. Will Tom, not Tom Tibid though, will Mike Brown be more malleable here in terms of developing these young players. And I think he’s going to want to play the young players. And you said it was strongly recommended. You know, when your boss says, “I strongly recommend you to do something,” that means you need to do that. You should do it. That’s what that means. I also want to add like player development could also extend to other guys like Deuce McBride. He’s still very young. He has like a potent like if we’re talking even Mitchell Robinson even Mitchell Robinson do something on offense outside of the off season perhaps. Uh but with with Deuce McBride in particular like he’s I think one of the most interesting players on this team this year. Like if I had to rank, you know, who are the the Knicks that I find the most interesting and probably the most important, like Deuce McBride is going to be higher on the list than I think some people would think, especially if he starts, like I think we can overrate the starting lineup a little bit and we’ll probably do something on who we think should start, what that could look like, closing lineups and things of that nature. But with Duce McBride, a lot of people are calling for him to start because he’s in a lot of positives. Uh he’s in a lot of positive lineups rather and he’s had a positive impact overall on both ends of the floor on this team and he’s malleable to use the word can play with Jaylen Brunson. Like any guard on this roster in order to play Yeah. You ha you have to be able to play with Jaylen Brunson as could Jordan Clarkson. But in terms of player development, like is there more there for Deuce McBride? And if not, like can he refine the role and what does that look like? Can he, you know, be a little bit better uh in terms of attacking the basket? Could his shot be reliable for an entire season like at a higher percentage clip? You know, if he’s going to take more and have a little bit more usage, is there more on the ball juice? And then defensively, is there more there? Like, he’s shown some good things and he’s a very valuable player. I He’s proven that he can be out there in a playoff lineup, but him taking a step forward is something that I don’t want to sleep on either. Yeah, I wouldn’t sleep on that at all. Uh, thank you, Javier Stubs, for the question. We’re going to move on to the next question/com we have from size_9. Sam Brown talking about Mike Brown. That is who was a grand total of five years in his last two jobs. Same Brown who couldn’t fix the Cavs the second time. You think he likes Mike Brown? Second time around that round. This just shows how much people hated on Tib insinuate, let alone say out loud that this is some sort of upgrade. It is not. In fact, it is a downgrade from Tom Tippido. Say it with your chest. Size nine. Sheesh. How do you How do you think he feels? Friend of the show also. Yeah. Friend of friend of the show. Size nine. I Here’s the thing. I disagree. I I will say this and Brian and I have talked about this and we talked about this I think after the Mike Brown press conference when we had Stefan Bondi. Look, how much of an upgrade is Mike Brown over Tom Tibido? You can argue either way who you think is a better coach. We’ll see ultimately. I do think there is proof in the pudding of which coach is more malleable to use my word. And I think what’s happens here and then I would love to hear what you think about this. I think people think it always has to be this grand thing that is a great upgrade when you’re going from one coach to the next. Like, oh, like somebody somebody actually hit me up about this and they said, well, the Knicks hired Mike Brown, but he’s they didn’t get themselves a championship level coach. Well, who was that out there that they were going to get? I mean, you could go and tell me Mike Budenhoer. Do you want him? Probably not. Frankle, Frank Vogle, Mike Malone, but like are do those guys really maximize the roster more than Mike Brown? I would argue probably not, right? Like I would argue that probably is not the case. You could try to make an argument for that, but I don’t think just because you have a ring that makes you necessarily a better or a great coach. Sometimes, you know, having great players like Mike Malone, not saying that Mike Malone’s a bad coach, but that does help that he had all of them. All of them. One had Joic, one had LeBron, one had Giannis. Nobody wins without Nobody wins without great players. So, I think we kind of overrate this thing a little bit too much. I think the job here is not to look at, and I’ve said this multiple times, it’s not about how many more wins or they’re both two-time coach of the year award winners. Like, it’s not about that. It’s about what can this person do with this roster. And I’m not saying anything definitive. I’m saying we don’t know and we’re not going to know until the end of the next season. So, I think it’s very quick for people to say, “Ah, this guy’s better.” Y’all don’t know as more than I know, right? You don’t You don’t know. The proof will be in the pudding, as we just talked about to the last commenter, in what Mike Brown does and how he can maximize his team. I love that you brought up Duce McBride. Does he get something more out of a Duce McBride? Does he elevate more of a Mitchell Robinson? Those are things on the margins in coaching that if he does that, that will prove that he’s a better coach. Does he get something out of Pakome Dier? All that stuff matters. Time will tell. Yeah, and that’s really what it is. Like there’s not going to be a yes or no or definitive answer to this question on July 23rd. Maybe you’re watching this on July 24th or 25th or 26th, but until we get like get an answer then either. Like honestly, we’re not going to know until 8 n months from now. Like it kind of depends on how this goes. Like Mike Brown’s ultimately going to be judged on the playoffs unless the regular season is going so poorly that things have to like really change. But that’s really it. like if if they’re 40 and 14 like leading up to the trade deadline, no one’s going to look at that and be like, “Yo, Mike Brown’s awesome.” They’re going to say, “Well, we’ll see you in the playoffs because they should because you’re 40 and 14. The Cavs might be right on you at 38 and 16. The Magic might have the best defense. The Hawks might be sneaking up.” Like, there’s any number of things that could happen. People are just, you know, getting all over the East this year in terms of them not being great. And I I understand there might be a lack of great teams in the Eastern Conference, but there is some depth and there are teams that are feisty and there are teams that are going to be competent and health is obviously going to determine a lot of this. So, we we’ll see. Like, we just don’t really know. I will say in terms of the mentality, I think to your point, Mike Brown gives you a little bit more of what you’re looking for because he has been malleable. He has coached a number one offense before and in terms of after being known as a defensive coach. After being known as a defensive coach. Yeah. Like that that’s a testament to the malleability. Now, Tibs also coached a very good offense after being known as a defensive coach as we saw this past year. Um, even when the defense took a step back. So, a lot of this may also just be out of Mike Brown’s hands. And a lot of it just might come down to the roster and the roster. We We still need to see if this roster actually gels when it matters. Like really, really gels. Yeah. Like Mike Brown has an impact, but I say this all the time, players also have agency and they have to be the ones to go out there and get the job done. So, I definitely don’t what I will definitively say to to size_9 is I definitely do not think it’s a downgrade. I am not sure if it’s an upgrade, but time will tell. We will see. All right, let’s move on to the next question, which we have from atrack.mmonkey. Mike Brown isn’t sitting on the hot seat. He’s sitting on a grill. Put the grill in all caps. He has to go to the NBA finals or he will be fired. Ooh. Hey, we have talked about this on this show. That is a New York sports fan right there, by the way. And is this a finals or bust? Now, I will say that you’re adding another caveat here because we talked about this with Stephan Bondi that is. And we’re like, well, what is finals or bust, right? Like what is the accountability if there’s a bust? Like what’s what does bust mean? Yeah. What does bust really mean? Now, definitively here, this comment is like fired. Bus means you don’t get to the finals, you’re out of here. I think it more matters about how it looks if you don’t get to the finals. If the Knicks lose game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Cavs on a buzzer beater shot, does that get Mike Brown fired? I don’t think so. Sometimes it can in the NBA. You know what I mean? Now, well, if you blew, like I would say, let me let me add a caveat. Let’s say in that game seven, they blew a I don’t know 14-point lead with 2 minutes and 38 seconds to go. We’ve seen that before. Like, like, is that what gets them fired? Like, if we if if we can think for just for a second, right? If just a hypothetical, but like let’s say Kawhi Leonard doesn’t hit that shot against Philadelphia and they go on and they end up losing the series, right? like we don’t know what really happens from there. Maybe Jimmy Butler stays in Philly, maybe not because it’s already like set in set in stone. They have to see like what happens beyond the Eastern Conference Finals at that point. They probably could have beaten the Bucks. But like we we we just don’t know. I I’ll say this though, like again talking about that press release, the first sentence is our organization is singularly focused on winning a championship. like it’s the first thing in that in that press release and then right after it says this pursuit has led us to a difficult decision blah blah blah firing Tom Thibido and then obviously just like all the accolades but they use the term championship and I think you know to the commenter’s point here bust may look like a a shift in maybe it’s a it’s roster overhaul or maybe they just you know talked out of turn it kind of I think how this happens kind of depends Yeah, I think how matters. You know, like if I don’t think they’re going to make this change they did and then fire him next year, it would have to go terribly wrong for them to fire. It’s like if if you’re the two seed and you lose in the first round to to the playing team to the playin team that’s seven like if it’s not Detroit cuz Detroit actually might be better than that this year but if it’s like a Boston without Tatum or Miami or or something like that like one of those teams who could finish in the seven seat or Philadelphia for example like I don’t know what their season’s going to look like. Um, but if it’s something like that, then yeah, like that it it may be I don’t know if it’s going to be a total blow up blow up, but it could be something like that. And I mean, even if you lose in the second round and let’s say it’s to Orlando in a 14 or Atlanta in a 2-3. Look, we can be honest, that’s not a good season, right? Like th those are situations I I think you can lose. I think Mike Brown has to get them back to the same point they were at a minimum. If he loses there in a tough kind of way, I think he will be fine. Yeah. If he loses in any of the other scenarios you mentioned, I do not think he will be fine. Now to I just want to be focused on some words here. I do think he’s coming in here on the hot seat. The seat is very No, you look put it correctly like cuz we talked about listen if they’re like 500 after the first couple months people are going to go crazy and and he’s not like he comes into this job on a grill so to speak. um where like every single move I don’t know if the flames are up on the grill right now. I’m not gonna say that, but it’s like you just put the charcoal down underneath. I think it’s more like that. Yeah. And you know you know you you’re waiting to see the little bit of the light hit and you know hit the charcoal and the smoke starts to rise. We’re not there yet. But see you Knicks fans out of there will out there will not know how to act because once there’s a three-game losing streak in December if that happens or January the grill will be activated. Especially if it’s like you know at Charlotte home against Washington and then like in Boston or something like that. And here’s and here’s the thing here’s the thing you all this stuff could be true. the regular season for the Knicks and where they are in their development is not going to matter as much. Y’all don’t want to hear that, but it’s not going to matter as much. It’s going to matter in terms of them trying to change habits. Do we see the rotation expanded? Do we see the development that Brian was talking about? That’s the stuff that’s going to matter at the end of the day. And health at the end of the day is being healthy, playing your best basketballs comes to the playoffs, and that’s where he’s going to be judged. So, if you’re going to trip over a three-game losing streak in December and put them on a hot seat, unless they look absolutely terrible, you got to put some things in perspective there. But but there’s a lot of pressure to the commentator’s point though if they don’t make it to the finals I I don’t know if he’ll be fired but I I do think a lot of Knicks fans and perhaps justifiably and the organization also will be quite uh underwhelmed and disappointed unless unless knock on wood this doesn’t happen but unless there’s like a serious injury and and that’s why you lose the series and even then then you’ll have some more questions to answer in terms of how you move forward for that who the player is and whatever because health is going to determine a lot of this like you saw the NBA finals there’s not a little bit of people who think that that given Tyrese Hallebert and start to game seven, maybe the Pacers win that championship if he’s healthy. But we’ll never know. We’ll never know. Some things you just won’t get the answer to. All right, some people saying he’s on the hot seat, other people saying that he is on the grill. We’re going to look at the next question comment we have here. Von Quan, von Kuan checking in. Clarkson 33 years old with bad feet and a chucker. He missed lots of time with planter fasciitis. Fanny fasciitis, excuse me. plays no defense. He never met a shot he didn’t like. Yaboselli is the better signing of the two. I don’t disagree with that, but he is also not a very good defender. We still needed to get more athleticism on the roster. Neither fit the bill. We also needed to add another facilitator who can run the offense and get everyone involved. And Kak isn’t the answer yet. Overall, I give the signing a C. I’m assuming you’re talking about Clarkson there. And I think this might be a prelude to another trade involving bridges are hard. Also, Shaman should have been signed because Clarkson will miss a lot of games. He still can be signed with those bad feet. Lastly, we need to get more younger get younger and more athletic. Okay, there’s a lot there. There’s a lot there’s a lot by piece. There’s a lot there. Let let me let me start on this point with athleticism. Let me get here. I know where you’re going. You know where I’m going with this because I’ve argued because I don’t disagree. I think that there are a lot of NBA fans out here and I’m not saying that you are one of them that sometimes does not realize that like I think athleticism is overrated a lot of times in basketball. I think it is nice thing to have if you can but it’s not this isn’t the ‘9s. The game is way more skilled than it ever has been before. You need skill. That’s what you want. You want players that are highly skilled and versatile and versatile. So athleticism, I don’t care if Gersan Yaboselli is not the most athletic forward that’s jumping out the gym. The Knicks were two wins away from the finals is athleticism is not what hurt the Knicks against the Pacers. You know, that’s not what hurt them against the Pacers. You know what they didn’t have against the Pacers? Any scoring punch off the bench at all whatsoever. You know what Gerselli and Jordan Clarkson helped them with? A little bit of that. Clarkson especially. Are they plus defenders? No. We both know this. Yeah. Right. Right. Here’s what and I I did a whole video on this before. Here’s where Clarkson excels. I think people don’t give him enough credit for and just say that he’s a chucker. He does like to shoot. I’m not saying he doesn’t like to shoot. He won’t be efficient offense. He won’t be afraid to shoot, but that’s a lot of better than anybody. You didn’t have anybody who create a shot. So, you’re going to have to give and take with that and see how Mike Brown reigns him in. But what I will say, he’s highly efficient in halfcourt scoring. He’s in one of the highest percentiles in the league in that in half court scoring. The Knicks had none of that off the bench. They badly need somebody that can create and he provides that for you. He is an elite at that, right? I don’t think he’s going to play that many minutes in the role that he is in at a sixth or seventh man that he’s going to chuck the Knicks out of games, I would say. Right. Like he’s not, you know, going to go I think three Well, he might have a game he goes three for 17. That is in the realm of possibility for him. Luxury though. Luxury, but I don’t think he’s going to be shooting maybe as much as some people think, right? And he was highly efficient. I think it’s important on a bad Utah team. As far as Yabiselli goes, Yabiselli is fantastic. He’s very good at above the break threes. He shot what 38% from downtown last season. He helps with spacing off the bench. Something else they need. I think some fans focus way too much on athleticism and not enough about spacing. Last thing I’ll say and then I’ll kick it over to you. In terms of the need to get younger, that is all going to have to happen on are the Knicks going to play some of their young guys. Does Hawk Porty get minutes, which Brian talked about. Does Dier get minutes? Who the Knicks are very high on and I am also high on. I liked what I saw from Dier moving without the ball in summer league. That’s aware a place I think he can excel. You also need players that can do things without the ball in their hands. That matters a ton. It’s going to come down to how Mike Brown plays these guys. I think you get minutes or two of those guys. They already get younger than they were last year. Athleticism. The Knicks weren’t The Knicks played a team in the Pacers who played with a lot more pace than they did. I don’t think it was like athleticism was what did them in in that series or their lack of athleticism. Knicks have a lot of skilled players. They need to use those players. They need to make sure those players aren’t worn down by the end of the season. That’s more of my concern than athleticism. I think these signers are fine. I think this guy’s a little too harsh on the signings here. I think they’re better. I like the Knicks off season. I would say I thought the Knicks did like a B+ this offseason. That’s what I give him. I don’t agree with all the critiques, but I think they’re fair critiques. Like I I think it’s reasonable to be worried about Jordan Clarkson to a point because this isn’t like he’s playing a J.R. Smith role on like the 54 with Knicks where J.R. Smith is like your second most important offensive player and he’s coming off the bench and has to score. What did he do? 18 points a game that year. like Jordan Clarkson’s going to be fifth in scoring this year, maybe something along those lines for the Knicks. We’ll ultimately see I I know his minutes, he’s not going to play nearly as many minutes as he did in Utah. He will be play significantly off the bench, but he’s also a little bit older now. He’s in his early mid-30s, and I think they’re going to sort of give him a cap, so to speak. I don’t know what that’s going to be. He was 26 minutes a game last year. That’s the lowest that he’s had in a little bit. Maybe he’s in the mid to low 20s, you know? I think that’s reasonable for him like well because I don’t I also don’t think you want to play him with Jaylen Brunson that much you know and because of his defensive issues right and and because he needs the ball but if there like if we’re talking about how they colored within the parameters of what they could do in the offseason you got Jordan Clarkson who’s a perennial sixman of the year candidate on a veteran minimum and you gotelli for a touch less than the taxpayer mid-level exception. So, I I think those are just great value in terms of what you can ultimately have. Like Clarkson is going to be a guy who’s maybe fifth in scoring, maybe sixth in minutes, something along those lines. Like maybe not that exactly, but even if it’s that, that’s great for a veteran minimum guy. Uh, and somebody who has obviously scored a ton of points off the bench the most off the bench over the last few years. And then Gershon Yabuselli is a solid role player. He’s paid like someone who’s going to be an eighth, ninth, tenth man type of guy. That’s probably what he’s going to be. Um, maybe he ends up being a six-man and that’s great. Uh, maybe that says something about Jordan Clarkson. Who knows? But he can complement both of them really can complement other guys on the floor. Like the key for Jordan Clarkson is being able to survive minutes alongside Jaylen Brunson. The Knicks to be able to survive those minutes rather and you know for for different stretches. And if Jordan Clarkson is closing, maybe he’s having a great night, but he’s not going to be somebody who closes all the time. Same thing with Gershelli. He’s going to close if he’s playing really well, but ultimately you’re going to need him for 20 to 25 minutes, maybe 18 minutes. It kind of depends on where they are in terms of using Carl Anthony Towns or, you know, Mitchell Robinson that particular night or even Ariel Hawk Party for example or OG Anubie who could also miss some games. So like there’s going to be games where they play big minutes because other guys are out or because they’re playing well or because you just need them. But for what they got them for, like these weren’t full mid-level exception signings. They didn’t move five first round picks for either one. Like if you’re looking at it from that perspective, then it’s a little bit different. Then you could look at Jordan Clarkson as what he is. He’s more of a luxury shot creator who’s gotten better as a playmaker. Also, his assists per 100 possessions have been very uh a lot better the last three years. And you know, in terms of the games he missed, I think those are reasonable concerns. But also, I will say he was in Utah. Utah and teams that don’t try to win in the NBA, they sit their good players for longer than they need to. So, like it it’s to say like if Jordan Clarkson was on a better team, maybe he does play more games. Like maybe he does play through an injury a little bit more or maybe he’s not as injured because guys just, you know, hey, you know, we don’t need you in this game. Like th this is honestly, not to get into not to spin off into this, but like this is a question I have about the Terry Rosier situation. It’s like, all right, where did the information come from? Did the organization say uh that you know they’re all of a sudden like trying to go in a different direction and they sat him because they were tanking that year and they ended up getting Brandon Miller in the Webby draft. Like teams have different motivations. So with Utah like the injuries would be a little concerning but also he’s going to play a lesser role and Utah was not trying to win that. I’m not I’m not as worried about about him with with that. Honestly, I think the Nick signings were fine. All right, moving on to the next one. We have this from Mike at Michael Snyder 4082. Solid moves and enforcer and yawelli. So already we have a much different tone on this one that also has some offensive value and Clarkson who can score and make plays off the bench giving JB some rest. I still say dump Tucker. PJ Tucker has not been resigned and okay and free up $6.3 million. Rose could work something out and bringing another solid bench player. Okay. They don’t they don’t need to get rid of Dier though. Why would you financially? Okay, for a couple things. Now, he’s not untradeable. I mean, it kind of links the last two comments together. Sure. What you have to highly value in the NBA right now with these aprons are young players who are cheap. Yeah, that is what Dier is. So, why do you want to get off of a young player who you’ve yet to see get any serious time just to bring another solid bench player? Now, the Knicks could still bring in another solid bench player. You’ve talked about it. They still have a a last veterans minimum spot. They could bring in a whole video on that. Whole video on that. You could check that out. We’ll leave that for y’all to go and check out. You can go check that out. Who the Knicks could sign for that last veteran minimum spot. So, that could happen. You can get in a solid player for 3.1 million. you don’t need to free up any money. Uh the money from PJ Tucker is also gone. He’s not going to be a part of this roster um next season. So, you don’t have to worry about that. Also, if you’re trading out, you’re going to still have to take back money. So, it’s not like you could just unless it goes into somebody’s trade exception, which I don’t even believe the Knicks can do. So, it’s not like you can just free up the money there. I I I think people also need to look at what’s out there. And I don’t know at the time when this question was written. It was probably before Tucker was released. But look, so we saw this two weeks ago is what I’ve been told. Look, the Knicks roster is fine, right? They can add another solid bench player still with a veterans if they bring in Malcolm Brogden, just to toss the name out there as a ball handler who’s still available, right? Because some of the ball handlers have gone off the board. Marcus Smart has gone off the board. Ben Simmons is still out there. I know some of you guys want him. Uh we talked about in the rankings. I do not. Uh there still are some solid players that can be used there. I don’t think the Knicks need to really make anything drastic. I don’t think there needs to be um any moves. I think still think we don’t know, we’ll get to this in another video down the road, what the Knicks starting lineup is going to look like, what the bench is really going to look like. There’s a lot of discussions about what you can have there. But I think this has been fine. I mean, this comment we got here thinks that Yoselli the signing is is fine for the reasons I’ve m stated already before. They also think that the Jordan Clarkson sign is fine for the reasons that we’ve both stated. I think we both think it’s fine. I think what it comes down to is what we’ve talked about before. Do you want another ball handler or do you value another big? That’s really the question here is and I don’t think the Knicks need more space to do it because they are one they can’t. That’s just the first thing. They can’t like that’s not an option. Yeah, they all they have is the veterans minimum to use. I think they would trade barring a trade which I don’t see happening but if it did it probably would involve two players who were extension eligible and that would be well there’s technically three that could be coming up but the two that I’m talking about are Mitchell Robinson and Mikuel Bridges now and Josh Hart could be involved in something maybe but could be Josh Hart could be involved in there too. about it. That would it. But I if I think if that happened, they’d be trying to bring in a couple pieces, cheaper pieces, kind of like a one for two deal. I don’t I just don’t see another move happening this summer. I think the Knicks roster, as we see, is pretty much it, barring them adding another person with the veterans minimum. Yeah. Um, one, I wouldn’t call Yucelli an enforcer. I think if you’re an enforcer, you probably have to be a better defensive player. Um, he’s physical. That doesn’t physical on offense. It doesn’t mean that you’re an enforcer on defense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He’s got he’s got some toughness for sure. Um, but I I wouldn’t I an enforcer is different to me. An enforcer is kind of Steven Adams, maybe a modern day enforcer to to some extent, although he’s more of a mediator, more of a peacemaker, so to speak. Um, but you you still don’t want it with Steven Adams. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. He’s one of those gentle giant, if you will. Um, I think with I I don’t think Dier is blocking anybody, so you don’t need to get rid of his money. To Dex’s point, I’ll just echo it. like you you need to win on the margins and two of the teams that were great at doing that last year were Indiana and Oklahoma City. You know, same thing with Boston before. Like you see teams like Oklahoma City kind of does what the Atlanta Braves do and as me fans kind of pisses us off. But you know, like they would see Aussie Alb’s for example, Ronald Akun, all these dudes who are about to pop off and sign them to these extensions where okay, you have these guys at value. Like Oklahoma City’s done that with some guys um and Boston did that with Peyton Pritchard for example. So I think with the Knicks there’s an argument they could do that with Ariel Hawk Party perhaps if he they’ve done it with Deuce McBride. They did it with Duce McBride as a matter of fact and Hawk Perty maybe if he’s if he turns out to be a solid role player this year he can get a similar type of contract and then you have somebody who can play minutes at value. Um to that point I mean to cut you off. I think that’s a really good point. That’s why you don’t make moves like that because of what Brian just said. Let’s say Horty just to take him from example plays really well. You and I have talked about this on the show pretty much for most of the past year. There’s a world in which you can say, “Okay, he’s our center of the future. I can flip Mitchell Robinson. I’m winning on the margins. I maybe address a couple other needs.” This is why you also can’t trip about where the roster is now. Doesn’t mean how it’s going to look in February. There’s still moves. There’s development. There are things that can show you other things to say, I want to keep this player, do this. There’s a lot to be done, but you have to be patient with that. Hawkport is a great name that you brought up. There’s there’s not a lot you can complain about in terms of where they’re at on paper. I feel like going into the season, we’ll see ultimately like how it plays out. But, you know, I I think if halfway through the year and we’re looking up and they’re 26 and 15 over the first, you know, 41 games, then okay, that’s that’s fine. That’s great. You’re probably going to be in the top three in the Eastern Conference. And, you know, you’ll assess at the trade deadline. I I think if this team is going to make a major move, it’s going to be probably prior to the trade deadline. And I don’t even know if that’s going to be the case. It ultimately depends on how the season shakes out. And with a new head coach, like it’s hard to project. Like we don’t know what lineups are going to look like. We don’t know who’s going to be healthy by February because that determines it, too. God forbid if you lose somebody for the season, then you’re going to have to turn around and like, hey, you’re going to have to make a tough decision depending on who that player is. Then you’re going to have to make a call and be like, all right, now you you lost this scorer. Now you’re going to need to replace this specific uh scorer. It could be any skill set. So I think in terms of what they have, like you have a veteran minimum left. I don’t think Dier is blocking anybody. PJ Tucker is a non-factor in this and uh I I think they’ve done fine. Like they’ve they’ve had a fine off seasonason. They’ve gotten two players that we both thought would be helpful before they got them. And this is not just confirmation bias. It’s like when you see when you see how they play ultimately if they play well well enough like yeah that that’s ultimately what you’re looking for. And I think with Dier specifically like you want him to be good because he’s going to be on value contract. Like he was a late first round pick so he’s not making much at all. So, if he can give you if he can if he can crack the rotation, that’s huge. That that’s that should be his goal this year and that should be what if you’re a Nick fan, you should just want Dier to crack the rotation because then that can make you flexible in other areas. Like that’s that’s how much team building matters, especially like hitting on the young guys. So if if Dier and Hawk party pop this year, pop meaning they could they have to like command rotation minutes then that’s a that’s a big win and that makes other guys expendable like a Mitchell Robinson unfortunately for example but then you could get something from Mitchell Robinson perhaps and that’s how you extend that’s how you win on the margins especially in this era of the aprons this is how you do it. All right next up we have CH1X5PB. A lot of numbers there and letters. Ben Simmons is a player who can defend all five positions. Oh, here we go. We got ourselves a Ben Simmons comment. Just headbutted. Defend all five positions, can handle the ball, and can come in, start in case of injury. I would like to say this, not 2025, bro. Ben Simmons can come in and please, let’s just take note of this comment here. And I feel like it’s telling Ben Simmons can come in and handle the ball and start in case of injury. There was nothing else that you said he could do for me. Nothing. You know why? Cuz I still think Ben Simmons could give you some good defense. I’ll say that. He might be able to rebound decently. Is he going to shoot? The answer is no. Is he going to avoid contact? The answer is yes. The Knicks don’t need more of that. Ben Simmons. Eric can handle the ball. Start. You want him to start? We want Ben Simmons to start in 2025. Do we really want that? Man, I look y’all already know where I stand on this. The answer is no. And if Ben Simmons is starting in case of an injury, yikes. That’s a five alarm fire damn near. Yeah. Y’all talking about Mike Brown being on the grill, man. Like, no. Nope. Nope. Nope. No. I don’t really have much more to say on this other than if you’re gonna sell me on Ben Simmons, you gotta tell me more than you can handle the ball. Because when you’re saying that, you know what that sounds like? That sounds like Alfred Payeyton four years ago. That’s what it sounds like. That’s no wor maybe worse. I mean, I I don’t know if I don’t know if Ben Simmons at least Alfred Pton was willing to shoot. Yeah. I don’t know if Ben Simmons is cooked because he is physically like just not where he used to be or he’s cooked because he doesn’t give a Like we we don’t know. Um he he scored he scored four points in 42 playoff minutes. And I think the thing that would be more alarming to you, Dex, is that he took six shots in those 42 playoff minutes. That’s wild. That is wild. Here’s the problem. It’s like Ben Simmons can’t play with Josh Hart. That’s a problem because Josh Hart is going to be playing like whether he’s starting coming off the bench, he’s going to be playing with a lot of the bench dudes because of how Mike Brown’s likely. Who else can he not play with Brian? Can’t play with Mitchell Robinson either. So, it’s like if if Josh Hart’s moving to the bench, and we both think that that’s possible. That’s it’s within the realm of possibility that Josh Hart all of a sudden is coming off the bench with Jordan Clarkson with Gershon, Yabuselli, whatever the lineup is. Maybe even Duce McBride. We’ll see if they if they go double big or not. But you’re telling me Ben Simmons would be because he’s not starting. First of all, if they sign him, he’s absolutely not starting. Whoever they sign for this last roster spot is not going to start and has is going to have to be comfortable with their role. We we addressed that in another video. They have to be comfortable with their role. Yeah. Yeah. I if it’s Ben Simmons, he can’t play with Josh Hart. He can’t play with Mitchell Robinson. I’m not sure he could play with Jaylen Brunson from an offensive standpoint because you want Ben Simmons to like push the ball and pass to other people when he gets to the three-point line because, you know, he’s not going to shoot. Like, it’s another dude where it’s going to really just make the offense Yeah. make the offense more clogged. Um, and from a defensive standpoint, we’re we’re overrating where he is defensively in 2025. Like, he is not deploy candidate guard five. If he can guard all five positions, he would not be a veteran minimum guy and unsigned in late July. There’s very few players in the NBA who could actually guard five positions reasonably well. That’s true. But but the problem is even if you could and it was at an elite level, but the fact that you can’t shoot is going to hurt you from playing on the court cuz cuz look at the other players who could actually guard all five positions. Victor Wanyama is a freak. Bam Adobio’s ridiculous defensive player. Giannis is a freak. Literally, it’s it’s his nickname. Like can you really name anybody else? You could say Ben Simmons probably in in 2019, 2020, 2021. It you know I don’t Yeah. And it’s one, you know, I mean, on the Knicks, you probably say, “Oh, Genobi, he’s a guy who guard one through four.” You can put him on some He’s the closest one to Knicks. Here’s a here’s a point. You can’t have three non-shooters on your basketball roster in 2025. That and if you added him, that is what would happen. It’s not a signing I would like. I do not think it’s a good signing. You can’t have because of what you said. There’s so many lineups you don’t want to play him with other guys. Mitchell Robinson, Josh Hart, and then even to some degree if Ariel got minutes, that’s another guy. You can’t have that many nonshooters on your basketball roster in 2025. And in terms of starting in case other guys get hurt, Ben Simmons hasn’t played 60 games in a season since 2019 20 the 2018 2019 season. Over the last six years of his career, six years, he’s played 108 games. Yeah. So you you should be more worried about him getting hurt than him coming in to start for somebody if they get hurt because the chances are according to that data that he might not play. All right, we’re going to move on to the next one here. This one coming from New York Slick. Five years actually, not six years. Oh man, here this this Oh, trade idea. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And this is our last one. It’s a dream trade idea. Okay. Dreams can come true. Dreams can come true. I don’t know how much you dreamt about this trade idea. Trade Mitch, Deuce, or Hart to the Lakers for Austin Reeves? The Lakers need a center badly. I wonder if this comment came before they signed DeAndre Aiden. I would argue they still need a center with DeAndre. So, this that’s fair. And Jackson Hayes. So, this came a couple weeks ago. This was right before they signed DeAndre Aiden. And the Knicks are in desperate need of a legit scorer in the starting rotation at shooting guard. Win-win for both teams. Okay. You love this. You love this stuff. You love this stuff. I love the idea. Talking about trades. Here’s the thing. Sometimes we get trades proposed on here and people are too lazy to use the trade machine. People are too lazy to look and see if this works with the cap. And I get it. You know what I mean? I’m like, you could even put this on 2K if you wanted to. You could do this. I don’t know if 2K would take it. They might reject it. I would like to give this person credit. I see what you’re I see what you’re looking at. What you’re doing. The money’s in the neighborhood. The money’s in the neighborhood. Probably a little short on the Nick side, right? The Knicks would have to add a little more. Well, he he said trade Mitch deuce or heart. I mean, it’s going to He said Mitch and Deuce or heart. Well, Mi Mitch and heart doesn’t work for Austin Reeves, right? Mitch and Deuce or heart and deuce is how you would have to do it. But then if it’s heart and deuce, it’s like why? It would have to be Mitch and Deuce because you’re saying that the Lakers need a center, right? So it’s they need a center badly. And but look, by the way, we’ve talked about some variation of this. Like if you’re the Knicks, do you call and offer Mitchell Robinson because the Lakers need a center. Um, and this was pre-D DeAndre Aton, but I would say even with DeAndre Aton, like if he’s your only center, I mean, he’s not he’s not somebody who can play with Luca Donuch, I think, in a seamless way. Like, we’re going to have to see how that works. Mitchell Robinson probably like that actually. Oh, he’s he’s a lob threat. That makes a lot of sense for Luca Donic and an anchor. But, dude, how do you how do you feel about Austin Reeves? I think Austin Reeves is good. I love I love Austin Reeves. I think he’s Now, here’s the catch because if you’re Male Bridges and Austin Reeves is on this team, it’s like Male Bridges has to get paid. Well, Austin Reeves is also in a contract year. Yep. Austin Reeves is eligible for it was four for 90 I think the Lakers he turned it down. He turned it down and he turned it down because he’s going to get nine figures. Most likely he’s going to get more. like he turned it down because that was the max that the Lakers could offer because like that’s just where he was prior to that because his deal before that was on a bargain and we all knew it when he signed it. Like Bill Simmons was pissed about the Spurs not like trying to offer maybe a poison pill style deal so that the Lakers have to overpay to keep Austin Reeves because we all knew Austin Reeves was good and add value, but his next contract is going to be big. And if any team trades for Austin Reeves, the Knicks included in this hypothetical, you’re going to have to give him a healthy extension. Can you do that when Male Bridges’s extension is going to be on the table? And by the way, like what are you gonna do as it pertains to Deuce McBride’s next contract if you want to keep him or uh potentially Ariel Hawk Party to a lesser extent because he’s not gonna make as much, right? And then you you so basically you’re going to have a lot of money tied up. Yeah. And basically what you have to look at this is you well you still have a decision you would have to make on Mitch. So now you’re taking one guy who’s extension eligible who wouldn’t make as much as Austin Reeves on the on the open market and then asking Austin Reeves who you’d have to pay too. Now here’s the thing and this is this is the one critique I’d have of this trade. This trade would no doubt whatever version of it that you would have would make the Knicks worse defensively. Absolutely would. Yeah, that’s true. And and and this would make them better offensively and I think sometimes it looks too much about offense. There’s too much of a look on that and they’re not as there’s not balance. I like Austin Reeves. I see what you’re saying and how we could elevate the offense. But now you’re you’re losing your best big man defender, uh, best interior presence, your best lob threat, and one of your best perimeter defenders who can also knock down the three. Now, Austin Reeves is no slouch on defense. He gives efforts, but he’s not Duce McBride. He’s not. Yeah, he’s not Duce. He has his limitations. Austin Reeves is a nice player. He’s a much better offensive player than Duce McBride. It’s not even close. Yeah. But you’re giving away two of your better defenders. That’s the problem. And that’s the problem for me here. So, while I like in theory this trade, I would have to say no in the short term. I think it would make more sense to try to flip. You like what Hawkport is playing, if he plays well, try to flip Mitch and move off of that contract and get a couple of pieces that maybe help you a little bit defensively or, you know, you take a little bit of a step back just for some more flexibility. This doesn’t give you any flexibility. You actually lose a lot of flexibility you would have in making the straight. Yeah, it makes it makes the roster building tougher because of all the money you’re going to have to commit to keep that together. Also, Austin Reeves’ fit offensively isn’t seamless because okay, Jaylen Brunson’s obviously going to have the ball in his hands. Care Towns is going to need to get his OG Anubi probably wants more of an offensive role. He even mentioned Muel Bridges. Uh, Male Bridges, by the way. Like that’s the one where it’s like, all right, now Male Bridges is all of a sudden going to be the fifth option, but he’s going to be making, I don’t know, third option money on his next deal or something along those lines. Um, at least fourth. Like you said, you hit the nail on the head. It makes the team building tough. And that’s something to think about going forward. Yeah. And like conceptually I I get and Austin Reeves look like he he can play off the ball and and part of what drew people into him was when the Lakers went on that run to the Western Conference Finals a few years ago. Like you saw LeBron in the playoffs deferring to a young very young young ass Austin Reeves who was in like his second year and Austin Reeves was cooking in the playoffs at times. That was early on. That’s what ultimately led to him getting the contract. For example, I what I’ll say as we close is Dicks. I think Mike Brown is going to try to maximize his offense. I don’t think that necessarily means they always need to add another piece to maximize his offense. Maximization could come, as we’ve been talking about, on the margins. That’s something I think they can do. We’ll see how that all plays out. But I I don’t mind the idea. I don’t mind the idea. I don’t think it was crazy. I don’t think it was crazy. And I think there was some thought, but it’s just to explain like why it’s a little bit more difficult of think. I also think too, like to be fair to the Lakers, I think the Lakers would just want more for Austin Reeves. Even though Deuce and Mitch, I think for a lot of teams would be a good trade package, but if you’re the Knicks, you’re like, we want Deuce and Mitch. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s part of the thing, too. That’s why trades sometimes can be hard to, especially in this two apron world. All right, that is going to do it for this edition of New York Got Game. It was fun going through the Knicks mailbag, seeing your comments, seeing your questions. We’re going to do this again a bunch more through the offseason because a lot of you sent us a lot of comments and I’m sure you’ll have comments on these comments. It’s going to be comments on top of comments on top of comments and answering questions and all that stuff. Uh shout out to the producers who made this look fantastic. Nikolai Jackson, Tommy Hogan, Wesley Splain on the editing. They put all the comments together that we didn’t even get to look at. So we appreciate y’all. Here is Brian Fona. I’m Dexter Henry. We’ll catch you next time edition of New York Got Game.

NY Post’s Dexter Henry and Bryan Fonseca react and answer YouTube comments and questions about all things Knicks. From how hot is Mike Brown seat already to a dream trade idea with the Lakers. They answer and react to it all!

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