Around the NBA:2025-6

[Q-is-here]

Knicks up 3-0 and will likely be headed to the Finals. A few thoughts:

- They are pretty much 100% healthy. Injury luck matters in a playoff run.

- The biggest change they made from last year was replacing Thibs with Mike Brown. Sometimes a new voice is what's needed when there is otherwise a lot of player continuity. Don't know if that really applies to the Wolves or not, but this isn't the first time a coaching change with a similar roster from the prior season has led to better results.

- The youngest player in their playoff rotation is Miles McBride, who is 1 year older than Ant. Their five starters are between age 28 and 30.

- They don't have an MVP-caliber player on their roster....not even close really. But they are a really well constructed roster in terms of their fit with each other. Who here besides FNG would trade Ant for Brunson? Anyone?

- KAT still does a lot of dumb stuff, doesn't shoot enough 3's, 2nd in the NBA in fouls, etc. Yet here is, a flawed star about to punch his ticket to the Finals.

- They play in the Eastern Conference. That helps!

I give the Knicks a real chance in the Finals given how banged up both the Spurs and OKC appear to be as they engage in trench warfare with each other....such a more physical series. Still think OKC will be favored to repeat.

[WildWolf2813]

I think the Finals goes at least 6 just for the MSG games. This city is gonna tear itself apart. They're not even allowed to do outdoor Knick watch parties for now because the fans go apesh!t.


I'll be rooting for KAT.


How it relates to us:


Landry Shamet has been amazing and he was sitting there in September waiting for a new deal. Makes big shots.

That's gonna be a major assignment for TC this summer. Find cheap shooters who will actually play, defense be damned.

Is that Huerter on the taxpayer MLE?

Jett Howard on a cheap deal?

Aaron Holiday on a vet min?

Gary Trent Jr. was a special level of awful this year, but he's also reminiscent of Shamet on the Wizards before he was a Knick.

[FNG]

Knicks up 3-0 and will likely be headed to the Finals. A few thoughts:

- They are pretty much 100% healthy. Injury luck matters in a playoff run.

- The biggest change they made from last year was replacing Thibs with Mike Brown. Sometimes a new voice is what's needed when there is otherwise a lot of player continuity. Don't know if that really applies to the Wolves or not, but this isn't the first time a coaching change with a similar roster from the prior season has led to better results.

- The youngest player in their playoff rotation is Miles McBride, who is 1 year older than Ant. Their five starters are between age 28 and 30.

- They don't have an MVP-caliber player on their roster....not even close really. But they are a really well constructed roster in terms of their fit with each other. Who here besides FNG would trade Ant for Brunson? Anyone?

- KAT still does a lot of dumb stuff, doesn't shoot enough 3's, 2nd in the NBA in fouls, etc. Yet here is, a flawed star about to punch his ticket to the Finals.

- They play in the Eastern Conference. That helps!

I give the Knicks a real chance in the Finals given how banged up both the Spurs and OKC appear to be as they engage in trench warfare with each other....such a more physical series. Still think OKC will be favored to repeat.

Although Thibs drove me crazy with his crabby sideline demeanor while he was here, I ripped the Knicks mercilessly for firing him and replacing him with a renowned players' coach like Brown, and confidently predicted the Knicks would be worse this season. (closed circuit to Tim: please advise how to delete all previous posts with horrible takes!).

For the record, Q, I would not trade Ant for Brunson (even though we need a PG more than we need a shooting guard), and would be surprised if anyone here would, although I do admire a lot of things about him. I wish Ant could exhibit the same amount of maturity and gravitas that Brunson does...he's a winner. But that said, similar to Ant I don't view him as a top 10 player despite both of them being brilliant on offense in different ways. The more I watch him, the more I recognize what a horrible defender he is. It's not just his lack of size...he also doesn't seem to care that much about that side of the court. We talk a lot about Conley being targeted on defense, but Mike is twice the defender Brunson is. Brunson's poor defense is the reason, like Ant, that he is only a breakeven player in on/off stats. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, the true elite superstars in the NBA show up really well in this stat, and Brunson and Ant consistently fall short. (Passionate defense for Ant coming from his stans in 5...4...3...)

All that said, Brunson and Edwards are two of my favorite players to watch on offense when the game is on the line.

[Wolvesfan21]

Knicks up 3-0 and will likely be headed to the Finals. A few thoughts:

- They are pretty much 100% healthy. Injury luck matters in a playoff run.

- The biggest change they made from last year was replacing Thibs with Mike Brown. Sometimes a new voice is what's needed when there is otherwise a lot of player continuity. Don't know if that really applies to the Wolves or not, but this isn't the first time a coaching change with a similar roster from the prior season has led to better results.

- The youngest player in their playoff rotation is Miles McBride, who is 1 year older than Ant. Their five starters are between age 28 and 30.

- They don't have an MVP-caliber player on their roster....not even close really. But they are a really well constructed roster in terms of their fit with each other. Who here besides FNG would trade Ant for Brunson? Anyone?

- KAT still does a lot of dumb stuff, doesn't shoot enough 3's, 2nd in the NBA in fouls, etc. Yet here is, a flawed star about to punch his ticket to the Finals.

- They play in the Eastern Conference. That helps!

I give the Knicks a real chance in the Finals given how banged up both the Spurs and OKC appear to be as they engage in trench warfare with each other....such a more physical series. Still think OKC will be favored to repeat.

Although Thibs drove me crazy with his crabby sideline demeanor while he was here, I ripped the Knicks mercilessly for firing him and replacing him with a renowned players' coach like Brown, and confidently predicted the Knicks would be worse this season. (closed circuit to Tim: please advise how to delete all previous posts with horrible takes!).

For the record, Q, I would not trade Ant for Brunson (even though we need a PG more than we need a shooting guard), and would be surprised if anyone here would, although I do admire a lot of things about him. I wish Ant could exhibit the same amount of maturity and gravitas that Brunson does...he's a winner. But that said, similar to Ant I don't view him as a top 10 player despite both of them being brilliant on offense in different ways. The more I watch him, the more I recognize what a horrible defender he is. It's not just his lack of size...he also doesn't seem to care that much about that side of the court. We talk a lot about Conley being targeted on defense, but Mike is twice the defender Brunson is. Brunson's poor defense is the reason, like Ant, that he is only a breakeven player in on/off stats. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, the true elite superstars in the NBA show up really well in this stat, and Brunson and Ant consistently fall short. (Passionate defense for Ant coming from his stans in 5...4...3...)

All that said, Brunson and Edwards are two of my favorite players to watch on offense when the game is on the line.

Between the two who can play good or great defense though? Obviously Ant can and has at times. His avg defensive performance is poor for sure and I too have criticized him for taking the defense so lightly especially during the regular season.

Habits good or bad can transfer into the postseason which is why nearly all the championship winning squads are high seeds and usually 1 seeds. The Wolves thought they could take the regular season off then just turn it on when the games really counted. But that mentality has proven to be flawed.

So back to topic and Ants defense. Taking the regular season off 99% of the time from even trying to playing elite defense, more specifically elite team defense I think does show up in the playoffs. He hasn't built up reps to carry over and even improve upon from the regular season to the postseason. You start at a higher level, maybe you can even ratchet that up even higher. Start at a half ass level, and trying to go half ass to the best isn't going to happen. Teams like OKC and SA have the confidence and reps as a team to carry that play over into May and June.

So it's a bit of a gray area. Ant can and does at times play elite defense, but to not be critical of his overall defense would be foolish too. To become a champion that weakness will need to improve imo. Otherwise we do unfortunately compare him to a Zach LaVine rather then MJ and you don't want to end up being compared to Zach LaVine!!!

[FNG]

Knicks up 3-0 and will likely be headed to the Finals. A few thoughts:

- They are pretty much 100% healthy. Injury luck matters in a playoff run.

- The biggest change they made from last year was replacing Thibs with Mike Brown. Sometimes a new voice is what's needed when there is otherwise a lot of player continuity. Don't know if that really applies to the Wolves or not, but this isn't the first time a coaching change with a similar roster from the prior season has led to better results.

- The youngest player in their playoff rotation is Miles McBride, who is 1 year older than Ant. Their five starters are between age 28 and 30.

- They don't have an MVP-caliber player on their roster....not even close really. But they are a really well constructed roster in terms of their fit with each other. Who here besides FNG would trade Ant for Brunson? Anyone?

- KAT still does a lot of dumb stuff, doesn't shoot enough 3's, 2nd in the NBA in fouls, etc. Yet here is, a flawed star about to punch his ticket to the Finals.

- They play in the Eastern Conference. That helps!

I give the Knicks a real chance in the Finals given how banged up both the Spurs and OKC appear to be as they engage in trench warfare with each other....such a more physical series. Still think OKC will be favored to repeat.

Although Thibs drove me crazy with his crabby sideline demeanor while he was here, I ripped the Knicks mercilessly for firing him and replacing him with a renowned players' coach like Brown, and confidently predicted the Knicks would be worse this season. (closed circuit to Tim: please advise how to delete all previous posts with horrible takes!).

For the record, Q, I would not trade Ant for Brunson (even though we need a PG more than we need a shooting guard), and would be surprised if anyone here would, although I do admire a lot of things about him. I wish Ant could exhibit the same amount of maturity and gravitas that Brunson does...he's a winner. But that said, similar to Ant I don't view him as a top 10 player despite both of them being brilliant on offense in different ways. The more I watch him, the more I recognize what a horrible defender he is. It's not just his lack of size...he also doesn't seem to care that much about that side of the court. We talk a lot about Conley being targeted on defense, but Mike is twice the defender Brunson is. Brunson's poor defense is the reason, like Ant, that he is only a breakeven player in on/off stats. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, the true elite superstars in the NBA show up really well in this stat, and Brunson and Ant consistently fall short. (Passionate defense for Ant coming from his stans in 5...4...3...)

All that said, Brunson and Edwards are two of my favorite players to watch on offense when the game is on the line.

Between the two who can play good or great defense though? Obviously Ant can and has at times. His avg defensive performance is poor for sure and I too have criticized him for taking the defense so lightly especially during the regular season.

Habits good or bad can transfer into the postseason which is why nearly all the championship winning squads are high seeds and usually 1 seeds. The Wolves thought they could take the regular season off then just turn it on when the games really counted. But that mentality has proven to be flawed.

So back to topic and Ants defense. Taking the regular season off 99% of the time from even trying to playing elite defense, more specifically elite team defense I think does show up in the playoffs. He hasn't built up reps to carry over and even improve upon from the regular season to the postseason. You start at a higher level, maybe you can even ratchet that up even higher. Start at a half ass level, and trying to go half ass to the best isn't going to happen. Teams like OKC and SA have the confidence and reps as a team to carry that play over into May and June.

So it's a bit of a gray area. Ant can and does at times play elite defense, but to not be critical of his overall defense would be foolish too. To become a champion that weakness will need to improve imo. Otherwise we do unfortunately compare him to a Zach LaVine rather then MJ and you don't want to end up being compared to Zach LaVine!!!

WF, I agree that Ant has more frequent effective defensive moments than Brunson...another reason I would not consider trading Ant for him. I actually find Julius and Ant mirror images of each other on defense...both have some impressive physical attributes and have some occasional one-on-one effective defensive stands that make you say "Wow, nice...now why can't he do that more often?". In contrast, I never find myself impressed with Brunson's defense.

[Monster]

Although Thibs drove me crazy with his crabby sideline demeanor while he was here, I ripped the Knicks mercilessly for firing him and replacing him with a renowned players' coach like Brown, and confidently predicted the Knicks would be worse this season. (closed circuit to Tim: please advise how to delete all previous posts with horrible takes!).

For the record, Q, I would not trade Ant for Brunson (even though we need a PG more than we need a shooting guard), and would be surprised if anyone here would, although I do admire a lot of things about him. I wish Ant could exhibit the same amount of maturity and gravitas that Brunson does...he's a winner. But that said, similar to Ant I don't view him as a top 10 player despite both of them being brilliant on offense in different ways. The more I watch him, the more I recognize what a horrible defender he is. It's not just his lack of size...he also doesn't seem to care that much about that side of the court. We talk a lot about Conley being targeted on defense, but Mike is twice the defender Brunson is. Brunson's poor defense is the reason, like Ant, that he is only a breakeven player in on/off stats. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, the true elite superstars in the NBA show up really well in this stat, and Brunson and Ant consistently fall short. (Passionate defense for Ant coming from his stans in 5...4...3...)

All that said, Brunson and Edwards are two of my favorite players to watch on offense when the game is on the line.

Between the two who can play good or great defense though? Obviously Ant can and has at times. His avg defensive performance is poor for sure and I too have criticized him for taking the defense so lightly especially during the regular season.

Habits good or bad can transfer into the postseason which is why nearly all the championship winning squads are high seeds and usually 1 seeds. The Wolves thought they could take the regular season off then just turn it on when the games really counted. But that mentality has proven to be flawed.

So back to topic and Ants defense. Taking the regular season off 99% of the time from even trying to playing elite defense, more specifically elite team defense I think does show up in the playoffs. He hasn't built up reps to carry over and even improve upon from the regular season to the postseason. You start at a higher level, maybe you can even ratchet that up even higher. Start at a half ass level, and trying to go half ass to the best isn't going to happen. Teams like OKC and SA have the confidence and reps as a team to carry that play over into May and June.

So it's a bit of a gray area. Ant can and does at times play elite defense, but to not be critical of his overall defense would be foolish too. To become a champion that weakness will need to improve imo. Otherwise we do unfortunately compare him to a Zach LaVine rather then MJ and you don't want to end up being compared to Zach LaVine!!!

WF, I agree that Ant has more frequent effective defensive moments than Brunson...another reason I would not consider trading Ant for him. I actually find Julius and Ant mirror images of each other on defense...both have some impressive physical attributes and have some occasional one-on-one effective defensive stands that make you say "Wow, nice...now why can't he do that more often?". In contrast, I never find myself impressed with Brunson's defense.

The irony is that in Dallas especially before he really blew up offensively, Brunson was known as a guy that wasn't a terrible defender.

[Q-is-here]

I think the Finals goes at least 6 just for the MSG games. This city is gonna tear itself apart. They're not even allowed to do outdoor Knick watch parties for now because the fans go apesh!t.


I'll be rooting for KAT.


How it relates to us:


Landry Shamet has been amazing and he was sitting there in September waiting for a new deal. Makes big shots.

That's gonna be a major assignment for TC this summer. Find cheap shooters who will actually play, defense be damned.

Is that Huerter on the taxpayer MLE?

Jett Howard on a cheap deal?

Aaron Holiday on a vet min?

Gary Trent Jr. was a special level of awful this year, but he's also reminiscent of Shamet on the Wizards before he was a Knick.

I think finding those sorts of guys you mention will be super critical if we make a big Giannis trade and are left with a lot of gaps to fill. Giannis especially needs shooters around him.

[Q-is-here]

Although Thibs drove me crazy with his crabby sideline demeanor while he was here, I ripped the Knicks mercilessly for firing him and replacing him with a renowned players' coach like Brown, and confidently predicted the Knicks would be worse this season. (closed circuit to Tim: please advise how to delete all previous posts with horrible takes!).

For the record, Q, I would not trade Ant for Brunson (even though we need a PG more than we need a shooting guard), and would be surprised if anyone here would, although I do admire a lot of things about him. I wish Ant could exhibit the same amount of maturity and gravitas that Brunson does...he's a winner. But that said, similar to Ant I don't view him as a top 10 player despite both of them being brilliant on offense in different ways. The more I watch him, the more I recognize what a horrible defender he is. It's not just his lack of size...he also doesn't seem to care that much about that side of the court. We talk a lot about Conley being targeted on defense, but Mike is twice the defender Brunson is. Brunson's poor defense is the reason, like Ant, that he is only a breakeven player in on/off stats. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, the true elite superstars in the NBA show up really well in this stat, and Brunson and Ant consistently fall short. (Passionate defense for Ant coming from his stans in 5...4...3...)

All that said, Brunson and Edwards are two of my favorite players to watch on offense when the game is on the line.

Between the two who can play good or great defense though? Obviously Ant can and has at times. His avg defensive performance is poor for sure and I too have criticized him for taking the defense so lightly especially during the regular season.

Habits good or bad can transfer into the postseason which is why nearly all the championship winning squads are high seeds and usually 1 seeds. The Wolves thought they could take the regular season off then just turn it on when the games really counted. But that mentality has proven to be flawed.

So back to topic and Ants defense. Taking the regular season off 99% of the time from even trying to playing elite defense, more specifically elite team defense I think does show up in the playoffs. He hasn't built up reps to carry over and even improve upon from the regular season to the postseason. You start at a higher level, maybe you can even ratchet that up even higher. Start at a half ass level, and trying to go half ass to the best isn't going to happen. Teams like OKC and SA have the confidence and reps as a team to carry that play over into May and June.

So it's a bit of a gray area. Ant can and does at times play elite defense, but to not be critical of his overall defense would be foolish too. To become a champion that weakness will need to improve imo. Otherwise we do unfortunately compare him to a Zach LaVine rather then MJ and you don't want to end up being compared to Zach LaVine!!!

WF, I agree that Ant has more frequent effective defensive moments than Brunson...another reason I would not consider trading Ant for him. I actually find Julius and Ant mirror images of each other on defense...both have some impressive physical attributes and have some occasional one-on-one effective defensive stands that make you say "Wow, nice...now why can't he do that more often?". In contrast, I never find myself impressed with Brunson's defense.

To me the big takeaway is that a team can indeed get to the Finals with flawed stars such as Brunson and KAT by making tweaks in other areas (coaching in their case) and simply staying healthy. Now whether they can actually beat OKC or the Spurs is another question, but at least they are finally breaking through to get that opportunity.

[kekgeek]

Chet makes 3rd team all nba meaning he is eligible for the super max. Huge for the rest of the league

[WildWolf2813]

Chet makes 3rd team all nba meaning he is eligible for the super max. Huge for the rest of the league

his deal doesn't present escalators apparently, so his contract doesn't change.