Around the NBA:2025-6

[Q-is-here]

I was cheering for this Spurs, but I agree with both of your sentiments. I love KAT, but the Knicks won last night in spite of him rather than because of him...1 for 7 with 5 turnovers, and the only starter with a negative plus minus. If Ju had put up a line that bad in the playoffs, we'd be coming after him with pitchforks. Everything is rosy in Knicksland right now, but their fans were down on him much of the season. You have to wonder how they are going to view his contract when they go back and review his stats in the finals. 13/10, less than a trey per game, 2.6 turnovers and 4.6 fouls per game is not what we want to see from a guy owed $57 and $61 million the next two seasons.

Come on FNG. You are the biggest +\- guy in world and Kat just broke the +\- playoff run record in nba history. How you view the game you should be celebrating Kat just had the greatest NBA playoffs for any player to ever play in the playoffs in the +\- era

There is that, kek... but one thing I believe we have universal agreement on here is that +/- can be misleading in a small sample size. I love it as an indicator over a season or a career, but not over such a small ss. Once they come down off the sugar high, I suspect Knicks fans will be looking more at his overall poor raw stats in the playoffs than his +/- when discussing the possibility of an extension for close to $70 million a year! That's 1A or 1B money, and KAT was neither under the bright lights.

Brunson was a minus-2.3 Net On/Off Rating in the regular season and 0.0 (exactly neutral) in the playoffs, so that's a pretty big sample size. Yet does anyone in the entire universe believe the Knicks would be better off if he sat the entire game since golly-gee look how the team does either better or exactly the same when he sits!? I don't think so!!!

[AbeVigodaLive]

Musings about the Knicks winning the title:

- Good for Towns. We all have some sort of mixed feelings about the guy, but I think most, if not all, are happy for the guy. He's an NBA champion. And a HUGE reason for it. The Knicks were much better with him on the court, and +/- stats support this. His defense was really good vs. a nimble and skilled 7'6" player.

Even though he STILL gets arguably the worst whistle in the NBA. (The NBA reversing two Wemby fouls and giving them to Towns on replay was ridiculous.) Zach Lowe has repeatedly talked about the level of physicality that the NBA allowed in the Finals... "for everyone but KAT."

- Brunson is a legend in NYC. Forever.

And he deserves all of it. HIs mental toughness/consistency is well... legendary. The guy just kept battling, no matter what. His team was down time and time again. And he went down as the Spurs clearly tried to play a taxing, physical style against him. They bodied him throughout the series, including some questionable (or even dirty) plays against him. But he only got stronger and stronger throughout games despite the heavy physicality and toll it took to dominate the ball and responsibility. An all-time amazing performance. He deserves all of it.

- I mentioned a few days ago about Wembanyama losing the narrative throughout the playoffs. The guy who hangs out with monks and the 2nd coming of god on the court narratives were replaced with ... damn... he's kind of annoying and possibly... no... probably a dirty player.

One cheap shot (Naz) was bad. When several questionable plays start to pile up, we have a trend. And quite probably the actual true narrative. What made it all the worse is that the NBA looked the other way at every opportunity. The lightest possible punishment for the Reid elbow. Overlooking multiple in-game flagrant fouls. The Knicks probably saved the NBA from a potential huge conspiracy by winning in 5. Wemby absolutely deserved a flagrant that would have suspended him for the next game. But would the NBA have looked the other way yet again when it comes to what they deem is a prized $$$$-making star?

Let Wemby become full heel. That seems like his ultimate calling. (I mean who roots for the tallest, biggest player with the most advantages?) That's no fun. And neither was the Wemby jock-grazing we had to endure over the past few weeks. F that guy.

- Ok. I wasn't paying enough attention. Dylan Harper is gonna be really good. Great? I sorta feel bad for D. Fox. I think his relationship with the Spurs fanbase is pretty close to Randle's in Minnesota. What makes it even worse though is that postseason comments indicate that Harper is frustrated being behind Fox. None of this bodes well for Fox.

- I gave Brunson credit for his toughness, but he wasn't alone. The entire Knicks squad deserves credit. Josh Hart is just a tough, tough player. Everyone knows he's not a great shooter, yet he hit some incredibly timely shots in the series. Just enough. Bridges shrug off all the criticism to keep battling and doing the dirty work to win.

There were so many times when I (as a mostly neutral follower) was like "How are they not freaking out and getting technicals right now or retaliating?" during some of the lowest moments. And yet, the Knicks just put their heads down collectively and dug deeper.

I don't like the Knicks. But damn... if they didn't earn a ton of respect. Kudos.

[Phenom]

Bulls hire Splitter so that is one option down for Nori.

[60WinTim]

Bulls hire Splitter so that is one option down for Nori.

Although, it opens a door in Portland!

[FNG]

Come on FNG. You are the biggest +\- guy in world and Kat just broke the +\- playoff run record in nba history. How you view the game you should be celebrating Kat just had the greatest NBA playoffs for any player to ever play in the playoffs in the +\- era

There is that, kek... but one thing I believe we have universal agreement on here is that +/- can be misleading in a small sample size. I love it as an indicator over a season or a career, but not over such a small ss. Once they come down off the sugar high, I suspect Knicks fans will be looking more at his overall poor raw stats in the playoffs than his +/- when discussing the possibility of an extension for close to $70 million a year! That's 1A or 1B money, and KAT was neither under the bright lights.

I’m mostly trolling and you are right Kat might be gone because of his contract (even though he might be the best Wemby counter in the league). Just thought it was funny that you used a 1 game small sample size with a bad +/- to discredit Kat but in a larger sample size of the whole playoffs (I agree still a small sample size) he had the greatest playoffs in nba history for your favorite stat. We all do it but I chuckled at the picking and choosing when to use stats that fit our narratives. Once again we all do this

Kek, while deep analytical stats are less meaningful over a tiny sample size, you nailed why KAT's +/- was so good in the Spurs series despite not playing up to his standard on offense. Nobody expected him to defend Wemby so effectively, but he did...his size, length and effort clearly made life more difficult for Vic, and that was one of the keys to a surprising win for a team that was a 2 to 1 underdog coming in! Time will tell whether the Knicks think KAT's improved defense makes him worth nearly $70 million per.

[Lipoli390]

There is that, kek... but one thing I believe we have universal agreement on here is that +/- can be misleading in a small sample size. I love it as an indicator over a season or a career, but not over such a small ss. Once they come down off the sugar high, I suspect Knicks fans will be looking more at his overall poor raw stats in the playoffs than his +/- when discussing the possibility of an extension for close to $70 million a year! That's 1A or 1B money, and KAT was neither under the bright lights.

I’m mostly trolling and you are right Kat might be gone because of his contract (even though he might be the best Wemby counter in the league). Just thought it was funny that you used a 1 game small sample size with a bad +/- to discredit Kat but in a larger sample size of the whole playoffs (I agree still a small sample size) he had the greatest playoffs in nba history for your favorite stat. We all do it but I chuckled at the picking and choosing when to use stats that fit our narratives. Once again we all do this

Kek, while deep analytical stats are less meaningful over a tiny sample size, you nailed why KAT's +/- was so good in the Spurs series despite not playing up to his standard on offense. Nobody expected him to defend Wemby so effectively, but he did...his size, length and effort clearly made life more difficult for Vic, and that was one of the keys to a surprising win for a team that was a 2 to 1 underdog coming in! Time will tell whether the Knicks think KAT's improved defense makes him worth nearly $70 million per.

KAT’s been playing pretty well defensively since the season before Rudy arrived when the Wolves won 46 games. KAT had already been improving incrementally the prior couple seasons, but that’s was a break-out season for KAT defensively. He has since improved further and was very good his last season here when we made the Conference Finals. KAT truly is a two-way all-star caliber player.