Greetings my peeps and welcome to the all things basketball podcast with your boy GD.
In this episode as promised my next season recap I'll give you everything from the bench
players to the starters we'll talk about all of them we'll talk about coach timidow as
well as Leon Rose what he's doing in the front office so just sit back relax and enjoy the show.
Okay guys so this is your boy GD with the all things basketball with GD podcast and we're gonna do
well we're finally getting around to the next season recap so without any further delay let's get
right into it the next season they finished the regular season 47 and 35 they were third in the
Atlantic division they were fifth in the eastern conference they were actually eighth overall in the
NBA very good finish for them mind you the preseason prediction for the Knicks the over
and under was 38 and a half wins so needless to say they surpassed that in Dinsum they were third
in the eastern offensive rating they were 19th though in defensive rating their net rating put
them in seventh place so with a plus three advantage for those that sent to the analytics and all that
so and then their scoring average for the season was 116 points against 113.1 as far as offensive
rebound percentage they were second in all the NBA thanks to Mitchell Robinson being a big part of
that and their turnover percentage was fifth in the league so and then in their postseason of
course they beat the number four seed the Cleveland Cavaliers four games to one and then in the second
round they lost to the eventual eastern conference champ the Miami Heat who was the eight seed
actually a seventh seed but they lost that first playing game which knocked them down to be an eight
seed and they lost that four games to two so right now their salary for the season was at 148.9
million that was 17th in league so they were in the middle of the pack in that regard as far as the
draft goes they have no draft pick skies in this draft their number 10 pick ended up going to Dallas
if it had been one pick lower then it would have went to the Knicks so 11 and below would have went
to the Knicks so and then their 23rd pick okay so here's how it breaks down the Dallas pick was a
protected pick so one through 10 I think the same thing applies next year for them as well so and
then the 23rd pick which is they're actually their own pick they used that in a trade to get
Josh Hart so so that pick went to Portland and then in the second round they didn't have a pick
there Iva their 53rd pick went to the Minnesota Timberwolves I talked about the salaries in terms
of free agents Josh Hart has a player option and he's being paid just a shade on the 13 million
then you got team options on Derrick Rose at 15.5 million and then Miles McBride at 1.8 million so
they have a mid-level exemption at 12.2 million so they can add up a player that way and then they
have a biannual exception at 4.4 million so that's where it is guys okay so that's your breakdown in
that regard what I'm going to end up doing evaluate each player we'll start off with the bench and
then we'll go to the starters and then we'll talk about the coaching and then the front office so
we'll do it that way so the bench let's start off with the bench Isaiah Roby is a power forward
that they got during the postseason they signed him he's power forward he's insurance just in case
of a obi topping trade I'll talk about that a little later he had some solid years in
okc for the thunder before being waived and then he ended up in san antonio and then waived again
so I'm not sure what to deal with that is but nonetheless he is insurance in case obi gets
dealt so he signed for next year I believe it's uh two million dollars so and then you have daiquan
jeffreys a shooting guard he was undrafted and he bounced around a bit he started playing in 2019
he's bounced around a few teams like sacramento houston and also Memphis he's a two-way player
that they signed late in the season he actually played in two-player games one game at each of
the series so I'm not sure what the long-term future for him would be and then you have trevor
keels that's the draft pick that they had in last year's draft in the second round the shooting
guard out of duke for the most part he spent a great deal of time down in the g league he only
appeared in three games and that was very late in the season you're not really sure what you're
having him so but nonetheless we'll see what happens more likely than not you'll see him in
summer league so you'll get a glimpse at what he can do you would hope with uh dice ashi moto
probably running that summer league team like he usually does so we'll get to see what trevor keel
has now let's talk about a few of the regular guys there jerry co sims the center the bouncy center
out of texas he's been in the league a couple of years now he appeared in 52 games started in 16
and that was because of a mitchell robinson injury so he was inserted into the lineup
he's a bouncy big like i said who saw a slight improvement last year he was shut down though
due to an injured shoulder a shoulder in which i believe he had surgery on and he's expected to be
ready for training camps so now your veterans your two veterans derrick rose and evan 48 as far as
derrick rose goes of course we know he was the number one overall pick in the 2008 draft he had a
spectacular first five season and then the injuries started hitting him but nonetheless he has bounced
back last season was pretty strange to be honest with you he appeared in 27 games he didn't start
in any games he's really on the back nine of his incredible career he sacrificed for the sake of
developing the young talent such as emmanuel quickly and miles mcbride but i doubt if the team picks
up the option on derrick rose unfortunately so i'm thinking more likely than not he'll probably
i would think he would try a latch on somewhere else the question is what does he have left in the
tank about two years ago it looked like he had plenty left in the tank as far as that playoff run
that they had back in 2021 you're really not sure what you're going to get from derrick rose but
you know one thing he's a fighter he's gonna give his all i think if he does play again i think he
latches on with a contender i would think just to see what he has so not really sure what he has to
be honest with you evan forney a i think it's a whole different story here oddly enough he played
in 27 games and he actually started in seven of the games what happened though around want to say
around the time that quinton grimes eventually came back i'll talk about grimes in a minute
evan went to the bench he was banished to the bench basically and hardly used and you know a lot
of people were saying in the playoffs hey you needed shooting you had evan forney why not give him a
look and that was the odd thing he didn't see any playing time in that miami series i mean maybe you
could have caught lightning in the bottle who knows but at any event he has a year left and then
after that a team option so he's about at 18 million so you have to see you know it seems like
18 million for a outside shooter you have to find a team that would want to take that gamble so
it's going to be interesting to see as far as forney a goes but i'm wanting to think i don't think
he's long for this roster so i think it's somehow some way the nix can maneuver themselves out of
that contract they would all right so we talked about the vets rose in forney let's talk about
the rest of that bench miles mcbryde miles mcbryde he appeared in 64 games started in two of course he
came in the same year as jericho sims he's another player who improved from the prior season he has
a skill set that is very much needed in the league and that's a ability to defend and defend the
quicker guards he's got quick hands the only thing with him is his point guard skills his
you know shooting is still a work in progress so do you send him down to summer league one more
time just for him to get reps and so forth i don't really know but i say you have to see you have to
see i know you still have quickly there i know quickly's probably gonna eventually demand some
big time money so i believe they definitely pick up the team option on mcbryde i think that's a
definite but beyond that i believe tibs likes him i believe he does it's just you know something
with point guards it takes them a while to get up to nba speed sometimes quite a few point guards
where it took them a while before they took off is mcbryde in that same category possibly but i think
they pick up the option and they see next year if there's an improvement there so i think mcbryde
is he'll be there on the roster if something crazy doesn't happen as far as trading all that
obi toppen obi toppen power forward of course eighth picking that 2020 draft played in 67 games
started in five most of those starts late in the season because of the julius randall ankle
injury i'll get more into that top and actually saw a regression in his scoring and in his field
goal shooting and i think that was part and parcel because of him hunting more for his three-point
shots so i think the field goal percentage suffered because of that and look the nicks have a
dilemma in terms of toppen you took him a fourth overall in that draft he has talent there i i think
there's no denying that the problem for toppen he's got small forward skills and a powerful
forward's body that's the problem why because the power forward for the nicks is julius randall so
i think in a world where you have tibs randall and toppen on one team i think toppen will always be
the odd man out and with that said i think he could be moved into offseason it'd be unfortunate
no mistake about that but i think probably for his own sake he should probably go elsewhere and
look if he goes elsewhere and blows up you know the nicks only have themselves to blame i understood
the thinking and drafting him but he didn't realize what you had in julius randall so my thoughts are
i think he unfortunately gets moved into offseason somehow some way i think that's the case so i hope
i'm wrong but we'll see and then we have josh hart josh hart one of the more brilliant trade
deadline moves the nicks have made in quite a while actually and it paid off big time for the team
and it's funny because i just said toppen has small forward skills in a powerful
forward's body josh hart is actually the opposite he has powerful forward skills in a small forward's
body go figure he fits perfectly in tip system perfectly he's gonna give you a lot of heart
well no pun intended but he's he's he's he's gonna play until the final buzzer that's just the way he
rolls he peered in 76 games total he started in 52 of those games while with the nicks he appeared
in 25 games and only started once so basically actually all of his starts were in portland so
when he got to the nicks he had a bench roll and he fit perfectly with that second unit of course
we know him and brunson were villanova teammates and their postseason press conferences were hilarious
with him eating the chicken wings then the pizza and just their camaraderie you could tell they know
each other so well but nonetheless josh hart will be a free agent in my mind right now i would think
that nicks would resign him something like you pay him to sort of money you're paying
even 48 18 million per year i think that would seal the deal although you're gonna have other
teams out there bitting for him as well i think at the end of the day josh hart has to ask himself
do i want to continue with what i'm doing here i've kind of bounced around a little bit i was in
la i went to new all leans from there i went to portland so i've kind of bounced around a bit so
maybe being with my former teammate and really solidifying things here maybe you know i can plant
my flag here so i hope he does to be honest with you i i like what he brings to this team so that's
just me being selfish but josh hart is a guy i would like to see resign and we take it from there
isaac hartenstein this was such a pleasant surprise you knew what you were getting when you
signed him as a free agent he's going to be a guy coming off your bench who can spot start in a pinch
and he did just that to be honest played in every game last season he had eight starts again because
of course you had mr robison who was out with an injury so he has some spots starts but i think tibs
eventually decided that maybe it's better that he does come off the bench and then we start jericho
instead so you had that dynamic but nonetheless he was so reliable for the nicks and he's a perfect
compliment to mr robison he could stretch you out he can you know come to the outside drop some shots
he was blocking shots inside as well i mean he was defending the paint pretty well
hartinstein you know you still have him on the contract thankfully so you see what happens but
he's another guy who fits what the nicks do and i'm glad he's on my team i'm just saying so that's
hartinstein last but not least immanuel quickly again he could play both guard positions he appeared
in 81 games he only missed one game he had 21 starts had a breakout season as a six man of the year
candidate nonetheless he was an invaluable piece to the success of the nicks last season but all eyes
are on him guys they want to see is he going to be extended what's going to happen in that regard
are the nicks going to extend him what will his role be next year a lot of eyes are watching that
so we'll see what happens there but immanuel quickly he was absolutely solid he can only
improve his game can only improve from here but he definitely fits what the nicks do tips love
some as well so we'll see what happens there so that's your bench story guys now we will talk
about the starters let's start with quentin grimes quentin grimes played in 71 games started in 66 those
first five games he came off the bench kind of get himself acclimated but eventually became the
starter and of course you know he too was in that 2021 draft along with miles McBride and Jericho
Sims like i said he started off the year with the foot injury he came back a couple of weeks into
the season he improved greatly as a starter as the season progressed i think he needs to be
a little more involved in the offense i think he should get some more looks that's for sure
he's a dead eye shooter guys but i think the problem for him was getting a steady diet of those
shots and i think it came back to bite him in those playoffs and i'm one to say that quentin
grimes should be in the gym this summer hoisting up about a hundred threes a day just to get a rhythm
going and because that was the nicks akili's heel to be honest outside shooting so you got a kid
like this who can when he can stroke it he can stroke it guys so he is one who i think definitely
needs the reps that's for sure i think somehow some way tibs is going to have to get creative
and get this kid touches because i think he's one of those guys if he gets steady touches he'll give
you steady production and you know what he could do on the defensive end the steal that he had
against miami in the playoffs where bam i'll buy you knock knees with him so that hinted him there
but that didn't stop him from stripping jimmy butlaw in that one possession there but that's
the kind of guy he is he's gonna tough it out and he's going to he's gonna defend so quentin
grimes i think he's a guy who can really see some improvement as long as tibs is creative and can
get him in the flow of things that's for sure so mitchell robison another injury plague season for
him much more worse than the prior season he appeared in 59 games started in 58 he was out
for the four weeks with that injured thumb he's still vital to the team success he is
one of the league's best arguably the best offensive rebounder in the game right now
what he did in that cleven series was absolutely amazing at a point in this season he questioned
his involvement in the offense on snapchat he went to snapchat he later apologized he just
was frustrated with things and you know it's understandable he apologized about it so i'm
good with it he's another guy who i say i think early on you gotta give him lobs you gotta give
him some putbacks and once you do that i think he's engaged the whole game you have to involve
he's a guy i think you involve him early you got him for the whole game i think he's a guy who you
gotta involve him early man again with some lobs where he gets to rebound and put it back in so
forth but you gotta do something to keep him engaged that's my thought so but mitchell robison
valuable for what he brings to the nicks then there's rj barrett rj barrett i tell you what guys
i'm looking at that draft i think outside of probably a darious garland if your management
you could lay your head down at night knowing that rj barrett's gonna do the right thing he's
not gonna get himself into trouble he's not gonna be running around with porn stars he's not gonna
be waving guns and ig videos the kid is well grounded so let me say that he saw a slight boost
in his field goal percentage but he regressed from three he was he was awful from three guys
that's something i think he should work on in the summer i think he too can stand the hoist up about
hundred threes a day as well to get that three point stroke back that he had before he started
off slowing the postseason but when his play improved so did the team success in the playoffs
as you saw in the cleveland series and then he had his moments in the miami series really struggled
in that last game that game six but rj barrett is he's still your guy is there room for improvement
absolutely i i think so he's still young i know some in the fan base are frustrated with him but
again he's one who's pretty much reliable you know you're gonna get about 70 at least 75 games
per season from him if injuries doesn't play into it but he's guy he was close to his 20
point average from last season i think he can approach dead next season as well his game is on
the up rise let's let's just say that so rj barrett everyone likes him he's well liked by his
teammates the front office again they give rest to sure he's gonna go out and do the right thing so
that's all you can want from your young players you can have worries like other teams about their
young guys but not with this guy here so now we come around to julius randall he paired in 77 games
started 77 obviously he missed those last five games when he tweaked his ankle all in all he had a
bounce back season especially from his production the prior season he was back to being an all star
back to being all mba this time he was third team so of course the attitude still needs adjusting
he still could have pouty moments he still could have moments when he goes off the rails a little bit
it again he had another postseason underperformance if you will and that cannot happen hey listen i
mentioned it probably most won't mention it but he had the late season ankle injury that he
fought through he ended up playing so he went out there and played regardless of injury or otherwise
so i was just talking to my good friend from many years ago who we were talking and we talked about
the injury it was like you know something if he would have said you know what i can't go you guys
go and do what you got doing the playoffs he would have been killed by the fan base in the media the
fact that he went out there and toughed it out he's still getting killed by the media fan base so
it's like damn if you do damn if you don't but listen the guy is a gamer gonna do us best for
the team at least he's gonna give it a go that's all you can want in a guy actually had the ankle
surgery in the offseason here so he should be ready for the start of the season listen i understand
i get it the fact that he didn't perform up to snuff in the postseason i get that do we attribute
to just him being off like he was two seasons ago or it was the ankle issue hindering him as well
i think as long as tibs has breath in his body he's going to always go towards leaning on randall
that's just the way it's going to be guys but i think the larger question is having brunson who
i'm going to talk about in a minute and randall being those guys as far as your a and b guys
so i think one day brunson will be a randall bb some days randall b a brunson will be b
so i think that's where it has to be depending on you know who's flowing who's got it going that
sort of thing so do i think randall could be a vital part of a successful playoff team i would
like to think so especially what i'm seeing in these playoffs here the one thing you see in these
playoffs your star players have to show up they have to show up in order for your team to be
successful and i would give it one more go to see if he fails again in the playoffs i think a lot
of people are going to have raised eyebrows so you know you give them a pass because of the ankle
issues but at the end of the day it comes to playoffs you gotta show up in order for your team to be
successful so i think this season here is where the rubber meets the road i think as currently
constructed they can go back into the playoffs especially with your younger players a year
older and you would think they're game growing as well so i would like to think they're back in
the playoffs but it depends on who you matched up with depends on a lot of things but you have to
show up that's the bottom line so i think randalls you know people are making overtures you know ship
them out siacum's the name i hear porzingus is the name i hear siacum yeah i get that i think it's
sort of a lateral move although i think siacum at the end of the day can give you a bit more than
what randall does that's my honest opinion porzingus is another story i'm not even too sure about that
that would the nix fans want to get back in that relationship who knows at the end of the day randall
has to show up when the lights are the brightest and that's in the postseason so we'll see and then
lastly jaylen brunson jaylen brunson you know guys i've been singing his praises all season long
appeared in 68 games he had his share of injuries himself you know minor ones nothing to be alarmed
about starting in all his games so thanks to him the season was a rousing success that they couldn't
have the success they had without jaylen brunson so future all star i think he is i think he's a
future all star that's for sure he's a leader he leaves by example he goes out there he buses his
tail while he's out there he carried the team in the regular season oh my goodness that he carried
them in the postseason nearly got them to uh seventh game against the heat but if other guys showed up
then we'd be having a different conversation but no one can accuse brunson of not showing up in
the playoffs he was there and then some i think he can only get better as the players around him
get better so you saw what he did last season with 24 points per game and the six assists i think he
can have more since i thought he should have more assist per game to be honest but guys weren't
knocking down shots so i think he can only get better and again the kid is as tough as nails he's
he's a player who was born to play here he understands the magnitude of playing in new york
he's not afraid of the hot lights i just love everything about this kid and i'm glad he's a
nicks out all right guys so that is going to do it for the starters let's talk about the coaching
in the front office then we're through tom tibidow this is his third season in new york
so far he has a 163 wins against 125 losses and that puts him at 53 percent he went against the
green last year guys leaning on the young players like like a quick lead like a mcbryde like a quentin
grimes he did that leaving the veterans like rose and fornie to kind of be the mentors if you will
he still has a difference too strong a difference to randall i've highlighted that still a bit
stubborn in some instances as well so but apart from that you know you gotta give tibs credit
two playoff appearances in three years you'll definitely take that seem like they progress more
this year getting to the second round from a five seed so things can only get better
provided you're able to add the pieces that you need and so forth so you know people will rail
against tibidow i'm not one of those i'm willing to be kind of patient and see what's what i think
tibs can get them over to hump and then your front office in the front office you have leon
rose leon rose i tell you what guys he caught a lot of flak guys a lot of flak for the brunson
contract four years and 106 million now it looks like a heist that sort of money that he put out
there for brunson so it was questioned by other teams it was questioned by the media and the
fanbase even was questioning it but it looks like money's well spent guys that's for sure
and the low-key move that he made hartinstein hartinstein was a low-key move that paid off
dividends and then of course the trade of cam reddish and others for josh hart remember there
was a certain segment of the fanbase that were part of the cam hive if you will that were saying
that all tibs meets the plague cam more this and that but at the end of the day you'll even hear
that conversation anymore with josh hartin town so and then that trade of course propelled them
towards their playoff run so i think the big challenge for him is what to do with fornie a
i think rose is pretty much a no-brainer as far as not picking up his option and how to improve
the team from here so that is the big questions that leon rose will have to answer he's answered
the bell guys he's got this team with plenty of draft capital he's got this team with a manageable
cap you still have some young players there you know a lot of people still oh they need to deal
for star so forth he has them going in the right direction let me just leave it at that so things
can go on go up from here guys so their needs right now again outside shooting especially
three-point shooting you've seen in the playoffs the reason miami went on their run is because
they had knocked down three-point shooters they also need a front court guy who can defend
probably both positions whether it be small forward or power forward there's some big names
that's out there guys that they've been trying to attach to the nicks being interested in
dame lilert say wouldn't mind going to miami if they were to losing these finals i'll talk about
the finals probably next episode he's expressed every place but new york and rightfully so because
you have jaylen brunson here to bring in a lilor and play him with a brunson it'd be some back court
but you know the ball handling would be the issue who will play off the ball who play on it those
sort of things dame lilor isn't the greatest defender so you definitely need a strong defender
playing next to a brunson that's for sure so dame lilor on its face doesn't make sense right now
for the nicks joel mb i don't think he goes anywhere especially with the signing of nick nurse
again mb was involved in that process he got to sit down with nick nurse before he got hired so
it seems they're both on the same page so i don't think overtures for mb getting traded
it mind you he's the league mvp by the way so i don't think that's a realistic option there
carl anthony towns i continue to hear people talk about it now you got guys like callin carher
talking about they should get towns i'm sorry but first of all what do you give up to get him
then look at his contract then look at the fact that he's not the greatest defender either
and look at the fact that he's a seven footer shooting threes you already got a guy in randall
doing that so where does towns fit into that so i'm not one on the carl anthony towns train
and oh by the way again i bring up this tibidol coached him when he was in minnesota
didn't turn out so well guys again i find it hard to believe that the nicks are hot and heavy over
carl anthony towns so i would rule it out and then here's the latest one chris paul
now they're attaching chris paul talk about the teens that he could go to and mention the nicks
that is not happening guys yeah i think the media is funny because i wrote this under a post that
everybody wants to include nicks when it's a star that's supposedly on the way out regardless of fit
they're going to the nicks chris paul doesn't fit what the nicks are trying to do so uh he's a
point guard long in the tooth i think it makes more sense for him to be in a la market i'll talk
about that when i do my finals breakdown because i'm gonna have other news so anyhow i'll just leave
it at that but those are the big names i think some names to watch one guy he's still in the play
off now bruce brown bruce brown is a guy who can defend who can get his offense to judging from these
playoffs so bruce brown is a name i would put under my hat as a guy who could he's an unrestricted
free agent so does he go back to denver in that culture maybe he does but he's a name i would keep
an eye out for kelly ubray jr charlotte hornets he was attached to the nicks maybe a couple of
seasons ago as a guy that they were looking at he's going to be a free agent now so perhaps
can get him on the cheap but he's a guy who can defend he's just bit of a streaky shooter though
but he's a name to consider josh richison is a guy who can play multiple positions he could defend
as well last season he was with the pelicans and was a pretty big part of what they did as far as
at least getting to a play in game so in fact he ended up starting with cj mccullum over there so
he's a guy who's also a free agent of a guy she can think about gorgie's neang for the phil delphi
of 76ers he's gonna be a free agent he's a guy who can kind of like a 3 and d guy he can defend
and he can hit the three as well you can roll the dice on a joe engels out of milwaukee they'd have
the greatest run over there with them but if his knee is good maybe you take a chance on him
and another name i'll mention tory craig of the phoenix sons maybe worse comes to worse you look
his direction so we'll see any event that's it guys that's it for me so next time you hear from me
will be the mba finals i'll be recapping that i have some other news that i want to mention
i was going to do it on this one but i said me talk about the next one take a long time i know
and look at this look at the time now so anyhow all right so that's it for me thank you guys for
listening as always the website all things basketball with gd.com of course youtube all the
platforms social media the whole bit all right guys so thanks for listening and we'll talk soon take
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