NBA 2020-2021 Season

The Knicks could actually improve this year and next year if they can stay the course a little bit. They brought in a coach who's known for player development on non-competitive teams, and he's got some nice pieces to work with. Second year player RJ Barrett has All-Star potential if he lets Thibodeau mold him, and so does 8th overall pick from this year's draft, Obi Toppin. Add in Julius Randle, Elfrid Payton, and Mitchell Robinson, there's player potential here that could translate into team potential. Other decent pieces to develop include Frank Ntilikina, Nerlens Noel, Emmanuel Quickley, Dennis Smith Jr, Omari Spellman, and Kevin Knox. We will see several of these names making splashes somewhere over the next several years.

The vets on the team are a pair of 29 year-olds and a 28 year old. There are also 2 26 yo's and a 25yo, but everybody else on the roster is 23 years or younger. The Knicks are the youngest team in the Association.

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LBJ & The Lakers look poised to repeat. They are even more stacked than they were last year. If they stay healthy, i don't think they can be stopped.

Back East, the Brooklyn Nets look poised to dominate, though the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks may have something to say about it.

The Knicks absolutely demolished the Milwaukee Bucks last night at MSG. Budenholzer emptied his bench with 7 full minutes left in the game, with his team down by 30 points. The Bucks had all their starters and their full normal bench, the Knicks's primary minute-eaters all played, only their two rookies were unavailable for the game.

Julius Randle had defensive duties against Giannis and did admirably. Giannis still dropped 27 points and pulled down 13 boards, but his shooting percentage was ~ 35%, Randle scored 29 and had 14 boards, and the Knicks were scorching hot from 3 point range, hitting over 59% from downtown.

The Knicks have lost 5 straight games after a reasonably promising 4-3 start. I still think that this is the best Knicks team since Carmelo left. I don't necessarily think they'll make the playoffs this year, but they could contend for a low seed down the stretch.

Watching Andre Drummond basically dominate single-handedly last night was disappointing. That's the kind of player that Mitchell Robinson and RJ Barrett need to learn how to handle defensively, Julius Randle cannot always be taking on each team's best player every single night.

There were some bright spots in the loss, though. Rookie Immanuel Quickly showed some flashes of brilliance to go with his outstanding commitment and powerful motor. I think he'll be the starting point guard within a year or two. With Elfrid Payton being as consistent as he's been too, that'll push Frank Ntilikina to third string, which frankly is where he belongs. Nerlens Noel brought some good defensive presence off the bench, it wasn't enough to stop Drummond from carrying the Cavs to the win, but it kept the Knicks in the game until the final minute. It's progress. I felt that overall the Knicks defensive effort was not good enough to earn the win last night, and now we'll see if Tom Thibodeau can teach these Knicks how to handle adversity.

The Knicks won today at home against Portland. They held Portland to 99 points. Last i checked, the Knicks were leading the Association in points allowed per game, and dead last in points scored per game.


Today's win puts them at the 5 seed, though they are percentage points better than the 6 and 7, and only 1/2 game ahead of seeds 8-10. Winning two in a row has jumped them from the 11 seed to the 5.

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I've been submitting All-Star ballots even though i think De'Aaron Fox's description of having an All-Star game this year as, "Stupid," is dead accurate.

Today's ballot was: Julius Randle, Giannis, Beal, Harden, Butler, LBJ, AD, Jokic, Doncic, and Booker.

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Back to the Knicks:

I feel hopeful about the Knicks franchise again. I'm seriously impressed by what i've been seeing from this team this year. There is a very young core of talent that is signed long term that be built upon very soon, and there's depth in the roster too. The Knicks have tons of cap space long term and a fair amount of draft capital too. If the new GM proves to be merely capable, i think the new HC can create a winning culture that the Knicks haven't had since the 90s.

There was a lot of talk about Derrick Rose returning to the Knicks. Everybody seems to agree that he's a good fit there, but there have been worries that Rose will take minutes away from starting PG Elfrid Payton and rookie phenom Immanuel Quickly. I imagine that those two will lose some minutes, but HC Thibodeau so far has been doing about what i'd expected, spreading the lost minutes out with Reggie Bullock losing the most minutes and having the small forwards RJ Barrett and Alec Burks also contributing so that no one player is feeling pushed aside.

It's a smart approach, and it seems to have inspired Elfrid, along with certain media reports that hinted that Quickly might wind up starting games before the season ends.

Rose was cleared to play right before the first game after joining the team. He wasn't allowed at the day's practice session even, but he came in, along with IQ, with the first replacements late in the first quarter, and had a great game. He seemed to have great chemistry with IQ and with Nerlens Noel, who is now starting at the 5 with Mitchell Robinson currently out with injury.

Mitch's hand was broken in the game last night against the Wizards, and surgery has been suggested. Mitch has been the Knicks' best big man this year, with no disrespect intended to starting PF Julius Randle, 6'8", who is the team's most likely All-Star. I hope Mitch has a swift and full recovery.

The surprise team this year is the Jazz. Huge surprise as the team has been a laughable footnote ever since Malone and Stockton retired

Well, they've managed a winning record and playoff appearance each of the last four years, but yeah, nobody expected them to be where they are right now.

Personally, i think they're peaking a little too early, and i expect them to wilt a little before the season ends.

Making the playoffs is not really anything. Every season half the teams make it and the gap between 7th and 10th places on the conference tables is usually a small one. Not like Baseball. The Mariners won 300 games in a three year period and only made the post season once in that span.

The Knicks haven't been to the playoffs since 2013, which was the only year this millenium that they made it past the first round.

It's actually a little bit more than half the teams, 16 of 30, and there is a powerful faction in MLB that are constantly pushing for more and more expanded playoffs. In fact, 16 of 30 MLB teams just played postseason baseball this past season - special circumstances, i understand that, but a lot of owners would really love to see that start to happen every year, and it's potentially way more dangerous to the integrity of the regular season in baseball than it is in basketball.

Tonight the Knicks face the woeful and possibly tanking (sorry, Neill, but you know it's true) Detroit Pistons, hoping to go over .500 on the season so far and take sole possession of the 4th best record in the East, though there will still be only a 1 1/2 game difference between the 4 and 10 seeds, loads of teams in the East seeming pretty mediocre and/or inconsistent this year.

The Knicks beat the Pacers last night to get to .500, and they haven't even had their best big man in the lineup, and unfortunately the last i heard there was still no specific timeframe for his return though they said they're optimistic about his return this season.

The big story in the East is the other NYC team, the Brooklyn Nets, who have been kicking ass all over the place even though they haven't had their arguably best player for a while.

The Jazz remain the big story in the West, though the Suns and Warriors have been hot lately, Hodge's Clippers have been holding their own and the Lakers managed not to fall too far when two of their best three starters were out, and it seems likely that they'll stay dangerous at least until AD returns.

Tonight is the Knicks' last game before the All-Star break, and once again they face the Pistons, once again hoping to get back over .500, and once again without Mitchell Robinson, and this time without Derrick Rose, but they are at MSG at least.

I think it's just terrible that the NBA is having All-Star festivities this year. Part of the agreement on when to start this season, and how many games would be played over how short a period of time, was the Association promised that there would be All-Stars picked but that there would be no actual playing and the players would all get a few extra days of rest.

The extremely short turnaround, coupled with the coronavirus regulations, have already caused more injury days than has ever been seen. Teams rosters are being stressed to the point that one game was actually forfeited because the team didn't have enough eligible players to field a team. The Association also said that if the situation got that bad, they'd "look into" expanding rosters until next season or maybe even just until the postseason. Of course, that hasn't happened yet.

The NBA could really be putting themselves into a very bad spot regarding the NBAPA. It would be a shame if that relationship became as horrible as the relationship between MLB and MLBPA, and it would be literally all management's fault.

The Knicks have won 5 games in a row for the first time since March 2014, more than 7 years ago, and I believe that was the last year that Amare Stoudamire was still playing there.

The Knicks are 3 games over .500 and currently sitting on the 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. They're only 1/2 game behind both the Hawks and Celtics who are in the 4th and 5th spots respectively, and 7 games ahead of the Bulls, who are at the 11th spot. Because of the slightly shortened season, the 7-10 seeds will play a play-in game or series (i don't remember which off-hand atm).

A big part of what's amazing me right now is that the Knicks haven't had anybody playing minutes who's taller than 6'9" - Mitchell Robinson is the only true big man on the roster, but he's missing tons of time first with a broken hand and now with a broken foot. Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson have stepped up massively on the defensive end of the floor, and the Knicks are still one of the best defensive teams in the Association. Neither is tall enough to be a true rim protector, but they've stood tall and done well, and the Knicks units have done a great job at keeping opposing big men away from the rim in the first place, and Nerlens has been rising up to levels i hadn't suspected he was capable of at the rim against all but the very tallest big men.

Last night the Knicks won, in overtime, against the Altanta Hawks, and took the Eastern Conference 4 spot from them. That's 8 wins a row for the Knicks, tying the win streak from 2014. The year before that, the Knicks had an 11 game win streak, and that was the last time they played postseason basketball.

The injury woes for Knicks big men actually worsened when Nerlens Noel got, quite literally, punched in the mouth. Norvel Pelle actually saw minutes in play that were NOT garbage minutes, i think for the first time this season. He is the emergency 5 man on the roster. With Taj Gibson day-to-day, and Mitchell out, Julius Randle might have to play the 5 if things get any worse in this regard. Alec Burks is currently out now too.

Clint Capela feasted around the rim last night, with 25 points and 22 boards. It was an exciting game, and the Knicks were behind for most of the game although there were a few lead changes in regulation. Both teams were on the back end of back-to-backs, and i suspect that the Knicks superior conditioning, and broader roster availability (even with several injuries) were the real kicker down the stretch in OT.

The Knicks host the Raptors in ~ 1 1/2 hrs. If they win, it'll make 9 wins in a row, the longest winning streak for them since 2012-2013, which was the last time they were in the playoffs. They finished with the 2 seed in the East that year, and won their first playoff series but went down in the Conference Semis.

Tomorrow night they host the Suns, who've been one of the very best teams this regular season. Then they have a BRUTAL 6 game West Coast road trip that includes visiting the Jazz, Lakers, Clippers, and Suns, as well as the Grizzlies and Rockets.

They'll wrap the season with a 3 game homestand hosting the Spurs, Charlotte, and the Celtics.

Every game is likely to be significant, at least in terms of seeding. If the Knicks can stay at or above the 6 seed, i'll be thrilled.

Does it feel a little absurd to be so happy about an NBA team sitting at the 4 seed and hoping that they might win a playoff series again for the first time in 8 years? Yeah, it does feel a little absurd, but c'est la vie.

I'd forgotten about that game hosting the Bulls, which the Knicks won fairly easily.

They start that 6 game west coast road trip tomorrow in Houston. That's fairly obviously a winnable game, as is the next one in Memphis, and the Knicks better win them both if they don't want to wind up sliding down into the play-in seeds, because visiting both LA teams, Phoenix, and Utah are not likely to generate many wins, and it's likely that the Celtics will have something significant to play for in game 72.

A year ago, hell 8 months ago, nobody believed that today, the last day of the NBA regular season, i'd be writing a post about the Knicks and the NBA Playoffs, but here we are. I feel a little giddy, because not only are the Knicks IN the playoffs, not only are they guaranteed to be seeded highly enough to skip the "Play-In" round, but they actually have a chance to host a playoff series as the 4 seed, in the top half of the Eastern Conference draw.

The Hawks and Heat both should win their games today. Today the Knicks host the Celtics, who are more talented on paper but who are missing one of their All-Star players, and who are locked into the 7 seed and therefore don't have a lot to play for.

I like the Knicks' chances in the first round if they draw Atlanta. It will make for a hard fought round and i'm not saying i expect the Knicks to win it, but the other options are considerably more difficult. Should the Knicks fall to the 6 seed, they would visit Milwaukee, who they've played well against this year but who would likely finish a best-of-7 against the Knicks in 5 or 6 games. My biggest fear in the first round is Miami, though. They struggled a lot early in the season, but they're firing on all cylinders now and look ready to defend last year's Conference Championship. It's all over for the Knicks if they have to face the Heat in the first round, or any round for that matter.

The Knicks development has been absolutely stellar this year, and the Derrick Rose trade wasn't a big headline at the time, but it turned the Knicks from a scrappy competitive team into a team that might just host a playoff series. If the Knicks can win a playoff series this year, they might develop into a true contender in another year or two, but even if they can't make it to the conference semis this year, i really enjoyed this year so so much, and it's given me emotional lifts that i needed very badly, and for the first time in a really long time, i honestly believe the franchise is headed in the right direction. Maybe James Dolan can even keep his fingers out of the pie this time.

The Play-in games in the Eastern conference start tonight, and i feel like making some predictions:

Wizards @ Celtics tonight: I'm taking the Wizards
Hornets @ Pacers tonight: I've got Indiana, and I think they'll beat the Celtics too, to slide into the Eastern Conference 8 seed. This would mean the Celtics miss the playoffs. I actually hope i'm wrong about this, but...

Spurs @ Memphis tomorrow: I think the Grizzlies will win this game
GSW @ Lakers tomorrow: I'm leaning toward the Warriors for this game, but whoever loses this game will beat the Pacers for the Western Conference 8 seed.

I think the Heat can handle Milwaukee in a best-of-7 series, and i think the 76ers and Nets can handle the Hornets and Wizards, or whoever winds up in the 7 and 8 seeds. I'm also picking the Knicks to beat Atlanta in the first round, though it will be a considerably harder fight than their regular season meetings.

So my Eastern Conference semis looks like this: Knicks @ 76ers and Miami @ Brooklyn.

I am just shock that A) Utah managed to have a great team this yeah and finished with the top seed, and B) That the Suns, who have been poster boys for failure for 20 years, got the West's 2 seed.

That is really impressive, TBC, especially how fast the Suns franchise has turned around. Two years ago they were one of the losingest teams in the Association, last year they managed to get invited to the bubble but didn't make the playoffs, this year they finished over .700 and snag the 2 seed.

The Jazz have been a solid team with great depth for a couple of years now, but i'll be the first to admit that i didn't see this year's performance coming at all, i didn't even have them in the top half of the playoff bracket, much less having the best record in the NBA.

My play-in expectations were wrong too, though i at least did have the Lakers and Wizards in the spots where they finished. I underestimated the Celtics and Memphis. Those Grizzlies played a hell of a great two games there just for the right to get crushed by the aforementioned Jazz. I think they'll give the Jazz a more physical series than Golden State could have, hopefully they can tire them out a little.

I'm pulling for the Knicks from the East, of course, and i think they have a chance to win against the Hawks though i don't know if they can go much farther than that. This is a team with a high ceiling because of their defense and their second-team backcourt. Nerlens Noel was second in the NBA in blocks per game this year, behind only Rudy Gobert; and Julius Randle had 6 steals per game over the course of the season.

I'm rooting for the Lakers from the West. It still feels weird to type that, but where "The King" goes, i follow.

I'll be rooting for Brooklyn again too. I'm still no fan of James Harden, but i'll admit that he's gained some modicum of respect from me for the way he's played there this year.

Quote: I'm rooting for the Lakers from the West. It still feels weird to type that, but where "The King" goes, i follow.

It just deepens my disdain for him. They couldn't build a team around him in Cleveland originally, even with bringing in Shaq, so he bolted for one that was already mostly there in Miami. Two titles in four years with a loaded team, that's not enough, he's King James, so he takes the offer to move back to Cleveland because the team has done some building with the seasons in the basement since he left. One championship in four seasons. So what's he do? Bolts for LA.

It's okay with me if you don't like him. I'm not gurufrisbee lol.

I think LBJ is the greatest basketball player i've ever watched, and yes i remember most of the 80s and all of the 90s. The only other guy who comes close is Jordan, and if LBJ remains productive for another couple of years it really won't be that close anymore.

You HAD to mention that name. I think that I was the only mod he didn't disrespect. Either because I was handling the sports subforum or because we live near one another. But then he even starting backtalking me, and that was his one-way ticket out the airlock.

I don't remember him ever directly disrespecting me, but he did whinge on endlessly to me, which was really annoying. Well, not genuinely endlessly, but i didn't protest the airlock usage. Given everything that happened, he was kinda lucky it was merely the airlock and not The Outer Darkness.

Are you interested in a statistical comparison between LeBron and any other NBA player in history? I assure you i can make a solid case.

I've been enjoying this year's first round a bit more than most years. The Milwaukee-Miami sweep was surprisingly and disappointingly unwatchable, and there have been a few other blowout games here and there, but i feel like there are more watchable series this year than usual.

I was really surprised to see Miami play so badly, and i think i underestimated this year's Bucks team because they're actually veteran enough now not to play too hard too soon. They beat a Heat team that won the conference last year pretty convincingly, and had played terribly early in the season but had had a spectacular second half and finished only one game out of the 4 seed. The Bucks elevated my opinion of their team considerably by their consistent domination of a very good NBA team. They have a chance to compete for the championship this year. I hadn't considered them a viable championship team before game 4. The Heat really wanted to win each and every game and the Bucks closed like champs.

Any stats you pull out of your hat to deny Michael are irrelevant. Unlike Kobe and Lebron, Michael went to college, albeit for only three seasons. But those three seasons that Kobe and Lebron have an advantage. Also Michael took nearly two full seasons off in his prime to play baseball following the murder of his father. And then Kobe stayed on three seasons further collecting a huge paycheck and stat-padding while the Lakers collapsed around him. Another matter, how many times has Kobe or Lebron won the DPoY award, or even been in the all-league defensive first team?