Knicks better hope Toppin or Barrett takes a monumental "offensive " step soon or they'll be back to garbage very soon... DRose and Randle can only lead you so far
will be interesting to see what they do with Randle playing this atrociously they are slated to have a ton of cap space...too bad this free agent class is so weak
getting chippy. I like it. I love Randle sticking up for his teammate Bullock. I have flashback to when Luis Scola was hit by Fisher and no one came to his defense instead they were complaining to the ref. That still enrages me. Lowry should have just ran 94 feet into Fisher's kneecap.
That is what I was thinking .. . . He has been the man this year. . . .. if they don't reward him . . .how attractive is that to free agents? Even with his poor performance. how many more years can they expect D Rose to play at this level? Rocket River
So amazing how good Trae Young is being so tiny. You have to be very special when you can affect games at such a small size. CP3 does the same stuff. It's crazy when you see it.
Collins and Randle are the type of players I wouldn't max out if I were a GM. I guess I'd get fired for it, but overpaying fringe all-stars never works out especially when you don't already have your superstar. That's why it doesn't hurt Philadelphia or Milwaukee to overpay Harris and Holiday because they already have their superstar and all-star.
I agree. But what are the alternatives? They don't Max him and he leaves. . . it leaves them with free money but who the hell do you spend it on? Rocket River
Agreed about Randle, tho I think more of a third option, unless his 41% 3pt fg (career 28%) is actually real and not an aberration. Despite his terrible playoffs, Knicks fans/org shouldn't be disappointed IMO, he's a hard worker and perform well beyond expectations and his 18 million salary. Randle is under contract for one more year (Only 4 million guaranteed if Knicks doesn't pick up last year). Knicks can have 60+ million in cap space but aside from Kawhi, there really isn't much else .
Randle wont be a FA this coming offseason UNLESS the Knicks cut him. Knicks have him sign for 21-22 for 20 Million. Only 4 million of it is guaranteed, but becomes fully guaranteed on 7/31/2021 . They aren't likely to cut him, since paying 20 million for 1 year of Randle despite his play poor playoffs is a bargain AND much better than having him be a FA or signed to a big multi year contract.
The alternative is patience. In the meantime, you could sign players to short contracts that maintain cap space for free agents that are truly all-star level and above. You might take a step back or other players step up to maintain your current level. But you keep that flexibility over losing it for players that are unlikely to raise your team to championship level.
Things will get interesting if the Clippers lose because I don't see Kawhi staying there at all. If he had this burning desire to play for the Clippers (and his hometown) he would have re-signed when PG13 did, he didn't because it is obvious he has some doubts about the future of that team. I think he thought it was worth a shot and PG13 wasn't even his first option, just the one he had to settle for eventually when building a team there. So, should the Clippers lose this series I could see it being between Miami and the Knicks for him...but I'm not even sure if you add Kawhi are the Knicks contenders? Depends on the growth of Randle and RJ I guess...he goes to Miami? Instant contenders for sure.
Knicks need a guard setting up Randle and Barrett. Randle, like Christian Woods, needs a strong guard, but the former is a better playmaker and ball handler. Rose is a good 6th man, but he's not the playmaker needed.
Left-Handed Players Decline In Playoffs More Dramatically Than Righties Left-handed players may have a bigger advantage in the regular season than the playoffs due to the unconventional nature of their game being easier to adapt to over an extended stretch of games. Julius Randle is having a difficult playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks with a PER of 19.7 PER and .567 True Shooting Percentage compared to 7.4 and .403 during the first four games of the playoffs. "One thing I was curious about what was lefties stereotypically much more left handed than righties are right-handed," said Kevin Pelton on The Lowe Post podcast. "They have a tougher time going to their off hand. I went and looked this up yesterday and according to Basketball Reference's database of lefties, they drop off more in the playoffs from their regular season performance about 13 percent in terms of wins above replacement player metric compared to seven percent for righties." "How much of that is Harden?" asked Zach Lowe. "Not that much of it," replied Pelton. "He's not an extreme..." "I was being facetious. Who are some other lefties who have dropped off the playoffs?" Pelton mentioned David Robinson and Chris Mullin as a few notable players who were meaningfully better in the regular season than the playoffs.
