Can The Knicks Strongly Close NBA Cup Group Play? | NY Got Game - video Dailymotion

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00:01:28guy rod boone from the charlotte observer he does a fantastic job covering the hornets he'll be

00:01:33joining us to talk about the next hornets matchup they play on wednesday down in charlotte uh knicks

00:01:39do have another nba cup game on friday against the milwaukee bucks so some big nba cup games

00:01:44coming up for the knicks we'll see if they can close this strong it will be interesting to see

00:01:48how that goes but brian how you doing especially after the knicks got themselves a 113 to 100

00:01:53victory last night at msg brooklyn also known as the barclay center

00:01:58you've claimed that there are like five msgs

00:02:03in in the nba so i would like for you at the top to reiterate which ones those are because we know

00:02:12there's there's actual msg all right and then msg msg brooklyn it is apparently it is barclay center

00:02:19okay marclay center there is also msg south beach that's in miami which is in miami msg south for

00:02:27short which you call it there's msg not as far south in orlando you could call it msg central florida

00:02:33msg central florida and then the other one's probably coming up tomorrow night

00:02:38msg carolina

00:02:41msg atlantic no i forgot one there's another one i forgot there's another one i forgot that is even

00:02:51maybe more msgs than it is philly msg dirty south that is atlanta atlanta yep hmm sky zoo you know he

00:03:01took some people down there and my new yorkers who live down there are always like yeah okay

00:03:06any other team any other team maybe the lakers maybe the lakers have all that travel like that

00:03:13where they get that take over these but those same places tons of lakers laker fans are everywhere

00:03:18celtics fans are everywhere laker celtics those are the ones yeah those are the ones you're gonna

00:03:23see everywhere um i go small market teams small market teams hate this shit like i mean

00:03:32they're listening to you right now they're like get this guy out of here it is what it is what are

00:03:38you gonna do but it happens all right well before we're quick then we'll have rob boot on uh shortly

00:03:45uh in a couple minutes about five minutes or so what did you have any any i don't know if they're

00:03:50major but did you have any takeaways from the tuesday win excuse me what it's monday i'm this

00:03:57week has got me all messed up yeah it is monday monday's win uh this is national mail-in week for

00:04:04a lot of people yes also i do i will agree our guy greg film stuff uh shout out to greg uh one of my

00:04:11great mentees checking in here yes my god he said washington too dc is a great sports town but when

00:04:18the knicks are good knicks fans take that amtrak ride right down to dc and they will take over and

00:04:23i'll tell you the folks that dc is a fantastic sports town they don't like that either you know

00:04:29here's the thing knicks fans have the potential to take over anywhere basically but i know the fans

00:04:34and don't put boston and won't happen they won't let that happen i've been in boston as a fan for games

00:04:40like there's a lot of people there but that's ballsy on your part no it's not for multiple

00:04:46reasons it's still ballsy i'm giving you props look man those people those people are gonna be

00:04:54how they're gonna be that's all i'm gonna say all i'm all i'm gonna say about nick's nets last night

00:04:59is because there's not much you can learn about the nets at this point or learn from a game where

00:05:05they're playing the nets at this point i was waiting for the knicks to put it away took a little bit

00:05:09longer than expected um we've been talking about their struggles in the fourth quarter they got

00:05:14outscored in the fourth quarter by one point but it didn't mean anything to me in this instance

00:05:17because it didn't feel like the nets at any point were actually going to come in and close the gap

00:05:22and go on a run and any of those things um the third quarter for the knicks was great they put up

00:05:26nearly 40 points car anthony towns went nuclear which he should do in these softer matchups um but it's

00:05:34the nets you're supposed to go in there and handle business you win by 13 i think the line actually was

00:05:4113 in that range so that's that's you doing what you should that's really all i can take away from

00:05:47it honestly yeah i thought they did what they should i think maybe the one takeaway and i talked about this

00:05:53with stephan bonnie last night was cat took care of business to where you'd like to see him get going

00:05:58he's been in a shooting slump he hit some threes i thought his decision making was good when to

00:06:04penetrate he punished the nets bigs like he should um now here's the problem you'd like to see that from

00:06:11cat every game that's that's what makes it maddening you know that's in there and gotta give him credit

00:06:19he did it uh where are you supposed to but hopefully that maybe i think the hope is could can that get

00:06:25him going can seeing the ball go in inside and out the knicks dominated in the plane did 54 points

00:06:31in the pain if you know how much the nets i think it was 20 it more than doubles many points and that's

00:06:36right in the pain it doubled them in inside and out um you hope it gets a goal i think that's the thing

00:06:43we'll see how that continues tomorrow night in charlotte uh we'll see how that continues on friday

00:06:48against the bucks and it looks like janice is going to be back for that game so yeah we'll see i i i

00:06:56thought the knicks got some good minutes from certain players off the bench and i thought that

00:07:00mattered a ton too um you know they had no mr robinson saw ariel huck porty play and get some minutes

00:07:06although they were that's a great uh time he rebounded but that's about it he still looks like he

00:07:13doesn't know what to do sometimes sometimes on defense he's looking lost tyler kolek i thought

00:07:19gave really good minutes offensively he had some great passes some really good passes even finding

00:07:26michael bridges leaking out i thought defensively although drake powell was filling himself and was

00:07:31attacking him i thought that he held his own in terms of defensively and if he can do that now still

00:07:39the outside shot making still needs to come but i thought it was a again i'm gonna use this word

00:07:45encouraging not saying to get hype don't jump out the window people encouraging to the point where

00:07:51it's like okay i want to see how tyler colek can build off of this right part of this is what can

00:07:57he do tomorrow tyler colek's gonna get minutes now especially with landry sham it out tyler colek is

00:08:03going to get minutes so that's going to be very interesting to see yeah you know what what what

00:08:13happens because he's going to get these minutes has to the landry sham it the landry sham it thing i mean

00:08:19we'll we'll see how how far that escalates um there's been speculation from stefan bondi um which i would

00:08:26say is informed uh in some of the articles that we've posted he's posted we've posted for him

00:08:34basically about how long that absence could be so that's something to to watch and then with tyler

00:08:39colek yeah i'll echo the same thing the playmaking was was good it was clean it was five assists zero

00:08:44turnovers um and this is what he he's in the league to do it's just the other stuff and you're not really

00:08:50going to get a sense against the nets it was interesting that drake powell who really profiles

00:08:53as an i don't want to be uh just use this catch-all because this is kind of lazy but three and d like

00:08:59that's what i projected him to be coming out of north carolina right he showed some on the dribble

00:09:04juice a little bit this year uh in very very little bit and he tried to display some of that

00:09:10yesterday did so successfully uh not all the times but you know a couple instances um and had

00:09:16a career night 15 point he has two 15 point games in the nba both against the knicks which

00:09:20i don't know what you want to do with that you're gonna call him a nick killer

00:09:23that's before the before we started and i was like yo i was like prime's being ridiculous

00:09:30but but i think encouraging is probably the right word for calling but again it's against the nets

00:09:35so so you gotta take it all with grain we'll see he's gonna see a better team now a team that i'm

00:09:39way too i'm i'm i'm like and my other and one of the other shows i do buckets at action network i'm

00:09:45like the hornets guy so we're gonna have an interesting conversation because i can't quit this

00:09:50team they're a top five league pass team for me i'm dead serious which is interesting because that

00:09:53that ties in perfectly as the same way to me and bill simmons agree on this he's the only other

00:09:58person that i've heard i need to know if our guest is gonna feel the same way i'm gonna bring in our

00:10:02guests now he's a guy i've known a long time he used to actually cover the nets who we just talked

00:10:07about he is a native new yorker from long island my guy the big bro rod boom rod what's going on man

00:10:15how you doing what's happening big dex how you doing man i'm good man i'm good uh rod

00:10:20i don't know if you and brian had i think you guys have met before right you know brian i'm not

00:10:24sure i don't know if i don't brian i don't think you were with nets daily at the time of meeting

00:10:29rod when he was with there but rod man 16 and 19 that would have been so yeah the kenny atkinson

00:10:34the kenny atkinson years basically okay gotcha rod man always good to see you i hadn't seen you since uh

00:10:40when i see last year summer league i saw you summer league the year before how you doing bro good i'm

00:10:44i'm doing good man you know how it is covering a uh you know team that's always injured man that's

00:10:49that's the problem you're right i heard you talking about their league past team they are the problem

00:10:55is they're always injured right guys are actually healthy they have talent to beat anybody in the

00:11:00league man they just can't stay healthy that's okay great perfect this is exactly this is exactly

00:11:05where we need to start is ryan tripping on this dex dex dex dex dex let me let me let me because i

00:11:11want to ask rod this i want to ask rod this rod am i tripping as dex said because i swear there's a

00:11:18good team in there like i swear there's a there's a really like legitimate i think brandon miller is

00:11:23a future all-star i think at this point we have to say concan the boys too um lamello's been one

00:11:28he's inconsistent he's injured whatever but i swear that there's a at least playing team there

00:11:35but they can't stay healthy i agree with you this is my eighth year covering this team um the last

00:11:43four five it's been this way every year where they have the talent but they just can't stay healthy

00:11:53and it's one thing to not be healthy but it's like your top two or three players out every year

00:12:00and the fan base just can't take it because you go into the year every year thinking all right

00:12:07finally we have a little bit of health we're gonna be good and this year same thing got to a two two one

00:12:13start it could have been three you know actually we should have beat philly in game two of the season

00:12:19but lost because they couldn't close the game now i think they're over five this year so far in

00:12:23quest games but the talent is there it's just they can't stay healthy but you're right i mean

00:12:31brendan miller you know one thing people are saying right now on social media and twitter is

00:12:36oh this is cock nipple's team well no to me it's really brendan miller's team he just has not been

00:12:41healthy the last year or so even the mellow you can say it's his team too but to me it's more about

00:12:48brendan miller he's more of a two-way player he's more of a dog out there for you so to me it's be

00:12:53miller's team so you throw b miller there you have a healthy emphasis on healthy the mellow ball

00:12:59you have a rookie and ryan caught brendan who's been probably better than most people even thought

00:13:04you know what i mean he's holding down at center then then you don't talk about connie's rookie

00:13:09of the year in my mind right now and then you have a solid guy in miles bridges at the four so your bench

00:13:15also isn't very bad you have trade man again injuries and health he hasn't been healthy he's

00:13:21pretty good you got rookies and seon james out there they have talent bros just they just can't stay

00:13:27healthy that's their biggest achilles heel is staying healthy last couple years let can i can

00:13:32i follow on that because rod that has to be frustrating for you because i remember not i just

00:13:36want to be clear for people i wasn't at summer league this year in 2025 but in 2024 i was at summer league

00:13:42and i sat with i sat with rod and i said to you that year i said what do you think about the hornets

00:13:47what do you think you're doing you were like next i think they could do about 35 wins and then they

00:13:51weren't healthy so not for you personally covering the team rod but for the fan base there what's the

00:13:58level of frustration in charlotte right what's the level of frustration this team just can't get

00:14:03it going or be a consistent playoff team or even get to the contender status it's really as you

00:14:09mentioned frustration they just really ticked off because they feel like they're all in every year

00:14:16and you figure hey again this is the year where it will turn around and it's the same thing every

00:14:21year man like i write the same thing almost every game story it's like rinse and repeat i call it

00:14:26deja vu i call it groundhog day like whatever you want to call it it's the same thing every year in

00:14:32every game and when you're in a market like this that hasn't had a winning basketball team really

00:14:42ever man i mean they've had some highs and lows but they haven't got a second round of playoffs

00:14:48ever you know what i mean so that to a city actually loves basketball that's in a triangle two hours away

00:14:55from you know you know a tobacco road with you know duke nc state you know the tar hills wake forest

00:15:04you can go on and on and on man this state loves basketball so if you have a real legit winner here

00:15:10this place will go crazy what else what other um play city have you known that when they first bought

00:15:19this pro basketball here they're wearing tuxedos and like evening gowns to basketball games bro it's

00:15:27like in the 80s man not the 70s 60s the 80s that was late 80s in charlotte yeah like they're just dying

00:15:35for something to just cheer about here and the hornets just if they can just give me a little

00:15:39bit of a sentence of a winner here the town will go crazy for the horns believe me you know you know

00:15:44who said the same thing to me kemba walker i kemba walker on the show uh last year he said the same

00:15:49thing to me he was like dex if they just get it going they no pun intended things will be buzzing

00:15:55right in charlotte like it'll it'll happen go ahead i think that punt was intended

00:16:03ron let me ask you this um from the from a front office perspective because they're four and 13

00:16:10and it is kind of the same thing again but it's different leadership now it's

00:16:14different leadership uh at least this year with jeff peterson with charles lee as a head coach who

00:16:18i came into the season saying i i think they have the right coach this time for this build maybe that

00:16:23has still yet to be proven but i guess where where are they at in terms of navigating the season are

00:16:29is there rumblings like maybe they might sell off a couple of guys um obviously the lamello ball

00:16:34rumor came out in terms of whether or not he wants out he refuted it obviously but just where where

00:16:40where are the hornets at from a front office slash coaching overall managerial perspective

00:16:45as it relates to this season i think right now they're still all aligned if you think about it

00:16:50as you mentioned you got charles lee here it's only his second year same with jeff peterson

00:16:57those two guys came in together i mean jeff peterson kind of came in first in april a couple years ago

00:17:02and went through the coaching search to kind of find who we wanted and it kept going back to charles

00:17:06the league because they had time together um previously so they figured that this is their

00:17:10guy so to me you know some fans are saying hey fry the coach get rid of this guy he's not going

00:17:15anywhere man like he just got here so you got at least enough minimum to me a year plus to figure

00:17:22out if he's your coach or not you gave him at least three almost four years to figure out okay coach

00:17:27are you our guy if not we'll figure out something else so he's safe to me jeff peterson is loved by

00:17:33ownership you know rick snall and gabe plocken the two major co-owners for the hornets those guys uh

00:17:40again went through the process of trying to find somebody to rebuild this thing here from the ground

00:17:43up they talked about wanting to do it the right way and a lot of times in sports you know ownership

00:17:49wants to take um you know shortcuts and spend money and go get this guy here here and i think a few

00:17:56years back look at the horns they actually did that the hornets by going out there and getting gordon

00:17:59haywood paying them 120 million dollars over four years the contract was one of the things where

00:18:05they hoped they were ready to win but you get a guy like that on your team with a pack like that

00:18:11a contract like that that says you're ready to win right now so you don't want to do that again

00:18:16until you actually can show that you can it's that level so i think they learned a lesson in that regard

00:18:20you know even nick platoon contract going back a few years back before that they want to do it the

00:18:25right way so i really believe that ownership and coaching staff and the front office all kind of

00:18:32line what they want to do move this thing forward here and what about with lamello ball specifically

00:18:37like is is is is there a world where a trade actually happens this year or is that something

00:18:44that they're not even entertaining at this point i think like anything else man if they're blown away

00:18:49by a deal they're gonna take it um but it has to be again the right deal you don't just say hey here

00:18:53here's my max player making 200 plus million dollars i'm gonna give you you know a dollar

00:18:59um you know a ten dollar bill for this guy it doesn't work that way you want to essentially get

00:19:03what he's worth and right now in my opinion you can't get what he's worth because he hasn't showed

00:19:08you enough if you're a executive or owner who wants to bring this guy in to say he's my guy to build

00:19:15around but he hasn't played more than 45 games in like the last couple of years so until you show that

00:19:20he's healthy and can go out there and play for a month plus with like no kind of setbacks

00:19:26and then maybe the team isn't isn't winning then maybe something like that happens then but they're

00:19:30not going to actively go out there and try to get rid of this guy because he's still a drawing card for

00:19:34them fans whether they like him or not want to see him out there in the court he brings in tickets

00:19:39and brings an eyeball so if he can again make it happen here in straddle it where to me he wants to be

00:19:46i don't think he really wants to leave here i think he actually likes it here it's a small market

00:19:51you know it's just different you go to new york la you know miami these bigger markets they're going

00:19:56to count on you a little bit more they're going to talk to you after every game which he doesn't

00:20:01really do here this market right now so to me i don't think he's going to like leave unless actually

00:20:06both sides say you know what let's run this course we can get player xyz for you let's kind of reset

00:20:13this thing and go over again i don't see it happening actively but again with the way things

00:20:18are right now they keep going the right direction nobody's safe from the hornets probably other than

00:20:22conk nipple and brandon miller yeah and i'm glad you answered that rod because i was kind of wondering

00:20:28about that like where was he is he really happy there and you know the reports that came out but

00:20:32then he's refuted that um for sure you kind of went to conk nipple i kind of want to get to him

00:20:37what have you made of the impact of the hornets rookies you know when you look at conk nipple um

00:20:42ryan kalkbrenner and uh sion james i said science sion james um what have you made of their impact

00:20:48thus far this year i always say sion too man this is funny like i want to say sion sion because i

00:20:53think about the car side but they've been really good this year you talk about they've been really

00:20:59good with just how they've come in and just fit in i've been impressed with all those guys so far

00:21:05you know ryan kalkbrenner you know he came in second round draft pick behind actually behind sion behind

00:21:11lee mcnealy behind con is playing really well starting um pretty much every game so far other

00:21:17than when he had a baby and couldn't get out there last game when he was injured with an ankle injury

00:21:21but he's been really good you know constant really good you mentioned him he can shoot three-point

00:21:26ball he's to me right now rookie of the year in terms of like having like that early um you know lead

00:21:32you know we obviously you know cooper flag is probably the favorite for most people because he's cooper flag

00:21:37and then you have bjs come out there doing this thing but you know con man he's to me i'm impressed

00:21:43with him because he's actually sure that he can just do it on both sides of the ball he's not just

00:21:46like a um not just a scorer he can go out there and do it on both sides of the ball not to me he's impressed

00:21:51me the most because he can show you he can not only shoot the ball but play defense too he wants to

00:21:55do it on both sides i like the guy man he's really good yeah no he's he's been good we had a comment

00:21:59here in the chat to say about a guy greg he says is it safe to say that con is knuple is

00:22:05devin booker 2.0 are you willing are you willing to go that far to compare him to d book i'm not

00:22:11willing to go that far i think i saw somebody mentioned like clay thompson i mean a little

00:22:15bit i mean plays more athletic than obviously con is but right con man it's hard to really to me

00:22:21get a really um good um comparison for him just yet because you know he's not overly athletic but he

00:22:29still is like solid he wants to be really good at again both sides of the ball he cares he can

00:22:35shoot he can put the ball on the floor he's not like going to the basket and like getting his shot

00:22:39rubbed away and throwing to the stands emphatically so he's going to get better he's going to get

00:22:44stronger he's going to get smarter and know how to use his body more so i think that you know maybe

00:22:50saying devin booker 2.0 is a little bit strong because again d book is kind of also athletic but

00:22:56man con like he's better than what i thought so far which means he's gonna be really really good

00:23:01player and i asked actually james hard after the game we put the clippers on

00:23:05stouty it was i asked hard and i said hey your thoughts on cock and nipple and hard said man

00:23:09he's shooting the crap out of the ball well it's another word we should the crap out of the ball

00:23:12basically he said that hey this guy is going to be good for us i want to see what he can do you know

00:23:16long term so if even james hard is getting got a sign of approval that tells you right there just

00:23:21where it's going yeah after james hard i gave him 55 the other night

00:23:28i was like yeah yeah that that the knicks fans don't want to hear about the double nickel they

00:23:32that's that's bad memories there could i so brand so brian here is so he really believes in this

00:23:39hornet's team and you locked in you see the tab like brian's really locked in league pass favorite

00:23:43team i'm gonna get let brian cook in one second i'm just curious both of us like brandon miller as a

00:23:48player rod i i think i told you that a couple years ago i liked when they drafted him i like

00:23:52his upside as you said as a two-way player do you feel like he's primed to make a leap once he's

00:23:58healthy do you feel like he's ready okay absolutely because a number of reasons one he's determined man

00:24:04like just sometimes in this league you know covering pro sports some guys all about getting a check

00:24:10they don't care about going out there and playing hard they don't care about their winning champ

00:24:14they just came out getting paid and going to do things outside of sports you know what i mean

00:24:19so brendan miller is the exact opposite seems like he's a gym rat to me who just wants to play

00:24:25basketball and by doing that he's like a leader in like a quiet way you know he's he's a fiery guy

00:24:32in some regards but he's more so like hey i'm gonna show you like what we're gonna go out there and do

00:24:37like lead by example and i love the way that if you notice um the way he attacks the rim his dunks

00:24:44like old school dr j statue of liberty dunks those to me again tell me that he cares about the game

00:24:52of basketball because he knows the right play to make if you're going to dunk the basketball and

00:24:58you're way up here who's gonna block the shot you're gonna get fouled or you're gonna make it uh

00:25:04and basically make a poster on somebody so he knows how to shoot the mid-range game he can shoot the

00:25:09three-pointer and oh by the way again he wants to be a two-way player and play on both sides of the

00:25:13basketball to me you have all those elements why can't he be an all-star we just talked about it

00:25:19the main thing is all about health if you can stay healthy this guy can be one of the top players in

00:25:25the nba for years to come seriously as it relates to this game specifically and it is an nba cup game so

00:25:32there are things on the line uh worth playing for i want to ask about the front court matchup a little

00:25:38more specifically because i think the hornets have a legit again going back to my my admiration for

00:25:43the team i think they have a legit center rotation like kalkbrenner's good walked in day one as a

00:25:47second round pick got the starting job against or over a a good like a legit good backup center of

00:25:53musa diabate who's finishing better who's one of the better rebounders that you're going to find at

00:25:58the center position in terms of rebounds per minute in terms of just his overall activity boxing

00:26:02out and things like that they're going to face carl anthony towns and mitchell robinson if mitchell

00:26:06robinson does in fact play this is a big test for them and i'm wondering like rod can you just break

00:26:13down this this matchup a little bit because it's going to be there's going to be a lot of arms a lot

00:26:18of elbows boxing i was going to be kind of old school in terms of chasing after these rebounds and

00:26:23that's one thing that these hornets bigs are able to do and even from the wing position with miles

00:26:28bridges who we haven't really talked about like that and with con knipple who's averaging about

00:26:32six rebounds a game for somebody who we know is a knockdown shooter so can you break down this match

00:26:37up a little bit for us yeah to me one of the main things is as you mentioned the center position i'll

00:26:42see it with cat he's a beast inside you know when you have a rookie playing somebody like him i'm sure

00:26:47cat will probably eat him alive a little bit but with ryan the thing with ryan is he's in the right

00:26:53place at the right time like he's one of those guys who's just a basic center doesn't do anything

00:26:57flashy he catches the ball above his head dunks it he rebounds so he'll be basic out there he won't go

00:27:04out there and like wow you but he'll hold on against cat but the main um to me match up to watch will be

00:27:10musa di about to coming in behind ryan caught runner musa is undersized but man when i tell you that guy's

00:27:18heart is as big as i don't know what he is constantly on the glass he's one of those guys

00:27:25you feel like man how the hell is he getting the rebound because he's like six ten on a good night

00:27:31he's gonna get seven footers but he's relentless he just has this knack for keeping the ball alive

00:27:37know how it's going to bounce and knows as you guys know um it's like in any sport when you can get

00:27:44extra extra possessions i don't care if it's football whatever like that helps you out long

00:27:49term so if you can open some rebounds and you're struggling shooting the basketball you can maybe

00:27:53either get an and one or get open shot for somebody behind the line that's that wouldn't have been

00:27:58there if you had to collapse to kind of get the rebounds those kind of plays help you out long term

00:28:04so to me musa is going to be a key player to watch you also mentioned miles bridges miles been a little

00:28:10bit hot and cold this year he's doing a lot more because he has to because again the guys have been

00:28:15injured but when he's just one of the guys can be like maybe the fourth or fifth option he's hard to

00:28:21stop and nicks fans know he he's killed the nicks previously in some games especially in the guard

00:28:27so he can go out there and do his thing so i want to see if he can go out there as well holds on his

00:28:32next front line because miles can actually go out there and get you 20 plus points along with you know

00:28:37khan getting you 20 and b miller get you 20. miller get you 20 that's 80 points right there

00:28:43man you just gotta find ways to just keep it going off the bench if you can do that they'll be in good

00:28:47shape and as mentioned this is a cup game the knicks obviously they're they're incentivized to run

00:28:52up the score here as best they can for point differential purposes and then charlotte they would

00:28:57be eliminated with the loss there's a slim chance they move on even with the win but obviously with the

00:29:02win it would be huge and this is one of the healthier injury reports that they've had all season

00:29:07because it's only josh green and grant williams who've been hurt all year and also pat conington

00:29:12but they have brandon miller they have miles bridges they have lamelo ball they have you know ryan caulk

00:29:17brenner um as as it appears so i i just think this is going to be tougher than maybe some nick fans think

00:29:24but the knicks are also incentivized to keep their guys out there for a lengthy period if they do in fact

00:29:28care about the nba cup and i get the sense that everyone seems to because they want to go to vegas and

00:29:33get extra money but can you speak to like the the the willingness maybe for charlotte to be competitive

00:29:39in this matchup uh just for cup purposes but also just in general it's like okay the team is together

00:29:46after some guys sat that sunday game against atlanta where they almost won yeah right this

00:29:51actually starts a three-game homestand for them you know they've been a lot of bouncing back and

00:29:55forth the last couple weeks and playing you know a couple of home games then on the road for the most

00:29:58part so they play the knicks um first on wednesday uh then they play the bulls in the other cup game

00:30:06on friday and follow up against the raptors on saturday so if you're the hornets this is your

00:30:12chance to kind of get a little bit of momentum here this game is obviously very tough not something you

00:30:17can actually go out there and and say you're going to win for sure but if you can get two of your next

00:30:21three games at home you know feeling good about yourself you're on a road trip next week who you see

00:30:26you see brooklyn on monday the knicks again on wednesday then you see toronto again next friday

00:30:32in toronto so it's like they have a chance to kind of get going here but you're right the biggest thing

00:30:38is more about the health if you're a hornets fan you haven't seen the team healthy pretty much all

00:30:42year i mean brendan miller got hurt in game two in philadelphia it didn't come back until you know a

00:30:48couple games ago it sat out against the hawks on sunday so if you're a hornets fan you haven't really seen

00:30:54your entire starting five together for like a really a full like a couple of games so you can

00:31:02just maybe get through this first homestand with these guys actually still healthy and together and

00:31:06intact then you can be in good shape and figure out that you know what you can do going forward because

00:31:11the main thing as you mentioned earlier about the team and where they're going if you don't have health

00:31:18you can't see exactly what you need to fix and what works and what doesn't work so now that you're

00:31:25maybe semi-healthy you get a couple more pieces back maybe next month or so you mentioned josh green and

00:31:31grant williams those guys have been out obviously all year you haven't had them all year so maybe come

00:31:37in december you have these guys available it can be a different season for you so right now

00:31:44it's kind of like i say it's getting early late you know what i mean like these guys have to figure

00:31:50out what they got right now and if you don't get these wins next couple of games here you look up

00:31:55and you'll be you know four and twenty and season's over at that point yeah and so this this time is so

00:32:01important right now i guess last thing for me rod uh and then we'll let you go is you know brian

00:32:07just mentioned the front court matchup which i think is important this game what do you think are the

00:32:10keys to the game when you look at it for both sides like what do you what do you think needs to be

00:32:14done for the hornets to win this game and what should they be worried about with the knicks in

00:32:17this game the main thing the horns have to do is first of all play some defense like that's been

00:32:21one of the main issues and i talked to the guys today about that and coaching staff there they

00:32:25haven't been playing really good on defense if you can't find ways to stop your opponent at least a

00:32:32little bit it's gonna be a problem like the nba guys are gonna score they're just too good so but

00:32:37at some point you gotta be able to stop them enough to be able to like win the game or have a run of your

00:32:41own or make a run to be able to come back into a game if you're down so to me that's number one

00:32:46play good defense get back in transition don't give up easy buckets if you do that you should be in the

00:32:55game number two we talked about that rebound the basketball make sure that you are controlling the

00:33:01glass at least when the knicks are missing shots and not giving them extra opportunities because the

00:33:06knicks are too good to give them three or four shots of the bucket to be able to say okay man

00:33:11they missed one shot not gonna miss two or three in a row they're not doing that so if you can't stop

00:33:15that that's an issue so that to me is also something else and then the main thing too is to get your

00:33:21your main guys to cook you know lamello hasn't had like his really breakout game last few games here

00:33:28constantly scored the last thing four games um brendan miller came out in his first game back um against the

00:33:35clippers on saturday and played well but i want to see him come out here and be the player you know

00:33:39he was in the opener as well so they can do that those three things have your key players show up and

00:33:46show out rebound the basketball and get your butt back on defense they can have a chance to win the

00:33:51game yeah we'll see if they are able to do that nixon horn that's going down wednesday night it'll be

00:33:57interesting rod a lot of new yorkers you know a lot of new yorkers are down there charlotte they

00:34:01gonna be there in the building heavy you ready you already know what time it's gonna be and will you be up

00:34:05here in new york next week are you coming i will see i will see you i will see you at the game i

00:34:09will i will see you there i haven't seen you in a while so it'll be good to see you in person rod

00:34:13i appreciate you man yes sir you guys have a great holiday man thank you too happy thanksgiving to you

00:34:18rod appreciate it thanksgiving everybody that is rod boone the great beat writer covering the charlotte

00:34:23hornets for the charlotte observer gave us some great time breaking down the hornets next matchup

00:34:28uh rod is a is a great dude one of the uh great journalists who helped me a lot early in my career

00:34:34especially when i was around covering the nets uh did a lot um and i actually know rod before

00:34:40that when he was covering the jets uh before that um for another paper here in the in the new york area

00:34:45so rod rod is rod is a guy i've always looked up to and i appreciate him coming on here um can i give you

00:34:51the line for tomorrow's game no no no no no i have a question for you before you do the oh what's that

00:34:57yeah i got a question for you how many hours of charlotte hornets basketball do you think you've

00:35:04watched this year hours hours and how many games let's say games how many games are you watching

00:35:10they've played 17 so most of them it's got to be at least parts of 13 12 and he's probably watched

00:35:21i watched a lot of nba basketball i may have watched three hornets games this year and i've

00:35:25seen a bunch of those in in in full and i like at least don't because you know because because um

00:35:31because on league pass you can't you can't do four on most of you anymore you could do three three

00:35:36although the the interface for three is it looks tremendous i actually really like it a lot and i

00:35:41will also add uh this is not an ad the the transitions of moving through them are really efficient it's

00:35:47it's it's smoother it's smoother i'll say that much even though i prefer to have four are you

00:35:51watching on the nba app or you watching through amazon amazon yeah me too okay yeah yeah yeah yeah

00:35:57yeah but they're on right like they're one of the three usually on that screen and then on my laptop

00:36:04i'll have as alerts as alerts on his phone for the hornets fantasy implications as well i have multiple

00:36:11hornets on my team including moussa diabate who we talked about go ahead give me the give me the line

00:36:15the knicks are favored by i want you to guess favored by i haven't looked at this my guess is

00:36:23see if you get this i think you might get it four and a half seven and a half oh i thought you were

00:36:30going to go a little more aggressive there i thought you were going to say like nine or ten but

00:36:33i mean this goes to this goes to the knicks kind of struggling on the road a little bit

00:36:39you want to know that's why i get it could put it closer than that that's why you want to know who

00:36:45is dead last in the nba against the spread on the road this year at one and six the knicks yeah which

00:36:53is kind of crazy um that's also their road well no that's not their road record they're two and five

00:36:58now uh because after by virtue of the nets um also which is really a home game and this

00:37:07in that instance yes the other thing is man the the they we'll see if it gets tested in this game

00:37:13because the hornets have hung around and actually have done a good job like of covering some of these

00:37:18games um the knicks are 20th tied for 20th in the nba in fourth quarter margin whereas they're

00:37:27like top six in the second and third quarters and then the first quarter they're 12.

00:37:32they're tied for 20th they have a negative fourth quarter margin on the seasons minus

00:37:37seven tenths of a point which doesn't sound like a ton but margin is on average um the best fourth

00:37:42quarter team in the nba still by far is philly who is plus 5.1 which says a lot about tyrese maxi who

00:37:47might be clutch player here maybe right now um but the the that's the that's the glaring area for me

00:37:56with the knicks this year that they have to improve on and i i think they will but this was

00:37:59also an issue last year with tom thibodeau and for whatever reason first three quarters the margin was

00:38:05okay and then tailed off in the fourth where they were like 18th 20th whatever it ended up being

00:38:11so that that's something that per this goes back to you always saying players have agency the fourth

00:38:16quarter stuff has to get better just has to because the numbers are not good and when you look at it it

00:38:20gets very uneasy and they get away from what was working we saw this against milwaukee we've seen

00:38:25this at watch parties different event the dallas game that we just did a watch party for we saw this

00:38:31um so yeah it's not it's not just as simple as coaching and just plugging saying that this is

00:38:38going to the ad especially when a team has changed the system um players of agency there's going to be

00:38:44some adjustments the knicks have played 16 games they're 10 and 6 we'll get to more of that in a

00:38:52second i get like they've got to figure it out it comes but again i will say this this is what the

00:38:58regular season is for this is what the experimentation you have seen from mike brown is for and and listen

00:39:06there are things that have happened through there they've lost landry shaman now they've lost og

00:39:09ananobi brunson was out for two games they're still trying to figure things out guys still trying to

00:39:14figure things out on the bench i i you still can't be tripping it's not even thanksgiving yet

00:39:21it's not near christmas yet you know i think in the next 10 to 12 games or so is when you're really

00:39:27going to have a good idea just watching the team with the eye testing and also looking at the data

00:39:33is where i think you're really going to have um a fantastic idea about that yeah so i agree i only

00:39:39point out the fourth quarter thing because it's it's it's oh i think it's something to watch that's

00:39:43a carryover from last year and we're going to do something at the end of this month looking at the

00:39:47film around the fourth quarter we're going to brian and i going to do something where we're going to

00:39:51break down into that that i know you guys have been asking for we've had people ask for more of the

00:39:56film breakdowns we will be doing more of that uh end of this month i think at that time will be what

00:40:02about 19 20 games ish at that point it's a quarter it will be a quarter it'd be like a really good time

00:40:09to look at some film and look at what we're seeing with the data and our eyes like you know

00:40:14we like to do trying to use what we're seeing and bring it with the numbers and be like hey

00:40:18what's working here what's not working here i feel like it'll be a good time to look at it and so

00:40:23it'll be time for us to dive in i want to shout out everybody in the chat greg obviously what's up

00:40:27good question on conca nipple uh duane dennis what's up man uh see you see you in there we appreciate

00:40:35you rocking with us look i know it's a busy time for people um people are trying to get thanksgiving

00:40:40errands done i was before i came on here i was still cooking oxtails are stewing right now and

00:40:47they are fantastic are you hosting i'm not hosting oh so you're bringing the food over okay yes but i do

00:40:55oxtail curry chicken making it this year your boy's nice in the kitchen that's yeah yeah you know

00:41:01i'm saying i'm from the you know our family's grenada from the isle of spice you know i'm saying

00:41:06we you know we be doing things we do we do things anyway normally at this point in the show we do

00:41:14something for you guys call real or not but brian had a good idea brian was in a in a thanksgiving

00:41:19mood he was in the thanksgiving spirit he wasn't gonna be me not that brian is me but you know

00:41:25it depends on the day who the time who who who am i interacting with that i tend to not be i tend to

00:41:33not be even though people may think so but this is all fair yeah we decided instead of doing real or

00:41:38not this week we're gonna do thankful or not we're gonna ask some questions and be like should you be

00:41:42thankful for this or not i think we got some good ones here and let us know in the chat if you're

00:41:48thankful or not for these things okay first off we're gonna start with some young players

00:41:55we're gonna talk about the 2024 draft class yes that means you pakom dadie yes that means you

00:42:01are your hot party yes that means you tyler kolek next fans brian are you thankful for the 2024

00:42:12nick's draft class thankful or nah what do you say brian how do you say thankful right now

00:42:22in totality i see as we talked about i've seen the i'm not gonna say greatness goodness the potential

00:42:31the vision if you will for all three of these dudes but i kind of would want more signs by now

00:42:38you know because you're seeing like other players from this draft class like you've seen signs from

00:42:45i'll use some examples

00:42:49late in the first round they get pakom dadie at 25. right before that was kaishan george at 24.

00:42:54kaishan george has like shown you some signs granted he's in a terrible situation right now

00:42:59for his development um and one of the worst teams and probably the worst team in the nba in

00:43:04the washington wizards at this point but you have seen signs terrence shannon jr who went right after

00:43:12two picks after pakom dadie you've seen some things he's playable in a playoff series which is

00:43:19ultimately what you need these three guys and at least really two of them to be for it to be good

00:43:26like you want you want you want draft picks to develop and they're playable in the playoffs

00:43:31right after pakom dadie at number 28 ryan dunn isaiah collier at 29 who's a really good playmaker

00:43:37inefficient from the field but you're you're seeing a little bit then if you move on down

00:43:42with tyler cole like he's 34. jalen wells is 39 that's the one that's going to jump out to people

00:43:48even before that aj mitchell 38 who the knicks i think drafted and moved off of who who looks like

00:43:53he might be somebody in okc because he's actually getting some minutes this year pella larson a little

00:43:59bit after he's been starting for the heat lately and the heat have been overachieving this year so

00:44:03far and might actually be good and then huck porty was you know basically the last pick in the second

00:44:07round so you know at that point whatever but there are some undrafted guys that you could point to like

00:44:12hey you you know maybe i would just like to see more signs from from these guys uh which we talked

00:44:18about last week colec is getting the opportunity he will and he has to now so he's the one we're going to

00:44:25find out the most about but huck porty is not getting on the floor as much as i thought and

00:44:30daddy is not getting on the floor at all so i don't think you could say if you're a nick fan and

00:44:35you're watching this i i don't how could you say yes at this point yeah thankful for you may become

00:44:42by the way you may be at the end right now we're talking about right now right now right now

00:44:47right now i don't think you could be thankful because i i'm not super mr what have you done for me

00:44:52lately person but this is not even about lately same it's what have you done at all at all and

00:45:01i say all the time so i'm going to be very consistent what i say players have agency players

00:45:05have to take advantage of opportunity just like we all do in life tyler colic has an opportunity

00:45:11now we'll see what he does with it if he does and we're not again we're not asking because people

00:45:18will be you know what people are going to be thankful for if he looks like a competent backup

00:45:22nba guard not asking for all-star some of y'all might think he could drop 20 and dish out seven

00:45:28tonight we ain't asking for that we're asking for competent nba backup now the reason he also can't

00:45:35be thankful and i haven't posted this clip yet but i will later tonight so you follow me on social

00:45:40platforms i'll post this clip later tonight in my discussion last night with stephan bondi

00:45:44we talked about landry shaman and steph said that the knicks before the shaman injury still looking

00:45:53for a backup point guard he also said in that and i will play the clip so i'm not so everybody

00:46:01see it i'm not taking out of context he also said one of the names he had heard that the knicks were

00:46:06inquiring about in terms of a backup point guard was chris paul

00:46:09i was a little shocked when he told me that wow in the moment and i'm not laughing at chris paul

00:46:16we love chris paul up here i'm just like oh they would but i but here's the thing i left chris paul's

00:46:2240 years old they just want an adult in the room with the backup point guard and i understand it right

00:46:30i understand it and so if that doesn't get out and that doesn't tell you a lot about how they feel

00:46:38about the backup point guard that's it but i want to be clear about something else too and why you

00:46:42can't be thankful i've said this brian has said this last year we've talked about it with steph

00:46:49we've talked about it and with other people i've had on jonathan mackery cp we've talked about all

00:46:55this stuff in today's nba you gotta hit on some of these young players with second apron and all that

00:47:03you've got to hit on it greg in the chat says they need to play oh some of them are going to get to

00:47:08play right now because you got to you see mike brown out here giving muhammad iwara minutes and he's in

00:47:15the 25 25 class so we're not even talking about him mike brown's been giving him some minutes are you

00:47:21have party got some minutes last night and obviously mr robinson wasn't there

00:47:25yeah i was selling starting to get more minutes and he's been looking a little better lately

00:47:28but but kolak is going to get that shot with sham it out depending on what the knicks do with

00:47:33sham it do they wave him do they bring in somebody there's a lot to go but right now

00:47:39nah you can't be thankful you know what i mean like thank you and i just is not shading those dudes

00:47:44because i'm rooting for those dudes i want to see them play and thrive and i do think they're going

00:47:48to there's going to be some chances i really do but what are they going to do with their chances

00:47:52listen we're doing this now and we're doing thankful or not

00:48:00a month for almost a month from now well exactly a month from now brian and i might be sitting here

00:48:05doing a live and we might be doing do you want to give this person away as a gift or not it might be

00:48:09a whole different segment it might be a whole different segment here right right now we're talking

00:48:16about thanks y'all might be wanting to give some people away because i know we because christmas

00:48:22is the beginning of fake trade season and y'all know it beginning of fake trade season and things

00:48:29can change in a month so we'll see and we'll see what happens and and bondi's saying and before we

00:48:36move on to the next one because we have a few here and bondi's saying that they're looking for

00:48:40they're still looking for a pack of point guards telling because the the front office has to

00:48:44understand and i'm sure that they do probably better than the fan base i would assume the time

00:48:50is now as i'm tapping on the desk that i'm sitting on and these other teams in the east i'm not going

00:48:57to say that they look at the knicks like food but they look at them like i mean we could overcome

00:49:03that like they don't look at them the way people i guess in this fan base want them to be perceived

00:49:10because look at detroit right now detroit we talk about handling your business and detroit hasn't

00:49:15had a strong schedule so far but they're taking care of business they've won 13 straight they're

00:49:20seven and one on the road on the road where the knicks have struggled so far this year

00:49:27they're 15 and 2 toronto taking care of business 13 and 5 and they came out the gate a little bit

00:49:33slow for a team that i'm like no bet they're over they're gonna be good they're gonna win

00:49:3640 plus maybe 45 plus maybe they could be a top six seed they look like that so far miami 12 and 6

00:49:42they're apparent they're back and eric spolster is going to be a coach of the year contender he's

00:49:46never won the award before this may be the year he gets and they've beaten the knicks twice

00:49:51they've beaten the knicks twice while being shorthanded like the last game the knicks didn't

00:49:56have jalen brunson the heat didn't have bam or tyler hero which i'll hear you know um and then you go

00:50:04on down the line obviously cleveland we'll see what atlanta they've been on a run without trey

00:50:07young as of late i think they won six of eight or something to that effect or maybe even seven of

00:50:11nine but jalen johnson looks like an all-star like all these teams are going to be looking around like

00:50:16getting ambitious and potentially making moves try to establish themselves where we think the knicks

00:50:21and calves are supposed to be or separate themselves from the pack even so that's another

00:50:26thing that if you're the knicks you have to watch out for because and this is why fortifying your

00:50:30bench is important you don't have a ton of moves to make unless you're going to get dramatic with

00:50:35it but the way their cap situation is like you're kind of locked into your team right now and other

00:50:39teams that may have more flexibility like the pistons for example they may look around and try to get

00:50:44that big piece and then we'll see what happens and they got jaden ivy back now which that's that's

00:50:50important so yeah we'll see all right moving on thankful or not because well this one's so interesting

00:50:59because some of you guys felt so many different ways about tips leaving

00:51:05mike brown coming in very interesting a lot of people have put this on the season i had somebody

00:51:10tell me the other day i was at wfan actually i'll say who it was it was friend of the program al centron

00:51:18al al was not happy after the knicks lost to the magic on saturday i was like dex what's going on they

00:51:27don't play any defense this is bad they got rid of tips for this he didn't sound like that but if

00:51:33you can hear i can't get to the levels out and get to but if you know al centron he was yelling

00:51:39actually he sounded like brian when he was mad anyway

00:51:45i think mike brown's done a

00:51:47solid job i wouldn't say great job i think it's been solid it's a little incomplete because yeah that's

00:51:54some of the injuries he's had stuff like that but i think overall the offense has risen i like the

00:51:59offensive philosophy the defense needs to get better i'm not sure it's necessarily on mike brown

00:52:05his defense is doing what's supposed to which is taking away things on the interior which the knicks

00:52:09have done a good job at what they're hurting at is threes and giving up a lot of three so say all that to

00:52:15say are you thankful that mike brown is the head coach of the new york knicks i want to take this one

00:52:22first and i want to say you should this is the hardest one of the five

00:52:28i say yes here's why interesting some point you got to evolve

00:52:35i supported the the move of the next moving on i think it's easy i think it's very easy to stay

00:52:40complacent and stagnant i think it's risky to move on and some of y'all don't like to take any risks

00:52:46sometimes you gotta take risks in life i think it was a good risk i think mike brown's a good coach

00:52:51i think he's a good balance coach i think he'll be i think this is going to work out fine and you

00:52:55know what i like seeing modern offense love seeing that i love seeing that i love seeing that the

00:52:59love seeing that the offense is coming to the 21st century this is easily the best knicks offensive

00:53:04team i've seen in my life for most of y'all out there probably so as well too the knicks are a top

00:53:12three offense right now okay the defense is the problem according cleaton glass they're 17th right now

00:53:18i think knicks fans should be thankful they've seen evolution they're seeing something different

00:53:25they're seeing a coach experiment to do different things in november like he should not playing seven

00:53:31and eight players like it's a playoff game in november this change i think it's good i'm not saying it's

00:53:38gonna work none of y'all know it's gonna work brian doesn't know if it's gonna work i don't know if it's

00:53:42gonna work you don't know if it's gonna work no idea but i do like the attempt i like to try

00:53:47change i think mike brown's fine and i think ultimately he's gonna be judging what happens

00:53:52in the playoffs but i think the way he's getting the team ready for that i like the process of it

00:53:57i think it's good so i'm gonna say yes i'm thankful for mike brown as coach and bringing the knicks at

00:54:04least offensively into the 21st century from a content standpoint i'm definitely gonna say yes um

00:54:12because it just adds to the to the overall anxiety of the season the excitement

00:54:17surrounding the most pressurized nick season uh in a quarter century if not longer probably 30 years

00:54:26that's probably true by the way the the 54 win knicks the mellow one from 12 13 third in offense

00:54:32that year although i think we would all agree the game is different now so this offense looks obviously

00:54:39more modern because it is um and did and and i don't know what did that team finish defensively

00:54:44do you remember that you have that 18th similar profile here's here's here's the thing here's the

00:54:50thing you looked at that team being 18th in defense and you look at the roster and you're like

00:54:56what all the older dudes they had on that roster kind of made sense why they'd be 18 this team even with

00:55:02their defensive warts has more talent to be better than 18th in defense i've said i thought they could be a top

00:55:08eight to ten defense if they play to their potential again see the keyword eight players having agency

00:55:14playing to their potential i think they can do that this team should be better defensively than the

00:55:192012-2013 mix that's all i'm saying that's that team that jason kidd marcus can be kenyan martin on

00:55:25it uh that that team was third in offense with jr smith as their second option what a different time in the

00:55:31nba no offense you can't be third you can't be throwing in offense with a jr smith prototype now

00:55:38not that no um fourth leading scorer was tyson chandler fourth ray buffelman was third unless you

00:55:45want to count the one earl baron game where he dropped 11 points in 18 rebounds um i was hyped off of

00:55:51that earl baron is one of the best 10-day contract players of all time him and moses brown are the goats

00:55:58of the 10-day contract i agree um moses brown should be signed by somebody by the way um i i i want to

00:56:04say uh yeah i i think the change is necessary um from an offensive standpoint from an offensive

00:56:10philosophy standpoint i still have my reservations about whether or not it'll look a good long term

00:56:16and ultimately it is an incomplete i i will say yes for the time being just because of everything you

00:56:22said but i don't think nicks fans have to feel that way i don't think if you're watching this you have

00:56:26to feel that way i feel like you could it could be a no because you're you're not very impressed

00:56:31you're not so patient you're you're again like just antsy about it like i get all of that um

00:56:38i do think the the change in pace was uh it feels like they kind of needed it to some extent but i

00:56:45i reserve the right to change my answer depending on what happens in the spring because ultimately

00:56:49that's how mike brown is going to be judged like that's how that's how mike brown's going to be judged

00:56:52that's how a lot of these teams going on runs and doing what they're doing they're going to be

00:56:56judged in april may and for a couple of them june for a few of them june maybe uh because conference

00:57:02finals could go that far so that's that's really what it is on that but mike brown so far i think

00:57:07you said it right incomplete um i think there's been more positive than negative and ultimately

00:57:12the fourth quarter thing has to figure itself out but that's kind of on personnel to me more than

00:57:17anything else because this exact same personnel was not a good fourth quarter team last year and we

00:57:21thought it was because hey maybe and there was some truth to this if you watch tips would play

00:57:27them a lot they would lose they would lose steam or whatever and now it's not a it's not a gas tank

00:57:33thing it doesn't feel that way at least when you're watching it it's a it's execution focus defensive laps

00:57:39thing that mike brown has to sort of navigate through yeah we'll see all right moving on this was a

00:57:45polarizing one for some of y'all last year so i'm very intrigued to see how you feel now are you

00:57:51thankful that the knicks gave up five first round picks for mikhail bridges because some of y'all were

00:57:55mad at the pitchforks out last year um brian i'll let you go first on this are you thankful i also i

00:58:04want to put this note mikhail bridges has been the knicks most consistent player this season um you could

00:58:12argue maybe also as og and ob before you went out but i think he's been the knicks most consistent

00:58:16player this season i will say and he's been really good defensively um on ball and off the ball so

00:58:25are you happy that happened

00:58:31it's gonna be hard to say yes for a lot of people here i think you're probably more on the side of yes

00:58:36than than most people as it relates to this and for me it's about what could you have used those

00:58:43picks for otherwise which we don't really know because you can't say oh they could have went and

00:58:48gotten janice instead because evidently not the bucks were were and still are trying to do everything

00:58:54they can to keep them you probably still would have pocketed at this point which is is good you have ammo

00:58:59like what you've gotten in laurie marketing business i don't know and i don't even know if laurie

00:59:03marketing who's never played a playoff game in his 11 year nba career is somebody you want to go out

00:59:08and get as the final piece to a championship it's like yeah let me get a guy who's never played in

00:59:12the playoffs before you know what i mean like i don't know if that's an actual solution there and

00:59:17i get it he's putting up numbers but guys put up numbers on bad teams terry rozier went for a first

00:59:22round pick and now he's not playing because of the feds um if you look at what they got in terms of

00:59:28the first round picks one of them is nolan traore who the nets drafted in the first round this past

00:59:34year one of them is ben sarah who they also drafted in the first round those were after yegor demon i'm

00:59:41forgetting where exactly but nolan uh traore i know sarah was in the early 20s and troy was like in the

00:59:47back part he was like 19th then the other picks are future first round picks for me personally i'd rather

00:59:53have the flexibility i think mikhail bridges is a really good two-way player although the defense

00:59:59hasn't been as good as i thought it would be in new york um this is now a a thing that's lingered a

01:00:06little bit even at times this year where i feel like he's better i think i think i've liked his

01:00:10defense this year he's been better this year i think yeah last year i guess i'm still like where is

01:00:17the dude who was second in defensive player of the year right like i i guess where where is that guy

01:00:23who's second in defensive player of the year voting one season and obviously who was all defense that

01:00:28year i i still feel like there's a defensive ceiling that we haven't seen get reached again

01:00:36since the trade and i think that and i think part of it was like he gets if part of the thinking for

01:00:42the trade was he gets back into a role where he can do that and that part of it he hasn't not

01:00:47to mention the offensive inconsistencies that people have been going crazy over um

01:00:56no he has not been that player second season phoenix um i wonder if he's trending i'm very

01:01:05encouraged by how he's played defense this year and he's trying i think on the ball he's been good i

01:01:09think a huge thing helps is he's no longer primarily on the point of attack i think that has helped a ton

01:01:15i think it's helped his off ball play i thought he's been huge playing the passing lanes him and og

01:01:20he doesn't get to gamble as much as og or roam as much as og but he's really good i think he's

01:01:26really good on backside blocks especially when guys beat a man and and swatting it out of bounds he's

01:01:33one of the leaders in stocks um i think he's had a really good i think he's just more comfortable and

01:01:39could be trending back to that place now if he trends back to places this here's the thing

01:01:46the reason that really i agree with you you to me explained

01:01:52pretty well and me knowing you i know you like the flexibility yeah i also think at some point at

01:01:56some point you have to cash your chips in now who you cash it in for for is what matters and how you're

01:02:02building your team around that is what matters i thought the knicks looking at the way they want

01:02:09to build their team and trying to have two elite wings defensively was smart especially with a team

01:02:15as jalen brunson i saw the process of what they were trying to do i'll college teammates we also have

01:02:21to mention that that was a factor i'll saw the process in them saying okay are we gonna is it likely

01:02:28we draft the wing as good as mikhail bridges that's the thing i always talk about when you give up 100

01:02:32all those picks i said 100 we give up the five picks in those five picks what's the likelihood

01:02:38the nets even draft somebody as good as mikhail bridges it is less likely than you think might be

01:02:44over two so far right but it's too it's too early here's the thing but yeah in terms for the nets

01:02:52if you hit on two out of five of those picks one player is a really good player another one becomes

01:02:57maybe like a all-star okay that's great mikhail's never been an all-star so that's good nobody's

01:03:03gonna hit on everything yeah i'm not a i'm not a pick hugger i think people overvalue picks a lot of

01:03:09times picks you have to use to get sometimes things you need sometimes you can develop the knicks have

01:03:15hit on picks i saw greg and and chad talk about the knicks hitting on grimes the knicks have actually

01:03:19done a really good job of drafting sands is 2024 class which is not looking good yeah we will we

01:03:24we will say that but i do think the knicks giving up the picks they did for nets needs the nets to

01:03:30get mikhail bridges i think needs to be taken in context one there was the new york city brooklyn tax

01:03:36in there mikhail bridges probably with any other team would have cost three picks but the knicks have

01:03:40to give up a little bit more but would the knicks have got a wing as good as he is two-way

01:03:46probably not so the price is what the price was and sometimes you got to pay a little bit more

01:03:51you can't always get everything at the price you want sometimes you're gonna have to pay a little

01:03:56bit more to get what you want they got what they wanted now will it work out i don't know do i think

01:04:01it was the worst swing in the world no i thought trade was fine the knicks have two of the better

01:04:05defensive wings in the league that is something they can hang their hat on now those guys have to

01:04:08step up in the playoffs mikhail bridges has to be better offensively in the playoffs mikhail bridges

01:04:12i think started getting comfortable last year in the playoffs he had two huge plays against boston

01:04:16i think he's more comfortable i think he'll be big time in the playoffs this year i even like how

01:04:21he's been playing more offensively because i got a little bit more on board with his defense at the

01:04:26end of last year in the playoffs it was the offense and the fading away that drove me crazy yes i like

01:04:31the way he's been playing this year he's been attacking the rim he's been playing smarter he's been

01:04:36more efficient he looks happier i'm thankful to give up five first round picks for him because again the

01:04:42question is what you brought up at the top two not saying i am against your point because i understand

01:04:47where you're coming from the way you brought it up who else were you going to spend it on unless you

01:04:51would tell me you guaranteed they were going to get somebody else's who else was better that you

01:04:55didn't get it on and that's the question yeah because that same that same summer you got

01:05:03i mean towns for one um was somebody they ended up making another trade for which was also ballsy and

01:05:10shocking that shocked me and shocking but you know um both teams seem to be doing all right

01:05:17since then and then you have the other you know like dejounte murray got traded that summer you're

01:05:23not you're not putting in all your chips for dejounte murray on a jaylen brunson led team

01:05:29um and then if you look at other wings throughout the league like the mikhail bridges is the type of

01:05:33wing that to the point you're making other teams are looking for other teams want two-way wings

01:05:39who can hit a three-point shot and who could defend um and he especially at guarding down

01:05:45in terms of guarding some of the ball handlers whereas og is better at guarding up like they make

01:05:50for a good tandem it took a while for it to hit last year you saw it hit their stride more in like

01:05:55the celtic series for example and even at times before that but the celtic series is where it sort

01:06:00of culminated and then this year i do think mikhail's done a better job of we talked about him attacking

01:06:04the basket more his free throw rate is up his free throws per 100 possessions uh are up from last

01:06:10year i still think they can get higher because they started off like higher and they're they've

01:06:15they're dipping they're going sideways a little bit again um so that that's something that i think

01:06:20should improve but offensively he's no doubt been better this year defensively he's no doubt been

01:06:25better um it still is a steep price though like it i think some people may look at it but like damn

01:06:31bro like you could you couldn't have done it for three but there was a tax to it and ultimately

01:06:37they got their guy like you can say what you want but this is a guy they really really wanted

01:06:41um for a bunch of different reasons in terms of team profile in terms of the villanova connection

01:06:46and they went and got it and you know we'll see it's something that people will remember

01:06:52in one way or the other if they win the championship and if they don't with this build like

01:06:59it's going to be the thing people may come back to the most or it's going to be in the top three

01:07:04the price i i thought it was more egregious when minnesota gave a five first round picks to go get

01:07:09rudy gobert i thought that was more egregious because for a offensively limited center that was

01:07:15crazy to me to go get a two-way wing which people want the people the two-way wings like og that is

01:07:20the thing people covet the most in the league that's the hardest to get the price on that is already high

01:07:26and then the fact there was a new york tax in it that was going to be higher so that's when people

01:07:32are like yo you couldn't get him for three no you couldn't you couldn't like they'll be like donovan

01:07:36mitchell went for three yeah because he's a scoring small scoring guard that is the star but he doesn't

01:07:42have the defensibility a two-way wing to at your watch so the price is higher for that so there were

01:07:47players in that trade too like laurie marketing was in that right like which which never gets mentioned

01:07:52too right right and that's and colin sexton who right who's a charlotte hornet you will see tomorrow

01:07:57but like the knicks didn't have to give up really any core players they just gave up players who we

01:08:03don't even know who will be what they will be in the nba yet well and bogdanovich who is retired now

01:08:09right so okay like yeah i i've not not a bad and as a bonus while we we with a lot of nuance

01:08:18kind of are on different sides of this i will also point out in mikhail bridges favor doesn't miss a

01:08:22game there's value to that he just doesn't he just shows up all the time there's value to that

01:08:28there's that i'm just saying there's no in a in a in a in an nba where the injuries have never been

01:08:36like this like statistically never been like this and are getting worse and every team has multiple

01:08:41guys in the injury report it feels like for every single game and everybody's missing somebody

01:08:45and everybody's shorthanded this is why when people are like oh well the knicks are playing

01:08:49without this person this person is like doesn't matter anymore everybody is missing somebody

01:08:54everybody yep we just talked about detroit detroit's 15 and 2 they were missing jade and ivy for a lot

01:08:59of that and they were even sitting kate cunningham and jalen duran for like a game or two in the midst

01:09:04of that but mikhail bridges shows up that matters shows up this there's some players in league

01:09:10that don't still don't show up to work um a couple more before we get out of here next one

01:09:15all right thankful or not josh hart shooting well and actually letting the ball fly josh hart is

01:09:21shooting his effective field goal percentage according to uh cleaning the glass 55.6 he's shooting

01:09:28it's also according to cleaning glass remember cleaning glass takes out uh garbage time numbers 56 and a

01:09:34half percent from the from two point land 36 from downtown which for josh hart and what he shot last

01:09:42year you would gladly take that he's been working with a shooting coach of which he is credited he's

01:09:47shooting 72 from the line everything that was going on with his finger i'm gonna keep it real quick on

01:09:52this i think you absolutely got to be thankful for it if josh hart is shooting while he's confidently

01:09:57shooting and he's gonna shoot 36 from the outside sign me up i will gladly take that like there's no

01:10:04way you can't be thankful especially with everything that was going on with his finger especially with

01:10:08how he started the season and has turned it around i think you have to absolutely be thankful and hope

01:10:13he continues to shoot well i can't disagree you especially as somebody who plays the way that he does

01:10:23you probably want him taking more of those threes and a couple less of the the halfback dives

01:10:31you know like looking more confident i just like i think when he's confident it's just good for the team

01:10:36yeah and and and this is why for people who who want to be who want to know how to more accurately track

01:10:43this stuff as you mentioned his his effective field goal percentage and some of the other percentages

01:10:47one of the other things you can look at is three-point attempt rate because if you look at just three-point

01:10:51attempts you're gonna be like wait guys this is it's the exact same he was 3.2 his first year with

01:10:56the well his first full year with the knicks so after the the the next year after they got him in

01:11:02a trade which a great trade by the way cam reddish is in lithuania right now um 3.23 is a game 3.3 last

01:11:09year 3.3 this year but last year 37.6 minutes a game this year 27 the three-point attempt rate for josh

01:11:17hard has jumped from 32 7 to 41.5 41.5 of his shots from three that's the most that he's taken

01:11:28for a full season since he was with the pelicans this is the year after covid where it was 56 forgot

01:11:34that he took a lot of threes at that point and then he went away from it and now he's he's climbing back

01:11:38up a little bit and as he ages it might be something that he adds so he's taking them more and you probably

01:11:43want to see more than 34.7 percent in terms of the makes but you and i even said if he if he's

01:11:49living around 35 36 you'll take that that's and he's taking them confidently and not passing yeah

01:11:55you take that you have to be able to make a wide open three when they give you the wide open three

01:11:59and he's showing more of a willingness to to at least take the shot agreed all right last one are you

01:12:05thankful that the knicks have won 10 out of their first 16 games uh somebody somebody's gonna be like

01:12:11no i'm not thankful they should be 16 and 0 and that'd be stupid but you know somebody's gonna be

01:12:19there yes you got to be thankful it could be worse the next could be 6 and 10 if the knicks were 6 and

01:12:2510 right now this show would have been so different we wouldn't even be talking about things because

01:12:29none of y'all would be thankful you'd just be angry angry angry angry angry you gotta be thankful i think

01:12:37if you told me hey the knicks start 10 and 6 new head coach while they're still figuring out while

01:12:42og and nobody's injured while landry shammett is now gone after the sensational games he had i'd

01:12:47have been like yeah i'll sign for that nicks are not in a bad position they're fine there's still a

01:12:52lot of room to grow they got to show me something what they can do against charlotte got to show me

01:12:56against milwaukee i know they're down but they got to survive this stretch they have some better

01:13:01offensive teams coming in in the next couple of games toronto coming in uh boston these are teams

01:13:07who are in the top six in offense in the league though that's going to be very interesting so

01:13:12they're going to be tested tests are good well you pass them you don't want to fail them but we'll see

01:13:19what they do i think you got to be thankful that the knicks have won 10 out of your first 16 games

01:13:23i think 10 and 6 is like the line 9 and 7 you'd be like it's not really enough 10 and 6 is like the

01:13:34line 10 and 6 in the context of what's happened for them health wise i'm fine with especially given

01:13:41again other teams are shorthanded too uh especially given i i think sure i have like two major caveats one

01:13:51road performances have to be better you're you're not handling business on the road again one and

01:13:56six against the spread two and five straight up on this road trip you're two and two and you've been

01:14:02favored every game i don't know if they were favored in the orlando one but you've been favored almost

01:14:06every game this season legitimately all but one or two the one being cleveland and the second one

01:14:12against orlando uh i should probably pull up the spread for that but i do think that

01:14:17the magic were actually favored by one and a half points so two games have been underdogs all year

01:14:23so it's it's kind of like you by those metrics maybe a slight underachievement but it's also with

01:14:29a new head coach i think you got to factor that in also with the health with the health things moving

01:14:33in and out um i'm sure people would rather 12 and 4 13 and 3 obviously but 10 and 6 is is fine

01:14:40fine for right now if they lose to charlotte tomorrow then that's a two and three road trip

01:14:46um you know like this would be disappointing like that that would be yeah so i do think yes with a

01:14:53caveat though and and they've been able to the encouraging thing is their offense is a cleaner

01:14:59and you're taking care of business at home but they have to get better on the road they have to get

01:15:04better in fourth quarters and more consistency just in general because we've talked about how they've had

01:15:09like really good halves and then the next half you just don't know so the charlotte test is going to be

01:15:15interesting because they're not a team that's going to defend very well and this is probably

01:15:18going to produce a lot of points but charlotte has some multiple dynamic offensive players who can

01:15:24give you fits so we'll we'll see we'll see what happens and a couple good rebound really good

01:15:28rebounders at center um who we talked to rob boone about so it's interesting interesting games coming up

01:15:34too because you're facing your peers now the bucks yannis by the way questionable upgraded to

01:15:38questionable for tomorrow's game against the heat he may play in this game against the knicks on friday

01:15:44um and then you got the raptors the celtics like you you got some games games i'm gonna have my eye

01:15:49on that's gonna be interesting we'll be doing orlando again too soon orlando again too charlotte's

01:15:54back next week we'll be doing a watch party for the celtics game that should be a good one all right

01:15:57we're gonna wrap here on new york got game next weekly live uh who's this in here ed santana 81 said

01:16:04how do you feel about this ad rumor what ad rumor and i'm just gonna say you know what ad rumor

01:16:11what'd you say as a you know what ad rupert 80 to the knicks yeah who's who has anybody credible

01:16:18reported that i don't know i don't think it makes sense what here's what i'll say i'll kind of say

01:16:22how i think i started last week's live show with this i was talking about lamello ball rumors no

01:16:31no why why do you need this here's the thing and i'll say this ed santan i just want to be very

01:16:38clear this is not directed at you this is just to everybody

01:16:45in theory

01:16:48i understand based on the player type that anthony davis is why you think he'd be a great fit with

01:16:54the knicks because when you look at carly towns you're like huh could i get a better defensive day

01:16:59a guy who could defend better sure but we don't live in theory we live in the real world where you

01:17:07know what happens anthony davis most times is in street clothes no jeff stotts he's in street clothes

01:17:15most of the time he doesn't play so what are you trading for a guy who doesn't play

01:17:26how does that how does that help you brian just wasn't making the argument for me but we talked

01:17:34about thankful or not for michael bridges and giving up the picks but he said one of the things that you

01:17:37value about michael bridges is the fact that he plays and i think it's a fair point by brian to when

01:17:41you talk about value value is not just in the numbers what they say is the best ability brian

01:17:46availability that is right i'm just saying anthony davis generally is not available so why would you

01:17:54then try to bring somebody who's generally not available that is paid like he's available onto

01:17:59your team i understand you you think you get an upgrade on defense but are you gonna upgrade if

01:18:03he's not there that's that's my only question to the nick fans yeah yeah and and last thing because

01:18:09i'm gonna put on lee pass and try to figure out why the hawks are down by 22 to the washington

01:18:14wizards at halftime right now um of a cup game by the way but anthony davis games play since 2020 36 40 56 76 51

01:18:25last year five this year and he's 32 going to be 33 in march uh say what you want about cat cat's play

01:18:37style will age better than anthony davis's um and look i'm not even like the super like

01:18:44i wasn't like hey they got cat home run deal like i was like oh yeah we had concerns we both had

01:18:50concerns about it they they've played out in some of the fourth quarter stuff the defense stuff

01:18:56but ultimately his game is going to age better than than anthony davis seems to be and i also don't

01:19:00think i think anthony davis like there's a fit for him but i don't think it's necessarily with this

01:19:08specific team because of what it will cost and i just don't think the risk is worth it would

01:19:13i like anthony davis as a player again in theory i really do one of the best that's two-way bigs in

01:19:18the league one when healthy when healthy yes when healthy one of the best two-way players in the league

01:19:24period like he's been top 10 when healthy he's i don't i wouldn't say he's that now but he's still

01:19:31like elite when he's healthy but he's on the injury report every game yeah every single game so i just

01:19:36don't see it's worth it and whatever you think the knicks could give up to do it like it's gonna gut

01:19:40their bench this is not the space and when the knicks are i think people don't want to hear this but

01:19:44the space we'll get to this more as we get to trick fake trade season and real trade season coming up

01:19:49but i think the knicks are more in a how do you make moves around the margins brian talks about them

01:19:53fortifying the bench those are more of the things you want to talk about i understand they're not sexy

01:19:58and they're not big names but that's just where the knicks are right now and how they can improve

01:20:02their team and realistically um unless there's some big like three-team deal that they're going to

01:20:08totally drastically change the role players and when i talk about that i mean og and obi mikhail bridges

01:20:13josh hart those are and mitcher robinson i'd probably throw him to that those are the salaries

01:20:17and names i would be talking about a friend of both of ours asked me this week they were like

01:20:20do you think they should see what they can get for like a deuce mitcher robinson package and i was like

01:20:28i have a hard time assessing what mitcher robinson's value is and i also don't think they want to trade

01:20:31him even with this contract expiring even though i i'm not even sure they would like pay to keep

01:20:36them but if you're trying to win a title he helps you more than he doesn't when he's out there um

01:20:42you know that that's that's what i have to say about that yeah that'll be interesting we'll get to

01:20:46trade seeds and all the stuff uh try to get malcolm brogdon out of retirement that's what i would say

01:20:51do whatever you have to

01:20:55we'll see about that low key that low key that low key is a big thing like a like a sliding doors

01:21:01moment it is he would be the back of point guard but here we are we'll see we'll see more about that

01:21:08uh that's gonna do it for this live edition of new york got game nick's weekly live uh that is brian

01:21:15for a second special thanks to our guest rod boot of the charlotte observer uh if you missed this you

01:21:20can go back and listen to it uh you can listen watch this here on the new york post youtube channel

01:21:25you can watch the whole show you can also listen on all digital streaming platforms in terms of audio

01:21:30new york got game podcast you can check that out there hit the like button hit the subscribe button

01:21:35thank you to everybody in the chat we appreciate you have yourselves a wonderful thanksgiving remember

01:21:41there is a lot to be thankful for just even in the fact that you get to watch nick's basketball

01:21:46be thankful that you get to actually watch a good team because you know what you could be doing you

01:21:51could be watching the wizards who are actually beating the hawks right now by a lot of points

01:21:54or you could be a fan of the brooklyn nets and all of that isn't really fun right now so be thankful

01:21:59you get to see some good basketball even though it might not go the way you want to all the time

01:22:04i'm dexter henry we will catch you next time next week after the holiday with a lot more new york

01:22:10again peace

Can The Knicks Strongly Close NBA Cup Group Play? | NY Got Game

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