00:00Did your NBA champs get better?
00:03The Knicks traded out of the first round, but they did leave the Barclays Center with a pair of picks
00:07and Jack Cale and Tyler Nichols.
00:10So let's talk all things Knicks with Jonathan Macri of Knicks Film School.
00:15My man, one of the hardest working guys in Knicks basketball right now.
00:19I thought you'd be in the south of France enjoying a vacation and all, but we have the draft.
00:25Jack Cale, Tyler Nichols, they're your two new Knicks.
00:28Thoughts on the picks and thoughts on the Knicks draft as an overall, because there's a lot of discourse on
00:35the Internet on people liking and not liking what they did.
00:40Yeah, I think anytime, you know, you have a draft under this regime, or at least history shows us a
00:46draft under this regime, it's never about draft night itself only.
00:51It's always about what it means for down the road.
00:54So in this instance, the Knicks obviously went into the draft with one late first round pick and then a
01:00couple of seconds, and they parlayed that into, I think it's the grand total is five future second round picks,
01:08including a future Kings second rounder that, you know, anytime you can get a Sacramento pick, you want to get
01:13that in your coffers.
01:15So that part of it's good.
01:16And then the other part of it is, you know, we're obviously talking a lot about second aprons and what
01:21that means for their impending free agents.
01:24I think you look at the fact that they took two kids in the second round who I would assume
01:29they will be able to sign to bare minimum deals that will save them additional dollars again as they try
01:37to resign at least one of Landry Schammett or Mitchell Robinson.
01:41As for the players themselves that they took, I mean, look, anytime you could get a shooter who people are
01:46talking about as potentially the best shooter in the draft,
01:48which this nickel kid seems like he might be in contention for that title, especially with size and he's 6
01:55'6".
01:55I love that.
01:56And then as far as the kid from Germany, like, look, Sam Vecini of the Athletic described him as a
02:02jack of all trades, master of none,
02:05played in obviously a high level league across the pond and did a lot of winning over their imperfect player.
02:13But I think if you're gonna, you know, take a shot on a combo guard, he seems to be, you
02:18know, worth the price of admission for the Knicks.
02:22And again, it might, might allow them to free up some additional roster pieces moving forward.
02:29If you, if you look at him as an incoming piece to replace someone that might have to go out
02:33via trade to fill other needs.
02:36Both of these guys are drafted in a pretty, pretty great situation getting drafted to the former, well, the NBA
02:43champs right now.
02:44Summer league is right around the corner.
02:46I know Kale said that he wasn't going to go back to Germany.
02:49He was going to stay here, start working out and get him ready for summer league.
02:54First impressions mean a lot, especially in New York City.
02:58Which one of these guys do you feel like is going to have the better first impression come summer league?
03:04Yeah, I'm curious what Kale looks like, because again, he was tasked with like running the show on his German
03:11team.
03:12Um, and he had a lot of responsibility over there.
03:15And so I'll be curious, you know, uh, it doesn't, I don't think I would guess that Tyler Kolek is
03:21not going to play in summer league.
03:24So if Kale comes over and, and plays at Vegas, um, I would assume that they're going to put the
03:30ball in his hands and kind of let him run the show.
03:33So he'll have an opportunity to show out right away.
03:36Um, but you know, I'm, I'm also looking at nickel and seeing, you know, how does, how does he defend?
03:42Obviously it's not at the NBA level because it's, it's summer league.
03:45It's not NBA games, but Kenny hold his own on that end of the floor.
03:48And obviously we get to see, uh, you know, does the jump shot start to, uh, translate.
03:53You mentioned the secret apron and it's looking like as of right now, the Knicks aren't going to be able
04:00to sign both Landry Shamit and Mitchell Robinson.
04:04We know what both of those dudes mean to this team.
04:08We saw them both step up in big moments throughout the playoffs, more Shamit than Robinson.
04:13You can only sign one player, put your GM hat on.
04:18You are J Mac Rose.
04:20Which one do you sign and why?
04:24So it's a tough question to answer in a vacuum, but I'll try it, you know, cause it depends on,
04:29for instance, if you could get Landry Shamit back on a deal, something around three years and, you know, $6
04:37million a year or something, $6, $7 million a year.
04:40Versus it taking maybe, you know, uh, something closer to $10 million or even more, should they even be able
04:48to get up to that range?
04:49And it's going to be tough to sign Mitchell Robinson.
04:51Um, I, I think that factors into the consideration.
04:55I will just say trying to replace a Mitchell Robinson is no easy task.
05:02Like, uh, Ariel Huckporty credit to him.
05:04He, he came in and played some big spot minutes in the NBA finals, represented himself well.
05:09He had a big block on Luke Cornett in game five.
05:11Um, but Ariel Huckporty, I, I'm not sure if the ceiling is there for him to be a full-time
05:18backup center in the NBA.
05:20And then you just look around the league and you're, you know, there'll be guys that'll be available in the
05:25free agent market.
05:26You're, you're Andre Drummond's and you're, you know, you're Nick Richards of the world.
05:30Like these are guys who have been kind of passed around for a reason.
05:34They are not guys who you want playing rotation minutes.
05:37Um, so my answer would lean towards Mitchell Robinson.
05:41That said, and this is kind of what I was alluding to before.
05:44Or does the fact that you drafted two guys who, you know, one's a combo guard, one is, you know,
05:50kind of a, a shooting guard wing.
05:52Um, in addition to the fact that you have Alvarado, hopefully, probably coming back, you have Kolek here.
05:58Does that make it more likely that Shamit walks because you are a sturdier in the backport court, or does
06:05it give you an opportunity to explore the trade market for a deuce McBride,
06:09potentially for a center to bring in and again, replace Mitchell Robinson.
06:13If you feel like Mitchell Robinson is just going to cost too much money.
06:16I think that there's a lot of balls in the air here for the Knicks.
06:19And I'll be very curious which way they go, but I completely agree with you.
06:22I don't see any universe where both Shamit and Mitchell Robinson both return.
06:27If we are to believe what has been reported and what the owner came out and said, which is that
06:31they're not going to go over the second apron.
06:33All right.
06:33So let's flip it.
06:34Take the GM hat off.
06:35Now you're an agent for one of these players or both of these players.
06:39You're Jay Mack of, uh, CAA or even clutch sports.
06:42You're talking to your client, which one would benefit taking a deal to, to stay here in New York?
06:51Uh, I, you know, it's, that's a tough one because I think there's a lot of factors that go into
06:57that.
06:58Um, obviously off court, you know, marketing stuff, the fact that you get exposure.
07:02I will just say as a fan of this team for a very long time, the fact that Mitchell Robinson
07:09is the longest tenured Nick and he has been here, he's played here eight seasons, um, has
07:14a chance to be one of the very few players to, to be a Nick for 10 or more seasons
07:18that, that
07:18matters to me.
07:20Does that matter to him?
07:22Um, I think if I was the agent for both of these guys, you know, they both had significant
07:27contracts at various points in their career.
07:29Shaman had a nice size contract earlier in his career.
07:32Mitch is coming off a contract that has paid him eight figures a season.
07:36I think the situation for Mitchell Robinson here in New York is really ideal in that he
07:44can, there, if he, if he needs to sit out a back to back, we've, they've already shown
07:49the willingness to, to allow him to do that.
07:52He could play with Carl Anthony towns.
07:54He's obviously a perfect backup for Carl Anthony towns, you know, for if, if cat gets in foul
07:58trouble, he's able to step in.
08:00It re they really had built a perfect situation for Mitchell Robinson here.
08:03Whereas if he goes to another team and maybe takes a few more dollars, but they try to overextend
08:08him with his injury history.
08:10I don't know if that's going to be in his best long-term interest.
08:14Now he may not care about that.
08:15He may just want one final big payday regarding Landry Shaman, you could plug Landry Shaman
08:20into any team in the league.
08:22So if there is a team out there willing to give him something around, you know, $10 million
08:27a year, I would miss Landry, obviously.
08:31But if I was his agent, I would probably tell him to go take that offer from someone else.
08:35Without a doubt, you got your ring.
08:37Now go get the bag.
08:39This is what's really, you've been chasing.
08:41You're in the position to get everything you want this summer.
08:43Remember, ring, bag, right off in the sunset.
08:47Even if you only win like 10 games a season at whatever new team that you have, you got
08:52your money and you got your ring.
08:54Can't really take that away from you.
08:56All right, J-Mac, let's wrap this up, man.
08:58Final thoughts on all things Knicks, because my mind can't take any more Knicks talk until
09:04at least, let's say mid-football season.
09:08Sure.
09:09I will say, you know, just keeping it with the cap stuff, Carl Anthony Towns became eligible
09:17for an extension last summer.
09:20Those sides, I don't think, really had any kind of conversations towards that.
09:24I will be keeping an eye this summer on if Cat and the front office can come together
09:31on a number.
09:32I believe Cat spoke a few days ago about how he'd be willing to take less than what he
09:37would be eligible for, which I think is a great sign.
09:40Because I think, you know, the fact that, you know, Jalen Brunson already took less money
09:46to stay here.
09:47You have OG and Mikal Bridges.
09:50They've both signed, you know, new contracts recently.
09:53And then it's just Cat and Hart.
09:55I don't expect Hart to ever go anywhere.
09:56He'll be here for probably the rest of his career.
09:59So if they could get Cat to sign for a reasonable number, and I put that term reasonable in air
10:07quotes because it's going to be for a lot of money, I think that's a great sign that
10:10we're going to get another, you know, three, four, five years with this core, which is,
10:14you know, coming off a championship, which you would hope for.
10:16And then the only other thought I have, you know, Nick fans everywhere, enjoy this summer.
10:22Don't stress about the draft.
10:24Don't stress about free agency.
10:26It doesn't, it's not every day where you're defending NBA champions.
10:29So soak it all in, you know, have an extra beer by the poolside as you're enjoying whatever
10:36it is, your 4th of July barbecue.
10:38And yeah, the Knicks are NBA champs.
10:40What's better than that?
10:40Enjoy it.
10:41Just don't steal any trash cans, please.
10:44All right.
10:45Appreciate you taking us to school, my man.
10:48Appreciate you, man.
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