00:00And then one final one, Josh, I'm going to put you on the spot, okay?
00:04Because the first thing Spike Lee said to me when I walked in the door today was,
00:08are they going to repeat? Do you think they're going to repeat?
00:10So what if these fans all here want to know,
00:13the Knicks are going to go, have we waited 50-something years to see an NBA championship?
00:17How do you feel about the upcoming season?
00:20Man, I feel great. We got a lot of our key pieces back.
00:25I'm being real political right now. I appreciate you putting me on the spot.
00:29But, you know, this year was amazing.
00:32But I think all of us, the thing that makes us special is right now we're looking forward.
00:37I think all of us are kind of tired of hearing the congratulations.
00:41And we're ready to get the work, ready to put, you know, put the work in, grow, build,
00:46and see where we are at the end of the year.
00:49Everybody here think the Knicks are going to win another one?
00:52Knicks are going to repeat?
01:09The summer's almost over, but the summer of Knicks continues.
01:12Dexter Henry, Jared Schwartz here for you with New York Got Game.
01:15If you're wondering why we're on the street,
01:16it's because we were at Crafting a Legacy, an event by David Yerman,
01:19right behind us in the park just very, not far actually, from West 4th, right down the street.
01:24Jared, how are you doing? How's your summer?
01:25It's been pretty good, Dexter. Arsenal off to a good start.
01:28See, see.
01:29I haven't had to see you for a couple months. It's been a great time.
01:33You see, it's your own people sometimes, your own friends who happens to root for Arsenal.
01:37He has to try to rub on his face because he's a champion.
01:39Well, speaking of champions, the Knicks, they are champions, and we're at this event tonight.
01:43And Josh Hart was here. Carlton Towns was here. Jordan Clarkson was here as well, too.
01:48Josh Hart was asked by Mike Greenberg what he thought his chances were
01:52or thought the team's chances were of repeating here.
01:55What did you make of his answer? It was very diplomatic.
01:57He did not say, hey, we're going to repeat.
01:59But, you know, he said he felt they were good. They're focused on the task at hand.
02:03What did you make of his answer?
02:04It was diplomatic, but it was emblematic of what this team is, right?
02:07You know, he said what they did last year was special, but they're already on to next year.
02:12You know, they're already looking forward to next year.
02:13And he actually said they're tired of all the congratulations.
02:15I mean, personally, you can say congratulations to me all you want.
02:19I'll hear a little more of that.
02:21I'll never get tired of it.
02:22But they said they were tired of the congratulations,
02:24and they're already looking forward to next year.
02:25And that kind of mimics some of the sentiment.
02:27I know you talked to Jalen Brunson earlier in the summer where he kind of said,
02:31it was interesting when you spoke to him.
02:32He said, I'm not going to let that championship define me.
02:35You know, they're already on to the next championship,
02:36the next mountain to climb, the next endeavor.
02:39And that's what this team is.
02:41They're a team that they like.
02:45They've won before in college together.
02:47They know what they accomplished, but they don't want it to be one championship.
02:50They want it to be a dynasty.
02:51What do you think about their chances of repeating?
02:54I mean, some people are going to say they're the favorites coming out the East.
02:56Some people are going to feel differently.
02:58Some people might go to Philadelphia, other teams.
03:00What do you think about their chances of actually repeating it?
03:02Well, it's interesting, right,
03:03because the NBA is literally designed right now with the current CBA.
03:06To not have repeat champions.
03:08I mean, I think it's been eight years since we've had a repeat champion.
03:10And not even that, often the defending champions don't even go that far in the playoffs.
03:14I mean, we already seen Boston two years ago.
03:16They're already, you know, blowing it up.
03:18They've already blown up their core.
03:19The Nuggets the year before that fired their coach.
03:22So, you know, it's a league that is designed not to have repeat champions
03:26and designed for parity.
03:27They were able to bring back most of their core.
03:30Obviously, Mitchell Robinson left.
03:31They replaced him with Drummond.
03:33But everybody's a year older.
03:36Jason Tatum is healthy.
03:38The Pacers are not no longer taking a gap year, right?
03:42Yeah.
03:42I mean, Tavis Halliburton, hopefully back and healthy for them.
03:45The Sixers are completely different.
03:47A team that they swept last year in the second round.
03:49So they should feel good about themselves.
03:51But the landscape is different around them.
03:54Yep.
03:54And they'd have to buck the trend.
03:56You know, that's what sticks out to me the most.
03:57They'd have to buck the trend.
03:58There are a group of guys that often buck the trend,
04:00but they'd have to buck the trend.
04:01I'm wondering about that, the mindset they have.
04:04They know what the trend is, and they have that focus of saying,
04:07hey, okay, we're now on to the next thing.
04:09I'll say if there's any group that could buck the trend,
04:11what we saw last year during the run, it wouldn't shock me.
04:14But let's go to this year.
04:15Opening night, we are about just over a month away from opening night,
04:18so fans are looking for tickets.
04:20And there was a ticket scandal, we should say, around the Knicks.
04:24We saw prices to get in averaging about $2,500,
04:28but even to sit in the upper seats, $1,000 for opening night.
04:31That is a lot of money.
04:32Maybe Jared has it since he's an Arsenal fan,
04:34and they just won a championship.
04:35Maybe he's got it.
04:36But that's a lot of money, and then the Knicks got a lot of bad flack on that.
04:41And then they changed and said it was an error,
04:43and they are refunding those who paid that much and all the change.
04:47What do you make of what we've heard there?
04:49And was this a little bit of the Knicks just getting shamed?
04:51Well, you know, we're used to seeing those prices on the secondary market, right?
04:54There's nothing they can do about the secondary market.
04:56It is what it is.
04:57Brokers buy tickets and they sell them.
04:59But this was their own prices.
05:00This was their own prices they were putting out on Ticketmaster.
05:03Our Steph Bonney broke the story first,
05:05that they claimed they made an error.
05:07They said that those prices were a mistake.
05:10They were supposed to only go up to 12%,
05:12the same 12% that season ticket holders' prices went up.
05:15And they said they'll issue refunds.
05:17Well, not refunds.
05:18They'll refund you back down to that 12%,
05:21which I guess is the right thing to do.
05:23The one thing that is unfortunate is, you know,
05:28people probably didn't buy the tickets because they were too expensive.
05:31Maybe they would have bought them at the new price,
05:32so they get kind of boxed out here.
05:34Right.
05:34And that's the thing that you worry about with fans.
05:37A lot of fans getting boxed out.
05:38A lot of fans are concerned about the higher ticket prices and whatnot.
05:41But we are also, we talked about the season.
05:43We're just a month away from that.
05:45We're a little bit just under two weeks away from the start of Media Day
05:48and training camp.
05:49And it makes you think about young players that could maybe impact this roster.
05:52Is there a young player or two that you're looking at
05:54that could break out on this Knicks roster this year
05:56as they try to defend their title?
05:58Well, Tyler Nichols is really the only youngster, right?
06:00He's not even under contract yet.
06:01Yeah.
06:02We've been reporting that he's not going to go back to college.
06:04You know, that was an option when that ruling came out,
06:06but he's not going to go back to college.
06:08He'll probably be one of the three two-way spots that they have.
06:11They're all still open.
06:12One of them will probably go to him,
06:13and he's someone who could come right in and be a shooter.
06:15But the young guy that's on my mind is not necessarily somebody
06:19that can be a contributor.
06:21It's Pacom Dadia.
06:22And right now there are 13 roster spots.
06:24We'll have those five veterans who will battle it out for the 14th spot.
06:29They can't get to 15 and stay under the second apron
06:32unless they make a cost-shedding move.
06:34Trading Pacom Dadia could be one of those cost-shedding moves.
06:37So he's someone that I would keep an eye on,
06:39not necessarily on the court, but what his roster status actually is.
06:42I talked about this the other day on the show
06:44because there's a lot of pressure on him to perform.
06:46He has an option that could be picked up,
06:48has to be picked up or decided on by October 31st.
06:52Not sure the Knicks are very high on him to pick up that option,
06:54which is over $5 million.
06:56So a cost-cutting move could be likely.
06:58We'll see if anything happens with that or there are any trades.
07:01But it was good to see some Knicks tonight.
07:03We saw Josh Hart.
07:04We saw our country town.
07:05Jordan Clarkson.
07:06They all look like they're ready to go.
07:08Basketball is coming back soon.
07:09And Liverpool, also, they're going to get back to the top of the table.
07:12Just to let you know, my friend.
07:13I've got to let you know.
07:14That is my guy, Jarrett Schwartz.
07:16I'm Dexter Henry.
07:17We'll have more for you on New York Got Game coming up
07:19in the next couple weeks as the Knicks embark
07:21and look to defend their title.
Comments