Everything Playoffs

[Demographic Shift]

The best thing you can say about the Knicks this year is that their rookie MIGHT be a player. They gonna be bad.

Might end up 11th, because there are several teams that are gonna be bad. But they aren't going to be in the playoff race.

In my not particularly humble in this instance opinion.

Yeah... Knox might be a player. He might not. Thinking he is. The Zinger is a talent but he is hurt. Hardaway despite the world laughing at the Knicks for the 4/71 lived up to his deal and Hezonja is getting a fresh start after a good finish in his 3rd and last year in Orlando. Nitilianka (sic) is in his second year and is more capable than his rookie season.

I'm thinking the over under for them if the Zinger gets back by Xmas is 35.. which given the state of the conference might get them to the post season. If Zinger is out till the ASG... then yeah.. the Knicks will be better but not come close to the 35 win mark .

say they take a dozen (12) of the first 35 games to Xmas.
The Zinger returns and they take 23 of the next 47.
Not even 500... but thats all it might take...

Its the East ... its pretty open starting at the 6 and.. if I can quote you.... in my not particularly humble in this instance opinion.

[Demographic Shift]

I just want to see a Raps/Pistons 1st round matchup. Is that too much to ask?

1v8.. or 2v7....not all that outlandish...

[white men can't jump]

Yeah... Knox might be a player. He might not. Thinking he is. The Zinger is a talent but he is hurt. Hardaway despite the world laughing at the Knicks for the 4/71 lived up to his deal and Hezonja is getting a fresh start after a good finish in his 3rd and last year in Orlando. Nitilianka (sic) is in his second year and is more capable than his rookie season.

I'm thinking the over under for them if the Zinger gets back by Xmas is 35.. which given the state of the conference might get them to the post season. If Zinger is out till the ASG... then yeah.. the Knicks will be better but not come close to the 35 win mark .

say they take a dozen (12) of the first 35 games to Xmas.
The Zinger returns and they take 23 of the next 47.
Not even 500... but thats all it might take...

Its the East ... its pretty open starting at the 6 and.. if I can quote you.... in my not particularly humble in this instance opinion.

Ok well Porzingis might be out til February or later. Christmas would be much earlier than he is currently expected to be back.

And how are you defending Hardaway? Regardless of contract, he missed nearly a third of last season, is a streaky and largely inefficient scorer and put up a 14.4 PER last year which is just below average. He is a fully replaceable run of the mill wing player who isn't great at anything.

Ntilikina would have to take a massive leap...like just a wholly unexpected one. He didn't look good in his rookie year. It would be a fairly big leap if he even looked like a decent backup, because he wasn't one last year.

Basically the Knicks best shot is if Knox is a ROY candidate and all star right off the bat. Without Porzingis for likely more than half the year, their team is just bad.

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[KeonClark]

Porzingis is like Bebe with a shot. Toothpick legs on a q tip frame. I don't think he's gonna be known for his durability

[Demographic Shift]

Ok well Porzingis might be out til February or later. Christmas would be much earlier than he is currently expected to be back.

And how are you defending Hardaway? Regardless of contract, he missed nearly a third of last season, is a streaky and largely inefficient scorer and put up a 14.4 PER last year which is just below average. He is a fully replaceable run of the mill wing player who isn't great at anything.

Ntilikina would have to take a massive leap...like just a wholly unexpected one. He didn't look good in his rookie year. It would be a fairly big leap if he even looked like a decent backup, because he wasn't one last year.

Basically the Knicks best shot is if Knox is a ROY candidate and all star right off the bat. Without Porzingis for likely more than half the year, their team is just bad.

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OK.. your taking under...

Had read over the summer that the return of the Z in various pieces was from xmas to next year. Hes young.. He might heal quick.. I really don't know when hes back...

I might be out here on point by myself on this one.. but I'm going to stay out there till the Zinger is put on the PUP list for the year.

I for the first time see a new more ordered Knicks front office piecing together a team.
And its been quiet outta MSG. Very quiet. Like some adults are in the building. No crazy Uncle Phil warring with his coach and players. No Jeff Hornacek at war with the players. James Dolan not tossing an icon out of the building. Just quiet. I think thats good.

[Demographic Shift]

Porzingis is like Bebe with a shot. Toothpick legs on a q tip frame. I don't think he's gonna be known for his durability

Well more than a shot eh Clarkie... I mean he actually knows what do to out there when he plays... he can hit that jimmy and he can play inside with a few more options than the alley ooop... ....

but yeah.. brittle....

[S.R.]

Totally forgot Zinger was out so long. Oh well.

There are so many more teams in the East I just don't even want to watch. I'd rather watch CSPAN than a Charlotte Horncats playoff game. Shoot me now. (Or just adopt a top 16 playoff format.)

[KeonClark]

Totally forgot Zinger was out so long. Oh well.

There are so many more teams in the East I just don't even want to watch. I'd rather watch CSPAN than a Charlotte Horncats playoff game. Shoot me now. (Or just adopt a top 16 playoff format.)

We're living in a world where derozan Aldridge and popovich could win 46 and miss the playoffs, while Charlotte or chicago wins 36 and makes the playoffs and those teams would lose to the spurs in like 5 games

Then again that's the nba reality for as long as I can remember. The east last 2 seeds usually have no business being there

[The Great One]

The Knicks are a darkhorse team to make the playoffs. I've been hyping Knox well BEFORE the draft. How he fell to the Knicks at 9, i will never know.

[white men can't jump]

OK.. your taking under...

Had read over the summer that the return of the Z in various pieces was from xmas to next year. Hes young.. He might heal quick.. I really don't know when hes back...

I might be out here on point by myself on this one.. but I'm going to stay out there till the Zinger is put on the PUP list for the year.

I for the first time see a new more ordered Knicks front office piecing together a team.
And its been quiet outta MSG. Very quiet. Like some adults are in the building. No crazy Uncle Phil warring with his coach and players. No Jeff Hornacek at war with the players. James Dolan not tossing an icon out of the building. Just quiet. I think thats good.

It's hard to buy into any report that he'd be back by Christmas. There have also been reports of February as a likely return (something like after the all-star break might be a target). James Dolan (who obviously has no medical expertise) has said he's heard December to possibly out the entire season. Basically it's summer so they've prepped fans for all the possibilities.

There has already been at least one story that the Knicks are not going into the season with high expectations and that they will focus on player development. Between that and Dolan mentioning he could be out for the season, it's possible the Knicks could basically be looking to tank. Get the young guys they have minutes and not care about winning. Maybe bring Porzingis back in the last 20+ games of the year, if he's healthy, just to get him game reps and see if they can get a head start on chemistry for next season.

I think that's pretty likely. It's hard to see them getting a strong start, which is probably the only scenario where they'd bring Porzingis back as early as Christmas. They'll already be 30+ games into the season, so almost halfway done. They might be lucky to have even 10 wins (I could easily see them being something like 8-26), and even if they brought KP back, they'd be in a hole while trying to get him into game shape and develop chemistry with a pretty young team. Smartest route is probably to tank, get another top 10 pick, and look to build a very strong 2019-20 season where maybe they could be more than just fighting for the 8th seed.

[Demographic Shift]

It's hard to buy into any report that he'd be back by Christmas. There have also been reports of February as a likely return (something like after the all-star break might be a target). James Dolan (who obviously has no medical expertise) has said he's heard December to possibly out the entire season. Basically it's summer so they've prepped fans for all the possibilities.

There has already been at least one story that the Knicks are not going into the season with high expectations and that they will focus on player development. Between that and Dolan mentioning he could be out for the season, it's possible the Knicks could basically be looking to tank. Get the young guys they have minutes and not care about winning. Maybe bring Porzingis back in the last 20+ games of the year, if he's healthy, just to get him game reps and see if they can get a head start on chemistry for next season.

I think that's pretty likely. It's hard to see them getting a strong start, which is probably the only scenario where they'd bring Porzingis back as early as Christmas. They'll already be 30+ games into the season, so almost halfway done. They might be lucky to have even 10 wins (I could easily see them being something like 8-26), and even if they brought KP back, they'd be in a hole while trying to get him into game shape and develop chemistry with a pretty young team. Smartest route is probably to tank, get another top 10 pick, and look to build a very strong 2019-20 season where maybe they could be more than just fighting for the 8th seed.

Fair... we can circle back in Jan to see which of the two scenarios pans out.

[LJ2]

My playoff dark horse in the East is Detroit

Cav's are the obvious choice to drop out of the playoff standings

I think Indy takes over the 3rd seed spot from Philly

[DerozansSpurs]

The Knicks are a darkhorse team to make the playoffs. I've been hyping Knox well BEFORE the draft. How he fell to the Knicks at 9, i will never know.

Meh. Without Porzingis at 100%, the Knicks are going nowhere.

My playoff dark horse in the East is Detroit

Cav's are the obvious choice to drop out of the playoff standings

I think Indy takes over the 3rd seed spot from Philly

I think Charlotte will sneak into the playoffs this year at the 7th or 8th seed. Kemba Walker is pretty damn good, but the rest of that team is...meh. But I think they have enough to make the playoffs. Batum needs to be benched yesterday, MKG is too much of an offensive liability to be useful on defense (Biyombo will be the same as well). Jeremy Lamb has shown himself to be alright last year, Malik Monk hasn't shown much but could be useful off the bench, and who knows what Miles Bridges provides. Marvin Williams and Cody Zeller are solid as usual, those two will help out Kemba Walker a lot with spacing (Williams) and screening (Zeller). Oh, and Dwight Howard is gone.

As for Detroit, that team has so many mismatching pieces:

• Two ball-dominant players who can barely shoot (Blake Griffin and Reggie Jackson)
• Two players who play best in the interior (Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond)
• Not a lot of spacing, not a lot of versatile players
• Guess which player is going to get the ball in his hands the most? (Blake Griffin)

I just don't see how Casey is going to make that work. He's never shown he can be creative with this kind of stuff.

[white men can't jump]

My playoff dark horse in the East is Detroit

Cav's are the obvious choice to drop out of the playoff standings

I think Indy takes over the 3rd seed spot from Philly

I don't know if they're a dark horse, but I am very curious about Milwaukee. They finally added some bigs who can shoot/score, which will make it harder for teams to just drop back when Giannis is the ball handler on the p'n'r.

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[ReubenJRD]

I don't know if they're a dark horse, but I am very curious about Milwaukee. They finally added some bigs who can shoot/score, which will make it harder for teams to just drop back when Giannis is the ball handler on the p'n'r.

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I think Giannis takes a huge step this season. They've got some better pieces this season -- Lopez and Ilyasova are good additions, and DiVincenzo is going to be solid for them. I'll be surprised if they fall out of the top 5.

This is my East standings after things have slowly come together closer to training camp time:

Boston
Toronto
Indiana
Philadelphia
Milwaukee
Washington
Miami
8. New York (if Porzingis makes it into the new year)
8. Chicago (good young pieces, if KP doesn't play before 2019)

....Chicago, Detroit, Brooklyn are just outside.

If Porzingis plays before the new year, they'll be solid. I actually think the Knicks' roster is good enough to slip in past Chicago, Detroit and Brooklyn. Griffin is on the downside of his career. Brooklyn still lacks the guy. Chicago is mad young, despite having some solid pieces. KP puts them over the top.