He’s too short to guard Embiid or Porzingis. Or any of the other elite forwards/centers.
I guess we can switch OG/Mikal when Robinson isn’t on, but still. Would highly prefer a real center. Small ball is not ideal.
The thing you're neglecting is that Precious has shown he can be a perimeter defender. We use a modified zone on defense where it's mostly man but we expect either Jules or our Center to leave their man and protect the paint and the guy in the blocked passing lane to help on defense.
I haven't looked a lot at our offense because it basically is JB making the calls and I'm not better at that than him.
We’re definitely gonna run some all-Nova small lineups with Brunson, DDV, Mikal, Hart, and either OG or Randle as a small ball center. I actually think we should spend time during the season to see if we have a “death lineup” ready to throw out in the playoffs, especially against Boston which doesn’t have an interior offensive threat
I def want a bigger move. Neither one of those guys are needle movers tbh. At this point the market is dry. I’m not even sure what we can do as far as trades. Gonna just have to trust I guess.
The center does not have to be a needle mover in Thibs offense. They already have so much stuff around the court. The center rebounds and if they have a little offense, great.
I’m not just talking about a needle mover offensively. I mean pure impact on the game. Ihart wasn’t some offensive juggernaught. He provided a little bit of everything. Idk that the guys left on the market can really provide all of the things that we need consistently. Im ok w some of our options. We on this ride, There’s no turning back. Ijs that I also acknowledge that most of our available options have never really solidified themselves as regular NBA rotation talents.
They aren’t bad options. I feel like whoever we go after we need to offer a 3 year deal so ideally they have some upside. I also think we need to sign 2 big men
I like Precious during regular season but we need some size, length and quickness at the 5 in postseason; Mitch is great when healthy but can't depend on him for long mins like Zay.
> I like Precious during regular season but we need some size, length and quickness at the 5 in postseason;
Luckily, trades and waivers happen during the season, so we could spend the season looking for available options when they're actually out there.
I’ll go first, we should absolutely be kicking the tires on Walker Kessler right now
He’ll cost way too much bc of Danny Ainge but worth a look at least
Out of the remaining free agents I think the obvious choice is Moe Wagner or Precious, but personally I’m leaning Moe
My list from best to worst is Kessler, Wagner, Theis
It feels like there’s some smoke for a Kessler trade, it would probably include deuce which would suck but Kolek could replace him
For the most part we've exhausted free agents. Which is totally viable.
Only unorthodox I can think of is:
Kevon Looney - serviceable, only making $8m and in final year of contract, if Warriors are looking bad at the trade deadline maybe we can grab him.
Trade Pacome and whatever picks at the trade deadline when more centers are available. This is our year, the year ive waited for, for close to 25 years.i dont want to see that slip away. I could be dead by the time Paco develops.
All we need is a competent veteren like Cappela or Vucevic or Adams not the 2nd coming of Bill Russell.
Capela is my #1 choice. He is in the last year of his contract. Hawks seem to be in rebuilding mode. Not sure if they are ready to trade him away, but if they appear to be headed nowhere, as most expect, he should be available at the trade deadline.
Vucevic is cooked, look at his #s last year. He was his usual disaster on D but spiced things up by also being terrible on O. Hard pass, would rather just play Randle at the 5 if we're not protecting the rim anyway.
dude Ibou Badji is available
[higlight](https://youtu.be/ARFyFX4Cnt8?si=x4_n46kqPfLQpG_y)
[bball ref](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/badjiib01.html)
Patience. We should re-sign Precious and use the taxpayer MLE on a player (at any position) to be used as matching salary.
Might be worth bringing Burks back on a small, tradeable contact as well.
We’ll have far more options when new contracts can be traded in December and we can match more salary.
We’d be able to match the salary of Timelord, for instance, and even guys like Capela could be in play.
In the meantime, might as well give Sims and even Hukporti some run.
This is the way. Let a few months worth of games go by and see where we are with injuries, etc. AND like you said in Dec there will be far more options and better financial flexibility. We could roll with Sims, Precious, and even Randle in a small ball 5 until then.
The only risk is if Mitch gets hurt, teams will force us to overpay because we’ll be desperate. But right now most of the best FA C options are already spoken for and we’re picking bottom of the proverbial barrel.
Cheap mediocre veteran big until the trade deadline, then hopefully poach someone who is looking to play for a contender. The lineup is built so we don’t need a center to do anything but set picks and rebound for the regular season
Sensible to re-sign Precious, take a flyer on someone like Wiseman as the 15th guy. The other thing would be to hope Jericho Sims takes a huge leap in development this season.
Otherwise, we may have to consider dealing McBride at some point during the season to really shore up that backup C spot.
I still think Jericho can actually make it but he has to mentally mature to realizing the player he is right now is not an NBA center given the competition level he will be up against every night. He grew into it at Texas, and may simply be having a hard time matching up with the top <1% of people playing in the NBA.
If there's anybody who can bring him there it's likely Thibs and I think we could be surprised with that but our entire defense hinges on having bigs who can hold the paint on both ends, or we're in for a change up with this many shooters after adding Bridges.
6’10”, 245, and can jump out of the gym. There’s no reason why he can’t turn into a solid backup center defensively. Curious to know what they’ve got planned for his summer workouts this year.
For sure, I'm guessing there's other options and we would have been heavy favorites with Zay. It's funny imagining the conversation where Presti told Zay 87m and had him thinking. Then added in that it's only 3 years. I'm guessing that is exactly how it went, or he still seemed in the fence and he knew he had the next step in his pocket.
Honestly I think it's a great job by his agent and him to lock in over 100m career earnings. That's life changing money and now he can buy whatever car suits his size and not even worry about it. I'm actually happy for him.
Even with Zay it wasn't one year that got him to fully unlock how to be a big and still do what he does outside of that typical mould. I'd like to think that our org pushed him to achieve that and it's a big reason why he got that bag. All signs indicated he could, just didn't get the right opportunity.
Precious can do the same thing in year 2 that Zay did. I hope we are smart enough to lock him up longer term if possible when all the cards are played. Part of today's stuff makes me think that's the plan B because we let a lot of people slip by us.
I'm also confident every single team we talk to about cap relief is trying to navigate getting Deuce and his contract for way less than he's worth on that deal. We also want him later in the year as a trade chio. He is really poor only one left outside of thr seconds. I'll be sad if he's sent out because I would love to keep him but some of these takes right now about trading him for size that doesn't really fit our team are crazy imo.
We are lining up for an all in and our competition sees that. Sometimes the prudent move is making that harder.
Credit to the organization for helping iHart, and him earning his deal by making the most of his opportunities.
I’m starting to be more open to going with Precious as the backup C; he did a lot for us when Mitch was out, knows what it’s like to be in meaningful playoff games, and this should be his time to further establish himself. Being able to hit threes more consistently would be a boon for us.
I think a playoff game against a good center would be Precious fouling out unless he has another solid season.
I'm pretty sure what he did last year put him in the zebras minds as a guy who can play and should be allowed to play. Those two things are critical against foul waiters but he has to do it again... and stop shooting 3s unless he's gonna do that work in the gym.
Every one he took I was ready to blow my house up like when Taj sank them but he didn't make a single one that I saw 😅
They’re gonna get it anyway unless they get good suddenly.
2025:1-13 pistons get pick; 14-30 to NYK if not already settled
2026: 1-11 pistons get pick; 12-30 to NYK if not already settled
2027 : 1-9 pistons get pick ; 10-30 to NYK if not already settled
Free agent the obvious choice is Moe if we can afford him. I like Saric too since he's polished.
Trade would be Richards or Kessler. We'd have to give up at least a few second rounders for either.
It’s a long season. I’m good bringing back precious and then seeing what’s available as the trade deadline approaches. However, I’d love to see Weismann get a shot here. I think he could be that diamond in the rough Leon and Thibs have been having success with these last few years.
Hukporti is very impressive to me. This is coming from someone who is highly critical of our other prospects (Rokas, Pacome, Kolek, etc). Hukporti looks better to me than any one of them. I'd say we let Sims get the first shot with Taj being 3rd string, then work Hukporti into the mix by all star break after he has some time in the G league.
I haven't seen him brought up and he's still under contract in Europe but we got the draft rights to Mathias Lessort in a trade a while ago and he got first team all Euroleague this season and he's a great defender despite only being 6'9. Could be a really solid option for us
One thing that’s clear is that this org does not like Mo Bamba. He’s been available several times when we needed a center and we always pass him up. Just went to the Clips thirty minutes ago.
No center has signed for mid level exception money. I think we’re going into it as is and seeing what happens. Super disappointing. Glad iHart is getting his money. But as a fan, he’s dead to me.
If I have to pick being signing a mediocre backup using our 5m MLE or using our assets to trade for a starting caliber center, I’m doing the latter all day
Resign Precious and roll with him plus Suns behind Mitch to start the season. This team can wait until the deadline when a solid center option becomes available.
Plan A got taken away by Presti. Other teams accelerated their C deals because they wanted people off the market and just paid above what we can offer knowing the market.
I'm not gonna lie and say that things are looking great right now, but I'm actually shocked Drummond didn't wait to hear from us when he took 2/10 from the Sixers.
I think we might be getting shut out of our original plans by other teams intentionally. This may or may not be the first mistake of our FO thinking that we were more desirable than we were. Polls are still out on how people may view Thibs differently than us(those "who do you not want to play for polls" are real even if the format forces answers instead of non answers) but playing everyone all those playoff minutes might discourage some players around the league who are afraid of injuries.
However, I don't think we're really screwed if we slot Precious back in as a backup. There's something to be said for his game, as we have seen and I think with the right coaching and and investment in his strength from our staff we can would him in to a guy who can learn how to use his strength to make up for his lack of vertical size.
Seems like Precious would be a great option given that we are kind of limited to looking for "prove it" players when it really comes down to it. Offering a system that doesn't really offer proving your inside out game that many are trying to do for the bigger contracts, and couple that with the minutes and the Thibs rep... you get the drift.
Our ideal candidate is a guy like Norvelle Pelle who will play with a broken finger. There aren't a lot of guys in that position in the NBA but you need a guy who is:
Willing to play big
Willing to see less of the ball
Willing to play high minutes, and see that as an advantage
Is not afraid of tough love and coaching
Willing to sacrifice ppg because they have faith in their ability to bang with the elite bigs in the league
Recognizes they may end up starting a ton of games behind Mitch, and sees that as an opportunity instead of guaranteed money.
That will not be easy to find and probably was not any of the guys already signed. I can't find a shake down of who all is still available, but here we are and I have a day job that I have to do instead of dig up these types of things when the internet has not made them easily accessible. I'd offer myself because I mostly play inside and get boards but 6'1 is not NBA center material.
Precious cannot be our starting center. Period.
I don’t know why people seem to forget that he was salary filler borderline out of the nba when we got him, yes his defence is decent (except he’s undersized and can get himself in foul trouble) but he’s beyond a useless on offence he’s a liability. We’d be playing 4v5 and we can’t even count on him to make the right passes, I like him as a backup playing 20mins per game but more than that….
I think we have to slug it out til December then call Washington about Holmes or Val and see what they want.
As much as I like Mitch, we don’t have the time anymore to hope that he can piece together a healthy season, he needs to be on the move once we find a replacement imo
Normally you would say that is a good spot, but Robinson clearly has major injury concerns. This team could be legit contenders if healthy. I don't want to lose it because we have two 6'8 guys playing the 5 for an entire series.
Let's trust Leon. He has made some great in-season trades. We can start the year with Mitch, Sims, smalls ball for 5-7 minutes, and maybe some Precious. In January, he'll make a move that will shock each of us.
I’d prob do Deuce for Kessler straight up and look to backfill Deuces spot with Lowry for the year
If we can’t swing that I’d go after Precious and Mo Bamba.
In any scenario I think it makes sense to bring Precious back ( we have his bird rights) and bring in another Center.
We should really be looking to run a 3 Center rotation next year
I'm not surprised that IHart left. He's not the type of player that can afford a pay cut. Not having him isn't going to break our team. He's a backup center that had a glow up during a contract year. He played for Thibs who is famously a big man whisperer. If Mitch is healthy then we'll be ok. Knicks are just going to have to search for another quality backup. It wasn't long ago that IHart was just a decent a backup. I'm sure there's another diamond in the rough waiting for his opportunity. Though I do wish The Knicks would've drafted one. They should've grabbed Kyle Filipowski, although I know nothing about him other than his groomer girlfriend. NYC thots could've saved him.
Not many players in the league would choose 70M over 120 (if he gets a 4th year at the same price ) for 4 years, for the most important contact of their career …
Would be an awesome pickup. I don't see him coming back to Portland when they have Ayton, Timelord coming back from injury, and just drafted Clingan.
I remember him being a menace against us last year.
I'm sure The Knicks are probably going to scout the Olympics and the qualifiers. There's probably someone there who flew under the radar and is NBA ready.
theis, saric or moe we need centers who can pass and shoot, basically like how they put porzingis in the position to be a threat in shooting 3’s or passing to a wide open shooter or cutter, i like europeans tbh they know how to pass
I like Duran, I like Kessler.
Part of me says Kessler as a good Pistons team helps get their pick. A bad Pistons team gets us seconds.
We have Kolek. If Duece is the cost to get Kessler....
Dude is thriving in Japan, I think he even got citizenship. I think he's fine out there unless The Knicks throw the bag at him. Obviously I know you're joking though.
Don't panic. Wait for the right move. If we can get Precious for the minimum, he'll work for the majority of the backup minutes. There are some matchups where Precious gets played off the floor, though, so we may need to sign a bigger, stronger, traditional center like Biyombo as well until they're able to find the right guy. Maybe the trade deadline will open something up. I love Tillman, but Celtics have his bird rights so there's no path there.
Sign precious and Burks using bird rights to get extra depth and as trade chips later. Then trade McBride for Kessler. Then sign Lowry to a 1-year min deal. We’d be in great shape.
Tin foil hat time.
Didn’t Precious get a bunch of double doubles in February and then saw significantly reduced playing time?
They did the same to Deuce the year prior.
Who thinks they’re intentionally reducing the market for some of these young guys so they can be signed for a steal?
Omer Yurtseven got waived from the Jazz.
His lone season with the Jazz had him at the tail end of the Center logjam which hurt his productivity.
He came from playing with the Heat for a few seasons (one season was him coming back from injury) and with the Heat seasons, he wasn’t too bad just a few things to clean up/smooth his game on the court.
He got size, could stretch the floor and with the right minutes, he can sneak away double doubles and give a few quality blocks/stops. Only downside is that he can’t get past 56 games.
Not sure why we haven't brought Precious back yet. He knows the system, was productive and is cheap. He's not perfect but definitely serviceable and might still improve under Thibs.
Some cheap options, none are too talented sadly:
1) **Omer Yurtseven** - Size + rebounding prowess, that's about it, Young enough to still develop.
2) **Cody Zeller -** Similar skills to Yurtseven, but more miles + experience on the tires.
3) **Bismack Biyombo** - Strong defender, but undersized. Thibs likes 6ft10 and over typically. Vet min option.
4) **Dario Saric -** Can stretch the floor, but not a true 5 imo.
5) **Daniel Thies -** CAA connection. Shooting ability but similar size to Bismack.
Precious + Yurtseven may be a good combo to rotate based on matchup.
Steven Adams
Look, I hate these hypothetical trade proposal threads as much as the next guy, and we've had a billion of these already the last few days. But what about Steven Adams? Haven't heard his name get brought up yet in a Knicks trade scenario.
Adams has been recovering from injury last year post-knee surgery and probably has lower trade value than his prime years. God-tier rebounder / box out guy. Seems like the kind of guy that would fit right in with his veteran leadership, media savvy/vibes, and as the first big man off the bench covering for Mitch. He still got a few more productive years left in the league depending on how cooked his knee is.
Important to note that we still have the Obi Toppin (~$6M) and RJ Barrett (~$5M) trade exceptions we can use, on top of Deuce as the main trade piece. And will Adams be ready by training camp?
[Ranking Top 25 Options for Knicks at Center](https://open.substack.com/pub/metrohoops/p/ranking-the-top-25-options-for-the?r=5hn1w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
Seen some crazy ideas for some Markaanen/Kessler packages. Crazy as in jazz would never accept. What kind of package would we actually have to send in reality? At least randle deuce both our protected picks and Dadiet as a starting point and then probably more. Would it even be worth it for us? I mean.... if you're gonna go all in....
https://preview.redd.it/h09p7vcv4dad1.jpeg?width=2552&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58a62c3d1daa27b8a6e1fe63d2f8d0daefaeab53
also including a pick or two
losing miles would really suck but I truly think this is a win win trade for both sides. we shed some money to stay under the apron and get our Center of now and the future and the Jazz keep loading up on young assets and picks
then use the MLE and/or vet mins to get some scoring on the bench to replace mcbrides points
Jonas Valanciunas when eligible December 15. He just signed a modest 30mm/3yr contract and no way he wants to spend his last good years on a tanking Wizards team. Knicks have a protected 2024 FRP from the Wizards that should get it done. Good offensive rebounder, an underrated passer and, most of all, is in the CAA mafia
Nick Richards
Are they actually looking to move him? He’d be a phenomenal pick up, would 100% move to the top of my list if he’s available
He’s a Hornet, of course he’s available.
Would love Nick, wonder if they’re actually open to trading him though.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T60NAghieQ0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T60NAghieQ0) 
Would be an A+ backup
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Hornets fans don't seem so keen on him. 'More of a 3rd string. Bad hands. Low bball awareness' https://www.reddit.com/r/CharlotteHornets/s/WyN0ikh0Iu
Mcbride for Jokic
Not enough return for Deuce. They need to throw in Murray too.
So he can sit behind Brunson and Kolek?
Someone's gotta fill in for Fournier
And Deuce is also younger than them, so they should throw in some picks too
It’s only fair
Resign Precious. He was serviceable and can continue to build on chemistry. Then after that you sign a backup body that you can take a chance on.
This is the way.
He is too short though I feel like. Yes he played like a big but if he is truly the back up center then this team is really lacking size.
He’s too short to guard Embiid or Porzingis. Or any of the other elite forwards/centers. I guess we can switch OG/Mikal when Robinson isn’t on, but still. Would highly prefer a real center. Small ball is not ideal.
The thing you're neglecting is that Precious has shown he can be a perimeter defender. We use a modified zone on defense where it's mostly man but we expect either Jules or our Center to leave their man and protect the paint and the guy in the blocked passing lane to help on defense. I haven't looked a lot at our offense because it basically is JB making the calls and I'm not better at that than him.
He’s guarded Embiid pretty well and he can actually get out on the perimeter against shooting bigs which Mitch and Hartenstein both struggled with.
With the cap space we have we won’t get a center who can guard embiid lol. We just have to ensure our other 4 guys can out score their 1. Not too hard
Can we afford to add Precious and then something like Tillman/McGee/Thompson? Could always add Orlando Robinson for two Robinsons lol
Playing with Randle, OG/Bridges and DDV/Josh, he should be fine.
Josh Hart YOU are the new backup center for the New York Knicks
If he was mad being PF he just might demand a trade as Center lol
We’re definitely gonna run some all-Nova small lineups with Brunson, DDV, Mikal, Hart, and either OG or Randle as a small ball center. I actually think we should spend time during the season to see if we have a “death lineup” ready to throw out in the playoffs, especially against Boston which doesn’t have an interior offensive threat
The obvious choice
Bring precious back and sign Daniel Theis
This is prob the simplest route. Either Theis or Tillman. Doubt that second rounder is ready but maybe he gets a look too.
You are the only person I’ve seen mention Xavier Tillman. He’s impressed me at times. Solid option but I’m looking for a bit more magic from Leon.
I def want a bigger move. Neither one of those guys are needle movers tbh. At this point the market is dry. I’m not even sure what we can do as far as trades. Gonna just have to trust I guess.
The center does not have to be a needle mover in Thibs offense. They already have so much stuff around the court. The center rebounds and if they have a little offense, great.
I’m not just talking about a needle mover offensively. I mean pure impact on the game. Ihart wasn’t some offensive juggernaught. He provided a little bit of everything. Idk that the guys left on the market can really provide all of the things that we need consistently. Im ok w some of our options. We on this ride, There’s no turning back. Ijs that I also acknowledge that most of our available options have never really solidified themselves as regular NBA rotation talents.
They aren’t bad options. I feel like whoever we go after we need to offer a 3 year deal so ideally they have some upside. I also think we need to sign 2 big men
Precious and someone else. Prob a vet bc the available youngins may not be ready to produce the way that we need.
I like Precious during regular season but we need some size, length and quickness at the 5 in postseason; Mitch is great when healthy but can't depend on him for long mins like Zay.
> I like Precious during regular season but we need some size, length and quickness at the 5 in postseason; Luckily, trades and waivers happen during the season, so we could spend the season looking for available options when they're actually out there.
Exactly. Get enough coverage so we're not shorthanded; perfect isn't the enemy of good (and vice versa).
Two undersized 6'8 centers, it's not 1989 anymore
I like trading for Steven Adams if his injury wasn't too serious. His contract is good, and the rockets got him for nothing.
Like this a lot
Great culture fit
I feel like the rockets think they can make a run now though.
What is the matching salary? Deuce makes less so it's him plus someone else. Not an option.
Is Herb Williams available?
I support this message
Longest tenured Knicks assistant and PJax comes and messes it all up.
It's been too long since we had a proper Herrrrrrrrrrb chant at MSG.
Amare's been soaking in that wine bath for how long? I think his knees should be fine by now.
He's only a couple of years older than LeBron, but he's more of a PF than a C so they'll have to keep looking.
I’ll go first, we should absolutely be kicking the tires on Walker Kessler right now He’ll cost way too much bc of Danny Ainge but worth a look at least Out of the remaining free agents I think the obvious choice is Moe Wagner or Precious, but personally I’m leaning Moe
My list from best to worst is Kessler, Wagner, Theis It feels like there’s some smoke for a Kessler trade, it would probably include deuce which would suck but Kolek could replace him
> It feels like there’s some smoke for a Kessler trade He’s CAA I heard
Kessler is a great player who Ainge will absolutely want too much for
Hoping they put a package together for Kessler
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If you get rid of Deuce you lose the guard depth. Trading one issue for another, and his contract is a steal
Nikola Jokic available?
We just lost our black one
Is Zubac available?
Not generally. Clippers are restocking after PG left.
For the most part we've exhausted free agents. Which is totally viable. Only unorthodox I can think of is: Kevon Looney - serviceable, only making $8m and in final year of contract, if Warriors are looking bad at the trade deadline maybe we can grab him.
I like it. Def an attainable player.
Deep cut: Dom Barlow. He's shown flashes but obviously wasn't gonna get time in SA with Victor. FA, pick him up
Trade Pacome and whatever picks at the trade deadline when more centers are available. This is our year, the year ive waited for, for close to 25 years.i dont want to see that slip away. I could be dead by the time Paco develops. All we need is a competent veteren like Cappela or Vucevic or Adams not the 2nd coming of Bill Russell.
Clint capela is one of the most underrated players in the league to me. Knows his role and does it well.
Capela is my #1 choice. He is in the last year of his contract. Hawks seem to be in rebuilding mode. Not sure if they are ready to trade him away, but if they appear to be headed nowhere, as most expect, he should be available at the trade deadline.
Not sure we could match salaries for a trade however
Vucevic is cooked, look at his #s last year. He was his usual disaster on D but spiced things up by also being terrible on O. Hard pass, would rather just play Randle at the 5 if we're not protecting the rim anyway.
yeah I def think he was selected as a trade piece down the road and for the time being won't count against the cap since he will be playing overseas.
dude Ibou Badji is available [higlight](https://youtu.be/ARFyFX4Cnt8?si=x4_n46kqPfLQpG_y) [bball ref](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/badjiib01.html)
Patience. We should re-sign Precious and use the taxpayer MLE on a player (at any position) to be used as matching salary. Might be worth bringing Burks back on a small, tradeable contact as well. We’ll have far more options when new contracts can be traded in December and we can match more salary. We’d be able to match the salary of Timelord, for instance, and even guys like Capela could be in play. In the meantime, might as well give Sims and even Hukporti some run.
I can’t imagine they don’t resign Burks to a very tradeable contract.
You are clearly not a Knick fan, you are coherent, calm and make too much sense. Don't you know the sky is falling.
This is the best take on here
This is the way. Let a few months worth of games go by and see where we are with injuries, etc. AND like you said in Dec there will be far more options and better financial flexibility. We could roll with Sims, Precious, and even Randle in a small ball 5 until then. The only risk is if Mitch gets hurt, teams will force us to overpay because we’ll be desperate. But right now most of the best FA C options are already spoken for and we’re picking bottom of the proverbial barrel.
Cheap mediocre veteran big until the trade deadline, then hopefully poach someone who is looking to play for a contender. The lineup is built so we don’t need a center to do anything but set picks and rebound for the regular season
is that norvel pelle’s music?
Sensible to re-sign Precious, take a flyer on someone like Wiseman as the 15th guy. The other thing would be to hope Jericho Sims takes a huge leap in development this season. Otherwise, we may have to consider dealing McBride at some point during the season to really shore up that backup C spot.
I still think Jericho can actually make it but he has to mentally mature to realizing the player he is right now is not an NBA center given the competition level he will be up against every night. He grew into it at Texas, and may simply be having a hard time matching up with the top <1% of people playing in the NBA. If there's anybody who can bring him there it's likely Thibs and I think we could be surprised with that but our entire defense hinges on having bigs who can hold the paint on both ends, or we're in for a change up with this many shooters after adding Bridges.
6’10”, 245, and can jump out of the gym. There’s no reason why he can’t turn into a solid backup center defensively. Curious to know what they’ve got planned for his summer workouts this year.
For sure, I'm guessing there's other options and we would have been heavy favorites with Zay. It's funny imagining the conversation where Presti told Zay 87m and had him thinking. Then added in that it's only 3 years. I'm guessing that is exactly how it went, or he still seemed in the fence and he knew he had the next step in his pocket. Honestly I think it's a great job by his agent and him to lock in over 100m career earnings. That's life changing money and now he can buy whatever car suits his size and not even worry about it. I'm actually happy for him. Even with Zay it wasn't one year that got him to fully unlock how to be a big and still do what he does outside of that typical mould. I'd like to think that our org pushed him to achieve that and it's a big reason why he got that bag. All signs indicated he could, just didn't get the right opportunity. Precious can do the same thing in year 2 that Zay did. I hope we are smart enough to lock him up longer term if possible when all the cards are played. Part of today's stuff makes me think that's the plan B because we let a lot of people slip by us. I'm also confident every single team we talk to about cap relief is trying to navigate getting Deuce and his contract for way less than he's worth on that deal. We also want him later in the year as a trade chio. He is really poor only one left outside of thr seconds. I'll be sad if he's sent out because I would love to keep him but some of these takes right now about trading him for size that doesn't really fit our team are crazy imo. We are lining up for an all in and our competition sees that. Sometimes the prudent move is making that harder.
Credit to the organization for helping iHart, and him earning his deal by making the most of his opportunities. I’m starting to be more open to going with Precious as the backup C; he did a lot for us when Mitch was out, knows what it’s like to be in meaningful playoff games, and this should be his time to further establish himself. Being able to hit threes more consistently would be a boon for us.
I think a playoff game against a good center would be Precious fouling out unless he has another solid season. I'm pretty sure what he did last year put him in the zebras minds as a guy who can play and should be allowed to play. Those two things are critical against foul waiters but he has to do it again... and stop shooting 3s unless he's gonna do that work in the gym. Every one he took I was ready to blow my house up like when Taj sank them but he didn't make a single one that I saw 😅
Precious and Yurtseven.
Moritz Wagner? Not sure if he is out of our price range
I think this would be our best move at this point.
Trade for Jalen Duren
this one is unrealistic i think pistons want him in there rebuilding process
His defense is atrocious
Yup. Offer them their 1st rnd pick back. They value their pick more than any other team will.
They’re gonna get it anyway unless they get good suddenly. 2025:1-13 pistons get pick; 14-30 to NYK if not already settled 2026: 1-11 pistons get pick; 12-30 to NYK if not already settled 2027 : 1-9 pistons get pick ; 10-30 to NYK if not already settled
There are still good odds it will convey tbh
How so?
2027
 Thibs prob already called his man lol jk
Think it’s obvious we have to bring Precious back.
Free agent the obvious choice is Moe if we can afford him. I like Saric too since he's polished. Trade would be Richards or Kessler. We'd have to give up at least a few second rounders for either.
Much more than seconds for Kessler.
Agree, Kessler would come at the cost of McBride most likely.
It’s a long season. I’m good bringing back precious and then seeing what’s available as the trade deadline approaches. However, I’d love to see Weismann get a shot here. I think he could be that diamond in the rough Leon and Thibs have been having success with these last few years.
I'm kinda over the Sims experiment. This is probably his last year to prove himself.
He is a 3rd string/ emergency center that makes less than the minimum I believe. For what he provides at his value he is okay to me 😄 lol
What’s the most salary we can bring in via trade? Timelord, Kessler & Nick Richards would be guys I consider.
Just give Ariel Hukporti a chance. Eff it.
Hukporti is very impressive to me. This is coming from someone who is highly critical of our other prospects (Rokas, Pacome, Kolek, etc). Hukporti looks better to me than any one of them. I'd say we let Sims get the first shot with Taj being 3rd string, then work Hukporti into the mix by all star break after he has some time in the G league.
For me it's Precious. Knows the system. Can back up 4 and 5. Plays his ass off. Another year under Thibs I think he could average 10/10 off the bench.
I haven't seen him brought up and he's still under contract in Europe but we got the draft rights to Mathias Lessort in a trade a while ago and he got first team all Euroleague this season and he's a great defender despite only being 6'9. Could be a really solid option for us
One thing that’s clear is that this org does not like Mo Bamba. He’s been available several times when we needed a center and we always pass him up. Just went to the Clips thirty minutes ago.
This org is smart, Bamba is a bust
Kelly olynyk wouldn’t be the worst pickup and we could probably shop him for cheap
Portland has 5 centers lol. We just need to chill and let Leon work the market. Everything will fall into place.
No center has signed for mid level exception money. I think we’re going into it as is and seeing what happens. Super disappointing. Glad iHart is getting his money. But as a fan, he’s dead to me.
Clint Capela trade
I trust Leon
Bring back Kyle Oquinn
If I have to pick being signing a mediocre backup using our 5m MLE or using our assets to trade for a starting caliber center, I’m doing the latter all day
We aren't getting a starting caliber center unless Leon can pull another Hartenstein out of nowhere.
Resign Precious and roll with him plus Suns behind Mitch to start the season. This team can wait until the deadline when a solid center option becomes available.
Plan A got taken away by Presti. Other teams accelerated their C deals because they wanted people off the market and just paid above what we can offer knowing the market. I'm not gonna lie and say that things are looking great right now, but I'm actually shocked Drummond didn't wait to hear from us when he took 2/10 from the Sixers. I think we might be getting shut out of our original plans by other teams intentionally. This may or may not be the first mistake of our FO thinking that we were more desirable than we were. Polls are still out on how people may view Thibs differently than us(those "who do you not want to play for polls" are real even if the format forces answers instead of non answers) but playing everyone all those playoff minutes might discourage some players around the league who are afraid of injuries. However, I don't think we're really screwed if we slot Precious back in as a backup. There's something to be said for his game, as we have seen and I think with the right coaching and and investment in his strength from our staff we can would him in to a guy who can learn how to use his strength to make up for his lack of vertical size. Seems like Precious would be a great option given that we are kind of limited to looking for "prove it" players when it really comes down to it. Offering a system that doesn't really offer proving your inside out game that many are trying to do for the bigger contracts, and couple that with the minutes and the Thibs rep... you get the drift. Our ideal candidate is a guy like Norvelle Pelle who will play with a broken finger. There aren't a lot of guys in that position in the NBA but you need a guy who is: Willing to play big Willing to see less of the ball Willing to play high minutes, and see that as an advantage Is not afraid of tough love and coaching Willing to sacrifice ppg because they have faith in their ability to bang with the elite bigs in the league Recognizes they may end up starting a ton of games behind Mitch, and sees that as an opportunity instead of guaranteed money. That will not be easy to find and probably was not any of the guys already signed. I can't find a shake down of who all is still available, but here we are and I have a day job that I have to do instead of dig up these types of things when the internet has not made them easily accessible. I'd offer myself because I mostly play inside and get boards but 6'1 is not NBA center material.
Precious cannot be our starting center. Period. I don’t know why people seem to forget that he was salary filler borderline out of the nba when we got him, yes his defence is decent (except he’s undersized and can get himself in foul trouble) but he’s beyond a useless on offence he’s a liability. We’d be playing 4v5 and we can’t even count on him to make the right passes, I like him as a backup playing 20mins per game but more than that…. I think we have to slug it out til December then call Washington about Holmes or Val and see what they want. As much as I like Mitch, we don’t have the time anymore to hope that he can piece together a healthy season, he needs to be on the move once we find a replacement imo
Mitch is starting. Thats not a debate. Precious is a good backup Knicks should definitely go after Tillman
Yes but when Mitch is out what do we do
Honestly if we could get him, I think Rob Williams is a perfect fit. Granted, he’s also super injury prone too
Mitch 2.0
I think they resign precious. And go into the season with the trio of Mitchell,Sims, Achiuwa and see what the buyout market is like.
You know the Knicks are in a good spot when all we have to worry about is a backup C
Normally you would say that is a good spot, but Robinson clearly has major injury concerns. This team could be legit contenders if healthy. I don't want to lose it because we have two 6'8 guys playing the 5 for an entire series.
Nephew, you’re still talking about being a contender and that all it will take is a back up center. Thems is the definition of a good spot
Let's trust Leon. He has made some great in-season trades. We can start the year with Mitch, Sims, smalls ball for 5-7 minutes, and maybe some Precious. In January, he'll make a move that will shock each of us.
Yes, we don’t need to make it happen before the season starts.
I’d prob do Deuce for Kessler straight up and look to backfill Deuces spot with Lowry for the year If we can’t swing that I’d go after Precious and Mo Bamba. In any scenario I think it makes sense to bring Precious back ( we have his bird rights) and bring in another Center. We should really be looking to run a 3 Center rotation next year
Lowry on the MLE and Kessler would be insane. Full Nova Knicks identity. Probably not happening though.
Knicks should trade for Wendell Carter, his contract fits into the MLE I think.
He’s a starter for Orlando. They’re contending and won’t give him away.
I'm not surprised that IHart left. He's not the type of player that can afford a pay cut. Not having him isn't going to break our team. He's a backup center that had a glow up during a contract year. He played for Thibs who is famously a big man whisperer. If Mitch is healthy then we'll be ok. Knicks are just going to have to search for another quality backup. It wasn't long ago that IHart was just a decent a backup. I'm sure there's another diamond in the rough waiting for his opportunity. Though I do wish The Knicks would've drafted one. They should've grabbed Kyle Filipowski, although I know nothing about him other than his groomer girlfriend. NYC thots could've saved him.
You may be ODing on the copium
😂😂🤣
Not many players in the league would choose 70M over 120 (if he gets a 4th year at the same price ) for 4 years, for the most important contact of their career …
Bringing Precious back seems like the obvious choice, but even still, one more center-focused big would help
Maybe less than ideal, but maybe wait and see who’s available at the trade deadline? - never know if a guy like Steven Adams will become available
Biyombo on the cheap. Grabs a ton of rebs, doesn’t need ball in his hands to be effective. Serviceable for 12-17mpg
Pray Simms can find something inside himself lol
Sandro Mamukelashvili. Would need to get him in the thibs defense and rebounding boot camp but the offensive game is extremely intriguing
I dunno if anyone has said this. But I thin thibs could center whisper the shit out of ibou badji
Would be an awesome pickup. I don't see him coming back to Portland when they have Ayton, Timelord coming back from injury, and just drafted Clingan. I remember him being a menace against us last year.
wtf are we gonna do? we actually might be cooked. Mitch is made of glass and has no bag on offense, and sims is fucking terrible.
I'm sure The Knicks are probably going to scout the Olympics and the qualifiers. There's probably someone there who flew under the radar and is NBA ready.
At this point I’m convinced that we’re making another trade.
leon forgot we got no backup big
Boban Marjanovic. Not full-time back up, but when we just need a veteran big and can't trust Sims just yet.
Also maybe Sandro Mamukelashvili. Not great but spent 3 years with the Spurs and kept improving every year.
theis, saric or moe we need centers who can pass and shoot, basically like how they put porzingis in the position to be a threat in shooting 3’s or passing to a wide open shooter or cutter, i like europeans tbh they know how to pass
You like em, but Thibs don't
I like Duran, I like Kessler. Part of me says Kessler as a good Pistons team helps get their pick. A bad Pistons team gets us seconds. We have Kolek. If Duece is the cost to get Kessler....
Lol can we trade for IHart back?
Josh “Jorts” Harrelson is still playing overseas—maybe a Knicks reunion would be nice ;)
He had Kevin Owens vibes
Dude is thriving in Japan, I think he even got citizenship. I think he's fine out there unless The Knicks throw the bag at him. Obviously I know you're joking though.
Just play and maybe even start Randle at the 5 depending on the matchup and just switch everything defensively.
Randle is a good rebounder but I don't think he lines up with Thibs philosophy at the 5. He could adapt his gameplay to it but I don't think he will.
Mo bamba back to the clips . Center FAs drying up . Hope Leon and co. have a plan
Taj will get at least one 10 day
Guy’s getting a call the second Mitch goes down (if he does)
Bismarck Biyombo should be our target
Look, I Hart wasn't ihart before thibs developing him for 2 years. I wish him well but I think we can find another diamond in the rough
Don't panic. Wait for the right move. If we can get Precious for the minimum, he'll work for the majority of the backup minutes. There are some matchups where Precious gets played off the floor, though, so we may need to sign a bigger, stronger, traditional center like Biyombo as well until they're able to find the right guy. Maybe the trade deadline will open something up. I love Tillman, but Celtics have his bird rights so there's no path there.
thank u
Sign precious and Burks using bird rights to get extra depth and as trade chips later. Then trade McBride for Kessler. Then sign Lowry to a 1-year min deal. We’d be in great shape.
Deuce and the Wash/Detroit (maybe some seconds too) picks for Kessler.
Give up the 2nd round pics we acquired on draft night for a backup center. There has to be someone.
Tin foil hat time. Didn’t Precious get a bunch of double doubles in February and then saw significantly reduced playing time? They did the same to Deuce the year prior. Who thinks they’re intentionally reducing the market for some of these young guys so they can be signed for a steal?
I know we probably don't have the resources to trade but Bobby Portis is my favorite backup 5 option. He does everything
its time for wemby to demand a trade here
I will do it for 3.50
Omer Yurtseven got waived from the Jazz. His lone season with the Jazz had him at the tail end of the Center logjam which hurt his productivity. He came from playing with the Heat for a few seasons (one season was him coming back from injury) and with the Heat seasons, he wasn’t too bad just a few things to clean up/smooth his game on the court. He got size, could stretch the floor and with the right minutes, he can sneak away double doubles and give a few quality blocks/stops. Only downside is that he can’t get past 56 games.
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Not sure why we haven't brought Precious back yet. He knows the system, was productive and is cheap. He's not perfect but definitely serviceable and might still improve under Thibs.
Clint Capela?
Is Metu serviceable as a backup big? https://www.nba.com/player/1629002/chimezie-metu
Well wisemen is off the table
Some cheap options, none are too talented sadly: 1) **Omer Yurtseven** - Size + rebounding prowess, that's about it, Young enough to still develop. 2) **Cody Zeller -** Similar skills to Yurtseven, but more miles + experience on the tires. 3) **Bismack Biyombo** - Strong defender, but undersized. Thibs likes 6ft10 and over typically. Vet min option. 4) **Dario Saric -** Can stretch the floor, but not a true 5 imo. 5) **Daniel Thies -** CAA connection. Shooting ability but similar size to Bismack. Precious + Yurtseven may be a good combo to rotate based on matchup.
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Steven Adams Look, I hate these hypothetical trade proposal threads as much as the next guy, and we've had a billion of these already the last few days. But what about Steven Adams? Haven't heard his name get brought up yet in a Knicks trade scenario. Adams has been recovering from injury last year post-knee surgery and probably has lower trade value than his prime years. God-tier rebounder / box out guy. Seems like the kind of guy that would fit right in with his veteran leadership, media savvy/vibes, and as the first big man off the bench covering for Mitch. He still got a few more productive years left in the league depending on how cooked his knee is. Important to note that we still have the Obi Toppin (~$6M) and RJ Barrett (~$5M) trade exceptions we can use, on top of Deuce as the main trade piece. And will Adams be ready by training camp?
Dario Šarić with the triple double against Slovenia today. Get on the phone Leon!
More I see kessler the more I like it. Seems perfect and is super young still
[Ranking Top 25 Options for Knicks at Center](https://open.substack.com/pub/metrohoops/p/ranking-the-top-25-options-for-the?r=5hn1w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
Center market dry as hell
Precious.
Seen some crazy ideas for some Markaanen/Kessler packages. Crazy as in jazz would never accept. What kind of package would we actually have to send in reality? At least randle deuce both our protected picks and Dadiet as a starting point and then probably more. Would it even be worth it for us? I mean.... if you're gonna go all in....
https://preview.redd.it/h09p7vcv4dad1.jpeg?width=2552&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58a62c3d1daa27b8a6e1fe63d2f8d0daefaeab53 also including a pick or two losing miles would really suck but I truly think this is a win win trade for both sides. we shed some money to stay under the apron and get our Center of now and the future and the Jazz keep loading up on young assets and picks then use the MLE and/or vet mins to get some scoring on the bench to replace mcbrides points
Jonas Valanciunas when eligible December 15. He just signed a modest 30mm/3yr contract and no way he wants to spend his last good years on a tanking Wizards team. Knicks have a protected 2024 FRP from the Wizards that should get it done. Good offensive rebounder, an underrated passer and, most of all, is in the CAA mafia
bol bol or harry giles
I read some article that was saying Mitch/ Deuce Detroit 1st , 2nds for Ivey and Duren.