It was so strange to sign both Randle and Portis. I did some digging on NBA.com:
Randle and Portis started zero games together and mostly split court time. They were not on court together very often.
59 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .J. Randle, .B. Portis, .F. Ntilikina, .R. Barrett. //-32.1 net rating #knicks worst lineup
44 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .E. Payton, .J. Randle, .B. Portis, .R. Barrett. // 29.2 net rating
24 minutes of J. Randle, .B. Portis, .F. Ntilikina, .D. Dotson, .K. Knox II. // 31.5 net rating
One of them must go. I don't even care which one. Maybe they both should be gone but I suspect Randle stays.
Also interesting that nearly every 5-man lineup with Ntilikina and Morris had a poor net rating*
241 minutes of T. Gibson, .M. Morris Sr., .J. Randle, .F. Ntilikina, .R. Barrett // -6.7 net rating
74 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .J. Randle, .F. Ntilikina, .M. Robinson, .R. Barrett //-23.6 net rating
59 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .J. Randle, .B. Portis, .F. Ntilikina, .R. Barrett. //-32.1 net rating #knicks worst lineup
22 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .B. Portis, .F. Ntilikina, .D. Dotson, .M. Robinson // 2.6 net rating
*For context the Knicks overall net rating for the season was -6.5
So the Knicks played OK when Morris was with Randle but not paired with Portis AND Randle.
And the Knicks played OK when Morris was paired with Payton but not with Ntilikina.
Basically Morris was a polarizing player stat-wise in addition to his other antics. And he's gone now.
BUT with respect to the above, RJ Barrett is the common denominator in all our most negative lineups.
So let's dig a little further into Barrett's lineups:
241 minutes of T. Gibson, .M. Morris Sr., .J. Randle, .F. Ntilikina, .R. Barrett // -6.7 net rating
120 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .E. Payton, .J. Randle, .M. Robinson, .R. Barrett // 0.4 net rating
92 minutes of T. Gibson, .M. Harkless, .E. Payton, .J. Randle, .R. Barrett. // 1.4 net rating
79 minutes of T. Gibson, .R. Bullock, .E. Payton, .J. Randle, .R. Barrett // -14.6 net rating
74 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .J. Randle, .F. Ntilikina, .M. Robinson, .R. Barrett //-23.6 net rating
74 minutes of T. Gibson, .M. Morris Sr., .E. Payton, .J. Randle, .R. Barrett. //-17.2 net rating
59 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .J. Randle, .B. Portis, .F. Ntilikina, .R. Barrett. //-32.1 net rating #knicks worst lineup
51 minutes of M. Harkless, .E. Payton, .J. Randle, .M. Robinson, .R Barrett. //28.1 net rating
44 minutes of M. Morris Sr., .E. Payton, .J. Randle, .B. Portis, .R. Barrett. // 29.2 net rating
32 minutes of E. Payton, .J. Randle, .K. Knox II, .M. Robinson, .R. Barrett //4.0 net rating
32 minutes of T. Gibson, .R. Bullock, .E. Payton, .B. Portis, .R. Barrett. // -8.0 net rating
31 minutes of R. Bullock, .E. Payton, .J. Randle, M. Robinson, .R. Barrett. //-9.9 net rating
A mixed bag thankfully. Barrett is not the poison in the kool-aid. And even if he was, he still hasn't payed a full rookie season.
Again you see more correlation with Morris in the negative lineups with little exception in regards to Barrett.
Some quick conclusions/questions
Was Marcus Morris just a guy who didn't play well with our putative starters Ntilikina and Barrett?
He seemed to play best with Payton. So if Morris is gone, will Payton be less needed?
With Morris gone, will the Knicks (6-9 record after the trade deadline and -4.2 net rating) naturally keep getting better?
Are we basically much better off making the trade with the Clippers (addition by subtraction) and wise to not try to resign MM in the off-season?
Is Harkless (better with Barrett) a guy we try to keep?