I follow Alan Hahn's FACEBOOK feed, and his commentary last night echoed a number of issues and concerns ot myself, Kam, Dawg and BoD, and his feelings about possible options vis a vis the upcoming trade feeding frenzy, and the price of making moves, vis a vis the short term and/or the long term.
* I challenged him a couple of weeks ago vis a vis the narrative which held that we had to offload Randle to make room for Obi, which I characterized as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. He now speaks of Julius, RJ and IQ as our big three.
* Hahn views our lack of three point shooting as the main thing holding us back from being a playoff team. Wally Z. spoke of the frustration Julius feels as a facilitator, making plays, finding open men, who time and time and time again brick the trey, and how the mindset then becomes, WELL, I've got to do it all myself, which is understandably where turnovers come from.
* As per Kam, Hahn was flabbergasted when in the third quarter, Thibs did not find a few minutes for Frank, as poorly as he felt Elfid was playing.
* As per Dawg, while he does not demonize Payton on the Biblical level of evisceration as Lester, EP has pretty much exhausted Hahn's patience. What did we see last night, like 18 minutes from EP, and 30 from IQ. The writing is pretty much on the wall, people. Hahn was talking about how the clock has run out on Payton, and that the Knicks need to find a veteran PG of some sort to supplement IQ, pointing, ironically to the Stricland for Mo Cheeks trade, in which Mo was supposed to function as Mark Jackson's relief pitcher, though that surely went awry...I forget who our dipshit coach and GM were at that point. Anyone? Alas, the pickings are rather slim, though the names Rondo, Teague were raised, as was Rose, with little enthusiasm. For the life of me, I cannot fathom why Frank does not get the opportunity to make a case for himself. Well, I can fathom it, but Thibs is a rather stubborn fellow.
* As per BoD, Hahn has pretty much run out of patience with Reggie Bullock, whom he regards as every inch the bust/failed signing that Elfrid is, and he wants to see what the front office is made of regarding getting a SF who can actually shoot threes and play a complete game, let alone a shooting guard who might be available and can nail the trey. He raised the name of JJ Reddick, which was very interesting. Does he not have an apartment in NYC? NOTE: Hahn pointed out that OBI is NOT a three, though he might evolve along those lines over the next couple of years, though in the short term, not a chance, which of course echoes BoD's predilection for picking Deni Avdija or at the very least making a run at Bogdonavich.
* As per the likes of JJ Reddick, and some infusion of talent, Hahn was VERY Snarky about OVERPAYING. Several commentators raised the prospect of Zack Levine, which Hahn brushed off on a number of levels, not the least of which was the fit and THE COST. "I'm not giving up draft picks for anyone not named BRADLEY BEAL." RIGHT ON. I like Zack myself, but agree with Hahn...that is a lateral move, not a significant improvement. And as things stand right now, Knicks faithful, we could very well be looking at TWO LOTTERY PICKS, as Dallas is undergoing a significant meltdown, with Luka pissed and KP seemingly ambulatory only every third game. Would I trade both of our 2021 picks for Beal? Moot point. The Wizards ain't trading him.
It will be interesting to see how the Knicks and Coach Thibs come back on Wednesday.
And if there is any market for the likes of Bullock, Knox, Smith, Ntilikina, Payton, Brazdeikis.
PS: As oer Trader Vic, Facil, Kevin Knox for Malik Monk was floated, which makes some sense for both teams, but based on recent play, one would think that this ship has sailed.
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