With salaries where they are at these days, Fournier's is not a bad contract. It is especially good in that we have a team option for year three which we can pick up and use in a deal - if available.
(NOW - of course for the 18-19 mil we do not want a repeat of the 12 PER performance - I get that. I do think thee FT percentage was an outlier to his career - and factored into the lower PER - should get back closer to 80+%)
Fan PRESSURE is a terrible reason to make a trade.
God, but I hate a dummy
Having no reliable, real rudder at PG, first with a ball dominant Kemba, then a gimpy Rose, and finally a game but mismatched Burks, we saw poor starts from RJ and IQ, wild inconsistency from Julius and Evan. Things never quite meshed.
I thought [well, hoped, for sure] that we were getting the Evan Fournier of the French Olympic team, who was a pretty dynamic performer.
The CHEMISTRY on our team in 2021-22 was substantially undermined compared to the 2020-21 team, ironically enough, by cutting Theo Pinson loose, whose contribution was one of spirit as much as anything, which he went to do with significant impact for the Dallas Mavericks. Reggie Bullock for Fournier was a wash in terms of talent, and while Fournier was a more versatile offensive creator off the bounce, we certainly missed Bullock's D, though he was not particularly adept offensively at anything other than catch and shoot, which in a bake off between Evan and Reggie was pretty much a wash. And while Dawg never tires of mocking on Elfrid Payton, and his deficiencies were many and manifest, he could defend and get to the rack: some of Julius diminuition in terms of stats and consistency, stem from the lack of chemistry he rolled with in 2020-21 with Reggie and Elfrid.
Again, I love Donovan Mitchell, but I think the steady beat of the drums in favor of going all in on bringing him to NY is a very bad idea.
Ainge is looking to max out any deal, as well he might, but I really respect Grimes [his size and strength, his defense and his nascent playmaking skills, let alone how he can shoot when in the moment]; I feel like RJ, Quickley and Toppin's heads are in a good place coming off of how they ended up last season.
And the steady chorus of negativity towards Randle. He brought a lot of that on himself, but I think running him out of town on a rail is lame. I expect him to come into training camp psyched as a MF.
The ripple effect of having Brunson as a clear cut leader coming into camp, the return of Rose, and the stability of having most of the key pieces, both established plus up and coming back from last year, betokens a level of chemistry that I am surely wont to disrupt.
Again, regarding Mitchell, he is a great talent, and you have to give to get, but Ainge looks at the Knicks and sees all day suckers, much as he did with Billy King and the Nets, much as Masai Ujiri did in both the Anthony and Barganani transactions.
I am quite pleased that the Knicks have remained prudent and patient, and did not fold up like a cheap suitcase for Ainge's BS.
Nary a peep out of Thibs this whole while, but I suspect that signing of Brunson and Hartenstein, the return of Mitchell Robinson and Rose, and his clear emotional/spiritual investment in RJ and Julius, let alone Grimes, IQ and Toppin, is such that I'm not feelng a sense of urgency by Thibs to break it all up and go back to square one. We have depth and character and talent from top to bottom. Enough to get us into the TOP 6 of the East. Well, that might be a bit bold, but for me the next step is consistency and competitive focus.
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