Championship or bust for the Knicks?

On the latest episode, I'm joined by Brittany Rosas, and we dive into whether this upcoming season for the Knicks is Championship or Bust!! 

Off The Ball Podcast 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hmm and.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Start spreading the new, new, new New. We interrupt our
program to bring you this important lesson New York.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I love you, love me.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Oh, it's trying to get out the fires away.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
It's over the way up the cover.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Dollar a curry back, take a dollar. Let the laft
oh fuck by James lebrin James with the rejection, it
just puts us a praise long go real back back
out to.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Help his return.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, what's going on?

Speaker 1 (01:04):
People?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Welcome back to another episode of the Off the Ball
Podcast with me her host Chris Lebron, and we got
another good one for you guys. Okay, we are kind
of doing like a Knicks Knicks fan like world tour.
I feels like, you know, you know, so trying to interview,

(01:25):
you know, a bunch of Knicks fans and content careers
just to get their perspective on the Knicks and the
excitement for the twenty five to twenty six seasons. So
I figured, I mean, let me head up someone and
let's talk about the Knicks. And she is very popular.
I think she's up for Rookie of the Year I
think in the Knicks polls, you know, so, you know,

(01:49):
she's she's up for Rookie the Year, so if you
see that, you'll make sure to vote for her. You know,
what's up, Britt, what's going on?

Speaker 3 (01:55):
I'm doing God, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank
you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, so you know we're gonna dive into everything next. Obviously,
Summer League just concluded, you know, obviously the disappointment of
what happened in the in the playoffs, you know, so
we gotta let we got a new coach, you know,
so just overall, you know, just give me what's you're
feeling right now, Like what is what's what's the mindset

(02:21):
right now for me? Like what are you feeling about
the Knicks right now?

Speaker 3 (02:24):
To be honest, I don't like to say it's a disappointment,
and it was a lot of seasons I sat back
and I didn't we didn't come this far. So I'm
actually very excited because the only way is up. I
know a lot of people I liked finals or bus.
I want to get back to the Eastern Convers finals
and then just go from there. I want the Eastern
Conference to start to be the statue. We gotta keep
getting there, keep getting there, because after that, yes, that's
where you want to be headed the finals. So I

(02:45):
enjoyed the season. It wasn't a disappointment to me at all.
I watched a lot of disappointing seasons, so it was
very high. And then coming off Summer League, I first
was a little disappointed because I like to win. I'm
gonna winner. I like to win. I like to win.
But I saw some positives. I saw that we we
gotta win. Now we're contenders. You're not gonna I don't

(03:06):
want a good Summer League team because then that's who
we're going to rely on to be there for the
regular season. And we have a lot of vets that
can get us back to where we need to get to.
And then it looks like we have a nice little
core that can help us in the future. So I'm
pretty I'm feeling pretty good. I'm very happy of the
direction that we're going because there's a lot of times

(03:27):
where I look and I'm like, I gotta like fake
say it's our year, and I know deep down it's
not our year. This year really does feel like our year,
and I feel like it's it's the truth.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
When I say it's crazy, because we is, I mean
not too long ago, we would be talking about, man,
we just lost sixty five games, and you know, like
we have no hope, you know, and this and that,
and now we're you're like, can we win a championship?
Like do we have the pieces to win a championship?
And especially with the way the East is kind of

(03:58):
falling out with old menjury and you know, potentially you know,
some big names going east, you know, leaving the Eastern Conference,
you know, but you mentioned Summer League and obviously that
was that's you know, it just concluded, and that's kind
of what's fresh in our minds. So and you brought
up a good point like, hey, we're kind of in Windamo,
so Summer League doesn't really matter. I don't need the

(04:18):
fancy roster because you know we we already have an
established corps. And you know, but what what was for you?
What were you looking into with some of the like
what was your kind of your your thought process with
Summer League where you did you want to see some
specific did you want to see Colig do something, you know,

(04:39):
to make you feel good about maybe being the backup
point guard. Did you want to see the colors d
R any of the guys we brought into like what
was your your kind of your expectations for the for
the for that core, you know, heading into the Summer League.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
First of all, of my mom's my baby's fit there,
she's a little That's how I felt when I was
watching some of the games a little. I'm actually I
actually won't lie, I was me sweetheart. I actually was
a little bit disappointed in Tyler Kullak. I'm not gonna lie.
I won't sit here and lie because to me, I
vouched for him a lot. I kept hearing people they

(05:16):
want playmaker, playmaker, playmaker, and I'm like, we have one.
I think it was the big deal to see that
A lot of people said we were riding Mike Brown's offense,
to see that a fast paced offense might be a
little difficult for him because I don't know if he
was trying to find his shot instead. He also was
playing with a lot of guys that he didn't play
with over the season. It was very new for him.

(05:36):
But I feel when you're a baller, you're a baller,
and there's really no there was really no excuse for it.
So I was shocked. I was very I wouldn't say disappointed,
let me take that word back. I was just shocked
that he didn't, being one of the older players on
our roster as well. He's about twenty four years old.
He played four season, he played four years, and he

(05:58):
played about four years in college, and then he did
get a little bit of push during the regular season.
He didn't play as much as we wanted him to,
but he did was able to play with people like
the Carl Townsend Og and Michel come behind the Jalen Brunson.
So I thought I expected to see something a little
bit more than what I saw this this summer league. However,

(06:20):
I don't want to. I can't sit here and say
it's over for him. He's against twenty four years old.
That's a gift and a curse because it's like twenty
four as a sophomore is a little bit crazy. But
also it gives him like it's fifty fifty with me.
I won't lie. I came in like Tyler call it
Geary terrible man. Now that I think about it, we're

(06:40):
actually discussing it. I feel like he deserves a shot
in a regular season with about fifteen minutes if he
is going to come in place, so we could really
see what he does on the NBA court. A summer
league court is very different from an NBA court, but
it's not it's not the same type.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Of court, right, Yeah, And that's my thing is I'm
a bit, like I said, like you, I'm a big
Tyler Kohleik advocate like I, I'm I don't know if
I'm the conductor, but I'm I'm a big you know,
I hadn't rated high coming out of the draft, you know,
like I love his playmaking. I thought there was upsided
with the scoring, but uh, you know, I was a

(07:17):
little bit disappointed with with so much that the shot
wasn't going now and it was. It wasn't that he
was taking bad shots so much, because if you're taking
bad shots, oh I could, you know, I can understand that,
especially when you're not an athletic type of player. But
it was wide open shots b where he's missing, and
that that's what frustrated me, was like, we need you

(07:38):
to hit those shots, you know, we know because to me,
I still saw the playmaking yet the turnovers there, but
like it's a summer league environment that the courts kind
of shrink because we're you know, we didn't have no shooters,
so like the court's going to shrink up and like
they're not going to give you anything because guys can't shoot.
So I still saw some of the playmaking that I
liked and the things that I'm not worried about. But

(07:59):
the shot like you had the obviously the big game
where you had like twenty five in the first half,
you know, that was good, But the every I'm like, dude,
you miss an open shot. I it was. I was
kind of like a lot of the guys in the
Summer League, like they were just missing wayming too many
open shots. And to me, if you want to be
able to contribute to a win now team that we are,
you got to hit the open shots. So for me,

(08:20):
that was my biggest little bit disappointed, where Tyler was, Dude,
you missed way too many open shots like that. That
just can't be the case, cause if you're doing that
in the limited minutes you're gonna be playing potentially with
the big club, They're gonna be like, damn, bro, you
can't hit an open shot, you know, Like that's what.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Really that's what really shocked me because I'm like, if
you you're a playmaker, so the fact that the turnovers
were so high and the shot wasn't falling. That's where
the disappointment came from. Something had to be dominant. Either
had to be yes, yeah, because.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
You could live with the turnovers, but if you're hitting shots,
all right, I could live with that or vice versa.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
But Ohaga said they were wide open. They're wide open.
That doesn't matter if you're on a n be co h.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah. So but I'm still I still have faith in
him potentially being the backup, like I still think they have.
You know, maybe there was there. They probably came out
and think, okay, maybe we could bring in a vet.
You know, we still got a spot. But I still
think if you kind of look past, like I don't know,
look past the numbers and how he played, but like,

(09:23):
all right, that was a tough environment, not ideal, not
ideal roster. But if we put him, we still feel
confident that he could do. And I truly believe they
still feel some type of confidence. And I think JB
has confidence too. So JB got confidence in him. Then
I think, you know, we'll see him play, you know,
still play. He'll definitely play more than did last year.

(09:44):
But I think they'll have confidence in him to run
the show, you know when JB needs to get a breather,
because he definitely gonna need some, you know, after the
last few years and he's played. But was there anyone
else you that kind of surprised you with some league?
You know, I know di O Orro someone was that's
kind of you know, took the nixt storm next twitter
by storm, you know, ding pay I was big on
dig I did a show with a guy Lee like

(10:06):
he you know, we kind of hyped him up a
lot and he started people started to really get to
see his game a little bit more, you know, So
was anyone else in some of the league that kind
of surprised you?

Speaker 3 (10:17):
Those those two specifically think he's a big guard and
we're again we were like, okay, Tyler may not be it,
but it looks like we have a guard and play
when everything is all said and done, and you know,
JB gets a little older and things like that. I
love Dank very athletic. He looks like a walking triple double.
To be honest. He can rebound, he can pass, he

(10:39):
can shoot. He shot is not all the way there,
let me not say that, but he shot better than
Tyler fel like he shot a lot better than a
lot of the other players on the roster. Energy. I
liked that he wasn't afraid. He was a guy that
was like every time he got on the court, he
was ready. And I like a player like that, not
shy away from the moment, understands that this is it,
this is it right now. And I think he understood

(10:59):
that I wasn't I was undrafted. Nothing for me is guaranteed,
so I got to just bawl out, and I think
that he tried his best in the situation. Dooara, I
love the energy. We're looking for another wing after everything
is with us, Like a lot of people want these guys,
wanted these guys to be a sure thing forgetting that
a lot of them are gonna be the third or
fourth option, not even the second. So Dwar looks like

(11:22):
a definitely third or fourth option after O G. Mchel
and even Yad and all these other guys. So I
like him. I like him, and he's very big, nice
fully body, unba ready body, and that's what I like
about them. A lot I think has to put a
little bit more weight on I think, and shot creation
a little bit better. But like I think dr literally

(11:43):
has an NBA ready body, and that's some things you
can't teach. And he was another one. Energy, The energy
was there. He wasn't unwilling to do a lot of things.
He was willing to do it. So I like those
two anyone else. I said that because I know that
was a lot of people's favorites as well. Another one
where I was big on and I was, but then
again they pulled him with Hawk forty. We need him

(12:06):
next season. I think that that was another one I
vouched for that we don't need a backup center. We
have it, we drafted it. I want to see his
defense be a little bit upgraded to really study Mitchie. Really,
you have Mitch Robinson right there, and Mitch Robinson is
to me, top five elite defender centers. That's how I
felt watching the summer League. That's okay, wasn't it to

(12:28):
five league defenders? Yes, it's like hop party. There was
times where I just was like, I thought you were
watching Mitch Robinson. But what I did like is he
does have a better offensive game than Mitch Robinson. So
if we were taking Mitch off the court and we're
putting him in, I like the fact that you're not
getting the same things. You're getting some offense, take that off,
and then you're put Mitch, You're getting some defense or

(12:48):
whatever like that. So I did enjoy his offense. I
did enjoy his offense outside of them, though here you
go see him with them. Outside of that, No, there
wasn't anybody. A lot of people were high on color.
I didn't. I didn't care for his game. A lot
of people who were discussing mars On I understand that
he was already He's just probably looking for a contract

(13:09):
on another team, so that was good for him to
see him just try to get that, but I don't
care for him to be on our roster. No, there
wasn't anybody who stuck out to me. There wasn't anybody again,
and then static he got pulled again real quickly. So
I was a little shocked because I was like, wait
a minute, he could shoot kind of, and then I
was like, no, he can't. There was no consistency. There

(13:33):
was no consistency by any of the players. So after
the after the consistency, what I looked for was energy,
because some things you can't teach. So I'm very I
was very high on Dink the Aara there. I was
high on their energy.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
And that's the thing, especially with Dara, like a lot
of his stuff coming, you know, pre draft stuff was
the offense's real role, like it's it's a work in progress.
And I came away from I don't know, just summerly,
but I'm like, Okay, the offense is a lot better
than I ever even and I didn't really do deep

(14:10):
diving in pre pre draft, but just some of the
things I would see, you know, a little bit i've
seen him. I was like, Okay, obviously, the wingspan is
always gonna get brought up seven four, seven five, whatever
it is. You know, he has the size, you know. Defensively,
he's he's there right now, like he's a good defender
right now. But the offense was like, okay, Like he's comfortable,
Like the handles still need to get tightened a little bit,

(14:30):
but he's comfortable with the ball in his hand, you know.
And that shows that he is very confident, which I
like a lot. You know, he didn't seem like he
was like, you know, scared of the moment, you know,
so he was confident, and I like some of the passing,
especially in the high post like that would really impressive.
So it kind of gives you, like I said, we
have Mitchell Robinson who's just straight defense, and with Huck

(14:51):
and with potentially with like Diouara, like you got someone
who could do some stuff, you know, creatively offensively. It
was like, okay, that's a good BA balance. You know.
It's kind of when we had like Hardenstein, you know,
and he was different from Mitch right he had grown
a little bit more creative, you know, creative offensively and
you know with the passing and stuff, playmaking, you know.

(15:12):
So I think that's what they're trying to go and
dink you know. I I know people would you know,
harped on him so much with his They just look
at the stats and him in the G League, you know,
especially with the Ignite you know, and just like, oh man,
he shot this. And I tried to you know, I
would go into spaces or tall I was like, all,
try to put things in perspective years old, and Lee

(15:32):
actually put it even more in perspective for me, since
he knows too much about him, like and then I
try to elaborate, you know, to people and try to
make them understand like they don't look at the splits,
understand everything around him, the surrounding, and you know, and
I say, this kid is athletic too, so he just
he just needs to be in the right environment. And
I'm like, I think with us, we have the right

(15:53):
environment for him to actually thrive. And he even if
the shot wasn't going down for him with he was
rebound like he was. I knew he was always a
good rebounder, but he was grabbing boards. He was just
always active. And then we actually got to saw some
of that athleticism, you know in that last game, like, Okay,
this is what we could potentially get because he's a
top I talked to so many scouts and stuff that, like,

(16:14):
he's a top twenty talent in this draft just talent alone.
He's top twenty, and you got him as an undrafted guy.
Like so, you know, we could potentially have something and
we need more athleticism. Like that's that's why I kind
of think they got you know, they picked up Diouara,
they picked up Dink, you know, they picked up some
guys that are like, oh, we need to get more

(16:35):
athletic because we're not a really athletic team. And with
this Mike Brown offense. You know that can you know,
you could really see that athleticism with this offense. So,
you know, like I said, the other Bay champ, you know,
I don't know if he's going to be on the roster.
You know, he did play well the last few games.
You know, it really showed out, but I don't know.
It's McCullers. You know, the shot. To me, I wanted

(16:57):
to see the shot. I didn't see the shot go down.
You know, he was aggressive, which I do like when
SHOT's not going down. Get to the cup. I do
like that aspect. But you know, you know, there's some
intriguing things with with the Knicks young guys, and we'll
see if that replicates to the regular season, you know,
when they will probably get a better chance that they
did last year. You know. So let's talk about the

(17:19):
new head coach because obviously Tims is no longer here.
We got Mike Brown. A lot of people, I think
I think a lot of people when they first heard
of the Mike Brown potentially being the coach, it was like, eh,
retread you know, he's been fired a few times, you know,
and even at for a second I felt that way,

(17:40):
But then I actually like, all right, let me actually
do some homework. Let me let me do a little
deep dive and see what he does that can maybe,
you know, best suit this club. And I watched a
lot of his stuff and I was like, Okay, I
actually think he is actually this actually could work. Like
I like a lot of his offensive sets, and I
think this he can actually maximize our wings, you know.

(18:03):
And I came away as, Okay, if this is this
is one of the guys that are in contention for
the head coaching job, I think he should be the guy.
So what are you what were your thoughts, you know,
with the hiring of Mike Brown and and did you
you know, do you feel like his system? You know,
who benefits the most from Mike Brown coming in?

Speaker 3 (18:25):
I actually, first of all, Tom Thibodeau. I loved him.
I was an advocate for Tom Sibodeau. It was one
of those situations where I realized that some things have
to happen in order for other things to happen. And
I did watch Tom Thibodau be very stubborn over the years,
and some things you just can't change. It's not I'm
not We're not going to pretend he's gonna come into
this season and do anything different than he did from

(18:46):
the last season, and we need different. So when I
heard about Mike Brown, I actually wasn't mad at it.
I was actually happy. I was very anti. I was
very anti Jason Kidd. I was very anti high one second,
we're gonna get the color pink.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
That's the life of having kids. If you don't have kids.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
You understand, I say, get this.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
A lot of my podcasts I've done, I have my
kids in the background, so like this is.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yes, that's how she gets it too. She watches the
games with me and she knows you get some. But
I was very anti Jason Kidd. I was very anti
because they're not ours with someone else. They're in the
middle of having whatever they got going on. I wanted
someone who understood they will come in and this is
their team. And I think Mike Brown understands that he

(19:41):
was an assistant coach person in time and I know
recently he was fired, but he also remember where he
was fired from. He was fired from Sacramento. They're a
terrible organization. I apologize.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
That's what I'm saying too. Like it's the King.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
It's like they don't you know like you know, And
when he did have a good roster, he did with it.
He broke their playoff streak and got him into the
playoffs to go against a very good team at the
time that I felt if Fox was healthy, they would
have beat that team and we would have been talking
a little more highly of Mike Brown at this time.

(20:14):
Experiences everything. That's why we like Tom Tibodau, and that's
why we got very far with Tom Thibodeau. But we
need to get the next level. And he has four
championship friends. You can't you can't get any more experience
than that. He also coached some of the greatest people
that we've seen enter the game, from Lebron to Kobe
to even Stephen Curry and then a lot of people
who say those things, but forget the things that he'd

(20:35):
done for people like Andrew Wiggins, the things that he's
done for people like Draymond Green, the people that he's
done for Malik Monk, the people that he did for
even dearon Fox. Those are good players. They not great,
but they're good. Excuse me, the aar Kons is a
good pla, but those are just good players. And he
made them, some of them All Stars, he made some
of them household names. He made some of them have
their statistically their season's best shoot better. So when I

(20:57):
think of where people are like Og and mckel had
bad seasons when I don't think they did, and you
bring in a Mike Brown, those play those people could
only get better. So I'm excited to see what he
can do with the Michel and the OG because I
think they were tremendously misused last year. So, but the
most person that would benefit is Karl Anthony's Hounds. We

(21:17):
didn't bring him in. We didn't bring him into not
be Kr Anthony's Hounse. He was the number one pick.
He's an All Star. He's one of the best big
men shooters in our league, and we didn't really get
to see that last year. I think he still had
a great season despite the facts, he still was an
All Star starter, but we didn't see the three ball consistently.
We didn't see him dominate the way we could. And

(21:38):
I think that he is a dominant type player, especially
in the East we're playing with Jalen Brunson. I would
love to just see more of how he can be
facilitated correctly rebounding more, shooting the ball more, and even
passing the ball. A lot of people keep talking about
this playmaker, this playmaker, this playmaker. But Carls Towns can
pass the ball. We've seen the little flashy passes. The

(22:00):
the IQ was there. He's not a person that's in Yeah,
and that's another thing he plays. I've seen where he
has a lot of where he's gonna have some where
he had Fox go in a lot to pull the
ball out so that Molique Monk can get the shot.
We have people who can shoot the ball. We have
Carl Towns and we have somebody called Jalen Brunson who
we call him Big Buddy Brunson for a reason. If

(22:22):
he gets in that pay good luck. This is it
out there's Carl Towns. So I think that overall we're
gonna see a lot of statistics go up for a
lot of things. Some may go low. I think Carl
Towns and Jalen Brunson's points per game might drop, but
I think things that are more important like assists and
rebounds will go up. And then I think people like

(22:42):
a Deucetik Bride to come in and play a play
the game a little bit better and then we yes,
we did a affiliate of we did acquire excuse me,
Jordan Clarkson. We did acquire him, and he is a
beast off the bench. We're not gonna forget that. So
what he's done with people already over the years, hey, sweetheart,
when he's done with these people over the years, I'm
excited to see what he can do with these players.

(23:03):
I think that Mchel's mid range was very underappreciated last
year and we've still seen it. I would love for
him to just get the ball where he needs to
just shoot it first. Is having to continuous versus happens
again my move. I can't watch Michel dribbled the ball.
That's how I felt Michael dribbled last year. He doesn't

(23:25):
need to dribble. He does not need to dribble. Neithered
this og.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
See that scream that was me with OG at times,
like what are we doing? My guy?

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yes, I don't like when they have to do things.
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. I don't like when
they had to do things that Jaylen Brunton and Carltown's
could do for our team.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Yeah No, And like I said, kat I think is
definitely a big, big winner of Mike Brown said if
you see what how he was able to use the
bonus and now you add innocent bonus is a good player.
But Karl Anthony Towns, I think is you know, I
think we can agree is a level you know or

(24:06):
two above some bonus. And you know it's a bigger
body too. So what he can do in that high
post and you know, off a lot of dhow stuff,
there's a there's so much intrigue and then like we
mentioned with the wings, like it's not gonna just be
just stay in the corner. It's movement. And you see
with Mike Brown there's a lot of movement. There's a
lot of you know U C l A cuts, There's
a lot of motion. You know. So that just gonna

(24:28):
you know, that's just gonna make eating for a lot
more easier shots, a lot more open shots, you know.
So I just think we're gonna see a lot more
ball movement, you know. And and I know I know
Brunson is what Brunson does with the ball in his hand,
you know, is magic. That's why he became an All
NBA type of player. That's why he's thrived in in
his few years with the Knicks, but we could use

(24:49):
a little bit more ball movement, you know, not just
you know, ball stop. And I think this offense is
perfect for him, And I think it's gonna save his
game too. You know, it's gonna save the energy because
you know, they look like good times. He was just
doing too much energy because he has to take over
because you know, the offense is just so stagnant, it's
just stopped. And I think with this offensive Mike Brown,

(25:10):
we're gonna see a lot more move and just you know,
obviously more trusting in the in the bench.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
Yeah, there were times where o G. I feel he
could have been an All Star this season. So the
fact that he definitely again going back to Wiggins, he
when Wiggins played under Mike Brown, Wiggins was an All Star.
As soon as Mike Brown left, Wiggins became very irrelevant.
So I really think we do have all star calibers
and Og and mckel outside of Towns and film Brunston.
So that's also where I wanted to mention as well,

(25:36):
just having them played their game, play their.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
Game, yeah, because they're going to feel more comfortable and
mckel too. Definitely felt like mckel and Tims were like this.
You know, so you know, everybody.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Knows I love michel by the way. I am a
big mckel advocate, you know.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
So that's if he's if he's more comfortable, we know
what he can do, you know, when he's comfortab We
saw what he could do in Brooklyn. We obviously what
he did in the Suns, but we know there's another
element of scoring to his game, you know, so I
think he benefits. OG's gonna benefit big time. So I
like this. But we got a couple of free agent
moves that were, you know, those low key moves, nothing big.

(26:15):
We didn't have much to really, you know, we got
no money, you know, we you know, we didn't have
much to work with. But you know, they able to
get Jordan Clarkson, you know, from from the Utah. You know,
he got he was waived and we picked them up
for a vet and then you know, Geershan Yabaseli to me,
I love that move. I thought he was a twelve
million dollar player, like and I was. I was like,

(26:38):
all right, he's gonna go somewhere else. He's gonna get
you know, a nice little you know, bag, and then
when we got him, I was like, whoa, we got
him for half of what I thought, you know, and
you know, obviously with the way the market is right,
and he took a pay cut, so we can get
potentially another vet you know in the you know, and
I'm sure they're doing the due dealings with that. But
how did you feel about those two acquisitions? Like I said,

(27:00):
you know, I know Clarkson, it's it's it's he's not
a fish, he's not crazy efficient. It's gonna look, there's
gonna be some games where he's gonna he gonna miss
a lot. You know, he's a chucker. But I also
try to look at the other side. Okay, he played
for a really bad team that was straight up trying
to lose, you know, So you know, how much of
that should I put into that he was just playing

(27:20):
for a bad team. He just he's just gonna take
every shot possible, you know, And how does does him
coming into a winning culture make him realize, Okay, I
need to take good shots because if I don't take
good shots, I ain't gonna play because I'm not like,
I'm not coming in here as a twelve fifteen minut
playing coming here as a vetman and I could be
gone just like that, or I could be riding the bench.

(27:41):
So does that efficiency because we know we could score,
and we need a scorer, and we need someone who
can hand the ball too, you know. So with him
I took okay. But then with gear Sean, like I said,
a guy who can who's a really good three point shooter,
you know, strong, you know is you know, can can
guard multiple positions. You know, you know he's gonna get
to the baskets. Finished a strong you know, so I

(28:03):
like to move. So how did you feel about those
two acquisitions so far? For the next These.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
Are two guys that I hope it's not too little,
too late because I've wanted them last year or the
year before. So I hope that this is like perfect
timing and the patience was worth it because I felt
like we were a Jordan Clarkson away from last year.
There were times we needed buckets when those starters went
to the bench, it was no buckets or it was
you know, it was a lot of inconsistency. So even

(28:28):
though it might.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Be a difference between us not you know where we
ended and then maybe going to the finals like just
a Jordan Clarkson type, you know.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Because you gotta put I know, defense wins championship, but
you've got to put the ball in bucket. And that's
why we lost some games. There were times when we went,
we would stopped, we stopping, Then we get see the
other end and we weren't scoring, so therefore the other
team were allowed comebacks. And then yes, shout out our
ki clutch player. I love him to death. I would
never trade draadon blunts and I hope he retires a nick.
But he was tired a lot. He was tired a lot.
And then there were times where Carl Town's was in

(28:57):
a lot of crowd trouble and then what do we do?
We do? And we were looking that's why again we
had to overuse og and mckel offensively. When people are
now like, oh, these guys are terrible, they're ast beautiful.
They're not terrible. There just were. They're not the guys
that you go to look like a Jordan Clarkson and
get those buckets. So the fact that we now have
more buckets, I'm excited for that. And then yo u

(29:19):
ya selling is that how I pronounced it. He's one of.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, I had to. I had to do a lot
in practice. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
I was introduced to him when we played France and
he dunked on Grown. I'm not going to pretend I
knew him before that. I knew an idea of him,
but that's when I said, who is that guy? And
a lot of people like that's Ben Wallace or whatever.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
I remember him in the league because he had like
a he has a huge gap from when he first
came into the league to like I think it was
like a five six year gap between you know, going
over because he was originally draft I forgot where he
was drafted to, but he had like a five six
year gap and then obviously the last few years when
we saw him with France and you know he's been
in the league, you know, so he had a gap,

(29:59):
so like he had to really redefine his game before,
you know, and now you know we're seeing him what
he's doing now.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
Oh that is a person where I'm glad he did
that because the shows he looked very good. There are
times where a lot of people there are things that
they're worried about that I don'tfl they should be worried about,
which is with those two their defense, That's not why
we signed them. We needed help offensively.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
We needed we.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
Still have Dus and Mitch Robinson, who are defensive gods.
To me, like a lot of people would die for
a mouth on their bench and a lot of people
would die for Mitch to come off their bench. And
they play very good defense. So it was like, what
about the offense? So this is why I'm really excited
we acquired that you gotta put the ball in the bucket,
and there are guys that energy energy, energy energy. I'm

(30:42):
I just said that about Summer League, and I'm gonna
repeat that. Use some things you can't teach. You can't
teach you how to come in and come in and
just let's go put the motor on. Everybody's gonna have
a good game. Everybody's gonna have a bad game. But
are you gonna play through that? And I've seen Jordan,
excuse me, Jordan Clarkson, No matter what, I'm gonna shot
that ball. And you need that guy. You need that guy.

(31:02):
Like it's not I hate guys who I watch a
lot of some of these young players. Even it's like
I'm having a bad game, I'm scared to shoot the ball.
I think even Tyler pull did that a few times
when he was on the court last year. He realized,
all right that this first three I just shared, I
ain't going so I'm not going to shoot the ball again.
You got to shoot the ball. You gotta shoot the ball.
And to see, Y'ALLU Sudy not be afraid to go
against the USA team. And then he joined the sixer team.

(31:23):
They were terrible last year, but he still put up
efficient numbers. If he had nobody, I can't. There was
no Teresa, there was no Joel, there was no even McCann.
There was nobody, No Paul George. There was nobody. And
that guy was like, you know what, this is the
year for me too. Yes, be seen, get get noticed.
And that's when I started to know him last year
and I thought Philly got to steal it with him.

(31:44):
When they signed him, I was like, God, I hate
the Philly I hate Sixers. So I was really upset
that they are parted someone like of his talent and
his energy. So I'm really excited for them. The only
thing with them, they can only learn the defensive system.
Mike Brown is is somebody that yes, he's going to
thrive our offense. But he is a defense first put. Yeah,
he plays defense. He doesn't he does not like players

(32:06):
who are on the court not playing defense. So I
don't see how they come in and they're like totally lost.
And I also don't see how they can't be in
certain lineups where their defense could be blinded. Again, if
you put Jordan and Dukes together, beautiful Dukes can pick
up from the front court. If you put a Yob
with Mitch, beautiful, because then you put the job with
og beautiful, you know. So I think people relied on

(32:30):
them a lot. And for the fact that we only
had ten dollars and fifteen cents and that's who we required.
That is the steal of the year. That's like when
you go into the third store and you're like, what
they got this? It was like one of those type
deals that I was really excited for. It's really sameful.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. I was excited about that
that acquisition. And you know, for what for how much
money they had left they to me, they maximized, you know,
they maximized that dollar. They got everything out of that
dollar and they did a good job with that. So
you know, it gives me confidence that you know, they'll
that you know, no matter what this this team's gonna
look a lot better. It's gonna you know, with the

(33:08):
infusion of the young guys, who I still have faith in.
I know people may not, but I still have faith
in the young guys contributing. And just the way the
East is looking right now, it's it's it's it's there.
It's there for the take. And so that's what I'm
gonna say, is bring up next is the East is
Like I said, we know what happened with Boston with Tatum.
You know, we saw him get hurt against us. He's out.

(33:31):
We saw you know, we saw what happened with Indiana
like they were, you know, a few corners away from
winning your championship. And now that team is you know,
Turner is with the ops in Milwaukee, you know he
you know, and obviously Halliburton he's out for the year.
And we see what happened in Milwaukee. Dame's not there.
The honest is not happy. You know, there's a lot

(33:51):
of you know, you know, dysfunction there. Like if you look,
you know, the Calves disappointed last year. The East is
there for the table. You know, so like our team
is there to like the road for us to get
to the finals is there? Do you see anyone in

(34:14):
that it other than you know, maybe Cleveland that you
feel like is a legit threat to stop the Knicks
for getting to the finals, because honestly, not even to
sound like a fan, like we should get to the
finals like it's it is and then the title says
championship for Bus. I think it's championship for Bus, like
we need to at least get to the championship. We
need to get to the NBA Finals, and I think

(34:36):
the path is there and I'm not really that threatened
by any other team really, So what's your thoughts on that?

Speaker 3 (34:47):
To be honest, first of all, I want to say
a lot of people because again on the cl I
was happy that.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Went Yeah, he's excited, she's excided.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
It's just like you know, I wasn't happy that they
went down. But that's a part of a title run.
A lot of people get to look over all the
years injuries have to happen. They have to and not
saying that they they do and they have to. There's
a lot of runs that people went on that if
a key person didn't play, we don't know how this
would have went. So we need some of those people

(35:21):
out the way. So it's very nice to see to
be lucky.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Sometimes to get lucky, And that's a part.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
I don't care what anybody says. It's probably one of
the things at the bottom, because of course you need
a good, good coach, you need a good roster, you
need a bench, you need this, you need that. But
you need a little bit of luck on your side.
That's how I believe Boston run last year. That's how
Indiana got to the finals. I believe because prior to that,
the players, the teams that they played were very injured.

(35:48):
Calves were injured, the Bucks were injured, and then they
ran to us where we you know, so by then
they were they were ready to take on whatever they
had to take on. So I'm not happy that. I'm
not happy that that happened to them, because at the
end of the day, they are I respect Jason Tatum's
game tremendously and I'm not a big Tyre's Halliburton fan,
but what he brings to the game is important. But

(36:11):
their ops are ops, and if the op gets out
the way, you celebrate and you're happy. So I am
okay with the fact that those two people out the way,
because then when you look, the list starts to get
a little bit smaller. When you're throw in Indiana and
you're throwing Wolston, it's like, oh, you got to run
into them, and it felt releading. He get past them yesterday,
but it was no walk in the park. And the

(36:33):
Pacers we haven't walked in the park. We continuously get
a limit ye them. So again to have them out
the way, amen, Because as I look, Calves is actually
not at the top of my list of who I'm
afraid of. They're a team one of those teams that
it looks good during the regular season and then when
it comes down to the post, watch what matters. I
don't fear them. There's nothing to fear. I don't think

(36:53):
there's anybody that can stop Donavan Mitchell. I think that
Mitche Robinson already may Jared Anna look like I'm an author.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
I'm out on Jared Allen. Yeah. You know when I
was out on the Cavs is when I think it
was Game two against Indiana and they all like they
had like it was him, it was him, And who's
the Hunter was out and then they wound up still
playing Game three. But like Garland, if you could play
Game two, you could have if you could play game three,

(37:24):
you could have played game That's just me, you know,
and you kind of left your boy out Donovan to
to die because he gave everything out for that and
that they wound up blowing that game like it was
like eight point. Indiana had another insane you know, uh
ending of a game that happened for them. So I
kind of was out on them because I thought that
was kind of soft, like gay man, like, this is

(37:45):
an opportunity for you guys to get to the you know,
conference finals and you know you're gonna lose into Luke
to go down to oh at the crib. That's tough
to come back from. So like I thought they kind
of that kind of showed me like I don't know,
and they shouldn't have that kind of mentality because they
haven't really done anything to deserve that, you know, to

(38:08):
deserve that, you know, to have that kind of you know, mentality,
And to me, that shows a lot because they should
have beaten Indiana easily and you know they they you know,
that was soft. I thought that was soft of So
that's why I think and I think a lot of
people think that way too with them. That's why they're
kind of skeptical. I'm like, yeah, the talent's there, but

(38:28):
and also Garland's going to be out from the beginning
of the season, you know, so like I'm kind of
And then they.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
Acquired a Lonzo Ball and people thought that this was
like this big acquisition. To me, I'm not afraid of him.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Is Alonzo pre injury a Lonzo so like he's a
shell of himself, Like he's not the same Lonzo, you know.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
So so get to answer the question of if I
have to think, you know what's actually having Detroit come
back would actually better, actually Detroit coming back with better better?
I think the pieces that they acquired are either just
as equal a little bit better than a Malie Beasley
and the Tim Partaway. They did get Kars Beavert, and
they did get Duncan Robinson, and they also get yeah,

(39:10):
like so these are people that you can't sit back
and this is the team who fought against us. It
was a dogfight. It wasn't go an walk in the
park against Detroit at all. That was actually one of
the funnest series that I've been. I've watched the next play.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
They need that we needed.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
Very much.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Honestly, I don't know about you, but I thought we
were a little bit soft, and you know, losing Dante
and losing Randall and losing Isaiah, that was our rocks.
Like those guys were. They were tough. They were not
gonna let anyone bully us. And we we lost a
lot of that toughness. And that was the one thing
I was worried about going to playoffs. It's like, are
we gonna have that? And that Detroit series, you know,

(39:48):
it was it was tight, you know game you know
Game one, you know it was you know, we needed
Campaign and save us, but we needed that series because
we needed that toughness. I think that helped out a
lot for us. You know, there we go, we got
another coastar on the pod.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
I was gonna say, I think that's all she wants.
She just wants to be a part. But that's where
to know that there was a time where people were
saying him, Kay Cunningham is better than Jalen Brunson, and
to me, absolutely not. But to know that you're not
there yet, to know that these coming back and that
they you know, they they're they. They are more of
a threat to me than the Calves because they they

(40:26):
they did replace what they lost. Any team that replaces
what they lose and gets a little s much better.
I think dougle Robinson's a little bit better the shooter
than Tim Hardaway. Not I don't know about a better player,
but he's a better shooter from the three. Paris vert
is just as good as when healthy, just as good
as a malite PITHI mm hm. So the fact that
they replaced that Jayalen Durrant is also a really good center.

(40:47):
He's a nice young piece. These are these are people
who are only getting more experienced, getting more better. So
to know that they're their coaches were always going to
scare me because I'm not scared of JB. And I
think the game we always have, that's where we win.
Tom was better than JB and now Mike Browns and
is better than GB. So that's where we might have

(41:07):
the edge. But Detroit Orlando Orlando is a very big team.
They were they forgot about them because they were unhealthy. Yeah,
a healthy magic. They have huge everything. They have a
huge front court, a huge black court. They have Pollow Bankira.

(41:29):
People sleep on him again when when someone's another fan.
I'm such a Knicks fan that I don't like to
praise other players, but Pollow is a.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Bad When he's healthy, he's he's he he's a future
He's a future m VP candidate.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
So I'm excited to see how they They also have
Isaac who I feel like that's somebody I really wish
we could acquire one day in the future. They have
big guards, they have Ji Old Sugg. They also got
pain that I think that that's huge acquire where people
feel like like the same thing a lot to get back.
But you gotta people got any thing. When you're in

(42:06):
a contend now or you're in an I want to
win now, you got to give up pieces.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
Those draft picks areually that's a part of the business,
right If you're a win now mod, you gotta you
gotta pay an extra tax to to get such a play.
Like they was saying, Michael thing, Listen, I personally, when
I have not done I wouldn't have done it. I'm
a picks guy. I believe in draft picks, you know,
so maybe my mindset is different, but you kind of
get it like, hey man, we want to win now.

(42:30):
They feel like he can help them win. And if
we win a championship, nobody's really gonna care about the
five picks. You know, Well, we'll worry about it in
five years, in years to come. Well, you know, but
like kind of like Milwaukee's draft, I worry about it. Yeah, yeah,
so like yeah, yeah, it's.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
So like win now. They're like, I don't care if
they about these picks. Do you already have a bunch
of picks? They still have Anthony Black on the bench.
I believe who. I feel like he's he's a together defender.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
They're big.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Anybody who's big you gotta worry about, especially when you
have talent. They have a big roster with Paulo. There
bays raining out there, is it raining? Yes? Well, I'm
New York, right New York from New York, but now
I'm out in a different state right now. And last

(43:21):
but not least, I know a lot of people are like,
we gonta worry about Atlanta just as much. I'm not
worried about them in the sense of there I feel
like they could replace what Detroit did to us last
year in a playoffs run in a pant series, give
us a little bit of a holy We shouldn't take
them as light as we should. That's all. Nothing with that.

(43:41):
I feel they would eliminate us. No, because to me,
that's what I mean about the Calves are least and
I feel like the Caves we could beat them a
three one or sweet honestly, like, that's just what I'm saying.
I think Atlanta is a team that could take two
games us and make us go am man. If they
get a third, you know they won't. That's all I
feel about Atlanta. That's by mentioning them. But to be honest,

(44:02):
my top two runners are Orlando and Detroit. A lot
of people should worry about them. And we also have
to understand that the Sixers are another team that was
not healthy last year.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
No, I know, Joel Embid is irrelevant.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
I hate Joel Embiid. He's not one of my favorite
players at US Ahead. Baby Joel Embiid is not one
of my favorite players. I hate him. But Tymee Smacksy
is another bad, bad bad man.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
Healthy. Paul Jewel.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
They draft j like they have McCann coming back. He
can shoot. Paul George is still with them, he's you know,
a vet. You need a vet on your roster. I'm
gonna go on a second baby. It's it's a team
that I'm not gonna they're like with Atlanta. I don't
feel like they're gonna eliminate us, but we're not gonna
pretend that they can't take one of two from us

(44:51):
and start to get us a little shaky in our boots.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
Oh yeah, I'm with you, sixers. I'm kind of like, okay,
like they could if they're healthy. That's that's the biggest
thing I'm always is the health they could. They could
do something they could and if.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
And it's healthy, we shouldn't sleep on I know, no
nobody even mentions them. And that's what's crazy to me.
I'm gonna mention them because you can't sleep. You can't
sleep on that.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
You really can't sleep on them. So but I'm gonna
let you go because I know the little one needs
you right now. So I appreciate your time. You know,
I've been wanting to talk this.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
Yes, get me through this, guys, and I always like,
but I'm like, let's just go for it. And I'm
glad we went for it.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
I understand as a parent. I have a little girl myself,
and especially in the beginning when she was younger and
my son was younger. In the back. You hear them
all the time on the pods at the beginning, so
I understand.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
You're never gonna get a free time anyway through it.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
Never, You're never gonna have free time. So you got
to figure out. It's gonna be some background nose with
the kids yelling. But that's all good. I understand that.
So I have no problem with that. It adds to
the adds to the lure of the pod, gonna make
the path even that much better. But I appreciate you
for coming on. And like I said, this is dope conversation,
you know, and I see you doing your thing. You're
getting that respect from the next Twitter world. You know,

(46:09):
I hope you win Rookie of the Year in that poll.
I don't know what the polland is at. I know
I voted for you. You know, I wrote the write
in ballot because you are right in ballot. You know,
you know you were writing, so I wrote you in.
You know, well, but you're doing some good, some really
cool things, and I know you do stuff with niked time.
You know you got a lot of great people over there.
You know, they're really dope. So before we sign off,

(46:30):
tell people where they can find you on social media,
anything you got coming up, you know, just let the
people know.

Speaker 3 (46:37):
Sporty spies, s P o art, I think.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
We lost her, but are handling. I think I lost
I was lost for a second.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Okay, I apologize, sport that's forty and then s P
I c p e. There in the bio you can
find my TikTok where I talk a lot of next stuff.
I thank you guys for hearing before I go jail
and brounsing for VP next year. Do you heard it
here first?

Speaker 2 (47:11):
So I appreciate you being a lot of fun on
the pod. Make sure to follow me an off the
ball pod on all social media platforms. I'll keep all
her social in the description, but I'll not be well.
Be safe, take care, be stid everyone.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
Thank you guys,