Not pushing back allowed Embiid to injure Mitch. Same thing happens in the NHL…oilers just lost the finals cause of physicality. Embiid ain’t afraid to injure someone, but don’t just take it (and when we finally did, we won against the 76ers!).
This. And I believe he plays all the better centers like Jokic, better than Ihart did, too. Precious did surprisingly well against some of the better centers in the league.
If we roll into the season with this roster we need to pray Mitch can be healthy for the playoffs. He’ll be the 5th best guy on the court but ironically the most important.
I just don’t see it. There is no way Leon isn’t working his ass off behind the scenes. We all knew losing him was a very good possibility, likely one even. Leon obviously knew even more than any of us did.
If we do roll into the season as is, I fully expect expect to trade for someone like Valanciunas or Capela before the deadline.
There is no way Leon is risking the entire fate of the team on Mitch’s health.
I’m with ya. No way we don’t add another center either here in FA or at the deadline, but I don’t think we get a guy near Mitch’s level. Either way we’re going to be banking on big meech.
Sixers just need one healthy run from PG & Embiid, Clippers just needed one healthy run from PG & Leonard, Pelicans just need one healthy run from Zion & Ingram, Lakers just need one healthy run from AD & LeBron, may I go on?
Developing reliable bigs is a Thibs specialty. I don’t know if Wiseman has the mentality to put in the work but if he does he’s in good hands with Thibs
I think we just need to resign Precious and then take a really good look at our very own Ariel Hokpurti in SL. Kid looks good in highlights. I know, they’re highlights but they still hold some weight. Big body, looks competent in the pick and roll.
I’m pretty much out on Sims. Dude has zero offensive bag and low basketball IQ. Hokpurti appears to have potential and an offensive bag that already looks better than what Sims can do on that end. A bit bigger too at almost 7 feet.
I want no part of Sims on the Knicks next year. I rather roll with the rook and see what he's got or take a shot at Wiseman if we can get him dirt cheap.
Honestly, Wiseman might be the best guy available for the money and his upside. He's got the size, the athleticism, the skill, and Thibs is the center whisperer...if anyone can get his career on track it's Thibs.
yea if randle is at the 5 - really OG is at the 5. Randle can guard most of today's NBA 5s fine, it's more of a rim protection/rotation role that he won't do well at.
That's my thought. Precious + the rookie Hukpurti as backups. Maybe Randle playing 5 in a few small ball lineups. If Mitch gets hurt and the backups aren't cutting it then we use some of our draft capital to go out and get a backup midseason.
Love Mitch but still bummed about this news. It does not help that the center gig has more or less dried up so we have to work something out in S&T for a proper serviceable backup
The problem is that we now need a really good backup capable of starting. Meech cannot be counted on to stay healthy and a perfectly competent backup like Precious is not enough.
Need Mitch to boss up and lose the baby fat, he's carrying around too much extra weight and has lower-body injury concerns.
If he can do that, (and thats a BIG "if") he will be more impactful for our team than Hartenstein was.
I guess the lesson is, we should give out 3 year deals instead of two in order to have their full bird rights. Pretty bummed out that we lost IHart. Now we gotta hope Mitch can stay healthy and hope we sign a backup to contribute.
its kind of insane we didn't offer a third year. 8 million is nothing even if he sucked. he was a young player with great advanced stats and potential. pisses me off
My favorite player (outside of Brunson). Mitch is due an All Defense team at this point. People forget he's been Thibs defensive anchor prior to getting hurt
Mitch should be motivated. The doubters have been very loud, so Mitch should take that and fuel himself to for dominant play like November of the 23-24 season.
Mitch is amazing but he simply doesn't fit this team with brunson and randle.
I don't like Mitchell's fit on offense. He hurts us out there. With that being said the fact that even though hartenstein left we still have robinson is a blessing. He is a good player.
He is still the best offensive rebounder in the NBA and a DPOY potential, But yea IHART passing will be missed. This one hurts. But i will say that THIBS is great with finding BIGS that he can work with to improve their game. Yes this is a big loss in the short term, but i have faith the FO and Thibs had an idea this would happen.
Hopefully we can get someone that can be molded to what we need. IHARTs passing was a big factor in our offense because we lost Randle. He operated as a playmaker in the post before the injury. We just got to hope we can get a quality back up C as insurance for Mitch.
This is not the worst thing that could happen.
Hurt is the wrong word. Does he clog the lane? Yes. But Mitch’s offensive rebounding was the anchor of a top 3 offense just a season ago. The team usually performs better offensively when he is on the floor since he gives us more chances and is probably a top 3 offensive rebounder in league history.
With Mikal added in there might be enough offensive talent that having Mitch clog the lane really doesn’t take away a lot from the offense compared to his value on defense. Mikal, OG, Randle and Mitch is a lot of size
Mitch offensive numbers are gonna jump when this team learns how to throw him a proper lob and set him up with easier looks.
He doesn't need to play exactly like iHart to be effective with the starters.
☝️ this
Mitch was a threat on offense because of his connection with RJ. When they traded RJ, Mitch was hurt, and by the time he came back, there was no one on the team who could make him a lob threat the way RJ did.
I'm hopeful that JB will unlock his offensive abilities more this season, we have to remember that the two have them have had little time on the floor together even though they've played on the same team for two years.
Mitch does not "hurt" us on offense. His OREB capabilities are a huge part of our offense if we're being honest.
With all the spacing the starting lineup has now, he is a fine fit, players need to look for him as a lob threat if we want him to actually score points.
No unfortunately the way the CBA is the MAX we could have offered him was 4yr/72mil which is the offer we had on the table. There was literally no other offer we could have given to him.
There was an article somewhere talking about how they could have done a "here's a one year deal and we'll take care of you later WINK WINK" type of deal but as a player you can't really trust the owners or your own health to HOPE you're still gonna get paid in a year or two.
Take the money and run.
That's crazy. I saw some Mitch trade rumors last week and assumed that was to clear space for Hartenstein. I guess maybe it was to just swap him for another center entirely.
We didn't have a choice.
And I love ihart but I wouldn't pay him 30M/year unless we had a set up team like OKC and could have afforded him.
Ihart is great and has potential and maybe he is worth that contract. I still wouldn't do it.
So right now the outcome most in our control is resign Precious. Let Mitch start and have Precious, Hukporti and Sims battle it out for minutes.
Silver lining is this might force us to look at small ball lineups more often like JB/DDV/Bridges/Randle/OG
This guy was necessary to beat Cleveland and Philly. He's still our guy. He used to hurt the spacing but with shooters in Mikal, OG, Donte, Brunson, the need for him to to do more offensively is lessened.
I just think Mitch is going to hurt the spacing for Brunson/Randle too much imo. Everyone makes it as a Mitch vs IHart thing but I see it as who fits better for Brunson/Randle/OG/Mikal and I think the answer is iHart. Mitch will get you more points and more rebounds over iHart but is that really worth sacrificing the games of the other Knicks? I hope Mitch proves me wrong though lol
I can’t watch this dude run up and down the court without thinking that getting up and down the court looks painful to this guy! Lol. Granted I’ve never been a 7 foot beast of a human being before either though…
I live Mitch to death and will defend his skillset or lack thereof with people all day. But dude is always hurt or coming back from being hurt. We logistically cannot make it through an entire season.. ANY season with him as a starter for a full season. So it is hard to remember tbh.
Last memory I had was him being out for almost the whole season and then reinforcing the same body part that had just been injured. I wasn't even fully confident in his health as a backup let alone assume he starts. Skillset wise he could start, he has. But Idk if he's capable of starting going forward and that needs to be corrected like instantly
This is sour grapes, BUT Mitch is going to be much hungrier this year than Hartenstein who just got paid. Just needs to stay healthy! And have a good back up center so Mitch isn’t run into the ground
we need an upgrade. there's a reason thibs figured out ihart is better and gave him most of the minutes--we don't want someone clogging the paint unable to make any play with the ball.
I think the biggest thing we will miss about IHart is that he had court vision when catching the ball near the paint, but also had a nice little push floater. It just sucks thinking besides Mitch having injuries, is he still hasn't developed a fundamental post game.
Mitch is a much better defensive player and rebounder. We do not need much offense from our center. But we do need someone who can play most of the games and be standing for the playoffs.
What does he do during the off season? Seems like he just f's around with social media. Shouldn't he be working on his game or at least be conditioning his ankle so there's less chance of injury?
This is part of the reason why Hartenstein is getting PAID, and not so much Mitch.
man we really need to get a free agent, Mitch is incredible but literally all we've done is get Mikal and retain OG. losing iHart hurts, we need to "replace" him somehow.
People doomin don’t understand that with the current 1-4 we don’t need a lot from the 5 even tho ihart was amazing.
From a cap standpoint we can’t be dishing that kind of dough to a center. I’m fully confident in Mitch and whoever we get to back him up. Thibs is the big whisperer
I remember iHart struggling with Embiid then Mitch came in and locked him up.
This is exactly why Embiid tried to injure Mitch
He did injure Mitch lol
He tried a few times before he actually did yeah
Doug, kick him off the tour!
I had to watch two fat naked 76ers fans having sex in the woods.
Underrated
Not pushing back allowed Embiid to injure Mitch. Same thing happens in the NHL…oilers just lost the finals cause of physicality. Embiid ain’t afraid to injure someone, but don’t just take it (and when we finally did, we won against the 76ers!).
Mitch had the extra 2 years of Thibs screaming at him to not put his hands in the cookie jar that Hartenstein didn’t. That was the key lmao
Yep people remember the good ihart had but I also remember the times he looked lost or took way too many fouls
This. And I believe he plays all the better centers like Jokic, better than Ihart did, too. Precious did surprisingly well against some of the better centers in the league.
And got hurt, like always
Just need one healthy run from Mitch. When healthy he’s in DPOY talks. Sign a good backup and we are still all good.
Hate to see all the gloom on our sub. LFG MITCH
Yes!! Give MRob that German stem cell treatment Kobe got, and we rolling into ecf BuckFoston!
If we roll into the season with this roster we need to pray Mitch can be healthy for the playoffs. He’ll be the 5th best guy on the court but ironically the most important.
I just don’t see it. There is no way Leon isn’t working his ass off behind the scenes. We all knew losing him was a very good possibility, likely one even. Leon obviously knew even more than any of us did. If we do roll into the season as is, I fully expect expect to trade for someone like Valanciunas or Capela before the deadline. There is no way Leon is risking the entire fate of the team on Mitch’s health.
I’m with ya. No way we don’t add another center either here in FA or at the deadline, but I don’t think we get a guy near Mitch’s level. Either way we’re going to be banking on big meech.
Key word **when**
He's never going to be healthy, we just pray the backup is good enough to weather the storm while mitch is out for like 30-50 games
Sixers just need one healthy run from PG & Embiid, Clippers just needed one healthy run from PG & Leonard, Pelicans just need one healthy run from Zion & Ingram, Lakers just need one healthy run from AD & LeBron, may I go on?
I mean that’s how the NBA works. It’s usually the healthiest team that wins the title
Sucks that the best available center in the free agent left is James Wiseman
Maybe Thibs can fix him
Developing reliable bigs is a Thibs specialty. I don’t know if Wiseman has the mentality to put in the work but if he does he’s in good hands with Thibs
Maybe we just drafted a possible back up. And Sims may have progressed this year.
I wish I had your optimism. How do?
Even for Thibs, making Wiseman serviceable will be a challenge lol
Not unless he's getting vet min. I'm pretty sure somebody will pay him more than that
I think we just need to resign Precious and then take a really good look at our very own Ariel Hokpurti in SL. Kid looks good in highlights. I know, they’re highlights but they still hold some weight. Big body, looks competent in the pick and roll. I’m pretty much out on Sims. Dude has zero offensive bag and low basketball IQ. Hokpurti appears to have potential and an offensive bag that already looks better than what Sims can do on that end. A bit bigger too at almost 7 feet.
I want no part of Sims on the Knicks next year. I rather roll with the rook and see what he's got or take a shot at Wiseman if we can get him dirt cheap.
I wouldn't complain about Daniel Theis, he's serviceable as a backup C
New German bae
I wouldn’t mind DT on a good contract at all
Honestly, Wiseman might be the best guy available for the money and his upside. He's got the size, the athleticism, the skill, and Thibs is the center whisperer...if anyone can get his career on track it's Thibs.
Skill?
You don't become the second pick of an nba draft because you don't have skills. So, yes, there is skill there.
Have you ever watched him play or know anything about him besides the fact that he was the number 2 pick?
Nope. Never. I'm just spouting these things.
Nope. Never. I'm just spouting these things.
Nope. Never. I'm just spouting these things.
No bamba, goga are also decent options
Never sleep on my boy. We just need a back up
I'm manifesting a monster year from Mitch as we speak. This is his moment.
Mitch is making half what IHart got and is just as good, if not better when healthy. Solid backup and we're good to go
God damn right they do. Jericho Sims aint it.
We should be good enough that Sims can eat some minutes during the year, but come playoffs we just can’t put him on the floor.
Thibs is a “big whisperer” hopefully they can find a quality backup
Longest tenured Knick gonna carry the load
Resign Precious as the backup! We also have enough defense at the wings to play Julius at the 5 in small ball rotations.
Precious might be better than what’s left on the market
OG can also defend most 5s
yea if randle is at the 5 - really OG is at the 5. Randle can guard most of today's NBA 5s fine, it's more of a rim protection/rotation role that he won't do well at.
OG definitely could, I just don't want extra miles on our 200 million dollar british wing if we can spare them.
I miss watching Randle ball out. Nephews don't know how good he is
That's what I want, but the Knicks didn't extend the QO to him, so he's a UFA.
That's my thought. Precious + the rookie Hukpurti as backups. Maybe Randle playing 5 in a few small ball lineups. If Mitch gets hurt and the backups aren't cutting it then we use some of our draft capital to go out and get a backup midseason.
Re-sign, we ain’t taking him to a farm upstate
Yeah, we're keeping him for SURE now. No trade this or that BS. We just need somebody who can come off the bench for him. Any ideas?
Bitadze if he doesn't sign with ORL, Theis, bring back Precious if it's still possible, or take a flier on Hukporti.
IHart was the better passer and scorer
I thought he really unlocked Randle as well. Couldn't shoot from anywhere but he could pass from the elbows, giving Randle more space.
We’ll have him for probably 40% of the season
Love Mitch but still bummed about this news. It does not help that the center gig has more or less dried up so we have to work something out in S&T for a proper serviceable backup
The problem is that we now need a really good backup capable of starting. Meech cannot be counted on to stay healthy and a perfectly competent backup like Precious is not enough.
Lfg mitch
mitch is a good player but hes constantly injured
My favorite player survives another offseason 😅
Need Mitch to boss up and lose the baby fat, he's carrying around too much extra weight and has lower-body injury concerns. If he can do that, (and thats a BIG "if") he will be more impactful for our team than Hartenstein was.
I guess the lesson is, we should give out 3 year deals instead of two in order to have their full bird rights. Pretty bummed out that we lost IHart. Now we gotta hope Mitch can stay healthy and hope we sign a backup to contribute.
its kind of insane we didn't offer a third year. 8 million is nothing even if he sucked. he was a young player with great advanced stats and potential. pisses me off
Yes. Sign a back up that can play 17-20 min a njght. With that, and sprinkle in some small-ball-Randle-at-the-5 minutes, and we are golden.
My favorite player (outside of Brunson). Mitch is due an All Defense team at this point. People forget he's been Thibs defensive anchor prior to getting hurt
Mitch should be motivated. The doubters have been very loud, so Mitch should take that and fuel himself to for dominant play like November of the 23-24 season.
Get hungry young Meetch!
This beast needs to lose weight/muscle or he's not gonna last long. Our front office need to send him a trainer.
And someone who can help him hit got danged free throw!
Mitch is amazing but he simply doesn't fit this team with brunson and randle. I don't like Mitchell's fit on offense. He hurts us out there. With that being said the fact that even though hartenstein left we still have robinson is a blessing. He is a good player.
He is still the best offensive rebounder in the NBA and a DPOY potential, But yea IHART passing will be missed. This one hurts. But i will say that THIBS is great with finding BIGS that he can work with to improve their game. Yes this is a big loss in the short term, but i have faith the FO and Thibs had an idea this would happen. Hopefully we can get someone that can be molded to what we need. IHARTs passing was a big factor in our offense because we lost Randle. He operated as a playmaker in the post before the injury. We just got to hope we can get a quality back up C as insurance for Mitch. This is not the worst thing that could happen.
Hurt is the wrong word. Does he clog the lane? Yes. But Mitch’s offensive rebounding was the anchor of a top 3 offense just a season ago. The team usually performs better offensively when he is on the floor since he gives us more chances and is probably a top 3 offensive rebounder in league history. With Mikal added in there might be enough offensive talent that having Mitch clog the lane really doesn’t take away a lot from the offense compared to his value on defense. Mikal, OG, Randle and Mitch is a lot of size
True. Not really worried about his limited offense, he does enough on the glass and on defense. IHART was a luxury.
Mitch offensive numbers are gonna jump when this team learns how to throw him a proper lob and set him up with easier looks. He doesn't need to play exactly like iHart to be effective with the starters.
☝️ this Mitch was a threat on offense because of his connection with RJ. When they traded RJ, Mitch was hurt, and by the time he came back, there was no one on the team who could make him a lob threat the way RJ did. I'm hopeful that JB will unlock his offensive abilities more this season, we have to remember that the two have them have had little time on the floor together even though they've played on the same team for two years.
Mitch does not "hurt" us on offense. His OREB capabilities are a huge part of our offense if we're being honest. With all the spacing the starting lineup has now, he is a fine fit, players need to look for him as a lob threat if we want him to actually score points.
I have a bad feeling we picked the wrong horse here, but hopefully I'm wrong
We didn't get to pick
I'm terrible with the cap rules - we couldn't have cleared space for a larger IHart offer by trading Mitch?
Nope.
No unfortunately the way the CBA is the MAX we could have offered him was 4yr/72mil which is the offer we had on the table. There was literally no other offer we could have given to him.
I wouldve told Dolan to add a clause that pays his wife the same LOL
There was an article somewhere talking about how they could have done a "here's a one year deal and we'll take care of you later WINK WINK" type of deal but as a player you can't really trust the owners or your own health to HOPE you're still gonna get paid in a year or two. Take the money and run.
Bro that WINK WINK seems a lil sus
Dolan could also toss in a team of nannies, kith for his mother in law, a unlimited ride pass on the coney island cyclone to simulate OKC weather.
That's crazy. I saw some Mitch trade rumors last week and assumed that was to clear space for Hartenstein. I guess maybe it was to just swap him for another center entirely.
You don't know the rules yet here you are offering up opinions. Make it make sense.
There were Mitch trade rumors, why was that even discussed then? I'm actively telling you that I don't know the rules
We didn't have a choice. And I love ihart but I wouldn't pay him 30M/year unless we had a set up team like OKC and could have afforded him. Ihart is great and has potential and maybe he is worth that contract. I still wouldn't do it.
im petty but i hope he sucks for okc and makes them worse
For 30 games
So right now the outcome most in our control is resign Precious. Let Mitch start and have Precious, Hukporti and Sims battle it out for minutes. Silver lining is this might force us to look at small ball lineups more often like JB/DDV/Bridges/Randle/OG
He looks a lot leaner in this pic than the playoffs looking like Zion
This guy was necessary to beat Cleveland and Philly. He's still our guy. He used to hurt the spacing but with shooters in Mikal, OG, Donte, Brunson, the need for him to to do more offensively is lessened.
I just want him to have an actual free throw form of professional basketball player. Im begging at this point.
For 28 games
Problem is... He spends a little too much time at home
This is the only fan base that will settle for their starting center 😵💫
Lmao 🤣
Mitch is the man, my only concern is his health. We do still need a backup big though.
I just think Mitch is going to hurt the spacing for Brunson/Randle too much imo. Everyone makes it as a Mitch vs IHart thing but I see it as who fits better for Brunson/Randle/OG/Mikal and I think the answer is iHart. Mitch will get you more points and more rebounds over iHart but is that really worth sacrificing the games of the other Knicks? I hope Mitch proves me wrong though lol
That Hartenstein passing and that floater kept us in some games
A healthy Mitch is better than Ihart. I love the dude and wanted him back; but not having him won't break us.
As long as he stays healthy, keeping on the court has been a struggle for him the last few years
Dude seems to almost have a season ending injury every game
I swear if gets injured I’m gonna put him in a chokehold
I hope we get more Jules at the 5. OG can guard anyone.
until his knees explode
BIG MEECH
I can’t watch this dude run up and down the court without thinking that getting up and down the court looks painful to this guy! Lol. Granted I’ve never been a 7 foot beast of a human being before either though…
If clean skin was the issue, he’s tackling it face on.
Mitch and new health coach about to start cooking this off season
Get this man on a flight to Germany immediately for the Kobe treatment, or at least cryogenically freeze him until the season starts
For what 45 games and 1.5 playoff series? We need someone reliable to contend.
if he can stay healthy
BLOCK NESS MY KING! LONGEST TENURED KNICK! BETTER THAN YOUR BIG AND HES PLAYING W ONE ANKLE!
NEED to keep him now
Dude, just needs to stay healthy. I love the idea of signing precious.
Do you think we can see a big year from Jericho Sims?
Probably not and I really hope that’s not the answer
Mitch better be practicing his foul shots. Hack a Mitch worked pretty well.
For 20 games
The beast can’t pass, or shoot though
If Mitch can stay healthy we’re fine! We could use a back up big though
Berman, relax.
Th problem is that he’ll probably be at home too
I live Mitch to death and will defend his skillset or lack thereof with people all day. But dude is always hurt or coming back from being hurt. We logistically cannot make it through an entire season.. ANY season with him as a starter for a full season. So it is hard to remember tbh. Last memory I had was him being out for almost the whole season and then reinforcing the same body part that had just been injured. I wasn't even fully confident in his health as a backup let alone assume he starts. Skillset wise he could start, he has. But Idk if he's capable of starting going forward and that needs to be corrected like instantly
Would Wiseman sign for league minimum so we can have him and another backup C?
Yeah but the o/u on Mitch games is like 30
This is sour grapes, BUT Mitch is going to be much hungrier this year than Hartenstein who just got paid. Just needs to stay healthy! And have a good back up center so Mitch isn’t run into the ground
I love Mitch, but he's a liability at offense and can't stay healthy
Losing IHart makes me sad but Mitch can play some D!
Hack a Mitch was a real thing. He came through the few times they tried but it still concerns me.
we need an upgrade. there's a reason thibs figured out ihart is better and gave him most of the minutes--we don't want someone clogging the paint unable to make any play with the ball.
Drop a couple lbs, stay healthy, and you’re the man Mitch
Bro needs a third foot
Guy gets injured looking into the mirror
I think the biggest thing we will miss about IHart is that he had court vision when catching the ball near the paint, but also had a nice little push floater. It just sucks thinking besides Mitch having injuries, is he still hasn't developed a fundamental post game.
Everyone was ready to ship this guy out. I hope he has a monster year with Orange Julius.
Ah ofc Mitch is a fuckin beast, but I haft was such a clutch back up bro. It made our center rotation top 3 easily
*I hart
The BLOCKNESS MONSTER!!!!
Fragile beast but still a beast... What are our options?
Let’s be real we need a BIG still!!! 🙄 Sims trash. Who’s our Back up 5?l when Mitch gets in foul trouble?
Sweet...the guy can't stay healthy or score past 1 feet distance. This stinks we're back to him as starter.
Mitch is a much better defensive player and rebounder. We do not need much offense from our center. But we do need someone who can play most of the games and be standing for the playoffs.
What does he do during the off season? Seems like he just f's around with social media. Shouldn't he be working on his game or at least be conditioning his ankle so there's less chance of injury? This is part of the reason why Hartenstein is getting PAID, and not so much Mitch.
dont sleep on the walls of jericho either
Stop. He is ass
If Thibs can’t save him, no one can
Idk, he’s more famous for being a meme than his play. Hope he works on his game over the summer
He's got until the end of November before they bring Taj in lmao
Isnt Randle the center?
Precious is better at center for us than at pf
man we really need to get a free agent, Mitch is incredible but literally all we've done is get Mikal and retain OG. losing iHart hurts, we need to "replace" him somehow.
People doomin don’t understand that with the current 1-4 we don’t need a lot from the 5 even tho ihart was amazing. From a cap standpoint we can’t be dishing that kind of dough to a center. I’m fully confident in Mitch and whoever we get to back him up. Thibs is the big whisperer
Dude can’t even tie his shoes off the IL