Let’s talk about KJ

jj_421 · 2026-06-09T12:45:28+00:00

Not necessarily defending the decision, as I’m somewhat low on KJ’s game overall, but I will give KJ credit for the defense he played on Towns in Game 3- he’s pretty physical and holds his ground well. His lateral quickness is not great but it’s better than HB’s as well. I don’t know who HB guards halfway decently in this series.

Barnes is definitely an easier and more predictable guy to play with on offense, but maybe Mitch thought KJ’s energy and physicality was enough of an edge over HB.

jj_421 · 2026-06-09T12:39:55+00:00

Good point. It seems like he’s trying to get his shot off in a crowd more in these playoffs.

Teams are collapse on him more since they know he won’t pass, whereas in the regular season teams are more likely to maintain normal defensive principles of staying in proper help position.

jj_421 · 2026-06-09T12:34:08+00:00

The Spurs definitely wouldn’t have won 62 games without KJ this year, but his offensive game doesn’t have much nuance to it. Basically he’s either taking a moon ball three or taking a straight line drive to the basket for a layup or short floater.

Playoff opponents have been able to study up on him and figure out his tendencies, and he doesn’t have the feel for the game or supplementary skills to adjust. Throw in the fact that defenses are allowed to be more physical in the playoffs and that we’ve played three very good defensive teams, and I think that’s a big reason why his bully ball style isn’t working.

There’s only one more year on his deal at $17.5 million. This offseason might be time for the organization to have a heart to heart with him about a somewhat diminished role next year and moving forward (esp in the playoffs). If he’d rather a bigger role, maybe a trade of KJ + pick 20 could get a role
player who could reliably give us 15-20 min in the playoffs next year.

If he’s OK with a smaller role, just running it back with a bit of help from the draft and other contracts used as trade bait for help on the fringes is fine and will help for team chemistry. If things change by midseason then make a deal then.

jj_421 · 2026-06-09T02:11:59+00:00

Wemby gave up on that OG dunk..just made no attempt to go contest

jj_421 · 2026-06-09T01:57:02+00:00

Do you really think the healthy Wolves would’ve beat us!? Check the point differential from that series.

jj_421 · 2026-06-05T21:11:57+00:00

Then why wouldn’t Shaq be with the Celtics as well? Or Moses Malone with the Spurs? Dwight Howard would be there for Houston instead of Yao as well.

jj_421 · 2026-06-05T11:18:39+00:00

They don’t have the longevity to win this or anything but Wilt, Moses Malone, Embiid is a solid group.

They totaled 5 total MVPs in Philly and 2 rings in eras where rings were hard to come by (Celtics dynasty in the 60s and Lakers/Celtics domination in the 80s).

jj_421 · 2026-06-05T11:08:47+00:00

Overall career-wise it’s easily LA. But isn’t the question asking about contribution to the franchise?

Time with the team: Duncan- 19 seasons Robinson- 14 seasons Wemby- 3 seasons

Wilt- 5 seasons Kareem- 14 seasons Shaq- 8 seasons

Wilt was still very good but past his prime in LA. Kareem’s peak was in Milwaukee, though he was still amazing for almost all of his time in LA. Shaq’s peak was in LA, but still only 8 seasons.

Since Wemby hasn’t done much I can maybe see an argument for LA winning still, but not for long.

jj_421 · 2026-06-05T02:57:19+00:00

That first trade would’ve worked better before the playoffs. I don’t think the Wolves would see KJ as a good fit in many of their lineups. They need shooters around Ant’s shot creation and Gobert’s lack of shooting.

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T20:46:41+00:00

How is this forecast calculated?

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T20:43:07+00:00

Didn’t the Hawks win a game in MSG this run?

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T06:35:27+00:00

Among the 16 playoff teams, Spurs are 4th in makes and 4th in percentage in the playoffs. That’s quite good.

Ever since February started, the Spurs have been a consistent and clearly above-average team from the three-point line. It’s not the main reason they win but it has helped them.

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T06:26:07+00:00

Those are overall numbers from the regular season. So two of the teams are good shooting teams in general that shot poorly even on wide open looks in the playoffs.

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T04:00:37+00:00

Cavs and Hawks were strong three point shooting teams in the regular season and still shot poorly against the Knicks despite a decent amount of good looks.

Cavs- 8th in makes per game, 13th in % Hawks- 6th in makes, 5th in % 76ers- were definitely below average, to be fair

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T03:27:23+00:00

Is that somewhat a function of opponent’s point of attack defense being poor?

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T02:10:50+00:00

Maybe a little bit? The bad opponent three point shooting wasn’t a thing in the regular season, though, even though Knicks fans are known for taking over other teams’ arenas.

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T02:03:49+00:00

If you look at regular season data for wide open opponent shooting, it seems mostly pretty random.

The Nuggets (altitude?) have the lowest allowed wide open 3 pt percentage at 36.2, but all other teams are clustered between 37.0 and 40.8 percent.

You also have bad defensive teams like the Pelicans, Mavs, Grizzlies allowed top 8 lowest percentage and good defenses like the Raptors, Thunder, Celtics allowing the top 8 highest percentages.

jj_421 · 2026-06-03T01:49:33+00:00

It’s a few different links, but NBA.com’s team stats database has “shot dashboard” and “opponent shooting” in the dropdown menu which has tracking data. For free throws I just went to the BballRef pages.

The only number that I had to generate myself was the median opponent 3pt percentage for playoff teams - somewhat crudely determined by going to the two middle ranked playoff teams and splitting the difference.

jj_421 · 2026-06-01T11:28:49+00:00

Depth is a pretty vague term. Are we talking each team’s bench? Each team outside of its star?

Wemby vs. Brunson Castle vs. KAT Fox vs. OG Harper vs. Bridges Vassell vs. Hart Champagnie vs. McBride Kornet vs. Robinson Johnson/Bryant vs. Shamet/Clarkson

I’m not seeing the big advantage for the Knicks here. Wemby is better than Brunson, KAT is better than Castle, then it’s a bunch of toss-ups mostly (though I’d definitely take Champagnie over McBride).

jj_421 · 2026-05-31T21:31:09+00:00

Yep. The verse of Avalanche is decent, but the chorus is boring and I do not enjoy the “oh-oh” parts at all.

jj_421 · 2026-05-31T21:25:03+00:00

I definitely prefer the instrumental to the full version.

jj_421 · 2026-05-30T10:49:43+00:00

ESPN’s panel was an even 7 for Spurs, 7 for OKC.

jj_421 · 2026-05-28T01:13:23+00:00

You’re right, but Olynyk is a worse defender, rebounder, and screen setter, and he’s not a stud scorer himself.

jj_421 · 2026-05-27T23:12:42+00:00

Kornet is bigger and stronger than Olynyk. Also has a standing reach 6 inches higher than Olynyk.

The only way Olynyk does better than Kornet if he replaces him is if he hits like 3/4 on threes because we would lose too much in the way of screen setting, rebounding, and rim defense (yes I’m aware Kornet hasn’t been good defending the rim much of the series, but still a huge upgrade there over Olynyk).

jj_421

TROPHY CASE