The Knicks Are Smarter Than You Think

The Knicks Are Smarter Than You Think

That’s why they have the best record in the west and an ob’s first shot he loves those Corners Welcome to New York this is what the people want to see Daniels stenzo gets it back inside pass and noi throws it down and out of talent runs it inside feeds and be

Another slam whoa whoa whoa whoa wait a sec did I see that right a Knicks player who actually moves off the ball and cuts to the basket damn that’s crazy so initially when you look at this trade at a glance what do you see from one angle you could say the

Knicks gave up two young players who were still developing and supposed to be part of the future of this team in exchange for a player whose contract is expiring soon so why would the Knicks make this deal and did they have to throw in a manual quickly too that is

What most casuals will have you believing but this trade to acquire Oobi was the most significant trade they’ve made in a very long time and it goes deeper than you think there are multiple layers and complexities to this deal that you would not have seen when it

First happened how’s it going folks my name’s Andy and without further Ado let’s get started with OG’s contract expiring in 2025 and that’s only if he picks up his player option if not he would expire by the summer of 24 there were concerns if he was actually going to resign I mean I

Know New York’s a great City and all but to make a trade like this you’d have to think the Knicks know he’s going to stay with the team right well there’s good evidence to suggest he will in fact stay with the Knicks for the Long Haul anobi was previously represented by clutch

Sports but in the summer of 2023 he moved on from clutch and changed agents now represented by Sam Rose the son of current Nicks president Leon Rose you see where this is going right the Knicks have got to know that OG will resign with the team cuz I doubt Leon would

Approve this trade if he wasn’t sure he’d resign tampering aside he probably talked to his son about it but this wasn’t the first time something like this happened remember the whole jayen Brunson situation he has the same agent Sam Rose and he too arrived in New York with the intention of signing a

Long-term contract it’s a pretty simp similar situation here so we can assume OG is staying plus him and the Knicks have been linked together for a while now back in the 2023 trade deadline the Knicks apparently offered the Raptors three future first round picks for him which I’m glad the Raptors did not

Accept the Knicks had their eyes set on OG and even though they couldn’t get him then they knew that this is the guy they wanted of course eventually they did get Him it’s always upsetting to lose two guys who’ve been with the Knicks their entire careers though most Knicks fans were okay with getting rid of Barrett losing quickly hurts IQ is one of the best backup guards in the league and honestly he has the talents of a starter it’s

Just with jayen Brunson quickly was never going to be a starter and with his impending free agency he would demand far too much on the open market for what the Knicks are willing to pay according to NBA analyst Rick buer this is what he had to say about it quickly the sources

Say is eager to start as a scoring point guard and be paid in the $25 to $30 million range on par with Nick’s point guard Jaylen Brunson now I love the guy but he’s not worth the same value as Brunson the Knicks tried to offer him a reasonable extension worth around $18

Million a year but quickly refused it he always dreamed of being a starter and that just wasn’t going to happen in New York so it worked out for both parties he’s better off on a team where he could get the opportunity to play more minutes Barrett on the other hand he’s been the

Same player for years and with the Knicks two stars already being very ball dominant I don’t think he was ever going to develop further I can speak for all Nicks fans that the way we feel about RJ Barrett now is the same way we felt about him when he was a rookie those

Streaks of inconsistent shooting those moments where he disappears and doesn’t does do anything those lapses on defense which has gotten better but they needed an upgrade at the position where the Knicks struggle the most to defend the patience slowly eroded away I think it was about time to move on Plus at least

He got sent back to his hometown of Toronto so the Knicks did him well OG seamlessly slid into RJ spot and immediately made an impact he is a different player than RJ but he is is a direct upgrade to what the Knicks are looking for at this position in the 2022

To 23 season OG not only led the league in steals but his defensive impact can also be measured in the advanced metrics he registered a defensive real plus minus of plus 5.08 that was second among all small forwards in the NBA OG’s defensive prowess has been recognized across the

League hence why he was rewarded with an all defensive second team nomination this is what the Knicks have been missing for years a wing player who can take on the task of guarding all the elite Wing players in the NBA today in the previous year he also recorded 3.6

Deflections per game good for a second in the NBA among all players which can be attributed to his great lateral quickness and his 7’2 wingspan it’s not just his defense though there are aspects of OG’s game that are low-key and overlooked but it makes him the perfect complimentary

Player to the Knicks main stars for example his ability to impact the offense off the ball is amazing he actually moves off the ball he cuts to the basket and tries to squeeze into the best spots to get a good look his effective field goal percentage in catch

And shoots is about 5% higher than RJ Barrett very rarely do you see OG take a bad shot when he sees the defense he knows when to pull back or when to pass it to someone else instead of for ing a shot that he’s not good

At this is in Star contrast to Barrett there are so many times he takes what I like to call Kobe shots shots that will get the crowd roaring if he makes it but they’re still bad shots and he doesn’t make them that often either that’s why offensively while OG doesn’t take as

Many shots or score at the same volume as Barrett he’s always been more efficient in every season of his career the two most important aspects of offense three-point shooting and finishing at The Rim OG trounces Barrett in both of these categories for his career he hits his shots at The Rim at a

70% rate compared to Barrett’s 60% and this season in particular that number has risen to 76% for OG consistent and stoic are the two most defining characteristics of OG’s career although he’s not the perfect player he’s the perfect player for this team in the past for those who’ve been around

The Isaiah Thomas years or even the Phil Jackson years the Knicks have always struggled with managing their picks and young prospects it was common to see them throw away first round picks for washed up veterans and 99% of the time it never worked out however in more recent years with

The arrival of Leon Rose in 2020 they’ve shown more restraint in their trades and signings preferring to build slowly piece by piece as opposed to dropping all of their assets on one guy the trade for ogan anobi was very important because it represents how this new era of the Knicks handles roster

Management in the past they would have gladly dropped two or three future first round picks for OG but instead they managed to get him without giving up any first round picks he’s also making way less money than RJ Barrett so not only did they acquire a better player and a

Better fit but also cleared up cap space in the process as a result with the Knicks making rather conservative trades they’ve accumulated a ton of assets not all of them will convey due to protections but this this is still a lot since they already have so many good

Role players they do have the option to dump all of their picks for a star if they want to you know our plan was to work with what we have through Player Development look at what’s out there we’re thrilled with where we are we really are we’re

Thrilled with the team that we have and we feel like we are positioned very well for the future 21 draft picks over the next seven years 11 first round picks and 10 second round picks all right that’s a lot that there’s still some things to be done going forward with all those assets

Absolutely ever since Leon Rose joined the New York Knicks they’ve been moving in a positive direction and one thing that separ Ates him from all the previous Nicks presidents is he emphasizes the importance of internal Development building that camaraderie something that’s been missing from the Knicks for a long time even with all

Those picks he’s not going to settle for a player he’s unsure about he wanted jayen Brunson and he got him he wanted Josh Hart and he got him he wanted OG for well over a year and lo and behold he finally got him but in a deal that makes sense instead of Desperately

Aiming for a star like the Knicks have always done they focused on highquality role players and guys who have all the intangibles and can build a foundation for a winning culture all of their transactions in recent years have fulfilled their purpose another thing that Lyon has excelled at since joining the team was

His ability to read when it’s time to move on from a young player we’ve seen that with Barrett but also with guys like Dennis Smith Jr Frank Neil Aina Kevin Knox cam reddish young guys who were once considered high potential prospects but they didn’t show much of

Anything in New York seeing as how their careers have been since leaving I’d say Leon Rose made some great decisions in getting rid of them the Knicks are in a strange position I’ve spent all video talking about their improvements and great moves and all that but when it comes down to

It they’re still not contenders at a glance you you see this team and think okay they’re a solid playoff team but nobody thinks they can beat the Celtics or bucks or Sixers in a seven game series they most likely second round fodder it seems like they’re still missing

Something they have two stars but Randall is kind of up and down a lot even in stretches of consistency you never know what you’re going to get from him it doesn’t help that he sucked in his first few appearances in the playoffs you could tell there are games when Brunson is literally doing

Everything and Randall doesn’t show up when he’s needed the most as I mentioned the Knicks have done an incredible job of getting high quality high energy role players from Mitchell Robinson to Isaiah hartenstein they got bigs who hustle and do all the dirty work from Josh Hart to Dante D

Venzo to OG they got Wings who can defend and shoot when the game slows down when they need someone to throw the ball to and raade something out of nothing they rely on Brunson way too much on the bright side we have seen Randall at least make

An effort in changing the way he plays he cut down on his threes he’s taking fewer bad mid-range shots it’s a work in progress but they do need someone who’s more reliable than Julius Randall over the last couple years I’ve never been a fan of his game I’ve made

Numerous videos talking about how I wish the Knicks would trade him but every year he goes on a crazy streak of games that make you believe he’s changed except as the months go by you realize he hasn’t he still has those same flaws he’s always had Randall is obviously

Super talented but it’s more so that you don’t know what to expect from him especially cuz he’s basically their secondary playmaker too so to have the ball in his hands and high pressure situations he never responds well it’s a very iffy dilemma because every other team knows his shortcomings they know

Randall’s value is not that high even if the Knicks shop him around like they’ve been doing they probably won’t get anyone back with the same level of talent as Randall the current construction of this roster is essentially built around him and Brunson and built very well with all

These supporting pieces that really fill in all the gaps it’s just a question of how far can these two stars realistically take them should I be satisfied if the Knicks reach the second round and lose again would that be considered a successful season or should I expect more from them

What will it take to consider them an Eastern Conference Contender people joke about the Warriors and Steve Kerr when he said that they have two timelines one with their current guys trying to compete for a title and another where their young guys develop and eventually carry the torch over to the the Next

Generation prior to this season the Knicks also kind of had two different timelines they were trying to compete with their core stars but also waiting for their young guys to develop and hopefully carry this team further when they do that has changed there’s no multiple timelines anymore by trading

For OG and getting rid of the two guys that they were trying to develop it was a sign that they now have one clearly defined timeline no more waiting no more experimenting OG knows who he is as a player and he’s closer in age to their

Core guys too by making this deal they are telling the rest of the NBA hey watch out we’re going for the title right now or in the very near future let’s see if they can actually do it thank you all so much for watching let me know your thoughts on the New

York Knicks can you see them being contenders with this roster what do you think they’re missing what do they need to push them over the hump to put them in the same conversation as the Celtics or bucks or Sixers or or I don’t know the Nuggets which player do you want to

See the Knicks go for let me know in the comments thank you all so much for watching and of course as always I’ll see you next time Peace

There’s a lot of details to this OG Anunoby trade that you might not’ve known, and it shows how smart the Knicks have been in recent years. Enjoy!

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