NBA GameTime| This NYK Looks Like a Champ Team -Haynes on Knicks signing Bridges to blockbuster deal

NBA GameTime| This NYK Looks Like a Champ Team -Haynes on Knicks signing Bridges to blockbuster deal

can you actually juggle in real life no no no not at all maybe two balls that’s about it that’s not juggling no you pass one over and throw it up I think by definition that is I could trick my kids that’s about it I think a juggler a real juggler would laugh at you they’d be insulted yeah they would be insult minimum three um can you juggle a little bit yeah I can do the basic yeah I can do three yeah I can yeah you know why in a basketball camp somebody said it was good for hand eye coordination so taught myself the juggle when I was 12 did not pay off in any way basketball-wise yeah well covering basketball I don’t know if it’s helping not sure it’s helping there either but I can still do it um so you heard this week Migel Bridges joins the collection of Villanova alums populating the New York Knicks roster big deal which included what five first round draft picks going back the other way as Brooklyn reloads after giving up all the picks they did for Durant Etc uh and now the Nova Knicks are a better team absolutely absolutely listen I you know people get caught up in all these draft picks the reality is the the Knicks from a salary standpoint they don’t want any more picks I mean they’re they’re not going to be drafted in the top five so in essence if you’re going to be one of the five to eight best teams in our league you know that first round salary you’d be better served to have in an in in a veteran experienced player that can help you win now and that’s what this roster has I mean bringing him in uh they probably got the best Wing uh book in Wing Defenders with anobi and bridges in the league plus the durability that Bridges brings to the table his shooting the other thing I love about him is he’s what I call a complimentary star meaning he’s not a guy that you run your offense through but for stretches he can carry you and his ability to play without the basketball I think invaluable factoring in the chemistry that he brings along with it as well and I feel like the Knicks quiet have probably positioned himself better than any other team in the league when it comes to competing against the Boston Celtics cuz that’s ultimately going to have to go up against if this group is healthy I think they are positioned very nicely moving forward well he really opened some eyes when he got to Brooklyn as well in terms of his own shot creation because he was never asked to do that as a Phoenix Sun where he was basically a three and D guy and someone on the wing waiting for a pass to launch that the question goes to you same are the Nicks the team best position to take on the Celtics in the East if Philadelphia lands Paul George I think it’s still the Knicks you put up the depth chart there a minute ago they have seven or eight very good players who all complement each other well and want to play together and that’s where I think the Villanova Connection in particular is so important Mel Bridges wanted to be a New York Nick even though it’s a lesser role as we know there are players in the NBA who want to be a star and have it all about them Bridges is all about winning I know that we traded for the guy on draft night in Phoenix in 2018 and I texted with him the the other day he’s extremely excited to go across the bridge and play in Manhattan he is extension eligible 6 months from now so I think he’s going to be a Nick for a long time and Greg made a great point about their wing Defenders everybody looks at the champion is chasing the Champions well if you’re going to beat the Boston Celtics you need somebody to at least try to slow down both of Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown they have other good players too obviously with holiday and white uh New York has the kind of roster where they can match up maybe not at the high end with the star power but with the depth this team was second last year in the Eastern Conference they almost made it to the conference final despite a number of injuries and I think they’re even better we’ll see what happens with Isaiah hartenstein if they can resign him that would be huge it’s going to be difficult um but this is a loaded team especially in the perimeter and we know one thing they’re going to have great chemistry and those guys are going to play hard because they all wanted to be on the same team I I was going to say that’s the one concern I have if they cannot Reign resign hardenstein because he kind of completes them the other issue is that Mitchell Robinson’s Health you know and availability right he has missed a significant amount of games with injury terrific rebounder rim protector screener but if he’s not out there it really hurts you and and hardstein really has also developed great chemistry understands how to play with this group does a terrific job of what I call spacing the paint he really finds cracks on the interior to make himself available for his teammates a terrific finisher and traffic as well and so I I think if he’s on the roster I think they’re the team best suited I think without him it becomes a little bit more of a crapshoot because you got to assume that Robinson’s going to miss 253 games and that could be the difference in terms of seating and ultimately whether or not you have a chance to get to the conference final all right we’ve got some uh news on a free agent staying put again Ryan told you earlier this is new this year teams can sign their own free agents have these deals done before the start of free agency at 6 Eastern Time Max Christie is back with the Lakers on a four $32 million contract according to Adrien wowski uh second round pick so this is a one of those cases where being a second rounder ran really pays off it does and this is the Mini version of what Philadelphia is doing with Tyrese Maxi he has a low salary cap hold about a $2.3 million cap hold so I strongly believe the Lakers will do other business and then do this at the back end um you know to preserve their ability to go ass sign Klay Thompson something like that but good for Max Christie as a second round pick um you know either it could go one of two ways right either you can play well and monetize it and stay in the league for a while which you did or you can be out of the league pretty quickly because you don’t have the long-term guarantees that first round picks usually get um so the Lakers you know continue to run it back um which is why I’m fascinated to see what LeBron James does does he actually take close to $20 million less to bring in Klay Thompson uh if not guys they’re going to have to make a move they’re going to have to send somebody out to gain flexibility if LeBron wants either his full Max which is north of 5050 million a year or even close to it Lakers are going to have to do some more wheeling and dealing um so to see how it ends up because uh as you look up and down the roster and this is another aspect of the bronny James situation and bronny reportedly not wanting to take a two-way contract there aren’t many roster spots either so forget about the salary you need you can only have 15 guys in season so the Lakers have some difficult decisions to make in less LeBron takes significantly less and they can use that non- taxpayer mid-level at 12.8 million to land stud if they do that then life gets easier in La G assuming the Lakers can do what Ryan suggested earlier and maybe move a couple of less desirable contracts to somebody like Detroit who can take them on uh and assuming they can’t get Paul George or somebody of that ilk and there are only so many of those guys out there what should they be looking for in terms of a free agent who could take up some of that money that LeBron James may be willing to give up well I think first there a couple issues they have one is shooting I mean they still obvious need to address their ability to shoot the basketball space the floor uh so that’s where the Klay Thompson makes a lot of sense uh but they do have pieces that I think are movable you know you think about a Vanderbilt a prince uh I don’t know if what they do with Gabe Vincent because he was injured all last year maybe they keep it but again these aren’t huge numbers but they’re the kinds of numbers that will give you some flexibility move they’re not bad players and they’re not bad contracts and so I do think that that allows you for the opportunity to maybe make some smaller deals to set yourself up to be able to go out and get a Frontline kind of a player and so I think that’s ultimately what you’re going to see their front office try to do I think they have to the other aspect of this is also you got to get a sense of JJ reick as a coach philosophically what players fit and what don’t because the reality is he may like what they have he you know he’s going to come in with a completely different philosophy of how they want to play uh and a lot of times when you watch them play I just felt like they had a lot of guys that weren’t they weren’t value ads for stretches on the floor and I think that’s something that they’ve got to look at what fits best around Davis and around LeBron out there you know how can we maximize those two guyss because their front end T Talent is good enough to win with it’s just the roster construct that they have that’s really kind of strangling them right now and so they’ve got to mesh his philosophy with the personnel and that’s what we’re going to get to see play out here over the next few weeks and from a trade perspective guys they have five players making between essentially 11 and $19 million D’Angelo Russell ruy haimura Austin reees Gabe Vincent and Jared Vanderbilt not horrible contracts that Reeves has the most value I think of that grouping uh those are potentially tradable deals U but from a roster spot perspective they do have some issues because a couple of their end of the roster players cam Rish and Jackson Hayes they picked up their player options they opted in um so I think uh I don’t want to be too repetitive but the Lakers need to keep going they need to continue to make moves uh with bronnie James on the roster with maxi Christie coming back and Dalton connect coming in I thought he was one of the better first round picks in that 18th slot out of Tennessee um they have a number of players they don’t have much flexibility so um we’ll see if they can trade one of those guys and that would alleviate a lot of things not only in terms of just Financial Greg but also in terms of U you know roster spots and and and letting JJ reck put his stamp on things because I think an optimist would say well this team did go to the Conference Finals two years ago right you know with essentially the same group but then we saw what happened last year and I think the debate is is this just a Denver Nuggets problem where the Lakers don’t match up with Denver the team that’s beaten him two years in a row once in the Conference Finals once in the first round or is it a larger roster issue in the construction of it you know problem and that remains to be seen U but yeah JJ reck as a new head coach is going to have a pretty similar roster to what Darin ham had at the end of last season and the Nuggets still exist so unless I unless there’s some news I I’m not aware of the nuggets are still out there for them to deal with uh in the playoffs the shooting thing is the obvious one to me for the Lakers Dalton connect maybe addresses some of that but he’s a rookie yeah he’s an older rookie but he’s a rookie yeah well and that’s the reality he’s still a rookie he has not gone through the rigers of an NBA season and and you don’t have the trust yet and and will he have the same impact as a shooter we’ve seen a lot of guys come in as Shooters who really struggled cuz the game’s a lot faster it’s a lot more athletic I really like what I saw from him in college and I think as a pick with the eight with the 18 pick I think it’s a great get but it doesn’t mean he’s necessarily even going to be ready to impact winning this season so that’s something else that you got to utilize and think about as you put this roster together let alone winning in the playoffs yeah well that’s a whole different animal uh still to come splashing beyond the bay we CL fore [Music] our BAS is under attack [Music] [Music] enem has de [Music] [Music] my life reborn for the battle [Music] PR is be come man [Music] [Music] my life re for the [Music] battle fore [Applause] [Music] where spee spee [Music] spee [Music] here heee [Music] spee spee spee [Music] [Music] now get out my but diee for n foree okay fore [Music] speee for

NBA GameTime| This NYK Looks Like a Champ Team -Haynes on Knicks signing Bridges to blockbuster deal