martin wrote:Knixkik wrote:I really feel great about the healthy starting 5: Brunson, Donte, OG, Randle, Hartenstein. Brunson has arrived as a top 10 guy and one of the best closers in the league. Randle is a satisfactory 2nd option. Donte, OG, and Hartenstein are the cream of the crop as far as elite level role players. What they do, they do among the best in the league. If you can upgrade from Randle to Giannis, sure, you do it. But otherwise it’s really tough. I’d gladly go after P George and Bridges, the 2 most common names floating around. But P George is older and injury prone, so replacing Randle with him shortens the window for contention. Bridges replacing Randle doesn’t really help with the lack of scoring around Brunson. And adding him to the lineup alongside Randle gives a good scoring option with the defense, but if you’re replacing Donte with him you lose the shooting gravity. It’s just really tough to replace any of our starting 5 in a vacuum due to their individual skill sets being perfectly suited around Brunson (and Randle to a lesser extent.) long story, longer, the starting 5 fits like a glove and we saw that in a one month sample size.Now when I say we need a 6th man, I’m not talking about a Hart replacement. I’m talking about someone who can carry offense in some ways. Hart will do what he does whether he’s off the bench or starting in place of OG, Donte or Randle if and when one of them is out. But we need someone who can really bring offense to the second unit to prop it up at times. We need a real Quickley replacement, regardless of position. It will be bogey plus picks that don’t mortgage the future.
Imagine if we could move that package for Kuzma and get him to buy into a bench role as a 2-way combo forward who can score, rebound and playmake? Or maybe it’s as simple as revisiting Brogdon, a former 6th man of the year. Similar to his teammate Jerami Grant. Does he buy into a 6th man role if it means competing for a championship? We need that level of guy. Knicks healthy starting 5 is elite. We need to get that elite bench back. Imagine back a couple of years ago when the starting 5 was trash but the bench would carry this team to wins. What if we could put that all together? Outside of a Giannis or maybe PG level player coming onto the market, that should be the goal. Find that guy.
I don't want to divert your topic - I think you are spot on with the 6th man upgrade - but I want to ask everyone if there is even a semi viable upgrade over Randle that is out there.
Giannis. He prob is not available for at least a year?
Paul George? He has LAC and Philly options and would need to specifically pick the Knicks?
Booker? Not for a couple years?
Donovan is awkward.
Who else is even a remote'ish possibility?
I've been on the trade Randle for Lauri Markannen bandwagon for about 3 years... he gives you similar production, more length and positional flexibility, more efficiency from deep, not a ball holder, similar defense lapses, etc
So if the Knicks are actually looking at upgrades for Randle - this is the guy. He's not the best possible upgrade from a talent perspective (Giannis better) - but he plays in a way that can be a seemless fit (much like OG). You can plug him in and he can fit on most any team and even adjust his role. Once he matured and got injured less - he started to be consistent. He played pretty well on Cavs and now on the Jazz. If we landed him and he didn't fit - would be much easier to find him a home as a 7ft outside shooting forward that can play spot minutes at C. He fits the timeline as well.
So I think he's worth adding a few picks with Randle despite them having similar production.
If not - Randle upgraded to KD as a 2 year rental could work. KD always seems unhappy wherever he goes so that should be a caution flag... but on the court if you swapped KD for Randle we would ease the Brunson load and not lose much besides some physicality.
