by gradyandrew » August 19, 2018, 1:26 am
I rewatched the second half of the 12-30 at Pelicans game last night (fucking offseason ,right?)
It was the only game Noah played longer than 10 minutes, of the 6 games he appeared in it was one of 2 when he played longer than 5, and also one of 2 games it wasn't a blow out. So, really if we want to judge Noah, that's the place to look.
And what? Well, depite my pessimism, he still is/was mostly the same player. He still excels at positional and man to man defense. Though he still made some mistakes, DMC was clearly frustrated by his defense. His hands were active and he was able to read the action and know when to sag off his man and when to commit.
I have a lot of love for Jeff, and truly, in limited minutes, coming off the bench in a blow out, Noah wasn't that good, but then again who really is in those situations?
Neither a buy out or a stretch and waive are good outcomes or really neccessary. What's the rush? The Knicks need to build up his value at the beginning of the season and see if they can find a trade partner. Mitch won't be ready to start the season and probably the best thing for his development would be going up against Noah everyday in practice. Enes spent most of his last season in OKC playing next to Adams, and there's really no reason not to think that Noah- Kanter could share time on the court.
If the Knicks can build up his value, they might be able to trade him. Gallinari would be a good target. While his salary is slightly higher (3 million more in 2019-20), he seems like more of a Fizdale type player, whereas Noah's defense will fit right in under Doc. At the end of the day, 3 million more for a 2019-20 season with Gallo instead of Noah seems like a fair price to pay.
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