1. They were going to lose Julius Randle after this season. The sides couldn’t reach an agreement on an extension and there really wasn’t a way for Julius to make the type of money he commands on the market and for the Knicks to keep the rest of their core of Brunson, OG, and Bridges together.
2. The Knicks improve Offensively. Katt opens up the lane for Brunson to work freely, their pick and roll/pick and Pop potential is crazy. Julius statistically scores more than Katt but he is ball dominant and less efficient. Julius has only one season where he shot more than 40% from 3. Katt is a career 40% shooter from 3. Add him to OG and Bridges and you surround Brunson with shooters from distance. Stretch 5 – self explanatory.
3. The Knicks improve on Defense. Julius was in the 22nd percentile of defensive players Katt is in the 82nd percentile and a rim protector. He has averaged at least one block a game every season besides those he played with Goebert for obvious reasons. Julius Randle is a Luke warm defender who saves most of his effort for Offense. Katt guarded KD and Jokic successfully in the last playoffs and I have to admit he’s slept on when it comes to D ⏸️. Bridges and OG on the wings and Katt at the rim is a problem.
4. It solved many roster problems in one move. The Knicks were too small and unreliable at Center. Fixed. With Brunson and Julius requiring a lot of dribbles to get their shot off there would be a lot of iso ball and stagnant possessions. We don’t have the luxury of the I Hart and Mitchell tandem anymore to rely on offensive rebounds to make up for that. Katt shoots off the catch or one or two dribbles. A lot more spacing and free flowing possessions. The value of adding talent and size shouldn’t be underestimated.
5. It secured the Knicks spot as a formidable squad for years to come: Brunson, OG, and Katt are locked in for seasons to come. Bridges probably will be too soon. With the new Collective Bargaining agreement this gives the Knicks stability during Brunson’s prime. I really like Donte and losing him hurts, but once we added Bridges he was going back to the bench. He wasn’t happy with that and it was going to be a challenge to find him minutes. It was gonna be another IQ situation.
My first instinct was to hate this move. With some reflection tho, it makes sense.
Farewell Ju and Donte, welcome Katt. Knicks in 🖐🏽
#knickstape #knicks #nba
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