Knicks Close out Vegas Vacation With a Win
If for no other reason, the Knicks' jaunt to Vegas can be deemed a success based on the play of their second-round steal. It will be tough for Thibs to keep Kolek off the floor if...
Final Score: Knicks 90 - Hawks 82
Record 3-2
Because this was the Summer League finale, the Knicks wanted to make sure some of the players at the end of the bench got some burn. As a result, New York starters saw their minutes curtailed.
Yet, although he logged just 14 minutes, Tyler Kolek still dished out a team-high six assists (without committing a single turnover). Although we all would've liked to watch Kolek play another complete contest, we saw everything we needed from this kid during his first four games in a Knick uniform.
Kolek leads all players in Vegas in assists with 35 while turning the ball over just seven times. In case you were wondering, a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio is pretty good for a kid getting his feet wet against NBA competition and playing with people he just met for the first time last week. And, as we discussed over the past week, it wasn't just the assist totals that were so impressive; it was the quality of his passes/vision/anticipation. Being able to dish out dimes and take care of the basketball is a rare skill (one which Tom Thibodeau values greatly).
Remarkably, Kolek is the first and only player in Summer League history to dish out 35+ assists while committing fewer than eight turnovers. So, yeah, I'd say the kid lived up to the lofty expectations we had coming in.
The Knicks have a keeper. If for no other reason, the Knicks' jaunt to Vegas can be deemed a success based on the play of their second-round steal. It will be tough for Thibs to keep Kolek off the floor if he can prove he can stay in front of fellow PGs on the defensive end.
On the other hand, the Knicks' first-round pick had a difficult ten days in the desert.
Pacome Dadiet was 1-of-6 in Saturday's victory over Atlanta, finishing with four points, two rebounds and one assist. His final numbers from Vegas aren't pretty. Through New York's five contests, Dadiet averaged 6.8 points, 4.2 boards and 1.2 dimes while shooting 30.8% from the field and a dreadful 10.5% from behind the arc. Yet, per our daily reminder, he's the youngest player in the 2024 draft, and this was the Frenchman's first extended stay in the States.
I assume the Knicks planned on stashing him in Europe next season, but it was clear the kid wanted to remain in New York. My guess is that's why he was willing to shockingly settle for just 80% of his rookie-scale contract.
For the first time in a long time, the Knicks are so deep that they had the luxury of buying a lottery ticket and taking a flier on a high-risk, high-reward youngster with a tantalizing upside. The reality is that no matter how well Dadiet played in Vegas, he wasn't going to crack the Knicks' rotation. With OG, Bridges, Hart, DDV, McBride, and even Keita Bates-Diop battling for minutes, what are the chances Thibs would trust a teenager?
So, Dadiet will have a chance to spend next season behind the scenes, working on his craft and building his fundamentals. He'll be able to practice with Thibs and the big club's coaching staff while learning from two ideal mentors in OG and Bridges. And Dadiet will get plenty of game reps with Westchester.
Then, 12 months from now, on this same court in Las Vegas, we'll get a fresh look at the 19-year-old grizzled veteran.
Knicks Notes and News
🏀 Rokas Jokubaitis closed out his Vegas run with another impressive performance, tallying 12 points, five rebounds, and five assists Saturday night. He was also efficient, shooting 4-of-7 from the floor, 2-of-2 from downtown, and 2-of-3 from the charity stripe.
First and foremost, Rokas deserves credit for agreeing to play for New York. Plenty of other seasoned, proven pros would have scoffed at the idea of coming off the bench for limited minutes in a summer league setting. Remember, Rokas has been the starting point guard for European powerhouse Barcelona in the Spanish ACB league (the second-best league in the world). Still, he was willing to take the chance and compete.
It ended up working out well for both Rokas and the Knicks. Over the team's five games, he averaged 9.8 points and 3.8 assists in 19.1 minutes while shooting a scorching 57% from the floor and 50% from downtown. He's still just 23 years old and a few years away from his prime.
We'll see what happens, but if nothing else, he probably boosted his stock over these past two weeks (whether that increased his leverage while negotiating for a contract in Europe for the 2024-25 season or increased his trade value stateside).
🏀 On the center front, Hukporti played well in Saturday's finale. He logged only 13 minutes but scored 10 points (4-of-5 FGs) and grabbed seven rebounds. Skapintsev registered nine points and four boards in 12 minutes off the bench.
While both bigs have flaws, they showcased some promising skills in Vegas. It will be fascinating to see how Skapintsev, Hukporti and Jericho Sims battle it out in training camp and the preseason.
🏀 ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news last night that Evan Mobley has agreed to a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension with the Cavaliers. The deal includes at least $224 in guaranteed money and could rise to as much as $269 million if Mobley makes an All-NBA team next season.
It's not apples to apples, but it's difficult not to view these contracts through the Brunson Prism (BB and AB - Before Brunson and After Brunson).
The Knicks captain will be paid $156 million over the life of his extension (or $68 million less than Mobley, who was dominated by NY's front line in the 2023 playoffs).
Toronto's Scottie Barnes, Detroit's Cade Cunningham and Orlando's Franz Wagner also inked similar max extensions this summer. It's a vivid reminder of how much cap space the Knicks are saving by having their best player locked into a contract that pays him less than $40 million annually.
With Donovan Mitchell also agreeing to an extension earlier this month and Darius Garland on a max deal, those three players alone will account for north of $125 million for Cleveland in the 2025-26 season.
🏀 Of course, the impending TV deal the NBA is about to sign, and the corresponding mega contracts that will be inked, have raised plenty of eyebrows.
During an appearance on the Front Office Sports Today podcast, Josh Hart acknowledged that he now plans to stay in the league as long as possible.
"I wanted to retire at like 34, maybe 35, so I'd still got a bit of juice left," Hart said. "But then I saw (reports of the new $76 billion media deal), and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna play until my knees fall off."
🏀 When Nets general manager Sean Marks spoke with reporters following the blockbuster trade that sent Mikal Bridges to New York, he stated the deal came together quickly following discussions in June. However, Brian Lewis of The New York Post reported the two sides began discussing the framework of the trade before the deadline in early February, with the concept of five first-round picks and a swap being bandied about back then.
"We were always prepared for a rebuild. It wasn't like, oh, let's wait to be lucky to find the star that's coming into free agency. We were always prepared to pivot in the other direction if we could see the right opportunity to do that," the source said. "And who would've thought we could trade Mikal Bridges for five first-round draft picks? And who would've thought we were able to find that window of opportunity to get Houston to agree to get our picks back?
"It was eye-opening to see the Knicks offer these kinds of assets for Mikal. If you look at our ability to reload our assets, particularly in the draft year of 2025, we have one pick that's our own that could be very. very good. … We've got three more first-round picks that probably will be in the 20s but it's a very deep draft. Plus, we have our own second-round pick. That's a class we can get very excited about."