The Knicks made a big splash over the holiday break, trading Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett to the Raptors for OG Anunoby…who immediately stepped in with 17 points and six rebounds in 35 minutes in Monday afternoon’s win over Minnesota.
One game in, and already a lot to love.
“I love this trade, because they were going nowhere. They were stuck in neutral,” Boomer said. “Now, I’m not saying it’s going to propel them to a championship, but I don’t think they’re done yet. They are trying to build the right team; as much as we love and I love RJ Barrett and Emmanuel Quickley, I also realized that there are financial considerations here, and you have to give something to get something.”
“I have receipts that I loved the trade when it happened,” Gio added. “All of us with our teams overrate our teams at times, and guys like Quickley and Barrett did everything perfectly form a professional standpoint; thy worked hard and played hard, but like you said, they were going nowhere with these guys. RJ Barrett, for the third overall pick in the draft, was a bust - not a bust as a player overall, but the third overall pick of the draft that was going to change the fortunes of the Knicks franchise? It never happened.”
And if Anunoby can play so well 48 hours after the deal, in Game 1?
“If yesterday means anything to the team, and how this guy is going to fit into the team, I thought he was great yesterday I thought he's exactly what he is advertised to be: a guy that runs the floor and plays defense,” Boomer said. “Even without knowing the system totally, he was able to figure out just by his basketball acumen where to go and how to get there, and Jalen Brunson would find him.”
So yes, the Knicks had to give something to get something, but man, did they get something.
“They weren’t going to re-sign Quickley, Barrett was what he was, and they didn’t give up a first-round pick,” Gio said, “and Anunoby, for people who pay attention to the NBA, is a winning player on a team that had won a championship not that long ago, and does things for the Knicks at that position that RJ Barrett could not – and they still have financial flexibility, and now Anunoby’s Bird rights. A big, smart move by Leon Rose.”
“Everything you just said is 100 percent right. There are times we lose players who are ‘our’ players – but both of them were questionable defensively, and Anunoby can do that, and doesn’t need the ball,” Boomer added. “You need guys like that who can do the little things. You gotta shake it up, and you added something that you didn’t have, and it kind of cleans out some things Thibodeau had to deal with.”