After watching the Knicks come back to beat the lowly Nets on Tuesday night, Sal says New York has the superstar duo necessary to win a title, and it will just come down to finding complementary pieces to add around Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle before the trade deadline next month.
"We know Brunson is a legitimate superstar…can Julius Randle be the No. 2? I believe he is," Sal said. "I know he's the No. 2 on this Knicks team, but I believe he can be the No. 2 on a Knicks championship team, with the other moves around it. But Randle, to me, is a legit No. 2 star.
"The first year, he was the No. 1. I didn't say he is a No. 1. Now they have Jalen Brunson…we saw Randle in the postseason last year, he had ankle issues. He had to have surgery at the end of the year."
BT, while adding that he wants to be proven wrong more than any opinion he's had before, but he doesn't see Randle as a No. 2 that can make winning plays in crunch time to get the Knicks to an NBA Finals, noting costly turnovers he makes down the stretch of close games, including one in the final two minutes of Tuesday's win.
"This team is good. There's no doubt…the problem is, you can't win with Randle as the No. 2," BT said. "You can't. I wish I could agree with you, but I can't.
"Randle comes steamrolling down the court…he runs right at three people, he spins away from one defender and spins right into two. Turns it over and commits a foul. His ticker is strong, he scores, he's an All-Star. The problem is, you win championships inside of the last few minutes, and I just don't trust him…When the pressure gets ratcheted up, he changes. He gets frenetic. He speeds it up, and he's 30. He's not gonna change."
