Knicks draft-and-stash prospect Rokas Jokubaitis has been named the EuroLeague’s Rising Star, per Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com (Twitter link). Jokubaitis, 21, was the No. 34 pick in the 2021 draft and was acquired from the Thunder (along with No. 36 pick Miles McBride) in exchange for Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (No. 32).
Jokubaitis has appeared in 35 games with Spanish club FC Barcelona this season, averaging 7.2 points and 2.8 assists along with an eye-popping .565/.595/.757 shooting line in 17.1 minutes per contest. Barcelona will face long-time rival Real Madrid in the EuroLeague Final Four, which takes place from May 19-21 in Belgrade, Serbia.
As Urbonas notes, the young Lithuanian guard joins an impressive list of Rising Star recipients, including Danilo Gallinari, Nikola Mirotic, Ricky Rubio, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Luka Doncic, and Usman Garuba, among others.
Here’s more from the Atlantic:
- In the second part of a discussion with colleague Fred Katz about New York’s offseason, John Hollinger of The Athletic says the Knicks are “unquestionably” looking to trade for a star player, because the roster is too good to tank, but not good enough to contend. Hollinger expects coach Tom Thibodeau to be back at the helm next season, as he’s done a solid job developing young players. Australian guard Dyson Daniels, who played for G League Ignite this past season, would be a good fit alongside Immanuel Quickley if New York’s pick lands at No. 11 or 12, says Hollinger.
- The stellar play of Jimmy Butler in the Heat/Sixers matchup is a reminder of what could have been for Philadelphia, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Philly famously chose to placate Ben Simmons instead of retaining Butler, even though Butler was (and still is) close with Joel Embiid. Both Simmons and Butler needed the ball and didn’t complement each other well offensively, and the team felt forced to pick between the two, sources tell Shelburne. “When you get into a competition, he understands the full deal — that you have to do it on both ends,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler. “And he’s able to compete with a ferocity and an incredibly stable mind. That is really unique — when it gets the craziest is when he’s really locked in on making sure that it’s solid winning basketball for our team.” The Heat lead the second-round series 3-2, with Butler averaging 26.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.8 steals on .534/.318/.842 shooting.
- Eric Koreen of The Athletic ranks the Raptors‘ trade assets, from untouchable (Scottie Barnes) to salary matching/low-stakes moves (Malachi Flynn, Khem Birch, others). Koreen notes that Pascal Siakam and Precious Achiuwa have both drastically improved their trade values with strong seasons in 2021/22.
Man I forgot Butler was even on the 76ers. What a dumb team lol.
This assuming Butler didnt want to be in Miami though, which has been kind of a back and forth thing since this happened. He may have left regardless…that being said, these were ways to make those 3 work with enough shooting around them, in which case they would have been a monster team, in my opinion
I wish The Bulls never traded him
Rubbish front office back then, Wade never clicked with the team and our damn luck when we were up 2-0 with celtics resulted in the trade.
Interesting….I seem to remember Bulls fans here not liking him
He’s an interesting player. Hard motor and puts in 110%, but has an occasional Kyrie type moment from time to time to rub folks wrong. You can’t not like his effort, but he makes it hard to put in the same conversation as the elites. He’s Leonard with extra quirks.
Not sure about others but I loved the guy since he started subbing injured Rose.
Loved the fact he put all that extra work that summer and became a starter
Warriors get OG, Young and Achiuwa
Raptors get Wiggins, Wiseman and Moody
Raptors add salary filler
Why would the Raptors do this? Horrible trade…
Don’t think young is under contract anymore.
Wiseman would likely be an upgrade over Precious but OG vs Wiggins? I’d rather keep OG even though Wiggins is a hometown kid
Is Wiseman really an upgrade? Never plays.
Cumulative total wins past two seasons
largest city Knicks 78
2nd largest city Lakers 75
Central largest city Rockets 37
My predictions for this decade (2021-2030)
Lakers 430 wins
Knicks 390 wins
Rockets 300 wins
Lakers are better organization than Knicks and Rockets.
Lakers and Rockets have traded away their own picks.
!RemindMe: 8 years
So u made this post to mock us who go on and comment on this site. Lol it was funny what u wrote Maybe a little mean but funny. But we like to talk about basketball with what knowledge we got. So what but still I give u credit very funnny joke
Chicago has a higher population than Houston guy. Smh lmao
Prediction: you’re wrong.
Didn’t they have bird rights to Tobias and Butler? Could have kept all 4.
Bulls need a player like Siakam. Would Raptors take Vucevich and Coby White in return?
No
@Sankara
That could be a yes, he made a statement. The bulls need someone like Siakam
Then asked if the raps would take Vuc ans White. That answer is yes
For the 8th-15th men sure. But you’re not getting anyone off the Raptors 7 man payoff rotation for them
US Bulls fans are not delusional like Lakers fans. No way that happens. Lol
Butler was pretty clear why he left. His reasons made sense to me, and it had nothing to do with his relationship with his teammates. He didn’t care for Brown’s passive-aggressive approach to dealing with his role during the season, but was particularly disturbed by the organization continuing the approach, with Brown, into the contract discussions. He indicated they didn’t offer the 5 year max, and seemed to be putting some strings on the 4 year version, but he couldn’t get them to just tell him their concerns straight out. In any event, they screwed the pooch. He was ready to re-up if it was handled better.
Knicks at 11 should see Agbaji there. Jump, pounce, corral that guy. Then we can use Grimes in a trade. Biggest move Knicks can make next yr. Is move Randle to Mavs. He’s from Dallas. So he should behave there. He can be a #2 to Luka. A 20 n 10 Randle makes Mavs much better.
Knicks will take Dinwiddie and Bertans. We’ll even throw in a 2nd rd pick.
Randle n Kemba >>>> to Dallas
plus Knicks 2023 (2nd) rd pick.
Dinwiddie n Bertans >>>> to NY
Dinwiddie, Rose, Quickley, McBride take care of PG. We can even use Quickley and Grimesin a trade now. Draft Agbaji ……
Ramble on
I would trade Randle to Dallas right away. But Al, why trade Grimes? I think he has the highest potencial of our young core (besides RJ). I much rather trade Quickley