Seth Rosenthal is the founder and editor-in-chief for SB Nation’s New York Knicks blog “Posting and Toasting.” He has endured years of Knicks incompetence and disappointment yet still agreed to lend Read Basketball some time in the otherwise Knicks-free month of September to talk about their off-season and why Kristaps Porzingis’ new nickname could be “Krispy Socks.” You can find him on twitter @seth_rosenthal.

Tom: You wrote about Phil Jackson surprising everyone and acting like a normal GM on draft night, a foreign concept to Knicks fans, what were your expectations for Phil heading into that night?

Seth: Based on every rumor I’d read, and heard, I expected him to go really conservative and draft an upperclassman, maybe trade down. I was just getting the feeling from what reporters were telling us his Knicks weren’t too fond of the draft and so were looking to get anyone who was older and established or just trading out of it entirely to get a veteran. So, I was definitely surprised with what the Knicks did.

Tom: Did you think it was the right move?

Seth: Kristaps Porzingis would not have been my pick at the time but I really love the idea of the Knicks doing the opposite of what I was just suggesting and planning for the future and not being worried about winning immediately because Carmelo Anthony is under contract. In doing that, they sort of underscored what people had mentioned about Phil is that he’s a bit of a troll. His organization was probably leaking a lot of s–t for people to believe that he was just going to draft Frank Kaminsky at 4 or something. So that part was fun. But mostly I’ve come to like Porzingis quite a bit, studying him a bit more and watching him in the summer league. Yeah, in general I really like that they went big. I like that they took a little bit of what people might perceive to be a gamble and I like that they weren’t just going for the most ready, established player right off the bat.

Tom: Yeah, Porzingis has grown on me as well every day. He looked a bit like a skyscraper sized valet man on draft night, do you think his choice of suit hurt his draft stock?

Seth: What was he wearing, that red suit?

Tom: Yeah the blazer with the white button up, if I remember correctly.

Seth: I think if his choice of suit hurt his draft stock, it’s because everybody was wearing that suit! A bunch of different guys were wearing that red suit with the black lapels or whatever that is.

Tom: I seemed to notice that as well!

Seth: Man, if you’re hurting yourself by wearing that suit it’s because you’re not distinguishing yourself from your peers.

Tom: Do you really think that Porzingis has gained 11 pounds and is eating 5,000 calories per day? Should this change our perception on him and what do you think he’s eating?

Seth: I do not believe that he’s gained 11 pounds because that’s hard. I believe him if he says he’s eating that many calories, with three steaks a day or whatever. Which, I’m not sure if that’s quite the way I’d go about gaining weight. Granted I’ve never been an elite, gigantic athlete. But as long as he’s working out enough for it to not go straight to ass then I guess that works out. I don’t want him to get huge though.

Tom: Like Eddy Curry?

Seth: Yeah, I’m not worried about an Eddy Curry type of situation. Especially at the age of 19, your body is growing at a certain rate and I hope he is doing what he’s doing in conjunction with the Knicks trainers and dietitians and stuff. He’ll definitely need to get a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger, especially in his lower body, and I’m glad he’s working on that and enjoying American food.

Tom: Do you think he’ll be as bad straight away as most people assume or do you think he can contribute a little bit and improves while he goes through his growing pains?

Seth: It’s tough. I’d say after summer league that fewer people are going to be assuming that he’s going to be bad right off the bat. No one knew quite what to expect from him because even if you watch videos of him playing in Spain, it’s just hard to draw conclusions. His usage was weird and irregular and the competition is different, all those sorts of things. I don’t think anyone is expecting him to be a star right away and if they are they’ll be disappointed. If you’re expecting him to be bad immediately then I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. He moves his feet decently well on defense. He obviously has that stroke, I don’t know if he’s going to hit those shots quite yet especially as he gets a little tired as stamina is so important to shooting in an NBA game. But I think he’s an NBA player right now, I think he can come in and contribute. If that’s surprising to people then so be it. I do think he’s ready to play in the NBA, maybe not a huge load or all 82 games or be counted on to do that much but, yeah, he’s a player.

Tom: Last Porzingis question I promise.A few days ago, you tweeted: “I caught up on Key and Peele this weekend and decided my nickname for Porzingis is ‘Krispy Socks.'” Did it just connect in your head when you heard it or was there a path you took to decide that that was the one?

Seth: [laughter] I can’t answer that, I’m not certain. Whatever path I took, it was a very dark one.

Tom: [laughter] I mean when I read your tweet I laughed. You know, it’s one of those where I can’t tell you why I agree, I can’t tell you why it’s right, you just feel it somewhere.

Seth: I don’t know if you’ve seen that Key and Peele sketch…

Tom: I have, I have.

Seth: [laughter] Okay, then you know what I’m referring to. But I haven’t been satisfied with the nicknames that’ve been given to that guy. A better one needs to emerge.

Tom: Yeah, we’ve got some time. Alright, for the free agents, who do you have as the most important pickup, the best value for contract and most likely to fail?

Seth: Most important pickup has to be Robin Lopez. They obviously needed some defense, they desperately needed a really solid big man, they needed someone to pass in the kind of offense they’re going to run, they needed someone smart and reliable to be a second option, and he’s all of those things. They invested the most in him so it’s really most crucial that he earns that contract.

Best value potentially, you know it’d be great if it Lopez, if there was a way he could be worth more than that. But Kyle O’Quinn is a guy who stands out to me. He might not end up being that much, which they’re not paying him a ton so it wouldn’t be a big deal. But based on his skill set and the fit he has, playing alongside someone like Melo and in the pass based, cut based, high post based offense that the Knicks are going to run, with just his age, his experience and the opportunities that he hasn’t quite had in Orlando, I think he could be awesome. I think he’s a really talented player. He’s got a strange skill set, but I think this is a pretty good setting for him. The Knicks have him on not only a light contract, but a fairly long one, too, 4 years. So I think that could be a huge deal if he’s even a reliable bench big man then they’re in pretty good shape having paid him that money. So that could be real big.

Most likely to fail, and it wasn’t really a huge investment, but Derrick Williams has shown no indication that he’s a good NBA player. If he keeps pace with his prior NBA seasons then any minute he plays, he’s going to be hurting the team. It wouldn’t be a huge mistake but they are paying him, they could’ve paid someone else, he’s got guaranteed money. Unless Phil Jackson is a genius and picked a gem out of nowhere or Derek Fisher really gets to a guy who’s obviously pretty talented but who maybe just doesn’t like basketball that much or doesn’t understand how to best utilize his skills. Or unless the Knicks are really good at developing a guy who’s already failed at a few different places. But he’s probably not going to earn that little bit of money.

Tom: And the Knicks don’t exactly have a good track record of developing players.

Seth: Right but it’s Fisher, it’s Jackson, it’s a different group of people so I’m trying not to project the past Knicks failures of development onto them. And that would be depressing with Porzingis there. Yeah, hopefully they can get something out of Derrick Williams but that’s sort of hard to imagine at this stage of his career.

Tom: Okay, two more. Here’s an easy one: better bald head, Mike Woodson or Derek Fisher?

Seth: It… it’s Woodson. I love Derek Fisher but Woodson has the temerity to also dye the beard so it’s a little starker. They’ve both got big heads, but Mike Woodson is a bigger dude, I mean he’s got a little extra weight on him so that head is enormous. So I got to go with Woodson.

Tom: Yeah, a more imposing figure as well. Alright, last one, what’s your prediction for the Knicks season?

Seth: I think they’ll flirt with the playoffs, they’ll be in that neighborhood. In the East this season, that puts them somewhere around 33 to 38 wins. They’ll be nice and mediocre. They’ll take some steps, they’ll probably have some really big win streaks and really big losing streaks. They have no reason to tank this season not like last season so there’s not going to be much resting guys when they’re semi hurt and screwing around with lineups. I think they’re looking to win this season. You know, it’s not a rookie coach, they’ve got a much better and more coherent roster and ideally a healthy Melo.

They might mess around and approach .500 ,maybe steal a playoff spot. I see them most likely as a 30-something win team that doesn’t quite make the playoffs. I mean, every year the East is supposed to get better but I think at least the bottom of the East, some teams are simmering into being playoff contention so the Knicks won’t have an easy path to getting an 8-seed.

Tom: Alright, sounds great, hopefully a little optimism flows. I appreciate your time so much, very grateful. Thanks again.

Seth: Yep, no problem, have a good one.