Simon Chu

CTO Gaggle Studios @gaggle_fun

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@iamsupersocks Real talk. No normal person wants to do this. The differentiating factor will end up being data retention and privacy as well as making sure a company is big enough to continue operating.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@altcap @TrumpAccounts @InvestAmerica24 Thanks Brad!

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@ericzakariasson @poteto @bot Multiplayer. I’d love to have bots with my family or coworkers.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@_nydyl Embiid is just cooked lol

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@DeItaone He's not wrong but I don't think the answer is no access. Treat it like giving a new hire a corporate card. Spend limits, approvals over a certain amount. My guess is the banks that figure this out first win.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@IanBegley I like Wiseman. Eubanks is fine and safe like you said, but Wiseman's the only one who raises the ceiling. He's looked really good in limited minutes and seems like some athleticism is still there. It's gonna be tough to replace Mitch.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

"Won't" is right. And honestly? Good.

I know being a Dolan Defender is unpopular. Hear me out.

1. The whole Knicks/Rangers company made about $29M in operating income in fiscal 2026. That was a title year, with a full playoff run.

2. The Knicks hit repeater tax rates next year. At a $225M payroll, that's about $114M in tax alone, on top of salaries. Adding a $5M player at $220M really costs about $39M.

3. Do the math. Running it back means losing $80M+ a year. "He can afford it" doesn't hold up when the business clears $29M in its best year.

4. Look at Boston. Before Tatum got hurt, they were staring at about $280M in projected tax for one season. They sold the team and traded Holiday and Porziņģis. The injury just gave them cover.

5. Going over the second apron for a year is fine. Paying repeater tax every year forever isn't. That's the real line.

It's easy to spend somebody else's money. Nobody runs a business at an $80M loss every year.

[Fred Katz @FredKatz]

It's not that the Knicks can't keep their championship-winning team together. It's that, as of now, they won't.

Column on extension-gate: https://t.co/It4WI713bv

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

Knicks fans, the hypocrisy is wild. Does Dolan make bad PR moves? Sure. But we've got one of the best medical staffs, the best broadcast team, and MSG takes care of its people. All ignored because he won't pay $100M+ in repeater tax for one more contract. Not really fair.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@KnicksCentral 1000%. Both dense and hypocritical. I keep seeing people blame him for the 2nd apron and repeater tax like he wasn't one of the biggest opponents of it. And guess what, it's ok to try, fail, and then succeed. Nobody gets everything right.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

This is a lack of understand of how businesses work.

A higher stock price makes Dolan richer on paper, but it doesn't put cash in the team's bank account to pay a tax bill. The Knicks/Rangers business made about $29M in a title year. Ask any business owner to take on $80M+ in losses every year because the stock went up.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@lbf_mas @grok Did Dolan agree to revenue sharing?

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

5/ Staying under the apron is how you contend for years, not one. People don't seem to care when it's somebody else's money.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

1/ Everyone's mad at Dolan for drawing a line at the second apron. But Bobby Marks says there are deals on the table that keep KAT and Hart AND stay under it in 2027-28. So who's really blocking this?

[Stefan Bondy @SbondyNBA]

Bobby Marks says that scenarios have been presented to the Knicks where Josh Hart and KAT (both CAA) accept contracts that keep the Knicks under the second apron in 2027-28. He says KAT’s comments Monday irked Dolan, which prompted today’s statement.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

4/ "Boston only blew it up because Tatum got hurt." Before that, they were looking at about $280M in projected luxury tax for one season. Trading Holiday and Porziņģis cut around $260M in combined payroll and tax. The injury just gave them cover.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

“Reasonably afford” is doing a lot of work. The Knicks hit repeater rates next year. At a $225M payroll that's about $114M in tax alone, on top of salaries. Adding a $5M player at $220M really costs around $39M. And Brunson's next deal is coming. That's not reasonable, it's a trap.
Dolan is using the second apron as a bar. Half of it is the restrictions on the team, half of it is the financial consequences.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@TheKnicksRecap @TheCohencidence what say you?

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

The Knicks didn’t lose Moussa Cisse in July. They loaned him to Dallas with an exit clause.

New York put him on a minimum offer sheet Dallas matched immediately, then buried an October 1 full-guarantee date in the deal. Today is that date. Dallas is at 15 players, just brought Dwight Powell back, and has to cut someone. Cisse is the cheap out. If the Mavericks waive him before midnight, the Knicks get the big they wanted all along, at the price they already set, after Dallas did the camp evaluation for them.

That’s not missing out on a restricted free agent. That’s writing the return path into the contract and waiting for Dallas’s roster math to spring it.

[Simon Chu @StuckSimon]

@kcjones1498 @TheKnicksRecap My guess is this was a contingency plan the Knicks had with Cisse all along. They knew it was possible and maybe agreed to give him the deal, then pick him up if he was dropped.