Last nights loss was like riding your favorite ride at the amusement park, only to then have the ride end by having your nuts smashed into a pole. 23 point lead.. damn.
Couple Notes/Opinions:
Two things I believe were the biggest factors in the loss. KP having an off-night (including 2 crunch free throws), and Hornaceks lack of adjustments and coaching. I don't know why Kanter wasn't getting much burn in the 4th, and why Ntilkina wasn't in over Sweaty Morpheus earlier.
-Frank was eating on defense. 6 steals. Offensively, I'd like to see him look to shoot more. I don't know if it's lack of confidence in his shot, but he can shoot.
-Kanter. Another great game. What's not to love about this guy? Stuck up for our rookie. Would love to keep this guy on our team. Had a couple nice quotes.
| You aint coming to my house and playing that water bottle flip game again, Kanter said, referring to what James and other Cavs did during their blowout victory at the Garden last season. I dont care who you are. What do you call yourself, King, Queen, Princess, whatever you are. Were going to fight. Nobody out there is going to punk us. |
-Hardaway JR had another nice game. 28 pts, 10 Rebounds, 5 assists. I'm sure some will find a play or two in the game to keep with their agenda of hating him.
-Love KP, but he needs to be careful going forward with his theatrics to flopping. I mentioned in the game thread if maybe his sleeve was effecting him a little bit? Maybe. But he was shut down by LeBron when guarded.
All in all, a great game for the young squad. They made the Cavs actually give a shit in November. It took Kyle Korver to go immortal, LeBron to play defense, a less than stellar game from KP for them to win this game. Sitting at 7-6 after 13 games. I'll take it. Onto the Jazz this Wednesday.
LeBron being a jackass is actually mental chess or leadership... it's not simply that he's being a jackass. There has to be some safe, rational area for criticism beyond drunken Pete Vescey-ville.
In fairness Embiid DOES handle the ball more than your standard big. I'd say his closest comp would be Cousins who himself is averaging 5.4 turnovers per game so far this year (3.5 for his career but closer to 4 since he became a star). Only question with Embiid is health otherwise he's a superstar with a chance top 3 player.
stephen a basically said frabk should respect lebron and that lebron did nothing wrong, how can any self claimed knick fan not be happy with the team standing up to
lebron?
and now lebron continues to troll on twitter about how he owns madison square garden and the knicks, yup completely ignorw the fact knicks went into cleveland and whooped the cavs...
god i hate lebron and the cavs, i wojld love to play them in the playoffs and knock them out
Hayes 20 and 5, 3 steals 8-12, 3/4 from 3 (Not sure he's an NBA talent but has played well in the G)
The Green Kornet with 24 and 5, 9-18, 5-12 from 3
Burke 24 and 4 8-18
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Posted on Instagram how hes the king of ny. Dudes such a cornball
Hes a great basketball player. Who often acts like a bitch.
what a disrespectful pjece of shit...
kanter responded "new york already has a king and his is kristaps porzingis"
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Posted on Instagram how hes the king of ny. Dudes such a cornball
Hes a great basketball player. Who often acts like a bitch.
He's a bitch who happen to be good at basketball
i thought he said he didnt want to be the bad guy anynore?
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to Lebron. He's a wrestling fan and he's playing the heel perfectly.
i thought he said he didnt want to be the bad guy anynore?
And yet he's posting gifs of him as the joker as MSG explodes. He's having fun. I understand why Knicks fans are going nutty but on his end he's likely loving this. It's classic heel play for a wrestler.
They were playing him VERY physical last night. Arms draped all over him, grabbing his jersey, getting dragged to the ground. Im sure some of it was exaggerated but he doesnt put on a show about it lik Lebron and other players. Lebron is an all time great flopper. Hes such a joke.
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In comment 13692070 DanMetroMan said:
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to Lebron. He's a wrestling fan and he's playing the heel perfectly.
i thought he said he didnt want to be the bad guy anynore?
And yet he's posting gifs of him as the joker as MSG explodes. He's having fun. I understand why Knicks fans are going nutty but on his end he's likely loving this. It's classic heel play for a wrestler.
oh i get exactly what he ia doing
you have a potential defensive stalwart at point, thjr who is averaging 18 4 and 3, kp averaging 30 and kanter averaging a double-double...
is it crazy to think that?
Nope because thats exactly what I was thinking last night. Ive been looking an nbadraft all day to see who are the small forwards coming out this year
stephen a basically said frabk should respect lebron and that lebron did nothing wrong, how can any self claimed knick fan not be happy with the team standing up to
lebron?
and now lebron continues to troll on twitter about how he owns madison square garden and the knicks, yup completely ignorw the fact knicks went into cleveland and whooped the cavs...
god i hate lebron and the cavs, i wojld love to play them in the playoffs and knock them out
I know listen the guy made some big plays down the stretch, but that game is not even close for him at the end if Korver and company don't go like 10 for 11 on 3's in the 4th
He likely ends up going higher than the Knicks pick, but Kevin Knox is a guy that fits the Knicks' needs.
i loved mjles bridges last year before he went back to school
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In comment 13691848 DanMetroMan said:
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In comment 13691834 BigBlueShock said:
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In comment 13691820 DanMetroMan said:
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19. New York Knicks KNICKS | MITCHELL ROBINSON, C | 19 YEARS OLD
Robinson will remain a bit of an enigma after leaving Western Kentucky to prepare for the draft on his own. He has the size, length and talent to be a first-round pick, but hes far from a lock at this stage given everything that can happen between now and next spring, when hell be able to work out for teams. Most NBA scouts have only seen him in quick spurts and in All-Star settings, and his feel for the game leaves something to be desired, so its a little concerning that he wont play competitively at all this season. Robinson could be a valuable shot-blocker and lob catcher around the basket, and should benefit from being part of a thinner draft class.
They have him passing on Musa, a kid I've been keeping my eyes on for a while. Another teen Euro, I think he'd be a sweet addition to Frank/KP (linked highlights below) Link - ( New Window )
I understand that most of these guys aren't here long term, but really, another center?
I think you go BPA when you have a team like the Knicks do. Willy and Kanter are both 1 way players as it is so if this kid is a defensive/athletic type he might be a nice add (not my first choice). As I said I'm digging Musa.
I havent seen much of Musa recently but didnt he struggle to play off the ball?
Reportedly scouts were "blown away" how far his game has come over the past 2 months from pure scorer to a more well rounded game. Keep in mind he'll only be 19 in May aka assuming he comes over next season he'll be approx the same age Frank is this season for us. he's very, very young and already showing he can handle the pro game. On the EXTREME high end you are looking at a Manu type.
I'll have to go watch some more. What's your thoughts on Bonga?
It's really hard to feel the same as you do about it knowing LeBron and so many other guys have made flopping around for whistles part of how they got to win championships.
@AndrewDBailey
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Top 20 in the NBA so far, according to the avg of their ranks in PER, BPM, VORP, WS/48, WS, RPM & RPM Wins:
1-Harden
2-Curry
3-Giannis
4-LeBron
5-AD
6-Jokic
7-KD
8-Capela
9-Horford
10-Otto
11-Boogie
12-Drummond
13-Dame
14-Kyrie
15-Tyreke
16-Adams
17-Kemba
18-BobCov
19-PG
20-Pau
#1 in our hearts
He explained the results. If you have an issue with the stats he used that's fine but it's not like he interjected his opinion. I couldn't tell you WHY KP isn't top 20 but my guess is at least one of the stats he lags behind which pulled down his average. No biggy.
Hard to say with these teen euros, one year to the next and the development can change exponentially.
Which is one of the reasons why LeBron's anti-Jackson gobbledygook with a bank shot at Frank Ntilikina was so stupid.
1) Ok, Smith looks like a stud, and is a better overall player than Frank today.
2) LeBron has no idea how much Frank will improve, or how quickly. Neither do any of us. I KNOW he will be a great defender. I expect that he will be a very good shooter. I don't know how much more athletic he will get with US strength training techniques.
I know he is very long, has soft hands, and good vision, and already has quick enough hands to make some remarkable defensive plays for a skinny 19 year old.
Which one will be better in two years? No idea. I like our chances. I like Smith's chances, too.
The Knicks still drafted a 19 year old pass-first (8.3 assists per 36 minutes) Point Guard who is currently first in steals per 100 possessions and second in deflections per 36 minutes. Anyone in these threads would have signed up for this without question. They just didn't expect it from him.
He's already exceeded my expectations in that he doesn't look surprised by the step up in competition, he's already showed that late-game situations don't bother him and he is confident enough not to be intimidated by the biggest star in the sport trying to make him look bad. He needs to work on his offense, yes, and that's perfectly fine. He is what they needed, a guy that is more concerned with making the offense and players around him better.
Would you turn down Harden or Curry because they don't play defense and are ball hogs? Of course not. Except for Paul and Wall, which other celebrated PG's actually play defense? Most importantly, at the end of games, when opposing teams double Porzingis, can you give the ball to Frank and have him make a play for you? I don't know, maybe he will eventually be able to, but I already know Smith can.
If Smith's knee holds up, he's the better player. Let's be honest, we'd all be ecstatic if Smith was on the Knicks. LeBron is a douche, fuck him, but there is some truth to what he said.
Frank's defense has certainly impressed, but his offensive game is still so rudimentary. For our sake, let's hope all your projections for his offense come true down the line.
And Frank is going to be an elite defender in this version of modern day NBA. There are going to be certain players who will be clueless what to do against that type of aggressive in your face defense.
As it pertains to the Knicks, Smith Jr. and Hardaway Jr. would be excellent offensively and woeful defensively. Frank and Hardaway complement each other, but the Knicks will need to find a little more scoring if they want to become serious contenders. Timmy is fine for the time being, but we'll need to upgrade that spot or find a SF who can score the basketball.
he changes the game on the defensive end and smith effects the offensive end they are 2 completely different players...
if smith goes put and drops 24 and has 5 assists, he roughly accounted for 34 points that game
frank has 10 points 7 assists and 6 steals, lets say 4 of them led to scores... that is 28 points he directly effected...
you see frank does not need to go out and score 20 points to effect a game, if smith scores 10 points did he effect the game?
Listen, we are not a star-studded roster missing a glue piece. KP is the only real piece we have, I guarantee that most of us would've envisioned KP + DSJ being 2/3 of the Big Three had we drafted Smith Jr.
It is what it is, I am not here to bash Frank. I want him to do well. He surprised me by standing up to LeBron last night, that was awesome. But his offense has a long way to go, and you can't argue that.
Even though I think traditional position roles are essentially dead these days, they do lack that attacking wing player, and that would be something of a missing piece for this offense, but those guys actually do fall in the draft.
That's right, his Euroleague career started exactly two years ago, and in the season that followed, he was averaging 1.3 points per game.
Consider the progression to a year later:
The kid is hundreds of miles from being a seasoned pro. I think he has a world of upside. He will also get bigger and stronger, starting at 6'5" 190 now. What if he were to grow another inch and add 20 pounds over a couple of years? He could be a monster.
Btw, good analysis of the Cleveland loss, linked. 1) Hornacek stayed with Enes too long when Cleveland went smallball. 2) Quick flare screens and space for Korver to get off his notoriously quick three-point shot devastated the Knicks in the fourth quarter, and it was a symptom of Hornaceks resistance to playing his wing defenders, Lance Thomas and Courtney Lee, and trusting his team with Porzingis at center. Two big men together didn't work when the Cavaliers shooters got hot. Who was going to chase out to the arc? A. Neither.
Link - ( New Window )