Another 2 point loss, this time to a tough Boston team. It's early, but anyone who thinks this team is gonna be the worst team in the league might be disappointed. These kids are playing hard for a coach who looks like they will run through a wall for.
Fizdale: Still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. This is a development year so he's playing a lot of guys and figuring out what works and who should be here long term. His energy on the sideline is refreshing, and you see he buys into this team.
Tim Hardaway: 21 shots. 24 points. Michigan Man. His contract sucks. His shot selection sucks. He's a perfect 3rd option. He's a shitty 1st option. Some of that being because he's the last second bailout guy with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. He's getting paid a big contract when we have guys like Dotson and Trier who can do what he does, possibly better.
Frank Ntilikina: Regressed and went back to the Frank we saw last year. Hesitant on offense, not very athletic. Bottom line on him is I'm not selling on him yet. He's still young. But I'm also not buying in on him being some star in this league, or even on this team. He has a role. It's definitely not at the 3. To really assess his play, I'd like to see him start at point and let him take his lumps.
Burke: Michigan Man. He's a 6th man. Through and through.
Kevin Knox: Left the game early due to an ankle injury that looked bad. We got lucky where it's only a sprain. NBA beat reporter Shams has him out for 2-4 weeks.
Big Meech Robinson: I think he could greatly benefit from getting reps down in the G-League.
Lance Thomas: This is what, the 3rd or 4th coach who still gives LFT minutes. I don't know how I can defend that. The guy is a black hole on offense. His defense isn't exactly all world to warrant him starting or getting big minutes. He's a 15 minute a night bench player.
Noah Vonleh: Easily this years version of Kyle O'Quinn. Plays tough D, and is much more polished on offense then LFT. He should be our starting PF.
Kanter: Nothing really needs to be said more about him. It's gonna be consistent whatever discussion there is about him. Double double, not great on defense.
Again, the season is early. After 3 games the Knicks are 1-2. They have been in every single game. Times are looking up. It's unfortunate but the reality of the situation is we have two guys starting who scratch and claw to get 5 points a game in Frank and LFT. Stay the course. Make a few changes here and there.
Burke does too much dribbling and goes nowhere. Trier might eventually take his role.
Lance and Baker should never play, period. Vonleh should start, and Robinson backs up Kanter.
Gotta find a taker for Hardaway and Lee. Kanter too.
Boston is obviously still a work in progress. Offense really isn't there yet... Kyrie has gotten off to an extremely slow start, and if it wasn't for the wunderkind Tatum the C's might be 0-3.
Boston is obviously still a work in progress. Offense really isn't there yet... Kyrie has gotten off to an extremely slow start, and if it wasn't for the wunderkind Tatum the C's might be 0-3.
i think celtics should see what they can get for brown and get a real shooting guard in there, brown is better suited to be a 3 in my opinion...
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... Knicks showed good character hanging with the C's after getting down big early. That's what you want to see in a rebuilding team... toughness and hustle no matter what. I like Fizdale as a coach in this regard...
Boston is obviously still a work in progress. Offense really isn't there yet... Kyrie has gotten off to an extremely slow start, and if it wasn't for the wunderkind Tatum the C's might be 0-3.
i think celtics should see what they can get for brown and get a real shooting guard in there, brown is better suited to be a 3 in my opinion...
Brown for Hardaway
... his offense still has holes. He's surprisingly weak finishing at the rim if there is any defense in the way. But at the very least, he is a good 3+D guy with plus plus athleticism and still some significant upside because of that. The guy shined at times in last year's playoffs as well.
That's before we take into account Hardaway's puke contract. Puke. ;-p
The guy was drafted to be a PG. Except he's not athletic enough to be one.
They moved him to SG, except he can't really shoot or create his own shot.
Now he's at SF. Let's see how he does. My opinion, just play him at point and see what he does with the first team offense. Burke is a 6th man, IMO.
Timmy - This is his time to prove he can be a teams top option, I agree with what someone said above - #3 or #4 guy on an NBA team.
To have multiple guys with "leadership quality" and play defense out there but can't score does not work in today's game. Lance, "Rudy" Baker, Frank (who can score, but needs to be much more agressive).
However, the key to this season is less about winning and more about developing Knox, Frankie Smokes, Robinson, Burke, THJ and ultimately KP.
Ideally, they would play hard all year but still end of with a top 5 draft pick.
At that point you have a very young nucleus and a handsome amount of cap space.
he is an elite defender, that keeps him in the league for at least 10 years...he doesnt have to be a point guard to still be a good pick
Why would anyone want to be right about Frank not being athletic enough? That's stupid. He's not athletic enough to be point guard. There's nothing wrong with saying that. And it has nothing to do with watching a pre-draft video. It has to do with the last 85 games we've seen him play as a Knick.
His offense sucks? Yeah, it does. I'll be patient, but I think he is a 3 in this league. His versatility with his defensive presence warrants him being on the court.
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You don’t become one of the elite defenders in the NBA by being “way below par when it comes to athleticism”. That’s just ridiculous. He sucks on the offensive side right now. That’s it. Nothing more. His athleticism is not the issue. I know some people thought he was not athletic enough coming into the league based on some video they watched pre draft, and want to be right in their evaluation, but it’s simply not true.
Why would anyone want to be right about Frank not being athletic enough? That's stupid. He's not athletic enough to be point guard. There's nothing wrong with saying that. And it has nothing to do with watching a pre-draft video. It has to do with the last 85 games we've seen him play as a Knick.
His offense sucks? Yeah, it does. I'll be patient, but I think he is a 3 in this league. His versatility with his defensive presence warrants him being on the court.
He can guard any PG in the league. And he can guard several other positions. You can’t do that while being unathletic. The reason he’s no a PG is his offensive game and that has absolutely nothing to do with athleticism. His handle sucks and he’s not very good at creating off the dribble. Not being a good offensive PG doesn’t always have to be because of athleticism. He proves just how athletic he is on the defensive end. There are tons of players in the NBA that you would say are elite athletically but would be disasters playing PG. it’s not because of their athleticism...
He can guard any PG in the league. And he can guard several other positions. You can’t do that while being unathletic. The reason he’s no a PG is his offensive game and that has absolutely nothing to do with athleticism. His handle sucks and he’s not very good at creating off the dribble. Not being a good offensive PG doesn’t always have to be because of athleticism. He proves just how athletic he is on the defensive end. There are tons of players in the NBA that you would say are elite athletically but would be disasters playing PG. it’s not because of their athleticism...
Tatum was eating Frank up last night. Frank is a good defender and has arms that reach the floor. I've seen what he can do on the defensive end. He's not athletic enough to play PG= he's not explosive enough on the offensive end to be a PG.
He's only 20 so I'll be patient. But I don't think he's a guard in this league unless he can be some sort of 3andD specialist. Which would mean he becomes a more consistent shooter. Which he can do.
Also Robinson should not be on the floor at the end of games. He needs to go to d league and he needs to hit the weight room badly. His hands are weak and appears to have weak ankles.
Love how hard they play and while I agree if they play that hard every night then they certainly will I’ll win more games than expected. However if your losing all of these games the it will start to get to them mentally and they will not play thatbhard.
I understand Thomas is a good guy and a good teammate, but that does not mean he should be a player on an nba team. Hire him as an asdisnt coach.he should not play a single minute in any of these games. I’m assuming once they are losing consistently he will see the bench permanently.
2. Trade Lee and Kanter and hopefully get something of value back
3. Getting KP back at 110%
he loves new york, double double machine, his defense has gotten better, nothing great but passable, the knicks are not going to just trade him away
he loves new york, double double machine, his defense has gotten better, nothing great but passable, the knicks are not going to just trade him away
I like Kanter. If he can take somewhat of a discount to stay in NY, I'm all in on bringing him back. He's our entire offense right now and is a walking double double.
@ClarenceGaines2
If you're a @nyknicks fan & wondering why @mariohezonja couldn't EARN court time vs @celtics with @KevKnox going down it's because he's a huge liability as an individual defender. He couldn't match the toughness or athleticism of the C's wings. Love how @wholeteamDot competed.
Absolutely. Your post sums up the most ideal scenario. And one that I’m also hoping for.
However, I’m also a fan and love seeing the team win. Especially a young team playing hard. I can’t get around that. Not in my DNA.
But what will always piss me off are referees that impact the outcome of the game due to their ineptitude. Yes, every team gets questionable calls. But that’s a weak argument. It’s a lot easier to overcome a BS call in the second quarter than it is to overcome a BS call (or two) in the final 90 seconds. And that happened in two consecutive games.
Yes, good for the draft pick by it’s also what I despise about basketball.
He will never be a complete playe. He will never be at top 5 shooting guard in the league. But at 18 million he is a relative bargain.
@ClarenceGaines2
If you're a @nyknicks fan & wondering why @mariohezonja couldn't EARN court time vs @celtics with @KevKnox going down it's because he's a huge liability as an individual defender. He couldn't match the toughness or athleticism of the C's wings. Love how @wholeteamDot competed.
Hezonja stinks. Good gamble bringing him in along with the other former lottery picks. Maybe one or two of them lives up to their draft spot. But it won't be Hezonja.
And trier has talent. Lucky pick.
Obviously you try to keep Kantor.
Trier was another great find. He was pretty crappy at Arizona, selfish, etc.. but he's remade his body and his ball handling has come a long way.
Frank is 20, he thinks way too much with the ball in his hands, his hesitation is what kills him. He's athletic, but not in the twitched up, get to the Rim type. His ball handling needs to improve. He's a work in progress, his shooting seems like its improved as he can knock down the open three. He's a combo guard, that is a year away from really taking a leap imo (hopefully). He needs to get at least 25 min a night. I believe he will sneak up on us and be something really great in few years, but his skill set will be distributed across offense and defense.
Burke, agreed that he's a perfect sixth man.
MRob, needs some G league.
The team is fun to watch, and they will lose. It's early yet, but Fiz seems like a great fit early on.
These guys can’t play 80 games coming out of college anyway. Going from a 30 game season playing twice a week to a 80 game season playing 3-4 times a week is a huge leap. They all hit a wall.
That's a really fun aspect of this team right now.
Quote:
... Knicks showed good character hanging with the C's after getting down big early. That's what you want to see in a rebuilding team... toughness and hustle no matter what. I like Fizdale as a coach in this regard...
Boston is obviously still a work in progress. Offense really isn't there yet... Kyrie has gotten off to an extremely slow start, and if it wasn't for the wunderkind Tatum the C's might be 0-3.
i think celtics should see what they can get for brown and get a real shooting guard in there, brown is better suited to be a 3 in my opinion...
Jayson Tatum is not a 2? Hes got to be. Last night, Brown started as the 4.
Tatum is the 2 guard. Hayward is the the 3.
Guys like Hayward, Tatum and Brown are largely interchangeable in their starting line-up... and there are a lot of guys on their bench that fit that same mold.