Knicks Morning News (2019.01.02)

  • [FOXsports] Jokic’s triple-double helps Nuggets beat Knicks 115-108
    (Tuesday, January 01, 2019 11:41:17 PM)

    Jokic’s triple-double helps Nuggets beat Knicks 115-108

  • [NYDN] Knicks lose eighth straight and Denver woes continue
    (Tuesday, January 01, 2019 9:00:00 PM)

    Nikola Jokic’s teammates are definitely hard to impress.

    He bounced a rebound off a player as he’s falling out of bounds and later delivered a no-look pass that completely froze a defender. He also finished with a triple-double.

    “Another day at the office,” Gary Harris said. “That’s what he does….

  • [NYPost] Unlike Enes Kanter, Knicks vet takes his benching in stride
    (Tuesday, January 01, 2019 9:02:50 PM)

    DENVER — Courtney Lee is behaving like the anti-Enes Kanter. Knicks coach David Fizdale said it appears his early attempt at raising Lee’s minutes are over and the 33-year-old veteran shooting guard finds himself out of the rotation. Instead of squawking, Lee is trying to help the young guys and even mentioned staying ready in…

  • [NYPost] Where Enes Kanter stands after heart-to-heart with Knicks GM
    (Tuesday, January 01, 2019 8:24:03 PM)

    DENVER — Enes Kanter said after the Knicks’ eighth straight loss late Tuesday he met with Knicks general manager Scott Perry on New Year’s Eve for a heart-to-heart to express his frustration with the losing and his diminishing role, but clarified he has not asked to be traded. Kanter came off the bench for the…

  • [NYPost] Knicks inch closer to NBA’s worst record despite better effort
    (Tuesday, January 01, 2019 6:47:37 PM)

    DENVER — There was a throwback game from Enes Kanter, a promising offensive showing from a drive-and-attack Kevin Knox and an overall competitive zeal that saw the Knicks within four points in the final four minutes. The Knicks came back to life after Saturday’s embarrassment in Utah, leading the Nuggets after three quarters Tuesday night….

  • [NYPost] ‘Amazing’ snow, return soon: Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson is learning
    (Tuesday, January 01, 2019 11:59:57 AM)

    DENVER — Mitchell Robinson hasn’t played on this six-game western trip, but it’s still been a journey of firsts. In Utah, the 20-year-old rookie center saw snow in person for the first time. In Denver on New Year’s Eve, he experienced his first snowfall. He’s not your typical NBA rookie. “Yeah. It was my first…

  • [NYTimes] Nuggets 115, Knicks 108: Nikola Jokic’s Triple-Double Powers Nuggets Past Knicks
    (Wednesday, January 02, 2019 4:52:21 AM)

    His passes were pretty but Jokic’s 3-pointer with just under 3 minutes remaining essentially sealed the Nuggets’ ninth straight win at home.

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks’ Enes Kanter says he has not asked for trade
    (Wednesday, January 02, 2019 12:31:25 AM)

    The frustrated Knicks center likes it in New York but also wants to win.

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks takeaways from Tuesday’s 115-108 loss to Nuggets
    (Wednesday, January 02, 2019 12:11:40 AM)

    The Knicks were more competitive than against the Jazz but still came up short in the fourth quarter.

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks try to stop seven-game losing streak against Nuggets at 9 p.m.
    (Tuesday, January 01, 2019 8:48:15 PM)

    The Knicks are coming off a blowout loss in Utah, a game in which the Jazz led by as many as 46, and forward Enes Kanter is unhappy with his role.

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson soaks in snow, makes progress with ankle
    (Tuesday, January 01, 2019 6:15:16 PM)

    Mitchell Robinson is making progress on his way back from an ankle sprain but seeing snow for the first time has the 20-year-old giddy.

  • 9 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2019.01.02)”

    That was approaching the best plausible outlook for the rotation. I’d like to see more Frank, and in an ideal world we’d play THj less but that’s never going to happen. If Mitch takes most of Kanter’s minutes when he’s back our rotation will look shockingly sensible for a ranking side focused on development.

    THJ has been what I feared the most, an average chucker with low basketball IQ and no contributions outside of scoring, a guy who’s not only bad but very annoying to watch.

    We tried to talk ourselves into the “he’s still kinda young and can progress” but he simply hasn’t, he’s still the same player, he’s just shooting more.

    I sincerely hope the front office has seen the writing on the wall and are looking to blow everything up for whatever possible value comes out. Keep the guys on rookie contracts, try to keep Vonleh and everyone else needs to be gone. I just think that unfortunately THJ is simply untradeable so he will be an issue for two more years at least.

    Hard to know what to do about Timmy.
    Truth is, the offense craters without him in spite of his chuckery. He has an O-RPM of +1.78 which would rank in the top 10 for shooting guards (not sure why he doesn’t show up under the SG filter), and that’s backed up by an OBPM of +1.8.

    But man, has the defense just been super-awful or what? He’s putting up near- career worst defensive metrics – and considering how bad he was in the first go-round with NYK, that is impressive. I think some of it is his high usage on offense, and some of it is that for whatever reason, Fizdale has tended to put Timmy on the opposing team’s best wing. Plus he plays a ton of his minutes with Kanter so that makes everyone look worse.

    He really belongs in Trier’s role, as a spark plug off the bench. (Meanwhile Trier has been hot garbage since coming back from injury too — he can get to the basket pretty much at will and did make some pretty nice passes yesterday on his 2 assists, but that guy is a CHUCKER).

    Meanwhile Kornet’s numbers are just nuts. 65 TS on a usage of 18, 72% of shots coming from 3 point range, shooting 9.6 3s per 36 minutes – and in general his per-36 numbers are basically unsustainably amazing – 18p, 6.8r, 3.7a, 1.3 blocks.

    And per knicksfilmschool:
    https://twitter.com/KnickFilmSchool/status/1080451537107931136

    Two starting lineups, two different results in terms of net rating:

    Kanter + Vonleh/Knox/THJ/Mudiay
    ??ORtg: 100.2
    ??DRtg: 118.4
    ??Net: -18.2

    Kornet + Vonleh/Knox/THJ/Mudiay
    ??ORtg: 125.7
    ??DRtg: 102.8
    ??Net: +22.9

    Idk why this organization just refuses to shell out for a legit NBA point guard that can pass, hit wide open shots, and generally defend his position. It would make everyone look so much better to have a guy on the floor that could get the ball to young players in the right spots.
    I’m not talking about Chris Paul, I’m talking someone like DJ freakin’ Augustin: a non-washed veteran that can play the position, not a collection of “projects”. In theory, it would help the young point guards learn, too.
    But on the other hand, this tank is very pleasing – Zion or bust.

    Two starting lineups, two different results in terms of net rating:

    Kanter + Vonleh/Knox/THJ/Mudiay
    ??ORtg: 100.2
    ??DRtg: 118.4
    ??Net: -18.2

    Kornet + Vonleh/Knox/THJ/Mudiay
    ??ORtg: 125.7
    ??DRtg: 102.8
    ??Net: +22.9

    I wonder if the GM’s showed this to Kanter during yesterday’s sit-down?

    Hard to know what to do about Timmy

    First of all please don’t call him “Timmy” like he’s our grandson or something. He’s a below average NBA player with a far above salary which conclusively proves he sucks (for his salary) and is likely virtually unmovable.

    He should be played as little as possible and Dotson Trier and Frank should play as much as possible while we look for an exit strategy.

    Damn. Can you imagine how much better this team’s outlook would be if Perry was hired before the TH2 contract and Mills was talked off of that ledge? We’d have two max salary slots and a bunch of minutes for Trier, Dotson, and Ntilikina.

    Hernangomez trade be damned, Perry has been a godsend of stability. If he were never here, we wouldn’t have Mitchell Robinson and we’d have all of Courtney Lee, Ryan Anderson, and Tim Hardaway Jr on the books.

    Comments are closed.