(Saturday, January 06, 2018 12:40:15 AM)
MIAMI — Kristaps Porzingis had a day off in Miami, but he still looked like someone who could use some rest.
(Friday, January 05, 2018 11:07:37 PM)
MIAMI — Kristaps Porzingis thinks he should be an All-Star this season.
(Friday, January 05, 2018 11:16:29 PM)
MIAMI — Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who has coached Michael Beasley three separate times, seemed surprised the surging Knicks forward threw a little shade in his direction. “Yeah, geez Beas, you threw me under the bus, man,” Spoelstra said. After the Knicks’ 107-103 overtime loss, in which Beasley scored 20 points in 23 minutes but…
(Friday, January 05, 2018 6:13:02 PM)
MIAMI — Only Michael Beasley could go from potential hero to unfortunate exit when the Knicks needed him most. In his return to AmericanAirlines Arena, Beasley kept his offensive tear going and appeared to be carrying the Knicks to victory. Suddenly, Beasley had to limp off the court with 4:20 left in overtime, taking with…
(Friday, January 05, 2018 8:18:20 AM)
MIAMI — A refreshed Kristaps Porzingis joked Friday morning at shootaround at AmericanAirlines Arena he purposely said he was “so tired” after a game Wednesday against the Wizards to give the Heat a false sense of security. Porzingis’ remark after his two-point second half in Washington created a kerfuffle. The 7-foot-3 Latvian attempted to clarify…
(Friday, January 05, 2018 7:20:42 AM)
“I’ve loved New York my whole life,” the Knicks center tells Haute Living.
(Friday, January 05, 2018 7:20:42 AM)
“I’ve loved New York my whole life,” the Knicks center tells Haute Living.
[SNY Knicks] Knicks lose OT thriller, 107-103, in Miami (Friday, January 05, 2018 10:40:00 PM)
The Knicks battled their way to overtime, but couldn’t come away with the win as the Heat took it, 107-103, in Miami.
[SNY Knicks] Kristaps Porzingis not making excuses after ‘so tired’ comments (Friday, January 05, 2018 6:22:34 PM)
Knicks F Kristaps Porzingis pulled back on his statement that he was “so tired” following Wednesday’s contest against the Wizards, saying he feels fine now.
[SNY Knicks] Tonight’s game: Knicks at Heat, 8 p.m. (Friday, January 05, 2018 7:00:00 PM)
The Knicks look to break their road stigma, and win one over the Heat in Miami Friday night.
[NYTimes] Heat 107, Knicks 103 in overtime: Knicks Fall Amid a Blizzard of 3-Pointers in Miami (Saturday, January 06, 2018 5:49:16 AM)
The Heat set a team record by attempting 42 3-pointers — and another team record by missing 30 of them.
[NYTimes] On Pro Basketball: When the Knicks Visit Dallas, Only One Thing Will Be Missing (Saturday, January 06, 2018 3:55:49 AM)
Sunday’s game will match two rookie guards who have been a source of intrigue, fed in part by LeBron James. There will also be a retirement ceremony, and Mark Cuban without his longtime soapbox.
[NYTimes] New Pregame Trickery: Distract the Visiting Team With Bad YouTube Videos (Saturday, January 06, 2018 5:15:20 AM)
Rutgers is out in front with the latest form of gamesmanship. Just watch the Mr. Trololo video to understand how this tactic might work.
[NYTimes] Sixers’ Throwback Anthem Becomes the Soundtrack of a Comeback (Friday, January 05, 2018 2:04:48 PM)
The star turns of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid have Philadelphia fans cheering again — and dancing to the disco sounds of “Here Come the Sixers.”
[NYDN] Mark Cuban: Mavs may have drafted Ntilikina if Knicks didn’t (Friday, January 05, 2018 9:23:18 PM)
The Mavericks’ attention to Frank Ntilikina smelled of deception.
[NYDN] James Dolan is already donating to get President Trump re-elected (Friday, January 05, 2018 9:22:43 PM)
Trump’s approval ratings are in the tank but apparently nothing can sap James Dolan’s enthusiasm.
[NYDN] Michael Beasley turns ankle after appearing to taunt Heat bench (Friday, January 05, 2018 9:22:15 PM)
Beasley seemed on the verge of capping his revenge game with a victory.
[NYDN] Knicks force OT in final seconds of fourth but fall to Heat (Friday, January 05, 2018 9:21:45 PM)
A full day’s rest didn’t help Kristaps Porzingis.
[NYDN] SEE IT: Carmelo Anthony drops F-Bomb on live TV (Friday, January 05, 2018 8:50:09 AM)
Carmelo Anthony said one of the seven dirty words on live television.
[NYDN] Kristaps Porzingis ready to tough it out to be ‘the guy’ (Friday, January 05, 2018 8:28:28 AM)
Porzingis said he’s prepared for the physical grind of being “the guy” and that his comments from two days earlier weren’t an excuse.
(Friday, January 05, 2018 3:45:41 PM)
After an off day following back-to-back games, Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis said he’s no longer “tired” but jokingly hopes the Heat bought in to his “strategy.”
35 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.01.06)”
I posted this last night, but it’s so frustrating that denying KP the ball is as simple as fronting him. Every opposing coach is now implementing this strategy, and last night in the OT I think he only attempted one shot.
I think it’s on Hornacek to figure this out, although I do worry that KP gets pushed around by basically everyone. And now the refs are realizing that he’s a little bit of a flopper and not calling fouls every time he falls down.
Good times!
D mar. Correct. No one is teaching KP ,proper footwork and positioning. I know he’s not that string (and may never be). When they front him, he’s already PAST his man. Roll to the hoop for an alley. Not that hard. And does he ever set a screen without moving?
I wonder if Kanter can still be traded? I like his fire, but he’s so bad on D that you might as well just start Noah. I don’t think anyone will want Lee at his price/years, but O’Quinn could maybe net us a 2nd.
And yes, a lot of this is on Horny. If KP is tired, try the pnr with Frank and Noah, putting McD, Lee and KP on the 3pt line. It’s not rocket science. Feature Beas in the 2nd unit.
This team has what, like zero good players? Best player on the team is maybe Courtney Lee?
I like Timmy but if people expect him to put us back on track then they’re gonna have a bad time. He could easily be as big a part of the dysfunction as the rest of the guys.
Just need to keep freefalling for Mikal Bridges.
This year is getting toxic for KP growth and the national media ain’t helping him much (he’s definitely not a unicorn right now, he’s a gassed shot blocker who seems to have nice touch but bad basketball IQ). I’m legitimately worried that the coaching staff is ruining his potential, which should be a devastating second option on offense for 28 mpg while protecting the rim. I know we don’t have a good PG on this roster, but why can’t we try a Frank-Baker-McD-KP-Kanter lineup from time to time? Our defense would be probably much better and our offense, who cares, it can’t be worse than this.
Baker is borderline unplayable on offense but so is Lance Thomas, and Ron is a much better defender (he actually does something).
and the Knicks gave him an effective no-trade clause.
and the Knicks gave him a $27M deal.
We all know what the issue is here, right?
1. Baker and Thomas on unplayable other than on a team like OKC where everyone else can score and Melo, George and Westbrook can create for themselves if need be. Even then you should be trying to replace Baker/Thomas. On our team, they should never see more than garbage time.
2. If Beasley could defend a little better, he’d easily be our best player. He’s better at creating his own shot, more efficient, and also a better rebounder than KP. He’s probably also a better passer. That’s a profound statement for me to be making about our team and KP considering I originally didn’t even want to sign him at the price.
I would try this lineup as soon as Hardaway is ready to go.
1. Noah – C
2. KP – PF
3. Beasley – SF
4. Hardaway – SG
5. Frank – PG
Noah and Hardaway are good enough playmakers to take some of the burden away from Frank and even though Frank/Noah can’t score, that’s 3 solid scorers around them. The defense will also be solid. The bench won’t be able to score. So we’ll have to have 2 out of 3 of Beasley, KP, and Hardaway on the court almost all the time. I’d take KP out early and let Beasley/Hardaway roll. Then when they need a rest maybe put KP back in with Kanter/Willy so he can cover for them on defense. McBuckets and Lee also off the bench. Jack can backup Frank until we bring up Burke and see what he can do.
What I’m about to say may make me persona non grata..but as much as I dislike Bradle Beal and Demar Derozan- they are steppin up big time this season. And now I hafta respect their games in the same way I despise Reggie Miller but respect his game.
Please don’t kill me yal..the hoops fan in me made me do it.
Speaking of bein a hoops fan..did anyone catch this?
It has indeed taken the basketball world too long to give Ew a head coaching gig. He will be just fine
Jowles, of course the problem is the front office. But what can we do? Endure, and in enduring grow strong.
My happiness as a fan is partially correlated to hope. We don’t have to be good NOW, but I want to be on the right path, making progress, and see a path to serious contention.
Adjusting my expectations for KP is having a negative impact. I don’t blame him. He seems like a good guy, he’s working his ass off, and there are no other major issues. It’s just that to compete at the highest level, you need a real franchise player, some solid all stars, and depth. The toughest part is finding that franchise player. When I thought we might already have that, I was comfortable with the multi year process of watching him develop and building around him for another 3-4 years. But now, I am starting to feel like he’s more of a building block that goes around the star. He’s more Melo than superstar. That means we could be much further away than I thought. It also makes all those bad and marginal contracts (Noah, Baker, Thomas, Kanter, and Hardaway) more problematical because they reduce flexibility.
Right now my hope is that when Hardaway comes back and takes some pressure off KP it will help. That’s not a lot of hope.
It will take 2-3 years to clean up some of the mess.
Baker is 2 years with an option next year. He’ll be back.
Lance Thomas is 3 years, but the last year is only partially guaranteed.
Kanter is 2 years with a option for next year. I don’t mind him off the bench at the right price, but I don’t think he’s a starting C because of his defensive limitations and his current price is way too high.
Noah is 3 years. I don’t think there’s much we can do about that other than stretch him at a later date but I’m not much of a fan of that. I think we should suck it up and play him and hope that in the final year we can move him somehow or that we accumulate some extra picks in coming deals and can move him that way.
Hardaway is 4 years. We have no hope here other than he grows into the bad contract.
I know some of you are going to include Lee is this, but I still think his contract is fine and can be moved for something worthwhile if the team actually wanted to.
If KP is not going to be a franchise player (and that still is an if), we need to start the tank soon because we have to find one.
I’m noticing a trend with our offense. Which I put firmly on the coaching and the PG play. In the first half we are not forcing things, letting the game come to us and not trying to post KP every time down the court. In fact KP has been more of a decoy opening up Kanter under the basket and giving Lee and Beasley open lanes. Then in the 2nd half when the other team starts tightening up instead of trusting our offense and moving the ball we start posting KP up and playing iso heavy basketball which leads to more turnovers and frankly puts KP in an impossible situation. We run a high pick and roll with Jack force a switch in which both KP and Jack’s man run to KP and then Jack is open behind the 3 point line and doesn’t want to shoot it and is too slow to attack with any effectiveness. So either we force the ball into KP which leads to a bad shot or turnover or Jack tries to score and short arms a jumper.
KP is an effective scorer but not when teams are double and triple teaming him. At this point he is more effective as a decoy than a true scorer. Let him draw defense away and let Kanter or Beasley feast on out of position defenses. When teams adjust and stop sending extra people at KP then give him the ball and let him score. During this losing streak our offense in the 1st half has been fine for the most part but our offense during the 2nd half has been atrocious.
Frank is at least a threat to shoot a 3 which is why he can sometimes run a pnr. Jack can’t run one because no one respects his shot or drive.
Ugh, this is depressing:
Marc Berman: Hornacek said no to Beasley over Lance in starting lineup. “Whole premise of this season is trying to get after it defensively and establish ourselves in that regard. He’s our best defender.”
(Meaning Lance, I suppose?)
Beasley isn’t a small forward and shouldn’t be playing small forward under almost all circumstances, so I don’t mind it (Beasley’s strong play has come almost entirely as a 4 in his career, including his time as a Knick). Now Dougie McD or Dotson, those guys are at least actual small forwards, so sure, play them over Thomas.
When Courtney Lee retires a Knick because no one will ever trade anything for him, this will be Strat.
I more just mean his reasons for playing Lance at all.
Lance Thomas’ greatest talent as an NBA player has been convincing NBA coaches that he’s a good defender.
Isn’t it surprising that Jack hasn’t gone down with some old man injury yet?.
Brian, did you use your admin superpowers to post an image?
If Beasley started and Lance was on the second unit, I don’t know how the second unit would score points
In more hopeful news, future Knick point God Trae Young is on espn2
I think anyone can post an image. It’s just easier for me to do so.
Also Jevon Carter is one of my favorite second round sleepers right now.
In other news, Vegas has lost all confidence in the Knicks which is usually a bad (i.e. good for the tank) sign. We opened up +4.5 against Dallas tomorrow. I know it’s a road game and we don’t have THJ and all, but Dallas is fucking terrible. Guess we are too!
Good one Brian. 🙂
I have inside information on Lee. I’ll let you know when he’s on the market. You’ll see. He’s still not.
The Knicks are in such desperate need of shot creation while Hardaway is out, I’d put Beasley at the 3 “part time” even if he’s better at the 4. Melo was better at the 4 also, but you wouldn’t bench him if the alternative was Lance Thomas.
McBuckets is a decent player but he can’t create anything on his own. He’s a rich man’s Steve Novak. That’s not what we need in the lineup with Hardaway out. We have a team where everyone needs to play off other people, but we don’t have a good PG and are using KP as the bailout (when he’s not even that good at it). We need someone else that can create something decent out of nothing. The only guy we have is Beasley. He’s been playing some minutes at the 3 and looked fine.
I don’t see Hornacek’s logic at all. If Thomas was Andre Roberson on defense (possibly elite) and we had 3 players that could create and score in a million ways like George, Melo and Westbrook, I could tolerate it. But Thomas when you have Jack, Lee, Kanter, and KP on the floor???
The papers are already pulling a “Smith is having a much better rookie season than Ntilikina.” Man, the media so d-u-m dumb.
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0741482858333345682-4
Of course, other teams seem to want most the center we want least to lose.
And the one that the team plays the least.
Yeah, that is going to make it hard to get a good deal for us. Other teams are going to cite his few minutes and say he’s only worth a little.
Yep.
What’s it called when the worst possible scenario always somehow occurs? Oh, right, it’s called “being the Knicks.”
Dolan’s Razor
@32 & 33
This
Because Knicks
Big deal if the other teams want Willy or will point to his lack of playing time as a way to reduce his value. He’s not on the block. It’s irrelevant. Second, had we been playing Willy, there’s almost no chance we could get fair value for O’Quinn now (or Kanter under the remote possibility someone wants him at that price). Part of the reason we are playing O’Quinn may be his better defense but it’s also because he’s the one most likely to be traded if NY makes a move. Teams have to see him. That worked out great. O’Quinn has increased his value (as has Kanter).