[SNY Knicks] Tim Hardaway Jr. practices on limited basis; bone scan slated (Saturday, January 06, 2018 6:53:32 PM)
Knicks G Tim Hardaway Jr. participated in contact practice on Saturday and will undergo a bone scan next week, reports Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
[SNY Knicks] Mark Cuban: ‘Good chance’ Mavericks would have drafted Ntilikina (Saturday, January 06, 2018 10:50:14 AM)
On Sunday, Frank Ntilikina will play Dennis Smith Jr. for the first time. Had fate been different, the two could have swapped teams.
[SNY Knicks] Porzingis takes no shots in overtime, says there were no opportunities (Saturday, January 06, 2018 9:30:41 AM)
After the Knicks fell in overtime to the Heat 107-103, Kristaps Porzingis explains why he took zero shots in overtime.
(Saturday, January 06, 2018 7:04:31 PM)
DALLAS — With the Knicks exploring what to do with their four-center glut by the Feb. 8 trading deadline, NBA sources say the club has entertained more inquiries about Willy Hernangomez than any other player on their roster. The Knicks do not want to give up the 23-year-old Hernangomez — out of the rotation behind…
(Saturday, January 06, 2018 1:55:57 PM)
DALLAS — The Knicks are at their lowest ebb — three games under .500 at 18-21, on a 1-7 skid, 3-14 on the road and in 10th place, just 2 ½ games ahead of the Nets. But if this season is supposed to be about the future, then the future is now. As in Sunday…
(Saturday, January 06, 2018 12:51:01 PM)
DALLAS — The Knicks are at their lowest ebb — three games under .500 at 18-21, on a 1-7 skid, 3-14 on the road and in 10th place, just 2 ½ games ahead of the Nets. But if this season is supposed to be about the future, then the future is now. As in Sunday…
(Saturday, January 06, 2018 8:30:33 AM)
Knicks sixth man Michael Beasley takes a shot at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby. Q: Your kids are ages 8, 7, 6 and 5. A: It’s nothing for them to Google my name and read something that they’re not supposed to be reading, or something that I’m not proud of. I’m not who…
[NYDN] Knicks’ Tim Hardaway Jr. takes next step in his return to action (Saturday, January 06, 2018 9:27:00 PM)
Tim Hardaway Jr. is getting closer to his return, and the Knicks need him desperately.
[NYDN] Frank Ntilikina ready to face Dennis Smith for first time (Saturday, January 06, 2018 9:26:30 PM)
In at least one important aspect of basketball, Frank Ntilikina acknowledges he should be more like Dennis Smith Jr.
[NYTimes] On Pro Basketball: When the Knicks Visit Dallas, Only One Thing Will Be Missing (Saturday, January 06, 2018 1:22:55 PM)
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 11:01:00 PM)
Rutgers is out in front with the latest form of gamesmanship. Just watch the Mr. Trololo video to understand how this tactic might work.
(Saturday, January 06, 2018 8:11:01 PM)
DALLAS — Maybe LeBron James will watch Sunday night’s Knicks-Mavericks game.
(Saturday, January 06, 2018 7:49:48 PM)
Enes Kanter hasn’t even spent half a season with the Knicks, but he’s already said he wants to end his career with them.
(Saturday, January 06, 2018 7:04:41 PM)
DALLAS — Tim Hardaway Jr. hit the floor with his teammates on Saturday for halfcourt drills in a major step in his attempt to return from a stress reaction in his lower left leg.
26 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.01.07)”
I really hope we don’t trade Willy. He’s been terrible but is as cost-controlled as you can get.
The fact that other presumably smarter teams are interested in Willy is a telling sign.
It’s not surprising other teams want Willy, but I don’t see how his lack of playing time now is relevant. Mills has already said he’s part of our future. That means he’s not on the block.
Second, had we been playing Willy, there’s less of a 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 C most likely to be traded if NY makes a move. To trade him, other teams have to see him play. I think it has all worked out fine. O’Quinn has increased his value. That doesn’t mean he’ll yield what we are hoping for, but if we move him we’ll probably get more now than we would have had he been rotting on the bench like Noah while Willy was playing.
The only way I can see them trading Willy is if they feel he’s not a good long term fit with KP (something I was concerned about last year given that KP could eventually move to C) and they get an offer they can’t refuse.
I think we’ll move O’Quinn, probably not get back anything too exciting, and that will free Willy. That’s unfortunate because KOQ is a pretty good player, but he’s a backup. How much can you get for a backup?
If they do move O’Quinn, they’d have successfully showcased him to improve his value, then moved him for another piece (probably small value, but value nonetheless), and hopefully made Willy aware of his shortcomings and motivated him to improve over the past few months. That would be a management win, which would be weird.
Who knows? Maybe they’ll move Kanter.
Ideally, that’s the better move. It’s not that I don’t like Kanter. It’s that Kanter and Willy are very similar and I’m still not convinced Kanter is a starting C given his poor defense. We only need one of them. Willy is younger, probably has more upside, and will be cheaper. If we could move Kanter (even if we had to throw in that Chicago pick to get it done) and could get back a decent young SF with upside, I’d be celebrating for a week. I have no idea whatsoever what Kanter’s market value is. Statistically is looks very good on most models, but most people think he’s overrated on virtually all those models.
Again, he does seem like a great fit with KP, but you have to surround him with 3pt shooters, and we don’t– oh wait… we DO have some good 3pt shooters! McD and Lee and even KP! That’s an offense that should be bombing threes, right? Bueller?
@8
There’s something amiss in our offense. I was just looking at some very detailed shooting stats for KP. It seems clear that one of the major problems in his efficiency is that he shoots a ton of mid range shots and contested 3s relative to shots in the paint or open 3s.
I wonder how much of that is by design and a leftover from Phil?
I remember reading Phil’s analysis on 3s vs. mid range. One of the things he said was that you couldn’t just use shot efficiency to compare them because certain mid range shots yield more offensive rebounds than 3s if you position your players correctly and that missed corner 3s can lead to more transition points the other way.
Setting aside the debate about whether he is right, Kanter is an excellent offensive rebounder and his OREB% is on the high side of his typical range this year. He’s very efficient around the basket off them. It’s conceivable that the strategy is “we don’t care if KP is a little less efficient statistically and Stratomatic is whining every day on Knickerblogger because we are netting slightly more points per possession than it looks after accounting for the extra offensive rebounds Kanter gets and scores off”.
I remember D’Antoni making a similar argument on another topic.
He was saying he preferred to leak players out after a shot goes up than hitting the defensive boards hard. He said he would sacrifice some rebounding and points because the efficiency and extra points he gained off the fast break were greater than what he was giving up in rebounding/defense. People would say he didn’t care about defense, but he said he was netting positive point differential on the strategy.
Man, Lonzo Ball is really not worth the headache. His dad is coach-killing Luke Walton and Lonzo is not making the situation any better.
He’s not worth it.
In fairness to Lonzo, he was kind of put in a rock and hard place when having to respond to comments about LaVar’s speaking out against Walton. Does he back his Dad or his coach in?
It also looks like we are guaranteeing Jack for the rest of the year. Surely this means we have to do something with Sessions? Not going to hold my breath on that one.
Good to hear Timmy is getting close. Regardless of his early efficiency issues, the offense worked much better with him in it as far as generating fast breaks go. KP has gotta be praying for him to come back soon.
I know this is about as random a thought as it gets, but if the Knicks fire Jeff Hornacek the next man up will most definitely be Mark Jackson. He’s a big name head coach and he is who Steve Mills wanted to hire after Woodson was let go. Jackson built the defensive principles the Warriors still operate on (Steve Kerr admits to it), but I don’t know if Mark Jackson is the guy for the job. I still believe in Jeff Hornacek, and I just want to see a coach get more than 2 seasons around these parts.
At some point Lonzo needs to tell his asshat dad to stay the fuck out of his career and stop ruining his life but Lonzo seems like he’s not going to do that anytime soon. So they come as a package deal, and fuck that noise.
Mark Jackson is a straight-up clown, so yeah, he’s probably next up.
#DolansRazor
It’s pretty incredible that Lonzo Ball has a 43% TS%. I rechecked it. Did not see that kind of offensive ineptitude coming. I still suspect he will end up worth the trouble.
Aren’t we glad that we missed out on the top of the draft? I don’t think Tatum would have been drafted where he was if the Celtics weren’t sure about him. Had they stayed at the top of the draft, Ball’s playmaking ability would have been too much to pass up next to Isaiah. However, they CLEARLY made the best decision with their position. As hyped as Ball and Fultz were, I’m impressed by their FO’s ability to see through it and make the best move possible.
Horny may not be a good coach, but if the alternative is Mark Jackson, I hope Horny gets a 5-year extension. Jackson is a backstabber, a bad Xs and Os guy, and a religious phony.
Mark Jackson is just the right guy to make sure this franchise stays Knicksy. Steve Mills is just the right fucking idiot to hire a fucking idiot like Mark Jackson, and James Dolan is just the right fucking idiot to have hired a fucking idiot like Steve Mills.
This is why we’ve sucked for 20 years. Mouth-breathing jackasses make the decisions.
Lonzos shot creation was his biggest red flag coming in.
It was. I am just surprised it’s been the issue it was predicted to be. Maybe these people know something after all.
Mark Jackson. No.
Courtney Lee would help the Thunder or Cavs a lot.
How about Alex Abrines/Dakari Johnson and filler for Lee?
How about Frye/Osman from the Cavs?
He’s not the guy
This seems like such a clearly good idea for the Cavs, right? And for the Knicks. So I’d like to see it happen.
Who the hell is this guy filling in for Clyde??
By which you mean, he will be the guy, right? It seems like an absolute statement that Jackson will be their coach eventually. And he will be so bad and be such a dick about it (it will be like Larry Brown redux). It will be glorious.
Why does Kanter not play 4th quarters? He does great in first three quarters then boom on bench