(Saturday, April 07, 2018 10:56:25 PM)
Kristaps Porzingis moved well and without a limp as he walked onto the court Saturday night. It was a good sign for a franchise desperately in need of one.
(Saturday, April 07, 2018 4:06:00 PM)
The Knicks have just two games left in another dismal season, and then the real work begins for Scott Perry.
[NYTimes] Clint Capela Found His Shot, and He’s Taking It (Sunday, April 08, 2018 1:11:38 AM)
The 23-year-old Houston Rockets center has transformed over the past four years from the rookie who couldn’t make a basket to the most accurate shooter in the N.B.A.
[NYDN] Kristaps Porzingis’ injury shows how vital he is to the franchise (Saturday, April 07, 2018 10:40:45 PM)
Before he landed awkwardly on the Garden floor Kristaps Porzingis was the only reason to watch the Knicks.
(Saturday, April 07, 2018 10:25:26 PM)
NEW YORK (AP) Eric Bledsoe had 22 points and 10 assists, and the Milwaukee Bucks moved into a tie for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with a 115-102 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday night.
(Saturday, April 07, 2018 7:24:15 PM)
Back in the playoffs for the second straight year for the first time since 2003 and 2004, the Milwaukee Bucks can hardly afford a second straight slip-up when they face the New York Knicks on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
(Saturday, April 07, 2018 2:45:45 PM)
Dwyane Wade offers no encouragement of the Knicks courting of LeBron James.
(Saturday, April 07, 2018 12:30:06 PM)
The Knicks will be without Emmanuel Mudiay against the Bucks while Tim Hardway Jr. and Enes Kanter are doubtful.
(Saturday, April 07, 2018 11:00:54 PM)
Knicks point guard Trey Burke takes a shot at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby. Q: Describe your on-court mentality. A: It varies. When I start the game, it’s a little mellow. It’s not as rowdy, as hype as it is midway through the second quarter or midway through the third quarter or even…
(Saturday, April 07, 2018 6:21:02 PM)
The Knicks have lost 50 games for a fourth consecutive season, just the second time in their history they managed that. Saturday’s 115-102 setback to the playoff-bound Bucks at the Garden was the Knicks’ 52nd defeat of the season, one more than last year. Jarrett Jack, resurrected the past two games after being a forgotten…
(Saturday, April 07, 2018 1:29:52 PM)
The Knicks like his size. They like his strength. And they like that he’s young, moldable young, and a rookie. And we’re not talking about Frank Ntilikina. The Knicks have liked what they’ve seen, granted in small doses, from second-round pick Damyean Dotson, who has shuttled back and forth between the Garden and the G-League…
36 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.04.08)”
It is absolutely ridiculous that the Knicks took this long to actually, you know, PLAY Dotson.
+1
Dotson gave every indication he could become a rotation player if given minutes to develop. He can shoot and defend. A lot of us were calling for him to get minutes. There was a point in the season when I was rooting for him to potentially winning the starting job from Lee or Hardaway. That was probably premature or wishful thinking, but at least we got to see him. If feels like we have another “piece”.
So this season is going end exactly the way I feared. The Cavs are probably going to rest players. The Knicks are going to win another game. Bridges and/or Carter is going to get drafted 1 spot ahead of us.
Let’s just hope our crack scouts find the better player below them.
Cavs will still be playing for the 3rd seed.
Dotson hasn’t been very good but he’s played so infrequently I don’t really have an opinion on him, and the way this season has gone we should have played him more
Oh yeah, I don’t think he’s some great player, but the idea of not playing the young guys this year was just moronic.
You’re right. The Cavs can still win if they win out and the Sixers lose one of their last two games. I thought that the Sixers had the tie-breaker now that they ended the season 2-2, but the Cavs actually have the tiebreaker.
Why play Dotson in a lost season when we can play THJ 35 minutes a night? It’s important to see what we have in THJ so we can give him an additional player option year if necessary.
Watching last night’s game I came away with the impression that the worst part of Ntilikina’s game is undoubtedly his handle. Not that I’m late on it, it’s just one play in particular last night really magnified it for me. I’ve always thought his ball handling needed tightening, but not because of his length- Scottie Pippen had a tighter handle with similar length. Anyways..the one play off the switch when he went by Thon Maker for a layup? Yea..his handle was WAY too loose. He has the IQ and craftiness to make up for his lack of elite burst as he’s not bad athlete- just average right now in comparison to the kind of athletes that American basketball churns out with regularity. 1st half of the season, Ntilikina couldn’t make that same move he made against Maker. And Maker is a REALLY mobile big- almost like a guard in a 7′ body. So that said, Ntilikina is clearly making strides with his confidence and attacking ability. If the Bucks’ defense had been more aware on that play, Ntilikina would have been stripped with the Bucks getting a fast break.
1. Ntilikina needed to get more compact on that drive.
2. His dribble needed to be at a more downward angle as opposed to outward. That part’s not easy with a 7′ wingspan. But Pippen learned it.
The best thing for Ntilikina to do is spend the summer playing pickup games, continuing his weight & strength training, and emulating Pippen. I finally see it now..he has some similarities to Pippen in his game. Of course, he’s not the explosive athlete Pippen was, but with more strength training he can become more explosive. But he’s got the length, defensive acumen, quickness to recover on switches, hoop IQ, and willingness to share on offense. His jumper will come, as will his ability to attack defenses more as he’s already quite opportunistic. Maybe I’m a dreamer, but he can be a Pippen type at SG. Whoever coaches him going forward should probably lock him in at SG and feed him tons of film on Pip
Maybe a full year in an American basketball “system” and the following offseason will work wonders for young Ntilikina. And by system, I meant different focus w/r/t weight & strength training and more access to advanced training centers and whatnot
Horny said Frank gained something like 8 lbs during the season, so it should be interesting to see what he looks like after an offseason lifting and eating in America (assuming he stays here). Hopefully he’ll get with a better trainer than Kristaps.
I think Ntilikina has two clear paths to becoming a very good player: one would be vastly improving his handle, which would allow him to use his court vision and instincts to create shots more consistently and be more of a Point Guard, and the second would be becoming a more consistent outside shooter which would make him a valuable 3 and D guy now.
Of course the best case scenario would be improvements in both fronts, but I think he has the base to be a good shooter easier than it is to improve his handle as much as it would be necessary. If he can just become a 38% 3 pt shooter he is a valuable player right away for next year, and he can build upon that.
I think it’s a literal guarantee that a 19 year old basketball player gets better at everything over the next few years. His handle, his shooting, his defense, his strength, his decision making, everything. He needs to rework that jumper if he wants to be an elite shooter though; it’s far too slow for today’s NBA.
You’d think so, and he should, but look at Emmanuel Mudiay or Andrew Wiggins. Sometimes guys don’t get better, or take a long time before they do.
The issue with Wiggins though is not so much any skill he needs to get better at, it’s so much more about effort / shot selection / basketball IQ.
The guy has the tools, he’s long and athletic, has good form on his shot and dribble. He just plays as if he is Kobe with 1/4 of the talent and the effort. He spends entire possessions with his hands on his waist doing nothing, then chucks 3 straight bad shots.
With Frank it’s more a skill thing, the tools he needs to succeed are not fully developed yet. I think it’s more guaranteed that those will become better (even though they might never improve enough to be good) than it is for a guy like Wiggins to stop chucking or actually go hard for a rebound once in his life.
The Scottie Pippen ceiling comparison is an interesting one and might merit looking into for development purposes should Frank continue to physically grow. He’s already moving into 6’6 range around to some reports. But remember, that Scottie Pippen wasn’t even a + .100 WS/48 player until he was 25 years old, didn’t play in the NBA until he was 22 years old, and didn’t start until he was 23 years old.
My point here is that patience will be required.
‘
And it’s not even just a skill thing, I think he has some more physical development to make.
Sad thing is, those 2 guys did actually get better. In Mudiay’s case, not much better. And in Wiggins’ case- just not smarter. I wonder how much cases like those underscores a real need for basketball developmental programs. Real ones..not just AAU & one & done. Think about it. Baseball was once a sport we had immense pride in and teams at all levels eventually stopped investing in the development of talent based on infatuation with heaters and the long ball- and to rush to stay ahead of up & comers like the Dominican Republic and such. I wonder if Amercan basketball is going the same way. American Football still has “factories”. I dunno..maybe here we’ve gotten fat on past laurels and expect to step on the field or court and dominate just because we’re America. These other countries are catching up and it’s great for the sport. And though it only matters every 4 years, it’s starting to feel like there’s less pride and enjoyment in it. Maybe because of the commercial success, who knows? But it seems like the athletes who are fully invested are becoming increasingly few and far between.
Wiggins just seems like a dumb player whereas Frank seems high IQ for his age.
Mudiay doesn’t really seem to work on his game and gets by and sheer talent and size alone. His jumper is different every other shot and has terrible footwork/coordination/balance for an NBA guard. Those are basics that should be easy to correct and yet he hasn’t improved at all on those 3 years into the league.
Whenever I watch Wiggins play I get more annoyed than anything else. There’s absolutely no reason a guy with his body should average 3.8 fta, 4.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per 36. Wolves fans have pretty much 100% turned on the guy and are already lamenting his contract as a huge mistake. He plays like 33 year old Melo and he’s 23.
He’s reaching Tyreke Evans levels of “he’ll eventually play for the Knicks right?”
Look at how much muscle Donovan Mitchell put on between his freshman and junior year. He wouldn’t be nearly as good if he came into the league at Franks age.
I’m starting to think Wendell Carter is a legitimate tier ahead of Bridges and Young so that Miami win was a pretty big bummer. We really should do all we can to lose out and at least tie for 8th.
I like Carter a lot, but I think those other guys are good, too. Falling past them would be killer, so at least that’s unlikely to happen.
Does anyone know how tall Frank and Doston really are based on seeing them stand next to each other and Hardaway for example?
I know we are thinking in terms of them being able to switch onto SFs or play SF in small ball lineups, but is either of them legitimately tall enough to play SF full time and not be overmatched if they put on some muscle and got much stronger.
Baseball question: Does anyone know of an article that talks about the effect of hitters looking at batted balls instead of focusing on accelerating toward first?
Frank has a wingspan/standing reach that is above average for an NBA small forward, so assuming he was strong enough it doesn’t matter that much how tall he is.
Tony Allen was 6’4″ with a 6’9″ wingspan and he was always able to keep up with Small Forwards. Even if Frank stays at 6’5″ on shoes the 7 foot wingspan should be more than enough to guard regular SFs. He needs to get a lot stronger to keep up with the most physical ones, like LeBron or Giannis but well, it’s not like anyone else can reliably guard those guys anyway.
It’s also a tradeoff between strength and quickness sometimes; it might serve him better to not put too much strength on to be able to still guard PGs, which I would argue is far more important than SFs in today’s game. The great wing players are almost unguardable anyway, like LeBron, Durant or Giannis, and there is a larger number of dangerous guards than there are dangerous wings.
THCJ – I am not quite sure what your question is. Do you mean do some people just focus on getting out of the box fast? I vaguely remember some articles vis a vis the advantage of being lefthanded and also on Ichiro and how good he was at getting down the line.
Whatever your question, Fangraphs is a great site for someone with sabr questions. You can hit up some of their stat guys in chat or try them on Twitter. I recommend Jeff Sullivan or Travis Sawchik as some of the chatters are more prospect oriented.
100% agree Wiggins is vaulting to the top of the list of Knicksy future Knicks.
If the Jazz and the Sixers end up as their respective conferences 3rd seeds it will be a crazy outcome.
I know Quin Snyder won’t get it, but he certainly deserves coach of the year votes.
the warriors without curry this year — most of their minutes — have basically the same point differential (+1.5) as the Knicks with KP (+0.7).
It’s a bit of an indictment of Durant that the Warriors have been so pedestrian without Steph.
I don’t think that’s fair to be honest. Durant is also coming back from a rib injury, Draymond has had some very bad games in this stretch and Klay was also out for many games.
I think it’s more indicative of the Warriors depth actually sucking than anything about their stars to be honest. Bell is pretty good and Cook has been a surprising addition, but Livingston and Iguodala are looking old and bad, their Center rotation is bad and Nick Young has not been consistent.
It’s not a surprise they struggle without Curry because he is Curry, but what used to be a strength for them (solid veteran depth) is looking more like a liability now.
KOQ would’ve been great for them.
This has been Durant’s worst healthy season since he was 22. He’s still been excellent, and he might just be loafing, but if he misses time the warriors have Iguodala and Looney, who have been decent to good. Without Curry they have Quinn Cook, who would come off the bench for the Knicks, and Livingston, who looks completely washed.
amazingly this will actually be their first positive point differential without Curry since he was drafted
https://youtu.be/0IWVYJevEBE
#ThisIsWhyWeTank2019
This young man goes by the name Cam Reddish. 6’8” with a 7’1” wingspan and plays like T Mac never tore the knee up. That kid he casually embarrasses coming down the stretch was the MVP of the McDonalds All American game.