Post Game: 76ers beat Knicks, 117-91

These games are starting to feel a lot like the games last year. A lot of minutes by veterans that will not be with the team the following year. Fizdale is definitely coaching for wins. This team is gonna do an accidentank again.

Clearly a case of a young, undeveloped team going up against a legit, hungry contender on the road in a third game in 4 nights in different road cities, all vs. playoff-caliber teams.

Anyone else watching Frank play, and wonder when the hell hes gonna get the ball? Playing with Kanter, Trier, Hardaway and Burke and waiting for the ball to swing back around is like waiting for the dogs to be done with your steak so you can eat.

I don’t like the direction the kids are going, and Frank isn’t the problem… Knox is learning some great habits.

Didn’t watch it, for which it seems I should be thankful. I like Embiid though.

That Dallas – Houston box is insane. First of all, Devin Harris is still in thr NBA!?! Most shocking news I have had in a while. He and the Dallas bench took apart the Rockets it looks like, with four of them +20 or better. Doncic was -6.

Re Frank, only one way it can end, which is him turning into a stud for someone else. Although it might be in Europe.

I doubt that they’re giving up on him, just not seeing him as an asset of any immediate value, which he isn’t. He’s a project that you might have to wait 3-4 years on, which isn’t what you hope for in this situation.

@ 9, I hope that’s right. It’d probably help if our offense wasn’t 90% freelancing. Pretty sure Frank could learn to set off-ball screens instead of standing in the fucking corner wearing a dunce cap every possession.

Probably the most fascinating thing is what, exactly, they’re telling him to do. Is it seriously just stand in the corner where the ball will never come to him?

Anyways , I am guessing if we trade Frank to the Spurs or Raptors or something, and he ends up with Arizas exact career arc, we’ll all forget how we clamored for his trade to begin with, and stutter an “lol Knicks” trope.

I haven’t seen one person clamor for his trade. Literally, not one. On the contrary, most Frank-skeptics likely would agree that now would be the absolute worst time to trade him.

I would play him as much as we can in every role. On the ball, off the ball, all kinds of defensive matchups, etc. We’re not going to see any development, or any burgeoning trade value, playing him 10 MPG.

The “giving up on Frank” stuff sure sounds like a political “Eh, he’s a Phil guy, why bother wasting our time on him when Phil gets the blame for him? Now, Mario and Mudiay are on us, so we have to try to redeem them!”

Which, in turn, sounds extremely Knicksy.

Yeah, I’m afraid this is it. It doesn’t seem like there’s any kind of plan for the future either. It wouldn’t shock me if these guys aren’t even familiar with the cap intricacies that make Mudiay and Hezonja such a waste of time. That sounds extreme, and it probably is, but I can’t think of a justification for prioritizing them over Frank if you have a basic understanding of the cap.

He starts plays by calling it out and passing. Then someone goes hero ball. Every time. It’s a roster of Trier, Hardaway, Kanter, Burke, Knox… literally no one but him is looking to run plays for anyone but themself. It’s nauseating.

Yea noble, I guess you’re right and I was overreacting. But I get so pissed when everyone looks at the stats without watching the game and seeing wtf is going on. He’s not the problem. This ain’t culture building.

The funniest thing to me is Frank and Knox similarly suck but they couldn’t be different basketball players. Literally every time Kevin Knox touches the ball the possession ends in a Knox FGA (or free throw attempts if he gets fouled), and Frank passes the ball every time they give it to him. The good thing about young bad prospects is they have more value than older bad prospects, so I can see a team taking those two on in a larger deal should the time come to pass. Kevin Knox is not my cup of tea, though. I absolutely hate everything about how he plays the game of basketball and would trade him today for a top five 2nd round pick. I can still see a situation where Frank Ntilikina is a plus pro basketball player, but Kevin Knox just looks like a less coordinated Andrew Wiggins. Even if he becomes a good pro someday, I hope it’s for another team.

Of course, none of this matters if we end up with Zion Williamson. Zion wouldn’t make not tanking in a year where Luka Doncic was available okay, but if we could get him and maybe trade for Markelle Fultz, I’d be pretty happy with that regardless of who came to town in 2019.

The big problem here is really that the Knicks are currently committed to full out hero ball. I guess there’s a ‘see what they can do’ rational? But at this point we should see something more than half-hearted motion ball openings. Frank’s not the only one who doesn’t do cuts. Almost no one does. Our most advanced play is a high screen that doesn’t quite work out to a pick and roll. Off-ball movement is more anemic than KP. Kanter lives in the paint, we should be able to use that to set double screens freeing up open perimeter shots. I haven’t seen a double screen from us all fucking season.