Comments on: Knicks Morning News (2018.12.07)

By: The Honorable Cock Jowles

The Honorable Cock Jowles — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 20:55:29 +0000

There’s a new thread for these posts, y’all

By: cgreene

cgreene — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 19:53:25 +0000

I think sitting Frank for a week or whatever it is way overblown. Fiz literally said yesterday Frank is going to get a ton more minutes this year. This hemming and hawing is ridiculous. One thing that the players seem to all say about him is that he is a good communicator. I would imagine he is communicating with Frank quite closely on the expectations and reasoning here.

By: Hubert

Hubert — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 17:12:28 +0000

It’s definitely wins, Zulu.

And we may see that Hezonja is hopeless but the Knicks see a ton of talent waiting to be unlocked, so they’re being patient. They’re dead wrong, but that’s what they see.

By: Will the Thrill

Will the Thrill — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 17:10:59 +0000

If Frank’s play merits benching then explain to me why Knox continues to get minutes while being lazy on D and a ball hog on offense.

Hear me out: Knox vs. Frank – 1v1…who are you taking? More importantly, who are you taking in a 3v3?

By: zulu1991

zulu1991 — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 17:01:21 +0000

What is Fizdale trying to maximize? Is it wins? No! Is it player development? Does not seem so. He is playing Mario, who is hopeless. Is it trade value? No one is trading for Mudiay, or Mario. Is Mudiay even close to being worth $5.7mm qualifying offer come summer? No, not even close. Mario has no trade value, his contract runs out this year, and he is making $6.5mm! Who is going to give up anything for that? The only acceptable alternative theory to Fizdale’s poor team management, is a strong possibility that the front office has a serious case of sunk cost fallacy. They are paying more for Mario and Mudiay than Frank, so they have to play them more.

By: Silky Johnson, Fleet Admiral of the Tank Armada

Silky Johnson, Fleet Admiral of the Tank Armada — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:55:56 +0000

If Frank’s play merits benching then explain to me why Knox continues to get minutes while being lazy on D and a ball hog on offense. Same with Hezonja (though he isn’t a ball hog like Knox is). There is literally no good reason to not play Frank because of his performance while continuing to play Knox and Hezonja in what is allegedly a development year.

By: Hubert

Hubert — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:43:14 +0000

I think you’re right on this, Z-Man. Benching Frank is consistent with everything we’ve seen from Fiz, and his play merits the benching.

Minutes played doesn’t really help a player develop as much as we think it would, either. Studies show young players get better with age regardless of whether or not they played 500 minutes when they were 20 or 2,000 minutes.

And as I mentioned during the game thread last night, it only bothers me if we bench him because we’re chasing meaningless, counterproductive wins. As long as we get blown out, he can sit for all I care. It’s probably better for him than playing like garbage.

By: Early Bird

Early Bird — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:38:57 +0000

I don’t think there’s any reason to prefer playing Ntilikina to sitting him. It helps us evaluate him, but I think playing every day is overrated as developing young players. Playing him everyday was CLEARLY not working.

By: Z-man

Z-man — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:35:20 +0000

“I know we give Fizdale a lot of hate, and he deserves it…”

I, for one, don’t, and don’t think he deserves it.

“I’d say there’s about a 5% chance that Frank is in the dungeon strictly due to Fizdale. It seems more likely that it’s a front office thing, so I can’t get on Fiz much for it….I don’t think Fiz is secretly seething or anything, as I don’t think he has any special affinity for anyone on the team, but even when people are on the same page, typically the front office are still the ones who are writing the page.”

More conjecture based on circumstantial evidence and nothing else. There are plenty of good reasons why any coach at this point in time would bench a 20yo in the 2nd year of a rookie deal who has been playing like a complete scrub for the entire season. It’s also in the context of him having benched other players. Why was no one here saying anything about FO meddling when Burke was benched, or Dotson? Or when Kanter was demoted, then reinserted in the starting lineup?

Not saying that it isn’t happening, only that there is zero evidence to say that it is, and even if it is, it is hardly inconsistent with a reasonable approach to young player development. There’s no urgency whatsoever to play Frank right now. You could make a much more compelling argument for meddling if he were sent to the G-League.

By: Hubert

Hubert — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:11:53 +0000

Good to know we signed multiple contracts that could not even conceivably help us.

Something about restraining leg motion and a curb.