(Monday, March 18, 2019 3:13:46 PM)
Fred VanVleet returned to the Raptors‘ lineup at the right time, suiting up for the team on Sunday for the first time since injuring his thumb before the All-Star break. As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca details, Toronto threw VanVleet into the deep end in his return, playing him for 31 minutes in a tightly-contested loss […]
(Monday, March 18, 2019 7:30:00 PM)
TORONTO — Jeremy Lin scored 20 points, Fred VanVleet had 13 points and 12 assists, and the Toronto Raptors beat the New York Knicks 128-92 on Monday night.
The victory came at a cost to the Raptors, who saw guard Kyle Lowry leave in the third quarter after suffering an injured right ankle. Lowry,…
(Monday, March 18, 2019 2:15:00 PM)
Five months into his rookie season, we still know very little about Kevin Knox. Perhaps that should be expected since he’s only 19-years-old, but his inconsistency has generated such a wide outlook it’s impossible to separate the encouraging signs from fantasy.
One night Knox is going off for 31,…
[NYTimes] Raptors 128, Knicks 92: Raptors Crush Knicks but Lose Kyle Lowry to Ankle Injury (Tuesday, March 19, 2019 4:06:43 AM)
Jeremy Lin led the Raptors in scoring, and Fred VanVleet posted a double-double, but a collision between Mitchell Robinson and Lowry left the All-Star guard hurting.
[NYTimes] ‘Hello, Kevin Knox.’ A Knicks Rookie Breaks Out. (Tuesday, March 19, 2019 2:34:58 AM)
Knox, 19 and still adjusting to N.B.A. life, scored 19 points in the Knicks’ victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
(Monday, March 18, 2019 10:00:06 PM)
The Knicks shot 33.3 percent from the field and made just 8 of 36 3-pointers as they lost to the Toronto Raptors 128-92 on Monday at Scotiabank Arena.
(Monday, March 18, 2019 9:09:57 PM)
Kevin Knox said he received some guidance and reassurance from LeBron James when he met with him after New York beat Los Angeles 124-123 on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
(Monday, March 18, 2019 6:11:00 PM)
After a dramatic win over LeBron James and the Lakers, the Knicks face the Toronto Raptors on the road Monday night.
(Monday, March 18, 2019 9:32:41 PM)
TORONTO — It was about 10 minutes in real time. Knicks coach David Fizdale hopes it lasts 10 years. After several foiled attempts, Fizdale got rookie Kevin Knox to huddle with LeBron James after the Knicks pulled out a 124-123 victory in the final seconds Sunday at the Garden. James went from hero to goat…
(Monday, March 18, 2019 8:33:41 PM)
TORONTO — St. Patrick’s Day hero Mario Hezonja had one idea flash through his mind when LeBron James got the ball in the backcourt with 15 seconds left and the game on the line. The moment almost got to him. “I had a couple of thoughts,’’ Hezonja said. “Holy sh-t. I’m in the Garden in…
(Monday, March 18, 2019 6:09:07 PM)
TORONTO — The Knicks got 24 hours to savor their last-second Sunday matinee victory over the Lakers before reality bit them in Canada. The Raptors don’t lose at home to the Atlantic Division. Especially not to the league-worst Knicks, even if the Raptors were without their best player, Kawhi Leonard. The rout became so ugly…
8 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2019.03.19)”
Guys, hear me out on this hot take, but… I think the Raptors are much better than us?
I see Dallas has tanked themselves into a 35% chance of moving up, keeping their pick, and devaluing the shit out of our biggest pickup from the Porzingis trade. As much as I like that trade now, it still irks me we didn’t get this pick if it’s top 5.
Also, if Farfa manages to put up a good recap after that debacle, we should nominate him for a Pulitzer.
I understand Frank has been literally abysmal on offense, but the Kadeem Allen’s of the world aren’t the answer. Defense is still half the game.
I wonder what is really going on with Frank? A supposed “2 week” groin injury is entering it’s third month and aside from an avulsion fracture of the attachment of the aductors off the pubis I’m not sure what’s going on here.
Frank was drafted by the previous regime to bring the ball up the court, dump it into the post and traverse screens, hit an open 3 and play defense. The new regime is trying to jam a square peg into a round hole by “converting” him into an AAU point guard which he is most certainly not.
When you watch him play defense it seems like he and his teammates are reading from 2 different scripts: he’ll be guarding someone into a screen and passes the guy off and Kanter would just “ole”the guy and give him a clear path to the basket and Frank would have this puzzled LOL Wut? look on his face.
I hope he ends up in SA, Milwaukee, Dallas or Boston and he gets a chance playing for a real coach who values defense.
Of course it will be incumbent on him to play a lot better…
Something I’ve been pondering…
If we do manage to put together a super team, who would you want to keep between Trier and Dotson? (For the purpose of this exercise, let’s restrict the deciding factors to performance)
I’m not a fan of Trier, even though I think he’s a good scorer. Dotson’s catch-and-shoot-while-playing decent-defense game makes more sense on a good team than Trier’s poor-man’s-Jamal-Crawford game. I mean, would you really ever want the ball in Trier’s hands if we had Kyrie, Durant, and Robinson on the team? Ever?
I also think we overpaid for him. I like Dotson even more given he makes $1.6 to Trier’s $3.5. Even if we do keep him, I can’t see it being at that $3.5mm value. We’d have to decline his team option and offer him 2nd round pick money. In the two-max scenario, getting rid of Smith, Trier, and Frank frees almost $13mm, and that’s enough to add a quality two-way player to the starting lineup.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=1&player_id1_hint=Damyean+Dotson&player_id1_select=Damyean+Dotson&player_id1=dotsoda01&idx=players&player_id2_hint=Allonzo+Trier&player_id2_select=Allonzo+Trier&player_id2=trieral01&idx=players
An interesting question… in a vacuum I’d take Dotson because he turns the ball over a lot less, can swing to the 3 and has a better body to defend on switches and defends better. He is also a plus shooter from three and should improve with the defense concerned about defending the 2 stars.
However if you can get the ball out of Trier’s hands (which shouldn’t be difficult with Durant/Kyrie) he can be a hell of a floor spacer with his electric spot up 3 ball.
@1 – FWIW we couldn’t get their top 5 pick this year, it would have violated the terms of their Atlanta trade. We could have pick-swapped to slightly up our % at a top-4 pick.
Also though, if the pick doesn’t go to Atlanta this year it almost certainly does next year. Our unprotected 1Rp is then 2022, which should be DEEP due to the end of 1-and-done so it’s not all bad. It does increase the risk that the second, protected 1Rp in the deal turns into 2rps though…
I’m not much of a college basketball fan. So I’m not that familiar with many of the top draft prospects. Today was the first time I spent a little time looking at stats.
First impression: This is the worst draft class I have ever seen.
After Zion, at best you are speculating on whether Ja Morant’s productivity would transfer from the ridiculously easy schedule he played against to better competition. Then the drop off gets you to players I’m not even sure I want. Maybe someone will stand out a little better after I get to see them play, but I’m not so sure I wouldn’t trade the pick if I didn’t get #1 or #2.
In a vacuum between Dotson and Trier I’d take Dotson because I think he’s a more solid two-way player and has the higher basketball IQ. However, both are probably going to end up being role players. So on some level I think they are close enough that it depends on what you need.
Do you need a guy that can come off the bench, create his own shot, score more consistently, and even light it up at times or do you want a guy that’s the better defender, more versatile on defense, that you can plug in as a starter if there’s an injury, that can get hot from deep, but that can’t be counted on to score every night?