I’m not advocating it because we should be trying to develop him. But if we were playing players based on merit he would have gotten very few minutes and the Knicks probably would have won 5 more games.

I’m getting curious about next year. With all that cap space it’s not going to be hard to add a player that’s better than him (unless he makes a huge leap). I wonder if they’ll keep playing him big minutes when they are actually trying to win games. It will look bad for Mills/Perry if their star pick is buried on the bench.

I’m not sure what, if anything, can be done about the decision-making, though. That was Amare’s problem, even before his knees got really bad. He had all the athleticism in the world, and there was a time in Phoenix when he was trying on that end. He just had no clue what he was doing, except as an occasional weakside shotblocker.

So what’s the defensive issue? Is it also about his inconsistent motor? Is he just too slow and clumsy? Is there any reason for optimism, or does he at best top out as a pretty good volume scorer whom you have to hide on the other end?

1. He’s not quick enough to stay with some SFs and not strong enough to hang with the toughest PFs

2. He makes a lot of poor decisions on when to switch and where to go

3. No intensity

But on defense….wow, it was like he wasn’t even really there.

And that’s the bigger concern. He may never be a consistently efficient offensive player, but he has a lot of varied skills on that end, and some of his problems there are likely to go away as he puts on more muscle and simply gets more used to the size and speed of the competition. There are nights where you can see him being a definite plus on offense. And there’s a symbiosis: in games where he’s shooting well, he tends to put more effort into grabbing rebounds, pushing the ball up the court, even passing. (I did see the hilarious highlight of him trying to throw Mitch the ball at midcourt and Mitch just ducking. Mitch knows his limitations.)

So what’s the defensive issue? Is it also about his inconsistent motor? Is he just too slow and clumsy? Is there any reason for optimism, or does he at best top out as a pretty good volume scorer whom you have to hide on the other end?

“It’s my understanding Porzingis wanted to leave and when Dallas put the deal together, they wanted Tim in the deal. They didn’t want other guys. They wanted Tim a while back. It wouldn’t get approved if Tim wasn’t in the deal.”

Oh, definitely, Tim Hardaway Sr., Dallas insisted on getting THJ back. Definitely. That’s clearly what happened.

Can you watch the NCAA tournament over there? Maybe it would be more fun for you to write about games where a potential Knick like Ja Morant or Jarrett Culver is playing.

Or keep doing it. You rise to the challenge every time. It just makes me feel bad to be a part of a group that compels a talented writer to write about this drivel.