Such a dumb and unnecessarily dismissive overgeneralization, Nick, I expect better from you. For example, did you bother to check how many 19-20yo rookies have shot better than Knox on as many attempts? It’s a pretty short list. If you limit it to 19 yo’s, the only other player on the list is D’Angelo Russell, who also sucked his rookie season.

More importantly, you missed the point of what I was saying, which is really more about Mikal Bridges than Knox.

And considering how many idiotic arguments were made in support of Frank by people such as yourself, I’d be a little less quick to make comments like the one above.

@ 84 the Raiders OT description sounded very much like one of Erick flowers with the Giants. sigh

I also think Knox has shown some durability for a kid that’s probably still growing.

The other thing is that Knox has been playing with the worst PG rotation in the league (Mudiay, Frank, Burke, DSJ, and Allen…where’s Jarrett Jack when you need him?) Who needs a solid PG more than a rookie wing?

I’m not saying that he’s a star in the making, just pointing out that he’s a) better at basketball than some are suggesting and b) not all that far removed from Mikal “stand in the corner” Bridges. And right now, my guess is that Knox has more trade value, i.e. is the better market asset, if only due to perception.

They should have focused on players who were good at basketball, rather than guys who you can dream on because of their size/length/whatever. This is very common across all the major sports. Just this year the sad sack football team that I (used to) follow, the Oakland Raiders, drafted Kolton Miller in the first round, because he has great size for a left tackle and because he moves so well. The problem was that Kolton Miller sucks at football, so now a year later they’ve abandoned him as a left tackle and have moved him to right tackle. It’s ridiculous to spent a high first round NFL pick on a right tackle.

Get guys who already know how to play. The end.

they were… and are… bad players.. and bad players generally are very high risk and low reward… you don’t go from where frank and knox are and all of a sudden turn into james harden on offense… that will never happen… when you are this bad.. if you make it.. you’re just barely making it… and the upside is actually someone like lance thomas…. or austin rivers… someone who sucks but hangs on for a bunch of years…

this is basically semantics but better players have better upside… guys like zion or towns or davis … these guys have the highest of upsides…. but if you’re comparing mikal vs knox… mikal might only be a role player… but mikal is certainly more capable of delivering on his potential than knox is …

I disagreed with the Knox pick and I would have absolutely have picked Mikal or SGA over him, but eh, at the same time, the issue was more that they were picking at a shitty spot where there is more of an argument to be made to just take a huge risk on the pick and draft a guy like Knox who, if he ever did come into himself, likely would become a great player. The odds were never very good that it would happen, but after the no doubt about it guys were gone, I understood the pick and I didn’t (and still don’t) knock it too much, even if it wasn’t what I wanted them to do with the pick.

It’s the same basic reason why I was fine with the Frank pick at the time, too. It was a longshot, but with a team this shitty, and picks towards the back end of the top ten, I get going with the longshot picks because if they pan out then they really pan out. If Frank did suddenly develop a three-point shot, then he’s a great pick. He didn’t. If Knox changes his entire body, he could be a great pick, too. He probably won’t, but he might!

The key point was that they didn’t optimize their chances of picking higher in the draft either year like morons. They figured it out this year, at least, so they will get a top five pick. It’s a worse draft than those other two drafts, but at least it is is a top five pick! They’ve owned their own top five pick just once in the past 30 years! That’s something!

Knox might suck but if he has the tools to be a great scorer and they can coach him up on defense, he could be a great player. Same with Mudiay, Trier, etc.

Many people seem to think you can coach players up on defense, and it is true to a limited extent, but my impression is that it is harder “coach up” defense than offense. Most players who are lousy on defense stay that way and it is more common for a player to improve his shooting than his defense. Of course, rookies do have to learn NBA defenses, and that can make them better, but it doesn’t make them good. As an example, consider Tim Hardaway Jr., He did get better on defense while he played for Atlanta, but I never read anyone here compliment his defense during his second stint as a Knick and I don’t think he will ever be a good defensive player. This doesn’t mean that Knox will never be a valuable player. It just suggests it will be because his offense improves a lot. His defense is likely to always be bad, just maybe not this bad.

I think his defense will be fine.