Knicks Morning News (2019.05.28)

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks legend Bernard King compliments ‘tremendous’ RJ Barrett
    (Monday, May 27, 2019 9:10:00 PM)

    RJ Barrett is projected to be the No. 3 pick to the Knicks in next month’s NBA draft. And one Knicks legend is high on him.

  • [SNY Knicks] Knicks Q&A: Longtime trainer believes Dennis Smith Jr. can work well with Kevin Durant
    (Monday, May 27, 2019 11:14:17 AM)

    Knicks coach David Fizdale said last month that he’d like to see guard Dennis Smith Jr. improve his shooting and conditioning. And that’s exactly what Smith Jr. plans to work on this summer.

  • [NYPost] Awaiting RJ Barrett’s first comments amid Knicks intrigue
    (Monday, May 27, 2019 4:47:37 PM)

    Duke swingman RJ Barrett will stage his Pro Day at UCLA Tuesday, along with 18 other Bill Duffy clients, but he will not participate in workouts. Presumably, Barrett will be on hand to speak to teams present and also break his post-lottery silence with the media. After the lottery reveal that put the Knicks in…

  • 24 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2019.05.28)”

    I just read the ESPN article on Laker dysfunction. It is amazingly bad there. It sounds worse than the Knicks under Jackson

    I just read the ESPN article on Laker dysfunction. It is amazingly bad there. It sounds worse than the Knicks under Jackson

    Why the fuck was Maverick Carter telling Adam Silver over lunch that Walton was the wrong coach for the Lakers? And better yet, how did that private one-on-one conversation leak? I doubt U. Chicago Law-educated Adam Silver is pulling some Varys/Littlefinger shit to sow discord within a top-3 franchise of a league he himself oversees.

    For the realm, I guess.

    Rob Pelinka bragged that Kobe had dinner with Heath Ledger after he saw The Dark Knight.

    Ledger had died six months before that.

    Think about this: that is a loooong article about how dysfunctional the Lakers are right now, and Lavar Ball isn’t mentioned ONCE. That’s how bad things are.

    Based on rumored interest, it seems like it would benefit the Cavs to move up to #3 (Barrett) and the Hawks to move up to #5 (Reddish). Is there a way we could orchestrate a 3-team trade and what would the returns have to be? I assume the Hawks’ #8 (Culver or Clarke?) and #10 (Clarke or Alexander-Walker?) for starters, but what else? Future firsts from each team?

    Think about this: that is a loooong article about how dysfunctional the Lakers are right now, and Lavar Ball isn’t mentioned ONCE. That’s how bad things are.

    d a m n I hadn’t thought of that

    Clarke in mocks:

    #5 (tier 3) on The Stepien
    #11 on CBS Sports’ Boone mock (after Reddish at 4? hahahahaha)
    #14 on CBS Sports’ Parrish mock
    #15 on CBS Sports no-author mock
    #23 on NBADraft (wtf?)
    #17 on WalterFootball (why do they have NBA mocks)

    Man, I love the combine. Get people all sorts of worried about the size of the boat and not the motion of the ocean. It won’t happen, but I would love to trade down to 23 to pick him while getting swaps and futures.

    Looking forward to the hot takes next year when he lands on a playoff squad, plays exceptionally well, earns a starting slot, and inspires articles like, “Would Clarke have been a bust if he’d been drafted by a high lottery team?”

    Looking forward to the hot takes next year when he lands on a playoff squad, plays exceptionally well, earns a starting slot, and inspires articles like, “Would Clarke have been a bust if he’d been drafted by a high lottery team?”

    You mean, when he lands on the all rookie second team? You know, because he wasn’t a lottery pick and thus can’t be that good? And besides, he played a lot of his minutes against scrubs? And he can’t create his own shot, just gets garbage hoops?

    anyone familiar with jackie greene?

    my sis has been following him for a bunch of years, probably her favorite musician…trying to decide whether to drive the six or so hours to go catch a show with her in monterey…love monterey, love my sister – not loving a 12 hour round trip car ride…

    was just curious if anyone is familiar with his music…

    Bless you all for mentioning that Laker article. I just read it, and maaaaan.

    That fan-protest was fugazi. But had that article come out before the protest, then maybe I could sympat… wait, they last won the title in 2010 right?

    Fuck em.

    You mean, when he lands on the all rookie second team? You know, because he wasn’t a lottery pick and thus can’t be that good? And besides, he played a lot of his minutes against scrubs? And he can’t create his own shot, just gets garbage hoops?

    delicious takes

    “I think this must be off. If Clarke has both a lower ceiling and lower floor, he’s a worse prospect.”

    Haha Jowles, my bad I totally meant higher floor. Thanks Silky for trying to make sense out of my nonsense.

    I don’t usually put much stock in physical measurements, just relaying the concerns. Clarke’s high IQ is obvious to see and clearly compensated for his undersized wingspan at the college level. To counter wingspan concerns, the Ringer guys high on Clarke mentioned that he crushed the lane agility tests at the combine outperforming Jrue Holiday and John Wall. So that was interesting.

    They also relayed this story about RJ. On the U18 Canadian team in 2017, the 2 best players were RJ and Simi Shittu. They battled all year for touches both trying to claim it was their team. At the end of the season, Simi said “fuck this guy” and quit supposedly bc of RJ. Now maybe Simi is just an asshole, but RJ was lucky that Zion seems to have a small ego and deferred to him all season, especially in interviews after games (I remember him calling Duke RJ’s team in multiple interviews). RJ clearly identifies as an alpha that demands the ball which is a problem when he’s so desperate to take bad shots.

    Nbadraft.net has Danny Granger as a comp for RJ Barrett. That actually seems kind of reasonable. Which, uh, ain’t great. Danny Granger did play almost 20K minutes in the NBA and was an above average player, but was not a needle mover.

    I have absolutely no clue about the draft, but I’m usually scared when pundits talk about “high ceiling” or “high floor”. You know, because nobody says bad things about draft players, everyone is an amazing prospect down the line, or ready to contribute know. So that kind of praise usually means “he sucks currently” (high ceiling) or “he ain’t improving a bit” (high floor), so I’d rather not hear that about the player we draft.

    “RJ clearly identifies as an alpha that demands the ball which is a problem when he’s so desperate to take bad shots.”

    That sounds disconcerting and also vaguely familiar…..#7 Melo seems to come to mind.

    If Durant is out the entire finals that might make things more interesting especially if Kawhi keeps up his Superman impersonation. Hoping for an entertaining series, I believe Golden State will win with or without Durant.

    Hopefully we didn’t tank that hard for Danny Granger 2.0

    Get in and go!

    more and more – i need to take those words to heart in life 🙂

    the thought and importance of making sure to spend time with loved ones is starting to hit home more…i’m not a big live music lover, but, it’s a lot of fun to read the passion other’s here have for music here…sis is friends with a group of folks whom follow this artist…always fun to share an activity with others whom are passionate about it…

    more than likely ma will probably be my “road dog” for this trip…

    RJ Barrett’s U18 team in 2017 won the gold medal after RJ Barrett scored 38 points in the semi finals against the USA. And here’s the stat profile for Simi Shittu’s freshman season at Vandy:

    https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/simisola-shittu-1.html

    RJ Barrett was damn right that Canada Basketball was his program and still is his program. Who cares what Simi Shittu thinks? He’ll still be playing in the SEC next year, unless he stays in the draft and becomes a G Leaguer.

    1. God forbid we draft a super competitive kid as our pick!

    2. There is a world of difference between thinking you should be “the man” on a high school all star squad (or even in college) and demanding to be the man on a team with an perrennial all-star and a future hall of fame player. Its fallacious to assume that just because a player is cocky in one situation where he is the top among his peers automatically means he will be cocky in a situation where he is a rookie on a team with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

    1. God forbid we draft a super competitive kid as our pick!

    lmao u

    Hubert,

    Reading that Ringer article I thought, wow, Culver sounds like a great guard for the Triangle. Somehow, I can’t imagine the Knicks wanting him. He just doesn’t fit into their mental models of stereotypical good players.

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