Comments on: 2019-20 Game Thread: Knicks @ Spurs – THE SEASON BEGINS!

By: GoNYGoNYGo - Dolan must sell

GoNYGoNYGo - Dolan must sell — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 14:52:05 +0000

It’s what I said the other day when predicting the win total. This team was put together very poorly. There’s no backup rim protector. There should be 2 guys backing up the injury/foul prone Robinson. We didn’t need Ellington or Portis. Had those two been legit centers I would have been much happier.

RJ looked great. So did Randle and Morris. We have Mitch. That’s 4/5 of a functional lineup. We need that 5th starter. Payton looked good except for his shot which sucks. He needs a shooting instructor to work with him – and not the Smart guy that worked with DSJr because that was a failure.

Knox improved on offense but someone’s going to need to teach him on-man defense. Why hasn’t that happened yet?

A french caller into the Knicks Post Game live Youtube channel complained that Frank isn’t playing like he played in France even as a youngster. As a 16 year old he drove the lane with abandon. As I was listening I concluded that Frank just isn’t cut out for NY. He was lost out there.

DSJr did not look like himself yesterday. Forget the poor form jumper, he looked slow. I think he’s not healthy enough for the NBA game. Just a thought. He was slow and had no bounce. Oh, and that jumper that he worked on all summer … where was that?

By: Totes McGoats as Totes McGoats

Totes McGoats as Totes McGoats — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 10:23:15 +0000

I didn’t get to watch the game. What happened with Trier? Did he only get 7 minutes because he wasn’t playing well? I can guess why DSJ & Ntilikina didn’t play much- DSJ because he’s not healthy, and Ntilikina because Payton has been able to drive more. I’m hoping there’s something else goin on with Trier. 7 minutes as a starter then yanked only to not see the floor again will crush anyone’s confidence.

I didn’t like the starting 5 at all. Portis should have still come off the bench. Ntilikina should have gotten some burn to help us contain the Spurs guards. What is Fiz doing?

By: bobneptune

bobneptune — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 05:41:14 +0000

As for Frank it was bad, he actually came in a made two good plays, a nice pass to Taj on a blown dunk and then a steal that resulted in a layup that should have been a goaltend, but then he committed two of the worst turnovers I’ve ever seen.

Completely true The first two offensive plays were excellent but those two terribly careless/weak entry passes where unforgivable and I like Frank. Whatever he is going to have to play minutes vs Kyrie or Wilt’s record might be in jeopardy.

If Fiz has any brain DSJr will have transient “back spasms” Friday…..

By: Grocer

Grocer — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 05:35:06 +0000

I dunno, maybe Fiz felt a message to Payton was necessary? Our best line up was Payton, Morris, Barrett, Randle, and Portis. Portis was the weak link. I would not have said that’s a well rounded 5 but it worked on both ends. Inserting Frank made it worse, inserting Knox even worse. Mitch improves that on defense but probably not on offense since we were scoring inside anyway. But we didn’t lose because of Portis, we lost because only that lineup actually knew what they were doing and every other combo was either clueless or not up to the task (Knox, who got what was going on but couldn’t execute).

By: Early Bird

Early Bird — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 04:56:20 +0000

“hey this guy who is on his 4th team in 3 years (ORL to PHX, NOP, now NYK) was around league average last year so he’s getting the benefit of the doubt.”

So were holding players accountable, but not coaches? Fizdale gets a pass for deciding against starting our best point guard? You give the league average guy the benefit of the doubt when literally every other pg candidate on your roster has never played anything remotely close to average ball.

Also, winning is more important than accountability.

By: Ben R

Ben R — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 04:54:31 +0000

I think Portis is fine. He absolutely should not be starting and should be Randle’s backup. For 15-20 minutes a night off the bench he is just fine, overpaid but it’s not my money so I don’t really care. People also need to stop with the rose-colored glasses with Kornet. He is a bad defender. He occasionally blocks a shot but is overall bad on defense, is a liability rebounding the ball, and can’t score inside the arc at all. I think Mitch helps this team a lot and as long as he is starting and getting 25-30 minutes a game I am fine with Portis.

Barrett was awesome, but he is not a point guard and both times he was out there by himself our offense completely stagnated. Payton was great and should definitely start and play as much as possible. As for Frank it was bad, he actually came in a made two good plays, a nice pass to Taj on a blown dunk and then a steal that resulted in a layup that should have been a goaltend, but then he committed two of the worst turnovers I’ve ever seen. Those kind of turnovers are unacceptable, I still think he is a better option than DSJ who is completely useless but if he doesn’t get better fast we should just relegate both him and DSJ to G-League and play Allen as Payton’s backup.

By: DRed

DRed — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 04:48:46 +0000

I mean it’s just two (bad) minutes. Whatever. Hopefully he’ll be able to play some D on Kyrie without throwing the ball to the other team every time friday.

By: JK47

JK47 — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 04:34:18 +0000

I just calls ‘em like I sees ‘em. I have no emotional investment in Frank Ntilikina’s terribleness. It doesn’t bring me satisfaction. I’d rather see him succeed. I liked him as a prospect in the first place! Then I watched him play a bunch.

It’s you who seems irrationally invested in the outcome of this guy’s career. You might want to consider the idea that maybe, just maybe, he might not be an NBA caliber player.

By: The Glass Half Rebuilt

The Glass Half Rebuilt — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 04:25:41 +0000

Tonight (and this preseason) made me a little more hopeful for Kevin Knox. He’s a 20 year old who is already the best shooter on our roster, and just needs to figure it out defensively in order to be a plus starter in this league. What DeRozan did to him tonight tells me that he’s likely never going to be a good defender, but 8 months ago I was certain Knox would never be good at anything and here we are today with Kevin Knox as a good 3PT shooter. I think the jury is still out on him, and this summer I was certain he’d be small forward Tony Wrotten.

By: The Glass Half Rebuilt

The Glass Half Rebuilt — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 04:18:32 +0000

Oh man if the Knicks had BOTH Kornet and Robinson at the 5 tonight? San Antonio would have been done in 36 minutes.

Okay so that’s an exaggeration but Kornet and Robinson would have been 48 minutes of good defensive basketball at the center position and I really hate that we have $15M worth of Bobby Portis and not Kornet for $2M. That move was terribly dreadful and the only signing from this off season that I 100% hate and blame Steve Mills for.