(Saturday, March 17, 2018 12:25:39 AM)
The Knicks’ starting backcourt situation is up in the air for Saturday’s game against the Hornets. Will Trey Burke finally get his first start? Or will Jarrett Jack resurface? “Kind of everything is on the table,’’ coach Jeff Hornacek said. Indeed, the point-guard derby could face another shakeup. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out:…
(Friday, March 16, 2018 12:26:21 PM)
While Enes Kanter continued to lobby for the Knicks to “develop guys in the G-League” and not in the NBA, Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek sounded conflicted, too, especially with an uncertain future. With the Knicks losing 17 of their past 18 games, Hornacek challenged players at Friday’s practice on whether they “hate to lose.” While…
(Friday, March 16, 2018 10:18:28 AM)
When Enes Kanter arrived in the Carmelo Anthony trade, the status of Willy Hernangomez as a chief Knicks building block became unhinged. After not being in the rotation all season, the 23-year-old Spaniard was shipped to Charlotte for two distant second-round picks. As Hernangomez readies for his Garden return Saturday, when the Hornets hit town,…
[NYTimes] On Pro Basketball: San Antonio Spurs Face an Unfamiliar Opponent Down the Stretch: Discontent (Saturday, March 17, 2018 1:16:52 AM)
This will be remembered as the season the Spurs coped with the sort of drama and strife that plagued the rest of the N.B.A. during the Gregg Popovich era.
[NYTimes] Clyde Drexler Named Commissioner of Big3 League (Friday, March 16, 2018 3:45:23 PM)
As the league gets ready for its second season, it has moved on after the firing of Roger Mason Jr. with the appointment of Drexler, the former N.B.A. star and Dream Team member.
[NYTimes] On Pro Basketball: Lose Now, Win Later? In Sixers, Knicks Have a Role Model (Saturday, March 17, 2018 10:24:26 AM)
The long-term absence of Kristaps Porzingis and a visit by Philadelphia on Thursday offer lessons for the Knicks, and a reminder that losing doesn’t have to last forever.
(Friday, March 16, 2018 7:54:46 PM)
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Should the Knicks be playing only for the future? Or should their main aim be to win every time they take the floor?
(Friday, March 16, 2018 3:48:39 PM)
Enes Kanter is vehemently opposed to the idea that the Knicks are tanking and said the focus is on winning. If the team wants to develop young players while out of playoff contention, he says those players should be in the G League.
(Friday, March 16, 2018 5:50:20 PM)
With the Knicks hosting the Hornets Saturday night, a familiar face from the team this season returns in C Willy Hernangomez.
(Friday, March 16, 2018 8:59:00 AM)
Knicks center Enes Kanter is among the players frustrated by New York’s 1-17 stretch and outside talk of tanking.
(Friday, March 16, 2018 10:48:48 AM)
Despite seeing his role reduced over the past several weeks, Knicks point guard Jarrett Jack said he turned down multiple offers to potential NBA playoff contenders.
[NYDN] Hornacek on if he’ll return for final year of Knicks contract (Friday, March 16, 2018 10:08:06 PM)
Jeff Hornacek has been compliant with the rebuild while his record and reputation has suffered.
[NYDN] Enes Kanter calls Willy Hernangomez ‘young version of Marc Gasol’ (Friday, March 16, 2018 1:04:41 PM)
Willy Hernangomez returns to the Garden still glued to the bench and still receiving high praise from his former teammates.
47 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.03.17)”
Great win by Sacramento last night. Just need a few more by then and Brooklyn and we’ll be sitting pretty for the draft!
No way he goes before the late lottery, but is anyone thinking that Robert Williams is gonna make a lot of teams sorry they passed on him? He’s a bit raw and not a great fit in today’s NBA but what an athletic talent!
If we dropped a spot or two I would consider a trade down to take him and Troy Brown.
Kanter is saying the Knicks made a mistake giving up on Willy so soon.
Ya think?
Even if they thought his skill set made him at best a very good backup in the NBA or that he wasn’t a good fit with KP, the chances are still better than even money they won’t get someone as good as him with the draft picks they got for him. Instead, they’ll wind up paying a boatload more for a backup like Kanter.
These guys are clueless.
We aren’t even done with the season yet and so far we have:
1. Hardaway’s contract
2. Baker’s contract
3. Hernangomez
4. Mudiay
There’s no way we are in a better position now than before the season started. Only our misfortune with KP has put us in a better position draft wise. And they will probably draft some inefficient scoring athlete.
The best thing they’ve done so far is bring in Burke. He’s the best PG we have in this snapshot in time and at least looks like a legitimate backup PG long term. But they are playing him behind Mudiay. That wouldn’t be so terrible if they were playing 4D chess to tank, but they traded for the guy because they thought he was good and have been giving him a chance to prove it. lmao
Sorry, but I’m starting to get that hopeless feeling again.
Despite their gross incompetence, we are still not positioned that poorly because we have all our 1st round picks, we have KP, I still think Frank is going to net “plus” player, and the bad contracts (other than Hardaway) will start coming off as our young players start getting close to their peak. The problem is that we have bozos in charge. They will probably not build on that positioning. They will continue overpaying for free agents, not value players correctly, and wreak more havoc because they don’t know what they are doing.
Is Enes Kanter a reliable judge of basketball talent? Considering that he’s the worst defensive big man in the NBA and Willy’s ceiling is essentially Enes Kanter, he might be a tad biased.
More generally, it’s clear that non-defensive low-post bigs are not valuable in today’s NBA. Two 2nd rounders are fair value for Willy. It wasn’t necessarily a smart move, but I’m not gonna kill Perry/Mills for it. Giving up a pick for Mudiay was much dumber, but even that is pretty much a nothing deal.
I like Troy Williams and Trey Burke. If Perry can keep finding guys like that, we’ll make progress. Hopefully Kanter and his big mouth will opt out and sign elsewhere.
Tonight we should be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with a loss and Bucks win. So I wonder what Kanter will have to day about it then.
The new regime does seem to be willing to take advantage of lost seasons to get a look at guys, which is a refreshing change from the past. Williams and Burke seem like potential rotation pieces on a team that doesn’t suck.
On the other hand, they seem to unironically believe Emmanuel Mudiay is worthy of one of those flyers. That says a lot of bad things about their overall talent evaluation abilities.
All I really ask for the draft is that we stay away from Colin Sexton, Kevin Knox, and Miles Bridges. Doncic, Ayton, JJJ, Young, Carter, Mikal Bridges, and Zhaire Smith would all make me very happy. I could certainly live with Bagley and MPJ as well though there are legitimate concerns with both.
Mills and Perry will show what they’re about in this offseason, it’s the most important offseason in years for the Knicks I dare say. The decision they make on this draft plus how they deal with free agency and the expiring contracts is going to be massive.
KP’s injury and this roster’s complete ineptitude is the one chance we’ve had in years to completely bottom out and rebuild properly. They’re gonna have the choice between doing that or making lateral moves like signing Hardaway type players to try to stay “competitive” before Porzingis comes back.
From Perry’s history, specially the offseason Sacramento had last year, I don’t think they’ll go for a planned rebuild. My fear is that they’ll make moves that will consolidate us in the Charlotte region, or that we will indeed end up with a terrible record like this year, but not because of a plan, just because they made the wrong moves.
If we stay at 8, I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to trade down with the Sizers or Clippers and grab Smith AND Williams instead. We desperately need more talent.
Scott Perry’s only Twitter like this year is of Trae young bombing 3’s.
Bama vs. Nova (Sexton vs. Bridges) today should be interesting.
Alabama players rockin the Sideshow Bob hairdo.
Knicks need to keep the losing streak going. The best thing they can do at this point is lose every remaining game and hope some other tankers somehow win a few.
Then Perry and Mills need to not fuck up the draft picks and free agency.
I am not that confident, we’ll see.
It amazes me to compare this team to the Lakers, who were terrible for a few years but managed to be in a far better position than the Knicks. Competent management vs. Clown Show .
Depressing
Steve Clifford’s words today on Willy were not that positive:
I really have no problem w/ Baker’s contract, at all. If he wasn’t hurt, he’d be getting big minutes right now and maybe improving. What were we going to do w/ that $4M next year?
I know Bridges hasn’t done anything spectacular in this game, but watch his defense. It’s really good.
Becky Hammon isn’t going to Colorado State after all. Even though I have a personal fetish for Nick Nurse there is zero reason to believe that’s a possibility. On other hand I could see Mills/Perry digging the PR of hiring Hammon and I’d be 100% in board for that. But I feel like she would fail the requisite Dolan blood loyalty oath in the final interview; she speaks her mind.
It’s funny being a Knick fan. When the seemingly Better prospect like Mikal happens to outshoot a worse prospect like Sexton in a fishbowl tournament game you might normally be bummed bc the better guy will move up draft boards. But when you worry your own draft board might actually be the worst sufferer of overvaluing fishbowl games syndrome it could be good news.
Mikal looks underwhelming to me. Against an athletic Alabama team he seems too timid. Looks like a role player at the next level to me. Maybe mid to late first rounder. Not a #6 or 7 pick. Miles is athletic but a tweener. Dominates Bucknell, but let’s see what he does against better athletes. A couple of Bridges Too Far
in my book. Sexton looks insanely quick and can drive and kick or finish. Would love to finally have a guy like that.
@20 I couldn’t disagree more. Bridges is exactly the kind of 2 way player we need, he’s Justus Winslow with offense. I absolutely want no part of Sexton. Reminds me of DeAron Fox, maybe not even as good.
The worst part of the Baker contract was that they didn’t need to give it to him at all. They had his rights, but they gave them up so that they could free up a little more money to offer THJ when they were already by far the high bidder for THJ. That then forced them to sign Baker with money that A. could be used to sign a free agent and B. was roughly 9 times what they would have been able to sign Baker for without any guarantees had they just not voided his Bird rights in order to throw an extra million a year on to their THJ offer.
In other words, it was horribly, horribly moronic GMing.
The upside of Bridges probably moving up higher in the draft due to his March Madness performance is that it does increase the chances that Trae Young is available at the Knicks’ pick. That’s something!
I don’t think Bridges has the defensive versatility of Winslow (who is somehow still the same age as Mikal), but he’s a much, much better offensive player. Bridges can do more than just shoot 3’s.
I’m probably the biggest Ron Baker fan on this website but the whole process surrounding his contract was incredibly stupid.
‘Nova has a CAKEWALK to the Final Four so we’ll get to see a lot of Mikal. Since we have so many needs, I think the player we take has to be the one who will help KP the most. Is that a penetrating, good shooting point guard or a big who plays D and rebounds? Out of the guys who might be available that means Trea Young or Wendell Carter Jr.
Exactly. It screamed ineptitude.
Reasonable people can disagree about whether trading Hernangomez for two 2nd rounders was a fair deal. It will depend on what he becomes and at what cost. I would argue we aren’t likely to get someone as good as him with either of those 2nd rounders and he’d eventually at least be a decent backup for much less money than Kanter anyway. Some might disagree.
But there is no disagreeing on Baker.
Even if you like him as a player (and I don’t hate him), the way we handled it was horrible. We could have him for much less.
I’d be down for hiring Becky Hammon. Today, I am also down for hiring UMBC’s coach. I expect that to change tomorrow.
Becky Hammon would be a great hire, especially for an organization with such terrible history with women.
Willy didn’t hold back much.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/hernangomez-finds-structure-lessons-wasn-ny-article-1.3880478
My only issue with Mikal Bridges is his lack of playmaking- the Knicks really need a plus passer at the wing if Frank is going to be the point. Though a Burke, Frank, Mikal line-up with THJ as the 6th man might work.
It’s certainly a fair concern, but I think he’s a good enough player that you worry about the other stuff later. This team has so few players to begin with. They’re already going to suck next season, so they might be able to draft a playmaker in the 2019 draft. I just love how well rounded of an offensive/defensive player he is. He really is Winslow with a ready-for-the-NBA offensive game.
KB’ers…I May need an intervention.
I REALLY hoped that in today’s game, that Sexton would have a great game while Bridges just had an average game.
If Nova goes deep in the tourney, we will undoubtedly need a top 5 to get him if we don’t already
The thing about Bridges is that he’s on a very good team that will make a deep run and he knows he doesn’t have to do more than what he’s asked. I think he’s very talented and could do even more for his team, but I’m fine with him working within the frame of the team, I think it’s a quality and not a problem in his game.
I think he’s already ready to be a Trevor Ariza type of player in the NBA with the ceiling to be more, and I would certainly be fine with that in the 6th-8th pick range. He’s the safest choice on this range, in my opinion, a high floor player for a team that frankly needs just about everything anyway.
Idk Carter Jr. looked terrific too. Sort of like a Horford with a pretty outside shot. And he already has a classic turn around J.
Indeed. Carter Jr is underrated IMO.
You know what- after careful consideration- would be the Knicksiest draft ever? If we somehow still land at 9 or 10, end up trading down, and drafting the “potential” of Hamidou Diallo
Diallo does seem to be the Knickiest draft pick ever. Luckily, he’s outside the place where they’re going to be drafting.
Just my luck..Diallo will end up goin off for 30/5/5 against Buffalo today lol
that was hilarious strat…yeah, Willy didn’t hold much back…
at the very least – it would seem as though horny is a very poor communicator…
Diallo really is an amazing athlete though. And this kid Massenburg on Buffalo can really shoot!
Gilgus Alexander (sp?) is nice but wouldn’t fit, would he?
He’s a legit pro. Just not someone close to who the Knicks should be picking with a first rounder.
Wow, Wily. Scorched earth there.
Buffalo is doing it
sounded pretty accurate and true…
sometimes it just really sucks being us…
The Bulls are facing Cleveland without Love, Hood, Nance, Thompson, Osman and Korver today… Dallas and Brooklyn also play themselves.
This is a key loss tonight, a must have.
it won’t be easy to lose tonight…horny needs to do another magic act with the minutes and rotations…
Nevermind SGA is playing out of his mind