(Thursday, May 10, 2018 8:36:48 PM)
One of Joakim Noah’s confidants believes the Knicks center and Jeff Hornacek made a bad fit from the start because the former coach didn’t prioritize defense and was not structured enough. Whether new coach David Fizdale represents a new beginning for Noah may be too good of a fairy-tale story, but Noah’s high school coach,…
(Thursday, May 10, 2018 3:48:03 PM)
New Knicks head coach David Fizdale discusses his upbringing in South Central Los Angeles, his basketball philosophy and why he’s the right man for the job in a Q&A with The Post’s Steve Serby. Q: Are you big on visualization? A: Yeah. I had a Navy SEAL guy that worked with our players in Memphis…
(Thursday, May 10, 2018 6:00:39 PM)
Joakim Noah hasn’t played for the Knicks since Jan. 25 but hopes for a second chance with David Fizdale in charge.
(Thursday, May 10, 2018 10:11:10 AM)
Former NBA All-Star and Hall of Fame memeber Shaquille O’Neal says Knicks fans shouldn’t expect LeBron James to be anywhere near their team in free agency.
[NYDN] James Dolan’s lawyer asks security video be entered as evidence (Thursday, May 10, 2018 9:45:14 PM)
Both sides agree in the never-ending James Dolan-Charles Oakley war: let’s go to the video tape.
[NYDN] New Knick coach Fizdale sees Lance Thomas as his Draymond Green (Thursday, May 10, 2018 9:44:14 PM)
Don’t tell David Fizdale that the Knicks have a talent problem.
44 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2018.05.11)”
semi-interesting interview with Scott Perry last night by Alan Hahn – no real groundbreaking stuff although he walked back Mills’s assertion that they really preferred a wing player. He basically said that they would go with the best talent even if it wasn’t at a position of need, although he acknowledged they’d like to upgrade the SF position.
He also mentioned that he thinks young players DO need veteran mentors in the locker room to show them how to be professionals — and since he came directly from Sac, it’s interesting also that DeAaron Fox gave an interview on the same day with the Ringer podcast saying how Vince and the other vets really showed him how to prepare for games, how to practice, how to take care of his body, etc. I guess I can buy that, but I’d much rather buy that at a minimum contract than at the $8MM that Vince got this past year.
One guy who really intrigues me with our 2nd round pick might be Jarred Vanderbilt from Kentucky. Apparently can’t shoot at all, has injury issues, but he’s supposed to be an absolutely fantastic defensive player, and his rebounding numbers are truly off the charts. Granted he only played 14 games and a total of 235 minutes but his TRB was 27.5 with an offensive rebound rate of 23.1 (!!!) and a defensive rebound rate of 27.9. Apparently he can handle the ball, pass a bit, and basically do everything but shoot. As a 2nd round pick I would definitely take a shot that his jumper can be rebuilt from the ground up. He did shoot 64% from the line which isn’t terrible.
@Frank
Yeah, Vanderbilt would be an interesting choice in the 2nd round. Kevin O’Connor and Jonathan Tjarks on The Ringer singled him out a couple of months ago as a player who could be better in the NBA than he was in his limited time in college.
https://nypost.com/2018/05/11/joakim-noahs-hs-coach-says-veteran-still-has-a-lot-in-the-tank/
Vanderbilt will probably go back to UK for a second year in order to improve his stock because he was a legit lotto pick pre injury. The guy has all the tools, besides his total inability to shoot.
Not a good beginning for fizdale – either he is a poor liar or he is just a bad coach:
Only in New York
I can’t believe Noah’s old high school coach is such a believer in him.
Fiz seems like the perfect age, and time in his life, to take on this role. He’s got the energy, enthusiasm and desire to put his stamp on the world. He’s overflowing with ideas and can’t wait for the season to get started. . . like Phil Jackson had, once upon a time.
I will veeeery quickly lose faith in Fizdale if he plays Lance more than 5-10 situational MPG.
Lots of good coaches say nice things about their players potential. You want players to believe they can be better and they will work harder for you if they think you are going to give them a chance. It doesn’t mean they are going to get lots of minutes. Time will tell
Yeah, I think it’s just press talk. Still, it gives me nightmares
@9
Stop this nonsense.
Fiz is big on developing younger guys, but he’s going to play everybody, as he should.
And he probably has no tolerance for losing games to get a better draft position, as he shouldn’t.
I hate Boston, too, but glad to see them beat up on The Process.
The problem with Lance is that he’s a bad rebounder. Otherwise he IS a pretty reasonable defensive player. He DOES shoot well from 3 point range so it’s not like you’re playing 4-on-5 on offense. But he’s prob best off as a small ball 4 — but the guy he makes most sense next to other than the rebounding is Porzingis, but KP is a terrible rebounder too.
I could sort of imagine a lineup of Ntilikina, Dotson, Mikal or Miles Bridges, Lance, and KP would be a pretty interesting lineup on both ends of the floor though.
There’s a bit of a snake oil salesman to Fizdale. If he can turn LT into a Squint-A-Lot-and-He-Looks-Like-Draymond-Green and Mudiay into something approaching a decent player, then more power to him. If.
you can’t really expect fiz to trash his players or give them halfhanded platitudes in public…. from what ppl say he’s honest enough when the mic isn’t in his face and i kind of believe that….. calipari is the quintessential snake oil salesman persona but somehow he has the trust and loyalty of half the nba….
Agreed. It’s hard to work for someone who says one thing and does another, even if without ill intent. Fiz doesn’t seem to be that kind of leader…as Horns apparently was.
There’s some difference between not throwing your players under the bus and comparing LT to Draymond
Why does it matter if he compares LT to Draymond? Do you really think he believes Lance can be a point forward?
Am I crazy in thinking that Lance needs more shots?
Dude has a career 40.8% 3 point% (pretty stable at >40% over the last 3 years and nearly 350 attempts) and an 80% career FT shooter (83-85% the last 3 years) but only takes 3.3 3PA/36 minutes. If you look at nba.com, out of all 40%+ 3 point shooters who have played >1000 minutes, Lance shoots the 3rd fewest volume of 3 pointers out of all non-centers with only Satoransky and McConnell less than him — and those guys are PGs that are supposed to distribute, not guys that are supposed to get passes then shoot.
Meanwhile you have dudes like CJ Miles shooting nearly 4x as many 3’s (12.2/36) despite shooting only 36% on 3’s. Robert Covington, who Lance resembles as a player if you look through an extremely dirty window, shoots 7.8 3’s per 36 while being a career 35.8% 3 point shooter.
Should Lance shoot more? *gulp*
Lance has a much slower and less fluid release than those guys. It’s why he doesn’t shoot more.
yeah i assume that is part of it – but I do wonder how many shot opportunities he has compared to the other guys. Those guys have their 3’s schemed into the offense, whereas I’m pretty sure Lance just gets the leftovers in our offense.
Nick Van Exel as an assistant under Thizzel .
Lance is not going to become Draymond Green. Everyone knows that. But he’s a hard working, defensive minded, veteran presence that’s worked worked himself from the scrap heaps to an NBA contract. It doesn’t have to be Lance, but they need guys like him.
All kids with no leadership is not a good idea.
I pretty much ignore everything everyone says at these things that isn’t a pure fact thing (you know, like, “Who is going you be your assistant coach?” “Guy X.”) Stuff like that is useful. The other stuff I just ignore. However, at the same time, that also goes for interesting quotes that I like, ya know? The same thing applies. “David Fizdale said this really encouraging thing about Player X!” It’s the same thing as “David Fizdale said something weird about Player X!”
Wow, Budz picked a good time to be on the open market. The Raptors just fired Dwane Casey.
I feel like Casey would have been a really appealing candidate for the Knicks job. More so than Fiz to be honest. Too bad on the timing. No way to anticipate him becoming available.
I think Casey is a good defensive coach, but I think a guy like that is not going to want to go from the top to the bottom like that. I bet he waits for a team next season that is closer to contention.
Maybe right although I’m not sure contending teams would be that interested in him? At least based on his Raptors tenure it seems like his main strengths are in player development (where they consistently excelled) and the big picture stuff (e.g. he did a really good job of overhauling their system this year) but he’s weak in terms of the micro-adjustments and specific tactical stuff that is way more important in the playoffs. That kind of profile seems like it would make a lot more sense on a team in the building phase than one that’s ready to contend now.
Lance Thomas is a shitty player, there’s no way around it. Yes, he can hit a wide-open corner three pretty well. But his passing and rebounding are well below par, and his much-vaunted defense is a mystery to me. He looks average at best when you watch him, and his steals/blocks per 36 are pretty bad. He seems like a perfectly nice guy, though.
Most Coaches of the Year eventually get offered decent second gigs. I would be surprised to see him sign with a shitty team next. I would imagine he could work in broadcasting until a decent job opens up.
He didn’t say he’s as good as Draymond, just that he sees similarities in their games. That’s fair. I’m not sure if I see it. To me Lance is more Trevor Ariza, again, not necessarily as a talent but as a style of player. I see Green as making his living down low mostly and Lance as a wing defender.
I see why Lance might see some burn with Fiz. He’s a lunchbox kind of guy who quietly makes a team more solid. Again, in style at least if not in actuality. Fiz had a bunch of no names in Memphis and led them to some success.
It is kind of cool that Fiz singled out Lance. Out of the box thinking at least, if not necessarily good thinking.
Wow, Budz to Toronto?
In eight seasons Lance has never posted a positive obpm or a positive dbpm. His vorp has been negative every year as well. He rebounds like a point guard and passes like a bad center. And yet coaches love him because he will do everything in his very limited ability to carry out their game plan. Let’s hope Troy Williams is spending every day working on his jump shot and inevitable Knick Miles Bridges can fill the small ball 4 role and Lance can cheer from the bench.
Hopefully Nick Van Exel can turn Frank Ntilikina into a 6’5” Mike Conley. I like that hire a lot.
“Lance is not going to become Draymond Green. ” – LOL
Truth
I agree, Miles Bridges is our destiny. Hopefully his college success can translate to the NBA.
You can’t really gauge much from the superlatives a coach throws at a player, but I think you can gauge a lot from which players he chooses to hype.
Lance and Mudiay shouldn’t be part of the plan, so I’m a little concerned he’s investing in them publicly. It makes me think this will be another season of winning three more meaningless games than we should have and costing ourselves another top pick.
Yeah, over the years what has made him a sort of kind of useful player is that he doesn’t actively screw things up for you. He doesn’t add anything to the table, but he doesn’t really take anything off from the table, either, and so if he’s playing with four other decent guys, he’s not going to hurt you. The problem for the Knicks is that they can’t seem to improve on “doesn’t actively hurt the team,” as that’s what guys like Mudiay do on offense and defense and what Beasely does on defense, so Lance keeps getting minutes. There is no upside to Lance, but hey, at least he is not so dumb that he fucks things up out there for the rest of the team. He’ll just quietly score his 6 points, get no boards or assists and play decent enough defense.
On Mikel Bridges: Shane Battier keeps popping up in my head. He became a cerebral, defensive player that found his level as a 3rdish option offensively. I get that coming out of Duke, Battier was more acclaimed, but is the comp outlandish?
So, he does or doesn’t help?
I call Lance ‘Digital T,’ because his line is always ones and zeroes.
Some people use excessive praise to motivate and get people to feel good about themselves so they work even harder. D’Antoni was actually a lot like that. I don’t think he believes much of what he’s saying about our players but he wants them to believe he believes it so they go out and work their asses off for him.
Lance is not a bad player if you already have 3 good scorers on your team. Then you can get the upside of his defense without a major sacrifice on offense. He can sort of be in the Andre Roberson role on the Thunder. I would be fine with having him on the team if he could rebound better or we were further along in our team build and had the scorers. But on our team, he’s too much of a negative on offense. Defenders just leave him and we don’t have the firepower to overcome it.
I’m not sure Fiz was really comparing Lance to Draymond. That seems like Bondy interjecting.
But the conversation did get me thinking, has Lance ever set an on-ball screen in our offense? Like, he isn’t a good passer or anything so far as we can tell, but maybe Fiz envisions him playing some 4, setting on-ball screens and making plays on the short roll situations. I can’t remember any of the Fisher/Rambis/Hornacek crew even thinking to try to use him like that. We used Beasley a bunch like that, especially with Burke running point towards the end of the year, and Beasley was able to make some slick passes in that situation. It’s not like he’s ever been known as a great distributor.
It’d be interesting, but obviously I don’t think Lance ups his assists to Draymond levels even if they put him in better position to make plays.
Lance was voted the team leader I believe. It’s a good thing to get on his good side right after KP.