Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Oklahoma City Thunder 8:00 10/19/2017 [Game #1]

i'm loving this too much

and1 said:

that lineup is probably what we're going to see later in the season. horns is probably going to go a bit more veteran (sessions and lee) for the first 20-30 games. that's just a hunch, but i wouldn't be surprised if we see more youth in the starting lineup come the mid to end of december.
if the knicks are planning to let kanter walk this summer, or are throwing him out there as trade-bait, they better let willy know straight up so things don't get weird quick.

in other news: knicks sign isaiah hicks to a 2 way contract.

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Isiah Hicks who the hell is he. Wasn't even on the Summer league squad. Makes you scratch your head about this front office, signing Burke 2 days before camp ends and then cutting him w/o playing a pre-season game. I would imagine that this kid is on somebody's radar on the Knicks staff and must be pretty good to give him that last 2 way.

Kiyaman said:

After tonight .. I dont want to see Baker in a Knick uniform ever again, not even as a fan!
I would have rather Frank warmed up to NBA b.ball for 24 minute playing time tonight.

Mills n Perry need to be searching for a new head-coach first thing in the mourning.
Coach Hornacek DISS WHG by only letting WHG receive 3 minute of playing time during the final minute of the game!!!

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if this were any team other than the knicks, i'd assume there was some kind of plan here. but it's the knicks, so there probably isn't.
willy has footwork and moves. there's no reason why he can't get a nice amount of minutes at the 4. either play him alongside kanter or the Q. those combinations could make for a rebounding monstrosity that barely anyone would be able to contend with.
let's see what masterplan the knicks have in store for us hahaha.

tiger0330 said:

Isiah Hicks who the hell is he. Wasn't even on the Summer league squad. Makes you scratch your head about this front office, signing Burke 2 days before camp ends and then cutting him w/o playing a pre-season game. I would imagine that this kid is on somebody's radar on the Knicks staff and must be pretty good to give him that last 2 way.

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i'm pretty sure he did summercamp with charlotte. he's a 6' 9" forward.

htr10 said:

Hey, Columbo, when did I ever say I watched the game? I am asking you who did the starting PG for the Mavs defend? The answer by how much you are taking the conversation in other directions tells me that they hid DSJ so deep on defense with frequent switching that you can?t even tell who he was guarding. We play that defense too. Switch and switch and switch until all your bad defensive players have gotten a chance to whiff at the guy with the ball before he scores.

DSJ is a super talented offensive player. Known fact. 16 points and 10 assists and they lost by 6 because their defense is so bad Atlanta led by Schroeder and Bellinelli hung 117 on them.

KP has 27 points and 10 rebounds with over 7 minutes to play. Are you happy? I?m not. Wins, not stats. We just finished an era of a scoring dynamo who is a defensive liability.

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DSJ may be short and have short arms but I think that explosiveness he has can make him a good defender. Carlisle may have hidden DSJ a little on D to take some pressure off him as a rookie and at this point maybe a guy like Ferrel is the better defender. DSJ like Simmons has something that sticks out, havent seen enough of Frank but he looks like an average athlete lacking that explosiveness and speed on the court. Still Horn shouldn't be hiding him behind Baker, let him learn by making mistakes and let Knicks fans see what we drafted.

and1 said:

i'm pretty sure he did summercamp with charlotte. he's a 6' 9" forward.

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He also played on the NCAA championship NC team, I don't remember him though. Wasn't drafted but he's got a pedigree playing for Roy and a championship team.

and1 said:

i'm pretty sure he did summercamp with charlotte. he's a 6' 9" forward.

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We won't see him, he played well at UNC but he's not really NBA caliber. We're hoping he turns into something but do not hold your breath with him

One Knicks building block didn?t play much in opener ....

OKLAHOMA CITY ? Center Willy Hernangomez, the young building block who was a first-team All-Rookie selection, found himself out of the rotation in the season opener Thursday versus the Thunder. As expected Enes Kanter started and Kyle O?Quinn got 22 minutes as the backup.

With 3:46 left, Hernangomez was put in during garbage time of the Knicks? 105-84 season-opening loss. The Spaniard found out at the morning shootaround from coach Jeff Hornacek he wouldn?t be in the rotation and it?s about his lax defense.

?He told me be ready,? Hernangomez said. ?I?m not worried about that. It?s the first game. I?m just mad we lost.?

KP showed glimpses in the first half he was ready to put franchise on his back....

Ntikilina couldn't have had a more dreadful debut. Yikes. No sweeping judgements but DSJ is light years ahead of this kid at the moment.

Beasley injury stunk bc I think he's the wild factor on this team (and obviously team needed his offense tonight).

Hornachek is an idiot and should be reprimanded by GM. Benching a promising young player bc you didn't like his defensive effort? How dare you coach.

We know this team is gonna stink.... at least let it be enjoyable to watch. I don't want to watch a bad team that can't score buckets. Let the kids go out and play freely.... play to their strengths.... instead of worried about a bad defensive team putting effort in.


I get it.... have to instill discipline and need players to try to get stops. But let that come....
Don't start of season, after a pathetic pre-season, getting on them right away.

Not to mention it's a nationally televised game.

If he was worried about defensive effort then bench the entire team.

Thankfully, there's only 81 more of these to suffer through.

the only justification for kanter starting over whg is to justify the return value of the melo trade. willie being accused of "lax defense" as a reason to be benched? and vis a vis kanter who is the worse defender of the two?!? wtf is that. this had better be a tactic to get whg motivated to go all out on defense then. willy is also the better passer and ball sharer. can kanter be traded? maybe he is playing because of that. kanter shouldn't start because he's a net negative on real plus minus. he gives up much more than he gives.

and1 said:

that lineup is probably what we're going to see later in the season. horns is probably going to go a bit more veteran (sessions and lee) for the first 20-30 games. that's just a hunch, but i wouldn't be surprised if we see more youth in the starting lineup come the mid to end of december.
if the knicks are planning to let kanter walk this summer, or are throwing him out there as trade-bait, they better let willy know straight up so things don't get weird quick.

in other news: knicks sign isaiah hicks to a 2 way contract.

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You could be right but what good would this do if we're waiting for the inevitable fail? Our kids need as much experience as possible, in particular playing with each other to build chemistry and a cohesive unit. Playing a game of guess which cup it's under with the lineups is an incredible injustice

is he really that bad with defense?
if he's not getting burn now, what happens when noah comes off suspension?
somebody's getting traded, that's the only way i can make any sense of this. but who's it going to be?

and1 said:

is he really that bad with defense?
if he's not getting burn now, what happens when noah comes off suspension?
somebody's getting traded, that's the only way i can make any sense of this. but who's it going to be?

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He's slightly better than Kanter in defensive RPM at -.38, bottom of the league at the 5. I doubt if he's ever going to be a gifted defender, you need quickness and athletic ability to do that and Bill doesn't have it. You're right about a trade, I wish we could deal Noah but we're stuck with him.

What?s funny is that when Noah comes back WHG will be further down the rotation. It?s funny all you guys cried for a rebuild while forgetting you need a good architect for that. As for our backcourt, get used Horn doppelg?nger Baker getting plenty of run... and of course the Frenchie is a project hiding over there in Europe; the other guards who actually played AAU/NCAA here in the states are more NBA ready this is basketball we are talking here not soccer...KP is now Melo; lots of points in losing efforts....Addition by Subtraction?????

And KP doesn't like to pass much.

Still have no clue why you take a project who may or may not be as good as another, uber heralded prospect is at this moment in time. But this is The Knicks.

mafra said:

And KP doesn't like to pass much.

Still have no clue why you take a project who may or may not be as good as another, uber heralded prospect is at this moment in time. But this is The Knicks.

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Monk
Mitchell
Smith
Mason

All sitting at pick 8 and we didn't trade up for Fox or Jackson and didn't consider an X-factor like Isaac

Knicks rookie PG Frank Ntilikna suffered an apparent left ankle injury during practice on Friday and was helped off the court.

Looked like he rolled it badly; he'll join MB on the bench for next 2 weeks.

Kid is gonna be a redshirt freshman for 2 years folks.

It's almost like we probably picked the 1 bust out of the bunch available at our spot. If so, this is a huge blow to the KP era in NY

Good blurb at poasting and Toasting blog:

On Friday, Hornacek was comparing himself to Brett Brown, the Sixers coach who endured obscene amounts of losing for the sake of ?The Process? (AKA higher draft picks). Hornacek also acknowledged that he won?t sacrifice the rebuild, ?just to win some games.? Then new GM Scott Perry said victories aren?t the priority when assessing this season. His assumption is that fans will hop aboard so long as effort is evident.
So, Jeff, what happened? From about midway through the second quarter until the end of the game, it was abundantly clear that the Knicks, even at their ?best? (in your eyes), were mightily overmatched. And yet, three-fifths of our ?young core? (Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez, Frank Ntilikina, Damyean Dotson and, for whatever reason, Ron Baker) played a combined 14 minutes and six seconds.

So, which one is it, Jeff? Are we rebuilding, no matter the cost? Or are we trying for meaningless wins, rebuilding and development be damned? After one game, it certainly feels more like the latter, and that?s disappointing.


Basically, Jeff?and I know this is brash after just one game?I don?t think you?re the right guy for this team. Please take Kurt Rambis with you when you leave, because he?s essentially the Mike Pence to your Donald Trump?even if you?re gone, he?s not a good option, either.

Just know that I think you?re an OK dude, just not the right coach for this basketball team.