The Frank Ntilikina Thread

[tiger0330]

Every video clip of Frank Knix summer-workout i seen .. It looks like the Knicks has another young future star on the roster.
I believe Frank's 2nd season will be very explosive .. especially if we see a lot of "Frank & Trey" in the back-court throughout the season.
I also believe the back-court of Frank & Trey if they get off to a good start at the start of the regular season .. the Knicks will have a 35+ win season having a healthy rotation of .. Kanter, Noah, Vonleh, Robinson, Hezonja, Knox, THJ, Lee, Trey, Frank ..

35 wins doesn't seem impossible even without KP. ESPN not calling for it predicting 30 wins but 5 more wins is very doable, I'll be happy if Knox and Robinson fulfill their SL promise and Nits makes a huge leap and starts playing like a top draft pick.

The guy I haven't heard anything about this off-season is Hezonja, I guess he went home to Croatia for the summer, he had some moments last season. Bender of the Suns and Hezonja have to show they were worth the 4th and 5th picks respectively this season in make or break years for both of them.

[mafra]

Frank’s going to guard everybody. You can already see where I’m going with him,” said Fizdale, who partially plans to use Ntilikina’s 7-foot wingspan on 6-foot-2 sharpshooting rookie Trae Young. “With Frank, I’m trying to develop a first-team all-defender.”

[KNICKS MOB]

35 wins doesn't seem impossible even without KP. ESPN not calling for it predicting 30 wins but 5 more wins is very doable, I'll be happy if Knox and Robinson fulfill their SL promise and Nits makes a huge leap and starts playing like a top draft pick.

The guy I haven't heard anything about this off-season is Hezonja, I guess he went home to Croatia for the summer, he had some moments last season. Bender of the Suns and Hezonja have to show they were worth the 4th and 5th picks respectively this season in make or break years for both of them.

I don't have much faith in Mario tbh, I think he's gonna stay a bust

[Kiyaman]

In the Knicks 2018-19 young-core development season (Knits) Frank level of performance has not reach many Knick fans expectation.
Why is that?

I am still a pro Frank fan as I were when Phil drafted him.
All the negative comments on Frank .... It's the wrong time to worry bout Frank poor performance under Fizdale's campaign .
1) So what Phil selected Frank .. WHO CARES that shouldn't be a negative.
2) We've seen enough .. Frank's 20 yrs old and in his early growth of NBA B.ball .. Frank was ahead of his age in Europe. Plus Frank's the same age as the average college player entering the NBA.
Frank did have a bad year on a Knicks team having 5 PG on the roster .. Trey Burke, Mudiay, Baker, Trier and DSj .. PLUS the Knicks has No-System nor a consistent line-up .. coach Fizdale's ISO-offense and uncoordinated defense has been totally opposite Frank skill set within an organized set team. The Knicks NEED to hire a head-coach that will last 4 seasons (In KP 4 yrs with the Knicks he had 4 headcoaches .. Fisher/Rambis/Horn/Fiz) SMH!
3) Frank can't break down the D, or Frank handle is not play maker material to be a PG.
That maybe true. Frank did/does need some veteran PG to show him the NBA ropes.
Frank does has the skills to be a good complimentary combo-guard alongside DSJ, or Kadeem, or Trier.
Frank still has to improve his high dribble, and first step slashing to the hoop, plus find his spots on the court for jumpers. Frank does has decent passing skills and B.ball smarts, plus will defend the other team's dominating guard. Frank can hit the open 3-ball in a well timed offensive system plus throw lob passes down court on fast breaks, or lobs to MitchRob, and keep ball movement in motion for the open man, that's a perfect compliment if we do land a great scorer from FA market Kahwi or KD.
4) Frank doesn't fit .. because our last 2 head coaches suck. Frank may not become a Chauncey Billups liked many has hoped, but Frank performance will become a Trevor Ariza, or Shaun Livingston, or Bruce Bowen type Keeper to provide stops in the 4th quarter for a Knicks win. When the Knicks head coach design a team-ballin system with several plays for players to perform as a team, Frank will become the amazing complimentary Keeper.

[tiger0330]

It's official, Franks season is done. Here's how he did in his second season vs. his rookie season, his numbers were down across the board. And it's not just his year to year comparison, he's in the bottom 5 in the entire league in TS% and PER.

They'll look to trade him but his market value is low and unless the Knicks want to include a draft pick with him they might not be able to. His injury also might be a setback to improving over the summer opening up the possibility the Knicks might not pick up his option in Oct.

Season	Age	Tm	Lg	Pos	G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	2P	2PA	2P%	eFG%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2017-18	19	NYK	NBA	PG	78	9	21.9	2.3	6.4	.364	0.6	2.0	.318	1.7	4.4	.385	.414	0.6	0.9	.721	0.5	1.8	2.3	3.2	0.8	0.2	1.7	2.3	5.9
2018-19	20	NYK	NBA	PG	43	16	21.0	2.2	6.6	.337	0.8	2.7	.287	1.4	3.9	.371	.395	0.5	0.7	.767	0.3	1.7	2.0	2.8	0.7	0.3	1.3	2.4	5.7

By Year	TEAM	GP	MIN	OffRtg	DefRtg	NetRtg	AST%	AST/TO	AST Ratio	OREB%	DREB%	REB%	TO Ratio	eFG%	TS%	USG%	PACE	PIE
2018-19	NYK	43	21.0	101.2	110.1	-8.8	19.5	2.16	25.6	1.2	8.0	4.5	11.8	39.5	41.7	16.2	102.58	3.9
2017-18	NYK	78	21.9	101.3	104.1	-2.8	21.0	1.91	27.4	2.1	7.9	5.0	14.4	41.4	43.7	16.5	99.57	4.8

[mafra]

"I don't see a position. That's why I keep stressing Frank does everything for me," Fizdale said. "That's why he's so important. He can play point guard, two-guard, or three and he can guard multiple positions. We just don't have a lot of those on this team."

So Fiz sees Ntilikina as a piece to continue possessing during this rebuild?

"Yeah," he said. "He's on our roster, isn't he?"

Ntilikina, whom New York drafted eighth overall in 2017, averaged 5.7 points and 2.8 assists in 43 games this season, one year after averaging 5.9 points and 3.2 assists in 78 games.

According to Basketball-Reference, Ntilikina's offensive rating per 100 possessions decreased from 89 to 88 from Year 1 to Year 2, however his defensive rating increased from 112 to 116.

Though he didn't see the playing time he would have liked, Ntilikina didn't waste his time off the court.

"It's part of the game. Injuries happen in the life of an athlete," he said. "Of course, it's never good that an injury happens. But I did everything I could've done on the side which is watch a lot of film, work on my mentality, do everything that I wasn't able to do on the court. So I think I still grew a lot as a player and as a person."


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