Official NY Knicks 2019 Training Camp thread
- Thread starter mafra
- Start date
mafra
Legend
lol.... results aside, come on coach. If E-Pay was fantastic then Frank played like he was worthy of a max contract.
I get he?s stepping up and serving as a de-factor coach on the court For his teammates... but you?ll lose the locker room if you start playing favorites to newcomers while being tough on the kids who?ve been here.
I don?t mind starting season with the vets E-Pay and Morris in the starting lineup... along with DSJ, MRob, and Randle. This is a big lineup and it gives DSJ every chance and resource to succeed early on.
Frank will be backup PG, and will come in with RJ, Knox, Taj/Portis and Trier.
This sort of thing. We need to know early on DSJ, or showcase for a possible trade down the road... meanwhile, ease RJ into things and let him take on backups in the first half... get into a groove... then be there for late third and fourth quarter.
Make the kids force the issue and take their starting roles.
However, this should all be based on what happens these next few weeks. Let it be a true competition, based on merits, and may the reward be their assigned roles... to the victor the spoils... this not for all season but just for now..: start season in a rhythm and go with this for November until adjusts need to be made.
Nice post Mafra. I’m for putting the lineup out there that has the best chance to get off to a good start. Disappointing that DSJ didn’t get the praise that Fizdale is giving Payton, we got a lot invested in DSJ as the main piece in that KP trade, he needs to succeed otherwise 3 years from now we may be looking at the trade as a bust for the Knicks. I think they have to pick up DSJ option no matter what even if he doesn’t play a second in camp, that may force the Knicks to not pick up Nits option even if he shows improvement in the preseason. Might be a matter of numbers that the Knicks are forced to choose, most guys aren’t kept when they’re options aren’t picked up but it is possible.
I have been trashing on DSJ since he came into the league, but the guy is 21-years-old and averaged 15 points per game and 5 assists per game for us after the trade. His shooting is atrocious, especially his free throw shooting, but he has a chance to easily be a 20 and 8 guy in this league if he can improve his shot and now that he is playing with more reliable teammates.
The one young guy who did well under Fizdale was Mudiay. Maybe Fizdale and his staff actually know how to coach up a PG. Got to give DSJ a chance to be our franchise starting PG.
The one young guy who did well under Fizdale was Mudiay. Maybe Fizdale and his staff actually know how to coach up a PG. Got to give DSJ a chance to be our franchise starting PG.
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Mills/Perry did not invest a penny into fixing the Knicks back-court in the off-season .. so if the Knicks look like the same Knicks as last season having nothing but raw young guards that have not learn how to control the tempo of a NBA game on offense/defense, the blame goes to having a dum head coach, and a foolish front-office.
The Knicks front-office needed the head coach Fiz to select a couple of NBA veteran starter PG from the FA market (Beverley), or trade-market (Conley) to prepare our young-core raw PG Frank/DSJ/and Kadeem the ropes of being a consistent winning PG in the regular season.
Plus hiring a ex-NBA player PG for the Knicks coaching-staff (Mark or Kidd).
The majority of people playing NBA Fantasy basketball knows more bout how important a teams back-court guards are than the Knicks head-coach Fiz and the front-office of Mills/Perry !!!
mafra
Legend
That?s hysterical.
Fiz doesn't see FAs as selfish
Fizdale said a few times last season that some Knicks were playing a bit too selfish because they were entering free agency. New York has several players with team options on their contracts for next season, but Fizdale doesn't see the same type of selfish play plaguing these Knicks.
"I've got a different feeling with this group for whatever reason. I just feel like all of these guys are understanding that the better our team does the better it is for them individually," he said. "?.There's a maturity to the group for sure. Between Marcus and Wayne (Ellington) and Taj, Bobby, these guys have a real way about them. They want to win. That's their priority first. They understand that if we have a good season as a team, only good things are going to happen for them individually."
Fizdale said that the free agents understood New York wanted to maintain flexibility when they signed this summer.
"But at the same time that doesn't mean we don't want them back. A lot of these guys are making great impressions and will have the chance to be back with us next year," he said.
Fiz doesn't see FAs as selfish
Fizdale said a few times last season that some Knicks were playing a bit too selfish because they were entering free agency. New York has several players with team options on their contracts for next season, but Fizdale doesn't see the same type of selfish play plaguing these Knicks.
"I've got a different feeling with this group for whatever reason. I just feel like all of these guys are understanding that the better our team does the better it is for them individually," he said. "?.There's a maturity to the group for sure. Between Marcus and Wayne (Ellington) and Taj, Bobby, these guys have a real way about them. They want to win. That's their priority first. They understand that if we have a good season as a team, only good things are going to happen for them individually."
Fizdale said that the free agents understood New York wanted to maintain flexibility when they signed this summer.
"But at the same time that doesn't mean we don't want them back. A lot of these guys are making great impressions and will have the chance to be back with us next year," he said.
If Fiz-Fiz start experimenting by changing the starter lineup and the rotation at the start of the season again, half of the players on the roster will start playing selfish B.ball again before mid-season arrive.
I still see Randle as a 18 to 24 minute per game backup .. Morris is a 30 minute starter, Gibson is a 30 min starter, MitchRob is a 2nd season player.
ESPN+ article that I thought I share since you can't read it without a sub, only sharing the Ntilikina piece. Not sure I agree with it that DSJ wouldn't be a better fit next to RJ if his shot is as good as Nits but I did say Nits best chance to make it in the league was to become a 3 pt sniper.
Frank Ntilikina | New York Knicks
Photo by Elsa/Getty ImagesSwing skill: Spot-up 3s
Ntilikina finally has positive momentum heading into an NBA season, fresh off a strong FIBA World Cup stint with the French national team. Desperately needing to show signs of improvement, the 2017 top-10 pick might indeed be the best fit alongside Knicks rookie RJ Barrett, as long as he can make enough spot-up 3s to keep defenses honest.
For all the talk of a point guard battle between Dennis Smith Jr., Ntilikina and Elfrid Payton in New York, the reality is that Barrett figures to function as David Fizdale's jumbo shot-creator. That's why the Knicks drafted the ultra-confident 6-foot-7 lefty -- to generate the majority of their offense for years to come. That means Barrett needs a PG who can play off the ball, make a spot-up 3 consistently and defend either backcourt spot capably.
Of New York's three PG options, Ntilikina is really the only one who comes close to meeting those qualifications, but he is going to have to develop into a more serviceable catch-and-shoot threat to fulfill that role. With shooting limitations across the roster, the Knicks need Ntilikina to make open 3s more than ever. That's been a struggle for the former Strasbourg product through two seasons. While he did show some promise by ranking in the 45th percentile on unguarded catch-and-shoot jumpers as a rookie, he posted an eFG of just 42.5% on such shots in 43 games last season, 12.9% worse than expected given the shot quality, per Second Spectrum.
Thankfully for the Knicks, Ntilikina looked much more confident and comfortable with France this summer -- thanks in part to the FIBA 3-point line but mostly thanks to his role. Ntilikina functioned much more as a combo guard, playing off ball-dominant shot creators Evan Fournier and Nando De Colo. Ntilikina's ball-screen possessions often came against a scrambling defense, which led to better decisions and increased efficiency around the rim.
Ntilikina's true value might never show until he is on a contender, a team with which he can focus on defending, making open shots and moving the ball. For now, though, if he can improve his catch-and-shoot reliability and add more variety finishing his drives, he'll win out as the best fit alongside Barrett in New York's backcourt.
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This is what Fizdale said about what he wants from our starting PG. Only guy this fits is DSJ or RJ if Fizdale wants to go out on a limb and make him a PG. DSJ needs to defend though.
More than anything it’s got to be a guy that’s a threat, that could put pressure on the defense I feel like,” the coach said, when asked what he wants in his point guard. “The biggest thing is, is he guarding his position? Is he pushing the pace? Is he getting us organized? Those are the most important areas for me. But at the same time, I feel like you still have to be a threat out there from that position.”
More than anything it’s got to be a guy that’s a threat, that could put pressure on the defense I feel like,” the coach said, when asked what he wants in his point guard. “The biggest thing is, is he guarding his position? Is he pushing the pace? Is he getting us organized? Those are the most important areas for me. But at the same time, I feel like you still have to be a threat out there from that position.”
mafra
Legend
Something to consider, when we ponder likelihood of picking up options ....
If the NBA loses a significant amount of its China revenue this season, it could change the salary cap for this summer, which would effect how teams spend money and how much 2020 free agents can earn on the open market.
Here's a look at how a potential decrease in the cap could impact the Knicks:
How much will the cap decrease? Again, it's too premature to even guess at this number -- or to assume that the cap will decrease. Yahoo Sports reported that several teams are planning for scenarios where the cap for 2020-21 -- currently set at $116 million -- decreases by 10-15 percent. Several teams reached by SNY called that a worst-case scenario and didn't think that the cap would decrease that significantly, which was pointed out in the Yahoo story.
It's unclear how much of the NBA's revenue is generated in China. One person with business ties to China and the league said a conservative estimate would be roughly $600 million annually.
That's obviously a significant percentage of the league's revenue (estimated at around $8 billion during the last collective bargaining agreement). But it would be surprising if all of that went away in the wake of the NBA/Morey/China issue. (Whether the league or its players should be doing business in China in the first place is a separate question altogether.)
A significant portion of the NBA's China revenue is presumably based on contracts that are already agreed to, so the Chinese companies would have to break those agreements to take the revenue away.
Losing half of the revenue from China: For the purposes of this exercise, let's assume that the NBA loses roughly half of revenue from the fallout of the geopolitical storm with China. (Again: that's a huge -- and unlikely -- number). For the purposes of this exercise, let's assume that the revenue from China is $600 million. According to projections from cap expert Albert Nahmad, a $300M drop in revenue would decrease the 2020-21 salary cap by about $4.7 million. This would put the cap for 2020-21 at roughly $111.5 million, and would also decrease the cap for 2021-22 (barring a subsequent, significant, increase in revenue).
A drop like this affects all teams and players in many ways, including a decrease in the annual value of max contracts for free agents and the value of the exceptions teams can use to sign free agents.
What about the players on the Knicks? Barring any unforeseen moves that would add significant salary, the Knicks aren't in danger of being a luxury tax team next season. That's true even if there is a sizeable decrease in the cap due to the China issue.
New York can, hypothetically, create roughly $67 million in cap room next summer, but they'd have to renounce all of their existing free agents. The Knicks have cap holds for Marcus Morris ($18M), Allonzo Trier ($4M; RFA), and/or Damyean Dotson ($2M; RFA) and team options for Bobby Portis ($16M), Frank Ntilikina ($6M), Dennis Smith ($6M) and Kevin Knox ($5M). New York also has partially guaranteed contracts for Taj Gibson, Elfrid Payton, Wayne Ellington and Reggie Bullock and the nonguaranteed contract of Mitchell Robinson.
For argument's sake, let's say the Knicks pick up the 2020-21 options for Smith Jr., Knox, retain the cap holds for Dotson and Trier and keep Robinson's non-guaranteed deal. If you factor in $5 million for a 2020 first-round pick, that would put them at $58 million in team salary for 2020-21.
If the current cap projection for 2020-21 dropped by $4.7 million, that would leave New York with roughly $47 million in cap space for the summer of 2020. So a cap decrease would cost the Knicks some flexibility next summer.
Could Knicks help tax teams? Of course, the list of free agents available for 2020 is underwhelming (assuming Anthony Davis remains with the Lakers). If New York decided against spending big money on a free agent in 2020, it could still use its cap space in other ways.
A reduced cap could leave more teams in the luxury tax. Owners for these teams may not want to pay the luxury tax. So the GMs for those owners would be looking to shed salary via trade.
Because the Knicks have cap space, they could take on some unwanted salary from a team while also extracting valuable assets (a talented young player or draft pick). You could argue that the trade route would be a more valuable use of their cap space than signing a 2020 unrestricted free agent to big money.
What about Ntilikina? One potentially tricky aspect of all of this for New York is Ntilikina. If the Knicks know there is a decrease in the cap for 2020-21, does that change how they approach Ntilikina's contract option for next season? New York has until Oct. 31 to decide whether or not to exercise the option. If they don't pick it up and renounce their rights to Ntilikina, it would create approximately $5 million in cap space for the summer of 2020.
http://theknicksblog.com/
If the NBA loses a significant amount of its China revenue this season, it could change the salary cap for this summer, which would effect how teams spend money and how much 2020 free agents can earn on the open market.
Here's a look at how a potential decrease in the cap could impact the Knicks:
How much will the cap decrease? Again, it's too premature to even guess at this number -- or to assume that the cap will decrease. Yahoo Sports reported that several teams are planning for scenarios where the cap for 2020-21 -- currently set at $116 million -- decreases by 10-15 percent. Several teams reached by SNY called that a worst-case scenario and didn't think that the cap would decrease that significantly, which was pointed out in the Yahoo story.
It's unclear how much of the NBA's revenue is generated in China. One person with business ties to China and the league said a conservative estimate would be roughly $600 million annually.
That's obviously a significant percentage of the league's revenue (estimated at around $8 billion during the last collective bargaining agreement). But it would be surprising if all of that went away in the wake of the NBA/Morey/China issue. (Whether the league or its players should be doing business in China in the first place is a separate question altogether.)
A significant portion of the NBA's China revenue is presumably based on contracts that are already agreed to, so the Chinese companies would have to break those agreements to take the revenue away.
Losing half of the revenue from China: For the purposes of this exercise, let's assume that the NBA loses roughly half of revenue from the fallout of the geopolitical storm with China. (Again: that's a huge -- and unlikely -- number). For the purposes of this exercise, let's assume that the revenue from China is $600 million. According to projections from cap expert Albert Nahmad, a $300M drop in revenue would decrease the 2020-21 salary cap by about $4.7 million. This would put the cap for 2020-21 at roughly $111.5 million, and would also decrease the cap for 2021-22 (barring a subsequent, significant, increase in revenue).
A drop like this affects all teams and players in many ways, including a decrease in the annual value of max contracts for free agents and the value of the exceptions teams can use to sign free agents.
What about the players on the Knicks? Barring any unforeseen moves that would add significant salary, the Knicks aren't in danger of being a luxury tax team next season. That's true even if there is a sizeable decrease in the cap due to the China issue.
New York can, hypothetically, create roughly $67 million in cap room next summer, but they'd have to renounce all of their existing free agents. The Knicks have cap holds for Marcus Morris ($18M), Allonzo Trier ($4M; RFA), and/or Damyean Dotson ($2M; RFA) and team options for Bobby Portis ($16M), Frank Ntilikina ($6M), Dennis Smith ($6M) and Kevin Knox ($5M). New York also has partially guaranteed contracts for Taj Gibson, Elfrid Payton, Wayne Ellington and Reggie Bullock and the nonguaranteed contract of Mitchell Robinson.
For argument's sake, let's say the Knicks pick up the 2020-21 options for Smith Jr., Knox, retain the cap holds for Dotson and Trier and keep Robinson's non-guaranteed deal. If you factor in $5 million for a 2020 first-round pick, that would put them at $58 million in team salary for 2020-21.
If the current cap projection for 2020-21 dropped by $4.7 million, that would leave New York with roughly $47 million in cap space for the summer of 2020. So a cap decrease would cost the Knicks some flexibility next summer.
Could Knicks help tax teams? Of course, the list of free agents available for 2020 is underwhelming (assuming Anthony Davis remains with the Lakers). If New York decided against spending big money on a free agent in 2020, it could still use its cap space in other ways.
A reduced cap could leave more teams in the luxury tax. Owners for these teams may not want to pay the luxury tax. So the GMs for those owners would be looking to shed salary via trade.
Because the Knicks have cap space, they could take on some unwanted salary from a team while also extracting valuable assets (a talented young player or draft pick). You could argue that the trade route would be a more valuable use of their cap space than signing a 2020 unrestricted free agent to big money.
What about Ntilikina? One potentially tricky aspect of all of this for New York is Ntilikina. If the Knicks know there is a decrease in the cap for 2020-21, does that change how they approach Ntilikina's contract option for next season? New York has until Oct. 31 to decide whether or not to exercise the option. If they don't pick it up and renounce their rights to Ntilikina, it would create approximately $5 million in cap space for the summer of 2020.
http://theknicksblog.com/
Dark Raider
Starter
Fiz is describing a perfect PG that he doesn't have on this roster. K. Allen is the only one that comes close. He defend well and can shoot. Frank would be his next best choice at PG. DSJ and Payton don't play good defense and their shoot is suspect.
Berman of the Post wrote today the Knicks have to make a decision on DSJ and Frank the day before opening day. I think that’s incorrect, that date is the deadline for extending rookie contracts and not picking up player options. I think the deadline is Oct 31, anyone know for sure?
Mudiay is outplaying our entire guard rotation in Preseason and he missed his team?s first 3gms
How Sad!
DRose looking great as well, another former Knick.
It's cool for D-Rose to get some of his life back on the court considering all he's been through but I still didn't want him long term cuhz he didn't fit our new build. Not to mention teams have had to deal with a 1yr and a half of weird behavior from him
But get this Hezonja has been even better than probably both...Sad, Sadder, Saddest. Remember both players were pegged as the Tank Commanders of last yr's squad :rolling:
So when fans say things like "I'll hate if we let go of so-and-so, what if they blow up or develop elsewhere"...well it applies to more than the individual player they like
Good for Mario, haven't watched any Jaxz or POR games yet. Lakers, Clips Mavs and the Rox have had my attention.
Minutes aside there was nothing consistent about his role(he played guard, point guard, small forward, and in some situations power forward, DNP'd, started, then off the bench, then DNPd, then started again). It wasn't until late in the season when he actually showed what he could provide for us.
Meanwhile PDX is primarily using him off the bench as a hired gun. If he can go to a contending playoff team and log 25min/gm...who were we to say he wasn't good enough to play on our trash team? Of course I'm no Fizdale supporter so more could be said here
Anyone can play hard for a good team. We need those special players willing to bust their ass night in and night out for a know nothing coach, doofus front office, and the league?s worst owner on a team that might at best hope to win 35 games this season.
Now that I think about it. Anyone who signs with us probably needs a psych evaluation.