Thing with the Knicks, like Minnesota, they got talent. Just need to build around their guy, create a system and make it all work
That DSJ Renaissance is about to be glorious
Melo looked slimmer and threw down a nice dunkCan’t like Dennis Smith Jr was looking elite at that new open run video
Melo too
New York Knicks
- Team executive on Mitchell Robinson: “Let’s get it out of the way, since you forgot Mitchell Robinson last year! (laughs) He’s a beast. I looked at David (Fizdale) after about five minutes of play here (Summer League) and said “Mitch doesn’t need to be out there.” But he wanted to play! He’s a problem for 29 other teams and he’s still figuring out how to play.
- On building the roster: “Fine, we didn’t get a star. Maybe it wasn’t the right year to get a star. And I know you’ve been making the power forward jokes too. I see your Twitter! (laughs) But we like what we did. Almost all those deals are one-year deals with very little money committed after this year. We could have just gone super young, but we didn’t think that was the right thing to do. Maybe by the (trade) deadline, we will. But we think our guys all fit really well together and that we’re gonna be competitive. And that’s a great environment for the kids to learn in.”
- Follow-up on adding Marcus Morris: “Another power forward, right? (laughs) You cover the Celtics. You know Morris can play either forward spot. Let’s just say the price was right and opportunity was there. We felt like this was a no-brainer for us.”
- Opposing scout on R.J. Barrett: “I want to like the kid, but I have worries. Is he (Andrew) Wiggins 2.0? I think he’s got more fire than Wiggins, but he is like a lefty version of him for me somewhat. The best thing the Knicks did was bring in some vets who will kick his ass if he’s too cool. I will say he passes it better already than Wiggins ever has. Maybe he’s Evan Turner 2.0?”
- On Kevin Knox: “I’m just as worried about Knox. Not his game as much. They’ll beat those bad shots out of him eventually. But he’s got too much overlap at his position now. He needs to play and play a lot. Maybe in the second half of the year.”
- Opposing executive on the Knicks offseason: “We were all confused. All of us. But when you take a step back, they had a pretty clear direction that makes sense. Maybe the pieces are a little weird, but they’re all one-year deals. They can trade a bunch of those guys to contenders at the trade deadline. I know Knicks fans want stars, but if you can’t get them, keep a clean cap sheet. They did that.”
The Wiggins comparisons are lazy to me at this point their personalities don’t appear to be similar at allI love these yearly pieces, just notes from insiders and execs on every single team. It's worth a click and read but I'll clip the part about the Knicks.
2019 Eastern Conference Summer League Notes
The part about our boys:
A couple of these are similar to whispers I heard out of people that visited summer league myself. Specifically the bottom two points, negativity about Knox was supposedly fairly common and multiple executives being really confused at what the Knicks were doing (honestly it sounded a lot worse the way it was delivered to me).
The Wiggins comparisons are lazy to me at this point their personalities don’t appear to be similar at all
I think he has the work ethic to make up for any of deficits . Summer league showed me he wont quitYeah, I think it's a weird one because they don't play much alike to my eyes either. It's basically just a hyped Canadian prospect comparison and that's all. The two aspects of Barrett that have me most hyped are his strength and work ethic. I think a lot is being made of his lack of separation but with training I think even if he never gets the explosive first step, he'll be able to fight through contact effectively because he's a straight up bull. Just get him into Fizdale's finishing program and teach him to trust his right hand more.