Orchestrator:

• Steve Mills as President, with Scott Perry as GM

Highlights:

1. Signed Tim Hardaway Jr Before Hiring a GM: Steve Mills took charge and signed Tim Hardaway to big contract before he even got a GM, which caused potential hire David Griffin to literally turn around at an airport, and head back to Cleveland. Mills signed Scott Perry as GM.
2. Traded Carmelo Anthony: As 2nd order of business (or 1st with Perry as GM), NY traded Carmelo Anthony in summer 2017 (for Enes Kanter and a 2nd-round draft pick that ended up being Mitchell Robinson).
3. Porzingis Tore His ACL: In year 1 with Jeff Hornacek as coach, Knicks were at .500 in January but Kristaps Porzingis tore his ACL and the team finished badly.
4. Hired David Fizdale as Coach: After year 1, the Knicks fired Hornacek and hired David Fizdale. This was a bad hiring as Fizdale — despite his “he’s my coach” reputation — did a terrible job. He was all talk, no action: the Knicks didn’t play defense, and Fizdale couldn’t seem to figure out a regular lineup.
5. Traded Porzingis: In year 2 they traded Kristaps Porzingis in January to Dallas for several players including Dennis Smith Jr, and two #1 picks. One would become Quentin Grimes; the other comes due in June 2023. NY also dumped Tim Hardaway Jr’s contract in the trade.
6. Landed RJ Barrett in 2019 Draft. The Knicks had the worst record in the NBA in the 2017-18 season but were unlucky in the draft lottery — landing pick #3. Zion Williamson and Ja Morant went 1-2, and RJ Barrett fell to the Knicks at #3. To this date it is arguable how well the Knicks did here: Zion has been a star but is injury prone; Morant has been a superstar but doesn’t play defense; Barrett is a rising 2-way star guard.
7. The Famed (and Extremely Underrated) Free Agency of Summer 2019: Perry got team salary way below cap and expectations were that in Summer 2019 Knicks would splash with big free agent signings — such as Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, etc.

In the 6 months before the free agent period, it became apparent the Knicks wanted no part of pending free agent Kyrie Irving, but meanwhile Irving — apparently aware the Knicks didn’t want him — tag-teamed with Durant to plot to go to Brooklyn together. The Knicks were rumored to be strategizing to convince Durant to come to them if they also signed Kawhi Leonard.

But when Durant ripped his achilles in the playoffs, the Knicks went to plan B: “Money Ball” free agent signings of Julius Randle, and a bunch of good players to 1-year deals — including Bobby Portis, Reggie Bullock, Elfrid Payton, Wayne Ellington, and Marcus Morris — who switched to signing with them after he had already given San Antonio a handshake agreement. The Knicks were lampooned by the media for this Free Agency — but in the end they proved to be very wise. It was a Great free agency — as NY signed Randle to a modest contract, and kept the team payroll extremely manageable with 1-year contracts to “money ball” players (good players signed to modest, short-term contracts).

8. Fired Fizdale: In December of year 3, with Knicks stinking even after the “Money Ball” free agent splash, David Fizdale was fired, replaced by strategically-positioned assistant, Mike Miller.
9. Removed Steve Mills: The team did better with Miller as coach but it was too late — in January 2020 Steve Mills was removed and placed into another part of the organization. Scott Perry ran the show until Leon Rose was hired in March.
10. Overall: despite the failures, the Free Agent signings and talent acquisitions were first rate — the Knick team got younger, more athletic, and loaded up on additional future #1 picks, all while keeping the Knicks in good salary-cap shape. This period paved the way for future Knick success with creation of the future Knick core of Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson (a pick from the Melo trade), Quentin Grimes (a pick from the Porzingis trade), and Immanuel Quickley (a pick from the Marcus Morris trade) and a team well positioned, salary-cap wise. It is hard to know how much to attribute all of that to Scott Perry or Steve Mills — but we reckon Perry is at the heart of it.

Details:

The Back Story

• Rumors were that Steve Mills was undercutting Phil Jackson during the last year of Jackson’s tenure, and when Jackson tried to trade Kristaps Porzingis, Dolan finally stepped in and fired Jackson, appointing Mills as his successor.
• Mills had had a previous tenure with the Knicks — as CEO of Madison Square Garden from 2003 to 2009 — a role in which he participated in Knick strategy — a tumultuous period wherein Mills did not become a fan favorite. Mills left in 2009 to go to Magic Johnson Enterprises, and to many Knick fans’ chagrin — returned to the Knicks in 2013 as executive Vice President and GM of the organization.
• Mills was appointed GM just after the Knicks stripped former GM Glen Grunwald of power in August 2013. Mills was the GM from Sept 2013 to March 2014, when the Knicks hired Phil Jackson. Mills then supported Jackson — some say like a snake in his midst — until Jackson was fired when Mills took over.

The 1st Year

• Signed Tim Hardaway Jr. Before Hiring GM Scott Perry: The first thing that Steve Mills did — even before hiring Scott Perry as GM — was sign free agent Tim Hardaway Jr to a large, multi-year contract. Mills was a fan of Hardaway’s and had been involved with the drafting of Hardaway in 2013 — before Hardaway was later traded by Phil Jackson to Atlanta where he rejuvenated his career.

Hardaway’s contract would become an albatross for NY — as his streaky play and eccentric personality would weigh on the Knicks.

• Hired Scott Perry as GM — Once Mills took over from Phil Jackson as President of Knicks in July 2017, he hired Scott Perry as GM. Perry had been GM of the Sacramento Kings. The Knicks gave Sacramento a 2019 2nd round pick and cash as compensation.

The hiring of Perry came with its own drama — as the NY media reported on all rumors of who the Knicks were going to hire. Famously, it was reported that the Knicks were about to interview David Griffin — the highly rated GM of the Cleveland Cavaliers –but when Griffin learned he would not have full control of Knick personnel decisions but would need Steve Mills’ approval — he literally turned around at an airport he was at, en route to NY for an interview, and flew back to Cleveland.

• Traded Carmelo Anthony. As a second order of business, Mills & Perry traded away Carmelo Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder — for Enes Freedom Kanter, Doug McDermott, and a high 2nd-round pick in the 2018 draft. (The Knicks would use that pick to select Mitchell Robinson.)
• Free Agents Signed in Summer 2017: After signing Hardaway Jr and then bringing Scott Perry in, the Knicks also signed Michael Beasley, Ramon Sessions, Jarrett Jack, Ron Baker, and Damyean Dotson.

2017-18 Started Well — But January Collapse & Porzingis Injury

• The 2017-28 Team: The Knicks kept Jeff Hornacek as coach and went into the 2017-2018 season with a team featuring Kristaps Porzingis, Enes Kanter, Tim Hardaway Jr, Courtney Lee, and Ramon Sessions, with Michael Beasley, Kyle O’Quinn, Lance Thomas, Doug McDermott, Ron Baker, Willy Hernangomez, and Jarrett Jack coming off the bench.  Sessions and Jack were to help rookie Frank Ntilikina.
• The Point Guard: Sessions got off to a horrible start, and Jarret Jack took the starting point guard job, as Ntilikina was introduced to the NBA off the bench. Sessions was waived in early January. Trey Burke was signed just before the season started on Oct 11 when he became available and was put on NY’s G-League roster.
• NY started the year well — and were 17-14 on Dec 22. Things were looking good — but then NY lost 10 of their next 12 including 3 overtime losses and many close loses, and then caved in — with a horrible January and February en route to a horrible 2nd half and 29-53 record.
• Porzingis Goes Down with Torn ACL — On Feb 6, Porzingis tore his ACL landing on Greek Freak’s foot.
• Trade Deadline Deal: Mudiay: On Feb 8 2018, at the trade deadline, with NY at 23-33 and having lost 5 straight, NY traded Doug McDermott and a 2nd round pick for Emmanuel Mudiay in a 3-team trade.

Mudiay didn’t help. Without Porzingis, the Knicks slide continued throughout the 2nd half of the season.

• Trade Deadline Deal: Hernangomez Dealt: the Knicks also traded Willy Hernangomez to Charlotte for two 2nd round picks (one 2nd round pick was later dealt along with Dennis Smith Jr for Derek Rose. Detroit used that 2nd round pick to select Isaiah Livers).
• Fired Hornacek: At the end of the season, NY fired Jeff Hornacek as the team went 29-53.

Year 2: David Fizdale & the Beginning of a Youth Movement

• The Knicks hired David Fizdale in May, 2018. Fizdale talked a good game and many Knick fans thought he’d be the right coach — in fact some fans started calling him “My Coach” (a political reference). Fizdale said the Knicks would stress Defense, move the ball on offense, and protect home court. Pretty much what every new coach ever had said but some Knick fans thought Fizdale was different.

• Fizdale came from Pat Riley‘s Miami Heat organization.
• NY chose Fizdale over other candidates such as Mike Budenholzer from the San Antonio organization.

Year 2 Draft — Summer 2018

• Drafted Kevin Knox with the 9th pick. Many fans wanted NY to pick Michael Porter Jr, who had the biggest upside in the draft but had fallen due to back problems. Others felt NY couldn’t miss with either Mikal Bridges or Miles Bridges (not related). Some said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the one. NY picked the 6’10 Knox who had only started playing basketball 3 years earlier at age 15 — and his father said doctors estimated Knox wasn’t finished growing yet — and could go to 6’11. Knox was raw but had offensive skills and there were reports that some scouts thought Knox would be another Kevin Durant.

Knox looked good at first with offensive ability — but his defense was horrid, and his motor seemed low. He played great in his initial summer league, and won Rookie of the Month for December in his first season. But he was given too much playing time, and his defense and low motor caught up with him. In year 2 he improved his defense, but his offense suffered — he was awkward on his drives to the basket —  and he got less playing time.

Then in summer 2019 the NBA announced that teams needed to start measuring everyone in stocking feet. Knox measured in at 6′ 7.5″ — an insult that they didn’t even round him up to 6’8. It’s unclear if this rule is still practiced. After COVID hit, delaying the start of the 2020 season, you never heard about the rule anymore. It would be ironic for Knox if players entering the league in 2020 were given the benefit of the doubt on the height they said they were. Since then, many sources truncate Knox’s height to 6’7. He never became the 6’11 Durant; on paper Knox literally shrank. Significantly.

By year 3 Knox had developed a reputation as a reserve, with an excellent 3-pt shot. In year 4 the Knicks traded him for Cam Reddish.

Too smooth pic.twitter.com/rbKjnKC8uE

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) April 2, 2019

• Drafted Mitchell Robinson with the 36th pick (2nd round). This pick saved the Knicks in this draft. Robinson had been a top-5 big man in the country in High School — then enlisted into Western Kentucky — a college he didn’t end up liking — so instead of transferring to another school and red-shirting a year, he simply stopped playing. That caused him to fall in the draft and the Knicks took a chance. They got lucky.
• Signed Allonzo Trier
• Great Summer League: Knox, Robinson, and Allonzo Trier impressed in the summer league.

Year 2 Free Agent Signings — Summer 2018

• Free Agency Summer 2018: The Knicks were getting ready for the next summer’s free agent market, when NY’s team salary would come way under the cap, so didn’t do much the summer of 2018 — signing Mario Hezonja, Luke Kornet, and Noah Vonleh to 1-year deals and waiving Joakim Noah.

2018-19 Season — Bad from the Start But with Youth

• The 2018-19 Team: With David Fizdale as the newly minted coach who so many Knick fans thought was going to be the real deal, the Knicks went into the 2018-19 season with Porzingis expected to miss most of the season still recovering from his ACL injury — although there was hope he’d return in February — and with a young team that featured Enes Kanter and Kevin Knox up front, and Tim Hardaway Jr in the backcourt with young point guard and hope for the future Frank Ntilikina. Trey Burke played himself into the starting rotation as well.
• The bench had Lance Thomas, Mitchell Robinson, Allonzo Trier, Mario Hezonja, Noah Vonleh, Ron Baker, and Damyean Dotson.
• Knox was Rookie of the Month for December.
• Mitchell Robinson was a slam dunking, shot blocking demon — especially adept at blocking 3-pointers on the perimeter.

Aaaand again. pic.twitter.com/njkIV1cO9m

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 6, 2019

• Allonzo Trier was electric off the bench.
• Trier got his shots but that drew ire from some teammates, most notably Tim Hardaway Jr who yelled at Trier on one play in a game where Trier went up for a layup on a fast break instead of passing it to Hardaway (the ultimate ball hog himself).
• In February, having won a job and regular playing time, Trier could be noticeably seen trying to pass first on plays, but that affected his game.

We've said it before and we'll say it again… That boy quick pic.twitter.com/CDZeFjFMBN

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 6, 2019

Year 2 In-Season Trades: Goodbye Porzingis, Waive Kanter

• Porzingis Traded: In January 2019, NY traded Kristaps Porzingis along with Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Courtney Lee to Dallas for DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews, Dennis Smith Jr, and 2021 1st rd pick (Keon Johnson — who would traded on draft night to the Clippers for Quentin Grimes), 2023 1st round pick (top 10 protected). Porzingis was still out recovering from the torn ACL, and Mills and Perry appeared to make a determination that Porzingis was not worth re-signing for a Max contract — in that he was injury prone and, as Phil Jackson had put it, didn’t have a big enough ass to become a dominant post-up center in the NBA.
• Kanter Traded: A month after trading Porzingis, on February 7, 2019, the Knicks waived Enes (later changed his name to Freedom Kanter) and Wesley Matthews.
• The Tank for Zion: The losing continued — the Knicks tanked and went after the #1 pick that was to be Zion Williamson, with Ja Morant electrifying the NCAA playoffs and looking like a great #2 pick.
• Successful Tank: The Knicks finished 17-65 under Fizdale — finishing dead last in the NBA and guaranteeing themselves the best lottery chance at the #1 pick in the draft.

Year 3 Draft — Summer 2019 — Barrett at #3

• Unsuccessful Lottery: Unfortunately, despite the Knicks finishing with the league’s worst record, the Minnesota Timberwolves won the draft lottery to get the #1 pick, and Memphis came out of nowhere to nab pick #2. The Knicks fell back to pick #3.
• Barrett Falls to Knicks: NY drafted RJ Barrett with the #3 pick in the draft, and Ignas Brazdeikis in the 2nd round.

Year 3 Free Agency — “Money Ball” — Summer 2019

The summer of 2019 constituted the bulk of the Steve Mills/Scott Perry rebuild. NY was in tremendous cap-space position, and rumors abounded that NY would make a play for Kevin Durant.

But Durant blew out his achilles in the playoffs, which meant that he’d be out a year at least, and the next time he’d suit up, he’d be 32 years old. Plus rumors had it that Kyrie Irving and Durant wanted to sign together, and Kyrie had worn out his welcome in a young locker room in Boston and before that Cleveland, and it looked like NY wanted no part of him.

Rumors then abounded that NY was looking to sign Durant and Kawhi Leonard — rumors that may have been put out by NY. But then came a report that the Knicks backed out of a meeting with Leonard, and Leonard saying that he never had any intention of meeting with them.

The media reported the Knicks might sign Kemba Walker — but NY didn’t seem to have any interest in him.

In the end, the Knicks went with a “Money Ball” free agency, with the following signings:

• • On July 8 2019: Signed Julius Randle, Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis, Wayne Ellington, Elfrid Payton
  • July 15: Signed Marcus Morris
  • July 16: Signed Reggie Bullock

Julius Randle was a player that Perry and Mills had begun targeting a year earlier, when NY was run off the court by a more athletic Laker team. It ended up being a fantastic “money ball” signing — getting a player of tremendous value without breaking the bank.

Marcus Morris fell to the Knicks — he signed with San Antonio then changed his mind — and signed with the Knicks for one season, pissing off Greg Popovich.

The national media and the local media bashed and made fun of the Knicks all summer and into the Fall for their free agent signings — as they felt NY was expected to add two big-name superstars. The media was dead wrong — NY had actually done a fantastic job of signing value players to short term contracts.

Back-to-back 30-point games for @J30_RANDLE pic.twitter.com/2m2PrtqskK

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) December 27, 2019

2018-19 Season — Horror Show from the Start

• Fizdale Couldn’t Pick a Point Guard: NY started the season with no point guard — coach David Fizdale didn’t make a decision in the pre-season so in game 1 threw Allonzo Trier in as the starting point guard. Trier had a horrible first half, so Fizdale yanked him and turned to first Dennis Smith Jr as the point guard, and then Elfrid Payton. That lasted a game.
• The Dennis Smith Jr Booed-Viscously-at-MSG Game: In game 3 of the year at Madison Square Garden, Dennis Smith Jr played so badly — missing shot after shot — that MSG fans booed him off the court. Fizdale had a delayed reaction to pulling Smith Jr — allowing Smith to catch a severe verbal thrashing. Besides poor coaching judgement, all of Fizdale’s preseason talk of “Protecting Home Court” was a distant memory. A failed promise. Bull shit. As Knick fans became to know with Fizdale as coach.

• The Train Wreck & the Apology: By game 10, the Knicks were 2-8 and a Train Wreck. Steven Mills and Scott Perry apologized to NY fans after a blowout loss to Cleveland, saying the team’s off-season free-agent acquisitions were supposed to yield a better team than this.
• Fizdale Fired: the Knicks fired Fizdale on Dec 6, 2019 with the Knicks at 4-18.
• Knicks Did Much Better with Mike Miller as Coach: Assistant coach Mike Miller took over for Fizdale as coach. Miller was hired into the organization by Phil Jackson and had won a title in the G League for Westchester. Putting Miller on the Knicks coaching staff the summer before seemed like insurance in case Fizdale did poorly again. The Knicks cashed in their insurance policy — and Miller did well. Within days the Knicks defensive intensity picked up. By late December the Knicks started to win basketball games.

• Knicks Blow It Up — Remove Steve Mills: On February 4, 2020, 2 days before the trade deadline with NY at 15-36, the Knicks announced that Steve Mills was leaving team, moving away from basketball operations for a job with the entertainment division of MSG (think Circus). They announced that Scott Perry would temporarily take command of the franchise. NY was 15-36
• The Marcus Morris Trade: 2 days after Steve Mills was removed, on February 6, 2020, Scott Perry made the decision to blow up the season and trade Marcus Morris. The Knicks were 12-18 under Miller, in the middle of a 4-game winning streak — with Marcus Morris and Julius Randle playing well together — when Perry traded Morris to the Clippers in a 3-team trade that netted NY Maurice Harkless and a 2020 LA Clipper 1st round pick. In the trade, the Washington Wizards also traded Isaiah Thomas to Clippers, and the Clippers sent Jerome Robinson to Washington.
  • NY would later trade the 1st round pick to Utah on draft night (November 16, 2020 — Utah picked Udoka Aubuike) along with a 2nd round pick for Utah’s 1st round pick that they used to select Leandro Bolmaro. NY then dealt Bolmaro to get Immanuel Quickley 2 nights after the Nov 18, 2020 draft from Oklahoma City in multi-team trade).

FACT: Mook is a bucket pic.twitter.com/TfZPEAK7qO

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) January 5, 2020

• Leon Rose Hired: Former agent Leon Rose was hired as executive in charge of the Knicks on March 2, 2020 — effectively ending this rebuild and beginning the next one.
• COVID Strikes: On March 11, 2020, the Knicks beat Atlanta in Overtime in the last game of the season as the remaining part of the season was suspended indefinitely due to COVID. The Knicks would not play another game.
• Miller would go 17-27 as coach — and had 15 games left in the season to do even better when COVID struck.

Result:

• Still in progress — but so far:
  •  bad coaching hire, but
  • good decisions were made on Free Agency, getting team under cap, utilizing and picking up draft picks, and bringing in young talent.
• This rebuild essentially laid the foundation for the current (at this writing) Knick team: Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, RJ Barrett, and trades that netted draft picks that would become Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley, all while keeping the Knicks in good salary cap shape.
• The Fizdale hiring was a disaster. NY should have hired Budenholzer — if they had, maybe Steve Mills is still the Exec in charge of the Knicks.
• Having Mike Miller in the wings as insurance to Fizdale was a good move, but COVID caused Miller to run out of time to prove himself as an NBA head coach.
• Trading Porzingis was a smart move, as he has not provided Max Contract value to this day — having been traded from Dallas to Washington. The Knicks ended up getting Quentin Grimes with one of the draft picks acquired for KP. The Knicks still own a 1st round pick from Dallas from that trade — in this June’s draft.
• The “Money Ball” Free Agent signings of summer 2019 were brilliant — the Knicks got the last laugh on the media who knocked them.
  • Julius Randle ended up being a terrific signing — an All Star player at a very decent salary.
  • The Marcus Morris signing was also terrific — he played well for NY before being traded to the Clippers for a 1st round draft pick that would eventually be Immanuel Quickley.
  • Bobby Portis and Reggie Bullock were also good signings. Portis was let go as NY didn’t seem to like his temper; Scott Perry instead signed Nerlens Noel who did well in NY until a knee injury (see next rebuild).
  • All the signings except Randle’s were for short-term deals, enabling NY to remain in excellent salary cap space.
• In essence — the Knicks traded Porzingis so as not to sign him to a Max contract, and signed Julius Randle for a lot less money. Randle signed a contract making $18 to $19 M a year for 3 years that NY later extended to $25 to $29M thru 2026. Porzingis makes $31 to $36 M a year through 2024.
• The Kevin Knox draft pick didn’t work out — NY could’ve picked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, or Mikal Bridges, or Miles Bridges, or Kevin Porter Jr. But on the other hand, Miles Bridges has had domestic issues and is currently serving a suspension, and Porter Jr. signed a Max Extension and has had recurring back issues. NY traded Knox for Cam Reddish, who has talent, is 6’8, but currently is out of the NY rotation.
• The RJ Barrett pick has worked out — Barrett is on the rise as an All Star caliber shooting guard.
• The Mitchell Robinson pick was a steal — grabbing him in the 2nd round — he has become one of the elite defensive centers in the NBA.

Tune back in for Rebuild #13. Follow us on Twitter and we’ll notify you when the post is up.

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The post The 13 Knicks Rebuilds Since their Last Title: Rebuild #12 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Orchestrator:

• Phil Jackson

Highlights:

Ushered in the Era of The Triangle

• After months of swirling rumors, Phil Jackson was finally announced as President of Knicks in March, 2014. He replaced Glen Grunwald who was holding down the position on an interim basis after Donnie Walsh had resigned. Phil’s hiring ushered in the Era of the Triangle with the Knicks.
• The entire summer of 2014, Knicks Twitter, local media and talk shows were abuzz with The Triangle — what it was, how it was played, and how the Knicks were going to become an elite team that passed-passed-passed, and played DEFENSE. Excitement abounded.

The Initial Moves

• A month into the job, at the end of the 2014 season, Phil fired Mike Woodson and his staff.
• Hired Derek Fisher as first coach, to institute The Triangle.
• Re-signed Carmelo Anthony to a big, 5-year, $124 Million extension (extending his contract through age 34) as a first order of business. Banked on Carmelo being able to thrive in The Triangle.
• First trade: dumping Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Dallas for Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, Jose Calderon, and Samuel Dalembert. In a post-trade press conference, Phil took a swipe at Chandler, saying the trade was because the Knicks needed to “change some of the chemistry on the team, and bring in some character guys who could help bring us forward.”
• Drafted Cleanthony Early in 2nd round in 2014 draft (his first draft).
• Picked up Langston Galloway after the draft — a favorite of Phil Jackson‘s right-hand-man talent evaluator Clarence Gaines.

The 1st Year: ’14-15 — Horror Show

• Knicks went 17-65 in 1st season including team-record-breaking 16 loses in a row.
• The Triangle proved to be too difficult for Knicks players to learn, and new coach Derek Fisher to implement.
  • The Knicks players tried too hard to pass within the triangle, and ended up becoming mechanical and telegraphing their passes. Other teams stole the ball regularly for fast breaks in the other direction.
  • Carmelo Anthony had a hard time being efficient shooting off the pass. He tried, but as the season progressed, went back into his old habits of doing a dribble dance before shooting to get in rhythm.
  • The Knicks defense was poor; they were always getting smoked after other teams intercepted their passes.
• Phil Jackson made fun of several Knick players in an ESPN article written by his good friend Charley Rosen — including saying that after being lectured, JR Smith was “a very sensitive guy, with his big doe eyes. He looked like he was going to tear up. But he finally responded that he was going through some issues with his gal.”
• In mid-season — January, 2015 — traded JR Smith and Iman Shumpert to Cleveland in a 3-team trade that got the Knicks Lou Amundson from Cleveland and Lance Thomas from Oklahoma City.

The 2nd Off Season: Summer ’15 — Porzingis Draft & Free Agents

• Drafted Kristaps Porzingis with 4th pick in 2015 draft (Phil’s 2nd draft). At first an enormously unpopular and ridiculed pick, Porzingis turned out to be a ‘unicorn’ and a new superstar in NY.
• Dumped Tim Hardaway Jr. — trading him for 19th pick in 2015 draft, used to pick point guard Jerian Grant.
• In his first free-agent signing spree of summer of 2015, Phil signed Robin Lopez, Kyle O’Quinn, Derrick Williams, and Arron Afflalo.
  • Lopez was going to be the smart, head’s-up center to run the triangle around.
  • Afflalo was going to provide shooting in the backcourt.
  • O’Quinn would provide toughness, rebounding, and scoring inside.
  • Derrick Williams was a bonus — an athletic 6’7 forward and former #2 overall pick in the draft the Knicks would take a chance on.

The 2nd Year: ’15-16 — Porzingis Surprises But Knicks Still Stink

• At start of the season in October, Derek Fisher made headlines for being involved in a fight with former teammate Matt Barnes, who drove 95 miles (actually 20 miles) to “beat the shit out of Fisher” for romancing Barnes’ former wife. Fisher was staying at Barnes’ old house with his wife and kids. Fisher was supposed to be in NY at the Knicks training camp, but was in LA at Barnes’ house. Barnes’ agent at the time was Phil Jackson’s son. Here is Barnes’ detailed recollection of what happened.
• Newly outfitted with center Robin Lopez joining Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony on the front line, and Arron Afflalo as the shooting guard with Jose Calderon at the point — the Knicks were 20-20 on January 12, 2016 — but they went into a January losing streak that lasted until the end of the year.
• The Triangle remained elusive for the Knicks and their defense wasn’t great.
• Derek Fisher was fired in February 2016 with a 23-31 record; NY promoted assistant Kurt Rambis as interim coach for rest of 2015-16 season. NY finished the year 32-50.
• Phil Jackson started holding secret Triangle seminars in April after the season ended.

The 3rd Off-Season: Summer ’16 — A 2nd Rebuild

• Hired Jeff Hornacek as coach in summer 2016, to run The Triangle.
• Rebuild #2: in summer 2016, traded Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant, and Jose Calderon to Chicago for Derrick Rose, Justin Holliday and a 2017 2nd round pick (Damyean Dotson).
• Signed Joakim Noah to a big contract — $72M for 4 years. Noah was going to be the smart, passing, defensive-oriented center to revolve the triangle around. Noah had a shoulder injury the year before, and swore to Phil Jackson his shoulder was healthy.
• Signed Courtney Lee to be the outside shooting guard.
• Signed Sasha Vujacic, whom Phil was familiar with as an LA Laker.
• Knicks took a flyer on Brandon Jennings, hoping he could mount a comeback. He didn’t.

The 3rd Year– ’16-17: Knicks Still Stink

• With Jeff Hornacek as the coach, and a rejuvenated Derrick Rose as their point guard (averaging 18 ppg), the Knicks started out ok — they were 16-14 on Christmas, lost a heartbreaker to the Celtics and kept losing close games. For the 2nd year in a row, a losing streak started in January that lasted to the end of the season. NY finished 31-51 — almost identical season to the year before.
• Again the Knicks couldn’t figure out the Triangle. As the season progressed, they played a pseudo-Jeff-Hornacek-altered triangle.
• Joakim Noah was a disaster — he averaged 5 ppg, and only played 46 games — undergoing knee surgery in February. A month later, he was hit with a 20-game steroid suspension. A month after that, the Knicks announced he would need shoulder surgery again too.

• In January 2017, Phil Jackson’s old friend, Charlie Rosen, wrote another hit piece — this one about Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo Anthony responded to local reporters that he felt the article was probably a message from Jackson.
• Jackson tweeted in February that “You can’t change the spot on a leopard“, which many felt was a veiled reference to Melo.
• Derrick Rose, who had been a huge part of the early winning — wore down and Knicks Twitter ripped him constantly for his defense. It was revealed later on that Rose had developed and was playing with a torn meniscus in his knee.
• It was reported that Jackson wanted to eat Carmelo’s contract and trade him — which reportedly drew ire from owner James Dolan. Phil had given Melo the big extension; now wanted to throw the money to the wind.
• Jackson was quoted as saying several times that Porzingis’s ass was too small to ever become a big-time post up center in the NBA.
• It was an era of Knick reserves such as Ron Baker, Lou Amundson, Cleanthony Early, Maurice Ndour, Lance Thomas, and Willy Hernangomez.

The Final Off Season — Phil  Jackson Fired

• Porzingis became disenchanted with the way Jackson was handling his friend Carmelo Anthony, and became disenchanted himself.
• NY had to make a decision on whether to give Porzingis a max extension, or trade him.
• NY drafted Frank Ntilikina with the 7th pick in the June 2017 draft, bypassing Donovan Mitchell, whom most fans wanted NY to pick, and Dennis Smith Jr, who many other fans wanted NY to pick.
• After the draft, in June 2017, Jackson began attempts to trade Porzingis — which caused fan ire and became the last straw for Knicks owner James Dolan — who fired Jackson on June 28, 2017.

Result:

• A Disaster.
• Knicks fans wanted Phil Jackson to be the coach — but he was the GM — a position he’d never had before.
• Phil could never find a coach to properly teach his triangle. The Knicks had poor offense and bad defense.
• As a GM, Phil talked a good game, but seemed to constantly change his plan. He orchestrated what can be considered 2 rebuilds — an initial one, and then a 2nd one where he changed the main pieces he had just signed to free agent contracts the summer before — trading the free-agent center he had acquired to run the triangle — Robin Lopez — and instead signed Joakim Noah to a big contract, and changing shooting guards (Afflalo vs Courtney Lee) and point guards (Cameron vs Rose).
• For 2 straight years the Knicks were .500 in early January, then collapsed — with a long losing streak from January to the end of the year.
• Famously re-signed Carmelo Anthony to an extension, then after a year, gave up on Anthony’s ability to operate in the triangle and started insulting him via his media hit man Charley Rosen, disgruntling Porzingis. Jackson then wanted to eat Melo’s contract, tossing millions to the wind.
• Phil took shots at Knick players in press conferences, on twitter, and via his media hit man Rosen.
• Jackson tried to trade Porzingis — the final straw, causing his firing.
• After the firing, Phil famously posted a tweet of himself sitting back at his home in Montana, overlooking a lake with his feet up in the air.

pic.twitter.com/u6qjSetvXr

— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) July 9, 2017

Post Script

• The new Knick management eventually traded Porzingis — Phil’s analysis was right — Porzingis’s ass was too skinny to become a dominant post-up man — plus he was injury prone and NY didn’t seem to want to risk signing him to a max contract. Porzingis’s brother/agent was also blamed for NY cooling on KP — but it seemed their analysis of him not being worth a max contract overruled all.
• New Knick management also traded Carmelo Anthony.
• It took years to find out the Ntilikina pick didn’t work out.

Tune back in for Rebuild #12. Follow us on Twitter and we’ll notify you when the post is up.

The post The 13 Knicks Rebuilds Since their Last Title: Rebuild #11 — Phil Jackson appeared first on Knicks.City.

Orchestrator:

• Glen Grunwald

Highlights:

• Donnie Walsh quit on June 3, 2011 and assistant GM Glen Grunwald inherited general management of the team. Grunwald was a 6’9 forward who played college ball at Indiana and was drafted by the Celtics but never made the NBA.

• Glenn Grunwald was a confusing name because the last Knicks NBA Finals appearance was ushered in by GM (and former Knick) Ernie Grunfeld. We started calling the new GM Glenn “Not Ernie Grunfeld” Grunwald.

Tyson Chandler Added to Complete the ‘Big 3’

• Grunfeld added Tyson Chandler as the 3rd “big” free agent — joining Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire — with the cap space that Donnie Walsh had opened up by dumping the entire previous roster for nothing in return. Chandler was not actually a free agent signing, but the result of a 3-team trade with Dallas and Washington. The Knicks gave up Ronny Turiaf, Andy Rautins, and two 2nd-round picks.

Hired Mike Woodson as Defensive Coach; Eventually Made Him Head Coach

• Hired Mike Woodson as an assistant coach to Mike D’Antoni soon after taking over. Woodson had been a successful head coach in Atlanta, known for instilling good defense. When Mike D’Antoni quit on March 12, 2012 — near the end of Grunwald’s first season as GM — Mike Woodson was named interim coach. Grunwald made Woodson the official head coach on May 25 — after season ended.

Ushered in the Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak Eras

• Signed Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak as free agents in late December, 2011 — ushering in both the Jeremy Lin era and the Steve Novak era at the same time.

Ushered in the JR Smith Era

• Signed J.R. Smith on February 17, 2012 — in the middle of the Jeremy Lin era — ushering in the J.R. Smith era.

Loaded Up on Aging Stars and Made the 54-Win, 2012-13 Playoff Run

• Grunwald then loaded up on aging stars for the 2012-13 season:
  • Traded Toney Douglas and Jerome Jordan for 38-year-old Marcus Camby,
  • Signed 39-year-old Jason Kidd as a free agent. Kidd was a key acquisition — he led the team to a great start and great finish to the season. In the middle 40 games, Kidd looked 39 and the Knicks played .500 ball. When he played well, Kidd not only orchestrated, but was the glue to Woodson’s complex switching defense — often intercepting passes in late game situations.
  • Signed 37-year-old Pablo Prigioni as a free agent.
  • And finally, just as the season was about to start on October 4, 2012 –signed 38-year-old Rasheed Wallace as a free agent. Rasheed played fantastic ball and helped get NY out to an 18-5 start to the season, but then went down with an injury and missed most of the rest of the year.
• Also picked up 28-year-old Chris Copeland as an unknown free agent.
• Picked up 35-year-old Kenyon Martin in late February 2013 after it became apparent that both Rasheed Wallace and Marcus Camby were not coming back from injuries.
• Drafted Tim Hardaway Jr with the #24 pick of the 2013 NBA draft.

The Bargnani Trade

• Before being let go — Grunwald managed the team during the summer of 2013, and made one famous mistake:
  • Traded Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson and a 2016 1st-round draft pick (7’1 Jakob Poeltl would later be selected at #9 overall) for Andrea Bargnani. Bargnani Flopped in NY — and is considered to be a player who didn’t live up to his big contract — but Bargnani had 2 years left on his contract at $11 million a year. Not so much money even in 2013. Bargnani was 28 years old when NY acquired him — a former #1 overall pick who had seasons of 21 ppg and 19 ppg in Toronto. In NY he averaged 14 ppg in 2 injury-filled seasons.

The draft pick ended up yielding a good player in Poeltl, who is just now coming into his own, averaging 13 ppg as a 26-yr-old center for San Antonio at this writing. When the Knicks made the trade they were coming off consecutive playoff seasons and a 54-win campaign — Grumwald didn’t conceive that everything would fall apart and in 3 years the pick would be #9 overall. And even so, many #9 picks do not become good players in the NBA. The Bargnani trade was a reasonable gamble that didn’t pay off.

Result:

• The Jeremy Lin era.
• When Mike D’Antoni quit just before the season ended on March 14, 2012, Grunwald named Woodson the head coach and the Knicks blasted Portland in his first game, 121–79. The Knicks went 18-6 in the final 24 games of the year under Woodson, after having gone 18-24 under D’Antoni. The Jeremy Lin era was already over due to his knee meniscus issue, and the JR Smith/Carmelo Anthony era had begun.

The 54-Win Campaign

• The 54-28 playoff season of 2012-2013, an Atlantic Division title, a first-round victory over the Boston Celtics in 6 games, and a hard-fought but ultimately disappointing round-2 loss to the Indiana Pacers in 6 games (wherein the Knicks coulda/shoulda won game 6 — the Melo drive to the basket blocked by Roy Hibbert forever etched in Knick fan minds).

• Can Grunwald get all the credit for the 2012-13 season? He gets most of it — Walsh had brought in Carmelo Anthony (but gutted the previous roster including Zach Randolph for nothing in return to do so) but it was Grunwald who made the major changes that resulted in the 54-win campaign — bringing in coach Woodson who stressed Defense, Jason Kidd to orchestrate, Rasheed Wallace to lead at the beginning of 2012-13, JR Smith and other key players (Kenyon Martin, etc).
• Amar’e Stoudemire only played 29 games during the 2012-13 season, missing the beginning of the year and the end of the regular season (right-knee ‘debridement’) and the 1st-round win over the Celtics. He returned in game 3 of the series against the Indiana Pacers.
• Grunfeld had an eye for talent — pulling Jeremy Lin out of nowhere, Chris Copeland too, and drafting Tim Hardaway Jr with a #24 pick. Bargnani was a big mistake however.
• Oddly enough both Ernie Grunfeld and Glen “Not Ernie Grunfeld” Grunwald knew the value of Marcus Camby — Grunfeld having traded an aging Charles Oakley for a young Marcus Camby who helped the Knicks to the 1999 finals, and Grunwald bringing Camby back to the Knicks as an old man — after Scott Layden had famously traded Camby and the #7 pick (Knicks were rumored to be picking Stoudemire but picked Nene for Denver) in the 2003 draft for Antonio McDyess and his 2 (soon to be 4) knee surgeries — one of the worst Knick trades ever.

The End

• After all that goodness and getting the Knicks back into the playoffs with Defense — albeit with a team that was old at the seams — Grunwald was let go on September 26, 2013. Steve Mills took over control as GM as well as President. The Bargnani trade was a gamble and a mistake but overall Grunwald did a good job as GM.
• The Knicks would go 37-45 in the 2013-14 season, without Jason Kidd who retired — he was the glue that made Woodson’s complex switching defense work; other Knicks like JR Smith always seemed to leave their man wide open at the 3.
• Mills searched for a new GM and hired big fish Phil Jackson in March, 2014, and it was on to the next rebuild.

Tune back in for Rebuild #11. Follow us on Twitter and we’ll notify you when the post is up.

Comments?

Comments on any of the above? Additional thoughts? Please feel free to provide your feedback below.

The post The 13 Knicks Rebuilds Since their Last Title: Rebuild #10 – Glen Grunwald appeared first on Knicks.City.

Orchestrator:

• Donnie Walsh

Highlights:

• On Walsh’s initial press conference, he side swiped former GM Isiah Thomas, saying Isiah seemed to be building a team designed for the 1980’s, with big interior men and shooting guards. He inferred Isiah was out of touch with the modern NBA.
• Walsh proceeded to dump all the players that Isiah Thomas had acquired — including Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford (for Al Harrington), and David Lee for practically nothing in return to get team payroll down to $10 million — making room for the signing of 3 big free agents.
• Brought Mike D’Antoni in as coach, and promised Knick fans they would love his up-tempo style of coaching (eschewing defense).
• Whiffed on signing LeBron James despite a big push. Was outfoxed by Pat Riley.
• Signed Amar’e Stoudemire, who might have been a good sidekick to LeBron but ended up not meshing with Carmelo Anthony, and then getting injured.
• Drafted Danilo Gallinari and signed Raymond Felton at point guard, and with D’Antoni coaching and Amare Stoudemire playing well — the Knicks had a short resurgence in Stoudemire’s first 6 months with the team — the 2010-2011 season — disrupted by the trading of Gallinari and Felton, along with Wilson Chandler and others for Carmelo Anthony.

• Spent 6 months trying to trade for Carmelo Anthony — creating a circus-like atmosphere — and then finally traded for him in February 2011 (Melo would be a free agent the coming summer). Gave away half the team for Melo and a bunch of 1st round draft picks that would come to haunt the Knicks in the years to come:
  • NY gave up Gallinari, Felton, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, the 2014 1st round pick (which ended up being #12 overall — Dario Šarić was selected) and a swap of 2016 1st round picks (Denver got the Knicks pick which was #8 overall, and selected Jamal Murray);
  • The Knicks under Glen Grunwald traded Denver’s pick — which ended up being #9 overall — to Toronto in the Andrea Bargnani trade and Toronto  used it to pick Jakob Pöltl. The Knicks also received Chauncy Billups as a tradeable salary. It was a 3-team trade — the Knicks also dumped Eddy Curry to Minnesota in the Melo trade, along with Anthony Randolph.
• Many fans have felt the Knicks gave up too much for Melo — but it must be pointed out the players they gave up didn’t come close to adding up to Melo’s talent; the draft picks (especially Murray) hurt, but Walsh made that trade never thinking that with Melo, Stoudemire, and a 3rd elite free agent they would ever be giving up the #7 overall pick in 2014.

Result:

• The Donnie Walsh era ended up a horror show, but he never seemed to get the blame in the press, thus earning the Knickname “Teflon” Donnie Walsh by serious Knick fans. He gutted the roster getting little in return, and then whiffed on LeBron and got Carmelo Anthony as a consolation prize, but with the wrong sidekick in Stoudemire.
• Many Knick fans accused owner James Dolan of forcing Donnie Walsh to make the Melo trade, but Walsh said many times, including a full-length interview on ESPN radio — that Dolan did not interfere with him at all and he had made the Melo trade on his own.
• The first two years with Walsh as GM were miserable (32-50 and 29-53) as Walsh gutted the roster to dump all salaries for the big free agent spend. The Knicks had a short-term resurgence under D’Antoni with Stoudemire and Felton and Gallinari at the start of the 2010-2011 season — but the Melo trade threw the team off kilter, and that team ended up 42-40, making the playoffs but being swept 4-0 by the Boston Celtics in the 1st round.
• Walsh was criticized by several in the media including Peter Vecsey for dumping Zach Randolph too soon and for nothing in return (the trade was Randolph and Mardy Collins to the Los Angeles Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas). Randolph would continue to have All Star seasons for years to come, leading Memphis deep into the playoffs many times. Randolph and David Lee were playing great together at the start of the 2008-2009 season when Walsh traded Randolph away for nothing.

• The 1st round picks Walsh gave up for Melo turned out to haunt the Knicks — especially Jamal Murray who would become a scoring star for years.
• Sidenote: One time I was driving in my car listening to CBS radio and the main news announcer — not the sports announcer — mentioned the Knicks score at the top of the hour, and added how Donnie Walsh had gotten the team into such good financial position — that’s how much Walsh had the local media duped.

The End:

• Walsh quit the Knicks on June 3, 2011 in a huff. He was 71 years old. He spent a good part of his time with the Knicks in a wheel chair. He was with them 3 years — having joined the Knicks on April 2, 2008. After resigning, he hung on contractually for a year with the Knicks as a supposed consultant, and then rejoined the Indiana Pacers in 2012 as head of basketball operations after Larry Bird stepped down temporarily. Walsh became a consultant with Indiana when Bird returned a year later.
• Glen Grunwald became the interim GM, setting up the stage for Rebuild #10.

Thoughts? Provide Feedback Below

If you agree or disagree with any of the above, or feel we’ve left something out, please provide feedback below.

Next: Rebuild #10

Tune back in for Rebuild #10. Follow us on Twitter and we’ll notify you when the post is up.

The post The 13 Knicks Rebuilds Since their Last Title: Rebuild #9 — “Teflon” Donnie Walsh appeared first on Knicks.City.

Philly had Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, and Seth Curry; the Knicks had Julius Randle, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley.  The Knicks defense was haranguing Philly; making them fight for every shot. It looked like a Knick win. And then it wasn’t.

Reasons why:

1. Knicks Couldn’t Knock Down Key Shots

It all came down to a final shot — or two — again for the Knicks, as it had the night before vs the Nets. In this game the Knicks held the lead throughout the night, but Philly took the lead with 5 minutes left on a Seth Curry 3 and kept it. Immanuel Quickley attempted a 3 to tie the game with 12 seconds left but missed; Julius Randle grabbed the offensive rebound sent it to Reggie Bullock in the left corner on a harried play but Reggie’s foot stepped out of bounds as he shot. Game over.

The Knicks missed several key jumpers down the stretch: example RJ Barrett in the lane that could have tied the game with 20 seconds left was one.

2. Harris Killed the Knicks

If there was one guy who killed the Knicks down the stretch it was Tobias Harris. He was able to drive into the lane, and get his shot off and score time after time. RJ Barrett tried to guard him but Harris is clever. He finished with 30 points on 11-20 shooting. Tough. He’s been tough for years — we first saw him besting Carmelo Anthony years ago when Melo was still a Knick; the first sign that Tobias Harris was going to be very good. He is. Wally Sczerbiak said on the broadcast that Harris should have been an all star this year.

.@tobias31 makin' it happen. pic.twitter.com/VBsYATTmLu

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 17, 2021

3. Rivers vs Thibodeau

Philly matched the Knicks defense with their own intense defense down the stretch. I’ve always felt that Tom Thibodeau was the secret sauce to Boston’s 2009 championship, when they brought 3 All Stars together for the first time and won immediately — unheard of in the NBA until that time. It used to take years for a team to come together but Boston played scintillating defense from the start that year. Thibodeau was the genius of that behind the scenes; Boston hired him that summer to be the Defensive assistant coach. Doc Rivers had won 23 games the year before (without 2 of the stars — Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett; he only had Paul Pierce). When Rivers moved to Los Angeles to coach the Clippers, we found out how good a coach he is; without Thibodeau, he turned the Clippers into an elite team. And now Philly. So this game was an interesting match of Rivers vs Thibodeau.

4. The Better-3-Pt-Shooting Curry

The rumors were so strong years ago that the Knicks were looking at trading for Seth Curry that I thought he was a former Knick for a while. Back when Seth was not regarded as much; the brother of the famous star who wasn’t nearly as good — like Thanasis Antetokounmpo. But as the years passed Seth Curry has gotten better and better and become a better marksman than his brother! Seth is shooting .442 from 3 this year, and shot .452 last year and .450 in 2018-19, .424 in 2017-18, and .450 in 2016-17. Those numbers are better than his brother’s in every year. He’s averaging 13.0 ppg this year.

Seth hit some shots from deep outside that killed the Knicks last night including a 4-pt play in the 4th and the 3 that put Philly ahead. He finished 7-14 (4-7 from 3) for 20 pts.

FOR THE LEAD. SO INSPIRATIONAL. https://t.co/gLLBxgn1tR pic.twitter.com/cVVKmGAnBS

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 17, 2021

5. Knicks Tired, Injured, No Point Guard

The Knicks looked tired in the 4th quarter last night. One of the reasons they missed key shots. Julius Randle took a HARD fall to the floor when he went up for a layup but got BLOCKED by Dwight Howard late in the 3rd quarter, and had logged over 40 minutes in the TOUGH last-second loss to the Nets the night before.

𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚂𝙲𝙾𝙾𝙿 | 𝟶𝟹.𝟷𝟽.𝟸𝟷

Late clutch baskets and stops got us the win.

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 17, 2021

Howard by the way had 11 pts and 12 rebounds and a +7. Randle had 19 pts (on 7-19), 15 rebounds, and 8 assists.

Nerlens Noel played well; 4 blocks.

RELENTLESS pic.twitter.com/JdueRgt6zp

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 17, 2021

RJ Barrett had 17 pts (on 7-17), 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. He often faced off against big Ben Simmons (16 pts on 8-14 shooting, 13 rebounds, 7 assists).

RJ is feelin' it pic.twitter.com/aowuq2b588

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 17, 2021

Simmons is of course a point guard, and the Knicks didn’t have any of theirs present. As mentioned at the top, Elfrid Payton and Derrick Rose are out injured, and with Quickley really a shooting guard playing point for most of the evening, and Frank Ntilikina a ‘glue guard’ — Thibodeau played Alec Burks at the point for a good part of the 4th quarter. The Knicks did not have the lane penetration they normally have with Payton and/or Rose.

Good News

A tough loss. A terrible loss. A 2nd straight night of a last-second, close loss. But the Knicks continue to show they can play with the best teams in the NBA. Their young Dynamic Duo of Julius Randle and RJ Barrett is a foundation to build on. They have a great coach. Mitchell Robinson may be a player that joins that Dynamic Duo as a key piece. They have Quickley, a nice piece. They are probably another elite piece away from being a title-contending team — that piece probably being an elite point guard although Elfrid Payton and Derrick Rose are certainly holding down that position well right now. The Future is All Green for the NY Knicks.

Our guy pic.twitter.com/mOjnPW7yu4

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 17, 2021

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401307396

The post Terrible Loss. But Good News. 5 Reasons Why Philadelphia 99 NY 96 on 3-16-21 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Observers like Damian Lillard:

Ky blocked Julius Randle shot attempt. Why did Scott foster blow his whistle and give the nets the ball?

— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) March 16, 2021

The fact that it came down to a final shot was an amazing development in itself. It showed the Knicks Grit and Defense enables them to play with anybody.

1. Knicks’ Grit

The Knicks were down by 18 points midway thru the 3rd quarter. But they didn’t seem on the verge of being blownout — they were Rocky getting hit but hanging in there; as a fan you felt they had a chance to hang in but it was starting to look like they had no chance of winning — probably a 10-pt loss.

But then the Knicks Defense started to get tighter and tighter, and RJ Barrett and Julius Randle started to up their game.

A flurry by Julius Randle at the end of the 3rd quarter got the Knicks back within 12 — the same deficit they were at at the half. It was big. In fact, Randle had played great defense on James Harden in the closing seconds of the half to cause Harden to air-ball a 3, keeping the Knicks within 12 at the half, which was also Big.

The Nets had run up a double-digit lead in the 2nd quarter when the Nets kept running a James Harden to Jeff Green pick-and-roll that the Knicks kept falling asleep on — seemed they ran it like 7 times successfully. Green finished with 20 pts on 8-11.

2. Knicks’ Defense

In the 4th quarter — the Knicks DEFENSE stepped up big — with non other than Frank Ntilikina in the game and a big part of it. Coming off a game where he was chastised to the bench — but with the Knicks missing Elfrid Payton and Derrick Rose — coach Tom Thibodeau went to Ntilikina, who has done a good job in the past defending Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving.

Ntilikina played with defensive energy and fervor, and RJ Barrett started playing bullyball — driving to the basket for buckets. His driving layup with 4:29 left pulled the Knicks to within 4 at 107-103.

RJ TOO STRONG.

No quit pic.twitter.com/CJZPCt8XbQ

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 16, 2021

If only Ntilikina could have hit a jumper or two. Or even just one — one jumper. He went 0-5 and fouled out with 3:48 left in the 4th. Overall 16 minutes, 0 points — but a +5 — he could sleep well; he had done his part to get the Knicks back in this game. Some of the

The Knicks played a fantastic pressure on-ball defense in the last minute — instead of fouling. Down 3 with 7.7 seconds left the Knicks pressure 0n-ball defense forced a Nets turnover. A foul was called on RJ Barrett for reaching in but replay showed he clearly had hand on all ball — and the Knicks successfully challenged the call, which gave them the ball and Julius Randle the chance to tie with the 3. Because of that won challenge, the Knicks couldn’t challenge the ensuing controversial call that Randle traveled when others felt it should have been called an Irving block and Knicks ball.

And so that was ballgame.

Randle had to be restrained by his teammates from seeking a conversation with the refs; he was LIVID at the call.

3. Quickley

Immanuel Quickley started at point and led the Knicks and pushed an up-tempo Knicks offense all evening. He was intrepid with no fear against Kyrie Irving, James Harden and the Nets. He attacked, attacked, attacked, and spread the ball around, getting rave compliment from the ESPN female announcer — the game was a nationally televised game.

QUICK pic.twitter.com/cs14FnFOs6

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 16, 2021

At one point ESPN put a picture of Quickley’s mother Nitrease Quickley on the screen, revealing that she was a star at Morgan State and these days is their Free Throw coach. They said that when Immanuel misses a free throw, she needs a few minutes to herself to digest it.

Quickley had 21 points on 6-19 shooting (4-12 from 3) and 2 assists for a -9. The boxscore didn’t reflect how important he was to setting the Knicks tempo.

4. Randle and Barrett

At one point in the 3rd — with the Nets up big and the ESPN cameras showing new Net Blake Griffin on the sidelines suited up but not playing yet — it seemed that the Knicks have Batman and Robin in Randle and Barrett — but the Nets have Superman, the Incredible Hulk, the Flash, and Spiderman — in Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irvin, and now Griffin.

But the big time bully ball that RJ Barrett and Julius Randle brought to the 4th highlighted the Knicks evening. At the end, the crowd at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn were chanting MVP MVP for Randle! Batman and Robin can take on anyone.

Barrett was 10-10 from the Free Throw line — amazing news and great development as he is getting better and better at the two areas that were his only weaknesses — free throw shooting and 3-pt shooting. He had 23 points and is now shooting .747 from the free-throw line this year. He was 1-3 from 3 and is .358 from 3 on the year.

Randle started off slow but finished Extremely strong — and had 33 pts, 12 rebounds, 6 assists. He was 14-27 from the floor including 3-6 from 3; extremely efficient as usual.

23 for Jules pic.twitter.com/0vzQJLFT1g

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 16, 2021

5. Bullock

Reggie Bullock kept the Knicks within range in the first half with his best night of the year. At one point I tweeted that Reggie Bullock is the player that everyone expected Frank Ntilikina to be. Bullock plays Tough on-ball defense, has an NBA big guard body at 6’6 and strong and athletic — he was guarding Harden for a good part of the game; is a head’s up defender in general; and was hitting his 3 on offense. He finished with 19 points on 7-12 shooting (5-10 from 3) for a +1.

That gives Reggie 17 points (5 threes) pic.twitter.com/IZ3jWQURAb

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 16, 2021

6. Nash vs Thibodeau

At one point in the 4th quarter, ESPN had its microphones in the Nets huddle, and you could hear Steve Nash instructing his players to play good basketball. It did not come across as Strategic. A far cry from a Thibodeau huddle.

Others

Alec Burks played well, as did Taj Gibson and Nerlens Noel — all three a big part of the Knicks defensive grit.

The Box Score

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401307388

The post CLOSE! Knicks Almost Come Back Vs Nets; 6 Reasons How Brooklyn 117-112 on 3-15-21 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Here’s how the game went down:

1. Knicks Started Out Directionless

This was supposed to be an easy win for the Knicks — facing 16-21 Oklahoma in Oklahoma City who were without their star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But the Knicks came out listless as Frank Ntilikina again did not assert himself. He at one point tried to drive the lane, stumbled and pushed the ball to Randle while on the floor. Without a true point guard on the court, penetrating and distributing, Randle started to ‘try too hard’, which saw him do some of the things he did last year — go one-on-everyone underneath and put up a contested shot. In 5 minutes — literally 5 minutes and 21 seconds into the game — coach Tom Thibodeau pulled Ntilikina from the game, after he picked up a 2nd foul call — not a smart thing to get in foul trouble on a night where the Knicks were missing 3 point guards. NY was down 15-7. Immanuel Quickley came in and immediately the tenor changed for the Knicks as Quickley went into attack mode and also the Knicks team Defense woke up.

Ntilikina would never enter the game again.

The Knicks were still down by 31-22 at the end of the quarter, and down by 11 early in the 2nd. The fickle finger of blame started to point in Quickley’s direction — as Walt Frazier said, Quickley “is not your prototypical point guard. He’s looking to swish before he dish; maybe that’s why he hasn’t been inserted into the starting lineup. The Knicks only with 3 assists; and we keep saying they’re not moving and grooving with the ball; too much dribbling.”

2. Knicks DEFENSE & Energy Took Over

But in the 2nd quarter the Knicks began to pull back even on team Defense (Taj Gibson gave them a big lift) and the scoring strength of Alec Burks, Quickley, Obi Toppin and the 2nd team.

This shot is crazy pic.twitter.com/tdZ94beOzl

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 13, 2021

And then RJ Barrett started to heat up.

At one juncture late in the 2nd quarter, Barrett:

• Hit a 3,
• Made a Tough right-handed drive for a 2 next time down,
• Got fouled on a drive next time down and hit both free throws’s, and
• Made a hard drive off a Quickley steal & got the foul call (missed the free throw).

Nerlens Noel‘s defense inside and Barrett taking charge carried the Knicks on an 11-2 run. The Knicks took a 56-54 lead at the half.

The Knicks came out in the 3rd with Quickley at the point — not Ntilikina. As a team they played with even more energy on Defense and led by Quickley, Barrett, and Randle on Offense they gradually turned the game into a blowout.

This kid can flat out shoot.

12 points in 8 mins on 5-6 from the field (2 threes) pic.twitter.com/54czQpWB0n

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 13, 2021

3. Barrett Stars

For yet another game in a row — hard to count them now but it’s been over a month — RJ Barrett looked like a Star who is going to be something even more special. His take-no-prisoner power moves to the basket, with either the left (favored) or right hand, and his so-much-improved exceptional outside shooting, and his ability to hit free throws, and his terrific defense — made him the best player on the floor. Barrett owned the court. You wondered what the announcers on the other team were saying about him; what the fans of the other team thought as this was probably the first time this year they were seeing Barrett.

RJ always staying aggressive pic.twitter.com/pv8hx2GSuy

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 13, 2021

Barrett finished with 32 points on 12-21 shooting (3-6 from 3; 5-7 on free throw line), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a +17. It was his first 30-pt game.

Too strong all game long pic.twitter.com/vBFbnXNqU3

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 13, 2021

4. Randle With His 2nd Triple Double of the Season

And Julius Randle quietly did his thing — another stellar game this one coming off his worst game of the year, a 7-pt effort against The Greek Freak and Milwaukee the other night. Randle bounced back to get his second triple-double of the season: 26 pts (on 8-15 shooting, 3-6 from 3), 12 rebounds, 12 assists. One of his last assists was to RJ Barrett to make sure he got 30 points.

Jules makes it look easy pic.twitter.com/JWr08l02gD

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 13, 2021

“He’s big-time, he was encouraging me to get the 30-ball,’’ RJ Barrett said. “Great leader, great guy.’’

5. Garbage Time

At the end it was blowout city. Reggie Bullock played well — 14 pts on 5-12 shooting (4-11 from 3) for a +23. Quickley finished with 21 points (9-16, 3-8 from 3), 4 assists, and a +16.

Met at the rim pic.twitter.com/B0GuyvhGU5

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 13, 2021

Kevin Knox and Theo Pinson got to play during garbage time in the 4th. The only Knick not to play was Frank Ntilikina, buried on the bench — clearly being disciplined by the coach. Made an example of.

Etcetera

After the game, former Knick coach Rick Pitino led Iona into the NCAA playoffs with an automatic berth by winning the MAAC conference title. Pitino had been dumped by Louisville in 2017 amidst a scandal. And later in the afternoon Patrick Ewing coached Georgetown to a win of the Big East tournament, providing them with an automatic berth. A great day for former Knicks.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401307369

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Instead the strategy for the franchise is being laid down by VP of Strategy Brock Aller, with animated input from “World Wide Wes” William Wesley and coach Tom Thibodeau. All of them hired by Leon Rose, the head of basketball for a year now — who is otherwise hand’s off but has them banging heads to provide him with key decision advice.

Yaron Witzman’s Expose in NY Post

The article is written by Yaron Witzman, who is not a NY Post reporter — the Post published his article, and in a tweet he thanks them for publishing it. The article doesn’t exactly make the Knicks management team look good — they do not come across as cohesive and strategic — but rather three dueling personalities banging heads to convince Leon Rose to get their way.

The article is here: https://nypost.com/2021/03/09/how-leon-rose-rebuilt-the-knicks-an-inside-look/

The one person the article never mentions is Scott Perry. Not a single mention.

Scott Perry the Source?

Not only does that provide strong evidence that Scott Perry has little decision-making duties, but as Fraud Investigator and Attorney Jake Andrews points out, it means Perry was probably the source for the article. Andrews points out that:

• In the article itself, the writer says that Rose, Aller, Wesley, and Thibodeau declined to be interviewed for the article — never mentioning Scott Perry the GM — whom we can assume DID get interviewed for the article?
• Although Witzman says his info came from a dozen league sources, Andrews points out that “A dozen league sources didn’t see Rose nearly drop his cell phone. Someone in the room did.”
• Andrews theorizes this would not be the first time that Perry leaked to the press: “There’s a ton of articles leaked to the post about the Knicks interest in guys tied to Perry. There was that article released that Perry decided not send Knox or Ntlikina down to the G-league. There was that article that SGA wanted to work out for the Knicks, but Mills refused.”
• Andrews points out there are details in the article that only someone in the room would know, such as that Wesley “went on all sorts of tangents, once making the group listen to the Jay-Z song “Empire State of Mind” because he had played it during the private pre-draft workout for Kevin Knox. One time he changed his shirt on camera, revealing his bare chest to the group.”

Thibs Wanted to Trade Robinson & Barrett?

According to the article, coach Tom Thibodeau initially wanted to flip RJ Barrett & Mitchell Robinson for seasoned veterans, and he wasn’t sold on Julius Randle. The article states that a former colleague of Thibodeau said, “There’s no rebuilding or long term with Thibs,”

Thankfully, it looks like Thibs has changed his mind on all three as the season has progressed.

• In the first preseason game, Thibs started veteran Nerlens Noel over Robinson, sparking Robinson to tweet something cryptic about lack of loyalty; but as the season started and progressed, Robinson was starting and logging over 35 minutes a game under Thibs — due mainly to Robinson’s excellent Defensive play and improved ability to stay out of foul trouble.
• And Thibs has been waxing poetic about Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, who are both having elite seasons.

Brock “Who?” Aller = VP of Strategy

The article says that Brock Aller is an opposite voice to Thibs — Aller is the one who wants to build long term. Aller “thought the Knicks should target second-tier veterans like Austin Rivers and Alec Burks with one-year deals — and then during the season try flipping them for future draft picks.”

As Marc Berman of the NY Post wrote in April 2020 when Aller was hired, Aller was previously the financial planner/capologist for the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2017 Dan Gilbert the Cavaliers owner said Aller “is probably one of the finer capologists in the league. He knows more about the cap than probably PricewaterhouseCoopers knows about the IRS code. He lives with the cap, with the collective bargaining agreement. He comes up with ideas on things that the league has never heard of, they have to go into their committees to check if it’s OK or not. He’s sort of a savant with this.”

Wesley Deep Ties to Kentucky; Wanted Quickley

Witzman starts the article by revealing it was World Wide Wes who pushed the Knicks to draft Immanuel Quickley out of Kentucky. It is noted that Wesley has extremely strong ties with John Calipari of Kentucky, and also has a strong bias to Kentucky players. The Knicks are now littered with former Kentucky players — signing Nerlens Noel this off season, adding him to Kevin Knox and Julius Randle who were brought in by the previous regime under Scott Perry and Steve Mills.

The article reveals Wesley had been pushing for the drafting of Quickley for months. Witzman provides inside information on how it went down in the room when the Knicks were drafting:

•  World Wide Wes repeated,”We need Quickley, get Quickley,” Further details: “Wesley had entered the night giddy, FaceTiming friends and passing out key lime pies from a bakery he loves in Margate, N.J. But now he was furious. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. His face twisted into a frown. He stood up and paced around the room.”

Clearly someone “in the room” (Scott Perry as Jake Andrews suggests?) provided those details.

GM Superfluous

With Aller chiefly a financial wizard of the NBA cap, and Wesley an agent — or as the Witzman article calls him, a “ubiquitous consultant/adviser/star-whisperer/power broker whose reputation has earned him the moniker ‘World Wide Wes'”, and Thibodeau the coach, and Leon Rose, in charge of it all — a former Agent — you might ask: who is making the talent calls? The requirements and requests seem to come from Thibodeau — a direct Coach-to-VP-of-Strategy relationship, with input on talent from the power-broker Wesley and his sources like Calipari. That makes a GM like Perry superfluous. As is said in the article, Wesley stated loudly on draft night, “Coach says we need shooting, Quickley’s the best shooter.”

Credit Still Goes to Perry

But as the Witzman article points out, “The Knicks entered the offseason with more than $40 million in cap space, one of the largest numbers in the league.” It was Scott Perry (and Steve Mills?) who got the Knicks into this splendid position. It was Scott Perry who did a “Money Ball” Free Agency during the summer of 2019, that netted Julius Randle and a host of other ‘value’ players like Elfrid Payton, Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock, and Bobby Portis at club-friendly 1- and 2-year contracts with club option for an additional season.

Perry (and Steve Mills) got the Knicks Julius Randle, and RJ Barrett (through luck of the draft and a miserable season), and Mitchell Robinson (a steal of a pick), and Quickley (signing Morris then dealing him for the Clippers’ late first-round pick). So we STILL give Perry an A on the 2020-21 mid-season report cards.

HOWEVER

Addendum to this article. On March 15, 2021, while the Knicks were playing Brooklyn at Barclay’s, Adam Zagoria posted this picture off the tv:

This is a significant picture because:

1. it shows Scott Perry sitting with World Wide Wes and Leon Rose,
2. it comes after the article that was published in the NY Post and all the speculation that followed.

It may mean that the senior management team feels

1. Perry was Not the source of the article, or that
2. he was the source but they are ok with it (“I don’t care what you say about me just spell the name right”), or that
3. he is on the way out but sitting there for show?

We’ll find out as the future unfolds.

The post How the Knicks Are Run: Brock Aller, “World Wide Wes”, & Thibs — No Scott Perry? appeared first on Knicks.City.

Coach Tom Thibodeau: A+

Who could have predicted 19-18 and 4th place? Vegas had the Knicks for 22 wins in total on the season. Well not for nothing but I had them for 35 wins in this 72 game season so they are on pace for that. Thibodeau has made that much of a difference.

As I regularly say, coaching is 65% of the NBA. A number picked out of thin air but something like that. To be fair I wanted the Knicks to keep Mike Miller as coach. These Knicks had started winning last year under Miller — they were 6-4 in December, 6-4 during a stretch in late January/early February, and 4-3 at the end of the season. I was a big fan of Thibodeau years ago (he was the secret sauce to Boston’s 2009 title) but became wary of what happened in Minnesota, where he was accused of overplaying players into injury, and there were reports of him going into tirades with the front office, and losing the support of his players on the court.

But Thibodeau has been tremendous as Knicks coach so far. The passion and intensity he brings is off the charts. The Knicks are playing beyond good defense — in fact they are now the #1 defensive team in the NBA in points allowed. The offense has been unexpectedly terrific too: Thibodeau has them playing a very unselfish pass-pass-pass the ball offense, ignited by penetrations by the point guard, mixed in with passes out of the post by the big man Julius Randle.

His interviews are intense, even when he is joking.

“He sets up the [shooting] gun right in front of my office. I think he does it on purpose.”

RJ in the last ten games from deep: 16-for-28 (57%) pic.twitter.com/4QG4w2md5H

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2021

The schedule in the 2nd half is tougher than the 1st half — and remember the Knicks were 20-20 in 2015-16 under Derek Fisher, 16-13 in 2016-17 under Jeff Hornacek, and 17-14 in 2017-18 under Hornacek and in each of those seasons they titanic-ed in the 2nd half — in each case the sinking started with so many close losses in January, and a tougher 2nd-half schedule. And this year, everyone is saying the Knicks schedule in the 2nd half is tougher. But this team seems much better than those teams, and as a Knick fan on Twitter said the other day: the good teams the Knicks are scheduled to play in the 2nd half dread facing the Knicks!

Julius Randle: A+

Deserves an A++ but it’s not in our grading system. He is playing at not just Star level but Superstar level; as well as any Knick ever. As well as Patrick Ewing, Bernard King, Carmelo Anthony, Walt Frazier, or Willis Reed ever played. That’s the pantheon he is in. He is playing like he owns the court on offense — scoring with efficiency in so many ways; post ups, super quick spin moves, jumpers in traffic in the lane, or the left or right side; 3-pointers with nothing but net. And — “spraying the ball around” as Thibodeau puts it — hitting teammates with precision passes; the offense runs thru him. And the rebounding. And the Defense — excellent. In all ways dominating on the court and then by all reports providing tremendous leadership not only on the court but in the lockeroom — the team’s unofficial captain.

SHAKE AND BAKE pic.twitter.com/nXz2BzhyZY

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 3, 2021

His play didn’t come out of nowhere — as was reported here many times he was terrific last season — after an initial part of the season where he was the Tazmanian Devil — trying too hard to live up to his big contract. We saw the spin moves and the beautiful inside jumpers and the rebounding and the surprisingly good Defense last season. But this year, according to Julius himself, he lost weight, came into the season in phenomenal shape, and also was dedicated to turning around the reputation he had somehow developed as a selfish player last season. He recently wrote an article in The Player’s Tribune — an article to the NY fans.

Randle is averaging 23.2 pts, 11.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 0.8 steals, .483 from the floor, .408 from 3, and .805 from the free throw line.

We give him an A++ or.. an AAAAA.

RJ Barrett: A

RJ Barrett was pulling a B then did great on the mid-term and is pulling an A at the half. He started off the season great, and was #2 in the NBA in minutes per game behind Randle, then went into a shooting slump in early February, before breaking out in a big way in late February and early March. He has been on fire from 3 lately, upping his season percentage to .350, and has been much improved from the free throw line this season, currently at .730. These are the final pieces needed for eventual Star status — Barrett is amazingly good at driving to the basket, against contact, with either his left or right hand.

STRONG PLAY RO pic.twitter.com/tpEzZB6icg

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 22, 2021

Barrett is also a terrific rebounder for a guard, and plays excellent Defense. He has a high basketball IQ, is a good passer, and has shown since he was a rookie that he approaches the game with the confidence like he owns the court. He is a 6’6 (looks 6’7), big-time, 2-way ballplayer who looks like he will be the next Dwyane Wade. Or the first RJ Barrett.

Elfrid Payton: A

That’s right Elfrid Payton gets an A. He has done everything coach has asked — and been specifically called out by the coach in a good way numerous times — for leading the team on offense and on defense — setting the aggressive tone on both ends of the court. He is a just-turned-27-year-old, 6’4″ (listed 6’3) penetrating point guard who uses quick hands and quick feet to play excellent defense.

EP staying aggressive pic.twitter.com/524EkKQNSj

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 24, 2021

Payton can penetrate any defense (even good ones) at any time, and lives in the lane — adept at “keeping his dribble alive”, as Walt Frazier constantly mentions. Payton will penetrate and score at the rim, pass out to the corners, or give a perfect feed to the likes of Mitchell Robinson for an alley-oop slam. He was Defensive Player of the Year for the Sun Belt Conference in his junior (and last) year in college at Louisiana, before becoming a lottery pick (#10 overall by Philly in 2014). This season he has hounded the top-dog point guards in the game (Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, etc), chasing through the typical maze of screens to make their day difficult — always noted postgame by Thibodeau.

At times Payton plays with a rope-a-dope blasé attitude on the court, which seems to be him conserving his energy and perhaps playing a little bit of possum, as he’s apt to rip out of a lackadaisical jog to strip the other player of the ball. But that seeming nonchalance has caused half of Knicks Twitter to hate his guts — in a Lord of the Flies kind of thing where Payton is the Knicks’ fans whipping boy; every team has one and Payton has been Knicks Twitter’s Piggy this year; constantly derided by half the Knick fan base — unconvinced that Tom Thibodeau, one of the best basketball coaches in the world — had 5 point guards to pick from and made Elfrid Payton his starting point guard this year, and plays him 30 to 35 minutes a game while Frank Ntilikina, Austin Rivers, and Dennis Smith Jr (while he was still here) don’t play at all, and on top of that Thibs increases Payton’s minutes and decreases Immanuel Quickley‘s minutes when the Knicks are playing a superstar point guard like Steph Curry. Thibs has also mentioned numerous times he likes Payton’s height — again listed at 6’3 after the NBA’s stocking-feet measuring of 2019 although he looks 6’4 — to see over the top of defenses on offense and defend well on D.

The one thing Payton can’t do is shoot — or more specifically hit the 3 — another big reason why half of Knicks Twitter treats him like Piggy. This year he’s raised his 3-pt percentage to .250 so far after a dreadful .203 last year (.285 lifetime, p.s. just under Dwayne Wade’s lifetime .295 from 3). And his free throw percentage is .743 — much improved from last year’s abhorrent .570 — which was an aberration since Payton shot .743 the year before last.

Payton is only averaging 3.7 assists in 28 minutes, causing that Lord of the Flies portion of Knicks Twitter to call him selfish. But Payton’s assist average is down from 7.2 last year and a career average of 6.8 coming into this season. I attribute his lower average to Thibodeau’s system — where a Payton penetration and kick-out to the corner often results not in a shot being taken, but a pass-pass-pass around the perimeter before a shot is taken; thus losing Payton the assist. Payton is playing the same kind of ball he did last year as far as penetrating and passing.

So Payton gets an A.

Nerlens Noel: A

What a Great pickup by Scott Perry. While I, like most fans, were scouring the league to figure out who the Knicks should pick up during the off season — Perry picks up Nerlens Noel — a shot-blocking defensive center. The Knicks ALREADY HAD a shot-blocking defensive center in Mitchell Robinson why would they need two? Because having Noel means you always have an interior shot-blocker on the court, when Robinson is resting or out with injury like now.

NOEL WREAKING HAVOC DEFENSIVELY pic.twitter.com/u0tAf0skZ0

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 1, 2021

Noel has played exceptional ball, especially in Robinson’s absence due to the hand injury. He defends the paint — and has an uncanny quickness and ability to block shots. He has played well on offense too. People make fun of the fact he can’t catch well; he often fumbles passes. But on Defense Noel has great hands; is an excellent rebounder. Recently in games where backup-to-the-backup center Taj Gibson has been out with an ankle injury, leaving Noel as the only center on the team — Noel has raised his game — playing Great ball and staying out of foul trouble; playing over 40 minutes regularly.

Noel gets a solid A.

Derrick Rose: A

Has been terrific joining the team in early February; upping the tempo of the NY offense when he comes in the game for Payton, and is always going North to South as Walt Frazier puts it — direct to the basket vs going side to side, or East to West. Still an elite penetrating point guard, distributes the basketball to high assist numbers, can hit the outside shot, hit his free throws, and play pretty good defense. Rose is a Thibs favorite who is now 32 but has shown he still has plenty of quickness and elite ability.

Attack mode from the get go pic.twitter.com/bFDrp4lBRm

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 26, 2021

This is Rose’s second stint in NY, and its easy to forget Knicks Twitter ran him out of town the last time he was with the team in 2016-17 because of perceived poor defense — late in the season when we afterwards learned he had a partially torn meniscus. Rose was in the middle of his overall career comeback at the time, and cemented his comeback in Detroit. Rose has teamed well with Immanuel Quickley on the second team and played well for 30+ minutes a game when Elfrid Payton was out injured for a few games a week ago.

The Knicks grabbed Rose from Detroit in a trade where NY gave up Dennis Smith Jr, who is in process of his own comeback — getting playing time in Motown.

Mitchell Robinson: A-

We only gave Mitchell Robinson an A- because he hasn’t taken a single outside jump shot all season. Just like last year and the year before. Despite the fact that we keep seeing youtube videos of him popping 3’s in practice, and showing off his dribbling skills with crossover after crossover, and Thibs saying in a post-game interview that Robinson’s offensive skills were considerable and that they’d be taking the wraps off them at some time in the near future.

Robinson has played terrifically this year on Defense — he is not blocking as many shots because he is patrolling the middle more rather than racing out to block a 3. He has Significantly improved his ability to stay out of foul trouble while playing Great defense — enabling him to log many games of 35+ minutes. He’s been his usual efficient weapon on Offense (slam dunks, put-back slams, and alley oops).

So now he has to go to the teacher (coach Thibodeau) and complain that he got an A- because he hasn’t been allowed to take a jumper.

Mitch throws it down with authority pic.twitter.com/O5t85FhG7S

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 10, 2021

Robinson also has to work on his free throw percentage — currently at .468 despite the fact that he seems to be better at the line than when he was a rookie; more confident and apt to hit big free throws late in a game. Somebody else might give Mitch a B- for that free throw percentage alone; don’t take their class.

Immanuel Quickley: A-

Has been in the talk for Rookie of the Year. Scoring machine off the bench — an attack-attack-attack guard who is extremely accurate from 3 — we knew that coming in — and well versed in drawing fouls ala Trae Young. Exceptional at driving the lane and hitting the floater. Record-setting kind of free throw shooter (currently at .942). Relentless energy. Not a point guard.

We just lost half the audience writing that last line. But he isn’t. He’s a “scoring guard in a point guard body” — the immortal words of Larry Brown used for Stephon Marbury but apt here.

Quickley passes a lot but doesn’t especially pass off a penetration — in fact he rarely finishes at the rim he is almost always taking the floater and he doesn’t pass off the floater. Thibs has him playing alongside Rose (and before that Rivers) as the scoring guard on the 2nd team.

This kid's built different pic.twitter.com/wDJOdgWHIE

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 28, 2021

Quickley is 6’2 but looks 6′ — he may have benefitted from COVID in that the NBA in 2019 was famously measuring everyone in stocking feet — which resulted in people like Elfrid Payton being restated as 6’3″ tall instead of 6’4″. But the NBA seems to have relaxed the stocking-feet-measurement during the summer of COVID and appear to again be taking a player’s word for how tall they are. So Quickley is listed at 6’2. TJ McConnell (listed 6’0″ in stocking feet) seemed taller than Quickley when the two played against one another last week, and Payton seems 3 inches taller. The reason why this is important is defense — I’ve noticed other teams putting big guards in when Quickley is in, with one of them going right at Quickley, attempting to post him. The Knicks have to send help which disrupts their D which may be why Thibs continues to have Quickley coming off the bench for 13 minutes a game while more than half of Knicks Twitter scream that he start and get more minutes.

Still Quickley plays an intent Defense and his scoring has outweighed his deficiencies in that area. He has electrified the NY fan base (some young people will probably spell ‘quickly’ with an ‘e’ for years to come) and been a terrific late-first-round find (the pick they essentially got for Marcus Morris last year) — Quickley gets an A-. You can argue he should’ve gotten an A.

Alec Burks: B+

I almost gave everyone an A. Because everyone has played their role, and played it well. But the Knicks are 19-18 how can you give everyone an A? I have to give some players less than an A. Therefore Alec Burks gets a B+.

He has done everything asked: been a sharpshooter from 3 and from all over the court — this guy is an Elite scorer; he can score in all kinds of ways. He also plays good D. He’s a 6’5″, 29-yr-old (veteran on these Knicks) D and 3 guy. An Excellent pickup by the Knicks and Scott Perry.

AB ON FIRE IN THE 4TH pic.twitter.com/baUjrsZqOc

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 26, 2021

Reggie Bullock: B+

Reggie Bullock misses more open 3‘s than any shooter ever. That’s what we tweeted on January 18, to much agreement from Knicks fans.

Yet I almost gave him an A. Because he’s done the role he was given to play, well — as well as he could play it. Yes he misses open 3’s a lot; but he goes on rolls, especially recently, where he does hit the 3 and gives the Knicks consistently good — very good — man-to-man DEFENSE. Bullock is 6’5 and somewhat muscular — a legit, athletic NBA body. You have to watch his game a while, always off the ball, to start to see why Thibodeau has him in there starting and playing 30 minutes. He’s a Tough, head’s up defender. A 3 and D guy. Shooting .372 from 3; .833 from the free throw line. Gets a B+. Can’t believe it myself.

TOUGH block from @ReggieBullock35 pic.twitter.com/GVKorTjPBf

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 6, 2021

Taj Gibson: B+

Deserves an A. Has done everything asked of him. Another Terrific pickup by the Knicks; we’d give Perry the credit but it is clearly Thibodeau’s. Provides gritty Defense, rebounding, scoring inside, can hit the occasional 3 and block key shots. Picking him up became even more important when Robinson went down with the hand injury and Gibson became the backup to Noel. But then Gibson sprained his ankle a week before the All Star game. Should be back after the break and provide Knicks with backup center until Robinson comes back. All that plus he’s supposed to be a Great locker room guy and mentor to Robinson.

BIG TAJ RIGHT THERE pic.twitter.com/cb1XWAG30K

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 26, 2021

Obi Toppin: B

Obi Toppin has been terrific as first man off the bench. It is difficult getting playing time as a rookie in Thibodeau’s system — he prefers to play veterans; yet Toppin has been making the most of his 12 or so minutes off the bench. He has a very, very strong post-up game — he will post on the left or right baseline and almost always efficiently scores. He is a top-notch slam dunker and is a high-IQ passer. He is athletic, runs the break, and looks like he will be a good defender, who can occasionally swat one away. The future is all green for Obi Toppin — son of famed NYC schoolyard legend Obadiah Toppin, who had nickname “Dunker’s Delight”. Obi was Naismith College Player of the Year in 2020.

Obi muscles it in pic.twitter.com/1ceZ306l4F

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 24, 2021

Obi could have easily gotten an A as he’s done nothing wrong, but I give him a B. Let him work for an A. Get into the starting rotation.

Frank Ntilikina: B

Not a point guard. I think even Ntilikina Hive on Twitter admits to that now, as they have been calling for him to replace Bullock in the starting rotation after he has been on FIRE in the last few games, being almost perfect from 3. Ntilikina has always had good form and a soft touch on his 3-pt jumper and finally, in the last two or three games — he has shown he can be a top 3-pt shooter in the NBA. A 3 and D guy.

STOP IT FRANK pic.twitter.com/8UWV9OtG7Q

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2021

He’s been on the bench most of the season; landed there due to injury and didn’t come off even after he was healthy. The injury to Payton a week ago got him playing time off the bench. The injury to Rose a few days later made Frank the starting point guard for a game. He hit 3’s and played well, but got 0 assists. He’s not a point guard. But looks like he’s going to be a good ‘glue’ player in the NBA. He’s 6’6 with a long reach; plays passing lanes well; plays an excellent hounding defense that can quiet star scoring guards on some nights; at the same time not quick enough on his feet to stay in front of top-tier point guards on many nights (often ends up trailing them using his long arms to defend from behind); doesn’t go thru picks well but around them well; and perhaps not muscular enough (like Bullock) to be an effective starting NBA shooting guard — but he has talent. Remember how he led France to victory over the US and Kemba Walker just a year and a half ago?

Kevin Knox: B

Kevin Knox came into camp in Great shape (said Thibodeau and the press) and has done everything asked of him. His Defense and overall intensity is better than ever. He hits the 3 with precision — that high-arcing pretty shot. And when he’s not hitting a 3 he drives to the basket for an occasional rim-rocking slam. His approaches to the basket are better. But in Thibodeaus’ 9-man rotation, Knox has found himself out of the rotation after the Knicks acquired Taj Gibson. We can’t give Knox an A if he’s not playing so he gets a B. He’s 22 years old now and his NBA future is still in doubt but you get a feeling by the time he is 27 he will be an NBA regular known for his precision 3-pt shooting and good overall play; someone like Otto Porter.

Austin Rivers: B

Life is unfair. Said all the right things when he joined the Knicks; inspirational things that got the Knick fan base feeling great. Played well — a head’s up, penetrating point guard (one of 3 the Knicks have on their team; the others being Payton and Rose). Rivers defends well, makes the right pass at the right time, and had two unreal shooting games — both against the Indiana Pacers — that carried the Knicks to victory. When he did it the first time against Indiana, it looked like the Knicks had picked up some sort of Superman. Rivers couldn’t sustain that but was still playing good ball overall until the Knicks traded for Derrick Rose, sending Rivers to the DNP Coaches Decision bench. He also supposedly has a sprained ankle issue. For now he is trade bait and insurance against injury.

Dennis Smith Jr: C-

Everyone on the Knicks has played well in their role except Dennis Smith Jr; and he isn’t on the team anymore (knock knock?). Dennis Smith Jr seems like a phenomenal guy with phenomenal skills and am happy to see him have a rejuvenation in Detroit. With the Knicks he seemed to be doubting himself, and his handle isn’t all its cracked up to be; he needs to improve that. Plus his outside shooting is iffy; needs to improve there too. He was at times a tremendous Defender in NY; he has quick feet and can hound and stay in front of even the quickest guards; he doesn’t do it all the time but when he does he is a top shelf defender.

Ignas Brazdeikis: I

Has gotten into 4 games in garbage time. Once he goes down to the G League he lights the place up for 35 points. He’s 6’6 and 22 years old. You wonder if it’s a matter of time before he gets a break and gets a role on an NBA roster where he can score, score, score; or it will never happen because he’s not quick enough on Defense. In any case he gets an I = Incomplete.

Jared Harper: I

Another one of those guys ‘on the bubble’ of the NBA. Plays well when in there but hardly plays. His height (5’10”) is his hurdle. He is 23.

Theo Pinson: I

Has several times come running off the bench to help a fallen Knick under the basket. This, Knicks Twitter points out, is why he is invaluable on the team. A real team player. He led the group of Knicks who went to an open microphone meant for a post-game interview with Julius Randle in a game at the beginning of March — to tell the arena that Randle deserved to be on the All Star team. He is a 6’5, 25 yr old shooting guard.

Scott Perry: A+

The GM gets an A+. A year and a half ago he was REAMED by the media and many fans for bombing out during the summer of 2019 — with all the salary cap he had cleared, he failed to sign Kevin Durant or any other elite free agent, and instead opted for Julius Randle and a host of other lower-cost players. Unknown to his naysayers and right in front of them he had performed a spectacular “Money Ball” free agency — signing all players to 1- and 2-year contracts with club option for an additional year, getting good players and also gaining flexibility to exchange players after a year if it wasn’t working out — like he did by letting Bobby Portis go and signing Nerlins Noel.

Perry and the Knicks are at the forefront of a trend in the NBA, with other teams now leaning towards giving 1- and 2-yr contracts with club option for an additional year (as long as the Player’s Union allows it why not) and second-guessing the massive 5-year, max-money contracts they have given to players who are not one of the handful of players who can lead you to a title (LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Kevin Durant). This year you see teams like Chicago putting Zach LaVine on the trade rumor mill, Washington putting Bradley Beal on that mill, and Portland’s CJ McCollum in trade rumors. Not to mention Kristaps Porzingis , who has surfaced in rumors with a contract that is un-tradeable, along with other massive mistake contracts out there like Kevin Love and Blake Griffin.

Feedback

Agree with the grades above? Disagree? Have your own? Please post below.

The post Knicks’ Mid-Season Report Card — 2020-21 appeared first on Knicks.City.

But it wasn’t. Easy. Still, it was a win producing a smile from coach Tom Thibodeau at the All Star break. Here’s how it went down:

1. Detroit Dangerous

With Grant and Jackson out, Detroit starts Wayne Ellington at shooting guard and he plays over 30 minutes a night. Old man river (age 33) who looked mostly terrible in spare minutes off the bench last year for the Knicks.

Knowing all of the above — it would seem the Knicks couldn’t lose; in fact couldn’t not win easily like they did on Sunday. But there was one caveat — Detroit and Wayne Ellington had just blown out Toronto the night before — 129-105 in Toronto. The elite Toronto Raptors coming off 53 wins last year and have won over 50 for 5 straight years, and despite a horrid start to their season this year had recently evened their record at 17-17.

A key to the Detroit win over Toronto was Wayne Ellington — who went 8-11, all from 3 — for 25 points. Former Knick Dennis Smith Jr scored 10 points against the Raptors — he’s had a rejuvenation in Detroit; and the Pistons got tremendous help from their bench. Rodney McGruder and point guard Saben Lee both had 20 points vs Toronto. The Pistons’ bench in fact lead the NBA in scoring, averaging over 43 points a game.

Detroit is in the middle of a rebuild. They dumped the contract of Andre Drummond last year, and are looking to peddle Blake Griffin and his massive contract. They talk about their future being built on “The Core 4”:

1. Isaiah Stewart (6’8 center and #16 pick in 2020 by Portland),
2. Killian Hayes (6’5 shooting guard and #7 overall pick by Detroit in 2020),
3. Saddiq Bey (6’7 small forward and #19 overall pick in 2020 by Brooklyn), and
4. Saben Lee (6’2 point guard, a 2nd round pick).

And don’t forget Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, the 6’7 Euro shooting guard out of Kansas, who was 5-9 from 3 against Toronto for 17 pts. And Mason Plumlee — Detroit’s 6’11, 30-yr-old center having a banner year.

Plus Detroit’s coach is Dwane Casey — a good NBA coach who led Toronto to three of those 50+ win seasons; a coach known for teams that play defense.

2. Detroit Made a Run in 4th

All of that said — the Knicks cruised in this one — gradually building a double-digit lead that they maintained throughout the 3rd quarter and built to a 19-point lead entering the 4th quarter. Remember Detroit was 10-25 coming in.

And then.. Detroit made a run in the 4th. Mykhailiuk hit a 3. Sekou Doumbouya (6’8 forward, the #15 overall pick by Detroit in 2019) made a drive; Saddiq Bey hit a 3 and Mason Plumlee made some inside moves and went to the line a few times, Bey hit more shots, and before you knew it Detroit was within 10 points with 5 minutes left.

3. Randle, Barrett, Payton Hold Court. And Noel. And Bullock.

The Knicks had to buckle down on defense and hold their home court. With NY up 10 but Detroit about to pull to within 8, Julius Randle BLOCKED a Bey layup, Elfrid Payton grabbed the loose ball and quarterbacked a long pass to RJ Barrett for the full court drive and bucket in the other direction.

DEFENSE IS YOUR BEST OFFENSE pic.twitter.com/KPj64HzAEa

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2021

Detroit would not go away — and pulled within 9 points with 3 minutes left on a Bey drive and 1 for a 3-pt play. 

But RJ Barrett stepped up with a big bucket; Julius Randle stepped up with a big hoop with 2 minutes left, Elfrid Payton blocked a Lee drive inside, and Reggie Bullock picked up a steal and the Pistons ran out of gas.

With 1:22 left the refs stopped the game and awarded the Knicks another point — the big bucket by Barrett a minute earlier was determined to be a 3.

Nerlens Noel played another Herculean game — 42 minutes at center (with Taj Gibson joining Mitchell Robinson on the injured sideline) – 11 points on 5-5 shooting, 2-2 free throws, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 steals.

GET. THAT. OUTTA HERE pic.twitter.com/57TVXAuMtn

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2021

Elfrid Payton was back from injury (missed 3 games with a bruised hamstring) and was terrific from the start — he led the Knicks charge throughout and finished with 20 points (on 7-14 shooting, 1-2 from 3, 5-6 in free throws), 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals.

EP throws it up and Nerls takes care of the rest pic.twitter.com/8x9U201HRy

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2021

Julius Randle had another super-star performance; tremendous efficiency; “spraying the ball around” (as Thibodeau says it) to his teammates; excellent defense: 27 pts (on 11-19 shooting), 16 rebounds, 7 assists, a +16.

Can't defend that pic.twitter.com/DOjDeECLv4

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2021

4. Barrett’s Shooting Percentages On the Rise

More great news for the Knicks is the continued excellent shooting from RJ Barrett — increasing his shooting percentages from 3 and the line – to go along with his terrific 2-way game (offense and defense). Barrett scored 21 pts on 9-13 shooting (1-2 from 3; 2-2 in free throws); 4 rebounds, 5 assists.

Barrett is now shooting .350 from 3 and .731 in free throws.

RJ. 3 ball. Money. pic.twitter.com/0AuPfOzfl1

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2021

5. Ntilikina Snipper

Another fun thing to watch in this game was Frank Ntilikina coming off the bench and popping 3’s without hesitation — he hit three straight 3’s in the second quarter — one a 4-pt play. Ntilikina finished with 9 points on 3-4 shooting (3-3 from 3) in 13 minutes. He had no assists (again). Ntilikina Hive on Twitter were calling for him to replace Reggie Bullock in the starting 5. It seems even they have realized Ntilikina isn’t a point guard.

STOP IT FRANK pic.twitter.com/8UWV9OtG7Q

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 5, 2021

Other Knicks

It wasn’t a good night for Immanuel Quickley, who was 0-4 for 0 points in 13 minutes and a -7. Leading to the observation that Ntilikina could be in process of edging ahead of him in the rotation — Quickley provides instant offense but if Ntilikina can hit the 3 with precision, he also offers a height and Defensive advantage over the 6’2 but looks 6′ Quickley.

Obi Toppin was first man off the bench and played well; 4 pts on 2-2 in 12 minutes. He was in during the beginning of the 4th when Detroit quickly got back into it and was quickly pulled for Randle.

Alec Burks played well and provided his normal contribution: 9 pts on 4-9 in 20 minutes; good D and head’s up ball.

Etcetera

The Knicks head to the All Star break at 19-18 and with players like LeBron James saying during the evening that it was “about time” New York was good again. Somebody tweeted this was the first time the Knicks were over .500 at the All Star break since 2012.

But people were forgetting:

• Knicks were 20-20 in 2015-16 under Derek Fisher.
• Knicks were 16-13 in 2016-17 with Jeff Hornacek before horrid January (losing so many close games)
• Knicks were 17-14 in 2017-18 under Hornacek before same thing happened.
• It was the only the 2 David Fizdale yrs that were horrific from the start.

On the night, Knick fans on Twitter were warning that the second half schedule was a tough one. NBA NY laid it out: “The Knicks got the Ws expected during a relatively easy 3-week stretch going into all-star break. The rest of March? Different story: Bucks, Sixers, Nets, Orlando, Miami, Wizards, Even the best Defense in OKC.”

Just Sayin’ had a good response: “Yeah I agree. The Bucks, Sixers, Nets, Orlando, Miami, Wizards, Even the best Defense in OKC — Are going to have a tough time getting a win against the #NYKnicks.”

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401302775

The post NOT SO EASY. 5 Reasons Why NY 114 Detroit 104 on 3-4-21 appeared first on Knicks.City.