Official Frank Ntilikina Thread

[Jalen Bluntson]

The PG position is wide open. It has to be that way. It's the only way Frank gets a fair shot. And, let's be honest here, DSJ and Payton have just as much to prove. DSJ has to show that he has fixed his jumper and can lead the team. Payton is on a one-year deal with a team option, so he has to prove himself. And Frank, of course, has to show that he's gotten over his case of the jitters and is ready to show the team what he can do. It's go-time for all three. I just don't trust The Great Communicator, Slat Club Soda.

I wish we could put some of DSJ's fearlessness into Frank's body. If we only could combine them.

Frank hasn’t even shown he can handle the basics of PG position at a collegiate level.

If you define the basics as come up the floor, dribble around for 20 seconds and take an ill advised shot then yes, Frank has not.

I don't know what you have been watching but the kid is as fundamentally sound as they come as a playmaker. Frank gets the ball early, pushes the pace, keeps his head up and more times than not hits the right man. He also has patience and allows the 2nd or 3rd option to get free. The only thing holding him back has been his inconsistent jump shot. Everything else he is average to good at.

With that said, I do think Frank should play more wing than PG this year.

I'm a die hard Frank fan. I believe he can be a positive player on a chip team. I agree with some of what you're saying but...he needs to show and prove this year. He brings the ball over half court and passes immediately most times. He telegraphs passes that are often slow and soft. He rarely pushes the ball. Can't go end to end. Can't get penetration to the rim. Weak handle. Has no desire to shoot or drive and fiinish....at all. Inconsistent 3pt shot. It's 5 on 4 for other teams defense.

I love the kid and still think he has a chance but...he needs to step up. He should at least get a good 3pt shot and be a Swiss army 3&D glue guy. That's really all he needs to do to stick around.

[HerSports85]

I just want Frank to get a fair opportunity

[Cookies4Life]

It's a weird double standard as most mention Frank's poor offense as the reason he doesn't get minutes.

How about Knox? He's just as bad offensively, the only difference is he had terrible shot selection last year and was OK with hoisting up 10-15 FGA's on a nightly basis.

If Frank isn't feeling it offensively, he usually limits himself to only a few shots in the game. He won't shoot you out of a game whereas Knox had the green light to do whatever he wanted to offensively.

Kevin didn't do much else besides shoot a lot last year. He's a poor rebounder, extremely poor defender and wasn't getting anyone else involved offensively.

At least Frank plays defense and he gets other guys involved on the offensive end. He plays the game the right way. So why exactly did Knox see so many minutes last year while Frank was compiling a bunch of DNP-CD's? I'm not trying to divide the forum between these 2 guys, I just don't understand how someone with Frank's talents defensively is riding the pine a good majority of the season while Knox starts every game.

I'm genuinely curious if anyone can give me a logical response to this question, thanks in advance...

[Cookies4Life]

From the outside looking in, it's almost as if they're willing to spend the time to develop all our young guys except Frank. Nobody, and I mean not a single player had a shorter leash than Frank did last season. Why is that, because he was selected by Phil Jackson? That's not a good enough reason to not play our lottery pick and at least give him ample time on the court to work through his mistakes and see if he can develop offensively. He's already shown he can be a very good defender, I just see no reason why they wouldn't allow him the time to show what he can do by giving him consistent minutes. It's not like we were battling for a playofff position, it was a throwaway year.

How can a kid show any improvement on the offensive side when he puts up 3 or 4 shots one game than maybe 6 or 7 the next and than has a bunch of DNP's? None of our guys would develop if they had such sporadic playing time given to them.

We had no problem playing Knox all the time, same with Trier who's many years older than Frank and an expiring guy in Mudiay who seemingly had no future with the team. Let the kid play consistent minutes and if you play him 25+ minutes nightly and he still doesn't improve, than it's on him. You can't possibly blame Frank for his slow progression when the coaching staff and FO doesn't give him ample PT opportunity but will allow all of our other young guys to play through their mistakes. It screams nepotism.

[Jalen Bluntson]

It's a weird double standard as most mention Frank's poor offense as the reason he doesn't get minutes.

How about Knox? He's just as bad offensively, the only difference is he had terrible shot selection last year and was OK with hoisting up 10-15 FGA's on a nightly basis.

If Frank isn't feeling it offensively, he usually limits himself to only a few shots in the game. He won't shoot you out of a game whereas Knox had the green light to do whatever he wanted to offensively.

Kevin didn't do much else besides shoot a lot last year. He's a poor rebounder, extremely poor defender and wasn't getting anyone else involved offensively.

At least Frank plays defense and he gets other guys involved on the offensive end. He plays the game the right way. So why exactly did Knox see so many minutes last year while Frank was compiling a bunch of DNP-CD's? I'm not trying to divide the forum between these 2 guys, I just don't understand how someone with Frank's talents defensively is riding the pine a good majority of the season while Knox starts every game.

I'm genuinely curious if anyone can give me a logical response to this question, thanks in advance...

Maybe because Frank looks terrified to try to shoot or drive the lane and fiinish...for TWO years. Knox at least had ROTM in December. He also looks to have improved a little in his second SL. As for why last year happened? Fizdale.

[Cookies4Life]

It's a weird double standard as most mention Frank's poor offense as the reason he doesn't get minutes.

How about Knox? He's just as bad offensively, the only difference is he had terrible shot selection last year and was OK with hoisting up 10-15 FGA's on a nightly basis.

If Frank isn't feeling it offensively, he usually limits himself to only a few shots in the game. He won't shoot you out of a game whereas Knox had the green light to do whatever he wanted to offensively.

Kevin didn't do much else besides shoot a lot last year. He's a poor rebounder, extremely poor defender and wasn't getting anyone else involved offensively.

At least Frank plays defense and he gets other guys involved on the offensive end. He plays the game the right way. So why exactly did Knox see so many minutes last year while Frank was compiling a bunch of DNP-CD's? I'm not trying to divide the forum between these 2 guys, I just don't understand how someone with Frank's talents defensively is riding the pine a good majority of the season while Knox starts every game.

I'm genuinely curious if anyone can give me a logical response to this question, thanks in advance...

Maybe because Frank looks terrified to try to shoot or drive the lane and fiinish...for TWO years. Knox at least had ROTM in December. He also looks to have improved a little in his second SL. As for why last year happened? Fizdale.

Terrified is a bit of a hyperbole but I get what you're saying. What else did Knox do besides shoot a lot last season? At least Frank brings something elite to the table- his defense. What does Knox do that's even considered above average?

he did have Rookie of the Month early on and he can thank the coaching staff for allowing him to play consistent minutes every night. Frank should have the same opportunity to do the same since this team sucks and had no chance of making the playoffs.

He came into the league as a project with good defensive instincts but required several years to potentially start showing what he can do. Last season was the perfect opportunity for him to play a good amount of minutes and learn from his mistakes. No one had a shorter leash than him, it wasn't like he was hoisting up double digit attempts every game and stinking up the joint.

[jvsimonetti0514]

It's a weird double standard as most mention Frank's poor offense as the reason he doesn't get minutes.

How about Knox? He's just as bad offensively, the only difference is he had terrible shot selection last year and was OK with hoisting up 10-15 FGA's on a nightly basis.

If Frank isn't feeling it offensively, he usually limits himself to only a few shots in the game. He won't shoot you out of a game whereas Knox had the green light to do whatever he wanted to offensively.

Kevin didn't do much else besides shoot a lot last year. He's a poor rebounder, extremely poor defender and wasn't getting anyone else involved offensively.

At least Frank plays defense and he gets other guys involved on the offensive end. He plays the game the right way. So why exactly did Knox see so many minutes last year while Frank was compiling a bunch of DNP-CD's? I'm not trying to divide the forum between these 2 guys, I just don't understand how someone with Frank's talents defensively is riding the pine a good majority of the season while Knox starts every game.

I'm genuinely curious if anyone can give me a logical response to this question, thanks in advance...

Maybe because Frank looks terrified to try to shoot or drive the lane and fiinish...for TWO years. Knox at least had ROTM in December. He also looks to have improved a little in his second SL. As for why last year happened? Fizdale.

Terrified is a bit of a hyperbole but I get what you're saying. What else did Knox do besides shoot a lot last season? At least Frank brings something elite to the table- his defense. What does Knox do that's even considered above average?

he did have Rookie of the Month early on and he can thank the coaching staff for allowing him to play consistent minutes every night. Frank should have the same opportunity to do the same since this team sucks and had no chance of making the playoffs.

He came into the league as a project with good defensive instincts but required several years to potentially start showing what he can do. Last season was the perfect opportunity for him to play a good amount of minutes and learn from his mistakes. No one had a shorter leash than him, it wasn't like he was hoisting up double digit attempts every game and stinking up the joint.

Frank averaged 25 minutes in the first month of the season and had his minute reduced 18 after struggling and then he got hurt. I don't think it's really fair to say he didn't have an opportunity. His injury was what really stole most of his chances for minutes last year.

[ny-n-md]

It's a weird double standard as most mention Frank's poor offense as the reason he doesn't get minutes.

How about Knox? He's just as bad offensively, the only difference is he had terrible shot selection last year and was OK with hoisting up 10-15 FGA's on a nightly basis.

If Frank isn't feeling it offensively, he usually limits himself to only a few shots in the game. He won't shoot you out of a game whereas Knox had the green light to do whatever he wanted to offensively.

Kevin didn't do much else besides shoot a lot last year. He's a poor rebounder, extremely poor defender and wasn't getting anyone else involved offensively.

At least Frank plays defense and he gets other guys involved on the offensive end. He plays the game the right way. So why exactly did Knox see so many minutes last year while Frank was compiling a bunch of DNP-CD's? I'm not trying to divide the forum between these 2 guys, I just don't understand how someone with Frank's talents defensively is riding the pine a good majority of the season while Knox starts every game.

I'm genuinely curious if anyone can give me a logical response to this question, thanks in advance...

I see your point but I think the position they play factors into it. Who was Knox competing against for SF minutes? The opportunity was greater for him with minutes vs Frank getting backcourt minutes with all of the other players.

[Infinitimind]

It's a weird double standard as most mention Frank's poor offense as the reason he doesn't get minutes.

How about Knox? He's just as bad offensively, the only difference is he had terrible shot selection last year and was OK with hoisting up 10-15 FGA's on a nightly basis.

If Frank isn't feeling it offensively, he usually limits himself to only a few shots in the game. He won't shoot you out of a game whereas Knox had the green light to do whatever he wanted to offensively.

Kevin didn't do much else besides shoot a lot last year. He's a poor rebounder, extremely poor defender and wasn't getting anyone else involved offensively.

At least Frank plays defense and he gets other guys involved on the offensive end. He plays the game the right way. So why exactly did Knox see so many minutes last year while Frank was compiling a bunch of DNP-CD's? I'm not trying to divide the forum between these 2 guys, I just don't understand how someone with Frank's talents defensively is riding the pine a good majority of the season while Knox starts every game.

I'm genuinely curious if anyone can give me a logical response to this question, thanks in advance...

Agreed 100 percent, they pretty much let Knox play all the minutes he wanted and take all the shots he wanted no matter. Mean frank was on a tight leash. I believe he was given the same opportunity to play freely be would have look a lot better

[Polk377]

It's a weird double standard as most mention Frank's poor offense as the reason he doesn't get minutes.

How about Knox? He's just as bad offensively, the only difference is he had terrible shot selection last year and was OK with hoisting up 10-15 FGA's on a nightly basis.

If Frank isn't feeling it offensively, he usually limits himself to only a few shots in the game. He won't shoot you out of a game whereas Knox had the green light to do whatever he wanted to offensively.

Kevin didn't do much else besides shoot a lot last year. He's a poor rebounder, extremely poor defender and wasn't getting anyone else involved offensively.

At least Frank plays defense and he gets other guys involved on the offensive end. He plays the game the right way. So why exactly did Knox see so many minutes last year while Frank was compiling a bunch of DNP-CD's? I'm not trying to divide the forum between these 2 guys, I just don't understand how someone with Frank's talents defensively is riding the pine a good majority of the season while Knox starts every game.

I'm genuinely curious if anyone can give me a logical response to this question, thanks in advance...

Agreed 100 percent, they pretty much let Knox play all the minutes he wanted and take all the shots he wanted no matter. Mean frank was on a tight leash. I believe he was given the same opportunity to play freely be would have look a lot better

Frank would have played a good amount of minutes if the groin injury didn't keep him out.

[hatnlvr]

From the outside looking in, it's almost as if they're willing to spend the time to develop all our young guys except Frank. Nobody, and I mean not a single player had a shorter leash than Frank did last season. Why is that, because he was selected by Phil Jackson? That's not a good enough reason to not play our lottery pick and at least give him ample time on the court to work through his mistakes and see if he can develop offensively. He's already shown he can be a very good defender, I just see no reason why they wouldn't allow him the time to show what he can do by giving him consistent minutes. It's not like we were battling for a playofff position, it was a throwaway year.

How can a kid show any improvement on the offensive side when he puts up 3 or 4 shots one game than maybe 6 or 7 the next and than has a bunch of DNP's? None of our guys would develop if they had such sporadic playing time given to them.

We had no problem playing Knox all the time, same with Trier who's many years older than Frank and an expiring guy in Mudiay who seemingly had no future with the team. Let the kid play consistent minutes and if you play him 25+ minutes nightly and he still doesn't improve, than it's on him. You can't possibly blame Frank for his slow progression when the coaching staff and FO doesn't give him ample PT opportunity but will allow all of our other young guys to play through their mistakes. It screams nepotism.

I definitely agree with this point of view. Even after good games Frank had no leash at all. It's almost like Fizdale had no intention on really playing and developing him and he gave every other guard on the team preference over Frank (DSJ was an instant starter the second we traded for him; how the hell does that happen without even a practice?)

I'd love to see Frank develop because he seems like he could be an extremely valuable two way player, but this administration doesn't seem like they want anything to do with him.

[Chanel Bomber]

From the outside looking in, it's almost as if they're willing to spend the time to develop all our young guys except Frank. Nobody, and I mean not a single player had a shorter leash than Frank did last season. Why is that, because he was selected by Phil Jackson? That's not a good enough reason to not play our lottery pick and at least give him ample time on the court to work through his mistakes and see if he can develop offensively. He's already shown he can be a very good defender, I just see no reason why they wouldn't allow him the time to show what he can do by giving him consistent minutes. It's not like we were battling for a playofff position, it was a throwaway year.

How can a kid show any improvement on the offensive side when he puts up 3 or 4 shots one game than maybe 6 or 7 the next and than has a bunch of DNP's? None of our guys would develop if they had such sporadic playing time given to them.

We had no problem playing Knox all the time, same with Trier who's many years older than Frank and an expiring guy in Mudiay who seemingly had no future with the team. Let the kid play consistent minutes and if you play him 25+ minutes nightly and he still doesn't improve, than it's on him. You can't possibly blame Frank for his slow progression when the coaching staff and FO doesn't give him ample PT opportunity but will allow all of our other young guys to play through their mistakes. It screams nepotism.

Frank averaged 21 minutes per game last season. That is significant playing time. They played him at the point and as a wing. He underperformed in both roles. Mitch averaged fewer minutes than Frank and he balled out. Yes, I can blame Frank for his slow progression and I will.

You can say you believe in Frank's upside and thus he deserves minutes. Or that as a rule of thumb young players need to play no matter how it impacts winning. But to act as if the coaching staff didn't give Frank a chance, or that he shouldn't be held accountable for his own failures, makes 0 sense and doesn't reflect reality in my opinion. The breastfeeding needs to stop.

You mention Trier (who cares about his age by the way?), he had a stellar .564 TS% in his rookie season. Frank's .417 TS% as a sophomore was the worst among all rotation players in the NBA. The gap between the two is just enormous and more significant than whatever edge Frank has on defense.

Edit: I agree about Knox, considering how inefficient he was and how selfishly he played, he didn't deserve more minutes than Frank, especially since he was a sieve on defense as well.

[hatnlvr]

From the outside looking in, it's almost as if they're willing to spend the time to develop all our young guys except Frank. Nobody, and I mean not a single player had a shorter leash than Frank did last season. Why is that, because he was selected by Phil Jackson? That's not a good enough reason to not play our lottery pick and at least give him ample time on the court to work through his mistakes and see if he can develop offensively. He's already shown he can be a very good defender, I just see no reason why they wouldn't allow him the time to show what he can do by giving him consistent minutes. It's not like we were battling for a playofff position, it was a throwaway year.

How can a kid show any improvement on the offensive side when he puts up 3 or 4 shots one game than maybe 6 or 7 the next and than has a bunch of DNP's? None of our guys would develop if they had such sporadic playing time given to them.

We had no problem playing Knox all the time, same with Trier who's many years older than Frank and an expiring guy in Mudiay who seemingly had no future with the team. Let the kid play consistent minutes and if you play him 25+ minutes nightly and he still doesn't improve, than it's on him. You can't possibly blame Frank for his slow progression when the coaching staff and FO doesn't give him ample PT opportunity but will allow all of our other young guys to play through their mistakes. It screams nepotism.

Frank averaged 21 minutes per game last season. That is significant playing time. They played him at the point and as a wing. He underperformed in both roles. Mitch averaged less minutes than Frank and he balled out. Yes, I can blame Frank for his slow progression and I will.

You can say you believe in Frank's upside and thus he deserves minutes. Or that as a rule of thumb young players need to play no matter how it impacts winning. But to act as if the coaching staff didn't give Frank a chance, or that he shouldn't be held accountable for his own failures, makes 0 sense and doesn't reflect reality in my opinion. The breastfeeding needs to stop.

You mention Trier (who cares about his age by the way?), he had a stellar .564 TS% in his rookie season. Frank's .417 TS% as a sophomore was the worst among all rotation players in the NBA. The gap between the two is just enormous and more significant than whatever edge Frank has on defense.

Edit: I agree about Knox, considering how inefficient he was and how selfishly he played, he didn't deserve more minutes than Frank, especially since he was a sieve on defense as well.

So in an age of analytics and a team that swears they are using analytics, every analytic said Frank played best at PG with the ball in his hands, but before even coaching him one game Fiz was already talking about making him a wing and taking the ball out of his hands

So when we say we are developing young players (which is why Knox & Trier had no leash and were allowed to play through everything), we put a ball and chain on the 2nd youngest player on the roster and placed him last on every depth chart? We say he should be accountable as a 19 year old player in his 2nd year but no one else should? Why does Knox get to have the lowest defensive efficiency on the planet with no leash? This argument only works if applied equally across the roster.

Mitch didn't play more because the dude skipped a year of ball and what flat out in horrible shape! They had to monitor his minutes because his tongue was wagging on the floor within 30 seconds of stepping onto the court.

Our best defensive units last year all included Frank (Frank/Dot & Mitch), but I guess since he isn't an AAU dash to the basket player none of that should actually be worth anything.

[Jalen Bluntson]

From the outside looking in, it's almost as if they're willing to spend the time to develop all our young guys except Frank. Nobody, and I mean not a single player had a shorter leash than Frank did last season. Why is that, because he was selected by Phil Jackson? That's not a good enough reason to not play our lottery pick and at least give him ample time on the court to work through his mistakes and see if he can develop offensively. He's already shown he can be a very good defender, I just see no reason why they wouldn't allow him the time to show what he can do by giving him consistent minutes. It's not like we were battling for a playofff position, it was a throwaway year.

How can a kid show any improvement on the offensive side when he puts up 3 or 4 shots one game than maybe 6 or 7 the next and than has a bunch of DNP's? None of our guys would develop if they had such sporadic playing time given to them.

We had no problem playing Knox all the time, same with Trier who's many years older than Frank and an expiring guy in Mudiay who seemingly had no future with the team. Let the kid play consistent minutes and if you play him 25+ minutes nightly and he still doesn't improve, than it's on him. You can't possibly blame Frank for his slow progression when the coaching staff and FO doesn't give him ample PT opportunity but will allow all of our other young guys to play through their mistakes. It screams nepotism.

Frank averaged 21 minutes per game last season. That is significant playing time. They played him at the point and as a wing. He underperformed in both roles. Mitch averaged less minutes than Frank and he balled out. Yes, I can blame Frank for his slow progression and I will.

You can say you believe in Frank's upside and thus he deserves minutes. Or that as a rule of thumb young players need to play no matter how it impacts winning. But to act as if the coaching staff didn't give Frank a chance, or that he shouldn't be held accountable for his own failures, makes 0 sense and doesn't reflect reality in my opinion. The breastfeeding needs to stop.

You mention Trier (who cares about his age by the way?), he had a stellar .564 TS% in his rookie season. Frank's .417 TS% as a sophomore was the worst among all rotation players in the NBA. The gap between the two is just enormous and more significant than whatever edge Frank has on defense.

Edit: I agree about Knox, considering how inefficient he was and how selfishly he played, he didn't deserve more minutes than Frank, especially since he was a sieve on defense as well.

So in an age of analytics and a team that swears they are using analytics, every analytic said Frank played best at PG with the ball in his hands, but before even coaching him one game Fiz was already talking about making him a wing and taking the ball out of his hands

So when we say we are developing young players (which is why Knox & Trier had no leash and were allowed to play through everything), we put a ball and chain on the 2nd youngest player on the roster and placed him last on every depth chart? We say he should be accountable as a 19 year old player in his 2nd year but no one else should? Why does Knox get to have the lowest defensive efficiency on the planet with no leash? This argument only works if applied equally across the roster.

Mitch didn't play more because the dude skipped a year of ball and what flat out in horrible shape! They had to monitor his minutes because his tongue was wagging on the floor within 30 seconds of stepping onto the court.

Our best defensive units last year all included Frank (Frank/Dot & Mitch), but I guess since he isn't an AAU dash to the basket player none of that should actually be worth anything.

He has had various minor injuries over the 1st 2 years that cost him time. Then the Jeff leash....continued by Fiz...which is inexplicable. No one here has any clue why either. All we can hope for is that he somehow rises above everything and becomes a good player for the Knicks. Bottom line. He has shown zero effort offensively. That has to change. Otherwise...he'll be a bust.

[jvsimonetti0514]

From the outside looking in, it's almost as if they're willing to spend the time to develop all our young guys except Frank. Nobody, and I mean not a single player had a shorter leash than Frank did last season. Why is that, because he was selected by Phil Jackson? That's not a good enough reason to not play our lottery pick and at least give him ample time on the court to work through his mistakes and see if he can develop offensively. He's already shown he can be a very good defender, I just see no reason why they wouldn't allow him the time to show what he can do by giving him consistent minutes. It's not like we were battling for a playofff position, it was a throwaway year.

How can a kid show any improvement on the offensive side when he puts up 3 or 4 shots one game than maybe 6 or 7 the next and than has a bunch of DNP's? None of our guys would develop if they had such sporadic playing time given to them.

We had no problem playing Knox all the time, same with Trier who's many years older than Frank and an expiring guy in Mudiay who seemingly had no future with the team. Let the kid play consistent minutes and if you play him 25+ minutes nightly and he still doesn't improve, than it's on him. You can't possibly blame Frank for his slow progression when the coaching staff and FO doesn't give him ample PT opportunity but will allow all of our other young guys to play through their mistakes. It screams nepotism.

Frank averaged 21 minutes per game last season. That is significant playing time. They played him at the point and as a wing. He underperformed in both roles. Mitch averaged less minutes than Frank and he balled out. Yes, I can blame Frank for his slow progression and I will.

You can say you believe in Frank's upside and thus he deserves minutes. Or that as a rule of thumb young players need to play no matter how it impacts winning. But to act as if the coaching staff didn't give Frank a chance, or that he shouldn't be held accountable for his own failures, makes 0 sense and doesn't reflect reality in my opinion. The breastfeeding needs to stop.

You mention Trier (who cares about his age by the way?), he had a stellar .564 TS% in his rookie season. Frank's .417 TS% as a sophomore was the worst among all rotation players in the NBA. The gap between the two is just enormous and more significant than whatever edge Frank has on defense.

Edit: I agree about Knox, considering how inefficient he was and how selfishly he played, he didn't deserve more minutes than Frank, especially since he was a sieve on defense as well.

So in an age of analytics and a team that swears they are using analytics, every analytic said Frank played best at PG with the ball in his hands, but before even coaching him one game Fiz was already talking about making him a wing and taking the ball out of his hands

So when we say we are developing young players (which is why Knox & Trier had no leash and were allowed to play through everything), we put a ball and chain on the 2nd youngest player on the roster and placed him last on every depth chart? We say he should be accountable as a 19 year old player in his 2nd year but no one else should? Why does Knox get to have the lowest defensive efficiency on the planet with no leash? This argument only works if applied equally across the roster.

Mitch didn't play more because the dude skipped a year of ball and what flat out in horrible shape! They had to monitor his minutes because his tongue was wagging on the floor within 30 seconds of stepping onto the court.

Our best defensive units last year all included Frank (Frank/Dot & Mitch), but I guess since he isn't an AAU dash to the basket player none of that should actually be worth anything.

Citation on this because I severely doubt this is true. I do remember we averaged more passes per game at point but that’s about it. This stat better not have anything to do with him being on the floor with Timmy was averaging 26 ppg because his hot start really inflated a lot of early season line up combos.

[malik959]

I don't get the "Hopefully" part. If he can't beat DSJ, Payton, Trier, RJ, Ellington, Dot and earn his minutes, what is there to "hope" for?

Why should Frank be "given" consistent minutes? Nah, he needs to earn those minutes.

I'm tired of hearing about what he should be given or what chances he is owed when he's been one of the worst rotation players in the entire NBA in his first two seasons. He needs to be held accountable by the organization and Knicks fans alike. Not coming at you personally aside from the first paragraph, your post just elicited this reaction from me.

If you want the 10 best offensive players which people on this site seem to believe best offensive players equals best overall players. Then he won’t play.


If you actually want to play the 10 most impactful players because half the game is played on defense then he should play because he is the only perimeter defender on the team outside of maybe bullock and he’s hurt.

I understand the value of defense. But Frank's edge on defense versus his competition doesn't make up for the enormous gap in offensive efficiency/ability in my opinion. He's been historically inept on the offensive side, and sorry but he's regressed (or stagnated if you prefer) defensively from his rookie season. He's a good defender, but let's not act as if he were this All-NBA wing defender while the other guards are complete liabilities on that end. As an example, DSJ has shown fight defensively and the new DRAYMOND metric actually corroborates that. Not saying he's all that either.

In any case, I was only saying he needs to earn his minutes and that they shouldn't be "given" to him. I don't see how that's unreasonable, however you consider earning minutes should be defined. I'm not saying he should rot on the bench either. He still has room to improve. But he needs to show a lot more. His .417 TS% was worst in the league amongst rotation players who played more than 6 games last year. Sorry if I need to see more from him.

Tell me something, would you consider a player like Rondo valuable? For the 13-14 years that Rondo has been in the league he's only shot above 30% from 3 like 6 times, He didn't average 10apg until his 5th year, and he has never averaged more than 65% from the free throw. Now I can see Frank becoming a Beverly type of player, where he can defend the opponents best players and control the pace on offense. When Frank plays more than 25 minutes per. game his +/- is through the roof. Playing with a great pick an pop/roll player like Randle is a positive. He looked great next to KP. Frank isn't a player that needs the ball in his hands and just needs to hit his open shots in-which that is what he's working on. It's only been two years, HE WILL GET IT!

[HarthorneWingo]

Frank hasn’t even shown he can handle the basics of PG position at a collegiate level.

If you define the basics as come up the floor, dribble around for 20 seconds and take an ill advised shot then yes, Frank has not.

I don't know what you have been watching but the kid is as fundamentally sound as they come as a playmaker. Frank gets the ball early, pushes the pace, keeps his head up and more times than not hits the right man. He also has patience and allows the 2nd or 3rd option to get free. The only thing holding him back has been his inconsistent jump shot. Everything else he is average to good at.

With that said, I do think Frank should play more wing than PG this year.

I’m referring to his tentativeness, inability to keep his dribble, inability to break down the defense or get in the lane. These are things that should be fundamental for a PG at this level.

It's all mental. Lack of confidence. The organization showed a lack of faith in Frank when Fizdale came in and it affected him. Then he got hurt.

[Kidknick!]

Can't score, can barely distribute at a median rate and can't stay healthy. Frank is teasing you all. He's dunzo.

[NYKAL]

It's a weird double standard as most mention Frank's poor offense as the reason he doesn't get minutes.

How about Knox? He's just as bad offensively, the only difference is he had terrible shot selection last year and was OK with hoisting up 10-15 FGA's on a nightly basis.

If Frank isn't feeling it offensively, he usually limits himself to only a few shots in the game. He won't shoot you out of a game whereas Knox had the green light to do whatever he wanted to offensively.

Kevin didn't do much else besides shoot a lot last year. He's a poor rebounder, extremely poor defender and wasn't getting anyone else involved offensively.

At least Frank plays defense and he gets other guys involved on the offensive end. He plays the game the right way. So why exactly did Knox see so many minutes last year while Frank was compiling a bunch of DNP-CD's? I'm not trying to divide the forum between these 2 guys, I just don't understand how someone with Frank's talents defensively is riding the pine a good majority of the season while Knox starts every game.

I'm genuinely curious if anyone can give me a logical response to this question, thanks in advance...

I see your point but I think the position they play factors into it. Who was Knox competing against for SF minutes? The opportunity was greater for him with minutes vs Frank getting backcourt minutes with all of the other players.

yeah, I agree with the argument that Knox was able to get more pt because of the lack of competition at his position. All Frank had to do was show he was better than Burke or Mud even before DSJ got here and he never came close to separating himself from those 2. I've always said I like him but, I think at this point he'll only see pt if one of our guards is being absolutely torched.

[DrCoach]

Frank should be developed into a Iguodala role.

He’s already a elite defender, be versatile , initiate offense, work on 3pt shot