The Next Official All things Frank Ntilikina Thread

[Deeeez Knicks]

they should be developing frank because they drafted him and there is some potential. but let's be honest, is frank currently a better player than dennis or payton ? i don't even like those 2 and i have to admit no. so on merit i don't see how he gets minutes. now, they have let some other guys play last year who didn't deserve it and why they didn't do that with frank is questionable but just on ability, he's the 3rd pg. for now at least. maybe he'll work his way into the rotation on a permanent basis sometime during the year.

Payton might be better right now, but I really don't see him being good enough where it should block Frank's development especially in our situation. Frank could easily end up the better player especially if he can keep up his play in the tournament.

Payton is not a good defender and provides no spacing so see him as a liability a lot of times. But Perry likes him and maybe he's Fiz's type of player so will probably get a lot of time.

they should have never got payton, but they did. they're not gonna just bench him now.

Payton, Bullock, Ellington...probably didnt need all 4 of Morris, Taj, Randle, Portis too. There will def be some unhappy players.

[VECTORMAN]

Fiz has his work cut out for him splitting up minutes. Hopefully it doesn't become a mess of Hornacek proportions.

DSJ/Frank
RJ/Trier
Knox/Iggy
Randle/Morris
Mitch/Portis

That's the rotation I want to see. Hoping both DSJ and Frank have breakout seasons and can coexist, but giving Payton a ton of burn for his steady hand is going to make that difficult. Also looks like Dotson might be on the outside looking in. Not all that worried about Ellington and Bullock taking away too many minutes, but you never know.

Fingers crossed and God speed to Fiz.

[Jeff Van Gully]

Payton might be better right now, but I really don't see him being good enough where it should block Frank's development especially in our situation. Frank could easily end up the better player especially if he can keep up his play in the tournament.

Payton is not a good defender and provides no spacing so see him as a liability a lot of times. But Perry likes him and maybe he's Fiz's type of player so will probably get a lot of time.

they should have never got payton, but they did. they're not gonna just bench him now.

Payton, Bullock, Ellington...probably didnt need all 4 of Morris, Taj, Randle, Portis too. There will def be some unhappy players.

morris and knox probably split the time at the 3. taj gets whatever randle leaves. knox probably eats into that. portis and mitch split the 5.

morris 30/knox 18
randle 32/taj 10/knox 6
mitch 26/portis 22

and i think taj gets the squeeze if knox does well with that initial 24. based on matchups i could see randle bleeding into the 5 mix and RJ bleeding into the 3.

now, those guard minutes...

[Deeeez Knicks]

they should have never got payton, but they did. they're not gonna just bench him now.

Payton, Bullock, Ellington...probably didnt need all 4 of Morris, Taj, Randle, Portis too. There will def be some unhappy players.

morris and knox probably split the time at the 3. taj gets whatever randle leaves. knox probably eats into that. portis and mitch split the 5.

morris 30/knox 18
randle 32/taj 10/knox 6
mitch 26/portis 22

and i think taj gets the squeeze if knox does well with that initial 24. based on matchups i could see randle bleeding into the 5 mix and RJ bleeding into the 3.

now, those guard minutes...

I can see it working out to be something like that.

But it looks clunky to me. Morris is more of a 4 and I would like to see Knox get more minutes at the 4 in small ball lineups. Randle/Portis should probably never play at the same time due to their defensive shortcomings. Iggy could be a player that deserves minutes too at the 3 or 4.

It just seems like it can be a bad mix if Fiz tries to force all the vets into the rotation. Or players may become unhappy/distractions.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Oh look...Frank getting props now...how cute.

[iLLmatic860]

Oh look...Frank getting props now...how cute.

Majority of Knicks fans must be women. We so bipolar and delusional

[GONYK]

Payton, Bullock, Ellington...probably didnt need all 4 of Morris, Taj, Randle, Portis too. There will def be some unhappy players.

morris and knox probably split the time at the 3. taj gets whatever randle leaves. knox probably eats into that. portis and mitch split the 5.

morris 30/knox 18
randle 32/taj 10/knox 6
mitch 26/portis 22

and i think taj gets the squeeze if knox does well with that initial 24. based on matchups i could see randle bleeding into the 5 mix and RJ bleeding into the 3.

now, those guard minutes...

I can see it working out to be something like that.

But it looks clunky to me. Morris is more of a 4 and I would like to see Knox get more minutes at the 4 in small ball lineups. Randle/Portis should probably never play at the same time due to their defensive shortcomings. Iggy could be a player that deserves minutes too at the 3 or 4.

It just seems like it can be a bad mix if Fiz tries to force all the vets into the rotation. Or players may become unhappy/distractions.

I think Randle is going to play more 5 than people anticipate

[Knicksfan1992]

Oh look...Frank getting props now...how cute.

LOL as if half this board hasn't slurped Frank up for years now

[thebuzzardman]

morris and knox probably split the time at the 3. taj gets whatever randle leaves. knox probably eats into that. portis and mitch split the 5.

morris 30/knox 18
randle 32/taj 10/knox 6
mitch 26/portis 22

and i think taj gets the squeeze if knox does well with that initial 24. based on matchups i could see randle bleeding into the 5 mix and RJ bleeding into the 3.

now, those guard minutes...

I can see it working out to be something like that.

But it looks clunky to me. Morris is more of a 4 and I would like to see Knox get more minutes at the 4 in small ball lineups. Randle/Portis should probably never play at the same time due to their defensive shortcomings. Iggy could be a player that deserves minutes too at the 3 or 4.

It just seems like it can be a bad mix if Fiz tries to force all the vets into the rotation. Or players may become unhappy/distractions.

I think Randle is going to play more 5 than people anticipate

Yup. Not sure why anyone wouldn't factor that in.
First off, with both LA and the Pelicants, he excelled as a small ball 5, at times.

Also, Fiz, during his coaching hiatus, was positively drooling in regards to Randle as a small ball 5.

I think Randle sees at least 15 mpg at C. And around 20 at "PF". And reducing Randles minutes at PF opens some more minutes there for Morris. Which opens up some minutes at SF for Knox, or whoever. (Iggy, Dotson, Frank)

[thebuzzardman]

Fiz has his work cut out for him splitting up minutes. Hopefully it doesn't become a mess of Hornacek proportions.

DSJ/Frank
RJ/Trier
Knox/Iggy
Randle/Morris
Mitch/Portis

That's the rotation I want to see. Hoping both DSJ and Frank have breakout seasons and can coexist, but giving Payton a ton of burn for his steady hand is going to make that difficult. Also looks like Dotson might be on the outside looking in. Not all that worried about Ellington and Bullock taking away too many minutes, but you never know.

Fingers crossed and God speed to Fiz.

No way Payton plays less than 18 mpg

[Jalen Bluntson]

Oh look...Frank getting props now...how cute.

LOL as if half this board hasn't slurped Frank up for years now

Yeah...it's the other half of the board I'm talking about. People not willing to give the kid any room to grow. Clueless.

[Gravy]

Frank will need to score more than 5 points a game in the NBA if he is to get significant playing time. Payton may be insurance in case he's not able to do that.

[Nazrmohamed]

Fiz has his work cut out for him splitting up minutes. Hopefully it doesn't become a mess of Hornacek proportions.

DSJ/Frank
RJ/Trier
Knox/Iggy
Randle/Morris
Mitch/Portis

That's the rotation I want to see. Hoping both DSJ and Frank have breakout seasons and can coexist, but giving Payton a ton of burn for his steady hand is going to make that difficult. Also looks like Dotson might be on the outside looking in. Not all that worried about Ellington and Bullock taking away too many minutes, but you never know.

Fingers crossed and God speed to Fiz.

Your roster is nice and neat but I just cant see Morris staying happy at backup PF when he could also play SF and played in an ECF recently, nor should he while Knox shoots 40% if that.

I just think the Knicks overdid it with the amount of vets they signed who play similar positions. They've effectively created thier own cancers.

[Besart19]

We going after a all star guard in mid-season!

Lillard, Oladipo, Beal or Booker!

Payton and all those contracts are needed to match the salaries while we attach our plenty picks to get one of them

Ntilikina / Allen
Booker / Trier
Barrett / Knox
Randle / Morris
Robinson / Portis

[BLACKFEET 2010]

We going after a all star guard in mid-season!

Lillard, Oladipo, Beal or Booker!

Payton and all those contracts are needed to match the salaries while we attach our plenty picks to get one of them

I could see Jamal Murray

[Besart19]

We going after a all star guard in mid-season!

Lillard, Oladipo, Beal or Booker!

Payton and all those contracts are needed to match the salaries while we attach our plenty picks to get one of them

I could see Jamal Murray

I woudnt be suprised...

Payton, Ellington, Ignas, Gibson, Dotson and Smith might be useful under Malone plus the picks we have and they dont in years to come

[Tron Carter]

OG FrankFROOTERS right now

checking in..

[Zenzibar]

Fiz has his work cut out for him splitting up minutes. Hopefully it doesn't become a mess of Hornacek proportions.

DSJ/Frank
RJ/Trier
Knox/Iggy
Randle/Morris
Mitch/Portis

That's the rotation I want to see. Hoping both DSJ and Frank have breakout seasons and can coexist, but giving Payton a ton of burn for his steady hand is going to make that difficult. Also looks like Dotson might be on the outside looking in. Not all that worried about Ellington and Bullock taking away too many minutes, but you never know.

Fingers crossed and God speed to Fiz.

Nice post.

Fiz and staff are definately hitting the films and analyzing "data"...jj

In accordance and from my perspective it goes a little further than just minutes. A more telling coaching skillset is how the players react to Fiz's decisions.

Do we have the single-mindedness that comes from veteran leadership? If we're to make the anticipatef noise this year, the veterans, like Morris, Taj, Bullock Ellington and Lance, need to hold the focus consistently right.

Let's reminisce a little. The last year we made a strong run we had amazing leadership. If Kidd didnt fade (old-timer), we would have gone further no doubt about it, IMO.
( we should take note that current good veterans around the league having this skillset, are taking notice. )

The Knicks are paying handsomely for them to come here and show their worth.
Additionally and ignored by nauseating Nets fans, is that management has taken good care of vets like Wellington. Showing the players union, agents and players alike, that these Knicks take good care of our own.

So, when the going gets tough, which vet is going to help Fiz hold it together?
Lance Thomas as a long time Knicks vet, helped keep last year's kids competitive.
This year he has help.

True and to your point, Fiz gotta get the right lineups etc together, while these tough assembled vets, must lead by example and trust the process.

[thebuzzardman]

Fiz has his work cut out for him splitting up minutes. Hopefully it doesn't become a mess of Hornacek proportions.

DSJ/Frank
RJ/Trier
Knox/Iggy
Randle/Morris
Mitch/Portis

That's the rotation I want to see. Hoping both DSJ and Frank have breakout seasons and can coexist, but giving Payton a ton of burn for his steady hand is going to make that difficult. Also looks like Dotson might be on the outside looking in. Not all that worried about Ellington and Bullock taking away too many minutes, but you never know.

Fingers crossed and God speed to Fiz.

Nice post.

Fiz and staff are definately hitting the films and analyzing "data"...jj

In accordance and from my perspective it goes a little further than just minutes. A more telling coaching skillset is how the players react to Fiz's decisions.

Do we have the single-mindedness that comes from veteran leadership? If we're to make the anticipatef noise this year, the veterans, like Morris, Taj, Bullock Ellington and Lance, need to hold the focus consistently right.

Let's reminisce a little. The last year we made a strong run we had amazing leadership. If Kidd didnt fade (old-timer), we would have gone further no doubt about it, IMO.
( we should take note that current good veterans around the league having this skillset, are taking notice. )

The Knicks are paying handsomely for them to come here and show their worth.
Additionally and ignored by nauseating Nets fans, is that management has taken good care of vets like Wellington. Showing the players union, agents and players alike, that these Knicks take good care of our own.

So, when the going gets tough, which vet is going to help Fiz hold it together?
Lance Thomas as a long time Knicks vet, helped keep last year's kids competitive.
This year he has help.

True and to your point, Fiz gotta get the right lineups etc together, while these tough assembled vets, must lead by example and trust the process.

He has been purged from the body Knick, praise Jesus

[Jalen Bluntson]

Fiz has his work cut out for him splitting up minutes. Hopefully it doesn't become a mess of Hornacek proportions.

DSJ/Frank
RJ/Trier
Knox/Iggy
Randle/Morris
Mitch/Portis

That's the rotation I want to see. Hoping both DSJ and Frank have breakout seasons and can coexist, but giving Payton a ton of burn for his steady hand is going to make that difficult. Also looks like Dotson might be on the outside looking in. Not all that worried about Ellington and Bullock taking away too many minutes, but you never know.

Fingers crossed and God speed to Fiz.

Your roster is nice and neat but I just cant see Morris staying happy at backup PF when he could also play SF and played in an ECF recently, nor should he while Knox shoots 40% if that.

I just think the Knicks overdid it with the amount of vets they signed who play similar positions. They've effectively created thier own cancers.

They signed too many players...sort of. We have plenty of trade chips at least. It's on Fiz to make sense of things. It's on players to earn their minutes. I can't see the team going all in for wins and ignore the youth. Do you really see Payton/Ellington/Morris/Randle/Portis starting with Taj/Bullock getting big roles/minutes? If that happens...FIRE EVERYONE!!

Players that will be fighting for minutes...Frank/Dot/Trier/Ellington/Iggy. Bullock most likely never plays. RJ will get rookie treatment.

Payton and DSJ will play no matter who starts. Frank will be fighting to get PG minutes.
Not sure who starts. RJ will get minutes. Probably in the 20mpg range. Frank/Dot/Trier/Ellington will battle for the rest.
Morris most likely starts. Knox will play. Iggy/Dot fight for scraps.
Randle will start. Taj/Morris will fight for scraps.
Mitch/Portis/Taj/Randle will all play the 5. I would expect Mitch/Portis getting the bulk.

I don't like the log jams and I'm hoping the kids are priorites. Beyond that...who knows what will happen?