Knicks camp/preseason thread - Link in OP

[HEZI]

Randle is pretty much the new ZBo

[Kampuchea]

Randle is still trending upwards as he’s 24. He should naturally improve the next 2 seasons and reach his peak at 26/27. Him not improving would be a surprise.

I think he can be that second guy or third. We have no firsts though unless RJ shocks us.

[dakomish23]

Randle will be great. Mitch will be great.

Our fate is in the hands of the 1-3 rotation. It comes down to the kids.

[3toheadmelo]

His per36 numbers compare to a Montrezl Harrell or Siakam type

I mean, he's good but I don't think you can get very far with him as your best player

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If your best player simply can’t just will a team to victory late in games it’s tough to be a good team because so many games are won and lost in the 4th qtr. randle isn’t a guy you can just give the ball and get out of the way because you know he’s going to make a play.

No fault of his own he’s just not that dude.

he seems to be working on his handle and shooting off the dribble a lot this summer but he definitely hasn't been that guy in the past. the closer on this team will probably be trier. the way lou williams was for the clippers last year. maybe rj too if his jumper looks better than expected to start the season. but probably trier.

[3toheadmelo]

Dont sleep on the beast

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[HerSports85]

Dont sleep on the beast

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Nope let them keep doubting.

[Gravy]

Payton is only 25, its not a Jarrett Jack situation. If he's pretty good and by far our best pg then we should keep him. DSJ and Frank wont have the rookie deal excuse much longer.

[GONYK]

Knox looks like a legit comic book hero

[iLLmatic860]

Randle is pretty much the new ZBo

Knicks Zbo or Grizz zbo?

[BKlutch]

Harden just tried his 1 legged fade away and bricked lol

You can never be 3tohead Harden

[G_K_F]

Knox gained muscle. Real muscle, not the fantasy 'he looks bigger' stuff of training camp lore.

Just hope he uses it to drive into the paint instead of launching contested low percentage shots.

[robillionaire]

Knox gained muscle. Real muscle, not the fantasy 'he looks bigger' stuff of training camp lore.

Just hope he uses it to drive into the paint instead of launching contested low percentage shots.

Well, he specifically said he was going to try to eliminate those from his game during he press conference so we can hope for improvement in that area

[BKlutch]

Knox put on more muscle in one summer as a 19/20 year old than KP in 4 full years

But Janis!

[BKlutch]

I would rather him get some minutes at the 1, he run's the pnr very well.

Thats very interesting.
At times i feel the knicks may not need to in case of a matchup like curry but theortically rj at the 1 can give the knicks the strongest backcourt possible.

Who's RJ guarding if he's at the 1? The opposing team's PG? You sure about that?

Are you forgetting this is the team that started Mudiay?

[thebuzzardman]

Depth is never a problem in and of itself. It's worked for Denver for a number of years. Obviously top end talent matters.

Some players will be unhappy this year. At least, I hope so. It will mean Fiz mostly set a rotation. And Frank, who I like, will probably be one of those unhappy players. I think I'd still rather the rotation be mostly set, if performing well at all, then that tinkering BS like last year. Until trades happen, or not.

The determining factor will be Wins.

If, as expected, wins are hard to come by then Fizdale is in an impossible situation. Imagine Fiz benching Marcus Morris while the team is losing.

Rarely does this type of roster construction work especially with guys on short term deals because like you said egos and people’s futures are in play. The only thing that could save this from potentially blowing up is wins and most don’t have us winning more than 30 games so we won’t get any relief there.

But to your point is Marcus Morris going to be happy playing less minutes that Knox if Knox is struggling?

Payton for some reason was already guaranteed minutes and fiz already said it’s an open competition so one of DsJ or frank who we should be developing is getting benched.

It’s just odd...more is not always better. I get the point of wanting to be more competitive but sometimes you can go too far.

A little off topic in that I'm about to focus on Knox via talking about the roster, so here goes. I think it's pretty clear I'm pro "play the youth" and was also an advocate of tanking (b*tching about Fiz losing while that happened, aside )

Anyway, Morris will get enough playing time and some of it will come at the expense of Knox. Because both Knox, and the Knicks know that Knox got too many minutes last year, even though, surprisingly, he averaged only 28 mpg. Because it sure SEEMED like Knox played like 35 minutes a game.

So, why only 28? Knicks ran a lot of 3 guard sets. Ok, that was besides the point.

Anyway, Knox played enough minutes, even with a lot of 3 guard sets, because after Knox and Vonleh, who were the Knicks awesome options at the 3 and the 4? LFT and Mario. I mean, they are what they are, which is "ok", but the Knicks properly let get Knox get minutes as they didn't have a ton of SF or particularly, PF depth. I think Knox wound up with an average of about 10 mpg at PF.

I think the Knicks and Knox kind of understand, developmentally, if he goes down to 20 mpg this year, it's not a bad thing.

To beat the same dead horse about line ups, I still think Randle starts at 4, Morris at 3, Mitch at 5, Mitch takes a seat first and Randle slides to 5 and Morris to 4, Knox in at 3.

After that, I'm not going to try to figure out substitutions or the rotation, other than Trier, Payton and Portis seem like likely candidates along with Knox to be part of the 9 regular players with higher minutes.

[thebuzzardman]

Dont sleep on the beast

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Everybody drools over the other players; Knicks get a variation on those guys and like 30% of the board is down on him. Yay!

[GONYK]

Dont sleep on the beast

Read on Twitter

Everybody drools over the other players; Knicks get a variation on those guys and like 30% of the board is down on him. Yay!

Are we credibly trying to make the case that Randle is on the same level as Anthony Davis, Lebron, and Giannis?

[thebuzzardman]

Just for clarity sake, I want to point out that people are worried about the wings and PF's signed and if Knox won't play enough, but last year the SF/PF depth chart was this:

Knox/Mario
Vonleh/LFT

Yeah, I'm ok with the Knicks adding Morris and Randle and Portis and even Bullock.

[thebuzzardman]

Dont sleep on the beast

Read on Twitter

Everybody drools over the other players; Knicks get a variation on those guys and like 30% of the board is down on him. Yay!

Are we credibly trying to make the case that Randle is on the same level as Anthony Davis, Lebron, and Giannis?

Did the word "variation" escape your attention?

I don't think he's on those levels at all. There might be an argument for Towns, though I think Towns has accomplished more, earlier in his career. At least there is a match there in all around offensively gifted bigs with obvious defensive deficiencies.

So, maybe Randle got 3 or 4 extra million a year. He's young, and it's 2 year deal with a TEAM option for 3. Though there is 4 million in guaranteed money. So while there is an "out" for the Knicks if need be, there is that cap hit in year 3. Can't complain, personally. Good player, good contract, still young, might get better, no long term commitment if he doesn't.

[Deeeez Knicks]

Randle is a good player, but I think its tough to build a good team with him.

Overall I am not really a fan of bigs that are bad on defense....with maybe a few exceptions