While some fans in New York may have been happy to see the Carmelo Anthony era come to an end last month, Anthony’s Knicks teammates weren’t among those that wanted to see him go. As Ian Begley of ESPN details, Anthony was the Knicks’ recipient of the Teammate of The Year award in 2017, an award voted on by his peers.
Begley passes along quotes from several of Anthony’s former teammates in New York, all of whom had nothing but praise for the veteran forward. Mindaugas Kuzminskas, for instance, wasn’t sure Anthony would know who he was when he arrived in New York last season, and was surprised when his All-Star teammate approached him with questions about his Olympic experience.
“Probably the biggest thing that I learned from ‘Melo is that even being a huge star, huge player, you can be still a great person, great teammate,” Kuzminskas said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a rookie or a veteran. He’s going to treat you the same way.”
While Anthony received plenty of questions about his time in New York and his recent departure from the Knicks in the days leading up to Thursday’s Thunder/Knicks showdown, the newest member of the Thunder is eager to move on, telling reporters after OKC’s opening-night win that it’s time to close that chapter. “No more Knicks talk,” Anthony said, according to ESPN’s Royce Young.
Stop reading now, ‘Melo, because we’ve got more Knicks talk below…
- While there weren’t a ton of positives for the Knicks in Thursday’s loss to the Thunder, the play of Kristaps Porzingis was a bright spot. Porzingis is showing that he can be a worthy successor to Anthony, according to Ian Begley, who has the details in a story for ESPN.com.
- Another one of the Knicks’ young building blocks, Willy Hernangomez, barely saw any action in the Knicks’ opener. It was a surprising decision, but Jeff Hornacek defended the call by pointing out that Enes Kanter and Kyle O’Quinn earned playing time with their preseason performances, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. “I think the coach wants to see my effort on defense,” Hernangomez said. “That’s why I have to keep working hard everyday.”
- The Knicks’ point guard situation was viewed as perhaps the worst in the league entering the season, and the club’s play on Thursday didn’t do much to change that perception. One NBA scout who spoke to Marc Berman of The New York Post suggests that the Knicks might as well throw rookie Frank Ntilikina “to the wolves” and let him play major minutes.
Porzingis should be at the 5. They’re finally out of Phil Jackson, and they still havent done that lol.
If they’re healthy, Ntilikina and Beasley should start. From what I’ve seen from him, although limited, Ntilikina is a pretty smart player. He seems to know how to play. He can defend. I think he can shoot it at least decently right now. I think he should just start b/c they need to get him time on the floor, especially with Porzingis, and he can ease into it by playing with a couple of veteran players that can score.
Ntilikina, Hardaway, Lee, Beasley, Porzingis
Thats the simple situation for right now. As for the outlook of the franchise, it’s obvious what needs to probably happen, but that’s a different discussion
What? KP at the 5? I don’t think so. Beasley start? I’m not sure how he’s still on a roster in the NBA.
Dude, KP isn’t suited to play the 5, he’s a 4. Why would you not play KP, to his strengths?
KP playing at the 5 isn’t an option, Phil Jackson or no Phil Jackson. You only do that out of desperation. KP is a prototypical, modern day NBA 4. One of the best in the business.
Hope Hornacek needs to play Willy more than garbage time minutes at the 5, and Noah contributes something when he comes back.
KOQ doing his thing as the backup C in 20min and I expect his playing time to be sporadic if/when his play ever dips, plus there’s a solid chance KOQ gets traded.
Kanter didn’t play well at C, but it’s only 1 game.
The reason that Porzingis isn’t playing the 5, is that there isn’t a real 4 on the Knicks roster. Keeping Porzingis at the 4 will hurt the Knicks defensively. They will lose out on his superior blocking ability. It looked like towards the end of last season that the Knicks were grooming Hernangomez to play the 4 so idk what happened.
As for starting Beasely, not happening. He is another defensive liability on the floor. Same with Kanter and Hardaway Jr. Kanter and Hardaway can score with more efficiently than Beasley could.
The Knicks need to lose this season but also look competent enough to attract free agents next summer. They also need to look at trading Lee, Thomas, O’Quinn, and Kanter for draft picks. If the Knicks can grab a mid to late first rounder and secure a top 5 pick then this post Melo era will be off to a great start.
I agree with everything here, in this very well written assessment.
Except KP at the 5.
He is a defensive liability there even more. He often got bullied by physical centers. People think just because he’s 7-3 he’s unstoppable, but if can’t handle guarding 4’s, he won’t be able to guard the 5.
Porzingis can guard pick and roll and protect the rim, and there isn’t many guys at the 5 to worry about bullying him…height has nothing to do with the reason he should be playing the 5.
The current iteration of Beasley is an improved and more versatile defender, as well as better decision maker and more efficient offensive player than he previously was.
They also have multiple guys that can.play the 4. Lance Thomas, McDermott, Kuzminaskas, and the previously mentioned Beasley. Hernangomez is a backup 5, but he and Kanter are too similar. Kanter is being paid $40 million the next 2 years. You still owe Noah $56 million over the next 3
Your team is Ntilikina, Hardaway, and Porzingis. If you can somehow get 1-2 assets, plus recoup some cap space, for the rest of the roster, as well as get Porter or Doncic in the draft, then you’re at least in better position, assuming Porzingis stays. You would still need to find wing help somehow, either through the assets you got from everything else, or maybe getting lucky through the d-league. And then obviously supplement with free agents, if there is space…so if Porzingis stays, I give it at least 3 years before that’s a decent team (including this year), if they can hit on certain players
The current iteration of Beasley is an improved and more versatile defender, as well as better decision maker and more efficient offensive player than he previously was.
They also have multiple guys that can play the 4. Lance Thomas, McDermott, Kuzminaskas, and the previously mentioned Beasley. Hernangomez is a backup 5, but he and Kanter are too similar. Kanter is being paid $40 million the next 2 years. You still owe Noah $56 million over the next 3
Your team is Ntilikina, Hardaway, and Porzingis. If you can somehow get 1-2 assets, plus recoup some cap space, for the rest of the roster, as well as get Porter or Doncic in the draft, then you’re at least in better position, assuming Porzingis stays. You would still need to find wing help somehow, either through the assets you got from everything else, or maybe getting lucky through the d-league. And then obviously supplement with free agents, if there is space…so if Porzingis stays, I give it at least 3 years before that’s a decent team (including this year), if they can hit on certain players
All I’ve seen from the Knicks are bad moves for a rebuilding team. Giving Hardaway that contract wasn’t a good move. His ideal role in a sixth man and the Knicks have him a third main option’s contract. Giving Baker the full Room Exception was just idiotic. Put him on any team in the league right now, and he’s the third string pg. Ntilikina and Willy are playing 8 minutes combined and they’re the main pieces for the future. And why is KP not getting the ball in the low and high post more? Only part of the Knicks I trust is their foreign scouting department
The Knicks are paying Noah and Kanter $39 million the next 2 years rofl
Hornacek needs to go. The one off season move they didn’t make. This team has young potential in Hernangomez and he gets a couple of minutes of playing time? From Dolan down to Hornacek, they all need to go.
Hernangomez should not be playing less than five minutes a game. Hondo’s excuse of “O’Quinn and Kanter” outplayed him during preseason is just dumb.
Willy will be here long after Kyle and Enes are gone, and the rebuild will be more successful if the starting front court ultimately ends up with KP and Willy in it.