Kyle O’Quinn is the latest Knicks center to have a dispute with coach Jeff Hornacek, although the reason hasn’t been explained, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. The Knicks canceled Saturday’s practice, so reporters weren’t able to find out more about the incident, which happened when O’Quinn was removed from Friday’s game. Q’Quinn appeared to be making angry comments toward Hornacek on the bench, possibly related to a defensive mistake.
Veteran center Joakim Noah got into a heated exchange with Hornacek at a practice in February and has been on a leave of absence ever since. Berman notes that Q’Quinn should be grateful to Hornacek, who played a large role in New York’s decision to keep him and trade Willy Hernangomez to Charlotte. O’Quinn can opt out of his nearly $4.26MM contract for next season and test the free agent market this summer.
There’s more today out of New York:
- It’s time to insert rookie Frank Ntilikina into the starting lineup and see if he can handle the responsibilities that come with it, contends Al Iannazzone of Newsday. Hornacek may have been considering that move on Friday when he used Ntilikina and Trey Burke to start the third quarter in place of Emmanuel Mudiay and Courtney Lee, who started the game. “The coach knows that’s his job to do all that stuff,” Ntilikina said when asked about being a starter. “Us as players, our job is just to be ready when he calls our name.”
- Mudiay may be squandering his chance in New York, Iannazzone adds in the same story. The seventh player taken in the 2015 draft was considered a bust in Denver, but got a second chance with the Knicks after a deadline-day trade. He was handed the starting point guard job, but is falling out of favor and played less than five minutes Friday. Mudiay said Hornacek didn’t provide an explanation about his reduced role. “That’s on him,” Mudiay said. “Whatever he wants to do. That’s out of my control.”
- Burke credits the time he spent as a backup to John Wall in Washington last season with helping him revive his career, Iannazzone relays in a separate piece. Burke was able to watch one of the NBA’s top point guards up close and adopted much of Wall’s approach to the game. “His motor, the way he attacked each and every game, it was like he never gasped for air,” Burke said. “His approach night in and night out and just the way he took it to every guard. It didn’t matter if it was a lower-tier guard or if it was a superstar guard, he played the same way.”
Mark Jackson makes sense for the Knicks. He’s from St. Johns. He played on the Knicks. He started on the Pacers NBA Finals team against the Lakers. He did well as a coach for Golden State. He has very good communication skills as he is a very good announcer and is a minister.
I agree and think that Mark Jackson should have the rings from Golden State cause that was his team they just gave Steve Kerr what was supposed to go to Mark and as you can see, most Players don’t get along w/Hornacek and he stinks as a coach just look at his record as a head coach.
Not sure his record says much about his abilities as a coach. What is apparent t is that he’s had a less than stellar cast of egos playing for him. He may need to be replaced but so do some of the bums they’ve had playing for them over the years.
Mark Jackson is a solid guy and has the potential to be a great leader. The question will be whether or not the Knicks will have sense enough to allow him 3-5 years to fix all the issues the team has. They didn’t become a league laughing stock overnight and righting a ship with this many leaks will take time.
Switching coaches all the time isn’t going to fix anything. The Knicks need to get rid of all these guards and build around Ntilikina and Porzingis and leave Jeff no choice but to start Frank, otherwise fire him. You can’t give him leverage by putting all these veteran guards before Frank. Get rid of Tim’s contract and draft Sexton or Trae. Develop Frank as the 2 guard and that’s it.
Agreed. Not a fan of Jackson as coach – personally like him but think the Knicks would be better served getting a Brad Stevens type of coach. I like Young or Sexton as picks as well.
Mudiay :
Same crap – different team.
Not worth the time for either the fans or the coaches …
Buh-Bye.