Kristaps Porzingis won’t have an active role in the Knicks‘ search for a new coach, relays Ian Begley of ESPN. The injured Latvian star made that clear before meeting today with team president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry, telling reporters, “That’s [management’s] job.” The next coach will be the fourth for Porzingis in his four years with the franchise.
“The situation is what it is. I’m sure the front office, they will make the right decisions and build something that can go a long way,” Porzingis said. “I think they will make the right decisions, so we have to trust them.”
Despite the dysfunction, Porzingis added that he wants his long-term future to be in New York. He is eligible for five-year extension worth about $157MM, although the Knicks may wait until next summer to maximize cap room and see how he recovers from the torn ACL he suffered in February. Porzingis said he is focused on rehabbing the injury, which is expected to keep him sidelined until at least December, and his contract situation won’t affect when he plans to return.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Whether Joakim Noah returns to the Knicks next season remains uncertain, but Perry might have dropped a clue this week, according to Chris Iseman of NorthJersey.com. The GM didn’t include the veteran center when he broke the news to players about Jeff Hornacek‘s firing. Noah, who finished the season on an extended leave of absence, still has two years and $37.8MM remaining on the huge contract he signed in 2016. If the team decides to use the stretch provision on September 1 or later, it could open up an additional $12MM in cap space for next summer. Perry said the issue will be examined this offseason.
- The Raptors are reaping the benefits of remaining patient three seasons ago, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet. After being swept by the Wizards in a 2015 playoff series, team president Masai Ujiri elected to keep the core of the team — Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas — and to retain coach Dwane Casey. The Raptors have remained among the best teams in the East and enter this year’s playoffs as a No. 1 seed. “Everybody is trying to flip the switch on everything,” Casey said. “But Masai had patience, saw what’s coming and stuck with it.”
- Celtics coach Brad Stevens is planning a tighter rotation for the playoffs, relays Tom Westerholm of MassLive. That means reduced playing time for Abdel Nader and Guerschon Yabusele, but Westerholm expects Semi Ojeleye to get minutes because he can match up defensively with Bucks’ star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
I like the tight rotation and going with the hot hand, but thats a tough task for Semi Ojeleye. Let’s just hope “The Greek Freek” doesn’t call out “O’Lay” when he blows past Semi.
He’s the closest thing they got to a brick thats physical enough and closest to the same height, banes horford and Monroe certainly can’t hang, and Tatum and brown to small, best guy off the bench that size that can equal him.
I get that, but it’s still a huge mismatch and key to the game for both sides.
September 1 can’t come quickly enough to get rid of that train wreck contract of Noah’s. It may be one of the 10 worst deals in NBA history.