Former Knicks guard Charlie Ward, a Florida State football teammate of the father of rookie Kevin Knox in the early ’90s, believes New York’s 2018 first round pick has the mentality to become the Knicks’ next superstar, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post.
“I’m grateful he’s a Knick,” Ward said. “I think he has the right mentality to be successful in New York. He seems to have a mature approach and great understanding of where he is in his development. The kid is well-balanced, with an inner confidence and swagger to him while having a quiet demeanor — which you need, especially being in New York.”
Ward, who now coaches high school basketball in Tallahassee, reiterated that in order to succeed in New York City, one must not only be mentally tough and hard-working, but also unassuming and humble.
“That’s the kind of superstar you want — a guy who will go about his business, not going to be talking much, but learning the ropes on how to get better each day. New York is a tough place to play, but you have to have thick skin. He’s willing to listen and be coached. His whole mentality and attitude is one that will help him become a superstar in the league at some point.”
In order to become that superstar, Knox will likely need to help lead the Knicks to the playoffs eventually. The Knicks haven’t made the playoffs for five straight seasons and have only won a single playoff series since 2001.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has set its initial win totals for NBA teams during the 2018/19 regular season. The Atlantic Division looks like this: Celtics – 57.5; Raptors/Sixers – 54.5; Nets – 32.5; Knicks – 29.5.
- Despite still not have a general manager, the Sixers have made some changes in their scouting department, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers recently hired J. R. Holden as an international scout and are making a push to hire a female scout in the near future.
- As we relayed last night, the Nets are cautiously optimistic that the injury suffered by forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in a Chinese charity game hosted by former teammate Jeremy Lin is not serious.
I agree. I’m a Philly guy but the Knicks killed in the draft and we flopped…
Yea… hard to be thrilled about an unprotected pick for a team that is rarely bad, and getting a very raw players that is a 2 not a 3. Could of kept Bridges and that pushes RoCo to the bench or even rolled the dice on Porter Jr. back issues and all, high risk high reward. Like taking Embiid.
Yeah, I’ll never understand why they traded Bridges..
He very well could have, and more importantly SHOULD HAVE, been a valuable part of their young core moving forward..
You look at the 76ers with Simmons, Covington, Embiid, Saric, and then Fultz rounding out their core, and Bridges would have fit in PERFECTLY!!..
No offense to the kid they acquired, he’s a raw player with some upside, but Bridges is already capable of playing game 1. More importantly though, Bridges is capable of contributing from game 1..
Don’t get it, and won’t ever understand it..Bridges was their perfect fit, he fell to the 76ers, and they trade away the gift they were given..
Bridges might not flourish as well in Phoenix, but I don’t have any doubts that he could have been a solid member of their young core..It’s just really tough to understand from the 76ers point of view..
Yocogofo =
young core going forward
You’re the best contributor on this site x%sure! Are you a writer by trade? You have a great style and wit. Thanks for keeping it light amongst some of these bores.
Ward is also a former Heisman Trophy winner at Florida State. He could have played pro basketball or pro football.
He did.
The Knicks will be contenders like 3 years from now who cares about the Knicks for now? I sure don’t.
Just surprised those odds put Toronto equal to Philly, I don’t think they are that close, surely behind, also don’t seem to put Boston much ahead, while all the people commenting here seems to think is a foregone conclusion that Boston will be in the Finals, 3 games seems to indicate is gonna be close. Realistically I expect Philly to get more than 54/55 wins though with their improvements heading to next year, otherwise would be only an improvement of 2 wins since last year, they got to do better.
OddSharks has Toronto with the best odds followed by Boston, then Philly. Right now the east depends on how 3 guys come back from injuries. Kawhi, Kyrie, and Gordon Hayward can make or break Toronto and Boston. If Boston were to add Butler at the trade deadline, it would make a difference.
Ward was not drafted by, nor did he ever play, in the NFL. He’s not the only Heisman Trophy winner not to, but was the first in some time. He is, however, the only Heisman Trophy winner to ever play in the NBA. The latter surprised me when I first heard it, considering the number of CFB players (historically) who also played basketball.
The phrase used by college football commentators at the time was, Ward played “basketball on grass”. (I guess it was a more innocent time in 1993!).
My recollection is that description did not rely on his basketball career– it was based on his style of carrying the football, where he always seemed to be running in the open field looking for teammates. That ’93 FSU team had an alltime top-5 point differential of victory.