Though Knicks point guard Kemba Walker just missed his third consecutive game (a 104-94 win over the Pacers) due to left knee soreness, team doctors have determined that there is no structural damage to the ligament that would require surgery, per Steve Popper of Newsday.
“He warmed up in OKC, tweaked something,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He’s got some soreness so we’ll let it clear up and then we’ll go from there.”
Thibodeau removed Walker, who had begun the 2021/22 season as a starter, from New York’s lineup entirely in late November. COVID-19 and injury absences necessitated a pivot, and Walker played well in his return. During his six games back, Walker averaged 19.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG and 6.0 APG for the Knicks.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Celtics All-Star wing Jayson Tatum discussed his experience with 40-year-old veteran swingman Joe Johnson, a former seven-time All-Star signed by Boston to a 10-day hardship exception. The team opted to not sign Johnson to a second 10-day deal after his first expired. “We all enjoyed the time that he was here,” Tatum said, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). “The ultimate professional and somebody a lot of us look up to and obviously, we would have loved to [have] kept him around.” Johnson played in just one game during his 10 days with the team, scoring on his only field goal attempt. Tatum said that Johnson continues to watch Celtics games and that he and Johnson still text each other.
- Tatum also noted that his body is in better shape returning from COVID-19 protocols this season, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald tweets. The Celtics forward was hit hard by the novel coronavirus during the 2020/21 NBA season. “I feel a lot better with everything,” Tatum said, per Murphy. “My quarantine was shorter, my body feels a lot better, comparing my first couple of days back practicing than last year when I first came back.”
- Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet is letting his play do the talking, emerging as a legitimate candidate to be named to his first All-Star team this season, writes Nekias Duncan of Basketball News. Duncan observes that VanVleet is one of just three Eastern Conference guards, along with James Harden and Trae Young, averaging at least 20 PPG and 6 APG, while boasting a True Shooting percentage of 58% or higher. VanVleet is averaging 21.3 PPG, 6.7 APG, and 4.9 RPG, with a 58.5% true shooting percentage, across 31 games. The 27-year-old, who won a title with Toronto in 2019, boasts an overall shooting line of .441/.405/.880.
The pairing of Walker and Randle hasn’t really worked. IMO it’s cause Randle wants to control the ball more. Which makes no sense. Since that was the reason to get a lead PG in the first place.
Nothing is going to work. If we don’t become a better D team again. It all starts there. And we got time to get it right. And make a decent run this year. There will be a trade this year by TD. I think we can expect that. We’ll see who they go after.
Nice win today at Garden, actually played D. We need a good January.
They extended Randle. So It’s probably Kemba that has to go. Westbrook is available and a better defender at PG. They could put together a trade that works for them and the Lakers.
Would have to be a 3 or 4 team trade to offset the # of players the Lakers would have to release or don’t want from the Knicks like Knox for example.
Sorry to all knicks fans that were bought into the Julius Randle scheme.
That extension will be (for some already is) regrettable. He balled out last year for sure, but that was really the first year in his career he put it all together. Luckily for him it was a contract year.
He has all kinds of tools/skills, but is not a #1 guy which he thinks he is one.
Get out while you can by hoping for a trade.
The knicks have 153M in guaranteed money they have to pay Randle and Fournier.
They’re stuck in the middle for the next three years at least.
Please Knickerbocker Al, stop saying we in your posts. You do not play or work for the Knicks. I am a Knicks fan, and THEY are struggling, not WE are struggling. Call me an A-Hole, but that has always annoyed me, not specifically you Al, but anyone who says we while talking about their favourite team(s).
Back to the Knicks. As I have said many times this year, no one should be surprised by where they sit in the NBA hierarchy. Take away a scorching 16-4 finish last year, and it was a .500 team. They’re approximately a .500 team this year. They gave up a little defence for a little more offence in the offseason, and stopped playing to Randle’s strength (and rightfully so, Randle at the lead would only take the Knicks so far). If the Knicks end up winning between 38 and 42 games while competing in the play in tournament, they’re about where they should be.
The only real negative to the season is more about the next few years after this. Though the kids they got in the draft look like good bargains at the slot they were picked, I would have preferred that they took a swing at trading up for a higher level talent, or trade the picks for more established players. The Fournier signing wasn’t great for what he has delivered so far, but $18M this year for a guy who can be a secondary ball handler and a decent 3 and D wing is at least defensible. The error was the Randle extension, if only because of the shift away from allowing him to be the lead facilitator and ball dominating. His defence improved last year, but it’s not something he’s going to hang his hat on, and now the Knicks are tied to his salary and less flexibility until 2025-26. It’s extremely hard to walk away from the MIP and All-Star of last season, but waiting to and rolling the dice on signing him this offseason after seeing him in a different system would have been a better play for the team.
This is how you can tell a fake fan from a real supporter. As someone who year after year spends actual US dollars to watch the Sacramento Kings play basketball and as someone who owns a Marvin Bagley jersey, I will certainly say we when talking about my team. If you have a problem with that, I can only assume your constant obsession with semantics makes you someone other sports fans avoid
As you have sacrificed your time and money to the Sacramento Kings, I don’t think anyone will begrudge you the freedom to speak about that team in any way you please. Few among us can understand the hardships and challenges you have faced to keep your faith no matter how trying times have been.
Knicks fans need no sympathy because they already live in the center of the universe, where criticism runs freely. There’s no being soft about being told what to do there.
No, this is how you can tell a real fan from someone who is far too obsessed with sports! I love sports, but I also love spending time with my family and other pursuits other than sports. I played Minor League ball, and still am heavily involved in sports, but putting on both a team jersey and hat gluing myself in front of the TV every time my favourite teams play is not how I live my life.
Now in your case I am ok with you saying my as I don’t know your b-ball talent, but you are likely good enough to play for the Kings.
@greg1 – This take makes the most sense here.
I’ll also add that the East is just a lot better this year, which isn’t a help. The Hawks and Pacers and Celtics are also probably a little baffled as to why they’re looking play-in (or worse) bound halfway through the season, but when Cleveland and Washington and Chicago are actually legitimate teams, Miami made off-season improvements, LaMelo is a year older in Charlotte, and Brooklyn and Milwaukee are still contenders, it’s a little less surprising. There’s just less margin for error.
The Fournier signing was ill-advised at the time, as was the Noel signing. Kemba has probably been a net-negative but it’s hard to be too harsh on it, given it was a flier. Overall, the team has more talent this year, but that talent is overpriced (Fournier) and a poor fit in Thibs’ system (Kemba).
The Celtics Should not of traded Joe Johnson to Phoenix during his rookie season . Hope he signs somewhere. The NBA is trying to get rid of the veterans
Think Kemba is sticking it to the Knicks by going “Ouch, my knee hurts” ? Wonder if it’s payback for his benching.
The article wasn’t written with this in mind but Tatum vs Van Vleet for a lower-level All Star berth will be interesting.
I feel like most fans immediate reaction would be to say Tatum, but FVV is probably having the better season (and both teams are middling in the standings).
Joe Johnson’s PER is 40 better than Jokic. Why isn’t he getting all star mention? Sillivan, could you break down the case for Iso Joe?