The NBA has hit New York’s two franchises with fines, announcing in a pair of press releases that the Knicks and Nets have each been docked $25K.
The Knicks’ penalty is a result of violating league rules relating to media interview access, according to the league. New York refused to make Julius Randle available to reporters following Thursday’s loss to the Pelicans. It was the seventh straight time that Randle hasn’t spoken to the media after a game, notes Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link), so the fine is presumably a response to a series of violations rather than a single incident.
Randle has had an up-and-down season after winning the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2020/21, and Thursday definitely qualified as one of his “down” moments. The veteran forward scored just four points on 1-of-9 shooting in an 11-point home loss. The last time he spoke to reporters after a game was when he gave a thumbs-down sign during a home game and later explained that it was a signal for the fans who had criticized him to “shut the f–k up” (Twitter link via Katz).
The Nets’ fine, meanwhile, is related to an incident involving assistant coach David Vanterpool, who received a separate $10K fine of his own. During Wednesday’s game vs. Washington, Vanterpool reached out from the sidelines to deflect a pass from Wizards guard Spencer Dinwiddie intended for forward Kyle Kuzma, resulting in a turnover (Twitter link). The incident wasn’t caught in the moment by referees and Brooklyn ended up winning the game by a single point.
Head coach Steve Nash said today that Vanterpool feels badly about his actions and called it an honest mistake in the heat of the moment (Twitter link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post).
Randle had no problem with the media when they were talking him up for MIP. Can’t stand players who want it oneway!
Amen
Wow, I’m surprised a bigger deal wasn’t made by that incident with the Nets. I mean you can call it a reflex, but the guys been coaching for how many years??
It’s like an umpire and foul balls eventually you become numb and the reflex dies down..Crazy stuff especially with it being a single point win for the Nets
Settle down, Karen.
Seems the Nets win should have been taken away. Set an example or it will happen again, as another “reflex.”
No. League does not need to be manipulating wins and losses. Score more points and a tip ball won’t seal your fate. Simple as that.
People talk about Simmons benefiting from a sports psychologist — I think Randle would do just as well.
The other interesting parallel is between him and Jayson Tatum. If you’re gonna be the alpha dog, it’s gotta be every. single. night. I can’t see either of them thriving as a #2 somewhere, which means they need to fix this mentality and let the rest take care of itself.
Lot of similarities between Knicks and Celtics in general beyond the shared rosters. Horford for Alec Burks incoming…lol
Sports psychologists are quite common, so reflecting that they “need” isn’t really all that eye opening and possibly reflecting how behind you are. The yips has been around for decades and teams employ them for similar reasons.
IMO Randle didn’t like Kemba getting all the love and attention. For coming back home. Knicks are a rebuilding team. There is no Alpha. RJ could still develop into one. But Randle is not the one.
He gad a great yr. Cause he came to play every gm. He played the right way and lead by example. This yr he’s out of synch. He’s not playing team ball. And he thinks he’s Magic. Frankly I wouldn’t mind moving him. But not giving him away. I’d take Haliburton and Bagley for him.
Hey Luke! Just a small correction for you: the Wizards turned the ball over, not the nets as said at the end of the article, I caught it while I was reading through.
Thanks, I’d meant to suggest the Nets forced the turnover, but worded it poorly.