The Knicks acquired young forward Cam Reddish from Atlanta this month but there’s no guarantee he’ll be part of the rotation, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes.
Reddish only played five-plus first-half minutes on Sunday. He might be tough to fit into the current rotation unless injuries crop up.
“The one thing is just trying to establish a routine,’’ coach Tom Thibodeau said. “When we were playing well, we pretty much had a nine-man rotation. But when I have opportunities to get him in, I want to get him in. … He’s working really well in practice. You never know in this league, you can have an injury and the next thing you’re in there.”
We have more on the Knicks:
- Team owner James Dolan will be paid a minimum of $26.5MM annually to remain in his roles as the head of MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment, having recently signed a new contract, according to The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov. Dolan, who also owns the New York Rangers, will remain the executive chairman of MSG Sports, the company which houses all of Madison Square Garden’s sports teams and holdings, and the executive chairman and CEO of MSG Entertainment, which owns the arena and MSG’s live entertainment business. His compensation is based on a combination of base salaries and equity grants, with the possibility to earn annual bonuses to be worth no less than 200% of those base salaries.
- Julius Randle gave Dolan credit for paying the league-imposed fine after shunning the media for three weeks, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes. Randle wasn’t made available to reporters for seven straight games and the league fined the team $25K. Randle finally addressed the media on Sunday. “Honestly, I appreciate Mr. Dolan. He’s great,” he said. “But the reaction was the team didn’t make me available. All I can do is my job as a player and the team didn’t make me available. And that’s it.”
- Mitchell Robinson missed the team’s game in Cleveland on Monday due to a sprained left ankle, the team’s PR department tweets. Robinson was injured during Sunday’s victory against the Clippers.
Reddish is way better than playing a total of 5 first half minutes
Yes he is, but Thibs is big into guys earning playtime in practice and understanding the systems. Reddish will be playing more minutes in the next few weeks.
Yeah but 0 minutes against Cavs? Burks 0-4 in 18 minutes, Quickley 1-10 in 25 minutes. Reddish is better defender than Burks and is shooting better than Quickley this year. I’m sure you are right, he’ll force his way into the rotation…but you’d think they’d want to start playing a guy they traded a future and past 1st rounder for right away.
I agree Reddish played great with big usage in ATL and if the Knicks gave a first rounder up for him thibs needs to come to his senses, cam would’ve been the difference tonight, he is exactly what the Knicks need, they have to have the worst offense in the league, let’s this dude be a star
Randle seems to be falling out of love with NYC. And from what I’ve seen, the feeling is mutual
Yup, agreed. I don’t understand what the rush was to offer him a contract extension last offseason after the way the playoffs went.
Of course NYC was/is in love with JR… but no one is in love with NYC… I mean seriously what is there to be loved?
Everyone & their mother gets out of there as soon as they can, right?
I actually agree with Al below, for once. Randle is basically just out of control at this point. He’s playing like he’s LeBron and, in the process, exposing himself as the far, far inferior player by doing so.
He can be a very good player. But just not in the role he currently wants to play.
No, Reddish isn’t way better (or even slightly better) than the minutes he’s gotten to date, with the Hawks or the Knicks so far. He has the physical tools to be at some point, but right now he’s not.
PT isn’t the mystery some like to make it out to be. The ATL HC suggested that CR’s desire to be traded might have been a factor in his PT, so perhaps it was, but it wasn’t a direct factor in his lousy “+/-” numbers. Guys with his numbers in that area usually don’t see a lot of minutes regardless, unless the team wants to lose. CR will get every chance to turn those numbers, but not by handing him minutes that were earned by a teammate. If he needs that, then he’s hopeless anyway.
Really starting to lose it with Randle. We could of used Mitch tonight. Cam will get his shot. First he needs to impress in practice. Fact he can play 2 or 3 will help him. There’s no rush here. It’s really up to him.
It’s all about PG play to me. I’m so tired of watching Randle think he is Magic. To me you gotta find a PG at TD. This is ridiculously going on for yrs now. This is on Thibs now. I can believe that he is good with Randle handling the ball. There is no ball movement. And teams have figured out Randle. You need movement on offense. He’s become a ball stopper. This can’t keep going on.
That’s can’t believe Thibs is good with Randle running team. It’s insane.
Dinwiddie is back on the market, i wish Knicks could make a 3 team deal including Dragic and Brunson
While I agree Reddish has been underwhelming for the last … his entire career more or less, to date … we currently have a roster chock full of underperforming players.
One notable example is Evan Fournier – whose PER and BPM are eerily similar to Reddish’s. I’d prefer to let the young guy have the minutes at this point.
But a lot of this, again, is pointing in Thibs’ direction. Sacrifice the young guys if you can eek out competitive teams. But it’s tough to tell fans you’re keeping Fournier in the rotation over young prospects when the team is a long-shot to make the play-in.
Fournier has a role as a floor spacer and a secondary playmaker. Reddish can’t shoot and doesn’t like to pass. Comparing their PER is pointless,
Ah, the old “comparing stats is pointless.”
“Secondary playmaker” – Fournier’s doing a great job making secondary plays with 1.8 apg in 29 mpg? Making a lot of secondary plays?
“Floor spacer” – Reddish is shooting 37.7% from 3 compared to Fournier’s 38.9%? (both on 4+ attempts per night so it’s not a small sample). Reddish “can’t shoot” yet shoots above league average on 3s at 4.5 attempts per night?
Is it sacrificing the young guys if you make them earn their minutes? I could argue the opposite, i.e., that a team sacrifices its young guys when it hands them minutes and roles they haven’t earned.
I agree that Thibs has to create a path to PT for CR consistent with the team’s investment in him. But he shouldn’t give CR more than that, as it would likely guarantee we’ll get the same guy two different ATL HC’s relegated to the deep rotation (long before he asked for a trade).
I guess I would counter by asking has Fournier earned his minutes? Statistically, I would say not really.
But even as a whole, IQ, Grimes, Toppin and Reddish (in ATL) have equal or better Box Plus Minus stats than Fournier and Gibson.
Maybe those are small sample size errors because those guys have played fewer minutes, but at this point in the season I’d like to test it out. In any case, what Thibs has done to date hasn’t worked all that well, so giving the better performing young guys larger roles can’t be that much worse?
There are no (or shouldn’t be any) made men on this team. A player’s history (here and elsewhere) and the team’s investment in him are relevant to a degree, but even they have to be tempered or at least put on a clock if the performance isn’t there. Thibs has sat Fournier and, of course, Kemba (fully), on performance, and I was (and remain) happy he did so in each case. But I wouldn’t suggest its a complete meritocracy (Thibs’ bosses are tied to Fournier via his contract, so his leash is going to be longer).
With Cam in this roster Knicks should think tradinh Randle + Fournier (or Kemba) for Westbrook and 2037 Lakers pick now !!!!
Oh *that* sounds like a winner…yikes
Randle has a 4Y 100M$ contract
Russell a 1Y 45M$ contract
Knicks could take 2 seasons to clearly rebuild, get one or 2 top draft picks and developp young talents … Russ
What Dolan, Rose and Thibs building around J.Randle is clearly not working so better move now
This isn’t happening (of course), but if it were it wouldn’t necessarily be a trade with no purpose from either standpoint.
LAL gets some non-geriatric players above the minimum wage level, with one of the few paths (using RW’s contract) available to them to do that. They would also reduce their luxury tax (assuming its just Randle and Fournier).
NYK would be blowing up the most recent adds, and zeroing out the books from guaranteed money after 2022-23. No chance they’re ready for that, but if they were, Randle and Fournier are the guys to move, as they hold the only 2 Knick contracts that have guaranteed money that far out. NYK would have no use for RW as a player, but they can go in a number of directions with his expiring contract in the summer, and have the 2027 1st.
Agreed – I proposed something similar to this but not as drastic a few weeks ago. Basically Rose, Noel, Fournier for RWB.
It’s actually not that insane – Indiana could probably do something similar.
NYK gets back its cap space, LAL gets functional players (relative to what they have at least), and with RWB at the helm NYK could get a top 5 pick this summer!
As a Laker fan ill give my perspective to the fellow Knicks fans
Id almost just want to look forward to 2024 having unlimited cap and AD than taking on Randle and Forn and muddying the ledger then
2022 this probably doesn’t help Lakers much and I dont see 2023 being all that great either w Randle back on Lal with Evan – So for that matter I wouldnt do it….It makes some sense for Knicks but its hard punting 1.5 seasons in the current NBA and both these clubs may be doing that in some fashion even tho they end around .500 teams
Interesting post tho Sebch
What about westbrook in okc for Favors and a trade exception ?