Ten days after being acquired in a trade with the Hawks, Cam Reddish is expected to make his debut with the Knicks this afternoon, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Reddish has recovered from an ankle sprain that he suffered before the deal was made and he’s eager to start the next phase of his NBA career after two-and-a-half seasons in Atlanta.
“To be honest I didn’t know what was going to happen with the whole trade situation,” Reddish said. “I literally woke up to it all and ended up in New York. So, I’m just excited man to just get started. I can’t really control everything, minutes and stuff like that. But I can control my attitude and my effort. I’m going to do my best to give all that up.”
Incorporating Reddish into the lineup will be challenging as New York didn’t part with any rotation players in the trade. Botte suggests that Kemba Walker may sit out today because of knee soreness, but giving minutes to Reddish will eventually take time away from a young player such as Quentin Grimes or Obi Toppin. Coach Tom Thibodeau was asked about trying Reddish at power forward alongside Julius Randle at center.
“It’s a good question. See, I do love Cam’s size,” Thibodeau said. “Right now we’re focused more on the wing position at the two and the three. But eventually I do want to get a look at that, to see where that goes. … But I don’t think you could have enough wings, and that’s why we did the deal.”
There’s more from New York:
- Randle’s ongoing battle with fans and reporters isn’t the behavior the team needs from its leader, argues Marc Berman of The New York Post. Berman talks to an unidentified person that handles personnel for a rival team who believes Randle’s struggles on and off the court are related to the $117MM extension he signed over the summer.
- With Randle still boycotting the media, RJ Barrett is emerging as a team spokesman as well as an on-court leader, Botte adds in a separate story. “I feel Year 3, also just being with this staff and these guys for a couple years now, it’s a lot easier for me, because I’m out there on the court experiencing things, seeing things, just trying to help in any way that I can,” Barrett said. “I feel that leadership is not just what you say. It’s what you do, how you act, how you comport yourself in the facility, on the court, in the games everywhere.”
- The recent poor play by Alec Burks and Immanuel Quickley has accentuated the Knicks’ need to find a point guard, per Mark W. Sanchez of The New York Post.
Well their highest paid players are their most inefficient offensively. If they can find a way to get out of Randle and Fournier they should jump at it.
If the Kings are desperate to make changes… go for Barnes not Buddy, Fox, or MB3.
If I were building a Thibs team I’d want to find guys with a higher Ortg than Drtg. Sabonis, Tuner, etc.. dudes like that. Except they have Mitchell and Nerlens.
Makes sense. Thibs will make a bad defensive player average, but he can’t teach a defensive genius to shoot. He has improved the games of a lot of guards, though, on both ends, strictly emphasizing fundamentals.
Hopefully they don’t build a thibs team since we have no evidence they can do anything in the NBA unless you have multiple stars and even then he can’t do much before they’re all injured.
Randle Fournier toppin 1rdpk -fox and Barnes
If I could get off Fournier’s money without parting with a future 1st I’d do it yesterday.
Randle—I don’t know. Can he play much *worse* than he has recently? I might want to wait it out a bit and see if, I don’t know, he can be an above average NBA player again?
@philly
I don’t think they need to bail on Randle? Who could they realistically bring in? They’ve had trouble attracting superstars. His shooting is off but he can still help this team.
Realistically he or Fournier would be part of any deal to bring in a guy like Sabonis or Barnes for a push this year and Turner for one next year.
If they aren’t going to really try and push the needle this year a high risk high reward move could be swapping Randle for MPJ. He isn’t a defender, not in the least, but he would have superstar potential. Nuggets wouldn’t do that straight up, but it could be the start if the Nuggets are trying to win this year, as you said Randles shooting is off but he has rounded his game.
I know they love Brunson, he fits. Josh Richardson (Celtics looking for a salary dump). Ingles if hes on the move. Craig. Patrick Williams if the Bulls go all in. John Collins is available.
Theres a few different paths they can go. Like someone said above Thibs cant develop someones offense but he can make a poor defender at least average and an average defender above average.
They need a PG but no ones really available that would fit the mold.
Randles contract is def movable bc it’s not a max deal same w Fournier.
New York and Atlanta are in kind of similar situations. Both teams (New York because New York, Atlanta because Trae Young) were hypothetically in position to do 3-for-1 trades and bring in a big name, assuming they looked like teams “one piece away” this year.
But when you don’t play well it’s usually because … your players aren’t playing well? Which makes those 3:1 deals less appealing to rival teams—both teams’ issues are concatenating upon themselves.
They both need better talent, but until their mediocre talent starts to play better it’s going to be tough to upgrade.
IMO, NY is more egregious. Thibs made his bones getting mediocre teams to punch above their weight. Why have a guy who runs his players into the dirt on the sideline if he can’t even get them to overperform in the reg season?
Not a Berman guy at all. But I have to agree with him on this one. Randle needs to get his head out his aaa. And start playing smart team ball. Like he did last yr. And everything will work it self out.
Tired of this PG conversation. It’s been going on since we drafted Nttilikina. It’s just gone insane. We all knew Kemba could work out with Rose. But both are hurt and have a history of getting hurt. You can’t bank on this. Again this is why you sign Dinwiddie a FA. Who he and Rose could of held it down for yrs. Instead we are still trying different looks. Just insane by now. It’s time to trade for a PG that will hold it down for yrs. And stop the insanity.
RJ is taking over this team. Forget Randle and his ego.
This year there’s a lot of very good players in shooting slumps along with Randle; Dame, Tatum, Tobias, Hield… I would hang on to Randle since he leads the team in most categories including assists.
Hield is in a shooting slump? The only player with more 3s made than Buddy? Stephen Curry.
The pressure of playing in NY is a real thing. Takes a different character to do it. Last yr there were no fans. This yr with a full house and expectations. Knicks are crumbling under pressure at times. Especially Randle. Knicks are not a good team when Randle leads in ast. He is at his best when he plays off the offense. Not when the offense plays off of him.