Briefing: July 8
Getting Iggy with it
Good Afternoon,
Knicks lost to Phoenix 105-100 to fall to 0-2 during Summer League.
Ignas Brazdeikis stole the show for New York with 30 points on 11-19 shooting, including 3-6 from downtown, one of those threes a clutch shot to tie the game before it went into overtime.
RJ Barrett continued to struggle with his shooting form. He is now 7-33 from the field during Summer League, including only 2-13 from three. He turned the ball over 8 times last night.
Mitchell Robinson added 17 points and 9 rebounds on 7-8 shooting. He blocked two shots, but was called for several goal-tending violations.
Kevin Knox seems to have found some rhythm with his shot. He has scored 29 points in two games on 10-22 shooting, including 6-12 from beyond the arc.
Knicks play two more games before the Summer League tournament and consolation rounds:
July 9th vs Toronto at 9:30PM / NBATV
July 10th vs Lakers at 9:30PM / ESPN2
Frank Ntilikina made an appearance to watch the team in Vegas. On the recent trade rumors, “I still take as much as I can get from every situation that I can. I’m in their jersey. I’m happy to be a Knick. I’m happy to be here. I’ll work very hard to make this situation successful.” [Newsday]
Macri’s thoughts from Vegas
Everyone repeat after me:
It's only...
A meaningless...
Summer League game.
Look, I get it. We're New Yorkers. If we weren't critical, we wouldn't exercising our God-given right to judge other people for their faults which we have the unfortunate misfortune of dealing with (How dare you for leaving the house today)
But when you've had nothing but bread and water for 20 years, and someone slides a ham sandwich and cup of OJ into your cell, you know better than to complain if the bread has a spot of mold on it.
RJ Barrett was deemed a savior by many before draft night, mostly because of the popular narrative that had taken hold going into June 20 that this was a 3 player draft. A reminder: this was a one player draft, with two other players who were far surer things than anyone else on the board.
That hasn't changed. RJ Barrett is still a 6'7" beast of a kid who has mostly gotten to his spots on command and isn't afraid to launch his jumper. That's good. It just hasn't gone down. It happens.
Is he pressing? David Fizdale would seem to think so. Sitting next to RJ's parents at the game yesterday (which, bee tee dubs, was an awesome sight, especially coming off the recent fraying that occurred between the organization and the family of their last top-four pick), Fizdale made one of those "slow it down" gestures, pressing both hands towards the ground. He was indicating that, yes, RJ is feeling the enormous weight of being the highest Knicks draft pick since Patrick Ewing.
Ewing was a 23-year-old rookie. Barrett turned 19 less than a month ago. Offensively, he'll be fine. The shots will fall, and once they do, he should stop forcing it so much and see the pieces and open lanes on the chess board before him. There's far more work to do on defense, where RJ dies on every pick, failing to "get skinny" to get past his man and the screener. His off ball awareness and footwork also leave a to to be desired.
That's what coaching is for though. Let's all give that a chance to take shape.
Meanwhile, Scott Perry's latest second round gem appears to have similar promise to last year's find. Through two games, Iggy Brakdeikis has shown all the facets of a game that we hoped to see from RJ. He moves easily with the ball, and although he had a few turnovers, by and large he got to his spots and made things happen. He appears to be a player who will warrant minutes at the next level.
As for the rest of the squad, it was a mixed bad but mostly good. Knox once again had some nice moments on offense but is still struggling to consistently stop people at the other end. Mitch was nearly flawless on every opportunity he got, but he didn't get nearly enough opportunities to throw it down. Everyone else played like their livelihoods depended on it.
I there's a way to bottle up that sensation and pour it into the morning cups of coffee of these Knicks about three months from now, we should all consider ourselves lucky. These Knicks have a nice thing going despite two losses.
Game 3 Wednesday night.
Remember when…
July 8, 2010: Amar’e Stoudemire comes to terms with the Knicks and is officially introduced as a Knick on the Garden floor. [Vivek Dadhania with more]
July 8, 1987: Al Bianchi named seventh general manager in franchise history. He would hold the position for 3.5 years.
July 8, 1946: Neil Cohalan hired as the first head coach in Knickerbocker history. He would hold the post for one season, accumulating a 33-27 record in the Knicks inaugural season.
Thanks for reading, talk to you tomorrow!