Briefing: March 29
Happy Birthday Clyde, Mitchell Robinson makes history, Mudiay's future, and more
Good Morning,
Editor’s Note: The Knicks Briefing will publish Monday - Friday, so this wraps up our first week back as email friends. I hope you like the new-ish format. I’m always looking for suggestions to make the email better. This is for the fans by the fans, so let me know what you want by emailing me at KnicksFilmSchool@gmail.com or reaching out on Twitter.
Happy Birthday, Walt “Clyde” Frazier! The Atlanta native turns 74 today. I’m guessing Clyde used his night off from the MSG telecast last night to rest up for a big day of partying (lol).
Knicks were blown out (again) by the Raptors at home. Their magic number for clinching the worst record in the NBA and top lottery odds is reduced to 5 (combination of Knicks losses plus Suns wins).
Mitchell Robinson became the first Knicks rookie since Willis Reed in 1965 to grab 21 rebounds. He added 19 points, 2 blocks, and many thunderous dunks.
Robinson: "Whoa, 50 years is a long time. It's great." [Mike Vorkunov]
Transition defense: The Raptors did their homework (if you even need to these days) and killed the Knicks in transition, particularly by leaking out to the corner for open threes.
It’s not just the Knicks getting fans hopes up for Durant…
TJ McConnell has gone through the process of “tanking” in Philly, and came out better on the other side. He offers a glimpse (hopefully) into the future for the current young core of Knicks.
On Fizdale: “The Knicks have the right guy in (David) Fizdale. He’s going to keep things positive. And it seems like they have great guys over there. You need that because the losing is tough.” [Frank Isola]
Tim Hardaway Jr. will probably undergo surgery to insert a rod in his leg to repair the stress reaction that ended his season. He should be recovered by Training Camp. [Tim McMahon]
He said it…
Carmelo Anthony with Desus & Mero
Knicks have Vandy connection to draft prospect
Darius Garland could be this year’s version of Mitchell Robinson in the draft. The projected lottery pick underwent surgery in late November to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. With the injury expected to be season-ending, he decided in January to withdraw from school to prepare for the draft.
John Jenkins and Luke Kornet, both of whom grew up in Nashville, Tenn., have known Garland, who also hails from the Tennessee capital, for an extended period, per Marc Berman:
Jenkins: “I think he’s top 5. Based on talent alone and skill level. I think he’s going to be a great pro — sees the game well, super quick, has a great jumper and good feel for the game.”
Kornet: “I’ve played with him 10 or so times. Very talented. He knows how to play point guard and from a skill perspective, you knew he was elite.”
John Turturro on the Knicks and more
Brooklyn-born Actor/Director John Turturro talks about the pains of being a Knicks fan (he gets it) on Talk Stoop with Nessa.
Knicks Passer Rating
The graphic above from u/KlubKapital shows where Knick players rank among the rest of the league in terms of passer rating and pass production.
u/KlubKapital explains:
Passer rating is a metric created by Ben Taylor that looks at a player's turnovers, assist-to-offensive load ratio, height, and percentage of assists that resulted in a layup and measures how good of a passer a player is on a scale of 1-to-10.
Passing production "[captures] passing volume"; essentially assists and creations boiled number on a 1-to-10 scale.
Methodology can be found here.
What this means: Basically, it tells us what we would expect from watching the Knicks play. Mitchell Robinson and Kevin Knox are not the team’s best passers, and are actually quite bad in relation to the rest of the league. Frank… guess what?.. is more of an “extra passer” than one who finds teammates directly under the rim for an easy basket off a drive.
Ntilikina’s role
David Fizdale left open the possibility of using Frank Ntilikina as the lead ball-handler next to Dennis Smith Jr. in the future (if the future ever comes), as reported by Chris Iseman:
"I’m still going to continue to use him in that versatile role. As we start to move forward and can get Dennis off the ball some, running off screens, that’s where Frank is a valuable asset. He can get you organized and into stuff. At the same time, he can guard bigger guys. I want to still use him his dimensions to help us in a lot of ways."
What this means: FINALLY! Knicks fans have been clamoring to use Frank as the lead ball-handler where he can facilitate players looking to score rather than forcing himself to be an aggressive scorer that he is not. Unfortunately, with Ntilikina still battling a groin injury, it seems unlikely we will see this play out this season, and who knows where each player will be next season…
Trade Frank to sign Mudiay?
There are eight games left, and the 20-year-old could be traded on draft night to open cap space to potentially re-sign Emmanuel Mudiay, a Fizdale favorite.
Jonathan Macri gives his thoughts:
Knicks Twitter nearly lost its collective mind yesterday when a snippet in Marc Berman's NY Post article about New York potentially trading Frank Ntilikina on draft night started making the rounds. It wasn't the mere notion of trading him that got people so up in arms (although that's quite enough for those of us who have yet to follow safety instructions and evacuate our beachfront hovels on Frank Island). No, it was the part about the reasoning behind a potential trade: to open up cap space for one Emmanuel Mudiay.
On it's face, it's classic LOL Knicks: deal away the best perimeter defender on a defensively challenged roster to open up space to re-sign a human sieve. It also brought to the surface the reasons for a lot of the angst people have towards David Fizdale this year; namely, that he doesn't really care about defense and has an irrational love for a player who many feel has a capped ceiling at "below-average backup"
I'll be getting into all of this in detail in a piece I'm working on for next week, but for the moment, it's important to consider two things in the equation that aren't obvious up front. For one, Emmanuel Mudiay may actually come at a cheaper cost than Frank Ntilikina next season, when every ounce of cap space is valuable, and could mean the difference between someone like Damyean Dotson staying or going. If we assume that Mudiay can be signed for one year, $3 million - not unreasonable, considering that's the same deal Elfrid Payton got with New Orleans last summer - the Knicks would save almost $2 million by dealing Frank, depending on the return.
That gets into the second part of this, which is what they could get back. On one hand, a future protected first rounder wouldn't cost them anything this year. On the other, a late first or early second in this draft wouldn't cost much at all, and might afford the Knicks a chance to draft a lower ceiling player but one that could provide more immediate help. Given how they hope July will go, this isn't nuts. Looking at specific picks, Frank has always seemed to make more sense in a Spurs or Warriors style system, and thanks to the Kawhi trade, each team will have picks at the tail end of the first round. The Suns and Magic, two point guard needy teams, are also slated to have picks at the top of the second round (Orlando's is via Cleveland, currently placing the pick at 33).
As with anything involving this team, things are rarely as simple as they seem.
Remember when…
March 29, 2013: JR Smith (37 points) records his third straight 30-point performance off the bench in 111-102 win over Charlotte at the Garden, becoming the first NBA player to do so since Ricky Pierce (1990).
March 29, 1994: Knicks complete the first undefeated month in franchise history (14-0) with a 106-95 win over Charlotte at Madison Square Garden. Charles Oakley leads the way with 22 points and 17 rebounds.
March 29, 1953: Knicks wrap up the Eastern Divisional Finals in four games, winning in Boston 82-75 to advance to the NBA Finals.
NBA Buzz
Giannis leaves game with right ankle injury. (Read more)
Spurs retire Ginobili jersey in emotional ceremony. (Read more)
Celtics fan banned two years for racial slur. (Read more)
Thanks for reading, talk to you on Monday!