Briefing: May 22
Mitchell Robinson All-Rookie. More Durant rumors.
Good Morning,
Happy Birthday, Mike Breen!
Mitchell Robinson was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
Robinson ranked second in the NBA in blocks at 2.44 per game, the highest finish by a rookie since Shaquille O’Neal (1992-93).
Among rookies, he finished first in blocks (2.44), first in field-goal percentage (69.4%), fifth in rebounds (6.4) and fifth in double-doubles (11).
He also led the NBA with 24 blocked three-pointers this season.
See the rest of the All-Rookie selections.
Kevin Durant rumors:
Knicks fan (always put that title first) and Kevin Durant’s manager, Rich Kleiman, told the Wall Street Journal that Durant is “100% undecided” on where to play next season. That said, what else do you expect him to say at a public venue when Durant is still competing with the Warriors for a championship?
A Clippers threat? In his latest newsletter, Marc Stein reports, “within the last month, very smart and plugged-in people I have consulted say that the Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as an equally dangerous threat to the Knicks to sign Durant away from Golden State.”
Pre-Draft Workouts:
Tacko Fall will likely workout for the Knicks the week after, per Adam Zagoria.
Steve Nash had nice things to say about his godson R.J. Barrett: “I think he’ll be an exciting player for Knicks fans. He’s able to handle that type of stuff (of being in New York) because he’s been at Duke but he’s also been one of the top, if not the No. 1 kid, since he’s been 13, 14 years old. So he’s able to handle it.” [Stefan Bondy]
Macri’s Thoughts
Yesterday was a perfect encapsulation of the push and pull going on inside the core of every Knicks fan as we enter a summer that, good, bad or ugly, will come to define the franchise for years to come.
For years - decades, in fact - all I've ever wanted as a Knicks fan is for them to operate like a run of the mill, normal, non-crazytown team. This season was the first time since we celebrated the turn of the century that I genuinely believed that to be the case.
It's why, whenever a media person made light of their win total or a lopsided final score, I had to laugh at how out of touch they were with the people that actually live and die with this team day after day and year after year. We were doing the thing that good teams do: be terrible, but be terrible with guys who might actually be around for a while.
Yesterday, in many respects, was the first of what is hopefully many payoffs for the pain - palatable pain, but pain nonetheless - we all endured this season. Mitchell Robinson, Kevin Knox and Allonzo Trier finished 9th, 12th and 15th, respectively, in voting for the NBA's All-Rookie teams. Think about that for a second: in a 30-team league, one team got a fifth of the top 15 rookie performances.
Of course this is looking at things through rose-colored glasses to some extent. Good teams often don't play their rookies, and volume - of minutes, points, etc. - matters a lot when it comes to picking players for these things. These Knicks certainly had opportunity if nothing else.
Still, 3 out of 15 is 3 out of 15. It's not bad, and is a sign that the plan Scott Perry and Steve Mills devised to - say it with me now: "build things the right way" - might not be lip service after all.
Of course, building the right way might not just entail growing organically with hometown guys, as they themselves have stated. "Flexibility" is also part of the plan, and this summer at least, that flexibility comes in the form of the ability to sign Kevin Durant and a running mate of his choosing. It also comes in the form of potentially being able to trade for a generational 26-year-old with a unibrow.
The fan base seems split roughly 50/50 on the latter, while no sane person would turn down the former. It goes without saying: if your team has the ability to get Kevin Durant, you go get Kevin Durant. The Knicks have the power to do exactly that, but with great power comes not only great responsibility, but great expectations as well. Over the last eight months, signing KD has gone from remote possibility to distinct possibility to "oh, shit...this is actually going to happen, huh?"
As anticipation has become belief and belief has become expectancy, the premise we all started with can start to get a little hazy. Growing slowly and steadily - the thing we pined for for decades - no longer feels like enough. It's the reason why, when Marc Stein reported yesterday that league insiders see the Clippers as an equally dangerous threat as New York to sign Durant away from Golden State, every Knicks fan being honest with themselves got the same lump in their throat.
Here's the thing though: it shouldn't be there. We don't deserve that lump. If someone had come to any of us in September and said that in late May the Knicks would have arguably three of the top 15 rookies, the third pick in the draft, no bad contracts, and be, at worst, the slight betting favorite to land KD, we'd all be dancing in the streets (we’ll get the KP part of that equation in a second). My mind, sitting her now, can say this loud and clear, but the nerves are there nonetheless. It's avarice at it's worst.
Some would read those sentiments and place blame on an organization that traded away a budding (if not blustery) star for all that extra cap space, and over the last few months, has made no secret of their intentions to use said space on shiny new toys. But if you believe that the marriage with KP was doomed and/or that he was't the right guy to hitch the team’s wagon to, to hold them at fault is misguided. As I've written many times, regardless of one’s feelings about the Porzingis trade, with all the noise surrounding Durant's desire to come here if he can bring someone with him, if the front office didn’t give the team it's best odds to accomplish that feat, it would have been malpractice. I also love that they talk about it. As a wise man once said, "act as if."
No, the blame goes squarely on my shoulders - all of our shoulders. But that is the nature of fandom. Hopes are meant to be raised; is it anyone’s fault when those hopes develop a life of their own?
As we ponder that, let's just take a second to appreciate what we have while we anxiously anticipate what could be, and remember that for a very, very long time, we had nothing.
This - whatever this is, or will become - is certainly better than that.
Remember when…
May 22, 2014: Tim Hardaway Jr. named to 2013-14 NBA All-Rookie First Team. He earned 87 of a possible 125 first team votes.
May 22, 2012: Iman Shumpert named to 2011-12 NBA All-Rookie First Team. He earned 15 first place votes and 10 second place votes.
May 22, 1994: Knicks end the Chicago Bulls three-year reign as NBA champs with an 87-77 victory at MSG in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Patrick Ewing shakes off a scoreless first half to lead the Knicks with 18 points and 17 rebounds.
May 22, 1974: Knicks President Ned Irish retires after 40 years at The Garden.
Thanks for reading, talk to you tomorrow!