Makin' Moves
Two news items from yesterday speak volumes
We have a couple of pieces of Knicks news from yesterday to get to. They’re both very different and very similar at the same time.
First, in a move that seemingly came out of nowhere, the Knicks hired David Blatt to be a consultant for the front office, the G-League team and to do additional scouting. He didn’t waste any time getting involved with the goings on:
The Knicks made it very clear that Blatt will have nothing to do with coaching the team, as his recent diagnosis of MS forced him to permanently retire from that aspect of the profession.
There were conspiracy theories flying around about what this could mean, but at the end of the day, it’s another smart basketball mind in the room. Blatt’s knowledge of the game (he has a trophy full of European Coach of the Year awards from various leagues) was the reason everyone was so excited that he finally got an NBA coaching opportunity in Cleveland, where he’d be able to mold a young team in relative anonymity. Unfortunately for him, a certain local kid decided to come home again a few weeks after he was hired, and that whole plan went to shit.
In terms of Knicks politics (can we impeach Dolan? I kid, I kid…), the significance here isn’t hard to see: Blatt is an old Princeton buddy of Steve Mills. His hire shows that, despite some recent musings otherwise, Mills is very much still empowered to make decisions within the organization.
And hey…as I offered up as an open question in this space yesterday, maybe he should be. The roster he built, now almost fully healthy, is 3-3 under the new head coach. We’ll see how much bloom goes off that rose after this weekend when the Knicks head down to Miami before returning home to face the juggernaut Bucks, but for now at least, I’m all for giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Of course, the other reason that forgiving stance could change is that trade season is now officially in full swing, and we had our first full-fledged rumor drop yesterday:
I had heard some scuttlebutt involving Smith’s name and the Wolves over the weekend, so this has been floating around for a bit. That Ian put it out there obviously means there’s enough smoke to the rumor that it’s not just noise.
The wording of the story - that the Wolves, along with several other teams, have interest in DSJ - doesn’t equate to the Knicks actively having trade discussions about him, or about anyone else for that matter. That said, someone in New York is obviously picking up the phone when opposing teams are calling. Much like Mills and his team had the power to bring in Blatt, they theoretically still have the power to pull off any trades they see fit.
The mere idea of moving Smith Jr. is an interesting one because on its face, it would be admitting a certain modicum of failure with the KP trade (although I’ve made the point here many times that the trade was lost the moment KD & Kyrie signed in Brooklyn, or, if you prefer, the moment KD tore his ACL. Either way, that’s a separate conversation from whether or not Porzingis was worth the continued effort to appease, let alone a max contract. But I digress…)
If the Knicks genuinely felt the need to move on from the former ninth overall pick, assuming they didn’t get another young player or juicy pick back in the deal (and why would a team taking a chance on properly developing a 21-year-old inconsistent yet tantalizing talent want to ship out a young player of their own, let alone the chance to draft a good one in the future), it would represent another step towards trying to win sooner rather than later.
The Knicks may be 3-3 under Mike Miller, but they’re still 7-21 overall. In the dreamiest of dream worlds, maybe another solid but unspectacular point guard in the Elfrid Payton mold (Jeff Teague is the name I floated yesterday) allows them to make a run for the 8th seed and the right to get curb-stomped by Milwaukee in round one.
Whether they’re able to pull that off or not, such an experience would certainly have a positive effect on the young players. It also comes with a whole host of drawbacks, some of which include:
taking themselves further out of position to score a tasty lottery pick,
relying on yet another expiring contract who won’t be here for long, and perhaps most importantly,
giving up on one of your young talents for the right to do all this (and really, two of them, as this would almost certainly end Frank Ntilikina’s time at point guard, which is an experiment they shouldn’t yet be ready to pull the plug on given the signs of progress we’ve seen this year)
I’m captain of the “winning is a good thing in and of itself” good ship lollipop, but there comes a point where the drawbacks outweigh the gains, and shipping out Smith Jr. and salary filler for Teague and a middling future second rounder would represent tipping the scales too far in the wrong direction.
(and if even one percent of the trade calculation has to do with unloading DSJ’s now-guaranteed salary for next season because the team has some misbegotten notion about pulling off a major trade in the offseason, please go sell crazy someplace else; we’re all stocked up here. By the same token, if the Knicks end up taking back Andrew Wiggins, just pass the morphine and the big needle, thanks.)
Of course, maybe they’re thinking Mook and Smith Jr. for Gorgui Dieng’s albatross contract and a lightly protected first, in which case, kudos.
I just wouldn’t bet on it.
Speaking of Dennis Smith Jr…
Player Spotlight
No game last night or today, so let’s again use the PredictionStrike Player Spotlight to talk about the Knicks’ version of a penny stock, DSJ
Part of why a trade to the Wolves at the current juncture would be so frustrating isn’t only that Smith Jr. just came off of his best game of the season, but because the version of Smith we saw in that game is the one that could be a legitimate weapon in the league for years to come.
Coming into this year, aside from his shooting, the biggest questions about Dennis Smith Jr. focused on his ability to contribute to “winning basketball.” As far as amorphous sports phrases go, this one is up there, but it exists for a reason. Like culture, you know it when you see it, and it often doesn’t manifest itself in stats.
On Tuesday night, DSJ was a positive contributor. The reason was simple: he got the Hawks on their heels, and never forced his own offense (he took five field goal attempts in 13 minutes). It didn’t always result in a positive play, but the totality of the effect was jarring, and part of the reason why Atlanta’s defense seemed so unsettled at times.
The Knicks don’t have anyone else who can do that, and it’s something they desperately need. If he stays, he should get more opportunities to put up positive stat lines like the eight points, five boards, five dimes, one steal and one block he contributed on Tuesday.
His stock price is currently at the bargain basement price of eight (eight!) cents per share, but is up 50 percent after the Hawks game. Whether he gets traded or not, given stat lines like we just saw, you could make worse investments for the price. Remember, if you haven’t used it yet, click here and enter code KFS when signing up for $10 added to your initial investment of $10 or more.
News & Notes
compiled by Michael Schatz (@mschatz99)
Aside from the big news above, a couple nice stories made their rounds yesterday, incuding:
Mike Vorkunov on Frank Ntilikina feeling at home in New York.
Chris Iseman on Kevin Knox and his growth on the defensive end.
Stef Bondy on Mitchell Robinson not wanting to sprint anymore.
On This Date: Pat Riley receives boos in return to MSG
by Vivek Dadhania (@vdadhania)
This date marked the official beginning of the Knicks/Heat rivalry on the basketball floor, as Pat Riley aka Benedict Riley aka Pat The Rat returned to MSG with a swarm of boos as the head coach of the Miami Heat. In the revenge game, the Knicks routed the Heat, sans Alonzo Mourning, 89-70.
That’s it for now…see everyone tomorrow!