Frankie Smokes: An Elite Defender

Frank Ntilikina is a top 5 defender, and I’m so excited to watch that again this year.

“Because I’m still in love with you/I wanna see you dance again” is a line from Neil Young’s song Harvest Moon. Now that doesn’t usually have a lot to do with basketball. No one has ever played a Neil Young song during a lay-up line, and no one has ever gotten pumped up over Harvest Moon.

That line though, for some weird reason, made me think of, none other than our boy, Frank Ntilikina. One, because I love him. And two, because watching our large, adult son defend is all I really want to see again.

The young man is all arms and legs, with one hell of a brain. He just knows where to be and when to be there, anticipating his man, and uses his otherworldly length to do what he needs/wants to do.

Sometimes that’s recovering when he loses a step. Sometimes that’s contesting shots at the rim against bigger players. Sometimes it’s just poking the ball loose, because he decides he’s had enough of the other player dribbling.

You can put anyone in front of him, and Frankie will make their life a living hell, and statistically he’s going to win over half the time. You can watch the evidence of him making Kyrie’s life a living hell. There’s multiple stops of Frankie locking up James Harden and throwing away the key.

Hell you put LeBron James in front of him, pushing him on a dead ball, and Frank will use that otherworldly length to motion for LeBron to bring it on, waiting to give LeBron the best defense, an ole Chris Childs two piece.

Yes, he’s raw offensively, but I don’t care. He’s 20 years old, still younger than one-and-done first round picks DeAndre Ayton and Mo Bamba, and just two months older than rookie point guard Trae Young. There’s time for all of that to come and grow, and I very much think it will come.

And if he never learns a single thing more on offense, he’ll still be an elite defender, something that this Knicks team hasn’t had at the guard position in a long time. And he will grow on offense, we saw the night and day from game one of Summer League to game two of Summer League.

But at the end of the day, I don’t care about his offense, because I can’t wait to see him defend. I want to see him lock up everyone in sight, from guards, to forwards to centers.

We’re talking about someone whom, 25 games into his career at 19-years old, folks were asking, “Is Frank Ntilikina a top 5 Perimeter defender?”, and ended the year as a league leader in Pick and Roll defense.

Frank is the Knicks Swiss Army Knife, doing whatever the team needs. Versatility, his calling card, defending anyone the opposition throws at him. This NBA season that’s what I’m really excited to watch.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade