TKW Mailbag: Take One
Our social media editor takes to the streets (Twitter) to answer the dire questions of Knicks fans. Let’s see what happens next.
You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers. This is my first mailbag so hopefully this all goes fine and our editor allows me to do this again.
Here we go:
This was from a week ago, before we knew of Lance Thomas’ injury. First off, I’m surprised I can spell Mindaugas Kuzminskas without needing to go to Google first.
Anyway, Kuz has a really, really small sample size, being a rookie, and it’s unclear just how good he is. At this juncture of the season Hornacek needs to try as many lineups as possible to see who does and who does not gel. Watching the #LosKnicks (Thanks Reid) it’s evident the guys who played overseas show some cohesion and look good playing together. Against my better judgement that lineup does include Sasha Vujacic. Meh. Back to Jared’s question, if both Thomas and Kuzminskas are healthy I imagine Hornacek keeps Thomas above him on the depth chart. We’ll see. Hopefully Thomas can come back healthy.
Oh man. Joakim Noah. It’s been evident on Twitter that I’m very much against the contract Phil Jackson gave to Joakim Noah. I think Noah is a fine player and a good locker room guy, but he’s nowhere near the Defensive Player of the Year that some fans hoped he’d be like in years prior. He’s looked slow and generally bad so far this season and it’s been cause for concern.
Enter Willy Hernangómez. Hernangomez, a rookie, is a big who plays very fundamentally sound basketball. His footwork is superb and he possess a high basketball I.Q. Bringing Joakim Noah off the bench is actually not something I have thought about prior to this question. I’m not opposed to it. Let’s do it. Start Willy Hernangómez. Chicago had Joakim Noah coming off the bench last year (Editor’s note: Noah only started two games last season).
Noah’s energy coming off the bench could provide a more useful spark for the Knicks rather than starting him. Also, the possibility of Porzingis at the center and ‘Melo at the power forward is probably best for the Knicks. Therefore, yeah, Noah should be coming off the bench.
Kristaps off the bench? No. Nope. Nah. No thanks. I understand the idea. The #LosKnicks lineups are fun and have played extremely well. But bringing Porzingis off the bench isn’t something Hornacek should do. At worst KP is the second best player on the team and not often does a coach want to bring that level of talent off the bench. He meshes well with everyone from a basketball standpoint. Little known fact here, Kristaps Porzingis is 7'3". He can stretch the defense and protect the rim. He possesses one of the rarest skill sets in the league and there is no point in bringing him off the bench. Hornacek does stagger minutes well and the Knicks very rarely find themselves in a position without needing a starter on the court. Suggesting ‘Melo at the 4 is nice and easily solved by sending the other big in the starting lineup to the bench to make it happen. Justin Holiday is good too but not a starter on this team.
Now this question. Wow. I, uh, uhm. I don’t know. I don’t think Phil Jackson is very self-aware. And that’s fine, he’s a 13-time NBA champion and he’s far above all of us when it comes to strategy. He’s the master of managing egos.
Ironically his own ego is something he has not been able to manage.
He’s 71-years old and is failing to realize that his system has no chance of winning with the current roster make up. He’s committed to winning now and snagged two over-the-hill ex-Bulls who are years removed from their primes. He’s preaching the use of the triangle, which is also outdated in terms of primary game plans on offense. The triangle was only successful for the Michael/Scottie Bulls, Kobe/Shaq Lakers, and Kobe/Pau Lakers. Needless to say the triangle is not for this Knicks team.
When will Phil leave us? He says he won’t opt-out but, I mean, can we really believe him? The dude is unpredictable at this point and does not seem to have a blueprint for building a successful team here. As a guy with a huge ego, though, I’m not sure this guy will ever really give up/in to the idea that he cannot build a team here. So to answer the question, never. He will not realize that he’s the problem.
At this point the only “rising talented player” is Kristaps, no? I don’t think they’d trade him. The other player of that description is Hernangómez. He won’t get moved either. With roots to Porzingis in Spain, I’m pretty confident they won’t move him nor Porzingis. I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again but this one seems like it’s a safe bet. Seems to me they already made the move you’re asking about when they traded for Derrick Rose.
Jerian Grant was not a world beater but a “rising talented player?” Yeah. I’d buy that for a description of Grant. Seems like Dolan’s Knicks have hit that quota already. No need to further speculate.
Oh man I’m now irrationally worried about some terrible Kristaps trade.
18 points and six rebounds are some solid numbers for a second year big. I do have a fairly optimistic prediction for KP though. I do think he makes the All-Star game and because of the fan voting format I would not bet against him getting voted into the starting lineup. He’s in the biggest market in the NBA and has European votes in the bag. The global game is expanding every year and KP was not too far from getting a starting spot last year as a rookie because of the voting process.
To confidently get that spot on the All-Star roster he would need to bump that scoring average up a bit. 20 points per game seems like the threshold for guys to definitely get in. Second year KP making the All-Star team seemed like a pipe dream this time last year. I’ll certainly be voting for him and hopefully we here at The Knicks Wall can help generate some votes for young KP.
Read the first two words of my Medium account bio.
— trey, social media editor, now sort-of-writer
Well, that’s all the time the elusive trey could give us. Join us next month for another mailbag. Maybe Kristaps will be closer to averaging 30 points per game? For more coverage of the Knicks, follow us on Facebook and catch trey on our Twitter.
