Atlantic Notes: Hornacek, Raptors, Bolden, Hayes

Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek admires the continuity the Raptors have maintained in rising to the top spot in the East, writes Al Iannazzone of Newsday. Toronto’s All-Star backcourt of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry has been together for five seasons, along with center Jonas Valanciunas, and Dwane Casey has been the coach the whole time.

“Since we’re playing Toronto, you could use them as a great example,” Hornacek said. “They were a pretty decent team, but you look back three years ago, they were talking about blowing that team up. They’ve stayed with it. They’ve stayed with those guys. Now, three years later, they look like one of the best teams in the league because now they have a lot of familiarity with each other.”

Over that same five-year stretch, New York had four coaches and 130 starting lineups, with 13 of those this season. Only six current Knicks were with the team last year, and just three of them are currently active.

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

• The way he has handled all that chaos over the past two seasons should earn Hornacek another year as Knicks coach, argues Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Hornacek has one year left on his contract, and with Kristaps Porzingis likely sidelined until at least December, Bondy thinks it may be wise to let Hornacek deal with another losing season rather than bring a new coach into that environment.
• Jonah Bolden‘s Israeli team wants to hold onto him for another season, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. A second-round pick by the Sixers last summer, Bolden has a $650K opt-out clause in his contract, but Maccabi Tel Aviv has contacted Philadelphia officials about leaving him overseas for one more year.
• Raptors forward Nigel Hayes has spent the past year improving his outside shot to help his chances at sticking on an NBA roster, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Questions about his shooting contributed to Hayes going undrafted out of Wisconsin, but he has hit 45% from long distance in the G League. He hopes to capitalize on his latest chance, a 10-day contract with Toronto. “When I’m out there on the court, when I’m given opportunity, I’m not only playing for them,” he said of the Raptors. “There’s 29 other [NBA] teams that are watching and seeing my improvements and what I can do, or how I can be an asset to their team.”