Head coach David Fizdale can envision No. 3 overall pick RJ Barrett playing some point guard for the Knicks this season, Steve Popper of Newsday writes.
“Yeah, I do [like what I’ve seen from him as a lead guard],” Fizdale said of Barrett playing the one. “He’s really poised. He looks comfortable. The kid likes having the ball in his hands. He’s unselfish. He finds people. He understands – he knows our plays from that position. I feel very comfortable if I have to throw him there.”
Here’s more from New York:
- Allonzo Trier could struggle to make the Knicks’ rotation, Mike Vorkunov contends in a piece for The Athletic. New York’s backcourt is crowded with Dennis Smith Jr., Frank Ntilikina, and Elfrid Payton among the players also vying for minutes.
- Fizdale insists that last summer’s crop of free agents was a success from a development standpoint, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News relays. Emmanuel Mudiay and Noah Vonleh are among the players to improve while playing for the Knicks last season and find a new home this offseason.
- Damyean Dotson is determined to prove that he deserves playing time in the Knicks’ crowded rotation, as Popper writes in a separate piece. “It’s been like that since I’ve been here,” Dotson said. “Tim [Hardaway Jr.], [Courtney] Lee. Ever since I’ve been here it’s always been stacked at the 2-guard, wing spot. Like I said, you’ve just to compete every day, bring it, be ready to play when your name is called, stay professional and stay ready.”
This is such a beautiful time of the year, the time before the Knicks are in any despair over how far awry the season has gone, how much the players don’t fit together and debate recurs about where everyone should posit the blame.
At this time everyone is hopeful that this is the team that will find success, break out of the franchise rut and give fans a reason to cheer again. Even a .500 record might do it.
But alas, as much as things change at the Square Garden, the inherent culture stays the same. Everyone wants to trumpet how professional this group is, and thus separated from the casts of past. Hard to buy any of it,
I say.
Hope springs Eternal
In the Heart of the Garden
Nothing Gold can stay.
By when the Ball drops
On Folks in the Square of Time
The Season is Lost.
What will Future bring?
Hope, followed by its Dashing.
Light, crushed into Dark.
Trier is a solid iso scorer but that’s about it
He is showcasing more catch and shoot from 3 this year which is what Fizdale has requested. His only path to rotation minutes is to be productive as a 3 and D. He has a chance given his competition.
They should have kept Vonleh instead of paying Portis and Gibson, and I would also say Ellington probably took Dotson’s minutes