Dennis Smith Jr., who will miss his 13th consecutive game on Monday night due to an oblique strain, is due to be re-evaluated on Tuesday, at which point the Knicks may have a clearer idea of when he might be able to return, says Greg Joyce of The New York Post.
“He is progressing well,” Knicks head coach Mike Miller said of Smith. “He has been practicing some. With games every day, we haven’t practiced anything steady. So he’s been able to get some practices in, but not a lot of contact and not much full court.”
It has been a disappointing first full season in New York for Smith, who is averaging just 5.2 PPG on .325/.293/.500 shooting in 21 games (16.1 MPG). The former lottery pick will also have to compete with fellow Knicks point guards Elfrid Payton and Frank Ntilikina for minutes when he’s ready to return.
Here’s more out of the Atlantic:
- The Raptors will approach the trade deadline viewing themselves as buyers, but a significant deal is unlikely, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
- As Anthony Puccio of Nets Daily details, Jarrett Allen isn’t holding any sort of grudge toward Kyrie Irving after the Nets‘ point guard failed to mention the big man when he listed several of the team’s core players. “What do I expect him to do, name the whole team? That’s really the only comment I have on that,” Allen said. “… We talked about it. He ended up saying everything is fine, so no bad blood.”
- In a pair of stories for NetsDaily, Chris Milholen checks in on Nets youngsters Chris Chiozza and Jeremiah Martin. The two point guards are aiming to earn a longer look from the NBA club after recently replacing Henry Ellenson and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot as Brooklyn’s two-way players.
They say it’s a real injury. The Yanks Judge had it. Was out two months. DSJ has been a non factor since he got here. Worse his team has not helped him. This is a reality. No way Knicks get any value on trade now. It’s best to let him heal ??. Make sure to play him and build his value. He is not built for NYC. Hopefully move him for the draft.
No one is built for that rat infested over rated trash hole
I’m glad Allen is mature enough to understand that oversight or at least disregard it to stifle team drama.
DSJ joins a long line of promising young players that lost years of their career to the Knicks. Between poor player development, inconsistent coaching, and an owner that sets line-ups, it’s hard to imagine a worse place for a young player to go.
Keep in mind it was lost before he hit NY. Dallas was just smart enough to get rid of him.
He was already pretty bad/inefficient before setting foot in NY.
DSJ’s current value has nothing to do with the Knicks’ issues regarding player development. Their sin with him (and it was a mortal one) was in believing he was still a top prospect, even as the rest of the league (and those paying attention to it) apparently knew better. The Mavs shopped him last year only a month or so before the Knick trade, and couldn’t even get a highly protected 1st for him. He’s a great “athlete” (as that term is currently used), but he’s never been very good at BB. Not in HS. Not in college. Not with the Mavs. Near as I can tell, the highlight of his career was being passed up by the Knicks in the draft. Since he has very little trade value, and is young and relatively cheap, he’s worth keeping around on the chance something changes. But nobody should be expecting much.