Knicks wing Cam Reddish says he didn’t request a trade this offseason, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter links), who points out that Marc Berman of The New York Post didn’t actually report that Reddish requested a trade, only that the 23-year-old preferred a change of scenery and a chance for a “bigger opportunity.”
That might seem like semantics, but there’s definitely a distinction between formally requesting a trade and what a player’s preference might be. Reddish only appeared in 15 games for the Knicks after they traded for him last season, averaging just 14.3 minutes per contest. When asked if the Knicks have made it clear what he needs to do to receive regular playing time, Reddish admits he isn’t sure.
“I’m still figuring that out. That’s actually a really good question,” Reddish said, per Ethan Sears of The New York Post. “I’m still figuring that out, trying to find my role where I fit in. I’m really willing to do whatever it takes to win. Whatever that role is, whatever it may be, that’s fine with me. We’re winning, we all look good.”
Considering his lack of a clear rotation role, Reddish was then asked if he wanted to stay with the Knicks, but gave a non-answer.
“I control what I can control,” he said. “So minutes and all that stuff have nothing to do with me. I just come in and do my job. Work as hard as I can every single day. I’m available, I’m healthy. So whatever happens, happens.”
For his part, head coach Tom Thibodeau was noncommittal about Reddish’s role, as Ian Begley of SNY.tv relays.
“The players are going to earn what they get. We have good depth (at wing). I can’t tell you right now who’s in the rotation, who’s not in the rotation,” Thibodeau said on Wednesday when asked if he thinks Reddish will be in the rotation this season. “That’ll be earned. And then if someone’s not in the rotation initially, doesn’t mean that they stay there.”
If he doesn’t receive a rookie scale extension before next month’s deadline, Reddish will be a restricted free agent in 2023 if the Knicks issue a qualifying offer.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Third-year forward Obi Toppin spent the offseason working on his jump shot and defense, Sears writes in another article for The New York Post. Toppin says he feels better about his perimeter defense heading into 2022/23. “Guarding guards like Jalen [Brunson], for instance, in pickup games here or guarding guards like Coby White in L.A. … helped me a lot,” Toppin said. “I feel like even if I can’t get down low, I have to find a way to stay in front of them, still contest their shots and make it hard for them to do things. I feel like I worked on that this summer and I’m a lot better now.”
- Thibodeau didn’t sound enthusiastic about having Toppin and Julius Randle share the frontcourt at times, Begley notes. The Knicks will “take a look” at the pairing during preseason, according to Thibodeau, who says the duo hasn’t been effective in practices over the past two years. As Begley observes, if Toppin and Randle don’t play much together, an increase in Toppin’s minutes will likely have to come at Randle’s expense — Randle has averaged 36.4 minutes per night over the past two seasons.
- Zach Braziller of The New York Post (members-only link) explores the pros and cons of who should start at shooting guard between Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes. Braziller ultimately concludes that Grimes is the better fit due to his defense and upside, though he understands why Thibodeau values Fournier’s outside shooting and experience. Thibodeau considers Fournier the frontrunner for the job. Both players sat out today’s practice, per Begley (Twitter links). Grimes is considered day-to-day with left foot soreness, while Fournier has soreness after competing at EuroBasket. Neither issue is considered major.
- RJ Barrett showcased his ability get into the paint last season, but he needs to improve his finishing to take his game to the next level, Katz writes for The Athletic. Out of 44 qualifying players who took five-plus shots at the rim in ’21/22, Barrett ranked last in field goal percentage, Katz notes. According to DunksAndThrees.com, Barrett shot just 52% at the rim last season, which ranked in the ninth percentile of all players.
Having a competent PG, and backup PG with Rose hopefully healthy again, will dramatically improve players like Randle, Barrett, and Fournier’s efficiency. The goal should be to boost the value of their existing assets. They also need to really evaluate some of their younger players. Going to be tough to balance all of that and remain competitive in a stacked east.
Reddish saying all the right things. Hopefully Brunson will lead the offense and Quickley will progress.
Knicks still look like a play in team at best.
Agreed. Going backwards teams I feel are worse than the Knicks include Pacers Hornets magic pistons and wizards. That puts them at 10
Ball may be out for the majority of the season in Chicago. I’m still not a believer in the Hawks. Nor of the Cavs. And I still don’t know what the Nets are other than a media train wreck. I think they are all better than the Knicks but there is a shot Knicks can pass them in the standings.
In a perfect Knick world 6th seed would be the best I could see. But probably closer to 10
Every quote from Thibs makes me just a little more certain he’s the wrong coach for this team
100%.
Feed Randle at the the top of the paint. Watch him iso. Rinse repeat.
Randle also gets a pass on D no other player gets. He acts like he’s Jimmy butler but he isn’t half that, on either side of the ball!
Once again Thibs is being Thibs. All this talk from media hacks about keeping the young guys so they could be developed in New York forgot to mention who coached there. He will play the vets at the expense of the inexperienced players like always. Toppin should’ve already been the starting 4. He’s better suited to todays NBA. And when Mitchell was being mentioned as possibly becoming a Knick people complained that the Brunson and Donovan backcourt would be bad defensively. Well Fournier and Brunson doesn’t sound so good on D. Starting 5 should be Robinson, Toppin, RJ, Grimes and Brunson. That’s what’s best for the team.
I agree on Toppin over Randle. But all the same stats and Metrics plus the eye test say that Hartenstein is the better center than Robinson… Robinson is exciting but he’s a huge liability in multiple aspects of the game.. Hartenstein is a much more complete player who is primed for his own little sabonis/nurkic type breakout if he can keep the fouls on the decline….
I’m sure Robinson will be in and out of the line up due to injury anyway
I’ll go maybe even a step further and say that we need to start divorcing ourselves from this idea that we need a traditional 5 on the floor at all times
As long as Randle and Toppin are our 4s that guarantees at minimum two guys are non threats from deep. Pretty hard to build a good offense like that – and it’s probably stifled RJ’s offensive development already.
I would keep an eye on the Dallas Mavericks as a potential trade partner for Julius Randle. I think Randle is from Dallas.
Dallas needs another offensive player to go with Doncic. Randle would upgrade the Dallas roster. The “Luka Show” needs a sidekick.
Problem is that randle needs the ball to be effective and positionally he doesn’t fit the mavs at all. DFS is their pf and he fits the system perfectly as a tucker/crowder 3&D type. Randle would take touches away from luka and undermine their defense
Berman BSing for a story ????
Yeah ….. that never happens. Except weekly.
Cam has the talent to take over that SF. They say he put on muscle and weight. But I just don’t see the Mamba Mentality in him. I question his commitment, frankly. Be nice if he finally woke up.
Obi should start. Time to move on from Randle. You wanna see the true Randle. Watch him when Obi makes a spectacular dunk.
Cam Reddish needs to get traded. He’s not a good fit with the New York Knicks. He will look great on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Can they send Obi to the lakers as well just to get him away from this pig****
If the Lakers give the Knicks a #1 that can have Cam. If not, then no Cam for the Lakers.
All I can say is Thank God Thibs is our HC.
I understand that a real coach doing real (unscripted) coaching infuriates the 2k’ers. It’s not the main reason it’s so great having a real coach, but it’s a nice side benefit. In any event, the notion that roles and minutes should be based on assessed merit isn’t the radical idea they think it is. Pre-2k, it was a given. For real coaches, it still is.
On Reddish, how is it that I know what he needs to do to carve out a bigger role, but he doesn’t? That’s the advantage of playing for a real coach. You always know. You may not want to do it, but you know.
I don’t think I understand any part of this comment. Is it sarcastic? Serious? Not really sure but what has Thibs done in the last 10 years to suggest he is “a real head coach”?
Yeah what has he done ????
What have you done?? Now we know you don’t keep up with the news. Yet you got comments about fantasies.
COY , 4th Seed in East …… Best team D in NBA.
Sorry. On Thibs, how about you look at the record of the teams he’s coached (i) before him, (ii) with him, and (iii) after him. You should be able to figure it out.
Counterpoint: Thibs is doing the ultimate 2K move in (hypothetically, we’ll see if it actually happens) playing Fournier over Grimes because he’ll eek out two more wins THIS year.
Actual NBA franchises generally want to give the run to their prospects even if they end up being terrible because the franchise will exist as long as the league does. In the 2K world you can go all-in on the moment then just shut the system off and exit the season whenever you want.
There’s simply no organizational benefit in drafting a handful of young prospects and sitting them in favor of veterans … to go 39-43. I’m all for earning minutes but for the long-term health of the franchise these young dudes must sink or swim.
Implicit in your arguments are several assumptions. The most central being that young players develop (into better players) based on how much playing time they get. This is a myth. I believe its largely a case of confusing correlation (a young player’s development will correlate with him getting more playing time) and causation (doesn’t mean the young player is developing because of the playing time). The truth is that there’s no evidence that unearned playing time (in any dosage) advances a player’s development, and, while antidotal, there’s significant evidence that it’s harmful to a player’s development. Coaches in all sports know this.
I also don’t agree that the only downside to a team of giving a young player unearned playing time over a veteran who’s earned the time is that the team might lose a few games. Even if one assumes the team has a long term interest in its young players, and only a short term interest in their veteran teammates (often not that simple), this ignores the critical issue of team culture/identity.
All that said, Grimes EARNED his playing time last year and Thibs had him up to 30+ mpg before his injury. So, Grimes (along with IQ and Sims) dispels another myth (that Thibs doesn’t play young players). Anyway, unless there’s an issue this year that wasn’t present last year, I expect Grimes to start or get starter level minutes.
Ok leaving aside the PT and improvement correlation / mythology, which is a philosophical debate I doubt will be settled in this venue, my final rebuttal here will be that if you look at, say, the stat profile of Quickley vs Kemba/Payton or Toppin vs Gibson there’s a statistical argument that IMO suggests the youth deserves more minutes and the vets deserve less (given that in either scenario a play-in berth is the apex outcome).
And true you can rebut that Payton or Gibson bring intangibles or defense, and I won’t necessarily disagree, but I think my implicit point here is that the youth of NY (specifically IQ/Toppin) is close enough to having the training wheels kicked off that the opportunity cost of not giving it to them is somewhat substantial
Having said that, I will end by saying in the cases of Knox and Frank and DSJ, I would support Thibs rotation decisions and frankly your comment. In other words I don’t make this argument as a blanket youth statement but rather in relation to the youth currently on NY’s roster.
It’s all situational, and a HC’s decisions are based on his subjective determinations of the “merits” (what’s does in fact give the team the best chance to win), which obviously have to made in advance. Not all are going to be right on the merits, but it’s good if that’s at least the goal.
IQ-Payton is tough, because that was IQ’s rookie year, and his numbers were significantly different (worse) when he was operating as a facilitator vs when he was playing off the ball. Not surprising since he hadn’t played PG since HS. He excelled playing with Rose off the bench against second units. Payton wasn’t horrible until later in the year, and he was part of an emerging great defensive starting 5. The IQ-Payton decision wasn’t just about 2 guys. It’s a team decision. Was the team better off with Payton starting, and the Rose and IQ tandem off the bench, or with IQ starting, and Rose off the bench (and Payton in therapy)? IDK, but I would have been hard pressed to make that type of change as the team was taking off record-wise.
IQ-Kemba, wasn’t Thibs’ call. He didn’t want Kemba. He wanted IQ to get worked in at the point with Rose as his training wheels. Not playing Kemba was more trouble that it was worth. He let the guy play his way to the bench. Fortunately for IQ, Kemba didn’t even try to play defense. IQ’s problem last year wasn’t Kemba, it was the way he struggled on the point after Rose got hurt. But he rebounded well. Thibs deserves credit, not ridicule, for his handling of IQ.
I don’t think there was a Gibson-Toppin really. Gibson was 3rd string rim protector, playing because Mitch or Noel was hurt, and as soon as Sims became playable as the 3rd string guy, Gibson went to 4th string. FWIW, I would have given Toppin some of Noel’s time in lieu of Gibson. Just as a nod to the tough spot he’s in. BUT it really wouldn’t have resolved anything. Toppin still wouldn’t be a rim protector, and he and Randle together still wouldn’t be a real small ball lineup.
I’ll grant that some of these decisions don’t fall 100% on TT just bc he’s not constructing the roster and the roster has its imbalances.
With both IQ and Toppin there are legit challenges you outline — ultimately to your point it’s a subjective preference as to whether you put the young guy in an uncomfortable spot for 5-7 extra minutes a night or not.
In a situation like say Kuminga in GSW, I agree with the Thibs model 300%. In NY’s case I personally think the pain of the awkward lineup is worth it long term (w/ the possible exception of down the stretch in 21 where the hype of NY being actually good was a real thing.)
Exactly. The kids need the opportunity and while Fournier may have been signed to try and move up, it hasn’t succeeded. And who knows what these kids can/could do…it’s not like the Nuggets or anyone else for that matter knew Joker was going to be the player he is based on where he was drafted. He was given an opportunity and he delivered.