A potentially embarrassing night turned into a positive for the Knicks as Donovan Mitchell made his first appearance of the season at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, writes Steve Popper of Newsday.
Mitchell, a New York native who was nearly traded to the Knicks this summer, has raised his game since Cleveland swooped in with a better offer. Although he scored 23 points in Sunday’s contest, he was limited to 8-of-22 from the field and 2-of-11 from three-point range. Afterward, he wasn’t interested in speculating about what might have happened if New York’s front office had completed the trade.
“What’s done is done, and I’m happy as hell to be where I’m at,” Mitchell said. “At the end of the day, this decision was made and I don’t think I’ve been happier since I’ve been in the league. But I think for me it’s always going to be motivation to come back and play well in my hometown, but you could say that about anybody. But with what happened this summer, it’s over with, it happened and I’m happy to be with the Cavaliers.”
There’s more from New York:
- Quentin Grimes, whom the Knicks were reluctant to include in a potential deal with Utah, was excited to get the assignment to guard Mitchell, Popper adds. Grimes set the tone in the first quarter as Mitchell hit just 1-of-6 shots, with his lone make coming on a switch. “I knew that was going to be a big matchup with everything that happened this summer,” Grimes said. “Come in focused. That’s one of the best players in the NBA. Had to stay locked in, and I feel like I did a good job on him today and we came out with a win.”
- Cam Reddish didn’t play against Cleveland as coach Tom Thibodeau trimmed his rotation for the game, per Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Braziller notes that Reddish has been ineffective since returning from a groin injury and adjusting to a reserve role after spending time as a starter earlier in the fall.
- Derrick Rose also wasn’t used Sunday, marking his first healthy scratch of the season, adds Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Thibodeau indicated that it may have been a one-game situation with Rose, resting the veteran guard because the team was on the second night of a back-to-back. “I wanted to get it to nine-man rotation,” Thibodeau told reporters. “It worked a lot better.”
RJ Barrett: 24G
18.4/5.4/3
40.6/28.2/77.8
PER 12.1
TS .510
BPM -3.2
This is season 4 for RJ and it’s getting … difficult to see where the long-term trajectory of this team is heading if this is where his production is going to stay.
Then you have Obi, who has played well enough to warrant more minutes, and it’s just baffling that the development of a promising top 10 pick is being halted to give more minutes to 8 year vets on a sub-.500 team.
What’s the trajectory here? Watching our top 3 pick struggle to achieve mediocrity while maybe chasing a play-in game? And letting our other top 10 pick just melt away on the bench?
At this point I’d rather Leon blow it up and try for another high draft pick to develop. The Knicks went from being a really nice story two years ago to the armpit of NBA purgatory right now.
Agreed, though I wouldn’t shoulder the blame entirely on RJ. First off – the coach. They need someone who can take advantage of the talents the team has as opposed to pushing a system they may not be versatile enough to execute. Secondly – they need to allocate minutes to those they really want to build and work with, which I also attribute blame to the coach. Toppin needs to see 28 minutes or more per game. Same for Grimes. Randle needs to drop in minutes and Rose needs to be traded. IQ is the BU PG here.
If they really need to have Randle on the court, then reduce Hartenstein’s minutes, otherwise I’m with you and blow this up. Keep RJ, Toppin, Grimes, but everyone else is on the market for the right price.
You two might one day get it……
Really trajectories ???? That’s funny.
He’s the 3rd pick of his draft class. He’s avg
20 pts , 6 reb, 3 ast last two yrs, basically. He’s a solid 2way player. Something most of you here don’t understand. RJ is 22 yrs old. His shooting %s needs to be better. I think they will. Cause he’s a good FT shooter. Who has gotten better. He’s almost at 80% now.
If he stays here at 20 pts a gm. 6 reb and 3 ast. And can be second team all D team. Then I’d say he was a solid choice. But I still see upside. I give him to 25 to see the real RJ. He’s big for his position. He’s still feeling it out.
One of the more baffling Thibs moves in regards to the rotation is IQ. IQ and Obi were in the same draft and Obi is unquestionably a far better player. But who gets more minutes? IQ. For all of Thibs’s reputation for not playing younger players, he’s in love with IQ. I get that they play different positions, but still. You could play Obi at SF and move RJ to SG, and then Obi could start. The team is rudderless, why not try it out?
Thibs is definitely not the Knicks’s only problem, but I could conceivably see a smarter, more innovative coach winning more with this lineup than Thibs.
@rct
100% – the IQ thing is even more baffling bc we already have one undersized, much better, PG getting 32mpg. And little to no shooting. But sure … give the 6 foot guy shooting 30% from 3 another 22 mpg.
If this team isn’t going to be a top 10 defense then why not take a page from the Jazz and just go 5 out w/ shooting? I wouldn’t even be mad if Thibs trotted out a Brunson/Grimes/Fourneri/RJ/Obi lineup for select minutes and let Jalen and Barrett drive and kick to infinity and pray you can outscore the other team.
@padam
Also agree – RJ’s one arguably elite skill, getting to the basket, is basically nullified when you play him next to Randle, who teams are now brazenly daring to shoot, and Mitch, who almost never leaves the paint.
That recipe is good for no one’s True Shooting Pct. FWIW, Brunson isn’t a guy people are super scares of shooting the 3 either.
The great irony here is that Obi (assuming his 3p% is truly improved) and RJ are an ideal pairing at the 3 & 4 (at least on a young team that’s not extremely concerned w/ winning).
How can Knicks be “positive” that the player they missed out on(to hold onto young players they’ll probably let go for nothing). Had a bad game and still played better than their best player in Bruson?
Knicks missed out, the media need to stop claiming it was a good call, 22 draft and the Spida situation were very poor by Knicks. Accept it and move on. If another player becomes available they’ll probably be first in line they may have the better assets, just need to be willing to move anything now. Nothing should be off limits.
I would say SGA or Trae, but I’m pretty sure Knicks fans would rather burn the building than have to love Trae after he made MSG his B****!!
Grimes has been a Thibs favorite on defense. The knicks have a lot of problems with the rotation, but the most glaring concern is what is Barrett gonna be? Can’t pay this guy $30 million per based on his performance now. If its playing out of position why didn’t the FO address that concern in the offseason? D.Mitchell would have won some games in NY, but Barrett’s value would probably have suffered because he is not very efficient, and getting less shots would devastate his numbers.
Barrett is a can. The knicks need to burn it down starting with the coach. He’s outdated
Outdated is the Blazers last trip to Finals……..
Randle has to go ………. Obi needs to start. Time to turn the page on Randle. Time to go after a legit star.
IQ, Fournier, Randle, Rose, Cam, Mitch plus our picks. Should all be in play.