For a moment, even if it was just one moment, everything felt fine for the Knicks.
They went into Boston on Wednesday, outplayed the Celtics for nearly the entire game and then didn’t spoil it as they survived for a much-needed win. After the game, while the Knicks celebrated an end to their six-game losing streak, Kyrie Irving was in the home locker room cursing the present state of the Celtics and even cursing Thanksgiving.
Is that enough to convince Irving that the grass is greener (at least what grass you can find) in New York City, not far from where he grew up?
That is the question the Knicks have to ask themselves over and over again. Is there a sign of life in the long-struggling franchise that will provide a whiff of competence to convince one of the stars in next summer’s free-agent market to sign on?
That, rather than the spin-the-wheel lineup-shuffling, the feelings of the trio of rookies or the status of recovering lottery picks, is what matters most for the Knicks as they seek to rebuild the team.
It matters because one glance at the Knicks — or the NBA standings — right now will tell you that they are a distant road from contending with the elite teams in the league and a pretty good distance from even mediocrity. So can they convince Irving or Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard to jump from much better teams to head up the next phase at Madison Square Garden?
If they can’t, they had better get an idea of it now. While the first domino fell earlier this month when Jimmy Butler was traded to Philadelphia and spoke about signing on long-term with the 76ers, taking one potential star off the market, the Knicks still were toying with their roster in strange forms.
The talk has been of development, building the three rookies — Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson and Allonzo Trier — and continuing the growth of Frank Ntilikina while awaiting the potential return of Kristaps Porzingis. But the rookies, after starting two games, were sent to the bench and replaced by players without a future in New York.
Asked if he’d gotten input from the front office on whom to play, Knicks coach David Fizdale said no, but added, “They’re not dictating anything to me from that standpoint. And obviously I get feedback from them because I rely on that. But they’ve been very good about just letting me kind of sort through this deal. Because, we’ve talked about it before, we’ve got so many young guys that we have to see it, we have to know and we have to figure out what fits, and they’ve been really on board with the way that I’ve gone about it.”
Fizdale inserted Enes Kanter, Noah Vonleh and Mario Hezonja into the starting lineup alongside Tim Hardaway Jr. and Emmanuel Mudiay for Tuesday night’s game against Portland and kept it in place for the win in Boston, with Trey Burke scoring 29 points in 32 minutes off the bench and hitting the clinching three-pointer.
It got the Knicks a win and, sure, they needed one with the team in free fall. But winning a meaningless game, easing the tension with Kanter and providing a platform for a player like Burke all seems at odds with the goal in New York.
Of those six players, only Hardaway is under contract for next season. Judging from what executives around the league have to say, there are no believers in the value of those players, including Kanter. So what are the Knicks achieving by doling out minutes to those players rather than staying with the plan to develop the kids?
“It all goes hand in hand,” Fizdale said of the rotation changes. “Every game we play to win. There’s never a time we step out on the court not to win the game. These guys are putting their heart and soul in this. Me and staff are putting our heart and soul in winning every game and preparing for every game. But you have to learn through that. It doesn’t always come from everything being good and rosy. You get smacked away and go through your lumps and try to teach through that. We got a young group. That’s the bottom line. They have to learn from some suffering.”
Sounds good. But just what the Knicks are learning or achieving by handing the ball to the rental pieces is hard to understand. The suffering for this one might translate to the long-suffering fan base if they don’t see the plan providing any light at the end of the tunnel. The fans may trust the process if they see a finish line and players around the league may consider signing on if they see potential. But does anyone trust the future with what they’re seeing right now?
Dotson disappearance
One of the casualties of the lineup change was second-year wing Damyean Dotson. After not playing at all in the first two games of the season, he moved into the starting lineup in the sixth game and stayed there for nine games, averaging 10.4 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and providing tough defense. Then he was pulled from the starting lineup and then the rotation, sitting out the past three games with Portland, Boston and New Orleans.
"He’s always in,” Fizdale said. “All of these guys are always right there. That’s the thing. We’re really trying to develop and look at 10 to 12 guys, and so that door is kind of always revolving. It’s going to start settling in a little bit sooner, where we start getting eight to 10 more games where we start seeing [us] get a little bit more comfortable with who’s going to be in the rotation, but like I said before, I really have been happy with Dot. I trust Dot. I’d put Dot in in a heartbeat. He’s a shooter for us. He’s growing as a defender. Dot’s never too far away.”
Leadership training
Fizdale has brought in a number of former Knicks and other figures to speak to the team, the most recent being NFL Hall of Famer Ray Lewis. But he said it’s not just for the benefit of the players.
“I like to flood them with those guys,” Fizdale said. “I enjoy it, too. It’s good for us and our coaching staff, too. It’s not just about developing them and giving them perspective. It’s for us, too. We had Ray Lewis come in and I think I got more out of it than the kids did. He gets you going. But I want to just fill them up with information and education, as many things that can motivate them as possible.”
