Nalod wrote:All good points. DJ, are the guys Masai drafting and doing well guys that came out too early age/development wise? Or 21-22 year olds who showed well in their senior years? Good scouting requires a formula and a discipline to stick with it knowing the odds are not all will prevail. I’m curious do they have an obvious formula?
This is true with stock picking and online dating!
MY point is if knicks are drafting immature blue chip players the same metric to measure is not applicable to mature 2nd round guys.
Not that ever pick has to be the same demographic regarding age and pedigree.
In my mind an older player like Dotson and Trier would have a different trajectory than the young’ is. They should be physically able to handle the NBA but obviously they lack something that drove down their value. Dotson would do well to be on a better team if he can crack the rotation and earn at least one decent contract to set him up. Same might be true for Trier. Neither has much trade value and the league is full of tweeners. I would not say if we let them walk they were failures. Its the law of averages.
Toronto has been adding to core that included Valachunas, Lowery and Derozen and of course has evolved. That very much helps. We don’t have that core.
Knicks1248 brings a good point about developing without vets and to some degree that was addressed this past off season. Even with Fiz we are on track to win more than last year. Its progress but not nearly enough I do understand.
Fans on losing teams are like kids wanting to know “when are we going to get there, what’s for dinner, what are we doing tomorrow”.....”When are our youth gonna rise up? Who is gonna coach next year? Who is our new FO gonna be.....???
Knox we learned was injured most of the summer and its not just that Fiz messed his head up. He came in with an stronger upper body and like any kid growing he might have lot his rhythm a bit. WIth Morris now firmly in his path as is RJ he is pressing perhaps too much?
We can go round and Round on this all day with the question being in 2.5 years do the Knicks stay on a course that logically might make sense or change and “try” something different? If you can’t see it then its hard to endorse.
Nalod understands he puts too much faith in his team as I am rooting for the success. I’m overly patient. Its why I ask about Toronto because all of a sudden its a treasure trove of players are coming out of the system and its the hot thing to us. No two teams can replicate its successes and perhaps its not about “Mills” but the player development guys that are driving our future. MIller was promoted and then given the head coach gig. My hope is we give him some time. He has elevated the coaching and the play since he took over. He has RJ playing better and better week by week. He has Mitch in a good role. Inconsistent but look at where he came from. Frank is trying to dunk in traffic on 7 footers. Thats funny as shyt! The puppy is learning to bark!! LOL There is no room for Trier or Iggy at the moment. I torn on Keeping Morris. He is banged up but he looked lethargic against the Raptors on Defense at times and seemingly teams are playing him tighter forcing him to more difficult shots. He is hitting them but it’s laborious. If so, end of game fatigue makes for sloppy closing. We are losing close games in the last two minutes. That also progress at the same time. We don’t have closer talent except for 19 year old RJ. None of our PG’s can hit from the outside.
A big name coach is desirable but who is it? Mark Jax has not coached in years. MIller was an “Insider” which is fine unless we need a fresh take. Is that what this team needs? I regret not having Monty Williams but who knows if he even wanted any part of how we treat our coaches historically. Lord knows the man has been thru enough! Bud came and went and no he is showing his elite status.
For now I’ll root for Miller hope that his work ethic attention to detail continues to elevate while we slowly build until a trade presents itself that makes sense.
i think the issue here is that regardless of who was drafted, unless they were a sure fire blue chipper ( like with the knicks and kp), then performing well and showing flashes of brilliance will not happen without a true blue talent development plan in place.
raptors drafted guys that play both ends of the floor and have a high motor - guys that simply just want it. and guys in the 2nd round/undrafted have stuff to prove so they have added incentive. but the success rate of where some of these players are drafted are less than 5% - that's why it's about organizational development.
knox, robinson, frank - i'm sorry but none of them are blue chippers so using that term doesn't apply to the knicks example. blue chippers means in year 1 (and no later than year 2), you see how these guys can demand 25-30 mins a night on alot of teams.
my belief is that the most important position for development is the point guard. without a true blue point guard, you will not have the player on the court to help develop these guys in real time after the jump ball. coaching plays a huge part here also but w/o the point guard, i don't think you are going to get the most out of guys that are not blue chippers.
and when i discuss development - i don't mean getting to the chip - i'm talking about getting to that 50 win level year in and year out. maybe even advance a round or two. that, to me, is a realistic goal for alot of franchises if they make the right choices.
knox - he has no motor. combine that without any offensive structure and a point guard to get him going and you see zero development.
robinson is nothing more than a freak athlete with zero basketball instincts or skill. he gets by purely on his insane athleticism but doesn't know how to play basketball. he should be in the g-league for at least a year.
frank is a point guard, but is inability to look for any offense just makes him a flat out bad pick.
there's no magic formula to drafting. you have to evaluate talent and see if they can play. and see if they want it. but if they're not some super star like luka, then you need to have a team with a legit point guard that can lead on the court and help with development. but that's just my opinion and i don't think it's right in all cases but it's how i view it.
that's why i think for you guys, i would do whatever it takes to get chris paul - he's a culture changer and an on court leader. look at what he's doing in okc who's roster isn't that good. or in free agency, offer the max to van vleet. turning down the lowry trade was the biggest fork in the road for both franchises.
it's mind boggling that the knicks went the exact opposite route and brought in no point guards and signed nothing but hired guns looking for their next big pay day.