These overlooked Knicks will get huge boost from Jeff Hornacek
By Brian Lewis May 25, 2016 | 7:02pm

As important as big man Kristaps Porzingis is to the Knicks’ future, the biggest beneficiaries of Jeff Hornacek’s hiring may be young point guards Jerian Grant and Tony Wroten.

Grant was last year’s first-round pick and Wroten was last year’s reclamation project. While the Knicks are sure to pursue big-name free-agent point guards, the hiring of a point guard-centric coach — and any gradual move away from the triangle toward the pick-and-roll — will only help the two 23-year-old prospects they already have.

“No question,” Grant’s father, Harvey told The Post. “Jeff played in the league for years, coached in Phoenix. His system was mostly pick-and-roll. Jerian, once he learns the system, he can flourish in that system. And Jeff can tell him the ins and outs of being a guard in this league.”

The Knicks dealt away Tim Hardaway Jr. to get Grant at last year’s draft. Despite a mostly middling rookie campaign, his uptick came when he was finally turned loose at the end of the season, and getting a coach who tailored his Suns team to juggle point guards Eric Bledsoe, Isaiah Thomas and Goran Dragic has scouts hopeful.

“I’m pro-Hornacek. He’ll help all those guys if they listen,” said ex-Knicks scout Scott McGuire, son of team legend Dick McGuire. “Grant from Notre Dame is a terrific ballplayer. What they did with the Hardaway trade was a great trade. He didn’t play that much for a while, but he had more chances to learn and make mistakes, and as the season went on, he got better.

“He’s going to be a good player no matter whose system it is. I don’t know if he’s a point guard or a shooting guard, but I know he has a nose for the ball, and has a nice way about him.”

No Knicks player will salivate more than Grant at the thought of an up-tempo pace and pick-and-rolls. Grant is long, athletic and thrives in those kind of sets. And despite a largely uninspiring rookie campaign, he showed flashes of ability when he started the final six games, averaging 3.7 assists and 14.5 points on 49.3 percent shooting, 36.8 percent from 3-point range.

His shaky jump shot is what caused him to be available to the Knicks in the draft, and it’s largely what he’s been working on for weeks in two-a-days at the team’s Tarrytown facility with ex-Nuggets shooter Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

“Jerian, this guy gets in the gym and he puts the work in,” his father said. “You have to be on the floor, you have to be on the floor and you’ve got to work through your mistakes and get that confidence. The last 12, 14 games the fans in New York got to see what Jerian can do.”

Wroten, who was brought in while recovering from a torn ACL and is on a non-guaranteed contract, has worked on his own jumper with Allan Houston. He, like Grant, is slated to play in the summer league and said he expects to start next season.

The 6-foot-6 slasher has elite penetrating ability, and with his size and athleticism is used to getting to the hole almost at will against slower shooting guards and smaller point guards. He can attack from both spots; what the Knicks have to get him to do is be willing to facilitate from either.

“The challenge for Jeff is making Tony realize he has to make others better,” McGuire said. “As well as Tony [can play] individually, he has to become a facilitator for others for him to make the team more efficient

nixluva wrote:IMO the Knicks start off in a better position at guard next year with JH leading the way. Grant and Wroten are quick big guards he can work with. They have loads of potential and hopefully he can squeeze every bit of their ability out of them. They both have good court vision. Wroten is a capable passer and only needs to be taught to be more aware of where his teammates will be for passing outlets. I can't wait for Summer League. Not to mention hoping Phil can add more guard n wing talent.

Assume that the Knicks use KP like Frye at C to open the floor and Melo at PF for a moment.

If Horford leaves ATL, maybe they are willing to trade Teague for RoLo.

I'd offer Batum most if not all of what we have left. And also hope that DWill picks up his $4m option.

KP/Melo/Batum/Wroten/Teague
Grant/DWill/Gallo/KOQ/Hernangomez

I'd use a 7 or 8 man rotation.

He can attack the basket but he is only an average to below average finisher

He has a high fre throw rate but he can't shoot free throws

He is an pretty good passer but he is turnover prone. (College too. I wonder about H.S.)

He gets steals but is an overall poor defender.

He has an almost perfect shot chart distribution but he is incredibly inefficient.

Wroten has to take so many enormous steps in every aspect of the game to even become an average nba player.

yellowboy90 wrote:Wroten fans talk about Wroten ability to attack the basket like he is a high level finisher. I could see if he shot near 60% at the rim but he doesn't. It's like every good thing he does is negated by the badd things he does.

He can attack the basket but he is only an average to below average finisher

He has a high fre throw rate but he can't shoot free throws

He is an pretty good passer but he is turnover prone. (College too. I wonder about H.S.)

He gets steals but is an overall poor defender.

He has an almost perfect shot chart distribution but he is incredibly inefficient.

Wroten has to take so many enormous steps in every aspect of the game to even become an average nba player.

You're right with some of this but you gotta look at some other facts about the team he was playing on and the players he was playing with in Philly which didn't have anyone like a Melo, KP or Rolo on it and they didn't really have any kind of system besides just give him the ball and let him run with it and it won't be that way with us so hopefully he'll take to the system and the coach and the players around him and be a better player which i think there's a good chance of that happening and if he doesn't then he's a low risk chance we're taking on him.

newyorker4ever wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Wroten fans talk about Wroten ability to attack the basket like he is a high level finisher. I could see if he shot near 60% at the rim but he doesn't. It's like every good thing he does is negated by the badd things he does.

He can attack the basket but he is only an average to below average finisher

He has a high fre throw rate but he can't shoot free throws

He is an pretty good passer but he is turnover prone. (College too. I wonder about H.S.)

He gets steals but is an overall poor defender.

He has an almost perfect shot chart distribution but he is incredibly inefficient.

Wroten has to take so many enormous steps in every aspect of the game to even become an average nba player.

You're right with some of this but you gotta look at some other facts about the team he was playing on and the players he was playing with in Philly which didn't have anyone like a Melo, KP or Rolo on it and they didn't really have any kind of system besides just give him the ball and let him run with it and it won't be that way with us so hopefully he'll take to the system and the coach and the players around him and be a better player which i think there's a good chance of that happening and if he doesn't then he's a low risk chance we're taking on him.

Milwaukee used this same logic when they made the MCW trade. The good thing is that he is on a good deal but he is a D-league prospect to me that needs time to develop.

newyorker4ever wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:Wroten fans talk about Wroten ability to attack the basket like he is a high level finisher. I could see if he shot near 60% at the rim but he doesn't. It's like every good thing he does is negated by the badd things he does.

He can attack the basket but he is only an average to below average finisher

He has a high fre throw rate but he can't shoot free throws

He is an pretty good passer but he is turnover prone. (College too. I wonder about H.S.)

He gets steals but is an overall poor defender.

He has an almost perfect shot chart distribution but he is incredibly inefficient.

Wroten has to take so many enormous steps in every aspect of the game to even become an average nba player.

You're right with some of this but you gotta look at some other facts about the team he was playing on and the players he was playing with in Philly which didn't have anyone like a Melo, KP or Rolo on it and they didn't really have any kind of system besides just give him the ball and let him run with it and it won't be that way with us so hopefully he'll take to the system and the coach and the players around him and be a better player which i think there's a good chance of that happening and if he doesn't then he's a low risk chance we're taking on him.

I'm a little 3pt infatuated because of Steph Curry's insane shooting ability. So, all of my kool aid day dreams involve trying to create a squad that can out-warrior the Warriors. Moving KP to C now and Melo to PF gives me the spacing in the front court, but with the exception of Durant, there is no single player that makes NY a competitor with them in one move. That RoLo for Teague move should be made regardless of other FA moves solely because it puts Melo and KP in their most efficient positions. I didn't want to bother with my dreams of KD, so I scrolled down to Batum to not seem completely crazy.

Clean wrote:Wroten and Grant might play well in a new system but they are too risky to be relied on as a main cog in the machine. If they are our main guards then our offseason was a failure.

If that's your view then you can pretty much expect failure. Every guard worth getting is scorecard to resign with their current team.

I refuse to look at it that way. It's one thing to be realistic and is another to be a realist. You can't ignore what these guys can already do at the size they are. Lining up a 6'5 Grant with a 6'6" Wroten is not a failure. I see a match up nightmare for the defense. I see the opposing defense on their heels. I also see the Knicks perimeter defense going up several notches.

I see nothing but positive. We're already better than last year. I'd rather believe that than already accept failure

But I do think Grant and Wroten will be very good for Hornacek. We still need another PG and SG though.