According to Chris Vernon of The Ringer, the New York Knicks are “out” on Frank Ntilikina.
In October, New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale made it a point to praise Frank Ntilikina and his defensive ability. When speaking with Howie Kussoy of the New York Post, Fizdale explained that “Frank’s going to guard everybody. You can already see where I’m going with him. With Frank, I’m trying to develop a first-team all-defender.” That development of Ntilikina may need to take place in another uniform.

According to Chris Vernon of The RInger, people in the Knick organization are “out” on Ntilikina. During their visit to Memphis — where the Knicks defeated the Grizzlies — Vernon asked members of the organization about the young players on the roaster.

As expected the brass praised both Allonzo Trier and Mitchell Robinson and expressed concerned for Mario Hezonja. Vernon added that while Kevin Knox has struggled during the season, the Knicks still have faith in his ability. That is not the case with Ntilikina (40:01):

“I hate to report this to Knick fans, everyone I talked to was out on [Ntilikina], and it’s quick. He’s not a point guard, they’ve been playing him at backup shooting guard, and he hit some shots early in the season, but the kid can’t shoot. And it was not a good report.”

The criticism of Ntilikina’s game is nothing surprising. It is concerning that members of the Knicks organization are also echoing those same concerns. This comes on the heels of Ntilikina posting zeros in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks against the aforementioned Pistons. Ntilikina recorded his fourth zero point game of the season — his third when playing over 14 minutes.

General manager Scott Perry did not draft Ntilikina; however, Perry refused to include him in a swap his own draftee Elfrid Payton last season. The Knicks even showed some confidence in Ntilikina by picking up his third-year option. Somewhere along the line, Ntilikina has soured on members of the team brass.

During the 2017 NBA draft, there was a reported “split” in the organization between Ntilikina and Donovan Mitchell, who was selected by the Utah Jazz. Ntilikina was the choice for Phil Jackson, who was later fired by the organization. Mitchell has taken the NBA world by storm, in the meantime.

It isn’t clear if the Knicks will look to move on from Ntilikina this soon into his career. They have already received called on their other sophomore player in Damyean Dotson after a solid start to the season. Could pairing both together fetch the Knicks a player that can help in the short and long-term?

For Ntilikina, his New York Knicks tenure is on the line. Both Emmanuel Mudiay and Trey Burke have progressed in their time with the team. Mudiay’s ability to finish around the rim and Burke’s offensive efficiency have both improved. If Ntilikina doesn’t boost his play, his next major moment in the Garden will have to come as a visitor.

I keep saying the knicks have no idea where to play him, and his touches have been slim since trier/mudiay/burke penetrate and put the pressure on defense a lot more than frank, and now with dotson playing well, lee on the way back, where will you play him, how will you play him, who will you play him with.

I think he gets traded because i don't think he is going to get PT ahead of any of those guys, and he got only 14 minutes in a blow out that started in the 2nd qtr.

But he's barely played any minutes... I hate to say it but I'd cut bait. If they can include him in a trade for Bradley Beal or Kemba Walker I say do it

franco12 wrote:It's early to give up on Frank. I know last year his defensive numbers on the pick and roll were off the chart.

But, Dotson seems to be the player we hoped Frank would be - could be he is two years older?

I agree with that... that said, if we hang on to him and he doesn't pan out, we're kinda effed. The roster is thin as is. If he doesn't develop well then ****

We can't expect that from a one year and not even a half rookie who turned 20 like 3 months ago. I really hope the FO will be patient with him.

Time? Is this a New York thing? Can we have multi year projects? Im not talking about fans. Previous management was not prone to long term development. We have seen him perform well in small samples. Elite defender, smooth in the lane, nice stroke, disruptor on defense/steals,,etc. Mostly he looks like a young smooth faced kid still in puberty.
Where's "The AnswerMan" when you need him!!"

Marv wrote:People say frank was chosen to be a Phil "system pg" and i think that's true. And when he and kp played together in a hornacek "modified system" frank had a bunch of high-assist games along with his great D. kp also flourished.

Let's see what happens when kp returns. I think it's both up to fiz to figure out how to harness frank's strengths and leverage them and up to frank to develop approaches to his game that fiz is directing him toward. It's gotta be a hybrid effort imo.

It would be crazy to me to trade frank. For years. This is the guy to be patient on and keep working toward figuring him out. He will be an incredible asset to a team at some point. I want it to be the knicks.

I think he could be that asset -- but I also think it is far from guaranteed

Knixkik wrote:

shinmen wrote:Andre Robertson in OKC is a defensive specialist and can't shoot. I remember last year when he was out with an injury, OKC struggled. Even if Frank doesn't improve much on offense and I have faith that he will, he brings value. Great defensive players are not dime a dozen, he would still be very valuable, especially during playoffs.
If he had figured out on offense, he would be a fringe second all NBA player.

We can't expect that from a one year and not even a half rookie who turned 20 like 3 months ago. I really hope the FO will be patient with him.

Exactly. I do think we need to move on from Burke and Mudiay, either this season or offseason. Get a legit starting PG and play Ntilikina 20 mpg off the bench at PG (with some minutes at the 2). But most of his minutes should come at PG alongside a combo guard like Trier.

So your saying stop developing all the other young guys, kick them to the curb to play frank, who hasn't even been close to the type of defender where you can over look his lack of offense.

If frank was that good of a defender, he would be in the starting line up to stop guards like lillard, CJ, olapido, reddick, ect..

with a 7 1" wing span he should be swatting balls away like Mitch, avg at least 1 to 2 steals per games(just off of talent alone)..

It's the same way denver gave up on Mudiay, the magic gave up on mario, and 2 teams gave up on burke. there may come a time when frank gets together, but that seem 3 yrs away..what do you tell the rest of your squad, I can't play you because it's all about frank

GoNyGoNyGo wrote:Frank is 19. Let's see how he is doing in another year or so.

I like Dotson alot.

Keep them both. Keep Trier. Keep Vonleh. Keep Knox.