Ian Begley of SNY called KnicksFanTV’s Post-Game Live stream with CP to breakdown his takeaways from the preseason. Although the results of the last two games have been promising, Begley is keeping his expectations for the young Knicks squad realistic for the 2020-21 season.
“this is going to be a tough season for them.”
– Ian Begley
“All-in-all, listen, I think this is going to be a tough season for them,” Begley said. “I think a perfect scenario for them is having young guys like Immanuel Quickley learn on the job, get better over the course of the year and then you start to build on that young core,” he added.
Quickley Solidifying His Role
There’s no doubt that Immanuel Quickley has emerged as the Knicks’ best floor general through the last two preseason games. He plays like a leader – making fast, decisive decisions for himself and his teammates. He keeps the ball moving and puts everyone in spots to be successful – a notion that coach Tom Thibodeau has been waiting to see from any of the guards on the roster. After his preseason success, Begley acknowledged that Quickley is throwing a monkey wrench into Thibs’ projected point guard rotation.
“Tom Thibodeau has a decision to make, do you go Immanuel Quickley off the bat as your starting point guard? Do you go with the veteran Elfrid Payton? It’s going to be interesting to see how they approach this decision.”
If the vote were up to the fans, I would bet they think Quickley has earned some burn at the starting point guard spot come the regular season. We’ve already seen more life from Kevin Knox through two preseason games with Quickley on the floor than we’ve seen the past two seasons.
We’ll have to wait and see if coach Thibs feels the same way. The tough decisions for Thibs don’t end there, though. Begley says Quickley’s emergence as a floor general, coupled with the eventual return of Austin Rivers, will squeeze one of the many Knicks guards out of the rotation.
“That’s another tough decision for Tom Thibodeau and his staff,” Begley said. “If we were talking last month I would’ve said, based on what I was hearing, it was pretty likely Rivers would’ve taken Frank Ntilikina’s rotation spot. That was just based on stuff I was hearing a few weeks ago. Things could’ve changed between then and now, coaches could’ve changed their opinions on players between then and now. But somebody is going to get bumped,” Begley added.
Dennis Smith Jr. was an early favorite of coach Thibs and his staff heading into training camp a few weeks ago. Begley says that either DSJ, Frank, or Payton will likely end up the odd-man-out.
“I still think Ntilikina would be the odd-man-out.”
– Ian Begley
“I think, at least coming into the preseason, they were pretty committed to giving DSJ a rotation roll. If that’s the case, I still think Ntilikina would be the odd-man-out. But I don’t know where their opinions are at the moment. But someones going to be out of the rotation there when Rivers comes back because he’s obviously going to play. And I don’t think we accounted for Quickley potentially being the starting point guard. Then you have Elfrid Payton and you have to find minutes for him. So it changes the dynamic in the backcourt too. You could see a guy like Ntilikina or DSJ being on the outside looking in in that rotation early on this year. I think that, even practices between now and Wednesday will be taken into account when the coaches analyze which ways they want to go.”
Quickley’s leadership as a point guard is a breath of fresh air for fans who were concerned that the Knicks failed to draft a floor general this year. As it turns out, we may have found our guy.
RJ’s Ascension
Fans should also be excited by R.J. Barrett’s preseason performance. Through four preseason games, Barrett averaged 17.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 2.0 APG on 50% shooting from the field. You may have noticed Barrett’s improved jumper. Begley says you can attribute that to his work with NBA skills coach Drew Hanlen over the offseason.
“One interesting thing on the shot, I spoke to a guy who RJ works with a lot, one of his trainers Drew Hanlen. He said that, early on when RJ got started with the Knicks last year, they had him change his shot in a way that caused RJ to be not super comfortable and confident. He said he and RJ are working together this off-season and they pushed his elbow out a little further and Drew Hanlen feels like RJ’s more comfortable. And you’re kinda seeing that…He just looks a little more comfortable with his shot. I think some of the coaches feel that if you put the ball in his hands at the top or even at the wing and allow him to make plays, you saw that this preseason too. So that’s another thing to keep an eye on here as we move forward.”
Although Barrett has looked great during preseason, when it comes to his ceiling, Begley says it’s important to temper expectations.
“I think everybody kinda gets caught up with RJ being the number three overall pick, and the idea that he’s gotta be this incredible player. If he turns out to be a solid number two, number three on a good team, that’s a valuable, valuable player in this league. I guess it depends on what your personal ceiling is for Barrett. But I think realistic expectations are important when it comes to younger players. Based on his work ethic and his talent and how he approaches the game, I think they’ll fulfill his talent whatever it happens to be.”
Home-grown player development has been a big problem for the Knicks in recent memory, so the ascension of the young guys through four preseason games is promising.
The Obi-Randle Dynamic
Some Knicks fans are chomping at the bit to ship Julius Randle elsewhere and free up the starting power forward spot for 8th overall pick Obi Toppin. This still may happen, but Begley was encouraged by Randle’s playmaking ability in the final preseason game.
“I think they put him in some spots to succeed.”
– Ian Begley
“This guy gets crushed by Knicks fans and I get it. But, Julius Randle, at least to me in spurts, looked like he was giving the ball up more willingly. They weren’t having him dribble the ball up, they weren’t having him handle it at the top a lot. I think they put him in some spots to succeed.”
Despite Randle’s improved passing in the final preseason game, Begley expects the Knicks to continue to field offers for the former 7th overall pick.
“Just a prediction…I have to think that the Knicks will continue to look at opportunities that involve Julius Randle being traded,” Begley said. “I don’t think they’re in a rush to do anything, but I think they’ll continue to listen and if the opportunity presents itself to make a move and it makes sense for them, they would do it. And that would open things up for Obi Toppin.” If the Knicks decide to go that route, Begley is confident Toppin is up for the task.
“We all saw that first game, [Obi] looked very comfortable, particularly on offense.”
Defense remains the biggest knock on Toppin’s game, but Begley has been pleasantly surprised by his game on that side of the floor so far.
“I think defensively, a lot of people were talking about him being unplayable or a disaster on that end [of the floor], I haven’t seen that so far. He communicates, it seems like he plays well in the frame of a team defense… I think you take that as a positive if you’re rooting for this team. The offense is gonna be there and it’s gonna come.”
Cap Space Conundrum
As it stands today, the Knicks still have $18 million dollars in cap space that they are yet to allocate. Begley says the Knicks remain open to absorbing big contracts to reach that salary cap floor.
“Towards the end of free agency, teams in touch with them definitely were under the impression that they were open to taking on a contract, or two, or three, into that cap space to get assets like you saw with the Ed Davis transaction,” Begley said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if, whether its as a third team in a trade, or when you get closer to the deadline and a team determines that they want to shed some salary for free agency that summer, or they wanna get off some money, that’s where the Knicks could be in play. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went that route to get up to that salary floor. I’m not sure how much getting to that floor matters to them, but I think if there’s an opportunity to be a dumping ground for another team that wants to get off of a player and you can get another pick out of it, I think those are the opportunities they would pursue with that cap space in season.”
It’s pretty clear that, after offseason plans went awry, Leon Rose and the new Knicks management are focused on keeping their money flexible should a trade opportunity arise that makes sense. Whether that trade involves Julius Randle or one of the many point guards on the roster remains to be seen.
The Knicks now have three days left before they open up the season on Wednesday, Dec. 23 in Indiana. With such a tight race for the starting point guard spot, expect each remaining practice before the season kicks-off to play a large role in how the rotations shake out. Until then, it’s time for Knicks Nation to get hype that Knicks basketball is back.
Check out Ian Begley’s full segment on KnicksFanTV’s Post-Game Live stream below, and tune in to youtube.com/knicksfantv for live streams after every Knicks game!
