Entering the 2018-2019 season, Knicks fans are excited for a new era of basketball. They will have their eyes and ears locked on these ten storylines.
Despite countless years of losing, poor management, ridiculous contracts, and off-the-court shenanigans, Knicks fans will once again be piling into MSG by the dozens to watch their favorite team. A congregation of masochists, Knicks fans stick together, even in the hardest of times.
The Knick fan is so loyal, you don’t even need to win to keep him/her happy all the time. You just need a plan. Imagine that. Even if you tell the Knick fan that he/she needs to endure some losing over the next several seasons, they’ll buy into it, as long as there is a plan.
Enter the 2018-2019 season. Steve Mills and Scott Perry have laid a foundation for the next two to three years. They’ve been transparent about their intentions and how they want this team to play.
They’ve added young talent to their roster, made relatively smart financial decisions, and hired staff with good reputations and good relationships around the league.
New head coach David Fizdale has dazzled fans and media with his charisma, and while it’s early, his players seem to be responding as well. Even with Kristaps Porzingis set to miss most of the season, fans are still rabidly excited to watch rookie Kevin Knox and second-year point guard Frank Ntilikina.
With everything to play for, and future success on the horizon, here are your top ten storylines for the 2018-2019 season.
10. One and Done?
As they have done in the past several years, the Knicks have made some smart financial decisions, taking small chances on forgotten talent in the NBA. This year’s version of Michael Beasley and Jarret Jack take the form of Noah Vonleh and Mario Hezonja.
Vonleh and Hezonja are both signed to one-year deals and both are former lottery picks. Vonleh was drafted ninth by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2014 NBA draft. The Hornets gave up on him after one season, and after a stop in Portland, Vonleh posted career highs in minutes per game, rebounds per game, and points per game with the Chicago Bulls.
Vonleh comes to the Knicks as a big with athleticism and a reputation as a good rebounder. However, if he wants to turn this one-year deal into more with another team in the league, the man needs a jump shot.
Per basketball-reference.com, Vonleh is a career 33 percent shooter from distances between three to ten feet from the basket. He’s a 37 percent shooter from distances between ten to 16 feet from the basket. For Vonleh to really fill the void of Kyle O’Quinn, he will need to develop his jumper.
Hezonja has a similar backstory. Drafted fifth by the Orlando Magic in 2015, Hezonja was a highly touted product out of Barcelona, but just didn’t have the same impact in the NBA.
After the Magic made a somewhat surprisingly early decision not to exercise their fourth-year option for Hezonja, Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel summed up Hezonja’s Magic career with the Magic perfectly.
“The 6-foot-8 Croatian has not established a permanent foothold in the Magic’s playing rotation, and he has struggled at times to fit into the team’s defensive scheme. Although he has shown flashes of shooting skill…he did not hit shots consistently during his first two seasons in the league.”
Hezonja did post-career-highs in points per game and assists, giving the Knicks enough they felt they needed to take a flyer on a former top-five draft pick. Coach Fizdale likely sees Hezonja’s height and length and envisions him as a secondary or even tertiary play-maker on the floor.
With an injury to KP, Hezonja has a big shot to make some noise at either forward position. His NBA future will most likely depend on it.
NEXT: Angry Grandpa
9. A Michigan Man With a Plan
Tim Hardaway Jr. is entering what most would believe is the prime of his career. Yet, despite an ability to take over a game with his shooting and all the crowd-pleasing shimmies, fans are generally split on the sixth year guard out of Michigan.
Some believe Hardaway Jr. has a future as the sixth man on this squad. Coming off the bench and scoring in bunches may be his best role. However, going forward it will be hard to justify paying someone close to $20 million per year just to come off the bench and shoot 42 percent from the field.
Others believe that Hardaway Jr.’s most important role is that of a trade chip. Some fans were hoping a team like the Sacramento Kings, a team with cap space, would absorb shimmy’s contract and send expiring contracts to the Knicks. Other fans wanted the Knicks to bring back Melo and send Hardaway Jr. to the Thunder. Melo would’ve been bought out and he would be free to join the Rockets at that point. And while that makes a whole lot of sense financially, it would never happen.
Hardaway Jr. ‘s contract represents one of the last roadblocks towards having the cap space available for two max contracts. Tommy Beer of Forbes offers great detail into the Knick’s cap situation and what it looks like for the summers of 2019 and 2020.
But don’t think for one second that Hardaway Jr. hasn’t heard all this talk. Hopefully, he won’t have to guard bigger forwards and extend more than necessary energy on the defensive end of the floor. The man appears ready to take back his natural position at the two guard and build on a 2017-2018 season where he posted a career-high in points per game, despite missing 25 games through injury.
NEXT: Crowded Backcourt
8. A Surplus at the Point Guard Position
The Knicks enter the 2018-2019 season with four point guards under contract. Trey Burke, Frank Ntilikina, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Ron Baker will all challenge each other for the lead guard position. Realistically, this is really a three-man race between Burke, Ntilikina, and Mudiay.
Coach Fizdale has been vocal about utilizing players in different positions and not putting any of his players in a “box”. He’s even been vocal about his fondness for height and length which may give both, Ntilikina and Mudiay the inside track for starting point guard position.
ESNY’s Danny Small wrote extensively about the French Prince’s upside and benefits of starting him on opening night. Per Synergy Sports Technology, Ntilikina was first in the NBA at defending the pick and roll allowing a stingy .65 points per possession. Small also explains that shooters like Courtney Lee and Hardaway Jr. can also help Ntilikina because they pull defenders out to the perimeter, making it easier for the French Prince to drive the lane.
Minus the defensive ability, Mudiay also has the height and length that coach Fizdale wants on his roster. Standing at six-foot-five, and with his capabilities to break down defenses off the dribble, Mudiay is a jump shot away from becoming a real problem for opposing defenses.
This potential excites Fizdale and it’s the reason he proclaimed, “We’re gonna get you right” when addressing Mudiay at his introductory press conference. Prior to being traded to the Knicks, Mudiay had posted a career-high in three-point shooting percentage. Through 42 games with the Denver Nuggets Mudiay shot 37 percent from the three-point line, a reason to believe that he can still improve in this area.
And finally, that leaves us with Burke. Similar to Mudiay, Burke is a high-usage rate player with good handle and the ability to break down the defense. Overall, Burke was easily one of the most exciting Knicks to watch last season.
If we look at the advanced statistics, Burke tops both Ntilikina and Mudiay in areas like Player Efficiency Rating, Assists Percentage, Turnover Percentage, and Win Shares. Even with that said, it’s quite possible that his most effective role would be coming off the bench and being the scoring punch for the second unit.
In general, I’m all for starting Ntilikina. He was a top draft pick, and giving him more time on the floor allows the Knicks brass to see if he is the starting point guard of the future. Additionally, losing games while playing hard and developing an identity is valuable especially if the Knicks can improve their standing in the lottery. Start Burke if you want to win games, start Ntilikina if you want to develop the player and win the lottery.
7. The Joakim Noah Saga
Well, Sept. 1 came and went and yes, Joakim Noah is still a Knick. Noah, for many unceremonious reasons, is one of the most important players on the roster. His albatross contract is an essential cog in the Knicks’ plans for free agency in 2019 and for future summers.
The latest news, reported by Ian Begley of ESPN, was that the Knicks were indeed planning on using the stretch provision on Noah after Sept. 1. And while that is still possible, one wonders if finding a trade partner is the only reason holding this back.
Back in mid-August, I wrote a piece on the financial details and timing of a stretch provision for Noah’s contract. Essentially, stretching Noah anytime from now until July will provide short-term immediate cap relief. Tommy Beer of Forbes writes that stretching Noah’s contract would create an extra $12.9 million in cap space for the summer of 2019.
However, if you have until July to make this decision, why strike now? It’s possible that Perry, Mills, and Fizdale don’t want any negative energy on their team with a lot of young talent. It’s also possible that the Knicks brass is trying to do right by a well-respected veteran in the NBA, giving him a chance to play for a contender instead of letting him sit on the bench for the next two seasons.
But from a basketball operations point-of-view, trading Noah, or at least waiting until the last possible second to see if you can trade him is the right move here. The Houston Rockets just traded Ryan Anderson and one of the most immovable contracts to the Phoenix Suns. Unfortunately, they also had to include De’Anthony Melton to get it done, but is it possible that Noah could be packaged with either Burke or Mudiay to entice another team?
Either way, this saga needs to finds its conclusion. Both Noah and the Knicks need to move on from each other. And while I would rather the Knicks wait to see if they can somehow swindle Tom Thibodeau into trying to put the 2012 Bulls back together, it may be best to take the immediate cap relief for next summer, unfortunate cap burden for the next three seasons, and cut your losses.
NEXT: Just a Kid from Latvia
6. The Unicorn and His Knee
Like most fans, I’ve been hooked on these mini-documentary episodes chronicling Porzingis and his recovery from an ACL-tear. The man’s upper body looks great and both KP and his team have enlisted the help of everyone from, physical therapists, body-movement specialists, and nutritionists to make sure that Porzingis fully recovers from his injury.
This will easily be one of the biggest stories of the season as early reports targeted a December return date for KP. And while most fans can’t wait until they see their franchise player back on the court, expectations are tempered, and his overall health is a priority over everything.
Bringing KP back in December can certainly help the Knicks win games. He will give a shot of energy to everyone from the fan base to the players, coaches and the front-office. Additionally, seeing Porzingis on the court gives potential free-agents in 2019 the opportunity to see what type of shape KP is in. Remember when Kyrie Irving said that he would love to play with a guy like KP? I sure do, and you know he’ll be watching as well.
But of course, the flipside is that bringing him back to early may not be the best option for his health. Taking the full year off might be the safest and smartest option, giving the knee more than a full calendar year to heal.
Another KP related storyline will be when the Knicks decide to offer Porzingis an extension and how much it will be worth. Do the Knicks try to skim a little off the top, considering the injury? Most likely not, Porzingis represents the closest thing the Knicks have to a franchise player since Patrick Ewing. However, the timing of the extension, that will matter.
In an article for Forbes, Tommy Beer explains that offering Porzingis an extension after the 2018-2019 season makes the most financial sense, leaving close to $22 million in cap space. Combine this with the relief from the stretch provision of Noah’s contract, and the Knicks will have enough for one max contract.
Stay tuned for part two of the top 10 storylines for the 2018-2019 season.