Final Preseason Game: Nets @ MSG Friday Oct 12 7:30PM ET

[taowave]

Watcher,you are my man,the eternal optimist

I do like Trier.....at the 2

You get bogged down with nomenclature Tao; feel free to call Trier a SG, and Frank the PG, the future starting backcourt of the championship Knicks!!

[NYGM]

eh, the majority of the 2017-2018 season took place in 2018 though. It was really only 6 months ago.

I dont know what to do about this situation though. Burke would have to be great to make up for his size/defensive limitations, and he's not great. Trier is not a pg. Mudiay isn't going to make it in this league. I'd probably run combos of Burke/Tim and Frank/Trier, just to provide some sort of balance. Tim's a more well rounded SG, so he'll support Burke. Trier needs the ball in his handss

The knicks have 3 point guards and still don't have a point guard. There isn't one in the draft, and there isn't a transformational one in FA if Kyrie resigns with Boston. So all we can really do is keep working with Burke and Frank. I disagree with Watcher that Frank shouldn't be learning to play NBA PG on the fly. We don't really have a choice. But he doesn't need to learn it against starters. He can learn it from the bench with a ball dominant sidekick like Trier under less pressure. I do agree that Frank/Tim is an undynamic pairing, and not something I want to see more of until Frank takes a giant leap as a player.

Sorry mudiay, I wanted us to draft you, but you're not good enough and so you have to ride the pine.

I mean as a new season..

I think is not just about Frank though, is not like Bruke-Tim or Trier-Tim are going to take us to the playoffs..

Frank and Tim are not ideal but you can work with them and give them some time..And we have a lot of time to give this season IMO..

I firmly believe that Frank should be starting and going at Wall, Kyrie, Curry, Lillard, etc this year, it's time.. Release the kraken!..

[NYGM]

Yes NYGM, and Frank has grown and gotten better, but they looked bad in the backcourt as recently as last game (albeit without Kanter); LOVE Frank, he could become a HOF at SG for all I know; but PG plays to his weaknesses. Also like Tim, who is creative on the break; but with Nili he becomes the defacto PG which isn't ideal. Start Trier at PG tomorrow, why not?

Frank-Tim were against a dynamic and stablished backcourt in Wall-Beal without any interior scoring presence..

I say go e them some time, if Frank's earns it there's nothing wrong with that..

[spree#8]

I would say that Frank didn't have a fair shot in the last game with Kanter out, so I'm fine with Fiz starting him again. If Fizdale goes with his starting five for the season opener though, my guess is that Burke will be back in the line-up, simply because that line-up played well so far in the pre-season, Burke played pretty well at the end of last season and Ntilikina hasn't shown enough yet to take the spot. That might change over the course of the season though.

[thewatcher]

Now fiz talking about Nilliki gaurding PF's lolol Nazr and Tao are going to lose it

[Don Che]

where did he say that?

[big_j_NY]

where did he say that?

Ian Begley
‏@IanBegley

Enes Kanter will rest again on Friday but will be ready for the opener. Tim Hardaway Jr., Kevin Knox and Lance Thomas will also start Friday. David Fizdale says Frank Ntilikina will defend power forwards at times on Friday.

https://twitter.com/IanBegley/status/10 ... 0602514434

It's just talk.........I think it just means Fiz will be putting more emphasis on "switching defense" in the Friday pre-season game, and Frank will be a big part of the "switch defensive scheme" he is trying to implement

[Don Che]

He's just doing the Mike Woodson

which i hated smh but I'll chill and I like a lot of other things he does as a coach.

[big_j_NY]

He's just doing the Mike Woodson

which i hated smh but I'll chill and I like a lot of other things he does as a coach.

It is no longer exclusively a Mike Woodson thing anymore.........the entire NBA emphasizes a switching-defense now. I don't know any team that straight up plays man-to-man D anymore.

Even the Spurs utilized switching in their defensive schemes on a more regular basis both last season and during this pre-season. The way NBA teams scout players for the draft also puts an emphasis on a player's versatility to switch on the defensive end. The way NBA officiates physicality on defense almost certain forces NBA teams to utilize a "switching" scheme for defense, instead of man-to-man which had some emphasis on physicality.

You're gonna have to start sucking it up if you want the Knicks to return to the top-tier of the league..........which means, start embracing SWITCHING.

[spree#8]

If it covers Kanter on defense (allowing him to play more than 30 minutes) I'm all for switching.

Interesting that Baker and Robinson get the start tomorrow.

Ian Begley
@IanBegley
Mitchell Robinson and Ron Baker will start Friday for the Knicks.

[spree#8]

BTW: it might be wise to rest Kanter. The way Fiz wants us to run this season and the way Kanter ran with the guys in the first few games, I can't imagine him being able to do that for 82 games.

[thewatcher]

Bakes and Mitch starting!!
Nice thoughts on Kanter,spree

[Don Che]

yeh switching is the wave now but the degree and frequency you switch still varies.

we run a zone/man to man switch hybrid....most good teams(who have good defenders) have you stay with ur man and IF a pick comes that you can recover you communicate and switch but for us its no form of talking its just switching

[big_j_NY]

yeh switching is the wave now but the degree and frequency you switch still varies.

we run a zone/man to man switch hybrid....most good teams(who have good defenders) have you stay with ur man and IF a pick comes that you can recover you communicate and switch but for us its no form of talking its just switching

Your issue isn't with switching then...........it is with our players' basketball IQs.

The higher BBALL IQ players are always the one making the right reads and consistently communicate on the floor on the defensive end, especially when the coach is basically yelling out to his players on the floor when to anticipate the screen(s).

Unfortunately, that is something you have to live with......especially as the talent pool from high schoolers and college players basically encourage more hands-on coaching due to the lack of basketball iq emphasized at those rankings nowadays.

[spree#8]

You also have to consider that our defense (DRTG of 96) has been pretty good so far, while it's our offense where we struggle. So with Fiz' reputation as a defensive coach, let's see where all that switching leads, before making rash statements about it being a bad concept. If the line-up is Burke, Hardaway, Thomas, Knox and Kanter to start the season, we have one guy that is considered a good defender (Thomas), one average one (Hardaway), two bad ones (Burke, Kanter) and a rookie. To get that group to defend well does require some outside-the-box thinking.

I agree though, that switching so often doesn't work once we fall behind the 8-ball, because no one really assumes responsibility then. So I also hope we play more man-to-man going forward, but am not opposed to give the switching concept a chance. It helps creating a situation where everyone buys into flying around in the rotations and creating havoc like the Miami Heat did during their Heatles run.

[Don Che]

highly possible

watch Baker lock up that back up PG spot tomorrow. and see how mad this board gets.

[rebound]

Backup? Baker coming for the starting spot.

[rebound]

Now fiz talking about Nilliki gaurding PF's lolol Nazr and Tao are going to lose it

[taowave]

Nothing like having your unathletic,physically weak PG mauled by 4's down low..

Sounds like a reasonable plan...

Now fiz talking about Nilliki gaurding PF's lolol Nazr and Tao are going to lose it

[NYGM]

Damn..

How many weak defenders is Frank going to cover up for this season?

The kid can't defend them all..

Poor kid, they are going to ruin him...

Fiz said he wants to turn him into another Shaun Livingston..