If you’re looking at the bottom line, Friday night was a bad night for the Knicks.
They missed out on a prime opportunity to climb the Eastern Conference standings.
Two teams ahead of New York (Milwaukee and Orlando) lost on Friday. Two teams behind the Knicks (Indiana and Miami) won.
If the Knicks had beaten Chicago on Friday, they’d be in third place in the conference, one game behind the second-place Bucks.
Instead, they head to Milwaukee on Sunday in fifth place with five games left in the regular season. Not ideal.
But in a big-picture sense, the Knicks had a great night on Friday.
OG Anunoby played for the first time in three weeks. He’ll need more time to get back in peak game shape. But just having Anunoby back on the floor is a win for the Knicks.
He has played just four games since Jan. 27 due to elbow issues. In a perfect world for the Knicks, he will play in their final five games and be in a good place entering the postseason.
The Knicks have reason to be optimistic about Anunoby getting acclimated quickly.
New York won 12 of its first 14 games with Anunoby in the lineup in January.
“His game is unique because it’s defense, it’s rebounding, it’s moving without the ball, it’s running the floor. Being versatile on offense,” Thibodeau said earlier this week. “(So) he can fit in seamlessly.”
Anunoby’s impact defensively and his prowess as a shooter/cutter has been enormous.
Entering play Friday, Anunoby and Jalen Brunson shared the floor for 451 minutes. The Knicks’ net rating in those minutes was +27.1.
Anunoby started alongside Brunson on Friday. He had 12 points, one rebound and two steals in 29 minutes.
Based on recent history, the starting lineup of Anunoby, Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart and Isaiah Hartenstein should perform well.
Entering Friday’s game, the lineup had a net rating of +21.8 in 54 minutes.
They obviously didn’t maintain that dominance on Friday night. But Hart wasn’t available for most of the game. He was ejected late in the first quarter when officials determined that his kick of Javonte Green was a flagrant-2.
NEW ROLE FOR KENNY SMITH
New York native Kenny Smith is taking on a big role in Australia’s National Basketball League.
The league announced earlier this week that Smith has accepted a position as Head of Next Stars’ Player Initiatives in North America. In the new role, Smith will be involved in recruiting, developing, and mentoring Next Stars players.
The NBL’s Next Stars program has proved to be an effective pipeline to the NBA. First-round picks LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey, RJ Hampton and Ousmane Dieng all played in the Next Stars program. The current group of Next Stars include Alexandre Sarr, who has been ranked No.1 overall in several prominent mock drafts.
Smith joins Next Stars as the NBA unwinds its own G League development program, the G League Ignite.
In addition to Head of Player Initiatives, Smith will also become an owner of an NBL expansion team.
“Legitimate pathways to the NBA are evolving, and the NBL has a proven track record of getting players drafted,” Smith said in a statement. “The NBL identified a key role for me to mentor and support young talent and equip them with the tools to compete at a professional level with a view to making the leap into the NBA.”
CORRECTION
In an episode of The Putback on Wednesday, I erroneously stated that Julius Randle may have returned to the court by the middle of this month if he decided immediately to have surgery on his dislocated shoulder. I apologize for the error.
Randle rehabbed his shoulder in an attempt to return to the court. He was able to do everything on the court but could not get cleared to take full contact, per Thibodeau. The people I spoke with about the topic said Randle may have reached the same point in rehabilitation midway through the month if he’d had surgery. They did not say that he could have returned to the court midway through the month if he’d elected to have surgery immediately after the injury. I misunderstood their thoughts and erred in relaying the information on the show. I circled back with those people earlier this week and realized my mistake. Again, my apologies for the careless error.
NEW KNICKS TOME
A new Knicks book traces the fall and rise of the club between their last championship season (1972-1973) and 1985, when they landed the No. 1 draft pick and selected Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing.
Author Adam J. Criblez chronicles the Knicks’ struggles in that span and details how they mirrored the struggles of New York City. The book will be released on April 15.
Source link: https://sports.yahoo.com/knicks-notes-og-anunobys-return-052650930.html
