NBA: Knicks-Rookie Knox: Boundless possibilities

Kevin Knox is the new hope for the New York Knicks and will shape a new era with Kristaps Porzingis. His potential is a kind of mystery – because many of the abilities of the 18-year-old Forward have probably not yet been revealed at all in college. His coach David Fizdale is particularly pleased about this.

It has become a tradition in the annual NBA draft: the Knicks draw a player they’re hoping for and the fans boo them because they’d rather have another player. Or because they want to criticize the front office or owner James Dolan, which in this case amounts to the same thing, because it is hard to separate at the moment.

Not that you can really blame them: Since Dolan took over as chairman in 1999, the team has stumbled over its own feet again and again, produced chaos and controversies, missed the playoffs 13 times since 2001 and won exactly one playoff series (2013). The Knicks have not lived up to their own rich tradition since Patrick Ewing’s departure in 2000.

It is therefore understandable that every draft decision of the franchise is initially viewed with suspicion, even if the players are unable to do anything about it. Especially as the tide can turn just as quickly: Kristap’s Porzingis was once booed violently and within a few games was the favourite child of the New Yorkers, with the newest hopeful the screaming was not so loud by far, but a certain hype has also developed around him in the meantime.

Kevin Knox had just celebrated his first birthday when New York parted company with long-time franchise player Ewing in September 2000. The still 18-year-old was the second youngest player after Isaac Bonga to be drawn at the 2018 draft in June – but not as a project in the second round, but as (hopefully) an impact player with the 9th pick, with much higher expectations.

Of course, the forward is not yet a finished product, either physically or in a playful way, but that makes it particularly interesting. On the one hand, his physical growth is probably not yet complete – Knox is currently listed at 2.06 m, his father Kevin Knox Sr. told the New York Post recently that doctors are expecting about 2.11 m – and on the other hand he is just learning the extent of his abilities through play.

Knox was already considered a versatile scorer for the draft, his appearances in the Las Vegas Summer League, in which he made it to the All-Tournament First Team with an average of 21.3 points, but already indicated that expectations of him might have to be recalibrated. It was just four games, but Knox not only showed talent as a scorer – apart from several impressive poster dunks, he also had a few qualities that had never been awarded to him before.

The Kentucky Wildcats of the John Calipari era have been the talent factory par excellence for several years. Several players sign there because Coach Cal promises them to prepare them for the NBA in the best possible way and to position them well within a year: Between 2010 and 2015 alone, the No.1 pick came three times from Kentucky (John Wall, Anthony Davis, Karl Towns), a host of other lottery picks also brought Calipari “one-and-one” into the league.

As many top recruits choose Kentucky year after year, making the Wildcats almost always one of the most talented college teams in recent years, albeit without much continuity. On the one hand this is of course a great help, but on the other hand it can also lead to certain abilities of them not appearing at all because they are not needed.

Devin Booker, for example, was only picked in position 13 because he only scored 10 points in an absurdly talented Kentucky team (Towns, Tyler Ulis, Trey Lyles, Willie Cauley-Stein, Aaron Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Andrew Harrison, Alex Poythress…) and was not in demand as the dynamic scorer he can and must be in Phoenix. Knox now appears to have a similar case, at least in part.

In Kentucky Knox was primarily a finisher, even though he did pick’n’roll, but almost exclusively as the last stop of a posession. In Las Vegas, however, summer coach Mike Miller let him initiate many attacks himself. “I was on the baseline in Kentucky,” Knox himself told The Athletic, “Here they let me act upstairs where I can read the game in a completely different way and go to the basket. I’m versatile, that’s why this game suits me.”

In college, Knox was an executive part of the system, but the summer curtsey made him a system – a ball-dominant, much more aggressive scorer, in the positive sense. His speed and athleticism make him a weapon especially in transition, when he gets the rebound and goes directly forward himself, but also his ball handling has already improved drastically, so that he now gets along much better in half court with the ball in his hand.

His throw has to be respected, even if the triple quota of 34 percent can still be expanded, but the technology is already very promising. The more he feels comfortable with the ball in his hand in the pick’n’roll, the more he becomes a matchup nightmare. Especially since Knox, who was hardly noticed in college for his clean passports, has already indicated that there is more to him.

This has to do not least with David Fizdale, the new head coach of the Knicks: Fizdale has already said several times that he wants to play with several ball handlers and playmakers next season, and Knox is said to be one of them: “Fiz wants me to have the ball in my hands a lot, after rebounds, but also in pick’n’rolls. So I’ve been working on it all summer.”

The first impressions were very promising, as Fizdale acknowledged with The Athletic: “He understands the game very well for his age. We deliberately put him in many different situations, let him act as a roll-man and ball handler. We want to try a lot to get the most out of his skill set.”

Fizdale sees the extremely versatile, albeit still quite raw youngster as much more than a scorer, but a potential all-rounder in the style of Kevin Durant, who is not by chance also his playful role model. This can and should give the Knicks fans hope – especially in connection with Porzingis.

The Latvian will continue to be the franchise player in the Big Apple, but his strong performances before the injury last season also showed: he needs offensive relief alongside himself, urgently also players who can cause danger themselves with ball in hand. Fizdale’s plan is for Knox to be such a player when Porzingis returns from his cruciate ligament rupture sometime this season.

That’s why Knox will be thrown in at the deep end until then, even if he has already realized that the real NBA is not as smooth as the Summer League. “It’s going to be hard to carry this over to the season. I’m playing well right now, but things are getting a little tougher in the NBA,” Knox said in Las Vegas.

Knox can and will make mistakes – this is with the Knicks, who will probably have nothing to do with the playoffs next season, but for now also desirable and okay. More important than the bare results is the progress Knox makes as a basketball player. The path he still has ahead of him is undoubtedly long, but perhaps Fizdale’s vision will take shape at some point.

Then a (about) 2.11 m big Knox enters the Pick’n’Roll with the 2.21 m big Porzingis, a combination of two mobile, litter-strong and dynamic giants, which cannot be defended conventionally and who, together with Frank Ntilikina and second-round pick Mitchell Robinson, could finally usher in the next successful era of Knicks. If you can avoid repeating the many mistakes of the past this time.

The Knicks fans will certainly keep their suspicions about this for a long time, but that’s okay. With his appearances in the Summer League, Knox has already ensured that no one associates booing with him any more – but hope. That’s something to build on.