Speaking Frankly.
I thought this article was wrong on every count.
Writer lists 9 NBA do-overs teams would want if allowed (ie the Fultz -Tatum fiasco) and drafting Franc is #9? Absurd.
My comments at the end.
9. Knicks draft Frank Ntilikina No. 8 overall (2017)
This is simple: Ntilikina is already a sporadic bench-warmer for the Knicks, and even when he plays, it's not for that long and he doesn't do much with his time. This was Phil Jackson's pick, and what makes it even harder to swallow is the Knicks were reportedly very high on Donovan Mitchell, who went five picks later at No. 13 to the Nuggets (who promptly traded him to the Jazz).
The draft is a crapshoot, and in most cases it's just too easy to say a team "made a mistake" after you have the results of their early performance to guide your analysis. But Ntilikina was flawed from the start. He projects as an elite defender, and in limited time, he's already a guy who has played at that level defensively. But his offense is a mess, and it always has been, and I'm here to tell you there is a laundry list of guards who can't shoot who have gone in the lottery and wound up as disappointments: Emmanuel Mudiay, Elfrid Payton, Kris Dunn, Shabazz Muhammad, Dante Exum, Michael Carter-Williams, and on and on. Stretch it out to all perimeter players and you have Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Justise Winslow and Stanley Johnson. Even Ricky Rubio and Tyreke Evans haven't been anywhere near the players they were expected to be. Not a single All-Star among any of those groups.
There is obviously more to a player than whether he can shoot or not, but you better be seriously elite at other things on the offensive end to make up for it -- i.e. John Wall and Russell Westbrook. There was absolutely no evidence that Ntilikina was ever going to be anything close to that kind of player. There is no question the Knicks would change this pick if they could, even with the understanding that Ntilikina won't turn 21 years old until next summer and still has plenty of time to improve.
1.
"The draft is a crapshoot, and in most cases it's just too easy to say a team "made a mistake" after you have the results of their early performance to guide your analysis. But ..."But then he goes on to play that game anyway. Nobody knew that Don Mitchell was a potential all-star or would play like Dwayne Wade his rook season. He went 13th for a reason (and I didn't even realize he was then traded to boot). Donovan's flaws were talked up, a bit slow, not much of a defender, sort of a combo guard, etc.
And there was a good chance Knix would have taken Smith Jr if not Franc. Though Phil prefers tall guards. And Smith had the prior knee injury as a red flag.
2.
"But Ntilikina was flawed from the start ... his offense is a mess, and it always has been"Who knew much about his offense? I recall some were concerned that Franc didn't have a quick first step and worried he couldn't get to the NBA rim. He was seen as fairly NBA ready for a 19 year old, savvy, confident, an orchestrator and defender.
3.
"there is a laundry list of guards who can't shoot who have gone in the lottery and wound up as disappointments: Emmanuel Mudiay, Elfrid Payton, Kris Dunn, Shabazz Muhammad, Dante Exum, Michael Carter-Williams ..."Ignoring guys like Kidd, Ball, Rondo (not a lottery pick, but so what), PG's who couldn't shoot but make an impact with Defense, vision, effort. Hell, Hall of Fame Pony Tarker couldn't shoot when he started.
Plus PG's take time to develop, so I wouldn't give up on Mud, Dunn or Exum (or Franc) yet. Mud, Dunn & Elfrid were starting to come around this year before injuries got to the latter two.
4.
"and wound up as disappointments" . . . "Not a single All-Star among any of those" Was that the sound of goalposts moving?
So Franc is a disappointment if he doesn't make an all-star team. Who was expecting to draft an all-star at #10. Sure it happens, but is not a realistic expectation.
5.
"you better be seriously elite at other things on the offensive end to make up for it -- i.e. John Wall and Russell Westbrook. There was absolutely no evidence that Ntilikina was ever going to be anything close to that kind of player."Uh, Wall was an overall #1 pick. Russ was the 4th pick.
That's blue chip territory. no one thought Franc was going to be a franchise cornerstone getting a max contract.
Comparing #10 pick Franc to all-stars is misguided. Stupid.
If Franc turns into the passer/defender that Rubio is, we'd be satisfied.
6.
"There is no question the Knicks would change this pick if they could, even with the understanding that Ntilikina won't turn 21 years old until next summer and still has plenty of time to improve."For Mitchell, sure. Otherwise Collins, Adebayo even Kennard look like nice rotation players. But Franc is still a solid pick with potential.
If he can get more consistent with his 3's, stop making next-station Euro-passes, be a little more aggressive and creative in scoring and passing, he'll be fine. Or maybe he's Darrell Walker ...
To have drafting Franc as one of the Top 10 NBA mistakes of the past couple years is silly. Just for the Knix, how about the Noah signing? He's a $6M tax hit for the next few years while playing for MEMf. Couldn't handle NYC, gave us nothing over 2 years and we're still paying him. Give me a gerry mulligan on that . . .
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