Elfrid signed a 2-year, $8 million per year contract with the Knicks before the 2019-20 season. The Knicks hold an option for his second year — this coming season: 2020-21 is partially guaranteed for $1M, it was to be fully guaranteed on Sunday, June 28, 2020. That date is now TBA.

So we wait to see if Elfrid Payton will be a Knick this season; further complicated by the new Head of Basketball Operations, Leon Rose, and the new coach, Tom Thibodeau. Note that the GM is still Scott Perry, who signed Payton and drafted him in Orlando; aka he is a big fan.

But this article is not really about Elfrid Payton — as I say above, he is the representative example of so many players.

With the NBA schedule pushed back due to Coronavirus, and then the original dates changed to be TBA’s — here is the current look:

Deadline for NBA Draft Entrants: November 8

• Deadline for all early entrants (including international players) to withdraw from the NBA draft (4:00pm CT).

NBA Draft: November 18

• NBA draft day.

Deadline to Waive Players & Apply Stretch Provision: TBA (originally Aug 31)

• Last day for teams to waive players and apply the stretch provision to their 2020/21 salaries in a normal league year.

Deadline for Termination Options: TBA (originally October 17)

• Last day for decisions on player, team and early termination options (4:00pm CT).
  • Note: Some player, team, and early termination option decisions are due earlier.
• Last day for teams to make qualifying offers to players eligible for restricted free agency.

1st Day to Negotiate with Free Agents: TBA (originally October 18)

• Last official day of the 2019/20 NBA league year.
• Teams can begin negotiating contracts with free agents (5:00pm CT).

Start of 2019-20 NBA Season & Moratorium Period: TBA (originally October 19)

• Official start of the 2019-20 NBA league year.
• Moratorium period begins.
• Restricted free agents can sign an offer sheet.
• Teams can begin signing players to rookie scale contracts, minimum salary contracts, and two-way contracts.
• Third- and fourth-year rookie scale options for 2021-22 can be exercised.

End of Moratorium Period: TBA (originally October 23)

• Moratorium period ends (11:00am CT)
• Teams can begin officially signing players, extending players, and completing trades.
• The two-day period for matching an RFA offer sheet signed during the moratorium begins.

The post Elfrid Payton Is Still a Knick — Latest on 2020-21 Coronavirus NBA Date Schedule appeared first on Knicks.City.

Fizdale said after the game, “Frank has been struggling, Trey (Burke)’s back — Let’s look at it… One guy hits a certain amount of games where he’s struggling, next guy up.”

Fizdale also benched Mario Hezonja to defuse the rematch of Hezonja vs Giannis Antetokounmpo, wherein last game Antetokounmpo tried to block a runaway slam dunk by Hezonja, risking injury, and Hezonja stepped over Antetokounmpo after the dunk, prompting Greek Freak to say after the game that “I’m going to punch him in the (groin) next time.”

Even at the Half; Milwaukee Took Control in 2nd Half

The Knicks played even with the Bucks for the 1st half but then Milwaukee opened up a 10 point lead in the 3rd and won rather easily. Knicks looked like they had no confidence to win in the second half.

Highlights:

• Allonzo Trier was back from injury and was a joy to watch as usual, slicing thru the defense (8 pts in 18 min on 4-10).
• Kevin Knox looked good before the national audience, finishing with 21 points on 8-20 shooting.
• Noah Vonleh 14 pts (4-8), 15 rebounds gave Giannis Antetokounmpo a hard time in the first half but Giannis did well in the second half and ended up with 30 pts and 14 rebounds anyway.
• Luke Kornet was 3-6 from 3 for 9 points in 14 minutes and blocked a shot. He is now first man off the bench.
• Emmanuel Mudiay with a so-so 11 point, 5 assist performance. He had a slam dunk that made the highlights.
• Damyean Dotson played 19 minutes but inexplicably took only 2 shots (1-2 for 2 pts)
• Tim Hardaway Jr was dreadful again — 4-18 for 14 points. There have been so many games where the Knicks were playing even or ahead and then Hardaway has gone into a shooting funk and before you know it the Knicks are down by 10. This game was no different.

For Milwaukee, Malcolm Brogdon (17 points), Eric Bledsoe (11 pts), and Brook Lopez (20 pts) and Thon Maker (12 pts) played well. Knick-killer Kris Middleton with a poor performance (2-12 and 1-7 from 3 for 6 pts).

On twitter after the game, Andrew Claudio (@Claudio_GSN ) posted: ”

The post Game Log: Dec 25, 2018: Milwaukee 109 NY 95 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Kevin Knox was a human highlight reel in the first quarter for the Knicks — but only took 6 shots in the second half. They didn’t get him the ball. Emmanuel Mudiay with another 32 point game on 12-20. He is the Knicks point guard.

Frank Ntilikina with 14 minutes off the bench, and 0 points. Ntilikina has essentially become a 14-minute-per-game reserve guard.

Trae Young hurt the Knicks late — had 15 points and 11 assists. But he is way small on defense — Mudiay posted him up and scored at will on him late. Jeremy Lin scored 11 points on 5-8.

Tim Hardaway Jr. (4-10 15 pts) took a bunch of 3’s in the 4th that had Knicks Twitter howling at his shot selection — one time he came down on the break and hoisted a 3 in traffic with 3 guys on him and missed.

After the game, coach Fizdale was asked about his starting team’s defensive numbers, and said “Yeah, they’re ugly, but it’s like what can I do other than get to work and try to fix the things that they’re screwing up. I don’t really want to tweak the lineup right now. I want to get us back to playing solid basketball and understanding where we’re screwing up and where we can get better.”

The boxscore:

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071153

The post Game Log: Dec 21, 2018: Atlanta 114 NY 107 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Good game Kevin Knox (8-17, 21 pts). High-arcing 3 pointers, attacking the basket with venom. An open-court full-court drive by Kevin Knox early on followed by a fantastic alley oop slam dunk on the break on a pass from Tim Hardaway Jr. later on. Every day, Kevin Knox looks closer and closer to Bernard King. Knox is 19 yrs old.

Good game Tim Hardaway Jr (7-16, 27 pts); raised trade value? (Dallas reportedly interested).

Good game Damyean Dotson (6-11, 14 pts)

Frank Ntilikina 1-7 from the floor. He made a great defensive play fronting Ben Simmons early in the game but that was about it for his highlights. T.J. McConnell had no problem with Ntilikina’s defense; attacked at will and distributed. Knick shooting guards defended J.J. Redick.

Hard to envision Knicks being good defensive team in forseeable future. Philly set their high for points in a regular season game this season with the 131.

Boxscore:

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071138

The post Game Log – Dec 19, 2018: Philadelphia 131 New York 109 appeared first on Knicks.City.

T.J. Warren kept hitting 3’s, Devin Booker with 38 points, Richaun Holmes with a couple of blocks and good interior D, Deandre Ayton with slams inside (21 points), and Josh Jackson with some 3’s — and that was all she wrote.

This game left you wondering about coach Fizdale again, and if he was a good ‘nurturing’ coach for young players but not a great coach with a system that was ever going to lay down championship Defense for these Knicks.

To be fair, the Knicks were playing their 3rd game in 4 nights and had the following players injured and not playing: Tim Hardaway, Allonzo Trier, Mitchell Robinson, and Damyean Dotson (and of course Kristaps Porzingis). That’s like a whole team was missing — and a good team! Back in the days of Patrick Ewing when Knicks had one of the best teams in the league, if Ewing missed one game, everyone figured Knicks would lose it.

Kevin Knox continued to impress — 13 points in the first quarter. But then he went quiet, finishing with 17 points. He looked better than Mikal Bridges (7 points) whom a lot of fans were wondering if the Knicks should pick in last June’s draft). Emmanuel Mudiay with another terrific game 32 points. Looks like the Knicks have a point guard? Mudiay and Frank Ntilikina played together at times, and Ntilikina was money from 3 off a couple of Mudiay passes.

Boxscore:

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071125

The post Game Log – Dec 17, 2018: Phoenix 128 New York 110 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Highlights:

• Last time Knicks played Indiana, Domantas Sabonis had his way with them — he was 11-11 from the floor. This time, Enes Kanter played him tough all game — going at him offensively (7-11, 20 pts, 15 rebounds to Sabonis’ 6-10, 13 pts, 12 rebounds). Kanter offered up well-meaning, decent defense in general. He may be slow but is not a slouch. He brings energy.
• Noah Vonleh (7 pts, 12 rebounds) had his fill with Miles Turner (24 pts).
• Kevin Knox continues to look good.
• Emmanuel Mudiay continues to look good at the point.
• Tim Hardaway had a decent game against Victor Oladipo.

Knicks can pat themselves on the back having stayed even, on the road, with a strong Indiana team that features the best defense in the NBA. The young Knicks are learning how to play together and gaining confidence. A building-block game.

The post Game Log – Dec 16, 2018: Indiana 110 New York 99 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Emmanuel Mudiay took over.

First Half

Knicks were getting KILLED in this one — down 21 in the first half and it seemed like 40. They were doing nothing right. Dribbling the ball off their foot, playing no defense. At one point I tweeted “Ron Baker should coach this team” — a frustrating ode to Coach Fizdale saying Baker would be a good coach one day after the Knicks released Baker the night before.

Kevin Knox was the lone bright spot in the first half — scoring at will and racking up 17 points by the half. He keeps reminding me of Bernard King in the way he shoots with no hesitation and loves taking it to the rim.

Mitchell Robinson had a vicious alley oop slam dunk in the first half and was playing well before coming down with a sky-high rebound on Frank Kaminsky‘s foot for a sprained ankle.

Second Half

After halftime the Knicks came out with a new fervor and started chipping away at the lead. And then they unleashed Luke Kornet. The 7-foot Kornet has been eating up the G league with his 3-pt shooting and shot blocking. We saw him briefly at the end of last season and everyone was impressed.

Kornet

Kornet not only blocked shots against Charlotte he was very active defensively inside — patrolling right and left — and shouting out orders to other teammates on where to go on D. On offense he was MONEY from 3 (overall 4-8, 3-5 from 3, 13 pts, 6 rebounds 3 blocks and a +19 in 24 minutes).

Mudiay

Emmanuel Mudiay took over on offense — play after play down the stretch — driving, stopping for the little jumper. 34 points.

Kornet with Defense to the End

Nicolas Batum kept hitting 3’s like a crazy man (5-8) to keep Charlotte right there with the Knicks. It went to Overtime — on the final play of the game Kemba Walker drove the court for a possible game-tying layup at the buzzer but Kornet was back and there, to cause Walker to alter his layup and miss.

Boxscore:

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071102

The post Game Log – Dec 14, 2018: New York 126 Charlotte 124 in OT appeared first on Knicks.City.

Kevin Knox

Kevin Knox

Frank Ntilikina

Wins and loses seem meaningless now as Knicks continue to fall into oblivion at 8-21. But Kevin Knox put on another SHOW in Cleveland. And Frank Ntilikina had his second straight excellent scoring game. Knicks fell way behind in the first half — down by 22 at one point — and then made a second half surge to take the lead with a minute left in the game — on a spectacular team play — Enes Kanter with excellent interior defense, led to a dive-for-loose-ball and pickup by Emmanuel Mudiay, then the outlet to Knox for a SLAM in traffic.

But Knicks fumbled away the lead — as Mudiay tossed away their final chance on an inbounds that he threw into the other team’s hands as Kanter failed to free himself in the paint — the play was intended to get the ball to him with 13 seconds left down by 1, and Knicks were out of timeouts.

Rebecca Harlow tweeted after the game that:

• “Last thought before we take-off: Frank Ntilikina backed up one big game with another. Told me taking over felt ‘natural’ against Charlotte and he realizes he can build from that baseline. Saw the same aggressiveness tonight. Solid breakthrough.”

Before the game, she tweeted:

• “Kevin Knox getting start tonight; tells me he feels like a completely different player since his last start on 11/18/18. Biggest difference? He’s adjusted to the pace; can read defense & overall confidence.”

Boxscore:

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071087

The post Game Log – Dec 12, 2018: Cleveland 113 New York 106 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Frank Ntilikina‘s shot finally falling but his defense is under the microscope these days. Quick guards get by him constantly; his footwork is slow. He doesn’t fight thru screens, even though there’s some fuggazy stat people point to that he led league in PnR defense last year. Might be because Kristaps Porzingis was behind him a good part of year.

Emmanuel Mudiay didn’t have a good game last time out and Trey Burke is out injured, as is Alonzo Trier with a minor day-to-day injury. It will be interesting to see which Knick point guard gets the majority of playing time vs Colin Sexton of Cleveland. The Knicks have had such a revolving point guard situation to this point that “It’s a Hard Knicks Life” podcast created a terrific graphic for it.

Enjoy watching Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson, and Alonzo Trier who may still be out with that minor injury. And big man Kanter. Rooting for Ntilikina but we’ll see.

Cleveland enters this game 6-21, with 2nd worst record in NBA (ahead of just Chicago). Knicks are 5th worst.

Matchups to Watch

• Noah Vonleh had a bad game last game (1-5, 3 pts, a -23) — and Knicks suffered. One of this game’s interesting matchups will be Noah Vonleh against Larry Nance Jr — always a joy to watch even from an opponent fan’s standpoint.
• Emmanuel Mudiay — if he is still starting — vs Colin Sexton, or perhaps Ntilikina vs Sexton.
• Knicks will also have to guard Jordan Clarkson, who usually kills them. Damyean Dotson may get this matchup.
• Matthew Dellavedova also always kills the Knicks. It will probably be Ntilikina on him. Anticipate Dellavedova going thru screens and dashing around Ntilikina but we’ll see. Coach should put Ron Baker on Dellavedova if he’s killing Knicks.

Note: Here is the Game Log on this game: https://www.knicks.city/2018/game-log-dec-12-2018-cleveland-113-new-york-106/

The post Game Preview: Knicks at Cleveland, Dec 12, 2018 appeared first on Knicks.City.

Frank Ntilikina and Kevin Knox

The talk of the game was that Frank Ntilikina went off offensively (7-11, 4-4 from 3, 18 points). The Knicks were getting shelacked by Charlotte at the Garden when midway thru the 3rd, Ntilikina made a behind the back move at top of the key and then hit a jumper. Next he hit a 3. Then another 3. Then a 2. He kept pouring it in until getting hit with a questionable offensive foul that had Fizdale erupting at the refs. A 6th foul and he was gone.

And Kevin Knox had his best game so far — the 2nd teenager in NBA history (the other being LeBron) to score 25 points and have 15 rebounds in a game (he had 26 points and 15 rebounds). The announcers started comparing him to Bernard King with his quick shot and love of running the floor.

No Defense

But Charlotte scored at will on NY. Lot of people talking about Frank Ntilikina’s offense but those of us watching his defense were not plussed as old-timer Tony Parker dribbled past him at will for 16 points off the bench.  Emmanuel Mudiay started and played the high scoring Kemba Walker.

This one seemed to be on the coach. Knicks don’t seem to have a clue as a team. You couldn’t blame Tim Hardaway because he had a good game (7-13, 3-5 from 3, 21 pts). Mitchell Robinson played well defensively (6 pts, 2 blocks) as usual. And Damyean Dotson with another good shooting game (6-8 for 12 points). Coach was asked about Noah Vonleh‘s poor performance in the postgame — and coach said indeed, when Vonleh doesn’t play well the whole team is affected.

Ron Baker got in the game in the 4th and played aggressive defense. Still there is a noticeable difference to the defensive havoc he creates vs Ntilikina’s finesse defense.

Boxscore:

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071071

The post Game Log Dec 9, 2018: Charlotte 119 NY 107 appeared first on Knicks.City.