Morning Knicks 7/1: Knicks Offseason Programs Still Unclear, the Case for Kenny Atkinson, and More
-Fans still don't know when they'll get to see the Knicks play again, but it could be a while before the whole team even gets back on a basketball court together. There's been talk about the eight teams left out of the NBA's restart playing against each other or having mandatory OTAs, but according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, those ideas look unlikely. Berman reported that the league and its players association won't make anything mandatory, and while there is potential for some sort of workouts or games to be held, there are clear concerns over whether those could safely be made possible. You can read more about this in Berman's article.
-The Knicks would love to have a head coach that can come to New York, develop young players, and turn around bad situation. It just so happens that Kenny Atkinson, one of the top candidates for the Knicks' next head coach, did just that in Brooklyn. The Knicks are a ways away from contending, and our own Lauren Russell feels that Atkinson is the right coach to come in, create a positive culture, and rebuild the team the right away. Lauren's article on why the Knicks should choose Atkinson makes the case for Leon Rose to essentially recreate what happened in Brooklyn, where the team looks to be a contender next year.
-Operating with success in the NBA is all about obtaining value. The quickest way to success is to get more value in a trade than you're giving up or get more out of free agents and draft picks than their contracts and draft slots indicate. The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov and John Hollinger sat down and went over Hollinger's statistical model to determine which players have given the Knicks the most value and who they should look to keep or cut moving forward. It should come as no surprise that the majority of Knicks' free agent signings from 2019 did not bring in value, but there is one interesting player that did: Elfrid Payton. The Athletic writers think keeping Payton around on his $8 million salary would be a solid move for New York. For all the performances and projections of these Knicks' players from Hollinger's model, you can check out the full article on The Athletic.
-Jamahl Mosley has been one of the least-talked about potential coaches in Leon Rose's search. He isn't a favorite like Tom Thibodeau or Kenny Atkinson, he's not a Gregg Popovich assistant like Becky Hammon, Ime Udoka, or Will Hardy, and he's not a former head coach like Mike Brown, Jason Kidd, or Mike Woodson. But Mosley has played under two very respected coaches in Rick Carlisle and George Karl. The latter spoke with Marc Berman of The New York Post, lauding Mosley as an excellent future head coach and one that the Knicks should strongly consider. You can read Berman's full article on his conversation with Karl and get more insight on the Mavs' assistant.
-Yesterday, the Knicks sent out an email to season ticket holders requesting an initial payment on next season's tickets by August 13. The Knicks said their refund policy is still in place if fans are unable to come to Madison Square Garden next season. Surely, Knicks fans hope they won't need to enact that policy, but the idea of having fans at NBA games even by next season seems uncertain at best.
