New York Knicks: Realistic goals for the 2018-19 season
Get the Young Core Involved
The Knicks have a young core that consists of Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson, Frank Ntilikina, Mario Hezonja and more. With a combination of a young core and some experienced players such as Joakim Noah, Enes Kanter and others the Knicks need to help their young core develop.
In order for the Knicks to have any sort of success in the future the Knicks need to develop their young core. Last season Frank Ntilikina averaged only 5.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 21.9 minutes per game.
In order for the Knicks to have long-term success they’ll need to take players such as Ntilikina, Knox, Robinson and Hezonja some experience playing in the NBA. The good news behind Kristaps Porzingis’ injury is that it will give these young players some experience.
With Porzingis out Hezonja will likely start with Noah Vonleh coming off the bench at PF. This means that two of the Knicks young players will get some real playing time and they will get a chance to show their true colors.
The only player who won’t see much playing time is Frank Ntilikina due to the fact that he is a point guard. The Knicks currently have five point guards on the roster and with Trey Burke having a breakout season last year and Emmanuel Mudiay coming off the bench, Ntilikina will have to fight for minutes.
Last season Mudiay played slightly more minutes than Ntilikina did as he averaged 22.4 minutes per game. With this being said you should expect more of the same this upcoming season and Ntilikina will play in a reserve role once again.
Next. Three things to expect for the Knicks in 2018. dark
The interesting one out of this bunch will be Kevin Knox. The Knicks took Kevin Knox with their ninth overall pick last year and they will likely want to get him involved as soon as possible. As of right now it looks as if the Knicks will be starting Mario Hezonja at SF but that is subject to change.
Out of the four I mentioned the least likely to see the court is Mitchell Robinson who will likely start out in the G-League unless the Knicks are truly horrible and just give everyone experience.