New York Knicks: Three young players on the bubble of sticking with the team

Dennis Smith Jr.

Dennis Smith Jr brings an amazing athletic ability to the game, along with outstanding balance coming from the point guard position. Although he shows great explosion in his movements, he has struggled mightily with his three-point shot, even after an offseason to focus on correcting his technique.

DSJ needs more of a strong finished than some of his teammates to hang around with the New York Knicks. If he continues along his current mediocre path, he may not be in the NBA for much longer, other than as a player off the tail-end of the bench.

Over the next few months, he must display consistent improvement with his jump shot from both two and three-point range. Smith must show the future coach and front-office that he can dictate the pace on the floor and distribute the rock to his teammates from the point guard position.

Frank Ntilikina

Frankie has developed his body very well coming out of the summer break. Physically he has proven to hold up with his maturity. Unfortunately, he has not yet demonstrated the ability or the knowledge to stand out at any primary position.

“The Frenchise” has always been an outstanding, defense-oriented man. Recently, he has shown brief flashes of offensive ability, which Frankie carried over from his time with France’s National Team last summer.

Ntiliklina has to show that he can stick around primarily at the two-position with R.J. Barrett holding down the three. Knox will either be in a rotation with R.J. at the three or have to prove that he can play big enough to get minutes at the stretch-four slot.