{"id":44555,"date":"2020-08-11T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T13:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/knicks-mailbag-dennis-smith-jr-at-crossroads-with-tom-thibodeaus-arrival\/"},"modified":"2020-08-11T16:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T13:01:00","slug":"knicks-mailbag-dennis-smith-jr-at-crossroads-with-tom-thibodeaus-arrival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/knicks-mailbag-dennis-smith-jr-at-crossroads-with-tom-thibodeaus-arrival\/","title":{"rendered":"#Knicks mailbag: Dennis Smith Jr. at crossroads with Tom Thibodeau\u2019s arrival"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Knicks mailbag: Dennis Smith Jr. at crossroads with Tom Thibodeau\u2019s arrival<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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August 11, 2020 |<\/span> 9:01am <\/p>\n

\n You ask, we answer. The Post is fielding questions from readers about New York\u2019s biggest pro sports teams and getting our beat writers to answer them in a series<\/a> of regularly published mailbags. In today\u2019s installment: the Knicks.<\/em><\/p>\n

What are [Tom] Thibodeau\u2019s and new management\u2019s thoughts on Dennis Smith Jr.\u2019s future as a Knick? He is probably one of the most athletic guys on the team. Given the proper tutelage and confidence, I think he has Russell Westbrook\/Steve Francis potential. \u2014 Darryl D.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s now or never for Smith Jr. as the uber-athletic point guard enters the final year of his rookie contract, paying him $5.7 million. Can Thibodeau salvage the career of the 2017 lottery pick who suffered a major regression last season?<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not a prototypical Thibs player. Defense and ball-sharing have never been high on Smith\u2019s priority list. Also, Smith may feel he wants a fresh start out of New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cDennis can be coached hard if you\u2019re a straight shooter,\u201d one NBA personnel person said. \u201cAnd Thibs reputation is being a straight shooter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s jump shot was anything but straight last season, but three major interruptions damaged his third season and made the Kristaps Porzingis trade look even more brutal. Porzingis is averaging 22.6 points and 10.2 rebounds in the Orlando bubble for the high-flying Mavericks.<\/p>\n

GM Scott Perry refused former player development director Craig Robinson\u2019s pleas to send Smith to the G-League to ease him back.<\/p>\n

Another NBA scout cautions about the former Maverick, \u201cHe\u2019s certainly not a Thibs kind of player, but let\u2019s see how committed they are to getting him right. You don\u2019t want to force it because they traded Porzingis for him. Knowing when to cut bait is important. There may be too many things to fix with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Knicks<\/img>
Dennis Smith Jr. (r.) is at a Knicks crossroads.<\/span>Corey Sipkin<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thibodeau has been something of a point-guard whisperer dating to Derrick Rose, but is reluctant to evaluate a player until he starts working with him.<\/p>\n

Smith missed three weeks early in the season after his stepmother died, then was out with an oblique injury for a month. He also sat out the season\u2019s final seven game<\/a>s with a concussion.<\/p>\n

The North Carolina State product played in 34 games, averaged 5.5 points and then interim coach Mike Miller didn\u2019t take to him. Now it\u2019s up to Thibodeau \u2014 hopefully during OTAs for the \u201cDelete 8\u2019\u2019 or individual workouts \u2014 to figure him out. Smith could be traded on draft night.<\/p>\n

President Leon Rose said of Smith \u201cthat\u2019s a special talent right there.\u201d Sounded like Rose was trying to up his trade value.<\/p>\n

\u201cDennis needs to mature a bit and become a great worker,\u201d one NBA source said. \u201cHe needs to step it up or he will be in China soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that Thibs is our new coach, how do you see this draft going? I always felt [Tyrese] Haliburton was the best choice at 7. But now I\u2019m not sure. [Isaac] Okoro may be another [Jimmy] Butler and is looking like a Thibs pick. \u2014 Knickerbocker Al<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Knicks have hired a share of new scouting blood led by one of the NBA\u2019s top college scouts in Walt Perrin. Perry will run the draft but with the event pushed to Oct. 16, Thibodeau has time to acclimate himself with the current lottery crop. He\u2019ll have more input with the later picks \u2014 their selection from the Clippers late in the first round and Charlotte\u2019s second-round pick at 38. Okoro, out of Auburn, is a solid small-forward defender but the Knicks may want a more transformative player if they pick in the top six. LaMelo Ball still is their top point guard in this draft \u2014 and that\u2019s the position they\u2019ve keyed on. The lottery is Aug. 20.<\/p>\n

Which current Knicks player(s) do you expect to excel with the hiring of the new coach? Which do you expect to regress based on Thibodeau\u2019s philosophy and style? \u2014 Jude Auguste<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the Knicks re-sign Taj Gibson, he knows exactly what Thibodeau wants from their previous experiences together in Chicago and Minnesota. Frank Ntilikina is a defense-first, pass-first point guard. He could really gain traction under Thibs, who is all about ball sharing and D. RJ Barrett, too, has the high motor and dedication that Thibodeau loves. The jury is out on the Thibodeau\/Julius Randle match as the former Laker showed in his lone Knicks season a tendency to over-dribble and not be a force on defense. Randle also has not been a winner in his career, failing to make it to the playoffs. Kevin Knox\u2019s low motor won\u2019t sit well with Thibodeau.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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If you want to read more Sports News<\/a> articles, you can visit our General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Knicks mailbag: Dennis Smith Jr. at crossroads with Tom Thibodeau\u2019s arrival” August 11, 2020 | 9:01am You ask, we answer. The Post is fielding questions from readers about New York\u2019s biggest pro sports teams and getting our beat writers to answer them in a series of regularly published mailbags. In today\u2019s installment: the Knicks. What…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51802],"class_list":["post-44555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-knicks-mailbag-dennis-smith-jr-at-crossroads-with-tom-thibodeaus-arrival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}