New York Knicks: 3 takeaways from preseason grudge match against Nets

2. Lance Thomas is losing his appeal

In terms of talent, Lance Thomas is noticeably becoming the least crafty and useful forward on the team. He may be the longest-tenured Knick currently, but has very little to show for it. He is not as fast or athletic as most forwards, he is not a threat on the inside, and does not get enough opportunities on the outside to warrant him a legitimate weapon despite 44.7 percent shooting from beyond the arc last season.

For what most hail as his strong suit being defense, he surely did what he could to make the Brooklyn Nets look like cream of the crop.

In 16 minutes of play, he went 1-for-5 from the field, committed four personal fouls and three turnovers. As a fan I would love to see every player flourish, but it is becoming close to flirting with fiction to say that Lance Thomas can be the real deal or a role player going forward as the Knicks rebuild.

We have yet to see any Mindaugas Kuzminskas in preseason action yet, but Michael Beasley is playing decent basketball. For what he has missed offensively he has made up for in overall hustle with average defense and a respectable workload on the glass.

While it is just preseason action, I would predict unless Thomas has a complete turnaround in his game-to-game performance, he is high on the list of Knicks that will be shopped around the trade deadline.