New York Knicks rookie forward Kevin Knox is expressing some optimism and confidence in his team for the upcoming 2018-19 season.
There is an optimism surrounding the New York Knicks that hasn’t been present for some time. While there is still plenty of work to do before the Knicks are contenders, there is a glimmer of hope for fans to hang onto. That glimmer of hope is the young core that is being put together in New York.
Kristaps Porzingis remains the backbone of this rebuild. He is recovering from an ACL tear in February, so his return for this season is up in the air. However, we saw a glimpse of what he was capable of prior to the injury. Porzingis was named an All-Star in his first season as the to-go guy after Carmelo Anthony was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Frank Ntilikina‘s defensive prowess has people excited, as he is already an elite level defender despite still being a teenager. This summer, Knicks fans get even more excited as two new players were added to the young core.
Early returns on the 2018 NBA Draft are positive for New York. They look like they could have two steals in Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson. Knox, the No. 9 overall pick, and Robinson, the No. 36 overall pick, both stood out during NBA Summer League action.
Those performances are a sneak peek of things to hopefully come in the regular season. Given the current state of the team, both should have plenty of opportunities to develop their skill-sets. New York isn’t expected to make much noise this season, but don’t tell that to Knox.
The Knicks rookie, who just turned 19 and was one of the youngest prospects in this year’s draft class, recently caught up with Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Knox expressed confidence in himself and his teammates. He knows he can be one of the best rookies in this year’s class, but is more concerned with his team’s performance.
"“I’m pretty confident I can be one of the top rookies,” Knox said at the photo event staged at the Knicks’ Tarrytown campus. “But one of my goals this year is just to win in New York. I’m not really worried about winning the rookie award. I just want to win as a team, take road games, play some of the top teams and beat them to make the playoffs. Ultimately I want to win. That’s my main focus as my rookie year.”"
Winning is something that everyone wants to do. However, there are a lot of people that don’t believe that will occur often in New York this season. In addition to the above quote, Berman and Knox also discussed the oddsmakers putting the Knicks’ season total for wins at 29.5.
Depending on where you look, there are only a handful of teams with a lower over/under total than New York. The Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks are the only teams with lower posted totals.
Knox believes that the oddsmakers are selling his new team short. He is confident in his team and expects them to go over the 29.5 total set for them rather easily.
"“I saw that. People are sleeping on us with the 29 wins,” he said. “I think we definitely can win at least 35 and get in that playoff talk. That’s my personal opinion. Everyone has their own opinion. But the whole team, I’m pretty confident we’re really good this year, that we have a chance to make the playoffs.”"
New York making a run at a playoff spot would be a huge surprise. Without Porzingis until at least Christmas, it would seem that the playoffs are a long shot for the Knicks.
While the roster has been retooled a bit from last season, they didn’t add any impact players to truly replace what they are missing with Porzingis sidelined. Once he went down last season, the Knicks cratered.
With a new head coach in David Fizdale and some players looking to prove something, something could click and get them going. It will not be easy without their best player, but there are certain luxuries that come with playing in the Eastern Conference. A weaker schedule is one of them.
The New York Knicks are facing an uphill battle this season as long as KP is sidelined. However, if they play up to the potential that Knox believes they can, they could surprise some people in the early going until Porzingis returns to the court.