1. Frank Ntilikina
Frank Ntilikina is the perfect example of a player being affected by a big-market team. When the New York Knicks drafted Kristaps Porzingis with the fourth pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, most fans were outraged by Phil Jackson‘s decision. What followed was a frenzied summer full of speculations about The Unicorn’s career.
That was until Kristaps was able to shut a few mouths, making New York fans doubt their initial reactions. Unfortunately, Frank Ntilikina has not managed to quiet those critics yet. As a result, he is under an obscene amount of pressure in his second season.
During his rookie year, he averaged just 5.9 points along with 3.2 assists in 21.9 minutes per game. To make matters even worse, he shot just 36.4 percent from the field.
Starting in 2018-19, Ntilikina has to erase a bad rookie season and play at the high level he is capable of. That is, of course, if he wants to be reckoned with as an NBA player, since defense is the only part of his game where he’s proven himself at this stage.
Moving from Strasbourg, France to New York is a huge change, bo doubt about it. But at the end of the day, it’s just basketball, the thing that got him drafted ahead of Dennis Smith Jr. and Donovan Mitchell in the first place.