On Saturday, October 5th, the New York Knicks had open practice inside of Columbia University’s gym. Players warmed up with practice drills in front of fans then put on a show afterward with some full-court scrimmaging.
The New York Knicks are gearing up for a rapidly approaching preseason game against the Washington Wizards Monday, October 7th, at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC. The open gym practice showed players getting after each other with intensity. This is a very encouraging sign due to the fact that Scott Perry is building an iron-sharpens-iron kind of culture. This means whoever ends up starting for the Knicks on opening night against the San Antonio Spurs, would’ve earned it through toughness, grit, and defense. Besides, if a guard for the Knicks attacks the rim successfully against Mitchell Robinson and Kenny Wooten during practice, chances are they’ll continue having success in the regular season against some lesser shot-blocking oppositions on some nights. Knicks bigs were being physical with each other as well and there were also some individual battles going on during the course of the full-court scrimmage. One battle I noticed was between Frank Ntilikina and undrafted point-guard out of Mississippi State University, Lamar Peters. Both showed moments of attack and FIBA Frank used his height and won the battle while knocking down a few jumpers.
Kevin Knox and Marcus Morris displayed some good fluidity and offense for the Knicks during the scrimmage. Kenny Wooten and Mitchell Robinson displayed some shot-blocking and Bobby Portis showed flashes of his ability to stretch the floor. Elfrid Payton showed flashes as a floor general along with RJ Barrett and Julius Randle looked like he was going through the motions. However, Randle did have an impressive steal and fast-break dunk early in the scrimmage at Columbia University in Harlem, New York.