There’s no way around it. The New York Knicks have players the fans don’t like. It’s nothing personal, but their basketball style can be infuriating most of the time.
Julius Randle and Bobby Portis aren’t going to become fan favorites anytime soon. Both of their play on the court has Knicks Twitter continually being negative about their play. They ruin the flow of the game, which gives fans grey hair.
Randle has been playing well since Mike Miller took over for David Fizdale. However, there are plenty of negatives that outweigh the positives. The biggest qualm Knicks fans have is when he’s ‘feeling it,’ Randle will bring up the ball. That has to have every single fan screaming at the television. There’s no reason he should be bringing the ball up.
If that wasn’t the most significant thing, Randle will chuck up 3-pointers at times that are unnecessary and force isolation plays trying to beat him man one-on-one. While there are plenty of times where he is beasting it, isolation plays aren’t the Knicks’ strong suit. He’s unbelievably lazy on defense and only seems to exert his energy trying to beat his man offensively.
Portis, on the other hand, is also lazy, most of the time, but doesn’t exert nearly as much energy on offense as Randle. He loves to play iso-ball as well, but you’ll find him standing around the arc looking to bomb a 3. He needs to use his big frame to go to work down-low, but instead, he wants to let it fly beyond the arc. Portis doesn’t bring much to the table and is only taking away time from the young players.
The time Miller is giving to Portis is time that should be used on Kevin Knox. And as bad as Knox has been this season, Knicks fans would rather see him over Portis. Give Knox to time to try to regain what little confidence he had last season when there was hope for him as a future NBA player. If not, Knox belongs in the G-league.
There are reports that the New York Knicks are not expected to buyout veteran players, which absolutely no sense. The season is over, and the team needs to focus on player development. They aren’t despite what Miller says.