Knicks Links: Catching up on some Frank Ntilikina news

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you guys are enjoying the weekend.

Let’s crank some tunes and read some things:

(Big Boi’s new album Boomiverse is really good, by the way.)

Put your reading pants on, I’ve got a boatload of links today

— There’s a lot of actual Knicks links to get to today, but this is somehow the most important to me. SB Nation’s Charlotte Wilder is a true warrior, and she sat through James Dolan’s entire draft night JD and the Straight Shot performance and lived to tell the tale. I would also strongly suggest reading her Twitter feed from that night as well. One of many gems from the article:

It reminded me of the heckling my friends and I used to do in college at baseball games: If we stuck to straightforward and somewhat devastating statements without any vulgarity, security couldn’t make us leave. But security apparently works differently at James Dolan concerts than at liberal arts college Division III sports games, and two bouncers swiftly arrived to escort the men out of the restaurant. (Neither man was Charles Oakley, for the record.)

— From the NYDN, Daniel Popper wrote a very nice piece about Frank Ntilikina. Definitely read this if you’d like a look at what makes the newest Knick tick.

— Steve Serby of the NY Post got a one-on-one interview with Ntilikina after the draft. I love this exchange:

Q: Why do you like playing defense so much?
A: You try not to getting scored on. I think me getting scored on’s like, I will be like, “Yeah, Frank, come on, like wake up, this guy just scored on you.”

Q: Does it make you angry?
A: Angry, yeah, kind of angry, and kind of I have to do better at it.

— Steve Popper of the Bergen Record writes that despite everything else going on with the Knicks right now, Frank Ntilikina is a true ray of sunshine:

Ntilikina absorbed none of the ire of the disgruntled fan base, presenting instead a glimmer of hope where there has been little.

“What I will bring to the Knicks, actually a lot of hope,” Ntilikina said. “I think I'm a player who will trust the process, work hard, and definitely try to be the best player I can be, who will give energy. I think I'm a team point guard and shooting guard actually. I'll just try to make my teammates be better every day, and I think I can play defense, too.”

Look, I was on record as being more of a Dennis “Slangin This Wood” Smith Jr. kinda guy going into the draft, but Frank is our guy now and I’ve already fallen head over heels for this kid’s character. Very excited to see him play next week.

— I agree with Stefan Bondy here, I can’t even imagine how Frank pulled off his schedule for the draft and playing in his French team’s finals, but I think it showed a lot about the type of guy the Knicks just drafted:

— Marc Berman of the NY Post writes that ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla doesn’t think Ognjen Jaramaz will be a good NBA player:

“Chances are he’ll never play in the NBA and Knicks fans will never see him other than summer league,’’ Fraschilla said. “He’s an older international kid, very limited upside. He’s a hard-nosed competitor but not really a great athlete or shooter.”

I guess 21 is “old” now? He’s basically a college junior! FOH Fran, I hope Jaramaz dunks all over whoever your favorite player was from this draft!

— Phil Mushnick of the NY Post writes that Carmelo’s presence has hampered Kristaps Porzingis’ development of an inside game. I bet Melo’s been secretly taking plates off of KP’s leg press machine too! Also:

By now, Porzingis should have at least developed into a pretty good small forward.

Uhhhhh...

— Charley Rosen, longtime Phil Jackson BFF, writes that the Knicks should re-sign Derrick Rose at a “discounted” $20-24 million per season* this offseason. Ay caramba:

Rose can function as the on-court mentor young Ntilikina would need.

*I took out the part that says “per season” because it struck me that Rosen could either mean two years/$20 million (AKA $10 million a season) or two years/$40 million. So I’ll just leave that up to interpretation.

— Berman once again reiterated from the Rose camp that he wants to be a Knick next year.

— The Knicks and Charles Oakley agree on something! From Bondy:

As you might’ve guessed, Oakley believes Porzingis should’ve confronted Jackson about his issues, rather than take the route of a silent protest. Porzingis has not spoken to anybody on the Knicks since the end of last season, conducting his offseason training overseas and outside of the direction of his team.

— Mike Lupica at the NYDN believes that Phil Jackson will be here, for better or worse, for a long time.

— Kenyon Martin isn’t a huge Jim Dolan fan, apparently:

— Damyean Dotson, one of our newest Knicks, had lunch with Phil Jackson the day after draft, and Berman had jokes:

I hope that was a joke, at least.

— ESPN’s Ian Begley has been going no-holds-barred on Twitter lately and I am absolutely here for this:

— Just a friendly reminder that approximately ³⁄₄ of the players in Ice Cube and Allen Iverson’s BIG3 league are former Knicks, so that could be fun. Games are taking place today at Barclay’s Center and airing tomorrow at 8 p.m. on FS1. Personally, I’m going to be rooting for “Team OAKAAK,” AKA the K-Mart- and Al Harrington-led Trilogy.

’Til next time!