Knicks Links, 11/7/18: Much love for the young Knicks

Howdy, folks. Have you recovered from that 2-OT thriller the other night? Want to read some stuff about the Knicks? Cool, well I’ve got you covered.

Here’s something to listen to:

People love the Knicks! It’s weird:

— Mike Vorkunov at The Athletic wrote a fantastic feature on Frank Ntilikina, and the Knicks’ attempt to get him to embrace his inner scorer more. Mike’s work is totally worth a subscription, but here’s a teaser:

More than perhaps anyone, Ntilikina is aware of the critiques of him. He has been asked about his aggressiveness, or lack thereof, consistently over the last year by media. By now, his parries are almost rote. But last week, during a post-practice conversation with The Athletic, Ntilikina gave the sharpest look yet into his evolution and how he approaches the game.

While the Knicks want him to shoot more and assert himself more often, his development will be as much about his assertiveness as it is about the psychology behind it. Despite his prodigious athletic talents, Ntilikina seems to also consider the sport philosophically. He talks about it and himself with his close friends and discusses it with French players around the NBA.

— Sean Highkin at SNY writes that Tim Hardaway Jr. could actually be playing his way into being a trade chip for the Knicks... but could it be more wise to just keep him?

— Orestis Rantis at Hoops Habit writes about three reasons to like Frank Ntilikina’s season so far. (Only three??)

— Kevin Knox only got five minutes in the Knicks’ 2-OT loss on Monday, but he says he’s ready to get back to it full-time now, according the the NY Post’s Marc Berman.

— Here’s your starting lineup for tonight:

— Also from Berman, Enes Kanter is being a goddamn grump.

— Chris Iseman of the Bergen Record details Courtney Lee’s nagging neck injury:

“There are the spasms, there’s strain, it’s an irritated and inflamed nerve,” Lee said. “A little bit of whiplash going on.”

It’s all kept Lee out of action so far, and his return to the court is still unknown.

The veteran guard initially suffered the injury when he was fouled by Ron Baker during a training camp practice. Lee missed all five preseason games.

— Iseman also breaks down five questions for the Knicks from the early part of the season.

— Benoît Lelièvre at Knicks Film School breaks down how and why Damyean Dotson became a Knick in the first place, slipping their way in the second round of last year’s draft.

— This was neat, from CloseUp360:

— Hey there, John Jenkins:

— Jack Huntley at The Knicks Wall tries to get to the bottom of why the Knicks’ assist numbers have been so low this year.

— Rob Wolkenbrod at Daily Knicks power-ranks the ’Bockers.

— Jeff Bellone, Knicks Film School himself, breaks down the effective double-teaming that the Bulls threw at Allonzo Trier on Monday:

— Danny Small at Elite Sports NY writes that the Knicks and David Fizdale have some work to do to try to figure out the rotation once Kevin Knox and Tim Hardaway Jr. are back to full strength.

— In the ICYMI department, our own Jon "Stingy" Schulman was on the Mavs-centric Blue Hardwood Podcast the other day to break down Friday night's win (amongst other things):

— Wolkenbrod returns with the 20 greatest performances ever at Madison Square Garden.

— And lastly but not leastly, remember when David Lee and Nate Robinson visited the Garden a few weeks back? Well, the good folks at MSG Networks checked in with them and had a nice chat:

That’s all for today, folks!