:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65371854/1172993029.jpg.0.jpg)
With Media Day in the books, the time has finally come for the 2019-20 New York Knicks to get down to business. The team held their first official practice of the season Tuesday.
First look at Knicks training camp and new practice court floor pic.twitter.com/6rK259e4Gx
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) October 1, 2019
Apparently Ignas Brazdeikis felt the wrath of fellow rookie Kenny Wooten.
First day of training camp, sounds like Iggy Brazdeikis had his welcome-to-the-NBA moment when was dunked on by Kenny Wooten off an alley-oop from Dennis Smith.
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) October 1, 2019
"Iggy was in a bad spot," RJ Barrett said.
Poor Iggy. Now, if you’ll excuse, I’m going to sit back and imagine the same scenario playing out in the regular season, but with Dennis Smith Jr. throwing a lob to Mitchell Robinson, who dunks all over Kristaps Porzingis. Yes, that’s the stuff.
Speaking of Mitch, he was showing off a new three-point jumper in practice.
Mitchell Robinson was shooting 3s after Knicks practice and intends to shoot them in preseason too after working on his shot in the off-season.
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) October 1, 2019
"I'm shooting the thing now," he said.
"Yes indeed. I worked on it all summer. Why work on something you're not going to use?" pic.twitter.com/oMVdq5jRit
Indeed, why work on something all summer if you don’t intend to use it, at least during the preseason. Still, I remain skeptical that Mitch will be letting ‘em fly from downtown in games just yet. He said something similar before Summer League, if I recall, and I don’t think the kid took a sing jump shot in four games.
We also have footage of Dennis Smith’s new (and hopefully improved) jumper.
Knicks PG Dennis Smith Jr.'s jumper after he spent summer changing it.
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) October 1, 2019
"It’s a lot better," Fizdale said. "It’s a lot less movement, it’s more efficient... He’ll have days where it’s not as great. But I think consistently now he’s got a shot that has a better chance of going in." pic.twitter.com/4v8FOszs7X
Head coach David Fizdale told reporters that he intends to make changes to the Knicks’ defensive scheme during training camp.
David Fizdale says he's tweaked Knicks' defensive schemes this yr. Knicks finished 26th in defense in 18-19.
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) October 1, 2019
"We experimented a lot last yr. We looked at a lot of different stuff, what fits best for our team. We feel like what we’re doing now is really the best package for them."
He didn’t go into much detail about said tweaks, but hopefully it works. And while he’s at it, Fizdale should also make some changes to the offense, which actually ranked worse than the defense (30th in efficiency last season).
Whatever. Now that Mitch is splashing threes like a seven-foot Steph Curry, we have nothing to worry about.