/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67210860/1206652701.jpg.0.jpg)
The young Knicks remain scattered across the globe, and unless some kind of practice bubble happens, they won’t be back together until the end of the year. So let’s check in on the only Knicks anybody cares about.
We begin with Kevin Knox. The NBA Bubble season has been cruel to Knox’s already bruised reputation, as we chronicled last week, but the kid isn’t exactly hiding in shame. Knox spent his recent days, including his birthday, in Los Angeles under the tutelage of famed shooting coach Chris “Lethal Shooter” Matthews.
My favorite part of that Instagram post is the praise from former Knick Rod Strickland.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21762742/rodstrick.jpg)
There have been some rumblings that the Knicks might hire Strickland for their coaching staff. Please come back, king...teach our point guards your secrets.
Knox has also been scrimmaging against another basketball player of note, Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant.
Man grtting clamped by Kevin Knox, he’s washed pic.twitter.com/EkF9jFvyXk https://t.co/NLDTpVM2r1
— Bootum (@DaRealBootum) August 12, 2020
If you want to be the best, you should practice against the best. It’s not inconceivable that Knox has to defend Durant next season. At this point, I might prefer Knox’s defense over Julius Randle’s.
RJ Barrett is also training with a famous shooting coach...in this case, it’s his longtime trainer Drew Hanlen.
Here’s an RJ Update from his trainer ‼️‼️‼️ @KnicksFanTv @JCMacriNBA pic.twitter.com/h5APMBHmGZ
— (long live) TONY STARK (@AQuincyJones) August 6, 2020
Barrett has been training with Hanlen for years, and despite RJ’s extremely hardworking nature, his shooting hasn’t improved at all. I noted this on Twitter once during the season, and Hanlen, who apparently looks up his own name, proceeded to block me. True story.
Finally, we have Frank Ntilikina. Frank is still in France, working on his...boxing?
It must be tough to look like a male model in every damn photo. I wouldn’t know.
There is also some training footage of Dennis Smith Jr., I guess. Are you interested? Well too bad.
This looks even worse than Mudiay’s offseason videos pic.twitter.com/MXSbLOQDgF
— Bootum (@DaRealBootum) August 9, 2020
Until next time, folks.