Knicks battling through MAJOR injuries as KAT finds his groove!

New York Post

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00:00Mitchell Robinson's on some sort of load management program.

00:04OG's out with a hamstring injury, and now Landry Schammett may miss some time with a dislocated

00:09shoulder.

00:10All their Knicks down bad right now.

00:12Alex Jotero, the Knicks Fan TV, is hopping on to talk Knicks before their NBA matchup

00:17against the Hornets.

00:18But best believe, ladies and gentlemen, do not click away.

00:21We're not talking about the Hornets that much.

00:25Alex, what's going on, my man?

00:26Let's get straight into this, bro, because I mentioned they're already down OG.

00:30Mitch is on his own schedule.

00:32Landry Schammett re-dislocated his right shoulder.

00:34That forced him to miss some time.

00:36What was that, two years ago?

00:37He didn't have surgery back then on it, and now he's at a crossroad.

00:40If he opts for surgery at this time, it's going to likely end the season.

00:44And if he decides to rehab it, that puts the Knicks in a situation to where they're thin

00:48at guard, and they may have to waive him to open up a roster spot.

00:52If you're the Knicks, what do you do with this whole Schammett situation?

00:56Because he is playing well right now.

00:58It's tough, man, because with Landry Schammett, as you mentioned, he is playing well.

01:03He's shooting very well this season, and he's been critical, especially in two wins so far

01:08on the year against the Miami Heat, and as well as the Dallas Mavericks.

01:12So you're looking at a guy who, as we know, last season, after he came back from that shoulder

01:16injury, took some time to get back into the swing of things, and then really didn't make

01:20his mark until the postseason.

01:22Now he came out of the gate hot this year, and to lose a guy like that for a team that's

01:27looking to put up a lot of threes is going to be tough if you don't have Landry Schammett.

01:31Now you've got to go back out, potentially on the market, and see what's available.

01:34But I'm not there yet, Brandon.

01:36I'm not there yet in like, hey, let's just cut Landry.

01:38There's still an evaluation period that has to happen right now, and the Knicks are trying

01:42to figure out what are his options right now, and how bad is the separation.

01:46So it's a day-by-day process.

01:49You know, Bondi just reported not too long ago saying that, you know, he's going to

01:52miss these games because it's classified as a shoulder sprain.

01:57But when talking to Mike Brown, there's still more evaluation to be done for Landry.

02:00So it's tough, man.

02:02But if he can't play for the rest of the season because he does opt for surgery, obviously

02:05you've got to cut him.

02:06But if there's a closer deadline where he can rehab, they might go that route just to see

02:10if he can get back and then just try to hold weight without him.

02:13Yeah, it's unfortunate for this kid, man, because at the Knicks game I went to, what,

02:19two weeks ago, two Fridays ago, they were, he was getting the crowd, Landry, Shamit, and

02:25he heard people jokingly cheering MVP in the crowd as well.

02:28The kid was absolutely bawling.

02:30Unfortunately, he has to go through this.

02:32Let's talk about another guy that's just kind of been bawling as of recently on this squad.

02:36Mike Brown said that Cat's comfort level is starting to get there.

02:41Starting to get there for a guy that's one of the best big men in the league is a little

02:46something, a little weird to me.

02:47But do you agree or disagree with what Mike Brown said about Cat?

02:52I agree with that.

02:53And I know it's not pretty.

02:55And look, I've been a critic of Cat so far, how he started this season.

02:58But you could see that I think there's two ways to look at this thing.

03:03Is that one, you have the numbers, right?

03:05Is he putting, is he having the same type of production that he did last season, especially

03:10when he joined the Knicks?

03:11Let's remember last year that he came out, out the, out the, out the blocks blazing, like

03:17just scoring so efficiently because that's what we're comfortable seeing Carl Anthony Towns

03:21doing.

03:22He is one of the best shooting big men in the league.

03:24And it's been tough because we know he had the quad injury to start this year.

03:28We know about the comments that you and I discussed not too long ago, him being comfortable

03:32and figuring out how to fit into Mike Brown's offense.

03:35But I can say that over the course of time, you see him fitting into Mike Brown's offense.

03:39I mean, whether it's hustling up and down the floor, cutting down the middle of the

03:43lane, working off ball, stuff like that.

03:46You're starting to see Carl Anthony Towns figure it out, especially on the offensive end and

03:51play to what Mike Brown is looking for out of him.

03:54Now, the numbers are not going to be where they were last season.

03:57And I think that's the other side to this coin is that why is he not producing the same

04:02way that he was doing last year?

04:03And look, there's an adjustment period for that.

04:06I understand that.

04:07Obviously, working through the injury too.

04:09But this is a guy who I'm confident will figure it out.

04:12He is an NBA all-star.

04:14He is one of the best players in the league.

04:16I know that he's been inconsistent offensively right now, but I'm not too worried about him

04:20getting his footing and figuring out what he can do.

04:24Because look, even with the inconsistencies right now, Brandon, he's shooting 45% from

04:28the field.

04:29He's shooting a career low right now, currently a career low, 34% from downtown.

04:34But I expect that to tick back up.

04:36And he's shooting close to 89% from the free throw line.

04:39This is a guy who's going to figure it out.

04:41And I'm not too worried from a shooting perspective.

04:44It's just going to take some time to get into rhythm.

04:45Yeah, I like how he's been aggressive and attacking the paint instead of just chucking

04:49up threes from the logo like he's Steph Curry.

04:53All right, I'm going to put you on the spot right here, Alex.

04:55I need you to grade him.

04:56How have the Knicks adapted defensively without OG Ananobi?

05:00What grade are you going to give them?

05:02F. It's been awful.

05:04It's not even a question.

05:05You just watch them go out there and it's just, they're reeling.

05:08I mean, this team is allowing a lot of teams to get into the paint.

05:11And look, it's not just an OG thing, right?

05:14I mean, Mitchell Robinson is also not fully healthy.

05:17He's on his own schedule, as you mentioned earlier in this show.

05:20So not having Mitch, who hasn't even looked completely right yet, as your best room protector.

05:24Now you're losing one of your most versatile and best wing defenders.

05:28You're going to see this team struggle a bit just because when you have Brunson and Cat

05:31as two of your starters out there, I mean, defensively, they're not Stallworth.

05:35They're going to let guys get through and get theirs.

05:39So you add that, plus being down to your top defenders.

05:42On top of that, McBride has been in and out of the lineup, dealing with, you know, his

05:46own personal issues.

05:47So it's been tough for this team to really get their footing defensively.

05:51We did see that they were capable of stepping it up in the postseason.

05:55But as of right now, it's been terrible without OG, without Mitch being there consistently,

06:00as well as McBride.

06:01And then if you throw in Shamit, who gives you a lot of hustle as well, also tough.

06:05But hey, it's something that they got to figure out.

06:08There's always a good in adversity.

06:09So Mike Brown has to get these guys correct because when you went into the season, you

06:14knew that these guys were going to miss time at some point.

06:16You knew you had Mitch that was going to be on a minutes restriction.

06:20OG, we got very lucky last season.

06:22This is a guy who typically misses a good amount of time due to injury, as we've seen throughout

06:26his entire NBA career.

06:28And so when you came into this year, you knew you got lucky with OG.

06:31So you had to be prepared that Lightning wasn't going to strike twice with health for this

06:36team.

06:37So they got to figure it out.

06:38And I think while going through adversity, this team will get better defensively.

06:42But as of right now, it hasn't been great.

06:44OK, so now the bench is a focal point, just like it was in the offseason because it was

06:49there was a heavy topic of, OK, the Knicks have added to this bench.

06:52This rotation has gotten better.

06:54So grade them.

06:55Josh Hart, Jordan Clarkson.

06:57I guess just grade the bench as a whole up to this point.

07:01Grading the bench as a whole up to this point.

07:03That's let's see, man, because when I think about this team and like where they were last

07:08year, the bench was just awful, but they have improved this year as a unit.

07:13And when we see the production, especially from Clarkson and Josh Hart, you know, getting

07:17that consistent minutes and getting back into like some sort of like normal flow as of right

07:22now, if you want to go through what the bench is doing, according to the advanced stats

07:26offensively, they're still in the basement.

07:28They're 29th when it comes to offensive production.

07:31But when you watch them with the eye test, you see that there is a better flow to the

07:35offense, especially with Clarkson giving you some solid minutes when McBride is really

07:39in it.

07:40He can knock down some threes and get to the cup of times or just get a mid range off

07:44and Josh Hart is just great in transition.

07:46So I know the numbers say that they're awful, but the eye test says that they're a little

07:50bit more fluid than we saw last year.

07:52So with that, I'm going to give them, I'm going to give them a B.

07:56I'm going to give them a B right now, just because I have, I don't think it's that awful

08:00as what the numbers are saying.

08:02And it's still early in the season to really see where everyone is shaking out.

08:05But at the same time, they're not like this, you know, unbeatable bench squad that we've

08:09seen in the past when we've had, you know, quickly RJ and all those guys on this.

08:14All right.

08:15As of right now, they got one road win on the season.

08:18They got a chance to make that two against the Hornets.

08:21It's an NBA cup game as well, 10 and six on the season.

08:26Final thoughts about where the Knicks are right now.

08:3110 and six on the season.

08:33Only one road win.

08:35They got the, they got the horns tonight.

08:38I think on the season, it's still like, it's still a work in progress.

08:42And I'd go back to giving this team a B.

08:44I mean, offensively when they're clicking and everyone's healthy, they've looked like

08:49they've looked unstoppable.

08:51I mean, we, there was a stretch against the Wolves.

08:54You talk about the Nets, you talk about Wizards, you talk about the Miami Heat.

08:59Like this team was putting up over 130 points easily when everyone was healthy.

09:04So, and from that, and I know like Brunson missed some game.

09:08I know Brunson missed that Miami Heat game.

09:10I know OG got injured as well.

09:11But like when you watch like what they are capable of doing, this team can really pack a punch

09:17towards other opponents.

09:19And they, and this is just, we're talking about 16 games through the regular season

09:22under a new offensive, under a new head coach with a new offensive strategy.

09:27So I'm going to give them a B because offensively they're there.

09:30Now it's not going to get any higher than that because defensively, even though they've

09:34been opportunistic when guys are healthy, as of right now, it hasn't been consistent

09:38enough to believe that this team can really rev it up to that next level or deserve a grade

09:42to that high, but I think that they can get, I think that they deserve a B for how they've

09:47been able to incorporate Mike Brown's offensive philosophy right now.

09:50It's been inconsistent because they're not playing at the same pace, but still being able

09:54to put up 130, 140 points.

09:55And when you see this team click in, in such a short amount of time, you're seeing that

09:59they're, they're buying into the philosophy.

10:01It's just building that consistency, building that trust, building that, you know, conditioning.

10:06So that way they can continue to do this on a night to night basis.

10:10All right, Alex, appreciate you, man.

10:14Appreciate you, my guy.

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