00:16Dexter Henry here for New York Got Game coming to you from Philadelphia at the Xfinity Center
00:20where the Knicks played their first preseason game. They fell to the Sixers 120-97. Interesting
00:28exhibition game. Basketball is back even though these games do not count and we got to see a lot
00:34of different things with the Knicks. Let's start with the starters here. The five starters they did
00:39play in this game. There was no LeBron James in this game for the Sixers. No Tyrese Maxey as well
00:44and no Joel Embiid. So on that side they did not go up against Philadelphia's best but the Knicks
00:49starters the championship starting five they did play together and they didn't play any more than
00:5415 minutes just played in the first half. Josh Hart played only 13 minutes. Some interesting notes
01:00from the starters. Let's start with Jalen Brunson because he looked fine. The wrist looked okay.
01:05He hit his first shot of the game. Knocked down a couple of threes. Looked very comfortable. Looked
01:09in rhythm. So it's a good sign to see that the captain had it going. Then you look at Wingstop.
01:14O.G. Ananobi and Mikkel Bridges. Some interesting things for me because O.G. Ananobi looked to be
01:20very aggressive in this one. You look at his stats and he had 12 points. He also had six rebounds.
01:27He
01:27took seven shots. He got to the line over six times and he was very aggressive in how he was
01:33attacking the basket. Also in some pick and roll situations where he seemed to be a lot more
01:38comfortable handling the ball. Mike Brown has talked about using him more in that role this year
01:42as he tries to diversify the offense in year two under Mike Brown as head coach. And then the other
01:48part of Wingstop, Mikkel Bridges, even a couple of times. More shots going towards the basket
01:53for Mikkel Bridges. Something we haven't seen from him in the past. And then actually getting to the
01:59free throw line. Now he didn't hit any shots. You'd like to see him do that. But hey, first step
02:04to
02:05change always can help. Mikkel Bridges being a little bit more aggressive going to the basket
02:09was something that I absolutely noticed here and thought was a good sign for the Knicks. Now when we get
02:14to
02:14the bench, the second unit, Mike Brown talked about this after the game, they did not play
02:19that well, particularly defensively. He wanted to see a better effort for them in terms of matching
02:23the physicality that he saw from the Sixers. Now he said that's something that the guys have to want
02:28and they have to go for in terms of matching that physicality. So that's something to keep an eye on
02:33with the Knicks going down the road here. But there were some decent performances, at least
02:37offensively off the bench. Lantry Shamit, not shabby there, hitting a couple of outside shots
02:42as well for the Knicks. And I thought Tyler Kolek came in and gave really good minutes,
02:45five points, five assists, didn't turn the ball over. Jose Alvarado did not play in this one.
02:50So it was good to see Kolek step into that backup point guard role and excel well there.
02:58Now, when you think about Kolek, he had an impact last year, wasn't much of a factor during the
03:03championship run, but we saw him have an impact throughout the season, particularly in December
03:07when the Knicks went on that NBA Cup run. So there are going to be opportunities for
03:11Tyler Kolek, if he's still on this roster, barring no changes for anyone, that he can get minutes.
03:17We saw Mike Brown trust him and use him in a variety of situations last season. And you
03:21wonder if that could be the same where we could see some continued growth from Tyler Kolek. In terms
03:26of continued growth, you saw some of that from Mohamed Diawara tonight. He played with that second
03:30unit. The second unit started the second half. He was one of the starters playing at the four
03:35position in this one. Diawara with eight points in this contest, shot the ball pretty well,
03:40had a play where he had a turnover in the first half and then raced back down the court and
03:45was
03:45able to get a really nice block. So you like the fact that he didn't hang his head. He made
03:49a
03:49mistake, but he didn't give up on the play. So that was a nice showing there from Mohamed Diawara
03:53as he's a guy who you expect to have an increased role on this Knicks team this year in preseason
03:59game. Number one, he looked pretty comfortable on both ends of the floor and we'll see how his
04:03continued development goes in preseason. Granted, it is just a preseason one game, but just some
04:08observations here. And I think the other thing that fans are going to be looking at when they
04:12watch these preseason games, and we've talked about a lot is who's going to win that final
04:16roster spot. Well, you look at who played tonight in between Bruce Brown and James Wiseman and Drew
04:24Eubanks and Tony Bradley. Though Wiseman looked the best out of all of them, according to our
04:29Stephan Bondi, what he had heard is that he has the inside track on that final roster spot
04:35for the Knicks here. Now, when you talk about Wiseman, you look at his career, he's got the
04:39athleticism. You saw some of that tonight on a duck. You saw some of that with his rebounding
04:44ability. The thing about him is, does he understand the speed of the game, particularly defensively?
04:50So that's something for fans to keep an eye on and an area in which he still has to grow.
04:54Mike Brown
04:54obviously had some time with him during his coaching stint in Golden State. So it's going to be
04:59interesting to watch James Wiseman's development. The games still have to go on, but as of now in camp,
05:04he seems to have the inside track on that final roster spot. Could he be the Knicks third center?
05:09Do they want a third center that's maybe a little bit more established? Somebody that they know
05:13what exactly they're going to get from that position and that player in like a Tony Bradley.
05:18But Wiseman had some moments tonight. It'll be interesting to see when he gets some more minutes
05:23throughout the preseason, how he looks. But he did have some moments tonight. Now, before this
05:28preseason game, there was a lot of talk about Carl Anthony Towns. And Carl Anthony Towns talked to the
05:34media before this preseason game at shoot around. And he made it known that he's not happy with the
05:40contract offers that he has received from the Knicks thus far, reportedly four years, 200 million.
05:46He thinks that is disrespectful. He would like to get more on that. He says he wants to help the
05:53Knicks. He wants to have this team stay together. But it seems like Carl Anthony Towns wants to get what
05:59he's worth. So it's something to keep monitoring. It is something that is going to be asked about
06:02throughout camp. Obviously, they have the deadline coming up just before the start of the season.
06:08But the Knicks can still talk to him and still extend even after that. So it'll be very interesting
06:14to see. Cat seems to be making it known that he would like something to get done now before the
06:20start
06:20of the season. He does have some leverage with the 61 million player option that he can pick up.
06:25So it'll be interesting to see how all this plays out. But Carl Anthony Towns is making it known that
06:29he is not happy. I think the timing of this is particularly interesting that he mentioned this
06:34before the Knicks started playing any games, whether they're exhibition or regular season games.
06:38He's letting me know that he would like to get this done. Stefan Bondi and I have talked about the
06:43fact that we saw Cat last year be a bit affected when the trade rumors for Giannis Antetokounmpo
06:48came around. And you wonder if this contract situation looming over for the Knicks could be
06:53something else that affects it if this doesn't get done before the regular season. However,
06:59we will see how things can continue. Preseason game number one, still some more to go. Next
07:04preseason game coming up for the Knicks will be on Thursday back at the Garden where they host the
07:08Wizards. And we will see who gets to play more. Wouldn't probably still expect the starters to play
07:13much in this game. Mike Brown talked about us to the media after the game that he'd like to see
07:18a better effort, particularly from the starters, bringing the physicality and more on defense.
07:22We will see how all that plays out as the games unfold, as well as the contract situations
07:26for both Josh Harp and Carl Anthony Towns. More to come your way in terms of Knicks preseason
07:32basketball on New York Got Game. We'll have you covered throughout the preseason. Much more coming
07:36up later this week. That's going to do it from here at the Xfinity Center here in Philadelphia.
07:42I'm Dexter Henry signing off for New York Got Game.
07:47And thanks for watching New York Got Game.
07:50Boom shakalaka.
