VIDEO: Knicks Fans Chant for Frank Ntilikina and Jeer Dennis Smith Jr. Late in Loss to Celtics
By Adam Weinrib
The New York Knicks haven't had anything approximating a point guard since Raymond Felton, and the natives are getting restless (as they're wont to do). Now, unfortunately, the issue may be more complicated than ever. Frank Ntilikina, 2017's first-rounder, hasn't proven he has enough offense to be a bonafide starter, but Dennis Smith Jr., last season's acquisition, has already proven he's entirely broken. This dichotomy led to a boiling point on Saturday, with fans at MSG razzing DSJ and begging for Frank in what was still a tight game at the time.
With RJ Barrett and Kevin Knox proving quite competent, their continued development in an already-lost season is paramount. Increasing their valuable reps remains a tough-to-accomplish goal without an able and willing distributor, though, and now we've arrived at our current brutal square.
Smith Jr., still just 21 years old, certainly appears to have a bad case of the Fultzes (I mean, yips), and has found himself benched and degraded often in the early going. Saturday against Boston, he was by and large left completely alone, and did not come close to a make, clanging his way to an 0-for-3 game with plenty of deferrals involved.
Say what you will about Ntilikina, but he showed flashes on Team France this summer, and Smith Jr. should probably be buried until he can shoot his way out of this (and besides, he's not a distributor anyway!).
But other than complete dysfunction, all seems to be well in Knicks land! Nothing to see here, as always.