Every Single Person At Madison Square Chanting "We Want Frank" As Dennis Smith Jr. Struggled Yet Again Wasn't Great!
What happens when you have a struggling player who was traded for the most popular player a franchise has had in years that also happens to be taking minutes from another player that has struggled but has a group of ride or die fans that can take on any group of crazies this side of the #BeyHive? That video.
Do you know how hard it is to get a group of New Yorker's that big to agree on something? Ask them their favorite baseball team, football team, or borough and you will get a 60% hit rate on an answer at best. But the Garden was united around Frank Ntilikina like they were against Reggie Miller back in the day. And considering what Dennis Smith Jr. has done so far this season, I can't say I blame them.
To be fair, Frank has never been the model of consistency as a Knick. But the team jerking him around throughout his career as he transitioned from being an offensively-challenged teenager playing in France to the NBA hasn't helped matters and his defense always goes beyond the box score. But I'm not going to make excuses for him since the #FrankHive can do that. I am just hoping David Fizdale will unleash the monster with Dhalsim's arms one of these days to see if his FIBA success carries over to this season. However, Fizdale's performance so far this season has me less hopeful than I am about any of the Knicks point guards, which seem like is going to be the problem position all season and potentially all the way until the team (hopefully) drafts one at the very top of the draft. Yes, I have been spending my last two nights staring at mock drafts again and convincing myself Cole Anthony will help lead this franchise to the title his dad couldn't. You guys want to watch a highlights mixtape to make ourselves feel better? Me too!
As for Dennis Smith Jr, based on everything we know about him and his body language following that chant, I'm not exactly holding my breath that he is going to let this all blow over or use tonight as motivation to become the player we all want him to be. Perhaps it's time for DSJ to retire from basketball and embrace his true calling in life.
I'm not sure if Taj Gibson has any God given talents he would like to try out, but I wouldn't mind a sudden retirement from him either. And while I know he is better than this, Julius Randle needs to stop playing like he is wearing oven mitts and start being the low post threat this team needs before I lose my fucking mind. Because the 2nd biggest chant of the night went to a guy the Knicks don't have on their roster.
At least Tacko gave all the paying customers a great memory and had Clyde shrieking the word "TACOOOOOO" in delight.
Advertisement
Okay, no more negativity because it's too early in the season. You have to leave the court on a good note, so we are going to leave the blog on a good note too.
Time for the GIF!
God I love RJ Barrett. And not just because he tries to dunk on every single person in the arena, regardless of the result. He has been even better than we could have hoped and along with Mitchell Robinson('s limited minutes because of fucking fouls and injuries), has given me a reason not to jump off a bridge after 3 games.