For the first time in years, there is real hope for the New York Knicks. With their collection of young guns and veteran talent, they have a solid foundation and are developing a winning culture before our very eyes.
Last season was, undoubtedly, their best one since the Melo era, and ended with the franchise back in the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.
Despite all of that, NBA GMs aren’t exactly sold on the idea that the Knicks are going to make a deep run this season. In a ranking of the Top 7 contenders in the East, the Knicks didn’t make it, proving the fact that top team executives don’t have high expectations for the Knickerbockers.
Kemba Walker didn’t pay much attention, only vowing to prove GMs wrong.
(via Alder Almo of Empire Sports Media)
“I could care less. Most GMs never played basketball. Let’s be real. Who cares what they think? I could care less. We believe in ourselves. We’re gonna play so hard every night. And that’s gonna give us a chance to win every night.”
RJ Barrett was a little more emotional. He called it disrespectful and assured the media that he was ready to shock the world.
“It makes no sense. First of all, a Thibs-coached team is automatically gonna be a good defensive team. You have Nerls (Nerlens Noel) and Mitch (Mitchell Robinson) on the team like we’re gonna be good defensively. I’m not worried about that.
As you know, I’m used to it. It happens all the time. I mean I don’t really care. All I can do is just go out and improve. All we can do as a team is just play together and get wins. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what any other GM thinks, what anybody thinks. [What matters] is what we think, what work ethic that we have, and how that translates on the court.” Barrett said.
“Whether it’s me personally or us as a team, we just get disrespected all the time. As I said, it doesn’t matter. We just do, just like what we did last year — just go out and show we have improved.”
Needless to say, the Knicks are coming off a great season, one that showed the talent and passion they had on the roster.
With most of the same guys returning and some growth by their youngsters, there’s no reason to think that the Knicks will not improve in some form.
Ultimately, though, we’ll just have to wait and see how they perform on the court this season.
