We heard words from our New York Knickerbockers one last time before the season.
The New York Knicks wrapped up their preseason tour on Friday with their first and lone loss of the exhibition period, falling 118-117 to the Wizards on the road in D.C.
A couple of Knickerbockers, Josh Hart and Precious Achiuwa, gave us a bit of an injury scare but it looks like both of them avoided large damage. The Knicks will be off on Saturday and then return to practice Sunday and Monday tuning up for the season opener against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.
Here’s what Coach Thibs and other players had to say before and after Friday’s finale.
Tom Thibodeau
On the team’s daily commitment to improve:
“Yeah, there’s no real magic to this. It’s like it’s a commitment that you have to make each and every day.
“The discipline that you have to have each and every day. And have the ability to get through things when things are going your way.
“There’s gonna be times when it’s not going your way but you still approach it the same way, and just find a way to win.”
On team habits and game preparation after what happened in the preseason:
“Just take it step by step. Next game, got to keep improving, build the right habits, strive to be a 48-minute team. Don’t look ahead. Just concentrate on exactly where we are.
“Everything worries me. So each day obviously have to prioritize the things — you can’t work on everything every day. You prioritize certain things to keep moving forward to shore up areas and continue to build and add. We want to build the right habits, so concentrate the right way, practice the right way.
“Understand what we’re trying to get done in each and every game. Know who we’re playing, know personnel. Know the system, know how you fit into the role you’re playing. All those things add up.
“Prioritize winning.”
On Landry Shamet’s status and his preseason play:
“He’s still gathering information on what the next steps are.
“I don’t know what all the information is. I’m basing it on what I have at this time. It’s a dislocated shoulder, he’s still gathering information. We’re just going from there.
“He’s already attacking his rehab. I like that. He needs more information as well. Go step by step. Take each day, look for the improvement in the day, and whoever the next man is, get in there and get the job done.”
“Obviously, we feel very strongly about him and what he did, so whatever it is, whatever’s in front of you, if you’re dealing with an injury, lock into that, focus on the rehab, get yourself ready to go again.”
On the Knicks’ shooting woes and the defense in the loss against the Wizards:
“The game tells you what to do. If you’re open, you have to shoot.
“Obviously, the offense even without shooting great, we’re scoring plenty.
“The defense has to be a lot better.”
On the Knicks’ shooting volume falling a bit short of expectations:
“[Friday] night we took 36 (three-point shots). I’d like to see that number up a little more. But we got to the line a lot (38 free-throw attempts), and again, the value of shots is important so the layups—obviously you’re trying to get as many of those as you can get. The easy baskets.
“The open 3s … the thing is, everyone understands the value of shots. The math of the game will tell you certain things. If your opponent makes 20 and you’re making 10, it’s going to be hard to win that game. Ideally, it would be high volume and at a minimum league average percentage-wise.”
On the overall preseason performance:
“Some good, some bad.
“Obviously we have a lot of work to do and we have to get to it.
“The offense even without shooting the ball great (43.2% FG / 30.2% three, both 25th in NBA), we’re scoring plenty (114.2 pts, 7th in NBA). But our defense has to be a lot better.”
On Mikal Bridges’ shooting struggles:
“Sometimes you’re gonna make, sometimes you’re gonna miss, just take the right ones.”
Josh Hart
On his role after starting four preseason games and his fit with the starting unit:
“I’m lost. I have no idea.
“There’s a couple days before Boston. So whether that’s trying to get a rhythm with that starting unit or we give somebody else a look and my role changes and comes off the bench and go with that unit.
So just trying to figure out right now I pretty much have no idea. But we’ll see what happens in Boston.”
On the Knicks’ 4-1 preseason run and a potential move to the bench:
“(Brunson) and (Towns) are our engine. I feel like we played pretty well this preseason. So I’m cool with that.
“I just think we can just figure out a way where we can be our best selves or whatever. Role or minutes or whatever that is.”
On the new roster and the season expectations:
“It’s a totally new team. So we’re focused on getting better. We’re not going to pick up being one game away from the Eastern Conference finals. We’ve got to demonstrate toughness, discipline, willingness to execute, willingness to sacrifice.
“It’s going to be a process of showing that, but we’ve got to make sure we go out there every day and have that mentality.”
On the little verbal fight between Wolves and Knicks in the preseason:
“Whenever you get traded–as a seasoned (person who has been traded)–you try not to take things personally because it’s a business. But there’s a human side to it.
“There’s always like, when you get traded, you feel unwanted, so there’s a personal side to it. And then when you play that team–whether it’s the preseason or whatever–you go at that team. Like, it’s always personal for you.
“For me, the times I got traded, I’m sitting there like, ‘I hope everything burns down.’ I’m sitting there watching and hoping everyone loses. But it’s like that’s the human side, the human nature to the business.
“But at the end of the day, it’s always love because you’ve grown relationships and went through adversity with those people.”
Jalen Brunson
On being a “Thibs guy”:
“I feel like if you play hard, you’re a Thibs guy. If you play hard, that’s all he wants. He wants effort and just to communicate. And so when you’re out there and just giving your all, he can respect that. And that deems you a Thibs guy or whatever.
“I think when people come here, when you start practice, and you start a training camp, and it’s all about the attention to the detail and the things that we do, and how hard we go at it in practice, how hard we go in the game, and just our approach.
“I feel like, once you get to training camp and start playing and stuff like that, it kind of comes together. And so it’s really just once we start playing, and once you see the environment and everything, everyone starts to gel to having the same mindset.”
On the little scuffle between DiVo and Rick Brunson:
“I feel like we have to talk about it, you know, families fight. Things are said. I mean, sh*t should have been handled better on both sides but everyone thinks the world’s crumbling.
“I also feel like it (the trade) happened a week and a half ago and all of a sudden we’re playing them. That never really happens.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On his trade to the Knicks:
“I didn’t get called. Tim [Connelly] told me to my face that I was traded. It was gangster, I ain’t gon’ lie.”
On how much time he got to react to the trade before posting the “…“ message on X and Shams’ report dropping:
“Four minutes. By the time the shock wore off, Shams had already tweeted.”
On his career expectations before and after the trade:
“I thought I was gonna retire (in Minnesota), I thought it was gonna be the place I called home for my whole career and then after.
“My former employer did not agree with that ideology I had. It is what it is.
“I’m here now, with my two guys (Brunson and Hart) here, and hoping that we can do something special for the city.”
On his 3-point shooting struggles through the preseason:
“The shots, they just haven’t fallen, and that’s OK.
“I’m gonna keep shooting them. I’m gonna keep doing what I do best, and help my team win.”
Mikal Bridges
On his shooting form adjustments:
“When I came out of college, I tweaked it a little bit. And then my second year in the league, I had the hitch, and tried to build back from that.
“Ever since I got into the league, been trying to fix it back to when I was in college.
“So it’s been seven years of just every day.”
On preseason shooting struggles not affecting his mindset entering the season:
“Get the misses out now, and get ready for the 82-game season.”
OG Anunoby
On learning the new system following the offseason roster additions:
“Offensively and defensively, just figuring each other out.
“The plays—we’re putting in more plays in the playbook, so guys are getting more used to stuff.
“Defensively, we’re more connected. Talking about the switches, knowing the coverages.
“It’s still early, so we’re just going to keep getting better and better.”