New York will get its preseason going with a game against the Hornets (hopefuly) featuring Karl-Anthony Towns.
The day has arrived and Thibs won’t make Knicks fans wait for it any longer: it’s preseason time and with New York’s debut coming later Sunday in North Carolina in a matchup against the Charlotte Hornets, the world will get to watch Karl-Anthony Towns touch his first basketball clad in Orange & Blue threads.
The Knicks have spent the early part of training camp at Charleston in SC and they will get their five-game exhibition tour going today before taking on the Wizards and KAT’s former team a week from today.
Here’s the latest we’ve heard from Tom Thibodeau and a few other Knickerbockers before we watch them play fake basketball for the first time in months.
Tom Thibodeau
On the Knicks’ plan for their first preseason game:
“Just [get] a baseline. I haven’t finalized everything but usually you’ll have a couple segments with the starters and try to get a look at a lot of different things.
On whether or not Karl-Anthony Towns will play against the Hornets:
“We’ll talk to medical first and see where [Towns] is. I think he wants to play and he’s been going full tilt so far so we’ll see where he is after today.”
On the approach to preseason:
“We look at the whole month as basically training camp. The next phase will be the initial exhibition game, which is not a regular-season game of OK, ‘Let’s get a baseline there, too.’ So we got the camp where we saw where we were, conditioning-wise and things like that.
“And then how do we come out of that? ‘OK, now we start incorporating the games.’ And then each game you’ll increase to build up until the last game which is really the game where you want your rhythm and rotation.”
On Landry Shamet’s performance in training camp:
“I don’t make the final decision on (signing Shamet to a standard contract), but I’m basing (my opinion) on what [Shamet’s] done on the floor. He’s really done well.
“The second unit, I’m anxious to see (Shamet on it) as well because I’ve seen what they’ve done in practice and they’ve really done well together as a unit. So I want to see that in a game situation. But he’s done a really good job.
“He has really good chemistry with [Cameron Payne], and then when you put Deuce [Miles McBride] into that, they’re very fast. You can play with a lot of speed.”
On the Knicks’ second unit rotation:
“I think it’ll be a very strong unit for us.”
On the Knicks’ roster and Brock Aller’s masterful cap management:
“Brock has been terrific. It’s been great execution of a plan. It’s five years in the making. It’s accumulating the draft capital and looking at the opportunities and going step by step and figuring out the things you can do. And it’s not easy. It’s your immediate plan and also your future plan.
“You have to look at it in almost three different ways. There’s the basketball standpoint, what does it mean for what’s on the floor? Then there’s the financial impact. Then there’s also the penalty aspect that you have to look at as well. So all three things before you make a decision you have to dig deep on. So they’ve done a great job.”
Jalen Brunson
On acclimating new players like Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges:
“I just feel like it’s going to be a learning process.
“Every day is going to be a challenge for us to get better. It’s not going to be perfect from Day 1, but as long as we have the right mindset, we’re going to continue to get better.”
On Brock Aller’s work to make the current Knicks possible:
“[Aller] does a great job on his part. We applaud him for it, and we’ve just gotta go out there and do our part on the floor.”
Karl-Anthony Towns:
On building chemistry with his new teammates:
“I think for all of us just playing with each other these training camp days is important to the camaraderie and continuity.
“Every single day I see ourselves making better and better plays so we’re doing a good job right now. The goal is going to be the same goal every night—win the game, find a way to contribute to this team’s success, and be the best teammate that I can be.
“Game 1’s going to be the same way as Game 82, just go out there and be the best version of myself.”