Dennis Smith Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: G
Born: 11/25/97
Height: 6-2 / 1.88
Weight:195 lbs. / 88.5 kg.
Salary: $3,819,960
Born: 11/25/97
Height: 6-2 / 1.88
Weight:195 lbs. / 88.5 kg.
Salary: $3,819,960
Barbara Barker: Dennis Smith Jr. says he talked to Vince Carter for advice on slam dunk contest. #knicks #nbamediaday pic.twitter.com/17uc5TBWBF
Kevin Knox will compete in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday but has made his decision to skip All-Star Saturday’s Dunk Contest featuring Dennis Smith Jr., his Knicks teammate. Knox decided to accept an invitation to watch his Kentucky Wildcats play host to No. 1 Tennessee in a big showdown.
Now, he gets a team all to himself in New York, albeit a 10-46 one he’ll try to find stability on after his short stint with the Mavericks ended unceremoniously. Still just 21, Smith, pushed aside for Luka Doncic in Dallas, has made Madison Square Garden his latest platform. While the Knicks are evaluating Smith to see if he can make himself a part of the organizational firmament, he believes he’s found a place to grow. “A fresh start,” Smith told The Athletic of what the trade brought him. “Fresh start and just freedom and just being able to have fun and play basketball again. Things that I needed.”
His start with the Knicks, so far, has been strong. He scored 25 points and then 31 in back-to-back games last week, and got to the free throw line 19 times in Detroit on Friday. With few playmakers left on the roster, David Fizdale is giving Smith free rein to run the offense and to create. He’s displayed a performative aspect to his play, too. There was the 360-degree dunk against the Pistons, then an alley-oop off the glass to DeAndre Jordan on Sunday. He intends to be a showman, and not just this Saturday night in the dunk contest during the NBA’s All-Star weekend. “Just giving the fans something,” he said. “They pay good money to come to these games. Just giving them something to watch. That’s what that’s all about. If you get the fans involved — they respect good basketball, of course, and they respect the show. I feel with our team being so young and athletic, we can give them that.”
I asked Fizdale how he could say trading Porzingis was part of their plan when the coach was hired in May? (Mike Budenholzer, as I’ve written, wanted this job more than Milwaukee’s to have a chance at coaching Porzingis.) “Well you don’t have a choice,’’ Fizdale said. “What’s your options? You’re going to lose him. So you’re going to sit there and not have nothing sitting there? Or do you want to have two picks, cap space and a heck of a point guard in Dennis Smith Jr. who’s in his second year. You can’t control every single thing that happens along the way. But if your response is sticking to the plan according to what’s happened, I think it’s the right way to go.
Their meeting 10 days ago was confirmation of what the Knicks brass had already feared — Porzingis wasn’t planning to commit long-term. Roughly 8-10 offers were on the table, but none met their three requirements better than Dallas’. The Knicks contacted only the teams that had these assets: 1. A rising prospect on his rookie contract (Dennis Smith Jr.). 2. Expiring contracts that would give them two max slots (Wesley Matthews, DeAndre Jordan). 3. One or two future first-rounders (likely 2021 and a protected 2023). “The Knicks felt getting the two first rounders — not just one — was gravy,’’ the individual said.
