Enes Kanter has no interest in the New York Knicks — or any other team out of playoff contention — giving younger players a chance to develop during games at the expense of winning.
“Let me tell you something, man: They can develop guys in the G League. This is not the time to develop young guys, or whatever, because we’re trying to win games here,” the Knicks’ starting center said on Friday. “This team is paying us a lot of money,wholesale nfl jerseys everybody, and all the fans are paying a lot money to watch the games and they’re paying a lot of money for tickets, so they’re not just coming here watching, ‘Oh, this guy’s getting better. This guy’s developing.’ No, we’re trying to win games here, man.
“I think that’s how our mindset should be,” he added. “And if they want to develop somebody, they can send him to the G League and we can see some development. But I think right now, we’re trying to win games. We’re not trying to develop nobody.”
The Knicks, losers of nine straight, benched veteran point guard Jarrett Jack after the All-Star break and inserted 21-year-old Emmanuel Mudiay into the starting lineup. The club has also played younger players like Luke Kornet and Isaiah Hicks — both on two-way contracts — and Trey Burke and Damyean Dotson more often since the All-Star break. Management and coach Jeff Horancek decided that the club should play younger players more frequently with New York out of playoff contention and Kristaps Porzingis (ACL) out for the sesaon.
Hornacek was asked on Friday if he’d like any assurances during the season that he will be back for 2018-2019.
“At the end of the season I’m sure we’ll sit down with nfl jerseys china [management] and figure out what we’re doing,” he said. “Obviously as a coach, you’d like to know that. But our job right now is take the guys that we have on this team, try to get them better, make them work, and try to do the best we can.”
