Knicks' pick Frank Ntilikina provides dose of youthful optimism

When the celebration at Barclays Center was over, Frank Ntilikina had to rush out of New York. For the 18-year-old Knicks’ lottery pick, it wasn’t to escape the boos as it was for Kristaps Porzingis two years ago, but to catch a flight.

His whirlwind trip to New York for the NBA Draft didn’t include workouts with any teams, but it didn’t prevent the Knicks from taking him No. 8 overall, welcoming him as the latest hope for the dysfunctional franchise. And then he headed to the airport for a 2 a.m. charter flight back to France so he could be on the court for the final game of the championship series his Strasborg team was playing Friday night.

“Crazy, crazy exciting,” Ntilikina gushed after being selected, looking very much like the teenager he is. “Like I think that's what we play for, basketball, to have a lot of emotion, and definitely this week is one of the craziest weeks I've been through in my whole life, trying to get the championship (Friday), so definitely great.”

At Barclays there were loud chants of, “Fire Phil,” directed at Knicks president Phil Jackson, and at City Winery there were taunts directed at Garden chairman James Dolan as his band played a show, oblivious to the chaos surrounding the team.

Ntilikina absorbed none of the ire of the disgruntled fan base, presenting instead a glimmer of hope where there has been little. 

“What I will bring to the Knicks, actually a lot of hope,” Ntilikina said. “I think I'm a player who will trust the process, work hard, and definitely try to be the best player I can be, who will give energy. I think I'm a team point guard and shooting guard actually. I'll just try to make my teammates be better every day, and I think I can play defense, too.”

Certainly there are problems still roiling in the organization. Jackson’s decision to hold off on the wildly-rumored trade packages for Porzingis eased the furor for a night, but hardly alleviated the problems between the front office and the young star. Carmelo Anthony, the player that Jackson has tried to force out, has dug in his heels and so far refused to go.

But Ntilikina, who would ride his bicycle to the arena in Strasborg where he grew up with his two brothers and his mother, arrives with the innocence of youth, unscarred so far by the problems that have enveloped the Knicks. Instead, if things go right he becomes the second piece for the next generation, the eventual rebuild that Jackson gets right. 

And perhaps it is no coincidence that he comes from overseas like Porzingis - as well as Willy Hernangomez and Mindaugas Kuzminskas. Jackson has decried the AAU style of play, with college programs catering to the one and done stars. Ntilikina signed a professional contract at 15 years old in Strasborg, where his family relocated after escaping Rwanda before his birth for Belgium. He has slowly worked his way into the system, playing with older professionals, learning the right way to do things as an apprentice more than a showcase star.

With the No. 8 pick: Frank Ntilikina

Knicks select Frank Ntilikina with No. 8 pick

Phil Jackson has Knicks stumbling into Draft Night

“I think it definitely helped me to play against grown men, adults, and to play against some of the guys that went into the NBA actually,” he said. “Like I had teammates that played in the NBA, former Mavs Rodrigue Beaubois, former Knick Mardy Collins, so actually every teammate can help you to make the transition, young championship to the professional championship actually, so it helps a lot.”

“Well, I think we’ve downplayed the fact of what the quality of the game is there a little bit,” Jackson said. “I don’t think we’ve overlooked it in the NBA, but sometimes it’s ability for players to grow up into a system of play that they adapt to as they’re growing up as young players, and fitting into that style. 

“I think a lot of the times in our college ball here without making a lot of claims, a lot of it is about our college ball adapting to who the players are and our college game becomes more a style of what you can do offensively, just giving a lot of room to players just to play whatever one on one or whatever ability they have, where as the European players are schooled into a system and how to fit into it.”

Of course, in New York the system is the triangle offense favored by Jackson. It played no small part in Jackson’s decision to pluck Ntilikina over a pair of highly-touted guards who were available - Malik Monk and Dennis Smith Jr. While Monk might be the best shooter in the draft and Smith possesses tremendous explosive offensive ability, Ntilikina is a 6-foot-5 point guard with a seven-foot wingspan whose defining trait now is defense - which is a gaping hole on the Knicks’ roster that awaits him.

Asked what he brings to Madison Square Garden, Ntilikina said, “I think great defender, willing to defend, willing to play hard, and to give intensity to the team and the offense. Like I'm a team player. I always try to give the best to the team no matter what happens. To me the most important thing is to get the win.”

The Knicks haven’t gotten many wins in Jackson’s tenure. And handing the ball to an 18-year-old who played sparingly at times in France may not change that right away. But at least it provided hope in a place where there has been little of that.

Email: popper@northjersey.com