\u201cI just feel like we\u2019re hungry,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know \u2014 we realize how terrible of a team we were last year, or how terrible we did. I know \u2018terrible\u2019 is a strong word, so I don\u2019t want to \u2014 but we weren\u2019t the best team last year. So I feel like we\u2019ve got that chip on our shoulder now, and we\u2019re ready to prove some people wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson expects the offseason trade for Julius Randle<\/a> to contribute to the team\u2019s improvement. Acquired from Minnesota in a four-team deal that sent out Nic Claxton<\/a>, Randle provides another proven scorer to team with Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> along with another veteran who has extensive playoff experience.<\/p>\n \u201cJulius Randle, for sure, just brings a grit that I\u2019m not going to say we don\u2019t have, but just a grit that we need,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe brings \u2014 like, Jordi (Fernandez) is a hard-nosed, dive-on-the-floor, play-hard, but at the same time make sure we take care of the basics type of coach. I feel like Julius brings that. He just brings an added benefit on top of what Jordi already wants out of his players. \u2026 He brings a toughness that I feel like is going to pay off this year.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s more from New York City:<\/p>\n In the same interview, Johnson points to second-year guard Nolan Traore<\/a> as the Nets player who has shown the most growth during the offseason. Traore was held out of Summer League while recovering from a knee scope, but he\u2019s still been able to spend extensive time in the gym and the weight room. \u201cAll the guys have improved, but I feel like Nolan \u2026 he\u2019s a different guy now,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe done put on some mass. He\u2019s walking around with a sleeveless hoodie on, looking at the biceps, you know what I\u2019m saying? He done put on some strength.\u201d
\nThe Knicks may have to be willing to sacrifice some regular season wins and settle for a lower seed to improve their chances of defending their title, suggests Zach Braziller of The New York Post<\/a>. All the starters played reduced minutes last season, and coach Mike Brown is expected to continue that approach. Braziller notes that could lead to increased opportunities for Mohamed Diawara<\/a>, Tyler Kolek<\/a> and other young players.
\nPlayer development will be vital in helping the Knicks remain in title contention, states Rafael Canton of SNY.tv<\/a>. The team lost Mitchell Robinson<\/a> in free agency this summer because owner James Dolan didn\u2019t want to go above the second apron, and the core will get even more expensive with Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a>, Josh Hart<\/a>, Jalen Brunson<\/a> and OG Anunoby<\/a> all eligible for extensions over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI just feel like we\u2019re hungry,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know \u2014 we realize how terrible of a team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[40438,17661,41207,9,11,10,7934,37017],"class_list":["post-329092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-chaney-johnson","tag-julius-randle","tag-mohamed-diawara","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nolan-traore","tag-tyler-kolek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}