Willy or won’t he? Center looks like odd-man out of bigs trio
OKLAHOMA CITY — In one training camp, Willy Hernangomez went from franchise cornerstone to waiting for garbage time. The 23-year-old, touted by the front office as a core piece, was a DNP until the final four minutes of Thursday’s 105-84 blowout defeat to the Thunder.
Jeff Hornacek said New York’s surplus of centers left Hernangomez as the oddman out behind Enes Kanter and Kyle O’Quinn. The coach relayed that message to the Spaniard on Thursday morning.
“We have a lot of bigs,” Hornacek said. “(O’Quinn) and Enes earned the minutes in training camp. Willy’s not far behind. He’s got to keep working. When you got that many bigs, you can’t play them all. The other guys earned the minutes. I told all three of them it doesn’t matter if you’re in the rotation or out of rotation. If you’re in it, you’ve got to earn it to keep it.”
It’s a surprising development after both GM Scott Perry and president Steve Mills hailed Hernangomez as part of a core-4 with Kristaps Porzingis, Frank Ntilikina and Tim Hardaway Jr.
Hernangomez started 22 games last season and earned a Second Team
All-Rookie selection after averaging 8.2 points in 18.2 minutes. But his problem isn’t scoring. The issue is defense.
“I can score. It’s not difficult for me. I think the coach wants to see my effort on defense. That’s why I have to keep working hard every day,” said Hernangomez, who is also Kristaps Porzingis’ best friend on the Knicks.
While Hernangomez was glued to the bench, Ntilikina, the 19-year-old rookie point guard, had a rough debut. Both of his shot attempts were airballs, and he finished with zero points, one assist, one turnover and two fouls in eight minutes.
“His two shots were right on line. He was a little juiced up and they went long. He’s going to be fine,” Hornacek said.
TWIST & OUT
Michael Beasley’s Knicks debut lasted just 36 seconds before he rolled his ankle and left the arena in a walking boot. X-rays were negative for Beasley. “It hurts but it’s going to hurt for a while,” he said.