Credits Knicks for helping shot
AS THE latest humiliation was nearing its conclusion Sunday afternoon, Nigel Hayes was nailing consecutive 3-pointers and taunting the Knicks’ bench.
It wasn’t nasty stuff — just a little gloating gesture — but felt like cruel abuse given the circumstances. Hayes was signed and released by the Knicks before the regular season, and there he was Sunday at the Garden – putting the finishing touches on another filleting of the Knicks’ corpse.
“Trey (Burke) yelled something, and I’m like, ‘I know you did not just yell that,’” Hayes said. “So as I’m shooting that — and it felt like it’s in slow motion — I’m like, ‘C’mon Trey, we played together in the G League, you know I can shoot.’ “A little friendly, playful banter.” Burke and Hayes were teammates with the Knicks G-League affiliate in Westchester, but there might’ve been a misunderstanding since it was Kyle O’Quinn who yelled from the bench. Either way, it didn’t matter. Hayes was feeling himself Sunday and the Knicks’ tanking pressed on during a 132-106 defeat to the Raptors. It was their 15th loss in the last 16 games – only more depressing because the Knicks haven’t budged in the draft lottery standings — and represented the most points they’ve allowed all season. Hayes, who signed a 10-day contract with the Raptors, played only five minutes but was part of a second unit that outscored the Knicks’ bench, 6922. He’s also convinced the Knicks gave up on him too soon.
“As I’ve been telling people lately, I bloomed a little too late,” he said. “If I was this Nigel on draft night, I’d for sure be somewhere on a roster and in a rotation. But I chose to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Lo and behold we will still get on the top floor, don’t you worry.
“I think I made improvements that (the Knicks) suggested when they waived me after preseason. I think I not only met those adjustments that they said and ways to improve myself as a basketball player, I think I’ve exceeded them in a short amount of time.”
Time will tell whether the Knicks (24-43) regret passing on Hayes, but it says something that Masai Ujiri — and his conferenceleading Raptors (49-17) — are taking a chance. Hayes, a Wisconsin product, was signed by Phil Jackson after the draft and couldn’t land a guaranteed contract following an underwhelming Summer League and training camp.
As Hayes developed in Westchester, the Knicks signed two players to two-way contracts — Luke Kornet and Isaiah Hicks — and two free agents from the G-League — Burke and Troy Williams. Hayes pivoted to a 10-day contract with L.A., then this current 10-day deal with the Raptors.
His playing time has been limited since Toronto is really good, and the six points at the Garden represented a career high — along with his first two NBA 3-pointers. He credits Knicks assistant Kurt Rambis with advancing his shooting.
“If you saw the way I shot the ball in training camp, even the last day – it’s night and day compared to how I shoot the ball now. And a lot of that stuff is what I took away from him that he taught me,” Hayes said. “(Rambis) is the reason my shooting improved so much. He’s the reason I’m able to shoot the ball as well as I am right now.”
No matter what happens to Hayes — and whether or not the Knicks will be sorry for letting him go — he can claim something none of his former teammates can: there’s a chance Hayes plays in the postseason.