The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Winning remains Kanter’s sole focus
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Are the Knicks playing only for the future? Or should their main aim be to win every time they take to the floor?
There does seem to be some debate about the focus in the final month of the season.
Judging from Twitter, a fair amount of Knicks fans would like to see the team try to develop its younger players while piling up as many losses as possible in order to increase their chances of landing a high lottery pick.
Enes Kanter, however, believes the NBA season is no place to work on player development.
“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,” Kanter said after practice last week.
“This team is paying us a lot of money, 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. And if they want to develop somebody, they can send him to the G League and we can see some development.”
Of course, it actually would be a bigger shock if Kanter didn’t want to go out there every night looking to win. Kanter seems to be enjoying his time in New York and there has been every indication he will opt into the final year of his contract, which is slated to pay him $18.4 million next season. Still, the 25-year-old is having an outstanding season and there remains a chance he could test the free-agent waters.
“Let me tell you something, the Knicks are paying me money to win games, to go out there and compete and try to win every game,” Kanter said.
“Knicks are not paying me to tank or anything. So my mindset is to go out there, it doesn’t matter if we play the worst team or the best team. I didn’t get traded here to get a good draft pick. I came here to win games and make the playoffs. So I don’t care, we’re in whatever stretch we’re in right now, I’m just going to go out there and fight every possession.”
‘The Knicks are paying me money to win games, to go out there and compete and try to win every game.’
Enes Kanter