NEW YORK -- Just a few hours before the Knicks tipped of the 2017-18 NBA season with a 19-point loss to Carmelo Anthony and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Michigan State sophomore forward Miles Bridges spent time at Madison Square Garden for Big Ten Media Day.

Bridges is an explosive 6-foot-6 forward who opted to return to Michigan State for his sophomore season instead of being a likely lottery pick in this year's NBA Draft. He's now projected as the No. 6 pick in 2018 via ESPN.com.

So with Bridges in the Garden for Media Day and the Big Ten Tournament beginning Feb. 28, how would he feel about potentially being drafted by the Knicks?

Knicks rookie PG Frank Ntilikna suffered an apparent left ankle injury during practice on Friday and was helped off the court.

Click below for the image

Willy Hernangomez barely played during the Knicks' season-opening loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City, only entering the game in the final minutes of New York's blowout loss. 

Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek told Hernangomez before the game that he wouldn't be in the rotation.

Jake Brown | Twitter | With the Knicks preaching on their youth and rebuilding, it's foolish for a guy like Hernangomez to not be the first center off the bench when Enes Kanter sits.

The Knicks signed former UNC power forward Isaiah Hicks to a two-way contract, the team announced Friday.

He had signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Hornets in August.

Jake Brown | Twitter | The Knicks don't have a ton of depth at power forward, so signing Hicks makes some sense. He played four years at UNC and got better each year. His final stats were nothing to write home about, but he was playing for a powerhouse school that had plenty of talent in front of him. He did win a championship, which is always a plus.

Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis scored 31 points, brought down 12 rebounds and recorded a block of former teammate Carmelo Anthony in Thursday's season-opening 105-84 loss at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The 22-year-old forward recorded his fourth 30-point game in his third professional season, shooting 11-of-25 from the floor and 2-of-6 from 3-point range. 

"I always have the highest expectations for myself," Porzingis said, according to the New York Post's Fred Kerber. "I'm my own critic always in situations where I'm not playing well. There's nothing I will hear that will surprise me from the fans or whatever."

Thunder F Carmelo Anthony opened up after Thursday night's game about the trade that sent him from the Knicks to Oklahoma City.

"I've had some great years, I've had some down years in New York, but like I said, I'm ready to just kind of move on," Anthony told SNY's Taylor Rooks.

"For me, it was a relief," Anthony said about being traded. "Like I said, I walked through hell and now people are gonna watch me walk up out it."

Russell Westbrook had a triple-double, Paul George had a team-high 28 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder cruised to a 105-84 win over the Knicks in the season opener on Thursday at Chesapeake Energy Arena. >> Read more

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A new Carmelo Anthony chapter begins Thursday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Kristaps Porzingis is embracing the task of guarding former teammate Carmelo Anthony on Thursday night -- and the challenge of leading the Knicks in Anthony's absence.  

"For sure, it's going to be weird," Porzingis told SNY's Adam Zagoria earlier this week. "But I'm looking forward to that game. It's in OKC, great atmosphere as always. It's going to be a good challenge for us."

"He's been in the league for 13, 14 years," Porzingis added. "I think everybody knows what he's doing but nobody can stop him. It's going to be a challenge for me. I'm going to do my best."

The Knicks open the season tonight against the new-look Thunder in Oklahoma City. Some old friends will meet again after the Carmelo Anthony to OKC trade a few weeks ago. Let's take a look at the three things to watch for...

Porzingis vs. Melo

Only fitting, right? Just a few weeks after the trade, the basketball gods lined up the two former teammates to duke it out on opening night. The former face of the Knicks will take on the new face of the Knicks, and they will likely be guarding each other all night long.

It's going to be intriguing to see Carmelo Anthony against the Knicks period, but going up against Porzingis will be a must-watch every possession. You know Porzingis wants to swat a couple of his attempts into Tulsa. Porzingis is going to have his hands full and his stamina will be something to keep an eye on as covering Melo will be a tough task. Melo has added incentive to stick it to his former team tonight in front of his new home fans.

The afternoon before he faces the Knicks in Oklahoma City as a member of the Thunder, Carmelo Anthony tweeted that he's ready to walk out of hell.

Click below for the tweet

Knicks SG Tim Hardaway Jr. has been through a rebuilding process since he left New York, and now he returns with high expectations. 

The Knicks awarded Hardaway a hefty four-year, $71 million contract. With that deal, Hardaway Jr. is expected to produce on a nightly basis as he reunites with the team that drafted him back in 2013. To get to this point, though, Hardaway Jr. had to rebuild his game, and it started when he was traded to the Hawks in 2015. 

"I wanted to stay," Hardaway told Newsday's Al Iannazzone. "I wanted to improve in the offseason. I wanted to come back a better, stronger, faster player for the Knicks that next season. Just didn't happen. It was a blessing just being able to hae a team out there that wanted me and knew they could develop me into a player they wanted me to become and I wanted to become."

Carmelo Anthony, who was traded from the Knicks to the Thunder in late-September, said he doesn't hold a grudge against the Knicks for how things transpired in New York.

Former Knicks president Phil Jackson took subtle and not so subtle shots at Anthony last season, before attempting to trade him at the deadline and again before the Draft this past April.

"When I signed back with the Knicks, I wanted to be in New York and I believed in Phil,'' Anthony told Marc Stein of the NY Times. "Then last year it went to: I was being pushed out. There were things being said about me that I didn't know where they were coming from. And I still had to go in that gym and play and practice and deal with the media, answer all those questions every day."

Knicks' president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry visited Steelers training camp in August to learn about their operations, sources told the New York Post.  

Perry, whose father, Lowell, coached for the Steelers, wanted to bring Mills to Steelers' camp, the source said. Perry was said to be interested in learning about the way the Steelers prepare for drafts and handle their roster, among other things.

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Kristaps Porzingis admits it will be "weird" playing against Carmelo Anthony on opening night, and not with him.

But the 7-foot-3 unicorn is also anxious to try his hand at defending his former teammate when the Knicks open the 2017-18 season against Anthony and Oklahoma City at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

"For sure, it's going to be weird," Porzingis said Tuesday after practice. "But I'm looking forward to that game. It's in OKC, great atmosphere as always. It's going to be a good challenge for us."

Jake Brown | Twitter |

The drama-filled Knicks offseason is finally over and the actual games that count have arrived. A new era begins Thursday, when the Knicks take on an old friend who was an integral part of which direction the team would head in. Before the Knicks face Carmelo Anthony for the first time since 2010, let's take a look at five bold predictions for the 2017-2018 Knicks season...

1. Kristaps Porzingis will average a double-double

Knicks rookie PG Frank Ntilikina participating in the team's scrimmage at practice on Tuesday, per Newsday's Al Iannazzone.

Ntilikina, who has been out with a knee issue, participated in all portions of practice on Monday except the scrimmage.

"I'm back and I'm real happy and I feel good to be on the court," Ntilikina told Iannazzone after practice.

Knicks forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas and guard Jarrett Jack have been ruled inactive for Thursday's season-opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to ESPN's Ian Begley.

The 27-year-old Kuzminskas, who averaged 6.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 68 games last season, has been dealing with a sore left calf, while Jack, who is recovering from a torn ACL, and Luke Kornet (left hamstring) have also been ruled out.

New York can update its roster before Thursday. Head coach Jeff Hornacek said he expects rookie point guard Frank Ntilikina to play despite dealing with a knee issue.

Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek admitted in a report from Newsday that the Knicks' defensive principles and concepts were difficult and confusing during his first season on New York's sideline last year.

The report mentioned that players had a tough time grasping the defensive scheme and complained that things needed to be simplified in order to succeed on that end of the floor. New York didn't have a "basic foundation" and changed things up "game to game." 

This season -- the second under Hornacek and the first without Phil Jackson in the front office -- the Knicks will make everything easier while stressing the importance of improvement on defense. The Knicks will have basic principles in order to maximize their efforts.

The Knicks announced they have waived three players: PG Trey Burke, SG Xavier Rathan-Mayes, and F Nigel Hayes.

Burke was signed by the Knicks on Oct. 11, and did not appear in a preseason game. The former All-Rookie First-Team selection back in 2013 averaged five points, 1.8 assists, and shot 45.5 percent from the field last season with the Wizards. 

Hayes and Rathan-Mayes were picked up by the Knicks after going undrafted back in June. The 6-foot-8 Hayes appeared in four of the team's five preseason games where he scored nine points in 33 minutes.

Rathan-Mayes appeared in three games scoring only two points in 28 minutes. 

Bradley Beal scored 24 points in his best game of the preseason, helping Washington send the Knicks to a winless exhibition slate as the Wizards won 110-103 Friday at the Garden.

With Carmelo Anthony in Oklahoma City, Kristaps Porzingis is now the face of the Knicks. And former head coach Jeff Van Gundy said this season will be a "great opportunity" for Porzingis to grow.

"I think the Knicks obviously have declared what they want to do, which is rebuild," Van Gundy said during a conference call, according to Ian Begley of ESPN. "And so much is going to be -- this season is going to be about Porzingis and (Willy) Hernangomez, their development, and Frank (Ntilikina)'s ability to learn the NBA quickly at a difficult position and get him significant minutes to grow."

Van Gundy added that he didn't think Porzingis made the expected jump last season, and that he has a chance to do that in 2017-18.

Jake Brown | Twitter |

The Knicks won't have a huge problem scoring the basketball. It's the other side of the ball that could doom them the entire 2017-18 season. Their defense is bad, and it's difficult to see enough improvement to put them in the winning column more often than not. This team is likely going to give up more than 100 points almost every night.

The Knicks' defense has been worse-than-average in 15 of the last 16 seasons. The only season they were not was the lockout-shortened season in 2011-2012. That was the year Tyson Chandler was the Defensive Player of the Year.

The last time the Knicks defense allowed fewer points per 100 possessions than the league average in a full, 82-game season was in 2000-2001, which was Jeff Van Gundy's last full season as Knicks head coach. The Knicks also ranked last in defensive rebounding percentage last season. They gave up 108 PPG, which was 23rd in the NBA, and they have already given up 113 PPG in their four preseason losses so far...

The Knicks are utilizing advanced statistics and analytics more under president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry, and hired someone to work deeper with statistics, according to the New York Post's Marc Berman.

"I'm not sure we're [utilizing advanced statistics] as much as other teams, but I'm sure we're more than other teams," head coach Jeff Hornacek told Berman. "I heard some organizations, you can develop draft picks and starting lineups just looking at analytics."

The Knicks could be without Frank Ntilikina, Kristaps Porzingis, and Joakim Noah in Friday's preseason game against the Wizards.

Knicks rookie Damyean Dotson hasn't been with the Knicks for long, but he's drawing some high praise from his teammates. 

Tim Hardaway Jr. compared the 44th overall pick in this year's draft to a defensive stalwart that used to play for the Knicks. 

"Dot, when you see him out there, he's a football player,'' Hardaway said, according to the New York Post. "He guards me every day in practice. He's going to give you his all, every possession, no matter how tired he is. Built strong, athletic, takes nothing from nobody. That's what we love.

"Definitely reminds me of [Iman Shumpert]. They got that grittiness and desire to play defense.''

Kristaps Porzingis (sore right hip) sat out for Wednesday's practice and still has not committed to an exact return date, he told reporters. 

"Forty percent yes, 60 percent no,'' Porzingis responded when asked if he would return Friday night, according to the New York Post. "[It] depends how I feel [Thursday] with running, shooting. We'll see. I'm lifting my leg up. It's getting better from [Tuesday]."

The Knicks are set to have another bad season as Vegas odds have them as a longshot to win this year's NBA title, per NY Daily News.

Sportsbettingdime.com has the Knicks set at 1000-1 to win the 2018 Finals, which is the largest odds of any team. The Nets are tied with the Knicks as well. 

The Hawks, Magic, and Bulls are next on the list for the worst odds. 

Knicks rookie PG Frank Ntilikina is impressing his new team even when he isn't on the court. 

Ntilikina has only seen one game of NBA action as he continues to nurse a sore right knee. However, that hasn't stopped him from watching the Knicks' on TV. He noticed that the team ran a few plays he didn't know of, so he went to head coach Jeff Hornacek to see what they were. 

Hornacek was thoroughly impressed...

The Knicks have announced they signed PG Trey Burke. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Burke has played with the Jazz and Wizards over his four year career. He has averaged 10.6 points and 3.6 assists over than span. 

The Michigan product was the ninth overall pick of the 2013 draft to Minnesota before being traded to the Jazz. He was selected to to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in his first season after scoring 12.8 points per game along with 5.7 assists. 

The Knicks became the latest team to add an advertisement to their uniform, announcing a partnership with Squarespace on Tuesday morning.

The Squarespace logo will begin appearing in games during the Knicks' preseason finale against the Wizards on Friday night.

Click below to see the Knicks' jersey with the new ad

The Knicks remained winless in the preseason as they lost to the Houston Rockets 117-95 on Monday at Madison Square Garden. >> Read more

New York, which played without Kristaps Porzingis, Doug McDermott, Frank Ntilikina, Mindaugus Kuzminskas and Luke Kornet, also lost Michael Beasley for the fourth quarter due to a bruised left elbow. 

Beasley scored 17 points in 24 minutes, while Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 21. Ron Baker scored five points on 2-of-7 shooting in his return from a sprained left ankle.

James Harden led the Rockets with 36 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, while Clint Capela recorded 19 points and nine rebounds.

Rockets players expressed their content that former Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony finally got his trade request granted in the offseason even though it wasn't to Houston.

Anthony had previously expressed his desire to only waive his no-trade clause to the Rockets to join James Harden and Chris Paul, however the Knicks told other teams around the league that Houston didn't have assets that appealed to them.

Instead, Anthony added the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder to his list of teams he would accept a trade to, and New York dealt him to Oklahoma City to partner in late September in exchange for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a 2018 second-round pick.

"I sorta felt like he would be traded," Paul said, according to the New York Daily News' Frank Isola. "I actually hoped he would to give him peace of mind so he could be happy. And I think he's happy now."

Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis and guard Frank Ntilikina are among five players who will miss Monday's preseason game vs. the Houston Rockets.

Porzingis, who did not play the second half of Sunday's game against the Brooklyn Nets, met with team doctors to discuss a sore right hip. Head coach Jeff Hornacek told the New York Post's Marc Berman that Porzingis is having trouble lifting his leg.

"I'm not too concerned," Porzingis told reporters after Sunday's game. "It's just a sore right hip is what the doctor described, and it's nothing to be too concerned about. But tomorrow the doctor is going to look at it and we'll have [a] more clearer [answer]."

Knicks PF Kristaps Porzingis is expected to meet with Knicks' doctors Monday regarding a sore right hip. 

Porzingis felt soreness in his right hip during Sunday's preseason matchup against the Nets where he sat out the entire second half. 

"I didn't feel anything before the game," Porzingis told Newsday's Al Iannazzone. "At halftime, when I cooled down that's when I really felt it."

The Knicks turned the ball over 24 times and shot just 37.8 percent from the field as they were blown out against the Brooklyn Nets 117-83 on Sunday at Barclays Center. >> Read more

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 13 points and recorded five turnovers and five fouls, as the Knicks lost their third straight preseason game.

Kristaps Porzingis scored six points on 2-of-6 shooting, while Willy Hernangomez recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Six Nets players scored in double figures, led by D'Angelo Russell's 16 points, as Brooklyn improved to 3-0 in the preseason. Allen Crabbe scored 14 points, while Chris LeVert and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson both scored 12.

Joakim Noah won't be able to play in the first 12 games of the regular season, but he's still looking forward to making positives strides when he does return. 

Noah took part in his first preseason game on Friday against the Wizards, collecting two points, five rebound and two assists. Due to his suspension for violating the NBA's substance abuse policy, the forward will not be allowed to play in the regular season until mid-November at the earliest. 

"It's been a long time away from the game," Noah told reporters Friday. "I'm still a work in progress. I'm just excited to get back on the court. I'm dealing with a lot of adversity right now. It's just where the cards fell. It's like being a rookie all over again. I got to prove myself, I got to prove myself every day. It's my challenge. It's the challenge that I put myself in. I just got to keep working every day."

According to new Knicks GM Scott Perry, the fan base wouldn't mind if this year's squad loses as long as they "fight hard every night."

One New York team (the Jets) has already embraced that mantra, and the Knicks are similar with their own group of young players that need to develop. Perry is convinced that the fans wouldn't mind seeing a losing season if his rebuild looks promising. 

"Fans in general respect teams who compete and fight hard every night," Perry told The Post's Marc Berman. "I think fans will respect that. We'll see where that takes us. Nobody has a crystal ball, what that's going to mean for results this year. Let that play out."

Enes Kanter and Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Knicks offense as they dropped their second preseason game to the Wizards, 104-100. >>Read More

Current Thunder and former Knicks SF Carmelo Anthony has quickly found a niche with his new team in Oklahoma City. 

Anthony and the Knicks struggled this offseason to reach an agreement as to where the veteran All-Star would land this season. After the Knicks asked Melo for a few more options after talks with the Rockets settled, a deal with the Thunder was made in an instant. 

At the end of the day, Anthony was looking for a playoff contender and found one with the Thunder.

Knicks center Joakim Noah will make his preseason deubt Friday when New York faces the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena, head coach Jeff Hornacek said.

Noah, who has 12 games remaining on his suspension from violating the league's substance abuse policy, is eligible to make is regular-season debut Nov. 13 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Entering the second year of a four-year, $72 million deal, Noah has been medically cleared after undergoing shoulder surgery in April, but did not suit up for the team's preseason opener on Tuesday against the Brooklyn Nets.

The 32-year-old Noah averaged five points and 8.8 rebounds in 46 games last season.

Knicks small forward Nigel Hayes knows he drew attention when he called New York "too big" and "dirty," and now he wants the fans to do their best to help change his mind.

Kristaps Porzingis will likely play power forward more often than center thie season, head coach Jeff Hornacek explained on Thursday.

"With the roster we have, we have a lot of bigs at that position at the five, so it's natural for him to play the four. If we want, at times, maybe (playing Porzingis at center is) a weapon we can go to against some teams," Hornacek said, according to Ian Begley of ESPN. "It's probably different if we had only other center then maybe he gets more minutes there. If you look at our roster he's not going to get a ton of time there but it's an option we can go to."

Jake Brown | Twitter | While Porzingis is the tallest player on the Knicks, he should not be playing center. He has a unique game that doesn't make him a center -- he's a power forward and always will be. It's the same with Dirk Nowitzki...

Knicks rookie PG Frank Ntilikina (contused right knee) is out for Friday night's preseason game against the Wizards.

According to The Record's Steve Popper, head coach Jeff Hornacek said Ntilikina will likely be out for Saturday's matchup against the Nets as well. 

Head coach Jeff Hornacek said Ntilikina banged knees with Enes Kanter, and said this knee issue is unrelated to the one Ntilikina dealt with during the summer.

Ntilikina, who has also been dealing with a groin issue, played in the Knicks' preseason opener against the Nets on Tuesday.

Despite many teams in the NFL and NBA expressing their willingness to sit or take a knee during the national anthem, the Knicks decided they would all stand in unity during Tuesday's preseason opener. 

However, Enes Kanter said he would have done the opposite if he had been given the opportunity. Kanter, who is originally from Turkey, had his passport revoked this spring and was nearly arrested by Turkish police after the government claimed he was part of a terrorist organization. His father was arrested this summer for criticizing the Turkish president. 

"If they would've left it up to me, yes, I would've taken a knee," Kanter said. "But as a team, we decided not to take a knee. The most important thing in America is equality and justice. If you don't see these two things in America, I feel really bad, I feel really sad inside."

Voting on various categories in the NBA.com GM Survey, decision makers voted that Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis has a good chance for a breakout season. 

Fourteen percent of GMs voted that Porzingis is likely to make a big leap this season, which was second on the list behind Karl-Anthony Towns of the Timberwolves. Seven percent of GMs also said Porzingis is the best international player in the entire league. In his sophomore season, Porzingis tallied 18.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. 

The Knicks have waived forward Jamel Artis, the team announced Wednesday afternoon.

Artis, who signed as an undrafted free agent this summer after playing with the University of Pittsburgh, tallied five points in 11 minutes during one preseason game with the Knicks. He also was on New York's Summer League team this year. 

However, according to Ian Begley of ESPN, Artis might not be completely leaving the organization due to a clause in his contract with the club.