The NBA is entering a season where there are numerous teams in contention for a championship and even more poised to push for a long playoff run. With the Knicks being perhaps the only team in the division out of contention, the Atlantic Division features some heavy hitters.

In a league built on stars, the Atlantic has All-Stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. There's also players on the rise and poised to eventually make an all-star team in Pascal Siakam and Jayson Tatum.

Player movement is at an all-time high, so don't expect any of these teams to look exactly the same five years from now. All five teams in the division feature interesting rosters with numerous questions about how they look currently, as well as where they will be in the next five years. 

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Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta spoke to SNY on Friday to promote his new book, 'Shut up and Listen', which provides advice for business entrepreneurs. He answered questions about the book, ex-Knick Carmelo Anthony's Rockets tenure, Knicks and Nets ownership and other topics. 

Below is a Q&A with Fertitta, condensed and edited for clarity.

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Dennis Smith Jr. has several goals coming into his second season with the Knicks. One of them? To help R.J. Barrett win Rookie of the Year. 

"I'm treating that as one of my focal points just to help him win Rookie of the Year. And whatever I can do, I'm willing to do it," Smith Jr. said in an interview with Chris Henderson. "It's important for us and it's important for our team and it's important for our morale moving forward so I think it would be major if he won that."

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The Nets open training camp in 10 days and several Brooklyn players remain fully in favor of the club signing free agent Carmelo Anthony, per SNY sources.

The Nets enter camp with 15 players on guaranteed contracts, which is the maximum regular-season allotment. But there is an avenue for the club to sign Anthony to a traditional NBA deal during the regular season.

Wilson Chandler is suspended for the first 25 games of the season for violating the league's PED policy. After the fifth game of Chandler's suspension, the Nets can move the veteran forward to the inactive list.

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When people talk about the Knicks-Nets rivalry these days, they talk about what the Nets did this summer -- and what the Knicks didn't do.

That narrative serves as motivation to this year's Knicks team.

"Of course, the Nets got two big superstars this summer but it's just fuel to the fire for us," Knicks forward Kevin Knox said at an event on Monday to debut Puma's new sneaker line, which features the Puma Clyde Hardwood.

The 2019-20 NBA regular season begins Oct. 23 for the Knicks against the San Antonio Spurs, but RJ Barrett might have his calendar circled for Nov. 8 when New York plays the Dallas Mavericks.

In a Monday AMA (Ask Me Anything) with Bleacher Report, the No. 3 overall pick by the Knicks in June's draft was asked whom he would want to posterize -- among all-time and current players -- if given the chance.

Barrett went with a rather recent and well-known figure for Knicks fan, name dropping former New York power forward Kristaps Porzingis, who spent three-plus years at Madison Square Garden.

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The Knicks rounded out their roster heading into training camp by signing guards Amir Hinton and Lamar Peters along with forwards VJ King and Kenny Wooten.  

New York now has a maximum of 20 players under contract heading into camp, which begins at the end of the month. 

The club has 15 players on traditional NBA contracts and one player (Kadeem Allen) on a two-way deal. Teams can carry up to two players on two-way deals, so New York can add one of the players above - or any other player not under contract - on a two-way deal if it chooses.  

Former No. 2 pick Hasheem Thabeet is scheduled to participate in workouts with the Knicks in Westchester again this week, agent Jerry Dianis told SNY.

The Knicks may have an open spot for training camp, depending on what happens with Kris Wilkes. Wilkes had a 2-way agreement with the Knicks but, according to the New York Post, they may not end up having Wilkes on the roster.

It was first reported on Aug. 28 that Hasheem Thabeet had been participating in informal 5-on-5 scrimmages alongside Knicks players, SNY learned more about the former No. 2 overall pick's involvement with members of the team going forward.

It looks like the New York rivalry is on.

This summer, Kyrie Irving elected to sign with the Nets on a four-year, $136 million contract, while the Knicks, who had targeted Irving, were left watching as Brooklyn assembled a team consisting of some free agent stars.

So when the Knicks travel to Barclays Center on Friday, October 25 for an early-season matchup between the two New York teams, the Nets have decided to give away 10,000 replica Irving jerseys to the fans in attendance. 

Coming into the 2019-20 season, the New York Knicks have low outside expectations. A failed bid to sign superstar Kevin Durant as well as guard Kyrie Irving forced the Knicks to alter their free agent plans. They signed a pu pu platter of mid-tier free agents to short-term contracts that will allow them to re-enter free agency next summer.

The youth movement is underway in New York and many questions still remain about the direction the organization is heading in. The failure to sign any big name free agents has lowered the bar for the Knicks as a team. The need for in-house player development is more important than it has ever been for a franchise that hasn't re-signed a first round pick to a second contract since 1994 first rounder Charlie Ward.

Despite the expectations that the team will finish with one of the worst records in the NBA, there are still positives to look forward to for the upcoming season. 

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Knicks training camp has some intriguing storylines.

We'll all be keeping an eye on RJ Barrett, the position battles (Dennis Smith Jr. and Elfrid Payton at point guard, for one), Mitchell Robinson's progression, Frank Ntilikina's status, etc.

It will be interesting to see who starts and who comes off the bench in preseason games and who earns a spot in the regular-season rotation.

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Prior to the NBA Draft this past June, the Knicks talked to several teams about trades involving Frank Ntilikina. One of those teams said New York discussed a deal that would have returned an early second-round pick for the guard, per SNY sources.

Obviously, the Knicks didn't end up with an offer that they liked for Ntilikina. But it seemed then that the organization was set on jettisoning the 21-year-old.

Has that stance changed over the last few months? That's unclear.

Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina played stifling defense and scored five huge points down the stretch as France pulled off a stunning upset over Team USA on Wednesday as they eliminated them from the FIBA World Cup.

The 89-79 win came in the knockout round, and Ntilikina was incredibly fired up after the final buzzer.

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Derrick Rose believes his decision to go AWOL before a game with the Knicks in 2017 has hurt his reputation - and his earnings potential.

"MY SEASON IN NEW YORK WAS TOUGH, and I know how I fu--ed up by going home that one time without telling anyone first. That's on me. It's one of the reasons I've had to take these minimum contracts. I know what some teams think about me because of that," Rose wrote in his book, "I'll Show You," coauthored by Sam Smith, according to an excerpt obtained by SNY.

After his lone season in New York, Rose signed a minimum contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Knicks missed out on all of the top free agents this offseason after clearing a ton of cap space to be able to afford two max players. And former Knick Enes Kanter thinks he knows why free agents are jilting them.

"Not many people know that, but players talk," Kanter said on the Full 48 Podcast with Howard Beck. "From different teams, they talk. I'm not blaming anybody -- I had an amazing time with the Knicks. But other teammates I talked to or if they're on different teams, they always said, 'Amazing city, MSG is amazing. Everything is so good, but the ownership.' They always keep saying, 'But the ownership.'"

Kanter went on to "guess" that some of the free agents who speak ill of Knicks' ownership are "scared" to come to the Knicks and "don't even want to deal with that."

Derrick Rose spent one tumultuous season with the Knicks after being traded to New York before the 2016-17 season, performing relatively well when on the court while literally going AWOL off the court.

In a new book, the 30-year-old Rose -- now with the Pistons -- writes about his Knicks tenure, including thoughts on Phil Jackson, Carmelo Anthony, and Steve Mills.

"With the basketball, the way Phil had talked, and with Jo (Joakim Noah) and Melo, I really thought we were going to do something," Rose wrote in "I'll Show You," coauthored by Sam Smith, according to an excerpt published by the New York Post. "But when it came to the basketball, I knew right away that we were s--t."

Two days after first reporting that Hasheem Thabeet had been participating in informal 5-on-5 scrimmages alongside Knicks players, SNY learned more about the former No. 2 overall pick's involvement with members of the team going forward.

Thabeet's agent Jerry Dianis told SNY's Ian Begley that the 7-foot-3 center is set to continue playing with the Knicks in New York next week.

In addition to the informal 5-on-5 scrimmages, Dianis told Begley that Thabeet will work out for a second time with the Milwaukee Bucks from Sept. 8-12.

Presidential candidate Andrew Yang -- a big Knicks fan who was very active on social media leading up to free agency -- has been sounding off on the Knicks and everything NBA. Here's the latest...

August 30, 12:05 PM:

Some fans think the Knicks are building the right way, and some fans are Andrew Yang.

"For a Knicks fan these are the darkest times I can remember," Yang tweeted on Friday. "Neither competing nor rebuilding. Punting for free agents when there are none of note in 2020. Signing mercenary vets to 1 year deals who will want playing time over overmatched young players. Going to be a long season."

RJ Barrett was one of the most feared players in college basketball last season. Along with Zion Williamson, the Duke tandem was one of the best 1-2 punches the game has seen in a long time. 

Being a pure scorer from all levels, the Knicks were confident that Barrett was worthy of that No. 3 overall pick in this year's NBA Draft. But when the NBA Rookie survey results surfaced, Barrett's fellow rookies weren't too high on him. 

Barrett didn't lead in any of the categories, and he didn't receive any votes in a few like "Best Defender," "Best Shooter," and others. But if you know Barrett, you know that he has always let his game do the talking.

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Carmelo Anthony will attend the Knicks' informal 5-on-5 scrimmages today in Manhattan, SNY sources confirm.

Anthony, a former Knick and 10-time All-Star, has also worked out with the Nets in an informal setting during the offseason.

Anthony is a free agent and said in a recent interview on ESPN's First Take that his representation has been in touch with several teams about a potential landing spot, including the Clippers and Lakers. He was waived by the Houston Rockets last season after playing 10 games.

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Former No. 2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet has been participating in informal scrimmages with some of the Knicks in New York City this week and is expected to be with the club for at least the next few days, per SNY sources.

New York currently has 19 players under contract -- one fewer than the maximum of 20 for training camp. So they have room to add Thabeet, a 7-foot-3 center, to their training camp roster if they choose.

The Nets stole the Knicks' thunder during the offseason, inking Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and they just extended Caris LeVert.

But while they're in much better position right now than the Knicks, all of their recent signings have put them at a disadvantage when it comes to their ability to continue to swipe top free agents out from under New York.

The LeVert extension leaves the Nets with Durant, Irving, DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie and LeVert all under contract through the 2020-21 season, SNY's Ian Begley recently pointed out, adding that it's a strong group to build around but also leaves them with little financial flexibility. So the Knicks won't have to worry about competing with the Nets for top free agents for the next few summers.

Knicks PG Dennis Smith Jr. is staying very active in free agency, and his latest warmup as he gets ready for the new season came in Seattle at Jamal Crawford's "Crawsover" Pro Am.

And he put on a show. 

Smith dropped 50 points in his performance alongside players like Aaron Gordon and Kevin Porter Jr., a 2019 draft pick of the Cavaliers. In a recap video, you can see Smith's improved jump shot, something he's been working on this offseason. And of course, the bounce and dunking ability was on full display as well. 

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New Knick Julius Randle isn't going to make any big predictions about the upcoming season. And he's not going to make any bold statements about what he will or won't do in his first year as a Knick. 

What Randle is promising Knicks fans in Year One is simple: 

"I'm just going to bring it every night, man," he said in an interview with SNY at his backpack giveaway at Rucker Park on Saturday. "I'm not going to promise stats, I'm not gonna promise anything. Just bring it every night and do everything I can to help my team win. And I'm going to get better as a player. You're never going to have to question my commitment, my effort. You're never going to have to question where my heart is. It's for this team, it's for this city, and that's what it's about." 

Mike Miller will be joining the Knicks' staff as an assistant coach for the 2019-20 season, the team announced on Monday.

SNY's Ian Begley reported on June 17 that barring an unforeseen change, Miller was expected to join David Fizdale's staff.

Miller was named G League coach of the year in 2017-18.

As is tradition in the NBA, the fresh new faces in the league took their rookie survey before the start of the 2019-2020 season.

And the results may not be what you expected. 

Well, the first category of who will win the Rookie of the Year award wasn't too much of a surprise. Zion Williamson had the most votes at 35 percent with Ja Morant, the second overall pick to the Grizzlies, coming in at 27 percent. The Knicks' RJ Barrett came in at 5 percent, the same as his fellow Duke teammate Cam Reddish. 

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Last week in New Jersey, several Knicks were in attendance for the NBA's Rookie Transition Program, a four-day event that the league and the NBPA put together to help rookies adjust to life as a pro athlete. Players listened to experts, ex-players and their peers discuss topics ranging from sexual health to social media.

"At the core of what we're doing is, 'How are you the best professional you can be? And how are you clear and concise in what your decision-making process is?" says Greg Taylor, the NBA's Head of Player Development. 

Second-year Knicks Mitchell Robinson and Allonzo Trier were among the players in attendance this year. Rookies RJ Barrett and Iggy Brazdeikis were there as well. 

It wasn't a good look for Team USA on Wednesday when they lost not one but two scrimmages to the LA Select Team, a group of fringe NBA and overseas players. And a few of those players dishing out the hurt have or had Knicks ties. 

The LA Select Team, which was led by former Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy, delivered a 36-17 victory in one of those scrimmages. Team USA didn't look to be in sync, and silly turnovers were made throughout the 10-minute game.

Team USA may have had players like Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Anthony Davis back out. However, with stars like Kemba Walker, Khris Middleton, and Jaysom Tatum on the roster, they shouldn't have had trouble facing this Select Team.

Ten-time All-Star and free agent forward Carmelo Anthony has been participating in informal team workouts and scrimmages with Brooklyn Nets players in Los Angeles recently, per SNY sources.

Anthony, who played 10 games with the Houston Rockets last season before being released, said last week in an interview on First Take that he and his representatives have been in touch with several teams, including the Lakers and Clippers, about potentially signing a contract for the coming season.

It is unknown if the Nets are one of the teams that Anthony and his representatives have talked to about a potential signing. The club's interest level in signing Anthony to a contract is also unknown.

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The Knicks will get a look at Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets early in the 2019-2020 season.

New York travels to Brooklyn for the first time on Oct. 25 -- the second game of the season -- and hosts the Nets for the first time on Nov. 24.

Irving and Kevin Durant -- two of the Knicks' top targets in free agency -- signed with Brooklyn in July. So the Knicks-Nets rivalry will matter again this season after being mostly dormant for a few years.

Nate Robinson has played with many NBA All-Stars and legends during his time in the league. But throughout his career, Robinson remembers a special moment with former Knick Steve Francis during his time in New York. 

When Francis were teammates in the Big Apple, Robinson immediately recalled a time when he was 16 years old. He was at a camp in Baltimore where Franchis was attending, and he had asked to take a picture with him on the bench. 

Well, years later Robinson had his mom send that picture to him to give to Francis. Here he is recalling that moment...

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LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers will be in New York to face the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 22, per SNY sources.

James' visits to the Garden are usually entertaining. Last season, James' Lakers lost to a struggling Knicks team in a game that ended with him getting rejected by Mario Hezonja.

Knicks fans will also have the chance to show a warm welcome that night to Davis, one of the top free agents in the class of 2020. Of course, Davis is likely to re-sign with Los Angeles, unless things go horribly wrong for the Lakers this season. But in the unlikely chance that Davis decides to leave Los Angeles next summer, it's worth noting that Davis' agent, Rich Paul, said on the record that he sees New York as an attractive destination.

The Knicks have signed guard Lamar Peters to a non-guaranteed training camp contract, as confirmed by SNY's Ian Begley.

Peters was undrafted out of Mississippi State, but played three seasons for the Bulldogs, where he averaged 11.9 points per game as a junior before opting to forgo his senior year and enter the NBA Draft.

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TEANECK, NJ - One of the bigger questions around the Knicks entering the season is what should the expectations be for rookie R.J. Barrett?

"(Knicks fans) can expect that they're getting a killer," Zion Williamson said in an interview with SNY at Panini's NBA Rookie Photo Shoot on Sunday. "For the people that are trying to look down on him, RJ's been through worse. He knows how to battle through it and he's going to bring the city everything he's got."

Williamson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 Draft, is a close friend of Barrett's. Williamson and Barrett formed a strong bond while playing together at Duke last season. So you'd expect Williamson to offer a strong statement about his friend. But Williamson referencing Barrett's ability to battle through adversity is noteworthy.

Knicks fans received a bit of a scare on Thursday when it was learned that Mitchell Robinson has been dealing with a knee injury at Team USA World Cup training camp in Las Vegas. 

Robinson, who is playing for US Select Team which practices against Team USA's World Cup roster, reaggravated his injury during a session on Wednesday, per The Post's Marc Berman. 

Thanks to a video from The Daily News' Stefan Bondy, you can see Kyle Kuzma drive to the rim and Robinson looks to slip and take a fall, but quickly get up...

Kevin Durant offered his thoughts on signing with the Nets and playing with Kyrie Irving for the first time in an interview with Yahoo! Sports. 

Here are a few takeaways: 

On why he decided to sign with the Nets: "Because I wanted to," Durant said. "The basketball was appealing."

Julius Randle has withdrawn from USA Basketball's World Cup training camp, USA Basketball announced Saturday. The 24-year old left the camp to deal with what is being termed a "family matter."

Team USA will being training camp on Monday with what is now a 15-man roster and will also train with the USA Basketball Select Team, which includes Mitchell Robinson along with the Nets' Jarrett Allen and Joe Harris. The Select Team will be coached by former Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy.  

Summer League has come and gone, and we're still a couple of months away from the start of the NBA regular season, but on Friday afternoon, parts of the league's schedule began to leak. 

According to Shams Charania of the Athletic, the Knicks will welcome Kristaps Porzingis and the Dallas Mavericks to Madison Square Garden on Nov. 14. The game will be Porzingis' first at MSG since the Knicks traded him to Dallas on Feb. 1.

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As you'd expect, the Nets aren't providing any timetable for Kevin Durant's return to the court. 

"We're certainly not going to rush him back," GM Sean Marks said recently on a WFAN interview. "There's going to be absolutely none of that. We have far too much invested in him, and we owe it to Kevin to get him back to 100%."

Will Durant ever be fully healthy after tearing his right Achilles? And can he return to the court next season? 

Still hoping to land with a team for the upcoming season, former Knick Carmelo Anthony went on ESPN First Take on Friday morning to discuss a host of topics, including almost bolting the Knicks for the Bulls in 2014 before eventually re-signing.

"The New York Knicks situation, I was going to Chicago," Anthony said. "Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah. I was there. I was there. And then I started getting whispers behind the scenes -- 'yo, look, this person ain't gonna be there' . ... all of that started to come up in the midst of my decision. I wasn't gonna let anything cloud that. I met with New York last. They was the last time I met with because I knew that I was ready to move on from that situation because of what I was dealing with and going through in New York. After that, I met with New York the last meeting and said 'tell me what you're gonna do for the organization, for us to try to put a team together to go compete and try to win."

After that meeting and a lot of things the Knicks promised, Anthony made his decision to stay.

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Knicks rookie RJ Barrett will not participate in the FIBA World Cup for Team Canada, SNY sources confirm.

Barrett suffered a mild calf strain -- not believed to be significant -- during Summer League in Las Vegas, which may have factored in to the decision.

Barrett, a Toronto native, played for Team Canada regularly as a younger player.

Despite not playing in an NBA regular season game yet, Zion Williamson is already being asked about potentially leaving New Orleans.

In a recent interview with Complex, the No.1 overall pick opened up about his new team, as well as his relationship with Knicks rookie RJ Barrett. Williamson was asked if he has ever thought about what it would be like to reunite at some point with his former Duke teammate.

"Yeah, we talked about it in college a lot," Williamson said. "We kinda talked about it as we were both going to get our careers started and see how it goes. I mean, if we can possibly link up in the future, that would be great. But we both understand that if things are going well in our prospective cities, we'll just kind of leave it there."

With all the second-tier free-agent signees the Knicks brought in this offseason, the Magic's Aaron Gordon has one that he hopes thrives in particular. 

Elfrid Payton was sort of a under-the-radar signee with the likes of Julius Randle, Taj Gibson, and Bobby Portis joining the team as well. The Knicks already have Dennis Smith Jr. as well as Allonzo Trier, whose looking to follow up his stellar rookie season. And Frank Ntilikina is still looking to show the Knicks he was worthy of their first-round selection two years ago.

So it will be a battle to get solid minutes on the floor, let alone start for another former first-rounder in Payton. But Gordon, who was drafted just six picks ahead of Payton to the same Magic team, knows exactly what the point guard can bring to New York this season.

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New Net DeAndre Jordan shed a little light on his decision to sign with the Nets over the Knicks in free agency.

"Not to knock the culture the Knicks are creating," he said during an a promotional appearance for Dunkin', according to Gothamist, "but we like what [Nets coach] Kenny [Atkinson]'s doing and [general manager] Sean [Marks] has been awesome and the organization, from top to bottom, has been great. So you want to be a part of something like that, especially when you have a chance to play with other great players and build something."

Allonzo Trier impressed in nearly every category in his first year as a Knick, and the organization saw enough through his first season to pick up his $3.5 million option for year two. But like any rookie, his first season highlighted areas calling for improvement.

His shooting became the primary area of refinement, but it wasn't the mechanics. Instead, it was the volume.

"The more I get off and I shoot at a high percentage, then it'll be good for us," Trier told Mike Vorkunov of the Athletic. "Not only myself, but as a basketball team. So that's one thing I've been focused on doing."

Bobby Portis has a lofty goal for his first season with the Knicks. 

The former first-round pick is hopeful the Knicks will win hardware as a team despite being big underdogs heading into 2019, but he's got a personal agenda as well. 

"I envision myself being a Sixth Man of the Year candidate," Portis told the New York Post." Last year I was in the running at the beginning of the season, playing well. That's in the back of my mind for sure. Naysayers will say I'm crazy. I feel it's going to come for me one day for sure. I play my role really well."

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Kadeem Allen has spent most of his offseason in North Carolina, working out in preparation for his second season with the Knicks. He's looking forward to making an impact in training camp.

"Just trying to show coach that I can compete at the highest level and I can play at the highest level," Allen said of his goals entering the season. "Just trying to get out there and earn a permanent roster spot."

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Knicks great Clyde Frazier was 'shocked' when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets in free agency. But he doesn't see those moves as a sign that the Knicks have ceded their title as the most relevant NBA team in New York. 

Frazier thinks the Knicks pivoted well after missing on Durant and their other top targets - and he doesn't see these Nets teams having more success than the Jason Kidd/Kenyon Martin Nets clubs that reached back-to-back Finals in the early 2000s. 

Locally, RJ Barrett will garner a lot of attention this season. He's the Knicks' highest draft pick in more than 30 years. And the team didn't sign any top free agents this summer. So Barrett's progress as a rookie will be one of the most important storylines of the Knicks' season.

Trae Young can relate. The Hawks guard dealt with a heavy dose of attention in his first year in the NBA.

And he believes Barrett will handle the scrutiny that comes with being a top pick in NBA just fine.