There is never a shortage of information floating around the internet about the New York Knicks. Each week we will get you caught up on the stories that matter. It’s Sunday, so it’s the Strick Knicks Hangover Fix. Grab your Bloody Mary and let’s get into it.

Big picture

For the first time since March 11, the New York Knicks will conduct a team activity that involves bouncing basketballs and swishing nets. Beginning on Monday, the Knicks — as one of the eight teams excluded from the Orlando bubble — will be allowed to host voluntary individual workouts as each player and staff member completes daily COVID-19 testing in prep of group activities scheduled to begin on September 21.

This means recently-hired head coach Tom Thibodeau will get his first chance to bark at (instruct) his new team. According to multiple reports, the Knicks expect “close to full attendance” for parts of the workouts, with potential free agents even likely to participate. The team will quarantine at a nearby hotel leading up to group training activities in New York.

It’s hard to say whether these workouts will turn into anything significant other than a more formal meet-and-greet between the new coaching staff and the players. Obviously, it’s important to have the team play as a unit after being sidelined for six months, but with the start of the 2020-21 season possibly delayed past Christmas, and offseason roster decisions still looming, it might be too much to expect Thibs to start implementing schemes or anything like that.

While the Knicks haven’t been able to work together as a team, each player has presumably set their own workout schedule since the season was interrupted by the pandemic. We recently learned that RJ Barrett has been working with NBA trainer Drew Hanlen on his shooting mechanics:

“We’ve made three real adjustments,” Hanlen said while appearing as a guest on the Court Vision Podcast with Jameer Nelson and Ben Stinar this week. “The first one is posture: he was very upright, had no legs, and no fluidity […] Second thing is his pocket. His pocket was moved in. A lot of coaches like elbow in. The problem is when you have lefties, a lot of lefties don’t shoot with a good vision, you want a good vision triangle to see the rim with two eyes […] so we moved his elbow out […] And the third thing was he bunched up his hand on his follow-through a lot. And you see that a lot with guys who don’t have great touch […] We are just working on a clean, straight snap every single time, keeping his hand spread, so there’s more rotation on the ball and backspin.”

Former Knick Cleanthony Early recently called out the Knicks’ development program on Instagram. He last played for the team in 2016, but cited the lack of growth among several young Knicks players since he played in New York. While the Knicks appeared to prioritize development under Steve Mills with Craig Robinson promoting a “secret sauce” to their skills training, it has since been reported that New York had failed to invest in hiring development coaches relative to other teams in the league.

This is an area where Leon Rose is looking to make a difference. After hiring both Kenny Payne and Johnnie Bryant — two coaches known for their ability to develop young players — as assistants, the Knicks are expected to add several additional development coaches to the organization, per SNY.

How the Knicks’ new development program is executed within the new rules of the pandemic is unknown. Presumably, the team is offering guidance to players from afar on what they want them to work on this offseason. The team workouts this month will allow them to emphasize those points, or perhaps start a new course to be followed in the weeks before the next round of team activities are allowed.

What everyone is talking about

Kevin Durant was back in the headlines in connection with the New York Knicks. Talking to JJ Redick on his new podcast, Durant explained why he didn’t sign with the Knicks in 2019:

“I never planned on going to the Knicks,” Durant said. “That was just … the media put that out there.”

Every NBA media member from Howard Beck (yes, even him) to Frank Isola (yes, even him) had Durant going to the Knicks last summer. And I highlight two reporters who have been known to use conjecture in trolling the Knicks to prove: (a) this wasn’t just the Knicks being the Knicks in acting confident about getting a free agent without basis, everyone thought that way; and (b) obviously there had to be strong whispers coming from somewhere that Durant was considering calling Madison Square Garden home.

Whether it was Durant’s manager and unapologetic Knicks fan Rich Kleiman trying to force something that wasn’t there, or Durant has changed his narrative to justify his final decision, it doesn’t really matter now; but something caused the Knicks to feel confident enough in securing his services that they diluted the trade value of their best player in order to clear up cap space to eventually sign him. As Kristaps Porzingis was being shown the door, Durant says he was close to deciding on going to Brooklyn.

“Brooklyn was everything I’m about,” Durant said. “Chill, on the low, all black everything, we quiet, just focus on basketball. There’s no show when you come to our games. There’s no Madison Square Mecca, all of that shit. We just going to hoop and build something new over in Brooklyn … I felt that way around February leading up until March [2019], and then once free agency hit, it was time.”

The bright lights of Madison Square Garden and being anointed the second coming for bringing the Knicks back to relevance wasn’t something Durant was looking for:

“I didn’t want to be the savior of the Knicks or New York,” Durant said. “I didn’t care about being the king of New York. That never really moved me. I didn’t care about being on Broadway. I just wanted to play ball and go to the crib and chill. And that’s what Brooklyn embodied.”

And, once again, we move on from Durant.

What else happened this week?

• Several teams have expressed interest in Knicks player development coach Royal Ivey, who was conveniently added to New York’s staff in prep of making a play for Kevin Durant (ok, I guess we haven’t fully moved on from the topic yet). Of course, now there are people linking Ivey to the Nets. And according to Stefan Bondy, the 76ers were interested in Ivey after the 2018-19 season, but the Knicks blocked an interview and paid him a higher amount to keep him from taking a promotion.

• Former Knick Kyle O’Quinn saw Leon Rose in Philadelphia shortly after Rose was hired as president of the Knicks. O’Quinn told him he would do “great things” and thinks Rose and Thibodeau are positive hires for the organization in repairing their image among star players.

• In draft rumors, our very own Jonathan Macri reports the Knicks “aren’t remotely married to the idea of taking a point guard with the eighth pick.” New York also owns the 27th and 38th picks in the draft. Macri adds that he thinks they are targeting someone who can add much-needed shooting to their roster.

• Speaking of the draft, the NBA will likely push the date back again, from October 16 to November 18. The league is also considering allowing in-person workouts with prospects as soon as mid-October.

• As the Sacramento Kings progress in their search for a new head of basketball operations, Scott Perry appears to be staying in New York. He was not included among the initial list of candidates who received permission to interview with the Kings.

• The NBA announced their All-Defensive teams this week and Mitchell Robinson failed to receive a single vote at the center position.

• With head coach Billy Donovan and the Oklahoma City Thunder mutually agreeing to part ways, it appears the Thunder are headed into rebuild and cost-saving mode, which sparked plenty of speculation about a potential Chris Paul trade with the Knicks.

That does it for this week!