James Wiseman JUST LOCKED UP Final Roster Spot AFTER THIS... | Knicks News | The Knicks Recap Podcast

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James Wiseman just locked up the Knicks final roster spot after his performance against the Raptors. We're gonna break down all of these latest reports today.

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Wiseman locks up final roster spot. When you get blown out by 50, there aren't that many positive things to talk about. However, James Wiseman's performance last night against the Raptors was the best thing to come out of last night's game. He proved to everyone why he deserves that final roster spot.

Wiseman, last night, when he got the preseason start, he had 18 points, which was a team high, 7 of 8 from the field, 4 of 4 from the free throw line, 10 rebounds, 4 of them offensive. So he had a double-double in his play last night for the Knicks. Yes, they lost, but he did a lot of positive things on the floor. And Wiseman said the following about how his athleticism can help him earn the Knicks' final roster spot. According to Wiseman, just being able to use my athleticism, being able to put my head on the rim every single time, run the floor and really just being vocal.

We also can't forget, out of all the centers New York could have started last night, who did they start? What players were in that starting lineup? Let's see again. It was Jose Alvarado, Miles McBride, Bruce Brown, Mohamed Diawara and James Wiseman. And even Steph Bondi, an NBA insider with the New York Post, said that this starting lineup was noteworthy, because Brown and Wiseman were starting for the Knicks.

The main reason James Wiseman locked up that 14th roster spot is partially due to his performance, partially due to Drew Eubanks, and him not doing much in the minutes that he received, and also partially due to this.

What happened during the game was, and you can see it right here, he injures his hamstring, or looks like he injures his hamstring, and you can tell that because after the play, look, he grabs the back of his leg, right there, and he's limping, he looks like he's in pain, he's not comfortable, and more or less, if he has any type of injury, even a hamstring injury, it's likely that that roster spot he's been fighting for, at least for him, it's gone. This is another reason why James Wiseman is locking up that final roster spot. Shout out to Tony Bradley, though, you never want to see anybody injured, hopefully this is nothing too serious, and he's back on the court sooner rather than later. As you can see, it's absolutely clear, after everything that we've heard during training camp, that we've seen in training camp, that we've seen in Knicks practices, and that we've seen during preseason, James Wiseman is going to receive that final roster spot, and he absolutely deserves it. However, I do want to say the following, offensively, he was one of the best centers on the floor last night for New York. He was fast, he was getting rebounds, offensive rebounds, he was making alley-oop plays, he was doing work in the post, especially after grabbing an offensive rebound, and trying to go back up and score again. He was perfect from the free throw line too, and New York needs more of that. But, some other things that he did, I really didn't like. And obviously, if he did well offensively, then the part of his game I didn't like too much, was his defense. I mean, in the pick and roll, his drop coverage, he was so far back. He left all this room open for his defender, to do whatever he wanted to do.

And he did everything he wanted to do. They were shooting threes on Wiseman. They used that space to drive on him, take contact and get to the line, and won. They were doing everything possible against him. He needs to get better at guarding the pick and roll. He needs to understand how far back is too far back in drop coverage. He also needs to understand that when he's at the rim, he needs to jump straight up if he's trying to protect the rim. If he jumps up, but he leans into that offensive player, he is going to get called for a foul, and they're going to go to the line. He needs to work on his defense. After everything I saw last night, I know offensively he's giving New York exactly what they need. Somebody who can run fast, is athletic, and is a lob threat. But defensively, he needs to work a lot better. Obviously, he's still young, he has a lot of upside, and he's still raw. Remember, with the injuries, the designation of draft bust, not receiving that much playing time, even though he's 25, he really doesn't have the years of experience that you would expect from a 25 year old. He needs to build that up, and I think he's going to be able to do that this season with New York. He is going to get better under Mike Brown. I can just only hope those strides defensively happen sooner rather than later. He also said the following regarding The Knicks, this opportunity and his game. Take a look. Shout out to postingandtoasting.com for breaking down this information for us.