It’s safe to assume that Dennis Smith Jr. was never under consideration to address the Madison Square Garden prior the Knicks home opener on Saturday.
The honor, instead, was left to a rookie, R.J. Barrett, a promising talent who represents the present and future of a hapless franchise.
Smith Jr. represents a recent past that the Knicks can’t run from fast enough.
The Knicks are in the business of selling hope and after a 0-3 start this season hope is becoming harder to peddle. A home loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday and there’s a very good chance the Knicks won’t see .500 again until opening night of the 2020-21 season. The one saving grace is Barrett, the 6-foot-7 swingman from Duke, who was the consensus third-best player in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Barrett fell into to the Knicks lap just like Kevin Durant once fell to the Seattle SuperSonics after Portland made Greg Oden the top overall pick of the 2007 draft. It doesn’t make you a…
