Jeff Hornacek believes the Knicks need more size on the wings.

The Knicks traded away Carmelo Anthony in September and have relied on traditional shooting guards like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee to play bigger.

“If you look around at the top teams in the league, they have multiple guys in the 6-7, 6-8 range with length,” Hornacek said. “We have a lot of guys in the 6-5ish range. [We] just got to get bigger at some of those spots. … You talk about that 6-7, 6-8 guy, everybody in the league wants that guy. You don’t see those guys all over the place.’’

Hardaway said he's monitoring how the Knicks address the issue in the offseason.

“I haven’t played the 3 ever — the first time playing it for the whole year,” Hardaway said. “You go against strong guys — LeBron [James], KD [Kevin Durant], those are very hard matchups for a guy who is 6-6. It was a learning experience. You have to learn to choose your battles and use your size to your advantage. I got to watch the offseason to see how everything plays out for us.’’

“You can do it that way, but sometimes it’s tough on a young guy like Tim, who’s probably a natural 2 to have to play the 3 all year,’’ Hornacek said. “He took that challenge and did pretty well. Those two guys were able to do it, but it’s not like [GM] Scott [Perry] said [after the Anthony trade], this is our roster, let’s win a championship. It was the understanding, ‘Let’s play who we have with the talent and as years go on, you fill in different spots and go that route.”

The Knicks have experimented with using Frank Ntilikina at shooting guard.

Nearly two months after being traded by the Los Angeles Clippers to the Detroit Pistons, Blake Griffin is feeling settled with his new team.

Despite their struggles this season, Griffin believes in the future of the Pistons.

“This summer we will have a chance to really jell, figure stuff out. I think the ceiling of this team is very, very high. We have a lot of different guys who can do a lot of different things who can affect the game in a lot of different ways. Getting Reggie back (Jackson) will be huge,” Griffin said.

Griffin believes his style fits with the history of Detroit basketball.

“I was born in ’89, I wasn’t really watching the true ‘Bad Boy’ era,” Griffin said. “But the [2000s Pistons] was right in my prime of falling in love with the game of basketball and watching everything. I definitely remember all of those teams. But the thing that I really like about Detroit is this city embraces the hardnose, gritty, hardworking teams and hardworking players.

“Not a lot of cities embrace that type of mentality. That is exciting to me.”

Despite a disappointing 17-18 season in which he's struggled to fully come back from a hip injury, Isaiah Thomas believes he remains a central playing in the NBA as he approaches free agency.

“I'm not no sixth man,” Thomas declared in an interview with USA TODAY Sports this week. “And I won't be a sixth man (in the future). I just want everybody to know that, like clear as can be. I'm a two-time All-Star and a starter who has done things that a lot of people in this league haven't done (when) given that opportunity.

“But I got traded into a situation I can't control. There's nothing bad against (Lakers coach) Luke Walton. There's nothing bad against the Los Angeles Lakers. I'm taking advantage of the opportunity they've given me, and then (we’ll) end the season off strong. And that's all I can do. I'm not coming in here saying, 'Oh, I want this, or this is going to happen.' No, that's not me. I'm just going to come in here and be a professional, and when my name is called I'm going to be more than ready for any opportunity I'm given.”

Thomas is averaging 18.4 points and 5.8 assists since Feb. 23 while helping the Lakers win eight of their past 11 games.

Bobby Webster and the Toronto Raptors three highest ranked coaches were called into the office of Masai Ujiri on December 19th before summoning in DeMar DeRozan.

"I didn't know what the hell was going on," DeRozan recalls. "I thought, 'S---, I know I can't be traded.' It was like I was being called into the principal's office.'"

The Raptors had reinvented their offense but they needed something more from DeRozan.

Ujiri told DeRozan they wanted him to become Toronto's Kobe Bryant as a lifetime player who defines a franchise, but they needed him to shoot more three-pointers.

If DeRozan began to shoot more three-pointers, he would take less contact, create more space and possessions would flow more naturally.

"When everyone has that kind of confidence in you -- that you can carry a franchise -- it gives you that extra confidence," DeRozan said. "For them to say I could be in [Kobe's] position -- it was an honor accepting that fully."

DeRozan has since averaged more almost four three-point attempts per game.

"Is [the new offense] gonna translate into the playoffs?" Casey asks. "We're gonna find out."

The league is respectful, yet skeptical. "We take that disrespect," DeRozan says, "and carry it into games."

LeBron James believes he might be playing the best basketball of his career in his 15th NBA season.

James' combined points, rebounds and assists have gone up every season since returning to the Cavaliers in 2014.

"Probably an all-time high," James said. "Just because of my body, my mind, the way I go out and approach the game. And then, just the grace of God, giving me the ability to do this. I'm blessed, and I never take it for granted."

James is fourth in the league in points per game, second in the league in assists per game, 17th in rebounds and 21st in steals. 

The New York Knicks now view Frank Ntilikina as more of a shooting guard and less of a point guard.

Ntilikina isn't quick enough with his dribble at this stage of his development to play point guard, which limits his playmaking abilities. 

Ntilikina does have enough length to allow him to defend shooting guards.

Ntilikina said he’s been watching film of one of the best shooting guards currently in the NBA, Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan. 

“I’m learning every day,” Ntilikina said recently. “I want to bring everything to the team. Either on the point-guard position or the 2 position. If coach wanted me to play the 5, I would have to eat, obviously.”