The New York Knicks had the worst season in franchise history a year ago and the fans are starting to get restless after another offseason of missing out on big free agents. Knicks fans watched the summer league intently to see what they had in fourth overall pick Kristaps Porzingis and while he was somewhat impressive the player that stood out the most was Maurice Ndour. It was assumed that because he had such a great summer league that the Knicks would sign Ndour but instead the Dallas Mavericks reportedly swooped in and signed him to a deal according to Ian Begley of ESPN New York.
The deal for Ndour is reportedly for three years with the first year fully guaranteed and half of the second year guaranteed. The Knicks reportedly offered Ndour a deal but the Mavericks were offering more guaranteed money which Ndour couldn't turn down considering his unknown status before the summer league began.
Coming into summer league it was assumed that Ndour was on the Knicks team just to fill up a roster spot and that he didn't have a realistic chance to make a team, but he changed that thought process. Ndour averaged 9.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in the Knicks five summer league contests but his big contribution was his activity and deflections. Ndour was third among all summer league players with 3.6 deflections per game.
Ndour is a little bit undersized to play power forward at the NBA level but he should be just fine when you consider that his wingspan is 7 foot-4. Ndour is the same type of player as Kenneth Faried in the fact that they both hustle all the time and are very good rebounders while being undersized. Ndour has a more dynamic offensive game than Faried though as he can hit a mid-range jumper consistently.
It will be interesting to see if Ndour will get any sort of playing time with the Mavericks in his rookie season or if he will spend most of his time in the D-League. The Knicks on the other hand have said that they want a more experienced backup big man for next season, like Carlos Boozer for example, which likely played into them not offering as much guaranteed money to Ndour.
