It’s All-Star Weekend.

Give us a break.

Not really, we’ll still watch whatever happens at those events.

Mike Brown

On Diawara’s small details and flashes:

“There’s just a lot of little things when you see Mo play that make you go, ‘Oh my gosh, wow.’ And all those things, when you add them up to a possible opportunity, it gives you more confidence as a coaching staff to throw him out there and say, ‘OK, let’s see what’s going to happen.’”

On Diawara’s feel and instincts:

“In the summertime, you started to see his feel. His feel for the game is uncanny for a guy who is 6-foot-8 or however big he is and how young he is. Everything you try to teach him, he tries to absorb it and works very hard. He’s long and a pretty good defender … getting better. Just a lot of little things that you watch and go, ‘Oh, wow.’ All of those things, when they add up to a possible opportunity, it gives you more confidence as a coaching staff to throw him out there.”

On Diawara’s offensive freedom:

“If you’re wide open, let that thing fly. If not, try to touch the paint and kick it out. He doesn’t have the leeway that obviously the other cats on the floor have to be able to go create a shot for himself. Now, having said that, one of the things that Mo has, and I’m amazed at for a young guy, he has a pretty good feel of where his open teammate is. Like, he’ll drive and it’s not like Chris Paul or Magic Johnson where they’ll drop a dime and everybody says, ‘Whoa.’ But if he touches that paint, that pass is getting there on time, on target and it’s like a laser. So he’s got a really good feel of where everybody is and his height and passing ability, he’s able to make timely passes that look simple, but are really hard, especially for a young guy. So he’s got a little more freedom in terms of drive and kick than a lot of younger guys might have at that time.”

Mohamed Diawara

On the relationship with his sister, who drew him into basketball:

“We never played one-on-one. When I started really playing basketball, she stopped. We were never on the court together.”

On choosing basketball over soccer once he discovered hoops:

“I was like, ‘That’s the perfect match.’”

On specializing to stay in the NBA:

“I felt like if I wanted to have a long career in the NBA, I had to be good at something. So, I got to specialize in something. Three-point shooting and defense. Those are things that are going to make me stay in the league for the longest.”

On believing in his progression:

“Because I trust my work, and I’m not working for nothing.”

Josh Hart

On the Knicks’ situation at the ASW break:

“I don’t even know where we’re at.”

On Diawara’s training camp impression:

“In camp, I thought he was going to be real good. He’s young, raw and inexperienced. He’s good defensively, and he’s an even better shooter than I thought. It always looked good, but now it’s going in. I think he’s a good decision-maker in the pocket. He’s athletic and can finish at the rim, get guys involved. I love where he’s at, and he’s continued to work.”

On Diawara’s improved shooting:

“He’s an even better shooter than I thought. I always thought the shot looked good, but now it’s going in.”

On Diawara coming out of shell:

“Now that (Yabusele) is gone, he doesn’t really … all he did was speak French to him. Now that (Yabusele) is gone, hopefully that forces him to come out of (his) shell a little bit more. He’s part of the guys. We’ve got to get him more acclimated to rookie duties.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On missing his pregame ritual after the passing of his mother:

“Usually, her ritual with me was, I’d be doing my warmup lines, we’d run out, we’d go into our two lines, and we’d start doing our layup lines. My mom made it her thing to stand next to the stanchion and just wave at me. It felt great, being your mom’s there, nothing can be wrong. She got me. I remember that first game back in Minnesota, I kept looking and kept thinking someone’s gonna show up, and no one’s gonna show up, so it was a different feeling.”