Over the last two and a half seasons, Josh Hart has been one of the hardest players to accurately judge. He is very good at the things he does well. The rebounding, the one-man fast breaks, and the ability to win loose balls left and right have all been crucial to the Knicks’ success during that span. But his weaknesses are as clear as his strengths. He isn’t a floor spacer, and he’s become an inconsistent defender. That’s made for a tough discussion when trying to figure out just how good and important
he is.
At least in the past, though, his strengths outweighed his weaknesses on most nights. Even when he wasn’t knocking down threes, he was still among the best rebounding guards in the league, was a wrecking ball in transition, was good as a secondary and tertiary playmaker, and was still defending well enough. Most importantly, the team was still winning. And as we’ve heard time and time again, “winning solves everything.”
But now, with the team off to a slow 2-3 start, Hart’s play has been under criticism. With another game against the Bulls Sunday night, let’s take a look at the problem and see just how bad it is and how much criticism he actually deserves.
First off, let’s look at how bad he’s been. Through four games, the veteran guard is averaging 2.8 PPG, 6 RPG, and 3.3 APG while shooting an abysmal 21.1% from the field, 10% from three, and 50% from the line. He also currently has a team-worst plus/minus of -36 in just 89 minutes. That alone should be enough to drive any fanbase crazy. It’s an inexplicably low level of offensive efficiency, and he’s done that without being great on the defensive end. But what has frustrated fans isn’t just the fact that he’s playing badly. A four-game stretch, regardless of how bad it is, can be recovered from—especially if it’s known that the player is dealing with an injury. Yet a four-game stretch as bad as this one, while losing and playing 22.3 MPG, is a concern.
Some of it is on Hart to play better and find ways to help the team in some shape or form. But this also falls on Mike Brown. One of the biggest complaints fans had about Tom Thibodeau was his infatuation with playing Hart big minutes regardless of how he or the team was playing. Brown isn’t as guilty as Thibodeau when it comes to his overreliance on Hart, but he has still played him more than he should have or has needed to. Some of that may just be early-season experimentation. It’s possible that Brown, along with the Knicks’ front office, wanted to prioritize experimenting during the regular season for the sake of reaching a higher ceiling, even if it meant costing them some games early on. Even if you do subscribe to that theory, though, Hart has still played more than he has deserved to. It’s not like his play has been bordering on good. It’s just simply been bad.
With that has come the aforementioned criticisms that he needs to be traded or that he’s one of the worst things to happen to the Knicks. And while I am very much aware of how bad Hart has been, there is an issue to be had with that kind of hyperbolic statement after five games. Hart very well may end up needing to be traded for the betterment of the team, and maybe if he doesn’t, his presence on the team ends up being incredibly costly. But fans today are more reactionary, emotional, and forgetful than ever. What Hart has done in the past does not impact this season, yet it should at least hold some currency as it pertains to the fanbase’s patience with him.
With this season being one of the most highly anticipated seasons in franchise history, there is a lot on the line. That’s led to tension and anxiety around every single loss. But the Knicks do not reach the highs they did in 2023 or 2024 without Hart. He was an integral part of the Knicks’ play, and his heart and soul were the ethos of the Thibodeau era. That alone should buy him a few more weeks at least. This doesn’t mean that he should be free of criticism, because his play undeniably deserves it. But there is a clear difference between calling out what is objectively very poor play and making it personal or throwing out hyperboles.
The other side of the extreme is no better, though. Hart, rightfully so, has a lot of fans. For every detractor of Hart, you are very likely to find a fan who loves what he brings to the table. Those fans can and likely should defend Hart—but only to a degree. There are sections of the fanbase who claim that fans shouldn’t critique his bad play or that he always comes through at the end of the season. That’s just silly. Hart actually started out the season on fire last year and flamed out after January when teams started playing the Knicks differently defensively. Hart himself even said that he had nothing left in the Celtics series. And while his counting stats look good, the underlying metrics and how the team performed with him on the court say a lot about how he got worse as the season went on. Fans have every right to—and I’ll say this again—make fair criticisms about his play when he plays badly, which right now is just about every minute he’s on the court.
All this to say, fans need to try and do a better job of being a bit more objective, patient, and calm. Knicks fans are among the most passionate, championship-starved fanbases in the world, and I too can fall victim to these kinds of reactions. But I will reiterate that it’s been five games, albeit ugly ones. And there is plenty of time for the Knicks and Hart to turn it around. There is no guarantee they will, and if they don’t, there will be more serious conversations to be had. But for now, let’s try to be a bit in the middle of the wide spectrum that is being a fan.
