There’s absolutely nothing that can ruin our mood.
Real Knicks basketball is back tomorrow.
On national television.
Coming off of the team’s first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years.
The team’s
best chances to make the NBA Finals for the first time in 26 years and their best championship odds in decades. The window is as open as it’s been since Michael Jordan was playing baseball.
While the vibes are extremely high, some concerns are entering the season. There’s a worry that Mike Brown’s system has been hard for guys to adapt to, with Karl-Anthony Towns publicly not knowing what his role will be. While that might be more of a nothingburger, the injury bug certainly isn’t.
Josh Hart sustained a back injury in the preseason opener in Abu Dhabi on October 2 and missed each of the next four preseason games. While initial reports suggested it wasn’t something to worry about with the regular season three weeks away, Hart didn’t practice on Monday and his status is unclear heading into the opener.
But while he has a concrete injury, Mitchell Robinson doesn’t. The oft-injured big man‘s health is always in question, but he seems to have had a healthy offseason for the first time in a few years. Despite this, the team has been “load managing” him a lot over the past week after Robinson played well over 44 total minutes in the first three preseason games. While it made sense to hold him out of preseason games as a precaution, it’s getting really odd that now he might not be ready to play tomorrow. Really?
It’s safe to say that the Knicks’ odds of beating the favorites to come out of the East on Opening Night dramatically decrease without their best rim protector and their Swiss Army Knife sixth man. For all the high-end talent the team has, the lack of capable bench depth will always undercut them, just as it did last year.
However, there could be a silver lining to these early-season absences. While Tom Thibodeau would use this as an opportunity to play his starters over 40 minutes and run a 7 or 8-man rotation, it’s much more likely that Mike Brown will dip into the team’s bench.
The logical move for replacing Hart would be to play Landry Shamet, who won the battle for the final roster spot over Garrison Matthews and a retired Malcolm Brogdon. We know what we have in Shamet, a solid defender and great movement shooter who can give you spot minutes off the bench. But what if Coach Brown goes another way with sophomore wing Pačome Dadiet?
After making a spot start in Abu Dhabi and missing all of his threes, he seemed to have found the stroke by the end of preseason, and he looked good defensively. Could he get spot minutes off the bench? Hell, maybe even Mo Diawara could after he got a vote of confidence from Brown by starting the preseason finale.
Not to mention what could happen when Robinson misses time because, frankly, it’ll happen a fair amount over the course of the season. For now, at least, who steps up? Does Coach Brown default to starting someone like Deuce McBride and prioritize more spacing over defense/rebounding, or does he stick to an apparent double big plan by starting Ariel Hukporti?
Either way, we’re going to see a lot of the second-year German big man this year. With no Precious Achiuwa blocking him and obvious injury questions for Mitch, Hukporti will play a lot more than he did last year and could even get extended run based on what’s going on. I’d assume he’s ahead of Trey Jemison on the depth chart, but he could also factor into the team’s depth chart.
When Robinson misses time this year, it’ll allow the Knicks to experiment with as many lineups as possible, something that Thibodeau frankly didn’t do. The team’s top-four could feasibly fit with McBride, Hukporti, Hart, and Guerschon Yabusele for spells.
This also has an effect on roster building. What happens if Hukporti shines in whatever role he’s in when Mitch is out? Do the Knicks suddenly make Robinson expendable ahead of the deadline? Do they manage his workload even further, knowing they have someone who can fill his shoes in the regular season?
The good news, at least, is that the minor ailments that led to KAT and OG Anunoby missing the preseason finale will likely not affect their availability heading into the opener against Cleveland. The initial injury report is due by 5 p.m., so buckle up.
