Ahead of what very well may be the most highly anticipated Knicks season of all time, fans were excited about Tuesday’s annual media day. It would be an opportunity for us all to hear about their thoughts
on the coaching change, the new additions to their bench, what they did during the offseason, and how they felt going into the upcoming season. But what many predicted to be a joyous and exciting day was slightly thrown off track when Josh Hart took his turn at the podium to field questions.
It took mere seconds before everyone in the room noticed an abnormally swollen and oddly bent ring finger on his right hand. And moments later, Hart confirmed that he had recently re-aggregated his surgically repaired finger. He went on to add that instead of addressing the injury now and returning a few weeks into the season, he’s chosen to try and play out the season with a splint and fix it again next offseason.
Hart isn’t the best player on the team. Or the second, or third, and probably not even the fourth. But his importance to this Knicks team cannot be understated. He was misused and overused last season, and that, in turn, led to his weaknesses and deficiencies being exposed. But we cannot forget everything he does for this team.
He’s arguably the best rebounding guard in the league. He’s a one-man wrecking ball, capable of starting a fast break all by himself. He’s the heart and soul of this team. And, despite being an inconsistent defender at times last season, he’s still a reliable defender for the most part.
The good news is, his finger injury is unlikely to stop him from doing all the things he’s good at. I’d be surprised to see Hart, who played with this injured finger for a large portion of last season, rebound any worse or hustle any less. What this injury does do, though, is bring up even more questions around Hart as a shooter, which in turn leads to even more questions surrounding him as a starter.
Even when all 10 of his fingers are healthy, Hart is a shaky, inconsistent, and unwilling shooter at best. And at his worst, he, as we all saw last season, becomes an offensive liability that not only limits his own impact but also lowers the ceiling of the team’s two best players, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. Now with a noticeably swollen and bent finger on his shooting hand, the overwhelming belief is that he’ll be just as, if not more, hesitant and inconsistent with his outside shooting, and that makes the prospect of starting him even more questionable than it already was before.
If new head coach Mike Brown really wants to put Brunson and Towns in the best positions to succeed, and build an offense centered around ball movement and spacing, Hart should not, scratch that, cannot start. Hart can, and I believe will, continue to play a pivotal role on this team. The finger injury should not impact his strengths much, and I expect him to keep rebounding at an elite rate, while being a solid secondary ball handler in the second unit, and showing some positive regression as a defender. But this injury should be the nail in the coffin on the “should Hart start” conversation.
