We’ve known for some time that things were going to look different rotation-wise this season. Going from a coach who’s known for tight rotations and an overreliance on starters more than anyone in Tom Thibodeau to Mike Brown means we should’ve been prepared for games where some unusual names play big minutes.
That was exemplified by the injuries to Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson and could’ve been completely thrown into chaos if Karl-Anthony Towns decided not to play through an apparent Grade 2 quad strain. Still, even with KAT playing, we were shown a lot of things to consider going forward in the Knicks’ season-opening victory over the Cavaliers on Opening Night.
Everyone and their mothers know that Robinson’s availability will be a question all season. Whether his current ailment is truly just injury management or something more sinister, it’ll be a big story all season to see who starts in his place, as Coach Brown clearly sees him as the fifth starter so far.
At least in the first game, it was Ariel Hukporti who got his second career start. It wasn’t the flashiest game for the second-year German big man, registering just two points, five rebounds, and two assists, but he didn’t look overwhelmed and arguably outplayed Jarrett Allen.
It’s also interesting to see that he only played 18 minutes, nine of them with the starters. The starting lineup had a plus-1.8 net rating on Wednesday, excelling on offense (133.3 ORtg) but suffering on defense.
The team’s four locked-in starters played 19 total minutes together, with Deuce McBride getting a look for seven minutes. More on how that looked in a bit.
11 players played for the Knicks in a close, nationally televised game against an NBA Finals contender. With two key injuries. I get the sense that Thibs fainted wherever he is seeing Tyler Kolek and Trey Jemison on the court.
(To be fair to Thibs, I almost did too.)
It was fascinating to see Kolek play extended minutes last night. I assumed the Knicks wanted to avoid having Brunson and Clarkson share the floor at all costs (they played just three minutes together), so I assumed when the first quarter ended that Clarkson would be out there as JB took his first rest. I was right, although I expected McBride to stay out there instead of Kolek.
To his credit, I thought Kolek looked good. He looked poised on offense and did what he usually does, making smart passes and not turning the ball over. He played with confidence and didn’t get too overwhelmed defensively, although his defensive limitations saw him occasionally get picked on. If he plays like that going forward, that’s a player that could conceivably give you some bench run and makes the Knicks a lot deeper than we thought.
Landry Shamet was likely the biggest benefactor of Hart’s injury. We know from last season that he can provide a spark with his perimeter shooting and defense, and he did so in 14 minutes. I’m not sure if there’s a big role for him when the team is whole, but he’s the depth you like to have.
Kolek and Shamet both got 14 minutes, which were interestingly more than what both Clarkson (13) and Guerschon Yabusele (12) received last night.
Clarkson had a typical Clarkson game of bizarre shot selection, but he had some good moments and showed off his underrated playmaking. Yabusele still has not looked fully comfortable in a Knicks uniform, but had some good defensive sequences. I wouldn’t read too much into his lack of minutes yet, as we remember what Donte DiVincenzo’s role was at the beginning of his lone season in the orange and blue.
I was curious what the Knicks thought of Trey Jemison entering the season. If they planned to deploy a double big lineup all season, they would need a fourth player they trusted to handle bench minutes in case of injury. To Brown’s credit, not only did he give Jemison eight minutes of work to manage KAT’s workload amidst early foul trouble, but he also experimented with occasionally playing small.
The only players on guaranteed contracts who were healthy and didn’t play were Pačome Dadiet and Mo Diawara. That’s not terribly surprising, but it’s interesting to see that Brown didn’t turn to them even when going deep into the bench.
Deuce + starters: Seven minutes isn’t a ton for the Brunson-McBride-Bridges-Anunoby-Towns lineup, but it is significant based on where they were last season. That lineup, most considered the Knicks’ best five-out lineup, played a grand total of 41 minutes last season over 22 games. Under Brown, this could be the Knicks’ closing lineup most nights, and maybe they should, the way they performed last night, posting a superb plus-35.3 net rating.
Double big w/o Mitch: Towns and Hukporti played ten minutes together, and it wasn’t good, posting a miserable minus-22.1 net rating. That was the worst two-man lineup (min. 6 min) the Knicks played last night. Towns never played with Jemison, and Jemison never played with Hukporti.
Small ball: The Knicks ran a few interesting lineups, including one that featured Brunson-McBride-Shamet-Bridges (it didn’t do well). Anunoby even got some run as a small-ball five with those four for two minutes, something never experimented with last season.
Miscellaneous notes: The best performing quintet last night was from the early fourth quarter run with Kolek-McBride-Clarkson-Anunoby-Towns. This lineup is very worrisome defensively on paper, but they were exceptional. In 11 minutes last night, a Kolek-Clarkson tandem had a plus-32.1 net rating, turbocharging the bench offense. Those two, especially when paired with Anunoby, were magnificent.