He had a real role during the Knicks\u2019 three-game road trip \u2014 23 minutes in a win over the Hawks<\/a>, nine minutes in a win over the Pelicans<\/a> and eight minutes in a loss to the Spurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s tough,\u201d Brown said Friday. \u201cHe does all the little things that don\u2019t show up in the boxscore all the time. His shifts are really good. His physicality without fouling is really good. He can rebound, or at least he\u2019s not afraid to get in there and hit somebody when it comes to keeping your opponent off the glass. And then he understands how to play [against] different individuals. He\u2019s got a good feel to know, like if you\u2019re a hot shooter or a guy that can really shoot the ball, how to close out, take away that air space. If you\u2019re not, if you\u2019re more of a driver, he knows how to close out where he can take away an angle. Just a good feel for a lot of little things that he has along with that toughness and that\u2019s what you like for a guy his size.\u201d<\/p>\n His emergence came in that win over the Hawks in Atlanta, whom the Knicks faced again Friday night at Madison Square Garden. <\/p>\n Though obviously not nearly to the same extent, if there is anyone whose game McCullar\u2019s most resembles, it\u2019s Hart\u2019s all-around style. <\/p>\n During that win over the Hawks last Saturday, McCullar finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Brown has recognized him as one of the Knicks\u2019 best on-ball defenders as well.<\/p>\n And McCullar has praised Hart as a mentor.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that\u2019s my big bro on the team, for sure,\u201d McCullar said previously. \u201cHis energy is contagious. I learned a lot from him over the last year.\u201d<\/p>\n Fittingly, it was a comment that Hart made \u2014 after the Knicks\u2019 loss to the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Dec. 23 \u2014 that urged McCullar to stay ready despite his lack of playing time. <\/p>\n He had played just a total of 5:47 all year at that point.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the Minnesota game, we had great conversations within the group,\u201d Brown said previously. \u201cAnd one of the things Josh said was, \u2018Hey young guys, guys coming off the bench, if we as starters don\u2019t have it going, you guys gotta try to uplift us, too. You guys gotta hold us accountable, too. And when you get your opportunity, be aggressive.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n McCullar seems to have taken that message to heart.<\/p>\n His path to this moment was uneven. <\/p>\n The No. 56 pick last year, he was acquired on draft night by the Knicks.<\/p>\n A knee injury derailed the end of his college career at Kansas as well as his rookie season last year, missing most of the season other than a few meaningless appearances late in the year. <\/p>\n The knee injury \u2014 combined with his age \u2014 were the main reasons why he was not a higher draft pick despite breaking out as a senior at Kansas, averaging 18.3 points per game and earning first-team All-Big 12 honors.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n His opportunity finally arrived, though. <\/p>\n It will be tough for him to keep his role when Hart returns.<\/p>\n But for the moment, he\u2019s holding his own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Hart\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9 has helped the Knicks weather his absence. Mike Brown\u2019s rotation keeps growing with contributions from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,327,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-512965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-josh-hart","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkknicks","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115828654424091615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/passes-knicks-center-ariel-hukporti-118083834.jpg\")
Kevin McCullar Jr. looks to make a pass during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 31 game against the Spurs. AP<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/drives-basket-past-new-orleans-118013941.jpg\")
Kevin McCullar Jr. attempts a shot during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 29 game against the Pelicans. AP<\/p>\n