One of the questions facing the Knicks this preseason was whether new coach Mike Brown would choose Mitchell Robinson or Josh Hart as the team’s fifth starter. As it turns out, neither will play in the season opener against Cleveland on Wednesday. They’re listed as out on the official injury report and another starter, Karl-Anthony Towns, is questionable due to a strained right quad, Steve Popper of Newsday tweets.
Hart is dealing with lumbar spasms, according to Jared Schwartz of the New York Post. In terms of the oft-injured Robinson, it’s essentially left ankle injury management.
“With Mitch, we just have to be smart,” Brown said. “That’s part of load management. Just because he might be able to play tonight, he might be able to practice today, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m gonna play him or I’m gonna practice him.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Brown has been tasked to bring the Knicks a long-awaited championship. He says they can’t skip any steps along the way, Schwartz writes. “The good part about it is, the Finals or the championship round doesn’t happen until June,” Brown said. “We’ve got a long time to get there. It starts on the daily. We can’t skip any steps. We just wanna keep taking steps, because it’s gonna be a process. Knowing that we might take one or two steps backwards, but hopefully we can regroup and continue to take three, four, five more forward.”
- Towns isn’t entirely sure how his skill set fits into Brown’s offensive schemes, which are more up-tempo with a heavier emphasis on movement compared to Tom Thibodeau’s more methodical system. “Honestly, I don’t know, but we’re figuring it out. It’s just different,” Towns told Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. Brown is confident Towns will adjust. “First thing is, it’s going to be a process, especially with him missing the last couple of games,” the Knicks’ new coach said. “He’ll be in the strong corner, he’ll be in the weak corner, he can be the push man, or he can be the weak wing, and also he can be at the top of the key and in the dunker. That will help him, the movement.”
- Guerschon Yabusele has tipped the scales after signing a two-year contract as a free agent, according to Zach Braziller of the New York Post. The new Knicks forward weighs in at 283 pounds, 18 pounds more than last season with the Sixers. “I did not ask him to put on weight or take off weight,” Brown said. “That’s something that our performance people talk to him about.”
Load management on the first game of the season is wild
283 lbs!
He found the weight that Zion lost.
He looked big in the preseason and not in a good way. Was supposed to challenge Hart but looks slow and ineffective. Smh I hope he hasn’t lost his hunger already after one year back in the league (bad pun).
This is not good. Somehow, some way, they’ve got to address this over the course of the season. His skillset is too valuable.
That was the issue in Boston. He was never in shape.
lmao, so Mitch and Hart are out and KAT might be as well. What an opening night at MSG!
Towns not sure how he fits into Brown’s system, Yabusele getting fat and load managing Mitch already? I know it’s early, but this recipe has the potential to be a disaster. KAT couldn’t adjust to Thib’s defensive scheme, but at least he put the ball in the basket at the other end. If he can’t adjust to the offensive scheme, then he’s literally just a $50M boat anchor.