The Knicks received some minor good news heading into the new year. According to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (via Twitter), reserve guard/wing Landry Shamet has started doing some on-court work as he works his way back from the right shoulder sprain that has sidelined him since November 22.
Shamet has yet to start contact training, but says his rehab process has gone well so far, Edwards adds. The 28-year-old had the option of rehab or surgery and chose the former.
Newsday’s Steve Popper confirms the update (Twitter link), adding that Shamet said dealing with a shoulder injury and rehab last season helped prepare him for this one.
Shamet was playing some of the best basketball of his career at the start of this season. He averaged 9.3 points per game, tied for his career high, while shooting 42.4% on three-pointers in 20.9 minutes per night, the most he has played since the 2020/21 season. He had become a valuable part of coach Mike Brown‘s rotation before the injury derailed his season.
We have more from the Knicks:
- Mitchell Robinson will miss two games in the next four days as he continues to deal with injury load management, but he has experienced no setbacks, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. Bondy writes that, in addition to missing Wednesday’s game against the Spurs, the plan is for Robinson to play in one of the back-to-back games the Knicks will play on Friday and Saturday. Brown was quick to shut down any notion that Robinson re-injured the ankle that has given him issues in the past. “It’s all load management,” Brown said. “If you look at our schedule [it’s been hectic], I was complaining about it maybe a little too much. We’re just trying to be smart with it.” Ariel Hukporti, who saw increased minutes in the Knicks’ last game with Robinson out, is questionable to play on Wednesday due to a mouth laceration, which could open up time for Trey Jemison.
- Miles McBride was a rookie when Ray Allen came to Madison Square Garden to witness Stephen Curry break his all-time three-point record. During that game, Allen gave the young guard some advice that changed his entire shooting style, Bondy writes. “‘Get more elevation,”‘ Allen told him, according to McBride. “He said, ‘In the 15 minutes pregame, I work out hard. You can’t flip it on and off.’ Those type of things stick with me.” McBride added that he had always elevated on his mid-range shots, so doing the same thing from three made sense and eliminated the fear of getting the shot blocked. After struggling with his shot during his first two seasons, McBride has made 39.7% of more than 700 three-point attempts over the past three seasons.
- Brown believes that there’s “no question” that Karl-Anthony Towns is an All-Star this season, per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. “KAT’s averaging a double-double. He’s over 20 points a game and over 10 rebounds a game,” Brown said. “And if you’re a top-three team in either conference and you’re the second-leading scorer — [and] the leading rebounder — you’re an All-Star. There’s no question about it. The only question is: Is he first, second, or third team All-NBA, you know?” Towns has dealt with an uncharacteristically cold shooting spell this season (his .476 FG% is a career low), but has managed to impact the team in many ways while undergoing a dramatic role change in Brown’s offensive system.
- Brown’s lineup experimentation has proved incredibly effective, especially while the team deals with injuries, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic. Young, unproven players like Tyler Kolek, Kevin McCullar Jr., and Mohamed Diawara have all had monster games that helped seal wins of late, and the players credit Browns’ open-mindedness for keeping them in the headspace to succeed. “Knowing that you’re flowing, playing, now it gives you even more energy, because now you’re like, you feel like you contribute, whatever, knowing you might get called,” Mikal Bridges said. “So, it’s just a different energy for the bench and especially when we make runs and stuff, if there’s 10 guys that play, nine guys that play, everybody is so juiced up. … If (you) played three minutes, if (you) played four minutes just as that low man to help blitz — you did something.” The Knicks’ bench was considered a weakness coming into the season, but with internal growth from Kolek and Brown’s constant tinkering, the team has found ways to win on the margins, thanks, in part, to that depth.
Agreed, KAT is a lock for the All-Star as he is NYK’s best player and second All-NBA so far.
Although he’s having a bit of a down year, with all the injuries of the top players he might end up getting his highest selection in the awards for the season.
Tbh I would take both Brunson and OG over KAT
He is not the best player on the Knicks. Not by any stretch of the imagination. That honor goes to Brunson.
I agree Brunson is the best player on the Knicks, although they have most talent I can remember, but Brunson throws his head back driving, faking fouls, and jumps slightly into players on this threes. Guess all that adds to his talent. Best closer, or close, in the game.
Love Mikal’s quote about the bench vibe. The energy boost when a young guy checks in early is noticable. I liked Thibs and am glad we had him but this is so refreshing
Happy New Year to all. Knicks are 23–10 and playing well. Life’s good. Good to see the young guys giving good mins. Not convinced yet they are ready for a playoff run. Good to see them play. I’m with coach Brown on this.
McBride has to look at big picture. Does he want to be an undersized shooter. Or does he want to play like a guard. Bring the ball up. Handle the offense and ball more. That’s who Knicks need more.
McCullar out of all reserves. Is the one who has to step up this year. Knicks have a void in their bench with Landry out. Kevin Mc has to take advantage.
It was a good win by Spurs. You knew they would want this game. So you have to give them credit. When you let a 10 pt scorer put up 36. Thats what happens. Champagnie was a good find by Spurs.
Once again Bridges is not scoring enough. Clarkson put up more shots than Bridges. 17 shots to 9. That’s just disappointing man. Knicks need Bridges to be a top scorer. Has to be Brunson, Towns, Bridges .
Was at the game. Champ was on fire. He won the game for them. Clarkson had some skin in the game coming from San Antonio. Knicks D blew it. 19 point lead and Wemby out. Tough loss.
St Johns product. Had to be great for him.
NYK have a good record, and the offense looks great. The injuries have opened up time for young players, and they’ve, overall, responded quite well. If that continues as guys are coming back, we’ll go into the deadline in a position of strength, always good.
Nevertheless, while last night’s Loss, as such, is no biggie, I am disturbed by how it happened, because it’s a repeating theme. The problem, again, was the team’s lack of rim protection and physicality (especially when Mitch doesn’t play). Brown’s fix has been to protect the interior by closing off driving lanes. That comes at the cost of leaving 3 pt shooters open. Prevents layups and KAT’s stupid fouls, but it doesn’t make the team more physical, and adds an issue of 3 pt defense. SAS is not a particularly physical team or a good 3 pt shooting team. But, in the 4th Qtr, they dominated the NYK around under the boards (disturbingly, it was Kornet that slapped KAT around). Inevitably, SAS also found a mediocre player and shooter (in JC) that was hot and constantly open. The result was that NYK turned another below baseline 3 pt shooter into Steph Curry.
The problem won’t prevent them from winning 50+ regular season games, but it will likely preclude beating a top team in the playoffs. Everyone gets more physical in the playoffs, so no team can expect to flick a physicality switch and close the gap on this.
I agree that is definitely an issue for the playoffs. Towns doesn’t show the same energy and effort on D. That he shows on O. With Yabusele not playing. Knicks don’t have an answer to help Towns. Dumb fouls by Towns doesn’t help either.