Jalen Brunson

New York Notes: Achiuwa, Brunson, McBride, Thomas, Claxton

December 6th, 2024 at 8:19am CST by Earnest Marshall

Knicks big man Precious Achiuwa made his season debut on Thursday after missing the first 22 games of the season with a hamstring injury. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps first reported (via Twitter) that Achiuwa’s debut was dependent on how warmups went. He ended up playing 12 minutes in a blowout win over Charlotte, finishing with two points and four rebounds.

Achiuwa’s return is a boon for a Knicks team that has had its frontcourt depth depleted by injuries in the early going. Center Mitchell Robinson has yet to play this season as he deals with an ankle issue, which left Jericho Sims and Ariel Hukporti as the team’s only true bigs behind Karl-Anthony Towns until Achiuwa’s return.

The Knicks sit at 14-8, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference. They opened the season 5-6 before beginning to really click and winning nine of their last 11 games. New York made big offseason swings for both Towns and Mikal Bridges, the former coming right before the beginning of the regular season.

Adding Achiuwa should only help the team continue its climb up the standings. A part of the OG Anunoby deal last December, the former Raptor made 18 starts for New York in 2023/24 across his 49 appearances. He averaged 7.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, 0.6 steals and 1.1 blocks per game for the Knicks.

According to the New York Post’s Peter Botte, Achiuwa received an ovation in his return.

“[The reception] means a lot to me. Obviously, New York to me is very dear to my heart,” Achiuwa said. “So just being able to go out there and hearing the crowd, it meant a lot to me. … Watching from the sideline has been very tough, but just being out there and knowing that the crowd is behind me throughout the whole process has been very reassuring.”

We have more from New York:

Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson took a hard hit in New York’s win over Charlotte on Thursday, exiting the game late in the third quarter and not reutrning, according to Newsday’s Steve Popper. It doesn’t sound like anything serious though, as the Knicks were up big late when Brunson returned to the bench and likely held him out for precautionary reasons. He was sporting a wrap on his back/ribs, but said after the game that he felt amazing.
The three-year, $13MM extension Miles McBride signed approximately one year ago is looking like a bargain for the Knicks. He became integral to the team in the second half of last season, averaging 11.0 PPG while making 36.8% of his three-point attempts in the 2024 playoffs. Through 17 games this season, McBride is averaging career highs of 11.2 PPG and 2.8 APG on a career-best shooting split of .462/.435/.909. In a subscriber-only story, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post explores what the young guard would earn if he were signing a new contract now, positing that the deal would likely be somewhere in the range of $10-12MM annually. The former West Virginia guard expressed no regrets about signing his contract when he did, though. “There are a lot of people that are out here struggling, and I’m having fun,” McBride said. “I’m playing well. I’m on a great team. I’m more than happy.”
High-scoring Nets guard Cam Thomas has missed the last five games for Brooklyn while he nurses a hamstring injury. According to the New York Post’s Brian Lewis, Thomas is still in the early stages of his recovery and there’s no timetable yet for his return. “I’m just doing whatever the performance team has me doing. It’s still early,” Thomas said. “I’m just doing whatever they have me doing, just a little bit here and there. But it’s all right.”
Nets center Nic Claxton — who signed to a four-year, $100MM extension last offseason — fluctuated between the bench and starting unit in the first 14 games of the season while dealing with a back injury. Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily questions whether there’s any reason to worry about Claxton, who averaged just 8.5 points per game in those first games of the season. “I think in professional sports, especially in this league, a lot of these guys play with bumps and bruises. What we need them is to believe that they’re good to go,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “And if we feel like a guy is not confident, we’re gonna let them make the decisions, I think that’s fair. If you play and you are afraid to get hurt, guess what? You’re going to get hurt. So we don’t want that for Nic or anybody in our group.” Claxton’s numbers are his lowest since becoming a starter and Kaplan suggests that he isn’t playing with the same level of explosiveness.
On the other hand, Lewis posits that Claxton is rounding into form after averaging 12.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks in his last three games (all starts). “Yeah, I’m getting there, for sure. It’s taking a while, but I’m getting there,” the Nets center said.

Jalen Brunson, Alperen Sengun Named Players Of The Week

December 2nd, 2024 at 2:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson has been named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week, while Rockets big man Alperen Sengun has won the award for the Western Conference, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).

It’s the first Player of the Week honor for Brunson this season after he won the award four times in 2023/24. In four games from November 25 to December 1, Brunson led the Knicks to a 3-1 record, averaging 26.8 points, 9.8 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 34.3 minutes per game against Denver, Dallas, Charlotte, and New Orleans. He posted a red-hot shooting line of .547/.524/.867.

Brunson’s Knicks teammate Karl-Anthony Towns was also nominated for the award in the East, along with Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, Nets guard Dennis Schröder, Magic forward Franz Wagner, and Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard (Twitter link).

As for Sengun, it’s his second career Player of the Week award — he also won it in January 2024. Houston just completed a 3-0 week, with its starting center leading the way by averaging a near triple-double (21.3 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 9.0 APG) to go along with 1.7 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. The Rockets were a +29 vs. Minnesota, Philadelphia, and Oklahoma City with Sengun on the floor, compared to -13 when he sat.

Sengun beat out fellow nominees Devin Booker, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Hartenstein, Quentin Grimes, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Jaren Jackson Jr., Ja Morant, and teammate Fred VanVleet for the Western Conference honor.

Knicks Notes: McBride, Grimes, Offense, Ryan

November 28th, 2024 at 12:19pm CST by Rory Maher

Knicks backup guard Miles McBride returned to action on Monday following a five-game absence due to patella femoral pain syndrome in his left knee. While McBride said he “felt great” after the victory in Denver and praised the organization and training staff, he said the injury — which is more commonly known as runner’s knee — is something he’ll have to manage throughout the season.

“I would say we’re definitely gonna be managing it going forward,” McBride said, per Peter Botte of The New York Post. “We just wanna be more precautionary I think than anything, just to make sure everything is right. I felt great and I think it’s gonna be behind me, but I just want to be smart with it.”

Here are a few more notes on the Knicks:

Fourth-year wing Quentin Grimes had a tumultuous end to his Knicks tenure last season, ultimately being traded to Detroit at the February deadline before being rerouted to Dallas in another trade over the offseason. Following the Mavericks‘ victory over New York on Wednesday, Grimes praised Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post relays. “Credit to Thibs,” Grimes said. “He gave me a lot of those hard assignments early in my career and I feel like I was able to get a good understanding of how to guard All-Stars, superstars, and it gets me going.” Grimes, who finished with a season-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting starting in place of the injured Luka Doncic, will be a restricted free agent in 2025.
The Knicks currently have the second-best offensive rating in the NBA but are just 24th in defense. One game after scoring a league-high 145 points in Denver, New York’s high-powered offense struggled with Dallas’ switching defensive scheme, Bondy writes for The New York Post. The Knicks shot just 26% from the field in the first half. “We couldn’t buy a basket to save our lives to start the game,” Jalen Brunson said. “Defensively, we just weren’t there. It’s a long season. Honestly, got to limit the highs and lows and be as steady as we can be.”
Winning the NBA Cup will be a financial windfall for players whose salaries are relatively low. Each member of the first-place team will earn about $515K; a two-way player’s full-season salary is about $579K. Reserve forward Matt Ryan, who is on a non-guaranteed minimum-salary deal, plans to put his potential NBA Cup earnings into his startup investment company, according to Bondy (Sports+ link). The Knicks are 2-0 during in-season tournament play so far with a point differential of plus-14.

Atlantic Notes: Nets Veterans, Wilson, Brunson, Embiid, Sixers, Barnes, More

November 21st, 2024 at 11:04pm CST by Earnest Marshall

Multiple Nets veterans have been the subjects of trade speculation since their arrival to the team. Cameron Johnson, Bojan Bogdanovic, Ben Simmons, Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith are among the players who have been involved in trade rumors for some time, with fourth-year guard Cam Thomas joining them this week.

A few of those players are off to career-best starts for a team that’s been surprisingly competitive at 6-9. Johnson exploded for 34 points on Tuesday, as Net Income at NetsDaily writes.

“All three of us have been traded before. It’s not something that we’re worried about,” Johnson said in explaining why he, Finney-Smith and Schröder are playing well. “There’s a lot of speculation about a lot of things, all of our whole careers, my whole career, speculation about this, speculation about that. You hear a lot of outside noise. There’s no sense in letting it bother you. There’s no sense in letting it get to you. Let the future be the future. Control what you can control now.

“The other thing is, we enjoy our group, playing together. I think we are a group that gets along well with each other, and that’s important. So as long as we’re together, we’re gonna fight for wins, and we’re gonna enjoy representing Brooklyn. And whatever the future holds, it holds.”

Johnson’s been happy with how the organization has handled him during his time there, according to Net Income. While the plan is still to select a cornerstone in the upcoming draft and Johnson seems more likely than not be traded, he’s making an impact alongside the other vets.

“Honestly, he’s just been hooping,” teammate Trendon Watford. “I’m not surprised by it. Cam’s a great player, so I’m not surprised by it at all. Last year was last year. He obviously heard all the noise and took it with a grain of salt and came back. And now he’s doing what we know CJ can do.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

With Thomas missing Tuesday’s game against the Hornets due to a minor injury, second-year forward Jalen Wilson stepped up, according to Andrew Crane of the New York Post. Wilson scored a team-high 17 points in the Nets win while making a career-high five three-pointers. The Nets hold a team option for next season on Wilson, who could see his role increase if some of Brooklyn’s veterans are moved ahead of the trade deadline.
Jalen Brunson didn’t want to specifically address the rumors that the NBA is looking into his father’s promotion to lead assistant on the Knicks‘ coaching staff. However, according to the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy, he had a message for anyone questioning Rick Brunson‘s coaching credentials. “He’s more than qualified for that position,” Jalen said. “He’s a person who has been around the NBA for a long time, who has been around [Tom Thibodeau] for longer than he’s been around the NBA. I think he understands the business, I think he understands the game, I think he understands the head coach. So he’s more than qualified. Look at the way he’s taught me and raised me and how I’ve seen him impact others in all different levels of basketball — high school, college, pros.“
Following a report Thursday morning indicated Joel Embiid wasn’t happy that a Sixers team-only meeting was leaked, Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer writes on Marc Stein’s Substack that one source told him on Tuesday that Embiid would be “furious” about the leak and would try to find the culprit. Fischer adds that Tyrese Maxey getting involved and holding Embiid accountable is a silver lining to the situation. Tobias Harris used to serve as a veteran voice and leader for the Sixers, so it was crucial that someone else step up now that Harris is in Detroit.
Fischer also confirmed that Embiid has preferred to hold some level of control over what the Sixers‘ injury report lists him as and how it’s reported.
Raptors star Scottie Barnes played on Thursday for the first time in nearly a month. Following reporting that he would be on a minutes restriction, Barnes ended the night with 17 points in 27 minutes of action. The Raptors did not start a traditional point guard, opting for Barnes over Davion Mitchell, who moved to the bench. Mitchell being moved to the second unit meant Ochai Agbaji maintained his starting role, TSN’s Josh Lewenberg notes (Twitter link). Barnes hadn’t played since Oct. 28, missing 11 games during that time.
Ja’Kobe Walter, who missed the last six games for the Raptors, was available to play on Thursday, Sportsnet.ca’s Blake Murphy tweets. The 2024 19th overall pick also missed some time at the beginning of the season due to injury.

Knicks Rip NBA For Rumored Probe Into Rick Brunson’s Promotion

November 19th, 2024 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

After a report from Ian Begley of SNY.tv suggested that the NBA has been “poking around” on the Knicks‘ offseason promotion of Rick Brunson to lead assistant, the team quickly responded by referring to the rumored investigation as “harassment.”

Brunson joined the Knicks as an assistant in 2022, the same year his son Jalen Brunson signed with the team as a free agent. As Begley details, Rick received a promotion this offseason around the time Jalen signed a below-market long-term contract extension with New York, prompting the NBA to look into whether the move circumvented salary cap rules.

“In response to the rumored NBA investigation into Rick Brunson’s promotion, Brunson took (former associate head coach) Johnnie Bryant’s place and assumed the same salary as Bryant,” MSG Sports, the Knicks’ parent company, said in a statement. “It’s offensive that anyone would claim Rick didn’t deserve the promotion. Rick has done a tremendous job and will continue to do so. We see this as more harassment of the Knicks due to our opposition to certain NBA matters.”

Jalen’s four-year extension this offseason was worth just shy of $157MM, which was the maximum he could receive at the time. If he had waited until the summer of 2025, he could’ve signed a five-year deal worth up to a projected $269MM.

If the Knicks had, in concert with Jalen’s extension, “rewarded” the Brunson family by promoting Rick and giving him a significant raise beyond what his performance or title would typically warrant, it could be considered salary cap circumvention. However, Begley hears from coaching sources that Rick’s new contract is “within industry standards” for top assistants.

It’s also not as if the elder Brunson is unqualified for his new role. He has been coaching since 2007 and spent time as an NBA assistant in Denver, Chicago, Charlotte, and Minnesota before arriving in New York. He also had a stint as an assistant at the University of Hartford and was the head coach at Camden High School in New Jersey.

While the league would likely perform the same sort of due diligence if any other team were in a similar situation, the Knicks contend in their statement that the rumored probe is retribution for the team’s objections to “certain NBA matters.”

The Knicks, led by team owner James Dolan, criticized the league’s new media rights deal and revenue sharing policies in a letter sent to the other 29 teams and the league office earlier this year. The team also accused Adam Silver of bias while arguing that the NBA commissioner shouldn’t preside over a dispute between the Knicks and Raptors.

Additionally, Dolan stepped down from his positions on the NBA’s influential advisory/finance and media committees last year, with reporting at the time indicating that the Knicks owner had been “increasingly critical” of Silver and the NBA on a number of issues. Dolan has been the lone dissenting vote in various Board of Governors decisions that would have otherwise been unanimous.

Knicks Notes: Hart, Towns, Achiuwa, Brunson, Takeaways

November 14th, 2024 at 12:24pm CST by Rory Maher

Josh Hart took responsibility for the Knicks‘ tough loss to Chicago on Wednesday night, notes Ian Begley of SNY.tv (via Twitter).

“It should have been a big statement win for us,” Hart said (YouTube link). “It was the first win where we really got hit and really started to swing back…. I gotta be better. This one is on my shoulders.”

Hart fouled Bulls guard Coby White on a three-point attempt with 3.2 seconds remaining and the Knicks up by two (YouTube link). White went on to convert all three free throws, and then Jalen Brunson‘s potential game-winning turnaround jumper over Patrick Williams spun in and out.

Hart, 29, is in the first season of a four-year, $80.9MM extension that features a team option for 2027/28. He recorded six points, eight rebounds and six assists in 34 minutes on Wednesday.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

New York trailed by as many 22 points in the second half on Wednesday before retaking the lead. Big man Karl-Anthony Towns had an excellent offensive game, finishing with a season-high 46 points, going 18-of-30 from the floor and 6-of-12 from long distance. But he was unhappy about finishing 4-of-8 on free throws, including two consecutive misfires midway through the fourth quarter and the Knicks trailing by one, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. “If I make a few of those free throws, at least two or three of them, you put your team in a different position,” said Towns, who got in some extra practice at the charity stripe after the loss.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau provided a minor injury update on forward/center Precious Achiuwa prior to Wednesday’s game, Botte adds. Achiuwa, who has yet to make his season debut after suffering a left hamstring strain in preseason, still hasn’t been cleared to practice.
While Wednesday’s loss was obviously disappointing, it was still a positive that Brunson was able to suit up after sustaining a minor ankle injury in Tuesday’s win in Philadelphia, Botte notes in another story for The Post. Brunson, Miles McBride (knee) and Cameron Payne (hamstring) were all questionable heading into Wednesday’s contest, but all three wound up playing.
Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Sports+ link) shares his takeaways for the early portion of the Knicks’ season, with the club currently holding a 5-6 record.

Knicks Notes: Towns, Brunson, Robinson, Kolek

November 10th, 2024 at 9:38am CST by Rory Maher

Big man Karl-Anthony Towns is growing more comfortable with the Knicks, writes Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Towns had one of this best games of the season in Friday’s blowout victory over Milwaukee, recording 32 points — including 27 in the first half — on 12-of-20 shooting, 11 rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.

Towns spent the past two seasons primarily playing power forward for Minnesota, but he’s back at center for New York. He feels confident playing his natural position, per Begley.

“I feel I’m a better version of myself,” Towns said. “I’m smarter, more experienced, I think I’m more talented than I’ve ever been. So being able to utilize that for our team is what I want to do every single night so it can translate to wins.”

A New Jersey native who grew up less than an hour’s drive from Manhattan, Towns says it’s been special to play so close to home, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. The 28-year-old also thanked his teammates for helping him acclimate to a new team after spending his first nine NBA seasons in Minnesota.

“The guys in this locker room have welcomed me with open arms and made me feel comfortable,” Towns said. “They want me to play my game. Obviously, there are going to be times when we’re going to have to find the cohesiveness because we’re still not used to play with each other, but I think, you know, every single day we’re getting better and every single day we’re working on ourselves and as a team.

“My teammates have been a key part in the transition and the coaching staff has done an amazing job, but it’s the guys in this locker room, with the jerseys, who have made it very easy for (my game) to translate.”

Here’s more on the Knicks, who are currently 4-4:

Although they easily dispatched the Bucks on Friday, star guard Jalen Brunson say he’s still working to fine-tune his game early in the season, Zach Braziller of The New York Post writes. “My mentality has to be better,” Brunson said. “I haven’t been satisfied individually with how I’ve been playing, but we won. That’s all I care about, and we just move on from there.”
While Towns has played very well offensively and is pulling down 12.8 rebounds per game, he has struggled to stymie opponents in the paint defensively, notes Steve Popper of Newsday (subscriber link). Towns ranks dead last among players who contest at least five shots per game at the rim (within six feet), with opposing players shooting an eye-popping 84.5% on those attempts. Injured center Mitchell Robinson should help shore up the interior defense when he’s ready to return from offseason ankle surgery, Popper adds, but that won’t be until December or January. Head coach Tom Thibodeau said the onus is on the entire team to limit opponents’ attempts in the paint, not just Towns, referring to it as a work in progress.
Rookie guard Tyler Kolek continues to receive praise from Thibodeau, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post. With veteran Cameron Payne out again due to a hamstring injury, Kolek played a career-high 16 minutes on Friday vs. Milwaukee, finishing with career bests of eight points (on 3-of-5 shooting), four rebounds and two assists. “Each day he gets better,” Thibodeau said of the 34th overall pick. “He’s got a great feel for the game, and he’s a worker. He’s still learning the league and he’ll get better and better, with understanding what’s happening with defenses and also as he becomes more familiar with the people that he’s guarding and the teams. I think each time out, you can see his confidence growing. We have a lot of confidence in him, and I see it every day. Usually it starts in practice, and if you practice well, you usually play well.”

Knicks Notes: Giannis, Brunson, Kolek, Ryan

November 8th, 2024 at 2:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Giannis Antetokounmpo will get even more attention than usual when the Bucks visit Madison Square Garden tonight, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Amid leaguewide speculation that Antetokounmpo could eventually be put on the trade market, Marc Stein recently listed the Knicks as a possible destination.

Bondy is skeptical that the organization still has the assets to make a competitive offer for Antetokounmpo after two massive offseason deals to acquire Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. New York parted with most of the draft assets it had been saving up, and Bondy believes the team would be easily outbid by Oklahoma City, Houston or San Antonio if Antetokounmpo were to become available.

Bondy states that the immediate concern is finding a way to make the current roster more effective following the offseason shakeup. The Knicks are off to a 3-4 start and don’t seem to have the same cohesion as last season’s team.

“I think we’re still figuring it out,” Bridges said. “Offensively, defensively, we still got to figure it out. Like I said, it’s early. So we just need more time. And we’ll figure it out.”

There’s more from New York:

Even with the additions of Bridges and Towns, opposing teams continue to focus their defense on stopping Jalen Brunson, observes Steve Popper of Newsday. Until the Knicks figure out how to counter that strategy, they’ll keep having disappointing losses like the one Wednesday in Atlanta, Popper adds. “[Wednesday night], including myself, we came out sluggish and we can’t allow that to happen,” Towns said. “We can’t allow that to happen. We’ve got to impose our will. We’ve got to play New York Knicks basketball right from the giddy-up. We can’t just ease into the game. Yeah, this one’s going to hurt.”
Tyler Kolek hasn’t cracked the Knicks’ rotation yet, but he already has a high-profile fan, per Ben Steele of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The rookie guard out of Marquette has impressed broadcaster and team legend Walt Frazier with his aggressive style of play. “Tyler is a real team player, a pass-first guard that I really like,” Frazier said. ” And he has a great mentor in Jalen Brunson.”
Vic Quirolo, who coached Matt Ryan in high school in the New York area, told Adam Zagoria of NJ.com that the newly signed small forward is one of the best shooters he has ever seen. Quirolo speculates that Ryan could eventually become the outside threat the Knicks lost when they sent Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota in the Towns deal.

New York Notes: Brunson, Towns, Anunoby, Claxton, Nets

November 3rd, 2024 at 1:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Knicks All-Stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have benefited greatly from being coaches’ sons, writes Steven Popper of Newsday.

Brunson’s father, former nine-year NBA point guard Rick Brunson, is currently an assistant coach guiding his son in New York.

“I think when you’re the son of a coach, regardless of what level, I think you’re consistently talking about what you can do to be better,” Brunson said. “For the most part, at least from my experience, I don’t think there’s any trick to it. It’s just that you’re in this constant mode of learning. Since you have that since you’re a kid, you learn more, you understand more. I don’t know. It’s just more of a natural feel.”

Towns’ father, Karl Towns Sr., was a standout player at Monmouth University before becoming a coach at Piscataway Technical High School.

“I think it’s just a credit to my father,” Towns said. “He was a high school coach, a damn good one, too, in Jersey, Piscataway. Just being with him every single day, just watching him coach and just garnering IQ every single day, learning the right way to play the game of basketball, ways you could help your team win, and the way he taught me. So that’s a shoutout to my father for being the man who taught me the game of basketball at this level.”

There’s more out of the Big Apple:

Knicks forward OG Anunoby has been an absolutely critical defensive contributor for New York this season, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. According to Bondy, Anunoby seems to be channeling the defensive versatility of an All-Star former Tom Thibodeau charge, Luol Deng. “Each player is unique, and there are things about him that are so unique and different: His size, his strength, his speed, his anticipation, his ability to read and to see things ahead,” Thibodeau said. “And he knows how to read plays. If someone is loose with the ball, he’s very active with his hands. Disruptive off the ball but also very good on the ball, and he’s super long. So he can fly by you and he can come back into the play and still impact the shot.”
Nets center Nic Claxton has been grappling with a minutes restriction all year as he deals with a lingering hamstring issue. That appears likely to change sooner rather than later, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Right now, we just want to see him play consistently every game but also play more minutes,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s going to happen. Obviously, I’m not going to tell when at the end of the day, but [everyone] will see it.”
Surprisingly, the Nets have gotten off to a solid 3-3 start this season. Lewis writes in another piece that a lot of this early success is a credit to Brooklyn’s clutch fourth-quarter defense. “We’re not there yet,” Fernandez said modestly of the club’s defensive growth. “It’s in process. We know that all these high-level defensive teams, playoff teams — Orlando, Celtics, Minnesota — they’re very good in pressuring the ball and very physical. It’s a process. It’s not like in one day, you’ll become those type of teams. You have to go through it. But yeah, we have to do better at the rim.”

Knicks Notes: Ryan, Hart, Brunson, Sims, Rose

October 22nd, 2024 at 2:51pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks appear poised to enter the regular season with just 12 players on standard contracts, but they’re only permitted to carry fewer than 14 players for up to two weeks at a time, meaning they’ll have to add two players to their standard roster by November 5.

According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link), one potential target on their radar is free agent sharpshooter Matt Ryan.

The Knicks had been preparing to hang onto veteran guard Landry Shamet before he dislocated his shoulder in a preseason game last week, and Ryan could provide the same sort of floor spacing and outside shooting off the bench that Shamet would have. In 63 career NBA games, the 27-year-old Ryan has converted 41.1% of his three-point attempts.

Besides being permitted to carry fewer than 14 players for no more than two weeks at a time, teams are also limited to 28 total days in a season with fewer than 14 players on standard contracts. Given the Knicks’ extremely limited flexibility below their hard cap, they’ll likely want to take advantage of all 28 of those days at some point this season, but if they use the first 14 in the next two weeks, it’s unclear when they’ll plan to use the remaining 14.

Theoretically, New York could add two players on non-guaranteed contracts for one day on Nov. 5, then waive them and spend two more weeks with just 12 players on standard deals, reaching that 28-day limit early in the season. But the Knicks could also promote Ariel Hukporti from his two-way contract to the standard roster and sign a free agent like Ryan to a non-guaranteed contract in early November, preserving those last 14 days for later in the season.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Even before Shamet’s injury, Ryan had been on the Knicks’ radar as a possible two-way target, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv. That would be another potential path for New York to take — if Hukporti is elevated to the standard roster in November, Ryan could take the newly opened two-way slot, allowing the team to add another veteran on a standard minimum-salary contract.
It was a rough preseason for Knicks forward Josh Hart, who struggled to find his fit in the team’s new-look starting five. Jalen Brunson took responsibility for Hart’s discomfort, according to Zach Braziller of The New York Post. “I have to be a better leader and make sure he’s ready to go by game one,” Brunson said. “It’s on me.”
Knicks big man Jericho Sims figures to play rotation minutes in the early part of the 2024/25 season, with Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa unavailable due to injuries. Head coach Tom Thibodeau expressed confidence in Sims’ ability to handle an increased role, praising his rebounding and suggesting that he can impact a game beyond the box score. “He has the ability, because of his athleticism, to play very well,” Thibodeau said, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “So you play the ball, stay below the roller, get back, make a decision in the restricted — those are things that are hard to measure but because of his athleticism, it’s what he’s good at.”
After taking a patient roster-building approach for his first several years in New York, Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose took a couple big swings this summer by sacrificing draft assets and roster depth to acquire Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. Rose has a lot riding on the new-look squad, as Bondy writes in a subscriber-only story for The Post.

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