The Knicks are finally at the point where the real rotation questions can start getting answered, and the cleanest place to begin is with the five guys at the top. Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns are set to remain the starting lineup, just as they did last season, and that figure should hold unless injuries force a change.
What may look different is the workload around that group. New York is coming off a postseason run that pushed all the way to June 13, which was weeks longer than almost every other team in the league, and this is hardly a young roster that can just bounce right back. With a shortened offseason in the mix, it would not be a shock if the starters are eased in with slightly lighter minutes early on.
Brunson averaged 35 minutes per game last season, but a range closer to 32 or 33 feels possible in the first stretch. Anunoby, Bridges, and Towns, who last year landed between 33.2 and 31 minutes per night, could sit closer to 30.
Still, the schedule may have other ideas. The Knicks open with a difficult six-game run that includes the 76ers twice, plus matchups with the Celtics, Magic, and Pistons.
If those games turn competitive, the starters may be asked to log their usual heavier minutes right away.
Behind them, the Knicks do not have a classic sixth man in the old-school sense. There is no prime Jamal Crawford or J.R.
Smith waiting to change games off the bench, and no reserve is expected to crack 30 minutes per night. But Landry Shamet and Miles McBride are the two bench pieces most likely to finish games and regularly drift into the high 20s.
Mike Brown clearly likes Shamet, and James L. Edwards of The Athletics believes Shamet could wind up playing more than McBride this season. McBride had a preseason that was uneven outside of the final game, but he remains important to what the Knicks want to do, and the team may also want to get as much out of him as possible before the offseason brings the possibility of losing him.
Last season, Shamet averaged 23 minutes per game and McBride averaged 26.3, and both could see those numbers rise early, especially with Shamet coming off what was described as a very solid preseason overall.
There are still other rotation pieces who should matter. Jose Alvarado, Mohamed Diawara, and Andre Drummond are not going to draw the same attention as Shamet and McBride, but they still have real roles.
Alvarado, who averaged 16.9 minutes as a Knick last season, could pick up a bit more run in his first full season with the team. Drummond should land around 20 minutes per game, right in line with what Mitchell Robinson averaged last season.
Diawara is the hardest of the group to pin down. He is still inexperienced and had a very mediocre Summer League and preseason, which could push Brown toward Jordan Clarkson early. If the Knicks are leaning on the starters heavily because of that rough opening schedule, the minutes for Alvarado, Diawara, and Drummond could all look modest in the first two weeks.
Clarkson could factor in at times later on depending on Diawara’s play and development, but he is not expected to open the season in a major role. The two real fringe players are Tyler Kolek and James Wiseman.
Kolek’s path is blocked by Brunson and Alvarado, though he could still surface for spot minutes if Alvarado hits a slump or gets hurt, just as he did last season. Wiseman’s role should be limited as well, but Towns has not yet fully cleared the foul trouble concern and Drummond has missed plenty of games over the past two seasons.
Neither big man will be in every game, and both should still manage a few minutes per night and finish the season somewhere in the 500-700 minute range.
Even with all that uncertainty, Kolek and Wiseman still have ways to get on the floor. Pacome Dadiet does not really have that same path.
He is buried behind multiple players at his position, which means Brown has plenty of other options before he would even need to consider Dadiet. The third-year player may get occasional minutes as the team tries to showcase him for a possible boost in trade value, and he will continue to see garbage-time run in blowouts.
But when it comes to the actual rotation, Dadiet is on the outside looking in.
In Other News...
Knicks Let A Struggling Rival Expose A Problem Fans Feared
Philadelphia finally got off the schneid with a 106-100 win over the Knicks, and the result carried a little more weight than an ordinary early-season loss. The 76ers were able to survive their own shooting issues because Tyrese Maxey kept pushing the pace and Philadelphia's defense and ball movement held up when it mattered, a reminder that the Knicks still have work to do even against a team that had been searching for its first victory.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson were the main sources of offense for New York, but the bigger concern was how often Philadelphia was able to make the game uncomfortable on the other end. For a Knicks group trying to establish itself early, letting a struggling rival dictate stretches of the game is the kind of lapse that tends to linger, especially when the other side finds enough edge to cover its own flaws. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Title Night Had One Ring Moment Fans Didn't See Coming
The Knicks made Opening Night feel like a celebration before the ball even tipped, with championship rings handed out and the new banner rising at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 20. It was the kind of scene New York has waited a long time to see, a reward for a run that ended with the franchises first title in 53 years and Jalen Brunson taking home NBA Finals MVP honors.
Some of the buzz around the night spilled well beyond the arena, too, when Danhausen jumped onto social media and publicly asked for a championship ring of his own. He even singled out Karl-Anthony Towns in the request, jokingly asking to borrow one, a reminder that once a team reaches that level of spotlight, the attention can turn playful fast and the victory lap can wind up reaching places nobody expected. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Fans Sent LeBron A Message He Couldnt Ignore At MSG
Madison Square Garden was already buzzing for the season opener, but the loudest moment came when LeBron James stepped to the free-throw line and Knicks fans made their message impossible to miss. The chants were pointed and immediate, with the crowd letting James know, in no uncertain terms, that he was not wanted in New York.
It made for a sharp reminder of how much the Garden can still turn into a referendum on star power, especially when James has long talked about the idea of playing and even finishing his career there. But this is also a fan base that has grown more attached to its own team after recent championship success, and the nights hostility did not stop with James, as Philadelphia center Joel Embiid also drew chants from the crowd. [Read more 🡒]