Mike Brown’s latest lineup choice says plenty about what the Knicks think of Tyler Kolek.
For most of Brown’s time in New York, the idea of playing without Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns has been more theory than practice. Those combinations have mostly faded away. But Kolek has done enough to get them back on the table.
It showed up in the Knicks’ blowout of the Milwaukee Bucks. Brown didn’t wait for garbage time to test it, either. He finished the first quarter with a group of Kolek, Landry Shamet, Mohamed Diawara, Deuce McBride, and Andre Drummond, and that five-man unit posted a plus-five in three minutes on the floor.
That matters because the Knicks have barely used these kinds of lineups at all. Before that win over Milwaukee, New York had logged fewer than 25 total minutes with no Brunson and no Towns on the court. Once Kolek is isolated in that picture, the sample gets even smaller: he had played fewer than 10 competitive minutes without either star before that game.
In other words, roughly a quarter of Kolek’s meaningful minutes without one of the Knicks’ two headliners came in a single outing.
That’s a pretty clear sign of trust in a third-year floor general whose solo reps have been scarce. The sample is still too thin to draw sweeping conclusions, but the decision itself says a lot about how Brown views him, especially given how rough New York has looked in those no-star stretches.
Since Brown took over, the Knicks have played more than 300 competitive minutes without either Brunson or Towns. Across that span, they’ve been outscored by six points per 100 possessions, and the offense has been so poor that looking at the number feels like a bad idea.
Even so, it’s unlikely these Kolek-led lineups become a regular thing. There are other pieces to juggle.
Kolek and Towns have already shown they can work well together, and the Knicks should also keep building more Kolek-Brunson combinations to take some of the ball-handling burden off Brunson.
But the real value of these no-star minutes is what they could mean for the bigger picture. Brunson and Towns are still the best way for New York to hit its offensive ceiling, and if the Knicks can stagger them a little less, that helps.
It also reduces how often Brunson has to prop up lineups with Andre Drummond at center. He can handle that load, but it puts a lot on him. Cutting that down even a bit would be a real boost.
And if Kolek can keep handling those stretches at all, that’s a strong sign his development is on track. For a Knicks team facing plenty of questions about the financial side of its roster, finding a point guard who can steady lineups without Brunson or Towns while making under $2.3 million would be a major win.
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