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The New York Knicks might be rolling, but it’s only the preseason and it’s a way for some of the players to shake off the rust and get ready for the season.
In the case of Cam Reddish, now in his second year with the Knicks, he’s fighting for playing time, and he might’ve botched his best chance at earning some.
With Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes sitting out, Reddish was able to play 22 minutes, but he ended up just making one of his seven shots in the victory over the Indiana Pacers.
This second game comes after an injury cut his time short in the preseason opener, so his chances are earning more playing time are slipping by him as the games go by.
When asked about how he’s fitting in with the Knicks going into the year, Reddish didn’t mince words.
Reddish Gets Blunt
The Knicks forward is going into the final year of his rookie contract, and with no extension looming for him, this could be it for him and New York.
“It’s hard as s**t,” Reddish said via the New York Daily News when asked about him fitting in with the squad.. “But I feel like I’m mentally tough so I’m getting through it.”
Reddish’s struggles are well-known, but coach Tom Thibodeau seems interested in seeing it through.
“I want to look at the film, but overall, I thought there were some real good things,” he said via the New York Post. “You just gotta build each day. The hard thing is him building rhythm if he gets nicked up and he misses practice or misses a game, then you gotta restart. … You gotta get through all that stuff.”
Thibodeau was initially one of the people who didn’t want the Knicks to make that trade, but now that Reddish is here, it’s on the coach to see if he can get things to turn around.
Reddish Running Out of Chances
If Reddish wants to stick around with the Knicks, or in the NBA that matter, he’ll need to show something more in the minutes he plays. While he struggled shooting the ball in the victory over the Pacers, he did finish with a +15 in the plus/minus category, so he has that working in his favor.
The Knicks are a young team and that means there are a lot of players who need to get minutes. Obi Toppin and Quentin Grimes are two candidates to see a bump in minutes, and that might leave Reddish as the odd man out.
Toppin has flashed a lot of talent and potential, but he’s been stuck behind Julius Randle on the depth chart. Thibodeau hasn’t shown a willingness to play Toppin with Randle, so that has created a de-facto ceiling on the minutes the young forward can get.
With players like that fighting for minutes, then Reddish finding minutes could prove to be even more difficult and his best chance might be somewhere other than New York. This could come through a trade or it could come with free agency next summer.
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