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The New York Knicks‘ biggest weakness entering this NBA season is the center position in the wake of Isaiah Hartenstein‘s departure.
Stefan Bondy of the New York Post wrote that Portland Trail Blazers starting center Deandre Ayton could be a potential Knicks’ target as Hartenstein’s replacement.
“The former No. 1 overall pick has been largely underwhelming given the hype (he was drafted before Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), but there are few centers with the physical capabilities of Ayton and, most important to this exercise, he plays for a bad team with too many centers,” Bondy wrote on September 19. “The Blazers are bound to make moves if they struggle again.”
Ayton makes sense for the Knicks, especially with how Tom Thibodeau schemes his defense predicated on a stout rebounding and rim-protecting center.
Cleaning up the glass has been a big part of the Knicks’ identity under Thibodeau and it helped them win games.
Ayton averaged 3.2 offensive rebounds last season, just a shade under Hartenstein, who normed 3.3 per game. The Trail Blazers center finished at No. 8 in rebounding last season with 10.9 per game. No Knicks center has averaged double-digit rebounds under Thibodeau.
As a rim protector, Ayton’s 47.0 defensive field goal percentage (defined as the opponents’ field goal percentage on shots when the player is defending the shot) is also a shade under Hartenstein’s 47.1%.
The 7-foot Ayton has two more years left on his four-year, $133 million rookie extension deal he signed in 2022 with Phoenix before his trade to Portland as part of the Damian Lillard multi-team deal.
Knicks Coach Reveals Plan on Filling Isaiah Hartenstein’s Void
In the absence of a trade for a starting-caliber center, Thibodeau said he will not thrust the responsibility of filling the Hartenstein void on one player.
“We’ll probably have to do it by committee,” Thibodeau said during a Q&A with NBA.com. “We’ll look at some different things, because we have versatility — we could see Julius [Randle] more at the 5. I don’t want to do that for long stretches, it would take its toll, but to have him do it for 10 or 15 minutes, I think he can do it well. He also would create a lot of [offensive] advantages.”
While the center position is important in Thibodeau’s defensive schemes, only the injury-prone Mitchell Robinson has been constant. He had a revolving rotation of centers through the years aside from Robinson, such as Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson in the past, Hartenstein and Jericho Sims over the last seasons and Precious Achiuwa last season.
“We went through that last year,” Thibodeau said. “We started the season where Mitchell was the starter, and he was off to a monster start. When he went out, Jericho Sims started initially, then he got hurt. Then Isaiah came in and did what he did. But when he got hurt, Precious [Achiuwa] came in along with Taj Gibson. So we rotated guys at that position the entire year.”
Why Tom Thibodeau Is More Open Now to Play Small Ball
Thibodeau had been reluctant in the past to play small ball, particularly playing Randle alongside his former backup, Obi Toppin.
But his revealing interview with NBA.com showed Thibodeau is more willing to experiment now.
Why the sudden change?
Thibodeau pointed to the team’s newfound versatility with a pair of strong perimeter defenders in OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges as the key factor to changing his mind.
“Obviously, the OG signing was huge for us,” Thibodeau told NBA.com. “And then adding Mikal [Bridges] was phenomenal. Getting Julius [Randle] back will be huge as well. We lost [Isaiah] Hartenstein, which is what we’ll have to replace. But I think we have versatility, where we can play smaller at times because of OG’s ability to guard big. Julius and [Josh] Hart can guard big as well.”
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