Josh Hart Says Knicks Have 3 Bench Players Who Could Be Starters

Getty The Knicks bench picks up Julius Randle's slack.

New York Knicks backup guard Josh Hart was a starter with the Portland Trail Blazers before they acquired him at the February trade deadline.

But he isn’t complaining.

Hart is heading into his first playoff appearance in seven seasons in the NBA in a bench role that he’s fully embraced with the Knicks.

The 28-year-old guard seamlessly fit with the Knicks. His growing chemistry with Immanuel Quickley, the Sixth Man of the Year frontrunner, and Isaiah Hartenstein, who is building his case as the league’s best backup big man, has transformed the Knicks’ second unit into the league’s best in terms of net rating.

Hart believes all three of them are starting players under different circumstances.

“We have a lot of stuff covered in terms of who we got guys playing with energy, can score the ball in different ways, can stop other teams from scoring, and just playing smart basketball,” Hart said after the Knicks beat the Washington Wizards. “I think that’s the biggest thing, and when you have three guys come off the bench, like I said before, that could be starters on other teams in this league. Obviously, that’s a great attribute to have.”

Since Hart joined the Knicks on Feb. 10, he has played with Quickley and Hartenstein for 316 minutes together, the second-most in the team next only to the starting trio of Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Quentin Grimes (356 minutes).

During this stretch, the Hart-Quickley-Hartenstein lineup has a staggering 19.2 net rating, the highest among the most used Knicks three-man lineups, per NBA.com stats.

“This is confidence from us, and we’ve been doing it, and we’re comfortable playing with each other,” Hart said. “Obviously, [it’s not] a huge sample size, but we’re growing and confident and seeing where all of us want to be, where we want to be, and where we are effective, and it’s just been good.”

Immanuel Quickley Favorite to Win 6th Man of the Year

Quickley remained as the odds-on favorite to win the Sixth Man of the Year at FanDuel.

Even ESPN’s Zach Lowe agrees.

“I think Immanuel Quickley might be the favorite now to win this award, he has been that good,” Lowe said on the March 20 episode of his podcast. “The Knicks have been way better with Quickley on floor versus off the floor. With [Malcolm] Brogdon, the Celtics have been good either way. Defensively and rebounding, Quickley is just a menace to society. He just feels to me more essential to the Knicks identity and feel and style than Brogdon does in Boston.”

Quickley is averaging 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists with 44/35/80 shooting split off the bench this season.

The Knicks are 35-25 this season with Quickley in the second unit.

When he starts, Quickley has raised his play, averaging 21.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists with 47/38/83 shooting split.

The Knicks are 11-7 when Quickley is part of the starting lineup.

Isaiah Hartenstein Finds Comfort Zone With Knicks

Hartenstein, dubbed as “Jokic Lite” has found his groove with the Knicks after a slow start to the season.

Since their Dec. 20 blowout victory against the defending champion Golden State Warriors, Hartenstein has racked up 65 assists to lead all backup centers during this span, per NBA.com stats.

“I think [Tom Thibodeau] started to see that I was working more,” Hartenstein said after the Knicks beat the Wizards on April 2. “For me, I think especially at the beginning of the year, maybe guys didn’t really know to cut on certain situations, so I think now just guys are cutting, guys are making the right decision, and I always knew I was one of the best-passing bigs in the league. So I always knew I could do it.”