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The New York Knicks may have just upgraded their talent pool by means of a midseason trade for veteran wing Josh Hart, but one sports writer believes the club could be interested in executing one more splashy move during this final stretch run of the season.
According to CBS Sports’ Brad Botkin, the Knicks could be a possible landing spot for five-time All-Star and 2016 NBA Champion Kevin Love, who, per a February 16 report by The Atheltic’s Shams Charania, is currently working towards a buyout with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“The Knicks could use a shooting big and they have open roster space. Jalen Brunson would make great use of a spacing/popping shooter like Love. The Knicks are a high-volume 3-point shooting team, but do not confuse that with being a good 3-point shooting team; only six teams connect from deep at a worse percentage,” Botkin wrote.
A 15-year NBA veteran, Love has made a name for himself as a sensational rebounding and offensive-minded big man and boasts stellar career averages of 17.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while shooting 37.2% from distance.
Through 41 games played this season, the veteran has posted averages of 8.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in just 20.0 minutes per game whilst shooting 35.4% from deep, thus showing that, despite his lacking usage and ripened age of 34 years old, the former All-NBA talent still can provide steady floor spacing abilities and pull down ample boards for a ball club, which are attributes Botkin believes could benefit the Knicks.
That said, he would continue by noting that despite these attributes, head coach Tom Thibodeau “loves defense and he tends to rely heavily on his top-rotational guys,” which, considering Love’s putrid career defensive box plus-minus of -0.6 coupled with the fact that New York already seems to have a set nine-man rotation, could make his fit with the club a bit questionable.
Current Knicks Starter Could Be Kicked From Rotation
As alluded to, Thibodeau seems to have a set plan for how he wishes to shape his team’s rotation when all his current players are at full strength and, once Mitchell Robinson makes his way back from the right thumb fracture that has kept him sidelined since January 18, one current starter could find himself being relegated to an end of the bench role.
SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley recently discussed the team’s presumed nine-man rotation once a healthy Robinson comes back into the fold and suggested that his replacement in Jericho Sims could be the “odd man out” as Thibodeau reallocates this current group’s minutes to get their highly-paid center his fair share of playing time.
“My guess is Tom Thibodeau sticks with the nine-man rotation. He didn’t expand it to ten guys when Josh Hart was acquired, I don’t think he expands it to ten guys when Mitchell Robinson comes back. I would assume Jericho Sims is the odd man out,” Begley said.
Begley would go on to point out that his belief that Sims could lose his spot within the rotation is “not a reflection of his play,” as he noted that he has “done a great job during Robinson’s absence,” but believes that fellow big man Isaiah Hartenstein’s production within the team’s second-unit rotation during this time frame is an indicator that the coaching staff will wind up leaning towards giving the sophomore center the boot.
Since filling in as the starting center for the Knicks back on January 20, Sims has posted averages of 4.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game whilst converting on a highly efficient 76.5% shooting from the field.
Knicks Could Have Competition for Hart
Obviously the Knicks were the ones who wound up landing Josh Hart before this year’s trade deadline but, come the offseason, they certainly won’t be the only ones to be looking to lock him up long-term should he turn down his player option for the 2023-24 campaign and test the open market.
Assuming he enters free agency this summer, there are bound to be several organizations who will look to add him to their foundation and, according to Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale, one of these clubs should be the Sacramento Kings.
“Sacramento needs his defensive versatility and magic badly enough that it could explore the cap-space route. Renouncing Harrison Barnes is the quickest way to get there. Showing him—and all its other free agents—the door opens up over $20 million in room,” Favale wrote.
Favale would suggest that the Kings should look to try and lock up Hart by using their non-taxpayer MLE (expected to have a starting value of $11 million a year) though suggested that when considering what the Knicks gave up to acquire the veteran in the first place, it could end up taking a bit more to pry the wing away from New York.
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