New York enters this season as a title contender, the No. 2 seed in the East last season, which added Mikal Bridges on the wing — this is a team built to take on the champion The Celts.
THE Knicks also have an obvious area of concern: the center. Mitchell Robinson He’ll be a starter and a top-tier rim protector, but he also has an injury history — he’s played more than 60 games once in the last four seasons. Behind him, things are going downhill fast. Isaiah Hartenstein was as good a backup center as there was in the league last season, but took a big free agent payday to play for another contender in Oklahoma City. This leaves a combination of fiery but undersized Precious Achiuwa and athletic but raw Jericho Sims do the job.
Tom Thibodeau considers turning to some Julius Randle in the center of minutes next season, he NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner said in an interview. The question was who plays the minutes at five.
It’s probably going to have to be done by committee. We’re going to look at different things, because we have versatility – we could see Julius more often at the 5. I don’t want to do that for long periods of time, it would hurt him, but playing him for 10 or 15 minutes, I think he can do that well. He would also create a lot of (offensive) advantages.
Randle’s place on this team will be one of the most interesting subplots this season, especially with Randle having a $30.9 million player option for next season and the possibility of becoming a free agent. Randle averaged 24 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last season, a beast around the basket, but he was injured and out for the Knicks’ playoff run behind Jalen BrunsonHow his style of play meshes with Brunson, Mikal Bridges and a movement-oriented perimeter attack will be something to watch.
In some matchups, Randle could fit in at the five. It’s not something Thibodeau has wanted to do in the past due to the lack of basket protection, but he’s forced to do it. Thibs also has a deep team with quality wing defenders who can help alleviate some of that lack of defense in the paint.
An elite team should do that in the regular season: try different lineup combinations, rotations and player positions to see what works and what doesn’t. Randle should be able to play all five in a limited role — it depends on the matchup — but Thibs wants to see what that looks like and go from there.
The Knicks will also be in the market if and when quality centers become available via trade this offseason. The Wizards should do Jonas Valanciunas available via trade after December 15th, and other players such as Jakob Poltl, Jock Landale And Walker Kessler could interest the Knicks.
