New York enters this season as a title contender, the number 2 seed of the East last season that added Mikal Bridges on the wing – it is a team built to face the champion Celtics.
The Knicks also have an obvious area of concern: Center. Mitchell Robinson will start and is a top-flight defender, but he also has an injury history — he’s played in more than 60 games once in the past four seasons. Behind him, things are falling fast. Isaiah Hartenstein was as good a backup center as there was in the league last season but took a big free agent salary to play for another contender in Oklahoma City. That leaves a combination of the feisty but undersized Precious Achiuwa and the athletic but raw Jericho Sims to get the job done.
Tom Thibodeau is thinking of leaning toward some Julius Randle in the center minutes next season, he NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner said in an interview. The question was about who plays the minutes at five o’clock.
We’ll probably have to do it by committee. We’ll look at a few different things because we have versatility — we could see Julius more at 5. I don’t want to do that for long stretches, it would take its toll, but for him to do it for 10 or. 15 minutes, I think he can do it well. He would also create many [offensive] benefits
How Randle fits in with this roster will be one of the more interesting subplots of this season, especially with Randle having a $30.9 million player option for next season and the chance to become a free agent. Randle averaged 24 points and 9.2 rebounds a game last season, he is a beast around the basket, but he was injured and out for the Knicks playoff run behind Jalen Brunson. How his style of play meshes with Brunson, Mikal Bridges and a more perimeter-oriented motion offense will be something to watch.
In certain matchups, Randle at the five could work. It’s not something Thibodeau wanted to do in the past because of the lack of edge protection, but his hand is forced. Thibs also has team depth with quality defenders on the wing who can help alleviate some of that lack of defense in the paint.
An elite team should do this 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 the five in a limited role — it depends on matchup — but Thibs wants to see what it looks like and go from there.
The Knicks will also be in the market if and when some quality centers become available via trade this season. The Wizards are expected to trade Jonas Valanciunas after December 15, and other players such as Jakob Poltl, Jock Landale and Walker Kessler could be of interest to the Knicks.
