We saw the vision of the trade.
The ball movement, the defense, the victory.
OG Anunoby only took 12 shots in his Knicks debut Monday, but that was kind of the point, wasn’t it? Distributing the offense was part of the reason New York sacrificed 33 combined points per game in RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to acquire Anunoby, who entered the afternoon with zero practice time and still fit the Knicks like sunglasses on Jack Nicholson.
It’s a personal pet peeve when a writer details new negative narratives about a player who just left, but this is something I’ve said many times previously about Barrett, while he still wore No. 9 in orange and blue:
The Canadian is not a facilitator, and therefore needs the ball to be effective.
He’s not athletic enough to be a great defender.
And his 3-point shot is subpar.
Anunoby is essentially the opposite at small forward. He can’t create for himself off the dribble like Barrett, but the 26-year-old All-Defense selection spaces the floor because of a proficient 3-point shot. He knocked that down three times Monday in six attempts, including a momentum shifter with about nine minutes left in the fourth. The unclogged lane, courtesy of Anunoby’s long-distance threat, was important toward Knicks success, specifically for Julius Randle as he navigated the paint for a 39-point gem.
“Seems like the perfect piece that complements our team very well,” Randle said.
This was all off instincts from Anunoby. As he said postgame, “Read and react … that was everything, really.” A man of few words, Anunoby entered MSG with only a playbook to study from the night prior, when he celebrated New Year’s Eve by himself in a hotel room.
Then Anunoby logged 35 minutes with 17 points, producing the team’s best plus/minus (plus-19) while trusted by Tom Thibodeau to guard Minnesota’s budding superstar Anthony Edwards.
Not a bad debut.
“I thought the first game was impressive, just to be ready and figure it out on the fly,” Thibodeau said. “Played smart. … Played great defense. Hustled without the ball. Made big shots. Great start.
“It’s huge for us.”
Anunoby would’ve played more but fouled out with four minutes left to a Garden applause, getting his first taste of New York’s appreciation for a player who doesn’t have to light up the scoreboard to impact winning. The reaction wasn’t quite emphatic enough to declare it love at first sight, but the impression was certainly strong, much like Josh Hart’s last season.
And it’s just as easy to see the long-term match in the form of a lucrative new contract this summer. A lot can happen in the next six months, but we’re confident Anunoboy and the Knicks will reach an agreement.
Why?
Let’s just say the forward’s CAA agents, Andrew Morrison and Sam Rose, were seated with the Knicks front office for Monday’s game.
Sam, by the way, is Leon Rose’s son.
Wink, wink.
“I let my agents handle that stuff,” Anunoby said of his free agency.
Keep in mind, while New Year’s Day was encouraging, this isn’t the trade. It better not be with Rose still hoarding all those draft picks.
That’s how Knicks faithful should consume the Anunoby deal, as difficult as it might be to stomach the departures of homegrown picks sent to the Raptors. The Knicks are better today but they’re not title contenders. There’s still the hardest part left for the front office, which is the acquisition of a superstar who could give the Knicks a real chance at breaking a 50-plus year championship drought. And since the landscape has changed in the NBA — with stars forgoing free agency by signing lucrative extensions — that’ll most likely have to arrive via trade.
We assume this is the greater plan from Rose. We assume but don’t know because the Knicks president never talks, at least not on the record, even on New Year’s Day after completing the biggest trade of his tenure.
Still, the play of his new acquisition spoke pretty loudly.
“I guess you can say OG’s a perfect fit,” Jalen Brunson said.
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