Just like that, the Knicks are right back to the same starting lineup as last year.
OG Anunoby’s return after missing nine games due to a hamstring strain left coach Mike Brown with an important decision — either Josh Hart or Miles McBride had to move to the bench.
Both had been starting with both Anunoby and Landry Shamet (shoulder sprain) out and were playing well with bigger workloads. During Friday’s rout of the Jazz, it was Hart who stayed in the starting lineup and Brown indicated it would be that way going forward.
Before the year, Brown made it clear that he actually wanted both to come off the bench and envisioned Mitchell Robinson starting at center.
But that changed, with Brown now believing Robinson is better served coming off the bench.
And Karl-Anthony Towns is more effective playing center than power forward, where he plays when Robinson is in at center.
That meant Hart entered the starting lineup and began logging heavy minutes, as he had previously become accustomed to throughout his Knicks tenure.
Flipping Hart and Robinson actually wasn’t Brown’s own idea — it was one he was talked into.
“I rely on my staff,” Brown said. “I had reasons why I was starting it the other way, but my staff, I think all of them, were like, ‘Hey, these are the reasons why it would be better.’ The reality of it is I just listened to my staff. I said ‘OK, if I’m the only one thinking that the other way may be better at that time, then maybe I’m wrong.’ I’ve been wrong before, and I will be wrong again in the future. That’s what I love about my staff, I have guys that aren’t afraid, on staff, to tell me what they think. At the end of the day, it’s up to me to make the decision, I’m not gonna always listen to them. But if my whole staff is telling me something, then I better open my eyes and my ears and figure out what they’re really trying to say and maybe follow their lead instead of them following my lead all the time.”
Hart struggled to start the season in a more limited role, and has much more resembled his do-it-all self as a starter.
McBride has been red-hot as a 3-point shooter and had success as the Knicks’ point-of-attack defender when Anunoby was out.
Both made strong cases for him to remain in the starting lineup.
Now, Brown is challenged with maximizing McBride’s impact off the bench.
“The thing that was probably the hardest, because Deuce has played well, just trying to get Deuce on the floor without playing him like a 20-minute or 17-minute run, trying to break it up,” Brown said. “He deserves to play 25, 26 minutes coming off the bench, if not more. So trying to find time for him so we can keep him on the floor was probably my biggest struggle.”
The unit of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Anunoby, Hart and Towns was by far Tom Thibodeau’s most-used lineup last year.
It wasn’t until the Knicks were trailing in the Eastern Conference finals that Thibodeau moved Hart to the bench and started Robinson.
When Robinson missed games for load management earlier in the year, Brown kept Hart on the bench and preferred to insert McBride or Shamet into the starting lineup.
After seeing Hart’s success in the starting lineup the last seven games, though, he reversed course on that plan.
For his own part, McBride is used to coming off the bench.
It shouldn’t be a major adjustment for him.
“I really try to make it as minimal as I can,” McBride said. “Bring energy, bring a toughness to the game, obviously my shot-making ability. But the main thing, I want to impact the game, impact winning as much as I can.”
The Brunson, Bridges, Anunoby, Hart, Towns unit had mixed results last year, with a 3.3 net rating in the regular season and rough minus-6.2 net rating in the playoffs.
Brown’s desire to shake up the unit was one of his more intriguing plans in the offseason.
But pretty quickly, he seems to agree with Thibodeau.
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