Can Jose Alvarado Mitchell Robinson and Tyler Kolek provide much-needed bench depth in the postseason?
Editor’s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic here. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.
***
The New York Knicks used their bench last season as much as I used floss, which, if I’m being honest with myself, wasn’t nearly enough.
Dead last in the NBA is where the Knicks ranked in total minutes played by reserves. It was a point of contention within the organization. Former head coach Tom Thibodeau relied heavily on his starters, and it allowed New York to gain the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference during the regular season but didn’t pay off come the postseason, where the Knicks starters had a minus-6.2 net rating in 335 playoff minutes.
This time around, under new head coach Mike Brown, the reliance on the bench is greater, but not by as much as you’d think. Going into Sunday’s game against the Wizards, New York ranked 27th in total bench minutes. The low ranking, though, doesn’t feel as pronounced this season because the Knicks’ young players all had moments. Mohammed Diawara has steadily developed. Tyler Kolek had a few instances of real contributions this season. Even Kevin McCullar Jr. added to one or two wins.
However, the Knicks under Brown still aren’t a team willing to regularly go 10 deep more often than not.
“For me, I like to play 9 or 9.5 guys — 10 if you can,” Brown said Friday. “It gets hard because we have guys on our roster willing to play 34 minutes. When you have multiple guys, four or five guys, who are worthy of that, it makes it a little harder to give other guys extended minutes. I’ve felt we’ve tried to do a good job of giving our young guys an opportunity to play and other guys an opportunity to play.”
As New York prepares for the postseason, it’s worth asking if the bench is in a better position to contribute this postseason than last. Some of the same faces are still here such as Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride and Landry Shamet. Cameron Payne, Delon Wright and Precious Achiuwa are replaced by Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson and Diawara.
There are reasons to believe that the bench will be more impactful in the playoffs under Brown. There are reasons to believe the contrary, too. I have thoughts. Let’s get into it.
Will Robinson be as dominant? Will McBride be ready enough to contribute?
One of the reasons that the Knicks’ bench ranked 30th last season under Thibodeau is because Robinson didn’t make his season debut until Feb. 28 due to an ankle injury. He, surely, would have been a regular rotation piece off the bench had he been healthy.
New York has had Robinson on a load management plan this season that consists of him missing one of every back-to-back game. It’s worked. Robinson has made it through the season up to this point, and the ultimate goal of having him healthy for the postseason appears to be a reality soon. With that said, Robinson hasn’t played this many minutes in a year since the 2022-23 season. In fact, if you combine his regular-season minutes from the previous two seasons, it’s just a touch more than what Robinson has played so far this season. He’ll surpass that number this week, assuming he doesn’t miss any games.
Robinson is the Knicks’ weapon that makes them unique. The veteran is better on the offensive glass than some teams, let alone his individual counterparts. When Robinson is on the floor, he’s a multiple-possession generator that gives a good-shooting offense even more opportunities. Robinson has a game rooted in relentlessness, so I do wonder if there comes a point in the not-too-distant future where he slows down a bit as the minutes catch up to him. I’m not betting on it, but it’s something I’m monitoring.
Not only will McBride have to get back into basketball shape during the most intense part of the season, but he’ll have to do that while finding his shooting rhythm in the process and be able to be a solid point-of-attack defender. McBride may come off the bench, but he is a big part of this New York team, which will force Brown to have to re-shuffle the deck in the postseason — and that can be difficult, especially when a player is coming back from a long injury and there is uncertainty as to how long it’ll take the player to feel like himself again.
Different options on the bench but Brown will have to be strategic
The one thing Brown does have at his disposal when looking at the bench are players who bring different things to the table. Shamet doesn’t do what Alvarado does. Diawara and Clarkson are different. Robinson and McBride, obviously, are opposites. So, depending on what the Knicks need in a particular game, and if they’re not getting it from a starter, Brown does have different tools to use.
Yet, in comparison to last season, there are still questions about how much the bench can provide. Shamet has been solid this season as an on-ball defender, screen navigator and 3-point shooter. However, the veteran hasn’t played this many minutes in a season since the 2022-23 season. After shooting better than 40 percent from 3 in November, January and February (he missed December with a shoulder injury), Shamet is shooting under 30 percent from 3 in the month of March. It’s fair to wonder if the heavy workload is catching up to him. He’s been the pseudo sixth starter with McBride sidelined, and he’s been asked to do a lot for a player on a veteran-minimum deal.
Alvarado was the team’s big trade-deadline acquisition, and while he’s provided some of those sneaky defensive plays that the basketball world has grown to love, he’s been a poor 3-point shooter since joining the Knicks. Alvarado was at 29.6 percent from beyond the arc going into Sunday’s game against the Wizards. Brown has kept his minutes under 15 per game for most of March, partly because of the shooting struggles. Alvarado has been solid inside the arc and been a good ball mover, which are positives come the postseason. But if/when McBride comes back into the fold, Alvarado will likely see his minutes reduced even more. It’s hard to imagine Brown will regularly roll with such a tiny backcourt in the playoffs.
Clarkson is the team’s microwave scorer and will probably win New York a game in the postseason. He’s won the Knicks games lately, most notably in Utah. His wavering defense, though, will surely make it hard for Brown to play him against the league’s best teams, unless New York is really hurting for offense. Diawara has been a huge surprise this season. The second-round pick was expected to spend a lot of time in the G League after being drafted, but he’s carved out a rotation role due to his size, shooting and advanced decision-making. Still, I can’t see a world in which Brown goes into the playoffs with the idea to play Diawara 10-plus minutes every game. To me, Clarkson and Diawara will be situational players.
“Being with (Golden State Warriors head coach) Steve (Kerr), one of the things they used to do is start someone different every once in a while, someone who might not have played in three or four games,” Brown said. “The only rhyme or reason they did it is to let them know that they have to be ready. Your number can be called at anytime.
“I liked that, but I didn’t go quite that route. I do like the fact that guys can think, ‘Oh, OK. My number can be called at any time, so I have to stay ready.’ It’s not just lip service. It can happen because they saw it happen. I threw (Diawara) out there a couple of times as a rookie. Doing that keeps guys engaged and on their toes, especially when guys are handling their minutes as professionals, which all of our guys have done.”
Predicting the playoff rotation
If the Knicks are in a back-and-forth contest with, let’s say, the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the first round, my gut tells me these are the New York players who will have eaten up all of the minutes: Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns, Robinson, McBride (if healthy), Shamet and Alvarado. That’s nine players right there, and Brown already said that even during the regular season he prefers to play “9.5 guys,” which means a 10th player participates in one half of the game but not the other.
As it pertains to the postseason, I’m not sure Brown will stand by that. Eight or nine feels like the sweet spot for most coaches in the playoffs. If he does stand by 9.5 players, it’ll likely be Diawara or Clarkson playing, depending on what the team needs. Those two could alternate depending on how the other performs in the previous outing. That’s not to say that Diawara can’t look unbothered by the bright lights and work himself into a regular playoff rotation spot. I just don’t think Brown will start the postseason with that mentality.
Under my line of thinking, the Knicks will essentially use the same players for these playoffs as they did last season — with the only exception being Alvarado taking up the Payne/Wright role. Only this time around, New York will have McBride coming off an injury and Robinson having logged more minutes than he has in quite some time.
The Knicks having more options for this playoff run is a good thing. However, I’m not sure they’re in any better shape to lean on their bench players more than they did a season ago.
***
James L. Edwards III is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the New York Knicks. Previously, he covered the Detroit Pistons at The Athletic for seven seasons and, before that, was a reporter for the Lansing State Journal, where he covered Michigan State and high school sports. Follow James L. on Twitter @JLEdwardsIII
