Not every Kentucky product has taken off for the Knicks.
While rookie goalie Immanuel Quickley and Julius Randle are on the rise, his Wildcat teammate, striker Kevin Knox, hit the bottom on Sunday in Knicks’ 129-115 loss to the Clippers when he received his first DNP of the season.
Writing was on the wall, as Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau reduced Knox’s role when swinger Alec Burks and rookie striker Obi Toppin returned from long-term injuries. Knox played just eight minutes in each of the last two games, running out of score while trying just one goal on the field.
Their 2018 lottery selection had started the season with a blast, showing a 3-point shooting range and winning congratulations from Thibodeau.
“Clearly, it doesn’t prioritize its development – just like last year,” said an NBA researcher.
Less than two weeks ago, Knox led the NBA in the 3-point shooting percentage, but stopped shooting. Knox averages just 6.1 points, up 39.1 percent – and 39.1 percent from the 3-point range. The effective goal percentage of Knox, which gives extra weight to the marks in 3 points, is 50.5% healthy – higher than both Quickley and RJ Barrett.
However, Thibodeau sees a bigger picture and fell in love with the care of Reggie Bullock’s wing and even Toppin’s tenacity, which does not shoot well (40.8 percent, 26.1 percent of 3). When Toppin came out, Knox played a lot of power-forward minutes.
It should be noted that Knicks President Leon Rose is more invested in Toppin than Knox, who was elected ninth general by Knicks GM Scott Perry and former President Steve Mills.
An individual familiar with the thinking of coaching staff said that Thibodeau still feels that Bullock, Toppin and Burks offer “more energy” than Knox had recently, although there is no data to support this. One of Knox’s problems coming out of Kentucky was a low engine, but he had competed harder this season.
Thibodeau recently congratulated Knox’s selection of shots – feeling last season that he launched a lot of ill-advised attempts. For his part, Knox recently said that he needs to attack the rim more and not just rely on 3s.
The NBA researcher said that the slow pace of the Knicks preferred by Thibodeau does not match Knox, as well as a faster attack. Indeed, the Knox 6-8 excels at running on the floor.
Knox’s shootings fell ahead of DNP on Sunday. He was only 4 of 17 in seven previous games.
On Sunday, Thibodeau was probably worried about Knox’s games against Clippers’ elite strikers Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, as well as tough Marcus Morris. However, without Knox, the Knicks gave up the worst 129 points of the season.
Barrett, whom the Knicks are trying to turn into a small striker, fought, but did not contain Leonard (28 points).
The future for Knox, who is still only 21, looks bleak. If the DNPs continue, it wouldn’t be a shock if the Knicks sent him to the G-League ball in Orlando for representatives – as they did with Dennis Smith Jr.
Knox still has commercial value, and The Post reported that Oklahoma City had an interest in him when the Knicks were watching a deal with Chris Paul.
On Andrew Yang’s podcast last week, NBA project expert Kevin O’Connor felt that Knox could join his own team if Knicks became impatient with his slow development.
“(He was) a raw perspective coming out of the project, it was going to be a project,” O’Connor said. “It simply came to our notice then. Another guy who doesn’t seem ready to play. What a pity it is in the third year. Look at Knicks’ offense and how much difference a quality wing scorer would make to this team. Having someone like a developed Kevin Knox would make this team totally different when it comes to designing them forward. In the end, his shot did not come together properly – neither the handling of the ball nor the decision-making had it. ”
The Knicks have exercised the Knox option for the fourth year, which will pay them $ 5.8 million next season.
“He looks like one of those guys that wouldn’t shock me that if the second or third team gets to become a quality NBA player,” said O’Connor, who works for The Ringer. “This is the interesting thing about Knicks with guys like Knox. They are probably more valuable to the Knicks as a player to change for someone who can play right away and bring something. The people I talked to in the league he looked at as someone who could retire. “
The Knicks have officially named Smith Jr., Ignas Brazdeikis and Jared Harper for the G League ball in Orlando, which begins in mid-February. The season will last about four weeks.