What could be more logical than to take advantage of this special New York Knicks Sunday to discuss the case of… Kevin Knox. Drafted in ninth position by NY in 2018, the 3/4 position has since slipped on the bench and then in the limbo of the reflection of his successive coaches, to the point of having today become an enigma in the NBA. Talent probably, well hidden, but many other concerns for KK, who has never worn his initials so well.
We know the New York curse on Draft choices, we were talking about it just here a few weeks ago, and Kevin Knox seems to be on course to make this dirty habit last. A dozen points per game during his rookie year, poorly we say to ourselves, even if the player is already showing some signs of a fairly one-dimensional game. Then an act 2 in backpedal mode with stats that drop by half and a starting position that quickly escapes his fingers. Last season? 42 games, 11 minutes on average, and starving statistics accompanying his status as the end of the bench, demoted by Tom Thibodeau in favor of a group of soldiers who were building themselves quickly and well under the thumb of Mr. Pinguin. But what about today, one year from the end of his rookie contract? We are first of all very far from the considerations surrounding his fellow graduates, Michael Porter Jr., Trae Young, Deandre Ayton, Luka Doncic or other Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who are today part of the landscape of the Great League and more if affinities. We are very far from that. Indeed, if the Knicks do not offer Kev the qualifying offer to 8 million that he can hope for next June, the dadais will be free agent and therefore free to sign where he wishes, if however a professional basketball club- ball deigns to see in him the outline of a solid player. And it’s not won.
It’s not won eh, because for two years Kevin Knox has shown absolutely nothing, giving the image of a kind of very poor Kyle Kuzma, capable of taking his shots but capable of … not much else in fact. According to sources relayed by Marc Berman of the New York Post, it is in particular his lack of safe and his lack of hardness in defense that would have pushed Thibodeau to make him a lemon cutter last season., and unfortunately the last few months have not worked in the player’s favor as COVID prevented him this summer from using the Summer League to remind people that he still knew how to play ball. On the eve of the resumption for the Knicks Kevin Knox is therefore one of those players on whom we will put a big focus, if Thibs deigns to play him in the pre-season, in which case the problem would quickly pass into the insoluble category. , despite the player’s contract which guarantees him a place in the roster this season.
A roster which has resumed the habit of winning last season, with a Julius Randle in his prime and which will still leave only crumbs this season, a roster in which Obi Toppin now seems best placed to eat these famous crumbs , especially after its very encouraging Summer League. Kevin Knox in all of this? A huge question mark, and a rather sad intuition towards him if the player does not quickly put his fingers in the socket. Indeed, there are now projects in New York which are clearly worth the shot (RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, Mitchell Robinson), and Thibodeau and the New York board will not waste time with Knox if this last is not worth it.
I think he is part of a category of players who are missing too much. I’m not sure a lot of franchises are keeping an eye on him right now.
The quote comes from the mouth of a League leader, anonymous of course, but it says a lot about Kevin Knox’s current worth in the League. A player who has a good chance of being put on the market before the trade deadline of next February, but a player who could only interest very few franchises, because it’s still difficult to prove your talent when you’re not playing. Morality? The next three months will be extremely important for the rest of the player’s career, who must imperatively show himself in order to attract the barge, to avoid, quite simply, joining Kenneth Faried in the Caribbean or following in the footsteps of Smush Parker in Mongolia.
Lottery pick from the 2018 Draft and today considered by some to be a finito player, while others have simply never heard of him. Can Kevin Knox come out of his torpor and show us some qualities in the coming weeks? Quite frankly we don’t know, but even more frankly… it would be better for him.
–
