The forthcoming return of OG Anunoby, who is already a full participant in practice and awaiting a final thumbs up for games, will again shake up a rotation that’s been through more reboots than “Law & Order.”
Josh Hart, who thrived in the starting small forward spot while Anunoby nursed his elbow, understands his minutes will decrease.
Otherwise, he’s happy assuming the same role of Hart & Soul.
“We’ll see. My job is to come out there with energy and do the little things. And that’s what I’m going to try to do,” Hart told The Post. “He’ll come back, and obviously he’ll play big minutes and my minutes will go down.
“But my job is to go out there and have energy, contagious energy, be aggressive in my spots. And just be that glue guy, that utility guy, who lets people go out there and play their game.”
Hart is underselling himself a bit.
Without Anunoby, Randle and sometimes Jalen Brunson, Hart has become more of a playmaker while leading the team in total assists and rebounds since Jan. 30. That’s more than 20 percent of the season with Hart as the top facilitator.
But it’s also a product of availability and accumulation.
Since Anunoby went down, Hart averaged 40.7 minutes — the highest in the NBA for this 4 ½-week stretch.
He, Precious Achiuwa and Donte DiVincenzo picked up the slack left by the injuries and struggling newcomers, Bojan Bogdanovic and especially Alec Burks — who’ve proven unreliable since arriving from Detroit. Burks’ minutes were slashed to just five in Friday’s win over the Magic.
With Anunoby in the Knicks lineup for 14 games in January, Hart was a reserve averaging 27.7 minutes. So there’s an inevitable drop off on the horizon for Hart.
He and Anunoby can play together if the Knicks go small — as they did with their fourth-quarter “Death Lineup” in January — which means Hart will get more minutes as the backup power forward.
But the days of his averaging 40-plus are probably in the rearview upon the return of Anunoby — who underwent minor elbow surgery and, according to Tom Thibodeau, requires “the final step” of approval from the doctors for NBA game activation.
“He’s already [practiced]. So it’s just, see how he responds the next day, the doctor clears him, then he can go,” the coach said.
Achiuwa, a revelation since his insertion in the starting lineup, will also likely see his minutes decrease, especially when or if Julius Randle returns from his shoulder dislocation.
Randle’s recovery is less linear because of the pain associated with his injury and risk of re-aggravation.
He still hasn’t taken contact from players in practice.
Achiuwa, meanwhile, is averaging a double-double in the past 10 games (12.3 points, 10.1 boards).
“The game tells you what you need,” Thibodeau said. “As you move forward, you need everyone. Ideally, you have everyone, that’s the goal. If you have a full roster, you’re asking guys to sacrifice. We’ve asked that all year. That doesn’t change. Put the team first. That doesn’t mean you’re less valuable to us. Everybody on the roster is valuable to the team.”
What Thibodeau left out is that some players are more valuable than others.
In large part thanks to Hart and Brunson, the Knicks stayed afloat despite the injuries while going 8-9 since Anunoby and Randle missed their first games together.
But the defense took a massive hit and the Knicks, sitting fourth in the East, have bigger aspirations.
“Hopefully, we’ll get guys back and get back to the regularly scheduled programming,” Hart said.
For Hart, the regular programming means fewer minutes but the same effort.
Leave a Reply