Knickstape Summer Jam: High Hopes Once Again
The Knicks ended the 2025 season in what is familiar fashion unfortunately, in another loss to our rival Pacers, this time in the Eastern Conference Finals. They gave the fans a great playoff run with ups and downs but ultimately ended just a couple games away from the almighty NBA Finals. And to be quite honest, the ECF was lost in game 1, because chances are if we close out that game like we should have, then we have a completely different series. However, that was not the case, and to give respect where it’s due the Pacers had a great run and advanced because they played better than us.
When the season ended, I couldn’t shake my season long intuition that something just was’t sitting right with me. There was a lot to be happy and grateful about being that this was the furthest the Knicks made it since 2000, which is before many Knicks fans could even remember watching NBA games. The magic of the 2024 Knicks just was not there, the heart and soul, the grittiness, it just did not feel the same. I never felt 100% right about trading Randle, the man who started the Knicks turnaround for this era, then we also gave away sharpshooter and fan favorite Donte DiVicenzo, who had a career year with us. Then on top of that we fired Thibs after the season, who is the most successful coach we had in a long time, as Knicks fans are not used to one coach having the type of success and tenure that he had here. Our problem with the Knicks for a long time was a lack of stability, so it was nice to have a long tenured successful coach. And I know this is controversial to some fans, as everyone pretty much had a love or hate relationship with Thibs and Randle, with few falling in between. Love or hate them, you got to at least be thankful for what they gave this franchise. All of this made me a little unsure of the type of team we were bringing to war night in and night out.
This brings me to where we are today, with the majority of the offseason moves having been completed. To start it off, I love our offseason signings. I thought we made really good moves that were all crucial for the Knicks needs, at bargains too. Jordan Clarkson for the vet minimum is a steal, and shoutout to Yabusele, just joining the team and taking a little bit of a pay cut to give the Knicks flexibility in using another vet minimum spot. Love adding a player willing to do that for our team. We probably also got some help from the new CBA rules, which we’re seeing max guys get paid $70+ million per year, but we’re seeing some of those middle guys be negatively affected like Yabu and Clarkson, as teams are likely being more cautious with those spots in wanting more freedom being wary of the second apron.
What Clarkson brings is a player that could create his own shot, another scorer to throw in. Having someone like that come off the bench is huge for us, we don’t really have anyone that could create their own shot like that besides Brunson, especially off the bench. Even KAT, as talented as he is and one half of our star duo, is not always the best at actually creating his own shot, thriving more off of the pick n roll or pick n pop. With Clarkson’s offensive prowess, we’ll see more open 3’s for Deuce, and if Hart is coming off the bench then Clarkson could help Hart on the break as well, and vice versa. Hart could also generate some open looks for Clarkson with his freight train like drives. Let’s not forget that Clarkson and Hart already have some chemistry with each other, having played together for a little bit on the Lakers. Just turning 33, Clarkson is at the age where he can still make a nice impact off the bench. On a tanking Utah team last year where Clarkson only played 37 games, he shot 36.2% from 3 and averaged 16.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists. We can estimate at this point that he will play around 20 minutes per game for us here, so if he can average at least 12 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists per game on efficient shooting, that would really help this team when the starters are off the floor. We will also see him mixed in with some of the starting 5 too of course, which will help him get nice open looks, definitely more than what he was used to in Utah.
The void Yabusele fills was a desperate need for us. We really needed a forward off the bench, and we got a damn good one. He’s a versatile forward off the bench who’s a big body, he can even play the 5 if necessary, although I don’t prefer that, since he is still only 6 ft 8, but it is nice to have that option. He can rebound, gives enough effort on defense (although I am not crazy about him switching on to fast guards), and shot 38% from 3 last year. To dive even deeper, he shot 71.3% from the field in the restricted area on 3.1 attempts per game, and shot 39.5% on above the break 3’s on 2.9 attempts per game. He clearly can be a top of the key threat, and for the Knicks to maximize his strengths we may see him in a lot of pick and pops with Brunson and Clarkson/Deuce. If he was a better passer I would want to see him more in that dribble hand off position at the top of the key as well a la Isaiah Hartenstein, but he is not quite known for that skillset and this is also a new coach with new schemes, etc. This is all a small sample size as last year was his first season back in the league from playing overseas, but if he can continue on the course he was on last year we will all be very happy with this signing,
With the other vet minimum we have, we have a minor need for some insurance at center. We all know Mitchell Robinson’s injury history so no need to even dive into that, but it would be nice to not have to worry about this and at least have some depth. I do have a lot of faith in Hukporti by the way, but the issue is just if Robinson goes down for an extended period then Huk will be our only true 5. We do have flexibility with this team whether that is KAT playing the 5 or Yabu stepping in, but KAT showed us last year what defense looks like with him at the 5 and Yabu as previously mentioned would be undersized. So again just some insurance would be nice. Bismack Biyombo is still available, and Kai Jones would be interesting.
All in all, it is safe to say we officially have a bench mob again. Deuce, Clarkson, Yabu, Huk, and potentially Hart off the bench? You kidding me? It’s hard not to get excited about that. We are deep, which we were not last year. Our bench is going to play a huge role in our success this season and I cannot wait to see them in action.
As for our new coach we hired, I will be honest that I was not crazy about him. If we did get him I was hoping for the rumored combo of Brown and James Borrego, which did not come to fruition. We’ll have to wait and see how we fills out his assistant roles, with new reports recently stating that Knickstape legend Pablo Prigioni will be interviewed for a spot, who Knicks fans will definitely welcome him with open arms.
Starting off, Mike Brown and Co. will have my full support. This was a very smart offseason, as they used year 1 of the Brunson – Kat to set the blueprint and see where we can improve around the edges, and this front office regime did not disappoint.
We’re deeper, more balanced, and hungrier than last year. Time to get hyped. Let’s Go Knicks!
- The Hoops Monk