Last Man Standing?

If Landry Shamet can't go, what will the Knicks do with the last spot in the rotation? More importantly, does it matter?

Good morning! It’s the last bit of calm before the storm tonight, with one final preseason game tipping off at 7:00 pm in Washington. After that, it’s on to Boston. Today, we’ll try to answer the most obvious question remaining before the real games begin.

Also, stay tuned for an email about a subscriber chat at some point this weekend, likely on Sunday morning. Catch y’all then.

News & Notes

🏀 It was all anyone could talk about for a solid 48 hours, so even though we’ve collectively moved past the DiVincenzo / Rick Brunson incident, this tweet from Ian Begley yesterday seems worth pointing out:

Glad to hear it.

🏀 Per Fred Katz, the Knicks have hired CB Garrett to replace former manager of coaching analytics Nick Restifo, who left for the Hawks. Garrett was last with the Bucks.

🏀 Isaiah Hartenstein will be re-evaluated in five to six weeks after sustaining a small, non-displaced fracture in his left hand during the second half of Tuesday’s preseason game in Denver. Unfortunate break for the former Knick.

🏀 The sad drum beat of a career gone sideways continues: Kawhi Leonard is expected to miss “indefinite time” to start the season as he continues to rehab his right knee.

ICYMI…

I spoke with new Athletic Knicks beat reporter James Edwards III on Wednesday, and I’d strongly recommend checking it out if you haven’t yet listened. Edwards brings a fresh perspective to the team after having covered the Pistons for the last seven years, and it was great to hear his early opinions on the squad.

Oh, and his pick for league MVP? Jalen Brunson, of course.

Last Man Standing?

It has to be considered something of a shocker that four days from the opening game of a season with championship expectations, not only do we not know who the last spot in the rotation will go to, but that the list of potential candidates could arguably reach double digits - including several players not currently on the roster.

That may seem insane, but just 72 hour ago, so did the idea of camp signee TJ Warren even making the team. Now, he might be the leader in the clubhouse for the ninth spot.

Such is life when you’re up against the second apron and forced to make compromises in the back of your rotation.

Not that the Knicks are unique in their plight. Almost every team has at least one question mark somewhere among their top nine or 10 players. As max contracts have exploded and apron penalties get more stringent, teams are scrapping and clawing to overcome the rules.

That’s not in doubt. What remains to be seen is how big of a deal this actually is.

At the moment the Knicks are healthy outside of Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shamet. For that reason, as long as their starting five is intact, it’s fair to assume that the ninth spot won’t wind up mattering too much.

For proof, take a look at last season’s Boston Celtics. Like this year’s Knicks, they had a gangbusters starting five, a rock solid sixth man (Al Horford), two solid bench pieces (Hauser and Pritchard) and a bunch of big question marks throughout the rest of the roster.

During last year’s 8-2 start in which all five starters were healthy, the Celtics’ ninth man played the following minute totals over those 10 games: 8:00, 10:12, 10:42, 11:03, 10:30, 4:23, 3:05, 8:35, 8:47 and 0:00. That’s an average of 7:31 per game - not exactly outcome altering stuff.

So this may be much ado about nothing for the time being. The hope has to be that before one of the core pieces suffers some sort of malady (spoiler alert - the starters will not play all 82 games), they find a reliable contributor somewhere within the roster.

Let’s look at the candidates.