With our beloved unicorn, Kristaps Porzingis, still rehabbing his torn ACL, someone is going to have to pick up the slack on offense for the New York Knicks. Â A lot of people would think that the person should be Tim Hardaway Jr., however, that may not be the case. Â Timmy will put up numbers, but is he going to be the main guy? Â The guy who may be called upon to be that guy is no other then Enes Kanter.
Yes, we said it.  Enes Kanter is going to be the main scoring option for the New York Knicks this season.  At first thought, I was like, “Did I just actually say that?† But, think about it.  Coach Fizdale had Marc Gasol and looked to increase Gasol’s production on the offense side in his first season coaching the Memphis Grizzlies.  So, maybe it actually isn’t that crazy.
First, we all know what Kanter can do rebounding wise.  He was an absolute beast grabbing boards last year averaging 11.0 a game.  Now, without KP, he is going to need to snag more rebounds this season, on both sides of the floor, for the Knicks to be in games.  It was only the pre-season, but in their home game against the Wizards, the Knicks couldn’t rebound and you can see Kanter was missed.  I imagine rebounding being like that all season, if Kanter isn’t on the court.
The year before Fizdale took over the Grizzlies, 2015-2016, Marc Gasol only took three 3-pointers.  After Fizdale became the coach, he encouraged Gasol to work on his 3-point shot, which in return, Gasol took 265 more 3-pointers in Fizdale’s first season.  That is an insane stat for a big man.  Although, that can explain why Kanter was posting videos of him practicing his 3-point shot this offseason.  This could also expand the opponents defense making them guard Kanter out at the 3-point line and leaving others open.
That same season, 2016-2017, Gasol averaged his career high in points with 19.5 points as compared to 16.6 points the previous year. Â His field goal percentage remained about the same, while increasing his free throw percentage.
Coach Fizdale did bring out a more scoring friendly Marc Gasol, so that could be the same case for Kanter.  At times, Kanter has shown that he can be a force in the paint.  Now, if you add a 3-point shot to his arsenal, we’d only expect to see an increase in points as well.  I’d expect some monster stat lines for Kanter this season.