The New York Knicks have high hopes for second-year man Kevin Knox. The franchise took a chance in 2018 taking him 9th overall and it hasn’t been what they’ve hoped.
Knox’s former coach John Calipari said “It’s going to take time.â€Â The Knicks are giving it time as his second-year was not what fans expected. It didn’t help the team added a lot of veteran power forwards either.
Calipari continued on a conference call reports Daily News’ Stefan Bondy. “What you don’t want to do, and teams have done this in that league, is they give up on a young, young player too soon, and now all of a sudden the whole thing in New York would be, ‘Well, what if we had him? We gave him away. We should’ve held on longer, why did we do that?’ Young guys take longer to develop, especially when they’re big. Guys with his size and skill, the game is going to him.â€
Knox recently started to turn his game around before the season was suspended due to COVID-19. You can see he was playing with confidence more so than any part of the season. He was aggressive and doing more on defense. His stats weren’t incredible but it was a start. Knicks interim head coach Mike Miller had confidence in him throughout despite not giving him many minutes.
Knox still isn’t even 21-years old and has major potential. Even when the Knicks drafted him Calipari said “he’s a project.â€Â But with Knox’s athleticism, length and wingspan, the finished product should be something special.
The Knicks have a lot of hope in Knox it just didn’t pan out this season. That doesn’t mean they’re giving up on him. It was a up-and-down first season then a bad sophomore season but there’s still hope. If needed, Knox should take a vacation to G-league Westchester to find that confidence he once had.
If the Leon Rose and the new coach are on the same page, Knox’s development should be a top priority. The New York Knicks need to instill confidence in him and watch him grow.