The New York Knicks tough decisions aren’t over. Throughout this season, one player has taken a substantial step backwards in their game. Kevin Knox is teetering on the ‘bust’ status.
Now, before everyone starts to get all up in the tizzy, he’s teetering. He’s not fully a bust, yet. The Knicks drafted Knox out of Kentucky and at the time, fans thought it was a good pick. These high school highlights would get any fan excited.
Maybe the pick was a little reach. But, after a strong combine Knox really appeared on teams radar. Then, he was 19-years-old, tremendous upside, lanky and still growing. Why not take a chance on the kid and performed great in the NCAA tournament.
Knox under-performed his rookie year but did get a lot of minutes to work on his game. His shooting percentage was one of the worst in the league for rookies, .370, and averaged 12.8 points in 28.8 minutes. While his rookie year wasn’t spectacular, there was still hope. This off-season the hope continued with his off-season progress, or so we thought.
After 54 games, the hope on Knox turning it around is starting to dwindle. Knox has been unbelievably bad this season. It doesn’t help that his minutes decreased from the start after all the free-agent signings. But, even when Knox gets time he doesn’t seem comfortable out there.
Knox seems lost out there for the Knicks. Everything about his game screams laziness, most of the time. He hasn’t looked good all season. There has been some spurts when he flashes the lane for a dunk or alley-oop but that’s it.
Over the past 9 games, Knox is averaging 4.2 points in 15 minutes per. The best thing for Knox to get his confidence back would be to take a stint with the Knicks G-League team. Ignas Brazdeikis should be given a chance as he’s killing it for Westchester.
While getting less minutes doesn’t help, it may be what’s best for Knox. The New York Knicks need to figure what to do with Knox as this season because his current play is only hurting his growth as a professional.