We have seen thibs have success with these small, fast benches before. Obviously they aren’t the scoring punch Quickley and DRose were, but in terms of pushing the pace and changing the flow of the game from the starters. We still need a wing, but I have come around on the possibility that our bench will be ok. Kolek may still be a year away, but what he does well translates right away. He will get out on the break, distribute and hit shots. Hoping he can play the non-Brunson minutes and McBride can focus on what he does best as the de-facto backup SG. He will see a lot of minutes (probably 28-30mpg most nights) as our starting wings slide up in the rotation. I don’t see McBride having a Quickley jump because he does lack the creation, but as long as the shooting holds up he will be great this year and see another statistical jump. He held up in the playoffs so I believe he’s legit. Maybe Payne sees a bit more opportunity early on, but I see Kolek as a better fit as a bench initiator in non-Brunson minutes. Shamet is a winner and hopefully just gives us the spot up shooting on the wing. But the key going forward will be the Knicks ability to develop later picks into quality rotation players for cheap. It was Quickley before, then McBride. Hopefully we get more from McBride and add another success in Kolek.
I think Deuce takes on the Quickly role of a couple years ago for sure.
