Josh Hart and Jericho Sims can have some company backing up Julius Randle at power forward.
Center Isaiah Hartenstein is an option as well, coach Tom Thibodeau said after Wednesday’s practice.
Each Sims and Hartenstein have been understanding at each the power-forward and center spots, in keeping with the coach.
“[Hartenstein] and Jericho, they play very effectively together. And oftentimes, I’ll go more by how they’re being defended, who have they got their 4 on, who have they got their 5 on?” Thibodeau said.
Hartenstein played a whole lot of 4 growing up, so he’s a minimum of somewhat used to it.
The most important difference is spacing and reading what his teammates are doing in comparison with initiating offense more on the 5.
Either way, it feels like the 2 will share the court together at times against greater lineups.
A 12 months ago, Sims and Hartenstein were on the court at the identical time for 128 minutes, mostly when Obi Toppin was out because of injury.
The Knicks rebounded thoroughly in those instances, producing a sky-high offensive rebounding percentage of 37.9.
They were, it ought to be noted, outscored by the opposition by 3.1 points per 100 possessions in that alignment and averaged only 106.3 points per 100 possessions.
“I believe when me and Jericho are on the court, they’ll probably want me to be within the passing game so I’ll be more [playing the 5] that way I can facilitate,” Hartenstein said. “But then just in pick-and-roll stuff, just attempting to space out the court, read what they’re doing and just make everyone’s life easier.”
Thibodeau began off his media session offering condolences to the family of Brendan Malone, who passed away on Tuesday on the age of 81.
The daddy of Nuggets coach Mike Malone, Brendan Malone served three stints as an assistant coach with the Knicks and grew up in Astoria, Queens.
“All-time great coach, great guy. I learned a ton from him,” said Thibodeau, who was on the identical staff as Malone with the Knicks from 1996-2000.
“He was a terrific example for a young coach to follow each on the court and off the court. Thoughts and prayers to his wife, Maureen, and to Michael and their entire family. But Recent York City legend, high-school coach, five-star coach, Knick assistant, several-times a head coach. He’s a terrific coach, period, but a terrific man.”
The Knicks proceed to bring along Hart slowly after he played within the FIBA World Cup.
Hart didn’t play within the preseason opener and is being given a break.
“We just wanna be sure that he’s completely healthy before we completely ramp him up,” Thibodeau said.
