Well, the Knicks got this far into the season without any major injuries……couldn’t expect that to go on forever. They’re the Knicks, of course, they have to deal with some kind of adversity because why not? Mitchell Robinson was forced to exit early on Friday against the Wizards after just 19 minutes of play with what seemed to be a pretty bad hand injury. Later we found out that the injury was indeed a hand fracture that will require surgery and approximately 4-6 weeks of recovery time. While the loss will certainly hurt the Knicks and their top-10 defense, it’s not really the end of the world.
Nerlens Noel has filled in admirably in Robinson’s absence so far and has also had quite the season in his own right even when Robinson was healthy. Noel has averaged 2 blocks and 5.2 rebounds per game in just 18.2 minutes per game so far this year. You really can’t ask for much more out of a backup center.
While Noel was purposely acquired to substitute in for Mitchell Robinson when he’d head to the bench as a bouncy, defensive-minded big-man, the Knicks could potentially look to see what other centers might be available for trade.
Should the Knicks explore trade options to fill the hole at center?
The 5-spot in the NBA has become what the running back is to the NFL, in that teams could get pretty far along without having one of the premier players at the position and can plug-and-play a 2 or 3-man rotation of centers and still find success. Slowly but surely, traditional centers are being phased out of the game and are only being used as big bodies to help clean up the glass and prevent easy baskets at the rim. Similar to the NFL, a lot of teams are opting to not pay big-men and instead use a 3-headed monster that when combined can do a little bit of everything you’d expect from the star centers of years past, and so the market for centers has dwindled. When teams can get players like Nerlens Noel and Marc Gasol on the cheap, why pay $20+ million to a guy that doesn’t do much more for the team on the court.
That being said, I think the Knicks would be wise to scour the trade market for a center to fill in for Mitch’s temporary absence. Maybe the Knicks can steal a gem away from another team as they climb the Eastern Conference rankings.
I think Mo Bamba’s days in Orlando are numbered.
Similar to a trade my colleague Jeremy wrote about here at Daily Knicks, Mo Bamba is surely to be on the move but this time, instead of to Cleveland, Bamba is coming home to New York City!
Born and raised in Harlem, the former Texas Longhorn was held in high regard coming into the 2018 NBA draft. Known for having the longest wingspan in the NBA, breaking Rudy Gobert’s record at 7’10 paired with great athleticism and size, Bamba seemed like he’d be a surefire NBA contributor. The fit in Orlando was questionable from Day 1 as the Magic already had a superstar manning the 5-spot in Nikola Vucevic. Some thought the all-star big Vucevic would be moved sometime after Orlando drafted Bamba but unfortunately, Mo never lived up to his expectations. While he has shown flashes over the last 2+ seasons, Bamba has fallen entirely out of Orlando’s rotation in favor of overseas journeyman Khem Birch.
The Magic have shown interest in Frank Ntilikina before, so adding him to their already weak guard rotation could help them out a lot in their rebuild to-be. After losing Markelle Fultz to a season-ending ACL tear, Orlando was forced to feed rookie Cole Anthony to the wolves and has started the season as the leading point guard. Coach Steve Clifford is similar to Coach Thibs as he’s an old-school, defensive-minded guy, so a player like Ntilikina may flourish under his tutelage.
Bamba would do well learning from guys like Taj Gibson and Nerlens Noel, while also under a revamped developmental staff here in NYC. This trade would relegate Taj Gibson to the end of the bench and would act as more of a coach than a backup. Bamba would be injected into a competition for minutes at center, and whenever Mitch returns, either Noel or Bamba would have sole possession of the backup job.
Andre Drummond on the Knicks makes all the sense right now
Another New York reunion, you say? Why not?
The former Mount Vernon native seems almost destined to play in the Big Apple. It just makes too much sense.
Andre Drummond is currently averaging 17.5 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. Put that next to Julius Randle’s 22.4 points per game and 11.1 boards and the Knicks might just have themselves the best frontcourt in the league. The major downside to this trade would be that it would certainly force Mitchell Robinson out of the starting rotation but if the Knicks are looking to win a series in the playoffs this year, they’d surely be better off with Drummond over Robinson, at least for this year.
I’m only considering this trade if I’m Leon Rose under two conditions — 1) We have a handshake agreement in place for a fairly priced Andre Drummond extension and 2) The Knicks believe they’re better suited moving Mitchell Robinson in exchange for a star on the wing or a far superior point guard to what’s on the current roster. If not, no deal, don’t even think about it.
Reuniting Damyean Dotson AKA #WholeTeamDot would be a lot of fun, as he’s been a fan favorite since being drafted in the second round of the 2017 NBA draft out of Houston. Bringing Dotson back would not only make the fanbase happy but also provides the Knicks with extra depth at either the shooting guard or small forward positions. Dotson is a career 35% shooter from 3-point range which would help the Knicks shooting off the bench tremendously.
The Knicks could use a center that does things a little differently
This trade helps both teams. With Chris Boucher stealing Aron Baynes’ starting gig right out from under him, a change of scenery could help revitalize Baynes’ season. Baynes would provide an element to the center position that the Knicks have not had for quite some time — someone who can shoot from deep. While Baynes is struggling this year, he shot 34% and 35% from deep over the last two seasons. Baynes was quietly the 2nd best player on the Phoenix Suns next to Devin Booker while the team waited for Deandre Ayton to return to the lineup from his suspension. In fact, for the month of November in 2019 Baynes averaged 15.1 points, 5.3 rebounds while shooting an astounding 45% from 3-point range.
On the other side of the trade, Elfrid Payton gets moved to another contending team so convincing him to waive his No-Trade clause shouldn’t be much of an issue. Since the Raptors use both Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry in their starting lineup, they don’t have a quality backup point guard behind the two, so Payton would fill a huge role for Toronto.
If we could find a way to get Aron Baynes to return to his 2019-2020 form, this deal would be an absolute fleecing. I’m waiting for the day the Knicks get Masai Ujiri back for that ill-advised Andrea Bargnani trade from way back when.