WE HERE! The NY Knicks just won Game 2 against the Atlanta Hawks and the city is rockin!
It was a tough battle from start to finish.
The first half was difficult to watch at times because even though the Knicks looked solid on defense, they couldn’t stop Atlanta from scoring at will.
In the second half, the whole team started to come alive and the Knicks ultimately won the game 101-92.
It wasn’t pretty, but a W is a W at the end of the day.
Prior to the game starting, there was some speculation that there may be a Mitchell Robinson sighting due to a very cryptic Tweet from him as well as a random news drop that his injury status had been upgraded to “Game Time Decision”.
With Nerlens Noel’s availability up in the air, there may have been no better time to have the Knicks’ star big-man back.
Alas, not only did Nerlens Noel end up being fine and starting the game but no Mitch either.
A lot of hype for not a whole lot of reason, but it was a fun few hours.
Speaking of the centers, there’s no chance all 4 of today’s centers on the roster will be back next year.
Should the NY Knicks draft a center in the upcoming 2021 NBA Draft?
Mitchell Robinson is entering the final year of his rookie contract and the Knicks’ front office has a huge decision on their hands.
They have leverage in the negotiations now but won’t at the same time next season because Robinson can easily just enter unrestricted free agency and leave for nothing if the Knicks don’t pay him what he wants.
If he asks for too much then the Knicks may explore the idea of trading him.
If he is ultimately re-signed, that makes Noel’s return far less likely because he has also earned himself a nice contract next year and it just wouldn’t make a ton of sense paying 2 centers so much when the position itself is no longer a premier position in the NBA.
Taj Gibson would be great to have back but he’ll be turning 36 soon and who knows how much gas he’s got left in the tank.
Finally, Norvel Pelle was basically just brought on as an insurance policy for if either of the 2 previously mentioned centers would go down to an injury, so who knows if he’ll be back next year or not.
That being said, there may be a hole in NY’s center rotation, and with 4 draft picks in the upcoming 2021 NBA Draft, it would make a lot of sense for the Knicks to target a center.
Here are 3 centers the Knicks could realistically target with picks 19, 21, and 32.