New York Knicks: 3 Important storylines to follow in training camp

New York Knicks: Will Tom Thibodeau deepen his rotation?

Head coach Tom Thibodeau has led numerous playoff teams throughout his head coaching career, but this may be the deepest roster that he’s ever had to work with. After normally running 8 or 9-man rotations during his time with the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves, he finally ran a 10-man rotation in New York last season.

The Knicks have the personnel to get even deeper this year. Veteran big Taj Gibson was arguably the team’s third-best player in the postseason, not to mention rookies Quentin Grimes and Miles McBride have shown enough to warrant some time on the court. As the team currently stands, none of the three would get minutes with a 10-man rotation.

Grimes is a sharpshooting wing who averaged 15.3 points per game while shooting 40.7% from three in the summer league. Defensive-minded point guard “Deuce” McBride wasn’t far behind, averaging 15.2 points and hitting exactly 50% of his attempts from behind the arc.

Thibodeau could theoretically find some consistent minutes for at least one of the aforementioned key depth pieces by extending his rotation to 11 or 12 players, as they would all be positive contributors to a winning basketball team.

Even if he doesn’t find them minutes right away, injuries are unfortunately part of every season and all three should see some playing time this year.

There will be lots of intriguing storylines to follow as the New York Knicks enter training camp with their sights set on winning a playoff series.