Guerschon Yabusele will be suiting up for the New York Knicks in the upcoming season. When he does so, he'll be bringing a combination of physical play and overall versatility that no one else on the roster is truly able to offer.
Compared to Karl-Anthony Towns, Yabusele offers quite a bit more muscle, ability to finish through contact, and overall toughness on the interior. That is something that's going to matter over the course of a long season, especially one where the Knicks are expected to contend for the title of top team in the East.
Yabusele is going to have plenty of success bullying small defenders, defending stronger forwards in the paint, and just making life more difficult for the opposition on both ends of the floor.
One of the ways in which Yabusele is going to affect things for this next squad is in providing flexibility. He's going to bring enough shooting power to the floor to space things out, and if another wing on the roster goes down, it will allow Mike Brown to shift around the frontcourt without totally collapsing the spacing.
Yabusele will provide Mike Brown greater options
Defensively, Guerschon should prove to be a big difference maker. We know that KAT is a great shooter and playmaker, but his impact defensively has been up and down throughout his career. Some would argue that this is due to the lack of physicality Towns brings in certain matchups.
Yabusele will be able to close this gap quite a bit. When the Knicks are playing against bigger, more physical lineups, Guerschon gives New York someone who can absorb a lot more contact in the frontcourt. And against small ball or teams that are more switch-heavy, Yabusele's versatility gives you balance because you can stagger him in different spots to handle certain lineup combinations.
Part of the reason why Yabusele remains such an underrated addition for this Knicks squad is because his return to the NBA was predicated on success at the international level. What growing up overseas allowed him to do was form a certain maturity where he can now perform under pressure.
That's going to loom large this season with New York having the pressure of high expectations on their shoulders. We've seen Knicks coaches praise his work ethic, and his ability to return to the best league in the world and play at a high level. Guerschon Yabusele is not someone who's going to fold under pressure, and I believe he's going to write his name into the hearts of Knicks fans very quickly.