Counting all the ways Mike Brown is attempting to change the New York Knicks can get exhausting. The list of shifts in strategy are seemingly endless. They are not getting any shorter, either, because we’re adding another development to track: OG Anunoby playing center.
Brown rolled out the almost-never-before-seen look in the Knicks’ season-opener. Anunoby logged a grand total of two minutes alongside Jalen Brunson, Deuce McBride, Mika Bridges and Landry Shamet, a short-burst antidote to the Cleveland Cavaliers slotting Evan Mobley at center. (Spoiler alert: It looked good.)
This isn’t nearly enough court time to suggest a trend. But it is a continuation of the “Just try stuff” philosophy Brown has so far championed since taking over for Tom Thibodeau. Plus, even if he intended to be rigid in his lineup offerings, the Knicks’ injury situation currently demands the experimenting persist.
The Knicks’ frontcourt is banged up
New York will need to be more deliberate in carving out OG-at-center blips when its big-man rotation is healthy. Right now, it’s not.
Mitchell Robinson has yet to make his season debut, and no one knows when that’ll change. Are the Knicks being overly cautious? Is his ankle already acting up? Are they being overly cautious because his ankle is already acting up? They have thus far left it up to the imagination.
Leaning on Karl-Anthony Towns to man the middle should be the default under the circumstances. Except, it can’t be. Towns is apparently attempting to play through, what he himself says, is a Grade 2 quad strain—an injury that typically costs NBA players weeks of action. After New York initially listed him as doubtful ahead of their regular-season opener, it would be a genuine shocker (and, potentially, reckless)if he doesn’t miss time moving forward.
This threatens to leave New York’s center rotation in relative tatters. We already know Ariel Hukporti will play a bigger role in the rotation when Robinson sits out, but the Knicks have already needed to dust off Trey Jemison III, who’s on a two-way contract.
We could see more Anunoby at the 5 going forward
Using more of Guerschon Yabusele at center is the most convenient counter to a hollowed-out frontcourt rotation. But that puts a hard cap on New York’s defensive ceiling, and more importantly, he alone isn’t enough to offset the issues this team is facing. The Knicks will need to chisel out minutes elsewhere.
Enter OG-at-the-5.
This is not a blueprint New York should overuse. So many teams are running dual-big frontcourt again, and Anunoby should not bear the weight of having to regularly tussle with them.
Still, certain matchups will allow for it. The Knicks have already seen as much right out of the gate. Brown may be even more inclined to give this kind of lineup a whirl when Josh Hart’s own awkward injury situation gets resolved, since he’s someone else who can help guard bigger bodies.
At the very least, the Knicks should be able to explore Anunoby-at-center units more than they did under Tom Thibodeau—which is to say, they could continue exploring them at all. Frankly, at this rate, they may have no choice.