Ahead of the New York Knicks' win over the Atlanta Hawks, head coach Mike Brown revealed that – despite the team's struggles to open games emphatically – he doesn't plan on making any changes to the starting lineup in this year's playoffs. The coach said the team has discussed going away from the group that has consistently lost their first-quarter minutes, but it seems like the Knicks have their group: for better or worse.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that the team has discussed a change. But once Brown put Josh Hart back in the starting five, it seemed unlikely the Knicks would stray away from seeing their "death lineup" as their most-trustworthy group of starters.
What is certainly surprising, though, is that the team was reportedly considering starting Landry Shamet. That's at least one of the ideas that was thrown around when the Knicks were discussing switching things up, according to the New York Post's Stefan Bondy.
Shamet suggested as Knicks starter amid internal discourse
It's one thing to put Mitchell Robinson's 7-foot rim-protecting presence under the basket for the playoffs. But starting Shamet, on a minimum contract, over any member of the Knicks' $170+ million starting lineup? While it's unknown whether or not the swap would have actually improved New York's chances of winning on a nightly basis, it would certainly have guaranteed a "loss" for their front office.
The team's braintrust is ultimately the group that deserves credit for inking Shamet to a minimum contract for the second-straight season. But the veteran sharpshooter being a better fit with the team's starting lineup, as they look to complement offensive stars like Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, would have been an acknowledgement of a major misfire by that same group of executives.
Knicks' core is good enough to win, but not in these groupings
It's that exact group that put together the Knicks as we know them: the team with the highest-paid starting lineup in the entire NBA. The group is loaded with talented players, as is the team's bench. But if those pieces continue to struggle to fit together, the individual quality or impact of those players stops mattering relative to their inability to produce results commensurate with less talented rosters.
The Knicks have put together high-quality stretches of play several times this season. They have defeated several different contenders in head-to-head matchups and kept it close with the reigning champions in each of their contests. But if they keep spotting their opponents points to start games, they're going to continue to really need to strap in to come back and win them at the end.