So much for Guerschon Yabusele being the steal of the offseason.
Yes, yes, yes. This falls into the “overreaction” bin. The New York Knicks’ season isn’t yet five games old. Landing Yabusele for most of the mini mid-level exception over the summer is not a move for which the team must feel buyer’s remorse.
Not yet, anyway.
That in itself is sort of the problem. Yabusele’s addition was considered a home run, someone whose strengths would buoy the Knicks from the jump. He can shoot threes, has a bit of a floor game, and despite not being the sturdiest defender, holds his own in space, and unlocks downright lethal five-out lineups when manning the 5 spot.
Through the early part of New York’s schedule, though, Yabusele is not playing as advertised.
Guerschon Yabusele bright spots are hard to come by
To Yabu’s credit, he has helped the Knicks on the offensive glass. Their offensive rebounding rate skyrockets with him on the floor, which is a pretty big deal when you consider how often they’re bricklaying from deep. New York is actually boarding 50 percent of its three-point misses when Dancing Bear is in the game.
Aside from a few moments’ worth of nifty screen-setting, the Yabusele praise ends here.
The 29-year-old is shooting under 15 percent on threes (1-of-7), and has made just one of his three two-point attempts. His defense is just as lamentable. He is getting blown by both on and off the ball, and the Knicks, not surprisingly, are fouling more often while he’s on the floor, in addition to seeing opponents reach the rim at a higher rate.
These struggles are an extension of New York’s second unit at large. The bench is enduring absences and slumps galore. Yet, in nearly every facet of the game, Yabusele very much looks like someone still working his way into regular-season shape.
That’s a patented bummer. Yabusele did not miss time to start the year, like Josh Hart. He is not, as far as we know, playing through a pretty severe injury, like Karl-Anthony Towns. Learning curves are understandable when joining a new team—expected even. That must be caked into the Yabusele experience. Thus far, though, his issues extend past that runway.
The Knicks need Yabusele more than they realized
Defaulting to “Yabusele will inevitably be better” is totally fair. He won’t miss wide-open threes forever, and ever, and ever, until the end of time, and beyond. But the Knicks need the resurgence to come sooner rather than later. They are working with a smaller margin for error than they anticipated.
Depth is supposed to be a strength of this roster. Right now, it’s not. The bench is a net-negative on the season, and non-starters are shooting under 28 percent from distance, as well as less than 35 percent inside the arc.
Yabusele’s own issues graduate to untenable when you consider New York’s overarching uncertainty up front. Nobody seems to know what the heck is going on with Robinson, who has yet to debut, and Towns has so often looked like he could use an extended breather, as he attempts to gut out his quad injury.
Navigating these wrinkles verges on impossible when Yabusele is playing like this. The Knicks remain talented enough at the top to win a bunch of games anyway. But the concept of “dependable depth” goes out the window if he’s not even close to the player they thought that they signed—and so many thought that they stole.