Here's hoping OG Anunoby enjoyed the stretches last season in which he played center. The Andre Drummond signing basically ensures those stints will be more prevalent next year.
Adding the 6’11” big man, on a minimum contract, following Mitchell Robinson’s departure is a no-harm, no-foul transaction. The New York Knicks are considerably downgrading their defense with Drummond, but he’s a warm body who can eat up regular-season minutes, particularly when his recently minted corner-three jumper is falling.
Even so, the soon-to-be 33-year-old is far less matchup-proof than Robinson. Though Drummond has graduated out of Hack-A territory, he can really only defend in deep drop coverage, and isn’t much of a deterrent in that scheme. Last year, he ranked in the 5th percentile of rim points saved per 100 possessions, and hasn’t placed higher than the 37th percentile since 2022.
Ipso facto, there will be matchups in which he can’t play consistent minutes, if any minutes at all. We saw as much during his latest playoff run. That to some extent places additional pressure on Karl-Anthony Towns to maintain his defensive masterclass to close last year. It also augurs more small-ball minutes with Anunoby in the middle.
The Knicks aren’t too familiar with OG Anunoby-at-the-5 lineups yet
Despite breaking out OG-at-center arrangements more frequently than they did the year before last, those units saw just 78 total minutes across the regular season and playoffs. During that time, New York was outscored by a total of 16 points.
These mini-stints fared better during the playoffs, but the sample size isn’t large enough to be indicative of anything. And that’s basically the point.
Not even 3 percent of Anunoby’s total minutes, across both the playoffs and regular season, came without a big alongside him. This share is going to skyrocket if the roster holds in its current form.
Never mind how you feel about Drummond. He and Towns are presently the only true bigs under contract. OG-at-the-5 will be subject to more volume no matter how well both are playing and defending, just based on the thinner margins within which the rotation is working.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for New York
Turning to more Anunoby-at-center looks could end up being good for the team. It increases the number of possessions in which they deploy true five-out groups, and they have enough perimeter defensive versatility to help make up for a lack of size around the rim and on the glass.
Still, juicing Anunoby’s center reps could exact a steeper physical toll. Given how available he’s been these past two seasons, playoff hamstring injury and all, the risk of overworking him is real.
To that end, the Knicks aren’t done filling out the roster. With second-round pick Jack Kayil likely headed back overseas, and assuming Tyler Nickel gets a rookie-minimum deal, they have at least one more roster spot to fill.
If that slot gets doled out to a big, New York may not be ramping up for as many Anunoby-at-the-5 reps as it seems. Yet, even if the Knicks do add another center, the odds of him being good enough to diminish the currently rising importance of OG-in-the-middle lineups aren’t very high.
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