Josh Hart is not your average role player. He knows that, the Knicks know that, and the entire fanbase knows that. Hart is the connector for so many things the Knicks do, from his elite positional rebounding, his ever-improving playmaking skills, and his relentless hustle.
He doesn't just make the Knicks better. Often, Hart's performance is the determining factor in whether the Knicks win or lose. He likely has the most responsibility of any "role player" in the league. Hart is the X-Factor to the extreme.
That's obvious when he's playing well, but it's perhaps more obvious when he's struggling, like he did to start the season. Hart scored 11 total points in his first four games, and the Knicks went 1-3. When he's off his game, there's such a big dimension missing from the Knicks on both sides of the ball.
He followed that up with three good games in a row, scoring double-figures in each, all wins for the Knicks. I'm not a math genius, but the team being 1-3 when he scores under 10 points and 3-0 when he scores over 10 points seems pretty straightforward to me; the Knicks go as Josh Hart goes.
Knicks need Josh Hart to reach their ceiling
Of course teams win more games when important players play well, but Hart's presence is more urgent than that. For the Knicks to make the NBA Finals like they believe they can, Hart has to be as good or better than he was last season. That's because his role can't be replicated. There isn't a "better version of Josh Hart" out there to acquire via trade or buyout, and other players on the team can't compensate for the value he provides in all facets of the game. There's a reason he averaged almost 38 minutes per game last season. Well, two reasons: he's almost always a positive-impact player and he was coached by Tom Thibodeau.
Fans were clamoring for Josh Hart to be traded after one week of the season, which was patently ridiculous, but it does show just how much of a role he plays in the Knicks' success. Few other role players would be eviscerated the way Hart was after some clunkers. That's kind of an honor, right? Right?
It wasn't just Hart who took a few games to look more comfortable in Mike Brown's system, which is clearly a departure from the Thibs' system everyone got used to in years past. In fact, Karl-Anthony Towns still looks like he's getting used to it. When everyone gets on the same page, the fully unlocked Knicks will arrive, and Hart will be as important as ever.