Fifteen players have logged at least one minute of action for the New York Knicks this season. Mohamed Diawara is tied with Pacome Dadiet for dead last on the team in total court time That apparently isn't going to change until the Knicks start playing better.
Ahead of New York's Wednesday night win over the Chicago Bulls, head coach Mike Brown was asked about Diawara's lack of run to start the season. He proceeded to say that the sophomore won’t be peppered into the rotation until the Knicks got their act together, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
“So to get us on track, we’re going to hold the fort down with a veteran group of guys,” Brown explained. “Hopefully we get to the point sooner than later that I can start throwing those [young] guys out there.”
Working off two consecutive wins, you might think the Knicks are trending in that direction. Perhaps they are. But they needed to erase a 10-point lead to beat the Jalen Duren-less Detroit Pistons. Then, they fell behind by as many as 19 points to the not-at-all-good Bulls.
This is not the type of “on track” to which Brown refers. He is talking about a margin for error—the ability to experiment with developmental reps after the Knicks flesh out comfortable leads.
New York isn’t doing that yet. Until it does, Diawara will be impacted more than anyone. Tyler Kolek would be right there with him if not for Jose Alvarado’s ankle injury. But he’s parlayed that opportunity into a pair of nine-assist, zero-turnover performances. And this raises an uncomfortable issue with Diawara—one exacerbated by the win over the Bulls.
Mohamed Diawara’s playing time isn’t just about the Knicks’ struggles
Mike Brown is clearly willing to dole out opportunities on a rolling basis, and make adjustments based on how well everyone’s playing. Jordan Clarkson looked like he was on the outskirts of the rotation, only to reappear in the win over the Bulls. Both he and Kolek ended up getting more court time than Deuce McBride.
Some of those minutes could have technically gone to Diawara. He isn’t a guard, but the Knicks aren’t drowning in reserve wings. Diawara and Dadiet are the only non-centers on the bench standing taller than 6’5”. New York could upsize in secondary units. Relative to what Andre Drummond and James Wiseman have shown, they could also favor some no-center looks when Karl-Anthony Towns catches a breather. Diawara would certainly help during those moments.
The reluctance to explore the space with Mo just because the Knicks aren’t winning suggests they don’t view him as a helpful player right now. That slant coincides with how much he struggled during summer league, and then again in preseason.
It also makes you wonder whether Diawara is meeting the standard in practice. Coaches see everything behind those closed doors. If he were killing it, he’d have racked up more than one appearance through five games.
This isn’t a referendum on Diawara's entire future. But it’s a sobering reality check considering the flashes he showed last season, and the team’s decision to re-sign him over the summer.
While the Knicks clearly aren’t out on him, the preconditions they’ve set for him to play suggest they’re not as in on him as we initially thought, either.
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