missing at least the next two games<\/a>, including Monday at New Orleans, with an ankle sprain.<\/p>\nMcCullar earned more minutes than his projection because he was hitting shots and bottling up Atlanta\u2019s guards.<\/p>\n
Young, the former villain at MSG, went scoreless when defended by McCullar.<\/p>\n
Knicks guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (9) shoots against the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter at State Farm Arena. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
\u201c[McCullar] was scheduled on my little minutes sheet to come in at the 8-minute mark of the first quarter. I was going to throw him on Trae just to see what happens,\u201d coach Mike Brown said. \u201cKev\u2019s a young, really good defender, has a great feel on both ends of the floor, but especially that end of the floor. I wanted to give him a chance. I threw him out there a few minutes and he was fantastic. So, he just earned more minutes. I didn\u2019t have him down for that many minutes, but he definitely earned those minutes as the game went along.\u201d<\/p>\n
If McCullar indeed proves reliable, Brown\u2019s bench circle of trust has grown to include the following:<\/p>\n
Miles McBride (who has missed the past eight games with an ankle sprain but could return Monday).<\/p>\n
Mitchell Robinson (arguably the best offensive rebounder in the NBA).<\/p>\n
Jordan Clarkson (has played as advertised, running hot and cold).<\/p>\n
Tyler Kolek (improved defense allowing him more playing time and opportunities to flash playmaking).<\/p>\n
Mohamed Diawara (a rookie with an impressive wingspan and defensive ceiling who is slowly figuring out how to not mess up the offense).<\/p>\n
Landry Shamet (has missed over a month with a shoulder injury but remains hopeful for a return next month).<\/p>\n
McCullar (a fun comeback story after his senior season in college and rookie NBA campaign were derailed by a knee injury)<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what having a team is about,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI feel confident in all our guys. McBride has been out for a while, Landry has been out, so we\u2019ve got to go to the next man.<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh is out now with the ankle, so we\u2019ve got to go to the next man. We just want guys to give us what they\u2019re capable of. We don\u2019t want them to go outside their box, but we just want them to give us hard minutes the time that they\u2019re on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown deserves credit for experimenting with different lineups and players, instilling confidence and important reps in the process. These things might matter in the long run. <\/p>\n
The coach was hired with the direction of expanding the rotation and emphasizing player development. He\u2019s delivering, although the minutes for Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, in particular, are higher than the goal.<\/p>\n
For any Knicks fan who has followed the team since 2020, a natural reaction would be to cite these developments as justification for replacing Tom Thibodeau. The lack of bench usage was among the biggest knocks on the former Knicks coach.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s worth noting that only two of the seven players on the above trusted bench list \u2014 McBride and Kolek \u2014 were available to Thibodeau at this point last season.<\/p>\n
Knicks head coach Mike Brown on the sideline against the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter at State Farm Arena. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
New York Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson #00 reacts after he hits a three-point shot during the fourth quarter. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Shamet, Robinson and McCullar were injured a year ago; Diawara and Clarkson are new to the roster.<\/p>\n
So the personnel is different \u2014 though not quite as expected after the summer \u2014 and they\u2019re slowly rewarding the coach\u2019s faith. In Brown\u2019s system, there\u2019s an emphasis on movement, high motors and defensive intensity from the role players \u2014 which may help explain why Yabusele and Dadiet aren\u2019t making the cut.<\/p>\n
But the other youngsters are helping the Knicks navigate injuries, play defense and keep the starters\u2019 minutes manageable.<\/p>\n
In the process, Kolek, Clarkson and now McCullar have created their own highlights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW ORLEANS \u2014 It\u2019s not quite what the Knicks envisioned when they put this bench together, but it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1556,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-83076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-mike-brown","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}