New York Knicks: Veterans make plea to Kurt Rambis

The New York Knicks are in the bottom of the Eastern Conference with the season coming to an end, and now it’s time to develop young players.

Most teams out of contention for the playoffs generally give the veterans a little rest and instead play some younger players to try and see what they have to offer the team moving forward. Knicks’ head coach, Kurt Rambis, has been hesitant to make changes, but that may be changing.

“Those guys need to play, especially right now,” Anthony said to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “They need to be out there, they need playing time, they need playing experience. You can practice and do drills and one-on-one things all day long but you only get that experience by playing in an actual game.

“I think it’s good for them, I think it’s good for the morale of the team, I think it’s good for their confidence. Because sometimes in a situation like this, you can lose your confidence. And that’s something we don’t want.”

Anthony is the leader of this movement to try and get the young players some extra minutes, as he realizes the importance of giving minutes to young players.

“I went to Jose and (Lopez) to kind of see what they felt, that whole idea of, ‘If you’re playing 35 minutes, how about 30 minutes?’ Kind of spreading the minutes out and letting guys get other opportunities out there. And they were all for it. Then we went to Kurt and talked to Kurt about it,” Anthony said to Bondy. “I’ve never done that. I’ve never been in that situation. Like you said, usually it’s the coach saying we’re going to cut your minutes down coming down the stretch and saying, ‘We’re going to give other guys opportunities.’ Don’t get me wrong, I’d still like to be out there, just playing and competing. At this point, we can build guys like Jerian and Langston and (Williams) and (O’Quinn) and give those guys an opportunity they wouldn’t have or haven’t had in the past.”

Robin Lopez, who is a starter now, was in the same situation as some of the younger players on the Knicks and knows what it is like to get inconsistent minutes.

“I know how it is coming off the bench, getting infrequent minutes. I know how that is,” said Lopez to Bondy. “When you can get consistent minutes it can do wonders for how much you contribute, your confidence, so I know how that goes.”

The player that will likely benefit most from getting extra time on the court is point guard Jerian Grant. The Knicks selected Grant in the first-round of the NBA Draft, but he has had a hard time getting consistent minutes.

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“Hopefully, I can get minutes like (Wednesday night) and produce. All season, my minutes have been so inconsistent. It’s been tough to get into a rhythm. Hopefully, I can do a little something and prove I can be the starting guard on this team,” Grant said to Bondy. “As long as minutes come, I know I can go out there and be a great guard.”

If Calderon misses time with his quad injury that he suffered against the Dallas Mavericks, Grant should be getting those minutes. The use of younger players should have been something that happened a while ago, but it is good to see the veterans on the Knicks make a plea to the coach.