New York Knicks: Why Tim Hardaway Jr. is more important than you think
The New York Knicks have 20 players on the roster at the moment and 15 of them are 25 years old or younger. With this, many of the players are inexperienced and young, so they are reliant on some of the vets for help, enter Tim Hardaway jr.
Tim Hardaway jr. is entering only his sixth season in the NBA but according to New York Knicks reporter Ian Begley, he has reportedly assumed a veteran role on a team full of youngsters.
Knicks' Tim Hardaway Jr. says he's embraced a leadership role with his younger teammates, texting and calling them over the course of the offseason in an effort to establish a culture in NY.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) September 24, 2018
Of the five youngest teams in the NBA last season (the Magic, Nets, Hornets, Nuggets and Raptors) only one of them made the playoffs. Between the five of them the average number of losses was 43.2.
This being said it is very important for a team full of youngsters to have that leader on the team to help out the new guys, and that guy appears to be Tim Hardaway jr. for the Knicks.
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The average age for the Knicks ahead of the 2018-19 season is 24.35, which puts them right up there with the youngest teams in the league. With this in mind having a guy like Tim Hardaway jr. is critical to a team’s success.
Especially without your franchise’s best player in Kristaps Porzingis, which means it is very important for the younger guys to gel in his absence.
If the young guns like Kevin Knox, Frank Ntilikina, Trey Burke, Emmanuel Mudiay, Mitchell Robinson and others can produce a good product on the court without Porzingis, then they can most certainly do it with him.
We saw what Burke and Mudiay are capable of as they showed a lot of improvement down the stretch last season, but we have yet to see the rest of them. We saw tidbits of Frank Ntilikina but as he only averaged 21.9 minutes a game last year, we haven’t gotten a true feel for his game.
Not only that, but the fact that he has put on 10-15 pounds this offseason puts him on a new level.
Knicks' Kevin Knox says he's been impressed by Frank Ntilikina's aggressive nature on offense during pickup games. He says Ntilikina’s attacked the pick-and-roll in those settings.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) September 24, 2018
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With the addition of 10-15 pounds Ntilikina has become a much more aggressive player and this will allow us to see a lot of improvement on the court.
With Tim Hardaway jr.’s help, we could see these youngsters gel allowing for the creation of a basketball culture in the Big Apple.