Knicks Already at a Tyler Kolek Crossroad

Metropolitan sports fans may not like it — particularly when it comes to the blue gridiron contingent — but fall fortunes of the New York Knicks may rely on an Eagle.

A 4-5 record in the NBA is nowhere near the catastrophe it is in the NFL, but each passing Knicks effort pushes the franchise closer to a disturbing new normal if planned emergences don’t come to pass.

With its most recent showing being a 132-121 defeat to the Indiana Pacers, New York looked maddeningly mediocre in a tough week. While other slipping Eastern Contenders have taken up the negative headlines, the Knicks have dropped three of four after getting through a brutal opening stretch that saw them face each of their conference semifinal brothers last spring.

The truly frustrating bit of the Knicks’ early woes is that none of them are instantly fixable and the solutions rely heavily on patience and assumption: Precious Achiuwa, Cameron Payne, and Mitchell Robinson will be back eventually. A team that features only four players from its opening night roster from 2023 is more than capable of generating chemistry.

Other ideas are staring the Knicks in the face but they’re avoiding eye contact, even if Tyler Kolek has been impossible to ignore.

Kolek was one of the more intriguing selections of the NBA’s newly-intalled second day of the draft last June: New York moves a few floors up on the draft elevator to obtain his services, which were good enough to earn a plethora of individual honors at the Big East level during his time at Marquette.

Undersized and ailing from a late oblique injury, it was clear that Kolek was a project pick, one more likely destined for an impact with Westchester’s Knicks rather than Manhattan’s. The selection of Kolek, however, was an intriguing shift in draft focus for the Knicks.

He was a selection of luxury, one where the Knicks embraced the idea of obtaining the so-called best player available rather than fulfilling any pressing need. Kolek’s arrival was a reward of sorts after the Knicks took in prior drafts as spectators and barterers. There was, of course, the understanding that Kolek was always going to be a project pick but he was someone that fulfilled the Knicks’ needs both now and later.

So why aren’t the Knicks trusting Kolek now?

Kolek has more or less responded well to the limited challenges the Knicks have offered him so far: he’s shooting over 69 percent from the field, has posted an offensive rating of 135, and is averaging about 30 points a game per 100 possessions. Most of that work has come in mop-up duty but Kolek has been the de facto replacement for Payne while he deals with hamstring issues.

Yet, there’s a reluctance to use Kolek that’s biting the Knicks early on: he got 16 minutes in Friday’s win over Milwaukee but that was followed by a two-minute showing in the aforementioned loss to the Pacers. The Knicks played eight men total in Sunday’s loss: Indiana, on the other hand, played nine men with at least minutes … and that was with veteran depth stars like Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, and Obi Toppin sidelined.

No one said Kolek was going to be an instant fixture of the Knicks’ rotation and it’s fully fair to push him back to student mode once New York gets its full contingent back. Kolek has made it clear he’s willing to accept such an assignment, knowing that a year of watching Jalen Brunson could carry greater weight than nights in White Plains.

For the time being though, the Knicks need Kolek on the floor and should willingly embrace that. An instant test would prove beneficial for what the Knicks are trying to build and help them inch close to a relatively monumental goal.

New York is already losing ground in the premature race for first place on the Eastern Conference leaderboard. It certainly helps that everyone beyond Cleveland and Boston is aggressively mediocre in the early going but it would’ve been wise for the Knicks to improve their Eastern standing.

Despite last season’s second-place finish, few, if any, believed that they were any formidable challenge for the eventual Beantown champions after they finished 14 games behind them. Yes, the NBA season is a lengthy marathon but a team like the modern Knicks needs to accumulate as many wins as possible if they’re planning on making any major statements on the NBA bulletin.

With that in mind, the Knicks opted for a gambit of newfound familiarity: the “Nova Knicks” arc was partly abandoned and they also tried stockpiling former Phoenix Suns like Payne, Mikal Bridges, Marcus Morris, and Landry Shamet. The trade for Karl-Anthony Towns shook things up as the Knicks tried to coast on star power alone. Towns has responded to his own challenges presented but the leftovers have to step up. Kolek has done that in the early going and it’s about time he gets rewarded for it.

With that out the window, why not embrace relative, productive unpredictability like Kolek?

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