Knicks Coach Loves One Thing About Veteran PG

The New York Knicks are expected to have a sparkplug off the bench in backup point guard Cam Payne.

Payne, 30, averaged 7.4 points per game last season while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers, but he has now left the Eastern Conference foes to join the good guys in New York.

As someone who was an early draft pick that lost his place in the league and had to fight to get back into the NBA, Payne plays with a chip on his shoulder, and that is something coach Tom Thibodeau has come to appreciate. His hustle comes from a different place, and that is something he likes to see.

“You can’t help but learn from that. Those type of hustle plays, like they do nothing but unite and inspire the team. When a play like that happens, it brings energy to the group,” Thibodeau said h/t Posting and Toasting. “We need a team full of guys willing to do that.”

Not everyone on the team can be like Payne, especially in a 82-game season. However, the reasons Thibodeau listed above are exactly why you go out and get a guy like Payne in free agency.

Payne hopes that his energy and hustle is contagious to the rest of the team.

“Any game I go play I’m playing hard, all-​out. That’s just my identity, my character. So if they see me do it, the old guy, obviously it’ll ignite them to do the same thing. But that’s how I approach every game,” Payne said.

The Knicks will need Payne for depth purposes throughout the season as the team hopes to remain close to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

Payne and the Knicks begin their season next week, starting with a battle against the defending champion Boston Celtics.

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