Tom Thibodeau says he could use Julius Randle at center for stretches

New York enters this season as a title contender, the No. 2 seed from the East last season that added Mikal Bridges on the wing — it is a team built to face the champion Celtics.

The Knicks also have an obvious area of concern: Center. Mitchell Robinson will start and is a top-flight rim protector, but he also has an injury history — he has played in 60+ games once in the past four seasons. Behind him, things drop off fast. Isaiah Hartenstein was as good a reserve center as there was in the league last season but took a big free agent payday to play for another contender in Oklahoma City. That leaves a combination of the feisty but undersized Precious Achiuwa and the athletic but raw Jericho Sims to do the job.

Tom Thibodeau is thinking about leaning into some Julius Randle at center minutes next season, he told Steve Aschburner of NBA.com in an interview. The question was about who plays the minutes at the five.

We’ll probably have to do it by committee. We’ll look at some different things, because we have versatility — we could see Julius more at the 5. I don’t want to do that for long stretches, it would take its toll, but to have him do it for 10 or 15 minutes, I think he can do it well. He also would create a lot of [offensive] advantages.

How Randle fits in with this roster will be one of the more interesting subplots of this season, especially with Randle having a $30.9 million player option for next season and the chance to become a free agent. Randle averaged 24 points and 9.2 rebounds a game last season, he is a beast around the basket, but he was injured and out for the Knicks playoff run behind Jalen Brunson. How his style of game meshes with Brunson, Mikal Bridges and a more perimeter-oriented movement offense will be something to watch.

In certain matchups, Randle at the five could work. It’s not something Thibodeau has wanted to do in the past because of the lack of rim protection, but his hand is forced. Thibs also has a team deep with quality defenders on the wing who can help mitigate some of that lack of defense in the paint.

An elite team should do this in the regular season: try out different lineup combinations, rotations, and player positions to see what works and what doesn’t. Randle should be able to play the five in a limited role — it’s matchup dependent — but Thibs wants to see what it looks like and go from there.

The Knicks also will be in the market if and when any quality centers become available via trade this season. The Wizards are expected to make Jonas Valanciunas available via trade after Dec. 15, and other players such as Jakob Poltl, Jock Landale and Walker Kessler could be of interest to the Knicks.