New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau wishes that he had the problem in last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals that he may have entering the 2024-25 season. Injuries galore ravaged their team leaving Thibodeau with not a lot of bodies on the bench that he could trust in a high-stakes game.
A healthy Knicks team in 2024-25 will certainly be a deep one. They could have one of the best benches in the league. As any Knicks fan knows from last season though, health is far from guaranteed. How could Thibodeau distribute the minutes for the upcoming season, provided that everyone is available?
This is just an estimate of how the 240 minutes of playing time could be divvied up for a full-strength Knicks team. Different matchups could provide different rotations.
How Might Minutes Be Distributed For Knicks in 2024-25?
Starting Lineup
- PG – Jalen Brunson (35 minutes)
- SG – Mikal Bridges (33 minutes)
- SF – OG Anunoby (30 minutes)
- PF – Julius Randle (35 minutes)
- C – Mitchell Robinson (27 minutes)
Anunoby is a guy who has played between 34-36 minutes each of the last three seasons. He is also an important player (as evidenced by the Knicks record with him in the lineup last season) with an injury history. It may be wise with such a deep team to see that minute total shrink a bit.
Both Randle and Brunson played 35.4 minutes per outing last season, so similar playing time could be in store for the two All-Stars. Bridges actually led the league in total minutes in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. He has yet to miss a game in his career, and the 33 minutes projected here isn’t much less than the 34.8 and 35.7 he averaged in those two seasons.
Reserves In Rotation
- F – Josh Hart (22 minutes)
- G – Donte DiVincenzo (22 minutes)
- G – Miles McBride (15 minutes)
- C/F – Precious Achiuwa (21 minutes)
Thibodeau has often went with a nine-man rotation when team health has allowed him to do so. The head coach has always liked having a traditional center on the court for all 48 minutes. While Achiuwa isn’t necessarily his prototypical big man, he is the backup center, and Thibodeau was comfortable using him there last season.
How could this change? If Thibodeau allows Randle to play maybe like six minutes a game at the five. That will open up a little more playing time for Hart and DiVincenzo. Hart (33.4 minutes) and DiVincenzo (29.1 minutes) played a lot more in 2023-24 than projected here, but surely those minutes would rise if a rotation piece was forced to miss time.
The Next Two In Line If Injuries Occur
- G – Cameron Payne
- C – Jericho Sims
The Knicks actually saw Payne in last season’s playoffs. He was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers and shot 8-18 from three-point range against New York in their opening round matchup. If Robinson gets hurt, something that has happened on numerous occasions, Thibodeau may decide to insert Sims into the starting lineup instead of Achiuwa. While he’s limited offensively, Sims is a bigger body than Achiuwa. Sims wasn’t always in the rotation the last two seasons but still combined to make 27 starts.
