Knicks bringing in HIDDEN GEM...

The New York Knicks are bringing in a hidden gem for their team at this center position, which they desperately need an upgrade at, while rookie Jack Hale continues to show that he is a very important part of this roster going forward and is giving the Knicks a nice future piece, showing Leon Rose has once again done an excellent job finding diamonds in the rough with this NBA draft, but also doing the same in Summer League as the Knicks have found a guy who's entering the prime of his NBA career right now and the prime of his athletic life right now, and at the same time, is a center that the Knicks can trust because he's a true 7-footer and a shot-blocking demon. Guys, I'm super excited to go over all this with you guys. Make sure real quick to go ahead and subscribe to Knicks Digest. We do have videos like this coming out every single day, breaking down all the latest New York Knicks news, so in these 8-12 minutes, you know what is going on with this team on an everyday basis, having a ton of fun while doing it. We do it quick, we do it efficiently, and we do it fun. And guys, jumping into the video today, there is a name that we have to go over, and that is Summer League standout Liam Robbins. Robbins has actually played 13 games in the NBA, all in garbage time, but now at 27 years old, this man is breaking out and giving the Knicks another center option when they desperately, desperately need one. Because we look at where the Knicks are as a franchise right now, and we have to understand that, look, things have never been better than they are at this moment right now. The only time that things were better was literally a month ago, the day after they won the NBA Finals. So we have to understand that things were great, but now they don't have Mitchell Robbins to name, or Ariel Huck 40 years ago, and they have Carl Anthony Townsend, Andre Drummond as their centers, but they want to add another one, and now they have found a diamond in the rough in Liam Robbins, who has been balling out in Summer League just recently. Robbins had a game with 15 points, 4 blocks, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 assists. He can also stretch the floor. It is a 3-point shooting, shot-blocking, defensive demon right here. So this is everything you want to see, and guys, the comments that he had will make you even more excited. But real quick, I do want to talk about something, because guys, sports betting has changed the moment that apps took over. Live betting, instant decisions, and endless opportunities are all at your fingertips. They also make it easier to make emotional bets and chase losses. So that's where Otis Edge comes in. 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It's been a while since we've gotten to hear something as good as that. It's been a long time since we've gotten to hear something like that. And guys, I absolutely love Liam Robbins' effort right here. I love the way that he's talking about this team. I love the way that he's reacting to playing with the Knicks in Summer League right now. He's 27 years old, so he knows this is when it's time to show up and show out. And Knicks Nation did mention just a couple days ago that scanning the Knicks Summer League roster for bigs, Liam Robbins stood out. Seven feet tall, 250 pounds, a real shot blocker, 3.2 blocks per game, and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 with some stretch five touch, non-explosive athlete, and the injury history is real with multiple leg injuries, and already bounced around from the Pelicans and the Bucs. But a true seven-footer who protects the rim and can pop a three, he's worth the look. And at the very least, get him on a two-way, man. If nothing else, let's put this man on a two-way right now. Have him be our two-way center so we can have him in for 40-some-odd games, and if he starts to show some promise, we can bring him on to an actual contract and find a real diamond in the rough. Now, he hasn't played enough for us to really get a ton out of him yet, which is the thing. He only appeared in 13 games, and he barely played, so obviously the numbers are terrible. He put up .7 points and .9 rebounds, shooting 25% from the field. But this was 2024-2025 season, so it's been a little bit. The Iowa native is now ready to go. Just turned 27 two days ago, three days ago. And at the same time, when we look at Liam Robbins and everything that he's been able to do as an NBA player or as a basketball player in general, he's what the Knicks want. He's a true seven-footer. He's got a filled-out frame. He can block a shot like nobody's business. He can hit the three ball. He's everything you want in a modern big man. Yeah, he's not a great athlete. Knicks have other athletic big men to use. Andre Drummond's a good athlete. They'll be fine. But Robbins, he's the exact type of guy you put on a two-way contract, and you get him in some games, and you see, can he cook? What can he do in the G League as well? Let's continue to build this guy up, have him a part of the organization, and find a complete and utter steal. And guys, speaking of steals, Jack Kael has been nothing short of absolutely excellent. Kael has come in with incredible confidence as a 20-year-old, and is showing that he has no plans of going back overseas. And we've seen that. Stephan Bondi did mention already that Jack Kael doesn't want to go overseas, and Bondi even said, wouldn't be surprised if Kael indeed stays with the Knicks next season, rather than getting stashed like he initially wanted to, when he said he wants to stay in the NBA, not go back overseas, but also acknowledged it's not fully up to him. What is up to Jack Kael is how does he play? And we saw the tag IQfor3 on Twitter did mention that Jack Kael just recently had a 19-point game with four assists, three steals, six for 13 from the field, and three for seven from three. So not only did he play efficient basketball, shooting 45% from the field and 42% from three, we also saw that he put up 19 points. He was creating for himself. He showed shot creation. He showed an ability to score. He showed versatile defense, being able to guard point guards, being able to guard shooting, being able to guard wings as well. The man has shown that he can do a whole lot with his game, and again, he gets buckets in bunches. Now, Chris Perzianen mentioned the idea of him going back overseas, and this is why we should be excited, because it feels like he's here to stay. Perzianen mentioned that even if Kael doesn't end up spending the 2020 season in the United States, 2027 season in the United States, his opening performance was good enough to generate whatever rumblings inspired Stefan Bondi's tweet to say that he's probably staying now. The Knicks are clearly impressed with the young German guard, even after the first 21 minutes of his summer league, and then he followed up with a 19-point game. So literally everything that you want to see out of Jack Kael right now is what we're seeing. We're seeing a guy who, look, best-case scenario, he's on a rookie minimum. I'm talking his best-case scenario, and then it's also possible we see him on a two-way contract, and then outside of that, it's possible that we see him do get stashed overseas. But here's the thing. He is committed to Gonzaga. He can go back to college, and then the Knicks would have to wait until he wants to effectively come back, and then he'll go to the Knicks because the Knicks will still own his draft rights, I mean, unless they were to trade him, but like, for instance, James Nagy, he's at college right now, right? He's at Baylor, and we're going to talk about James Nagy in an upcoming video, but he's at Baylor right now, right? So we understand that. Kael can go to Gonzaga. Just once he comes back, same thing as Nagy, since we own the draft rights, he has to sign with the Knicks as long as the Knicks own the draft rights. He can't just be like, I'm hitting free agency. One who can do that is Dink Pate, because the Knicks didn't draft Dink Pate, they signed him as an undrafted free agent, giving him a rare sense of freedom, but Kael does not have that. So if Kael is to go to Gonzaga for a year, and then the Knicks call him in, would it be the worst thing in the world? No. I mean, again, he's a second-round pick. The Knicks are only going to use him sporadically at best, considering they are a championship team that wants to contend and repeat, but at the same time, Kael is in position to do that, and I don't know if the Knicks want him to, and to start setting a precedent that we're not going to play our second-rounders, so they might as well just go to college and get NIL deals, and then make us wait. We might want or need them, and then they might say, nah, I want to spend another year in school. Do I think anyone would do that? Probably not. Is it possible? Absolutely. And because of that, the Knicks have to be a little bit more careful here with what they want to do, because if they say, nah, go back overseas, what are the odds that he's like, nah, I'll go to Baylor for a year, and then if he's like, I'll come back after, alright, whatever. It's the same as stash him overseas, except we're stashing him in America so we can actually visit him more. But at the same time, do they want to do that? So it'll be interesting. I don't think the Knicks will sign both Kael and Tyler Nichol. I think one of them gets signed. I would lean Nichol, because he's just a pure sharpshooter and a little bit older, but the way that Kael is playing right now, the man's become undeniable, and I'm very, very excited to see how this all pans out, and we'll be reporting on it instantly once it goes down. Guys, make sure to like this video, subscribe, turn on post notifications, have a great day, guys. Go Knicks.