Major Knicks Change Incoming... It's already Started

The New York Knicks started this season 0-3, and since then, they are 5-1, and in the two games that Landry Shamet has started instead of Josh Hart, they won by 30 points, and they won by 12 points. Now, Hart was hurt both nights, so Shamet did not win the job. He got it by default, but here's what I want you to think about. What happens when Josh Hart is healthy? And my answer is that Mike Brown should seriously considering start Landry Shamet and move Josh Hart to the second unit and make Hart the most valuable sixth man in the league by a mile. I'm going to walk you through why and why this plan could completely make the Knicks the best offense in the NBA because this team already has the pieces. Brunson and Towns carry the offense. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are elite wings and the question of who fills the last two spots on the floor and who are the anchors on the bench. Let's start with what Landry Shamet did in those two starts that has led to this serious situation where the Knicks now can consider taking a shocking turn and changing up their championship starting lineup. Now, Shamet was not the star player. Against Chicago on November 4th, he had 7 points on 3 of 7 shooting, and in Cleveland on November 7th, he had 9 points on 3 of 8 shooting. All of them from three-point range. But the Knicks were plus 21 with him against Chicago and plus six in Cleveland. And it's not the first time that he has helped the Knicks this season either. On October 28th in Chicago, a 133-127 Knicks win, he scored 14 points and made four threes. And that's how a starter should look next to this core. Jalen Brunson scored 33 against Chicago and 31 in Cleveland. Karl-Anthony Towns at 29 points and 13 rebounds in Cleveland. Shamet did not need the ball. He just needs to make the defense stay home and create more spacing for a Mike Brown offense that is built on spacing. This was not a one-off as well for Landry Shamet at all. He's shooting 41.7% from three on 5.3 attempts per game and in 25.3 minutes a game, which is a true shooting percentage of 60.7%. That is nine games, so it is a small sample, Last season, he shot 39.2%, so it is not new. And look at Karl-Anthony Towns when he went 5-for-5 from the field in the Chicago win. So it was not only about Shamet, but when the defense has to guard him, Brunson and Towns get more room, and it's visible. The Digest Sports numbers back it up, too. 77% of Shamet's shots are three-pointers, where the league median is 45%. The Knicks are 14 points per possessions per 100 possessions better with him on the floor. It's early, but it points one way. And guys, if you like these Knicks breakdowns, make sure to hit subscribe. We're at 28,128 subscribers at the time of recording this video. And we want to get to 30K before the year ends. And I know the Knicks won the finals with the current starting lineup that they've used for the last three seasons, if we're being honest, really two seasons ever since Karl-Anthony Towns got here. And guys, I get it. This team won a championship with this unit. It certainly works in a lot of instances. They do have a 7% chance to win the NBA finals this year on Kalshi right now. And I do think the Knicks have a great chance of going back to back. So if you are interested in that, Kalshi is the place to be. And I want to thank them for sponsoring this video. Because on Kalshi, you're trading directly against other users, not the house like traditional sportsbooks. You're buying yes or no contracts on the outcomes of events across sports, politics, and even the weather. For example, the Knicks going back-to-back and winning the 2027 NBA championship, which right now, if you trade $25 on it, you can get a payout of over $350. And guys, I mentioned $25 because if you sign up for Kalshi, click on the link in our description down below. It's also in our pinned comment. And use code DIGESTNBA. Well guys, You will get $55 when you trade your first 25. It's a great deal for you. It helps the channel out a bunch as well. Diving back into the video, let's think about where this started. Let's take it back to the start when Shamet played 15.2 minutes per game and never started. Last season, he averaged 23 minutes per game and started. 12 of his 51 games. Now he's at 25.3 minutes a game. And Shamet has been here before. In game one of the Eastern Conference Finals against Cleveland, the Knicks were down 22 points in the fourth quarter. And Mike Brown sat hard for most of it to put Shamet on the floor for spacing. Shamet hit the game-sealing three-pointer in overtime and finished plus 25, the best on the team. Over the sweep, he made 11 of his 12 threes. The Digest Sports shot profile fits the starters too. 47% of his offense is spot-up. He shoots 46.2% above the break, and he's shooting 50% at the rim. He makes you pay for leaving him alone, and he punishes closeouts and changes the way the defenses have to look at the Knicks. And that's the guy you want in the building when the game is close. And last November, he scored a career-high 36 points against Miami. 12 of 19 shooting with six threes. He's not just a spot-up guy. He has more to his game when he gets unlocked. And look how he plays. Knicks Nation said this week, quote, Landry Shamet is always on go. The speed he plays with is really impressive. And that is exactly the next play speed that Mike Brown keeps asking for. After a title, that's the room he's in. At the start of the year, Shamet said, quote, none of us are satisfied with just this. And he's playing like a guy who means it. And with a reported four-year $24 million deal, the Knicks have already paid him like the rotation piece he is. And here's the part I don't want to skip. The Digest Sports numbers say that when Shamet and OG Ananobi are on the floor together, the Knicks are 14.5 points per 100 possessions worse than when the pair sits. That is a red flag right there. And it's also nine games. But it tells you Brown cannot just plug Shamet in and walk away. He has to watch who he pairs him with. Because honestly, pairing the starting lineup together with Landry Shamet at points does show how much this offense can grow. But it depends on what's going to work. It also begs the question, what do we do with Josh Hart? Here is what he's giving you this season. 31.7 minutes, 8.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists a game. His shooting is down 38.6% from the field and a 50.7 true shooting percentage in just seven games. But think about what those rebounds and assists mean for the second unit. Tyler Kolek leads the NBA in assist to turnover ratio at 9.0. Put Hart next to that group, and you have a bench with a rebounder and a connector instead of a group that hopes someone will make a shot. And remember what he can do on a big. Last November, Hart had a triple-double against Miami in the same game that Shamet went off. 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in that same game that Shamet scored 36 points. He also did this last season. Hart averaged 12 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists with a 61.2 true shooting percentage. And he started 52 of 66 games. That's not a small ask. In 2024, Hart started all 77 games and played 37.6 minutes a game, averaging 13.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 5.9 assists. So moving him to the bench changes his job. And he has to be okay with the idea of that. And he's already shown how he handles being pulled. After Brown sat him in that game one comeback, Hart said, I don't have an ego to it. I put the success of the team over the success of myself any single day. And a fan. Alan Madera-Metz1380 wrote after the Nets game, Hart did nothing for three quarters. Knicks, not impressive at all. Bench is still questionable. I get it, but that's a problem that I see is solving is getting the bench a connector in Josh Hart, putting him off the bench, making him the best sixth man in basketball. And I cannot tell you that he's certainly gonna be the best sixth man after these first seven games, but... It's Josh Hart. We know how good he is. And a sixth man who gives you seven rebounds and four assists and will score the ball more because he'll get more opportunities to. And this man who at one point was scoring 20 points per game. Not many teams have a Swiss Army Knife. No teams have a Swiss Army Knife as good as Josh Hart. It's the old saying, every team needs a Josh Hart. And as I respond to it, Not every team needs a Josh Hart. He's way too much of a luxury to say every team needs one of them because there's only one Josh Hart. So what exactly are the risks? Hart's shooting has been rough. He made just 28.6% of his shots over his last five games. A move to the bench could look like a demotion. And Mikal Bridges also has his own questions. And another fan, PatrickThomas4934, put it bluntly, quoting, if Bridges is not doing anything, Why not replace him with someone who is producing? And the Knicks have a few options. Shamit's their guy for any starting situation, but he also mentioned Mo Diawara and Dalton Knecht. And it's a fair question, but I would not move Mikal Bridges to the bench at all. The cleaner move is the one that Brown has already made, having Shamit start with the rest of the same starting unit, with a healthy Josh Hart anchoring that second unit, giving them more of a leader. And there are three things I would watch. First, how many minutes Shamet and Anunoby share. Second, whether Hart's shot comes back. And third, who Brown closes with. Because in Game 1 against Cleveland, he picked Shamet over Hart at the end. And there is an easier way to ease Hart into this. Start him on the second unit next to Tyler Kolek. Keep him on the floor with Brunson and Towns for stretches. And let the minutes sort themselves out. A sixth man does not have to play sixth man minutes. Hart would still play virtually the same amount of minutes, too. Honestly, when Hart's healthy, start Shamit for a game or two and bring Hart off the bench and watch the pairings. See what works. Mike Brown likes to experiment. Why not experiment with something like this? Shamit spaces the floor for Brunson and Towns, and Hart gives the bench rebounding and playmaking that it does not really have right now and would help them. And again, the Knicks are five and four. They just beat Chicago by 30 and Cleveland by 12 with Shamit in the lineup. That's not a coincidence. It's the start of something that's working well. And that's the idea. A starting group that spaces the floor and a second unit with someone who can rebound and pass. It's not the motion for Josh Hart. It's just changing the use of him and also keeping the minutes the same. And we do have to look at the comment of the day. This one is from Mathis Bleak 2396, who wrote, another problem our depth provides is that I would really like to see Connect getting more minutes. Coach Brown is going to have to be a genius of a puppeteer to make sure all the talent is used widely and or wisely. And he is. And Brown has more good players than minutes. The good news is that it's a champagne problem. And Shamit Hart might be the first... Kind of a bit of a change. Also, Hart works better with Tyler Kolek and Dalton Connect out there. Dalton Knecht and Shamit can get a little bit redundant. Josh Hart kind of gives him a little bit to mix it up. And also an NBA veteran out there who has been a starter on a championship team as of six months ago. So it kind of works well. The last question is, who should start when Hart is healthy? Well, Andrew Shamit or Josh Hart? Tell me in the comments down below. Like this video, subscribe, turn on post notifications. Guys, if you want to see more Knicks updates, they are on the screen right now.