Josh Hart‘s competitive fire was on display Saturday night in his first game with the Knicks, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Calling himself “a dog” in post-game interviews, Hart brought the defensive intensity the team was counting on when it acquired him Thursday in a four-team trade.
Hart delivered 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals in 26 minutes. He played the entire fourth quarter, sinking a late three-pointer to help stave off a Jazz rally, and appears to be a new fan favorite at Madison Square Garden.
“I’m a guy that’s gonna bring it every night,” he said. “I’m a guy that’s gonna be physical. I’m a guy that’s gonna do the dirty work. Going to rebound, going to defend. Get on the floor for a loose ball and do those kind of things. I feel like that style fits every team, especially a New York team. That’s what this city is about and what the city builds off of. I take that with pride. I’m just a blue-collar guy; I think that’s really going to work well here.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Hart is expected to turn down his $13MM player option and become a free agent this summer, Bondy adds in a separate story. The Knicks have a few months to decide whether to make a long-term commitment to the 27-year-old guard, but with team president Leon Rose having served as Hart’s agent at CAA, a strong connection is already in place. “It’s definitely somewhere that I would definitely like to be,” Hart said of New York. “It’s my third time getting traded, sixth year in the league, fourth team, sixth head coach. It’s been a whirlwind. I didn’t think that was how my first six years were going to be, but I’m looking for a home, and I think this could be it.”
- Hart’s arrival may mean reduced roles for Miles McBride and Quentin Grimes, observes Mark W. Sanchez of The New York Post. McBride didn’t play at all Saturday, while Grimes was limited to 22 minutes and wasn’t used in the fourth quarter. McBride had played in the last 35 games and had been part of the rotation since early December. “Those things are tough, but you always have to do what’s best for the team,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “What makes the team function best, and we’ll go from there.”
- Jalen Brunson turned in his latest huge scoring performance since being snubbed for the All-Star Game, Sanchez notes in a separate piece. Brunson has averaged 31 PPG in the five games since the All-Star reserves were announced.
Hart doing what he does. He’ll never do more than this, but he is a solid rotation player. PaytonII got $9, and was overpaid. I am not sure I would sign Hart to more than 4-$75 million. Can’t pay him Barrett $$ without trading Barrett
4/75 sounds right to me but I doubt he gets that much. For whatever reason guys like Hart always get signed for less than guys like Caris Levert. Cache, name recognition and “potential” still matters more sometimes than overall effectiveness.
Gary Harris did 13 per and Hart got that last time. I doubt he gets more than 4/60. And it’s going to be hard to get that 4/60.
Josh Hart is perfect for the New York Knicks. He’s the type of role player that can make them a top 6 team out East. I’m thinking 4 years $64 million this summer will be perfect for him.
He is one of the most Thibiest players in the League.
Knicks have a leg up on everyone to keep him. They traded a 1st and he in that odd range above MLE, like 12-17 per season. So only teams with real cap space can offer more than MLE but only bad teams actually have cap space ussually and don’t need that type of veteran help.
Knicks don’t know what their doing and thibs is a horrible coach that never wanna play young players and build off them …they got no true sf but keep picking up guards and haven’t traded rose or evan two people they shouldn’t have signed in the first place …..
This is a misnomer. Why pay to trade Fournier and Rose when it’s free to keep them.
Better off just riding out the contract and then trade as expiring. If like Rose nobody wants the expiring so be it but don’t trade assets just to get rid of them. Just let em sit there.