Knicks' Josh Hart Opens Up About Adjustment to New Role

Mike Brown has ushered in a completely different look for the New York Knicks, even if every important player from last year's run to the Eastern Conference Finals remains on the roster.

Their middling defense from the prior season has moved into the top-10, despite the Knicks having already fielded numerous absences within their key rotation. The offense hasn't been as sharp as it could be for similar reasons, but Jalen Brunson's taking more 3-pointers than ever before, doing his part in living out Brown's prioritization of pace and space. Karl-Anthony Towns is still the starting center, but only because Mitchell Robinson is tending to another injury.

He was expected to give the Knicks a double-big look that they became enamored with last season, even though such a move bumped a fan-favorite in Josh Hart to the bench. He'd already seen some that hard-earned status get revoked, relocating to a sixth-man role in the final days of the Knicks' recent postseason push, and has had to stick to that reserve position even while Robinson rehabs.

Taking the Move to Hart

The wing, who started 77 games last season while leading the NBA in minutes per game with 37.6, got honest about the adjustment he's had to make, as he's only added to the bench's bucket-generating woes. Hart's averaging 3.7 points on a considerably-lower amount of possessions, shaving about 10 points off of last year's nightly scoring load and almost 13 minutes from that herculean minute responsibility.

“I feel like I’ve got the biggest adjustment out of the whole team," he said, according to Kristain Winfield of the New York Daily News.

"Just in terms of role, starting not starting, how the minutes are gonna be, and I’ve obviously talked to Mike about how the minutes are gonna go, and I’ve gotta know every position. There’s gonna be times where I’m bringing the ball up, times when I’m the five and times where I’m the four, so I literally have to know every play from every different position."