Knicks Veteran Offers Key Playmaking Potential

The New York Knicks are trying to get creative. Their lack of imaginative offense caught up to their championship hopes this past spring when their long-awaited return to the NBA Finals was spoiled in the playoffs' third round, and all of their summer moves have pointed towards an initiative to change.

New head coach Mike Brown looks to invite that much-needed schematic flavor, having bagged a pair of Coach of the Year awards at previous stops before the Knicks called him in to replace old-school Tom Thibodeau. He's entering with the ambitious plan to ease Jalen Brunson's on-ball scoring burden by emphasizing speed with getting up-court and making decisions, sharp, selfless ball-movement and utilizing the scorer away from the ball more than he's been accustomed to since joining the Knicks.

That's where Brown's envisioning that Malcolm Brogdon comes in. If he's looking for tertiary playmaking juice out of his reserves, the veteran point guard will be sure to come in handy in creating a more well-rounded scoring attack.

Brogdon, like fellow free agent backcourt acquisition Landry Shamet, is expected to make the cut when the team's tasked with trimming the opening night, and he, too, won't be expected to grind out the minutes in the Knicks' deep rotation.

He's well past his healthiest days, being deemed one of the more unreliable attendance bets. It doesn't help that he's been banished to the margins of the NBA, spending his last pair of seasons split between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Washington Wizards, totaling 65 appearances while still maintaining some of his pick-and-roll juice as a heads-up guard with instincts and length.