Opportunities Closing for Several Young Knicks

Even after a positive summer of roster tweaking, the New York Knicks still have some issues to address.

They ended the season with a thin roster overseen by an old-school coach with no interest in delving deep into his bench, but their choices to hire Mike Brown to replace the fired Tom Thibodeau and spend in free agency to expand the rotation look to give the Knicks more options to turn to in 2025-26.

The Knicks have more of a well-rounded assortment of players to turn to in their season of heightened expectations, but it still looks a bit top-heavy. A few recent draft picks the Knicks made have the chance to add to the team's depth, but they may be watching their opportunities slip away in NBA Summer League.

Both Tyler Kolek and Pacôme Dadiet fill important needs for this Knicks roster, with the college phenom Kolek having looked like a selfless backup point guard in the past while Dadiet brings in shooting. They've each failed in taking advantage of the inferior competition of Summer League, looking more like deep-bench reserves than impact NBA players.

Kolek, particularly, has wilted as the full-time ball-handler. He's a cerebral floor general, but his inability to score this summer has influenced how much opposing teams are guarding him and his teammates. He's never been a great 3-point shooter, nailing under 30% of his attempts as a rookie, and he's now 0/11 from distance through two games.

Some truly harrowing efficiency numbers combine with his unusually-high turnover rate to suggest that he's played far below the caliber he was hoped to entering the offseason. He'd be a useful role player to utilize as a backup ball-handler behind Jalen Brunson, but Kolek's been completely stymied by defenses daring the pass-first point guard to beat them himself.

Dadiet hasn't been nearly as much of a train wreck, but he, too, hasn't been the dominant force that many of his 2024 draft classmates have been. Rising sophomores are expected to make Las Vegas look like a waste of their time, and the sniper hasn't yet looked the part in shooting 2/8 from three in two games.

He, at least, has looked passable for stretches, but still begs the question of whether he's ready to see minutes under Brown's watch. They're trying to contend for the title in a wide-open Eastern Conference, granting the prospects a golden opportunity to factor into something bigger than themselves that they've yet to look ready for. Such untimely struggles open up the likelihood that other Knicks, or still-unsigned free agents, could take their jobs.