By many metrics, Kevin Knox was the worst rotation player in the NBA last season. But the New York Knicks wing has time on his side to prove the analytics wrong, and he flashed just enough on both sides of the ball as a rookie to envision him as an extremely helpful piece going forward for the Big Apple's next great team.
These are the three improvements Knox, the No. 9 overall pick of the 2018 draft, must make this summer to begin realizing that potential.
3-Point Shooting
Dreams of Knox developing into a primary ball handler were always far-fetched. After his rookie season, expectations of him becoming even a good team's secondary playmaker should probably be tempered. Considering his struggles with the ball in his hands in 2018-19 and the Knicks' hopes of adding two superstars in free agency this summer, it has never been more imperative that Knox continues honing his accuracy from beyond the arc.
He shot 34.3 percent from 3 on nearly five attempts per game last season, a solid but unspectacular long-range showing for a raw wing in his NBA debut. But the vast majority of his tries came off catch-and-shoot attempts, on which he shot an even 34.0 percent, according to NBA.com/stats – not good enough for a player whose value will be as a play finisher rather than a play starter.
The good news? Knox knocked down a relatively encouraging 39.4 percent of his “wide open” triples, and shoots an easy ball with a high release point and repeatable stroke.
The first step toward Knox improving offensively, whether he's ultimately a role player or an All-Star, is ensuring defenses respect him from beyond the arc. With a summer in the gym spent hoisting thousands and thousands of jumpers, his development into a positive player could come sooner rather than later.
Finishing At The Rim
Knox has all the tools necessary to be one of the league's most devastating finishers. He has elite length for a wing at 6-foot-9 with a wingspan just below 7 feet, and is an explosive leaper off both one and two feet. Still, he finished with just 18 dunks during his debut campaign, a low number for a player of his physical profile. More troublingly, he connected on only 48.0 percent of his attempts from the restricted area. To put that number in perspective, only Tyreke Evans shot worse than Knox among the 132 players in basketball who took at least 200 shots from the restricted area, per NBA.com/stats.
Knox isn't the first plus athlete to struggle around the rim as a rookie, and he certainly won't be the last. NBA rim protectors are a different animal; attacking the paint is a far more nuanced proposition for Knox than it has ever been in his basketball career. He must work on his left hand, too, and though he's a very good vertical athlete, he still needs some momentum and space to launch to reach his aerial apex.
Maybe the most attractive perceived trait of Knox's game coming into last year's draft was his dual-threat ability from 3-point range and at the rim. As New York continues adding talent around him, expect Knox to get easier looks from the restricted area. But if he doesn't get more comfortable finishing from multiple angles and platforms at various speeds, Knox won't ever be the highly efficient scoring option his natural gifts suggested during the pre-draft process.
Strength
The best version of Knox going forward is a modern-day power forward who makes open 3s, attacks closeouts with controlled authority, and switches onto four or five positions with little negative recourse. Still just 19 years old, he's years away from his physical prime, too.
But at a lithe 215 pounds, Knox doesn't yet have the strength to bang in the paint on either end of the floor without being knocked off balance. Additional weight wouldn't just lead to him being a superior finisher, driver, and switch defender, but also better allow Knox to make an impact on the glass, where he occasionally flashed during his lone year at Kentucky. There's even a chance Knox develops into an effective deterrent at the rim once his body fills out.
It's only a matter of time until Knox adds a meaningful dose of additional strength and weight. But the sooner it comes, the sooner he'll be able to begin playing his ideal role as a prototype power forward with the skill and versatility to make a difference on both sides of the ball.
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