New York Knicks rookie Kevin Knox won't shy away from putting his team's expectations high, arguing that the eighth and last seed in the East will be up for grabs for his team to take now that LeBron James has relinquished his stronghold in the Eastern Conference.
“Oh yeah. I feel like that eighth seed is kind of still up in the air in the East,” said Knox while speaking at a local Subway event, according to ESPN's Ian Begley. “You’ve got a lot of good teams in the East that are playoff teams. But that eighth seed can really be up in the air.”
“You’re going to have to win some games in order to get it but I feel like that’s something we can do with LeBron (James) leaving (for the Los Angeles Lakers). So I feel that that’s opened up more room for teams to make that playoff push. I feel like we can be one of the teams that makes that push for the playoffs, especially with the young guys that we have and new coaching staff with (David) Fizdale. I feel like we can really make a push for that eighth seed.”
The Knicks could potentially be without their star player, Kristaps Porzingis, for the entire season, making Knox's hopes of a playoff push a rather tall ask to make for a young team full of inexperienced players.
Even David Fizdale, the Knicks' new coach, only has a year-and-change of head coaching experience, making this a trial by fire for most involved.
Knox fell short of garnering Summer League MVP honors earlier this year, but the rookie showed something truly special for Knicks fans and the front office. The Kentucky product is bound for major playing time under Fizdale in his rookie season, and he will try to make these high expectations come to fruition.