The Knicks kick off their season on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, the start of a campaign in which they could be considered the favorites in the Eastern Conference for the first time in decades.
But it is becoming less and less likely that New York will have two of its regulars for Wednesday’s opener, and possibly beyond that.
Head coach Mike Brown told reporters on Tuesday that neither Josh Hart or Mitchell Robinson practiced in the team’s final tune-up before the season, and when asked after practice, did not sound too optimistic that Hart would be ready to go against the Cavaliers.
“Josh is a little bit different than Mitch,” Brown said. “As you saw in Abu Dhabi when he went down, he didn’t get touched. So we're trying to figure out his back, which is a tricky situation. We have to careful with it. We don't want to rush him. We’ll be patient and figure it out as we go along.”
Hart went down during preseason action against the 76ers with a non-contact injury after diving for a loose ball, and while it was considered minor, he didn’t play any preseason games the rest of the way, and while he had been doing side work at recent Knicks practices, he didn’t practice on Monday nor has he been taking contact. Brown didn’t rule Hart out for Wednesday, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll be ready to go.
As for Robinson, Brown has consistently reiterated that he is being held out for load management purposes, with an eye on keeping the oft-injured center healthy this season. But Robinson missed the final two preseason games and hasn’t practiced in days, which seems puzzling even if load management is the focus.
“Like I said, it’s load management,” Brown said. “Which means that, if we deemed it necessary, could he possibly go? Yeah, he can possibly go...it will be like this - I know you guys want more - but it will be like this the whole year.”
Robinson played in just 17 games last season after returning from foot surgery, though he still managed to be a force come playoff time. The 26-year-old has played less than 60 games each of the past three seasons, so Brown is insisting that the handling of Robinson is preventative, though many feel this is an extended window of inactivity before the start of the season for a player who is currently healthy.
“He missed a lot of games last year,” Brown said. “So we want to be cautious moving forward.”