Knicks forward Josh Hart missed Wednesday’s practice due to an undisclosed illness, casting doubt on his availability for Thursday’s preseason matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“I don’t know [if he’ll play], we’ll see tomorrow,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said after practice at the team’s Tarrytown facility. “But yes, he did not practice today. He was out today because he was sick.”
It’s the latest in a string of early preseason setbacks for Hart, who entered training camp with a splint on his right ring finger — an injury he planned to play through until making a decision on treatment next offseason. He suffered lower back spasms in the preseason opener against the 76ers and sat out the second game as a result. It remains unclear whether he had cleared those hurdles before falling ill.
“I don’t even know — I just get told he’s out because he’s sick or this or that,” Brown said. “I was told he was out because he was sick. He wasn’t here [in practice].”
Hart had been viewed as a strong candidate to round out the Knicks’ starting five alongside Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, and OG Anunoby. But he came off the bench behind Mitchell Robinson in the opener, and with Hart potentially absent for most of the preseason slate, Robinson’s case to start on opening night continues to strengthen.
COAHES LOSE BRUNSON’S BET
Brown said earlier this month that he wouldn’t be sprinting baseline to baseline in New York the way he once did — memorably and expletively — while coaching the Sacramento Kings.
That didn’t last long.
Brown and members of the Knicks’ coaching staff ran the length of the court after practice on Wednesday in Tarrytown, paying up on a lost bet with Brunson.
“I don’t know if you’d call it running, but we try,” Brown said with a laugh.
The wager? After practice, three different Knicks players must each make a free throw — consecutively — or the team runs. On Wednesday, Brunson upped the ante.
“At the end of practice, they gotta make three free throws — three different guys gotta make one free throw, but it’s all gotta be in a row,” Brown explained. “If one of the three guys misses, then they hop to the baseline, they gotta go up and back — and they gotta do it until all three guys hit one free throw and it has to be in a row.
“So one of these times, Jalen hits it, he said, ‘Hey, we’ll do it again, but we want to bet y’all. If on the first go-around we make three in a row, then y’all gotta run.’”
Brown thought he had the odds on his side. Brunson and the team had other plans.
“Jalen’s one of them dudes that don’t forget,” Brown said. “So he was like, ‘Hey, coach, we made three in a row. That was it. If we make three in a row on the first go-around, y’all gotta run.’ So he put us on the line and Mitch told us when to go.”
FOUNDATION STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS
The Knicks continue to drill the core actions of Brown’s new offensive system, but players say it’s going to take time for the principles to feel natural in live situations.
“We drill them every day. We have a lot of drills throughout training camp and now,” said Bridges. “We had an earlier training camp. Even working out before, the coaches’ attention to detail and pushing us, so it’s become second nature.”
Towns, who is expected to be a key playmaking hub in the new scheme, echoed that sentiment.
“Uhh, we working. We’re trying to figure it out so we can be the best version of ourselves come opening night,” Towns said. “But yeah, we’re working. We’re continuing to get more comfortable with it and understand where we can be as impactful as possible with it.”
