Knicks' Josh Hart is flourishing, and Pelicans coach Willie Green deserves some credit for that
Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) shoots over New Orleans Pelicans guard Trey Murphy III in the second half of an NBA game in New Orleans on Saturday. Credit: AP/Gerald Herbert
NEW ORLEANS
Here’s a challenge. List all of the ways that the Knicks can win a game on a given night. I’m guessing the list will go something like this:
Jalen Brunson's offensive heroics. Karl-Anthony Towns' otherworldly shooting and rebounding. OG Anunoby’s smothering defense.
And how long before you get to what is often on display and underrated — the non-stop motor of Josh Hart. Or leadership by cardio. Maybe it’s fitting that he was a guest on a Peloton ride in the preseason.
But shots come and go. Rebounds sometimes fly over heads. And in the world of so many skilled offensive talents, even Anunoby is left to shake his head sometimes as the best defense isn’t enough.
But Hart, who returned to action Saturday night in New Orleans after missing a game for the first time this season (personal reasons), has made a case for his importance on the Knicks not just through his efficient 14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, but also by providing the energy on the nights when that just isn’t there. It is that racing up and down the floor at breakneck speed that never wavers.
It’s something that has been years in the making, maybe starting back in his Villanova days. But in the NBA, it came in the year before he joined the Knicks when he still was shuttling between teams and wanted out of New Orleans. At a dinner with just-named coach Willie Green, it changed and he changed.
“Josh is a leader. I saw that right away with him,” Green said. “He’s a competitor. Night in and night out, he’s going to give you 110%. I wanted to give him the opportunity and space to have some discussions about it, try to challenge him to be better. I felt at that time he was a better player than he was actually showing. We just met middle ground. From there I said I trust you to be a leader and you’ve got to keep showing up every day doing your job, doing what you’re supposed to do. I’m extremely proud of him. He’s doing exactly what we all believed he could do and I’m happy for him.”
"I didn’t want to come back, but I talked to him and we got on the same page at the beginning of that year,” Hart said. “He just trusted me. He put me in position to be successful in terms of being more of a playmaker and scorer. I think that’s the biggest thing. He trusted in me as a player, but more so as a person. And that really gained my confidence.”
It was that dinner that shifted moods and maybe made Hart the player he is now — a key to the Knicks, even if he won’t draw ''MVP!'' chants or All-Star honors.
And there is the good and bad of that. At one point Saturday, Hart attempted to lob a pass to Towns that was swatted away, and the Pelicans had a fast break going the other way. But while coach Tom Thibodeau was kicking the scorer’s table, Hart never slowed, running back and stealing the ball on the other baseline.
“The most important thing with leadership is what you do,” Thibodeau said. “There’s a lot of guys who talk, but you wouldn’t follow them across the street. And in this league, you got a lot of guys who say the right things and do none of them. I go more by actions. You don’t have to say a word. The actions will reflect your priorities and what’s important to you. So do the right thing and commit to the team, and that’s the most important thing.”
“I’ve always loved, whenever I saw him play, he was competing at the highest level,” Green said. “So I watched him at Villanova and watched him in the NBA. And eventually we went out to dinner, just he and I, spent a couple hours just talking about life, about our families, and I told him some of the things that I was hearing, that I just felt like, ‘Josh, look, I believe in you, I’ve watched you all your career, and I want to see you be successful.’
“I just asked him what’s some things you think I can do to help you. We talked through it. The credit goes to him. It was already in him. It was just getting him to understand how important it is every day to come in and be a true leader because that’s who he is, and he’s doing it. You guys see he’s doing it in New York. His teammates love him. It was the same way here. Everybody loves Josh, they love the fact that he competes and he’s a great guy. I wanted to see him flourish on and off the floor.”
Hart lasted only 41 games with the Pelicans before being dealt to Portland, a stopover before joining the Knicks. But even on the day he was traded, he showed Green what he had become. Instead of sulking at home awaiting the flight to his new team, he headed to the arena and sat and cheered for the team that was no longer his.
“it’s a blessing to be able to connect with your players like that,” Green said. “That’s not always the case. I’m grateful for Josh and all of our guys. Nickeil [Alexander-Walker] was part of that trade. Both of those guys stayed. They came to the game that night. That’s very rare. And that speaks to their character. High-character individuals and they come from good foundations. That’s one of the reasons why their careers are continuously going up.”
Notes & quotes: The Knicks announced that they have waived Matt Ryan. A league source confirmed that they agreed to terms to bring back Landry Shamet, who was with the Knicks in the preseason but suffered a dislocated shoulder. He has been playing with the Westchester Knicks.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.