The New York Knicks have won just three of their first seven games, with one of those victories coming against today's opponent, the Chicago Bulls .
You might figure, given the slow start to the season, that the last thing Mike Brown would do after such a precarious start would be to make a major tweak. Change the settings on a machine that isn't working properly and you run the risk of compounding the distance between the way things are and how they oughta be.
But there are plenty of reasons why there's no better time than now for a big move, however temporary. And no better move to make than replacing Mikal Bridges in the starting five with Landry Shamet against Chicago.
Bridges will always be remembered for his role in helping the Knicks win the 2026 title. But the Mecca wasn't made by milquetoasts, so his bizarrely dispassionate play-both before the championship and the first few weeks of this season-isn't something the fans can forget.
It seems odd, initially, that a player who hasn't missed a game since high school could ever be considered soft. Collegians who start two of their three years and play a big part in two national titles don't seem the type who are afraid to mix it up. How many NBA players today have finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting for one franchise, scored 26 points a game for another and helped a third to a championship? How is that soft?
And yet there are the box scores, straight outta binary code: a series of 1's and 0's all somehow adding up to a net-negative. It's obvious Bridges possesses an exceptional toughness and durability, probably aided by an adherence to routine. You stretch right, you eat right, you trust in the work and generally you feel right. Routine can be armor.
But, like armor, routine can weigh us down. If Bridges is so powerfully driven to play night after night after night, perhaps a changeup to how and when he plays is in order. He doesn't need to start to keep his streak alive. He doesn't need to keep coming off the bench the rest of the season. But a little variety can go a long way toward keeping the home fires burning.
Musicians play different instruments. Big-name actors don't always seek the lead role in the biggest movie. No one who's favorite food is pizza eats pizza seven days a week. The human spirit craves novelty.
Bridges can save the repetition for his jump shot, his conditioning and whatever gets him mentally ready to compete. Introducing some variety into his work life could help get him going after a slow start to the season. And it'd show the Knicks value what matters to him (the streak) without jeopardizing what matters to them (winning).
Bridges is shooting 31% from the field and 27% from deep, scoring six points a game. He's taken four free throws in seven games. Shamet is shooting 44% from the floor, 46% on threes and, despite playing fewer minutes, has taken triple the free throws Bridges has.
It's not like Bridges is the only starter struggling . Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby are all shooting below the league average from both the field and from distance. Karl-Anthony Towns has shot well, but he's logged as many turnovers as Brunson and OG combined. Even where the Knicks have had success, it's been overly concentrated in one group, to the detriment of the whole.
Shamet, Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado are a combined 34-of-77 on threes this year, a 44% clip. That's really good. The rest of the Knicks are 66-of-203, or 33%. That's really not. So with so much successful shooting happening with the reserves, why not seek a better balance? Switching Shamet and Bridges brings both groups something they don't currently possess .
Between KAT and Shamet, the Knicks would have two starters who defenses haven't gotten a breather against all season. This could help the Knicks in one of their problem areas, i.e. the first and third quarters. New York is a net-negative in both frames so far, which means they're playing from behind too often. If the offense were a few points better in either quarter, much less both, some of the late-and-close Ls the Knicks have been stacking would turn into Ws.
Earlier this season, mad scientist Mike Brown tried lineups that featured both Brunson and Towns on the bench together. It did not go well. Perhaps if Bridges spent a little more time in games leading bench-heavy lineups, his size and skill would translate to more offense. This is a man who's scored 20 points a game for a season; no other Knick reserve can say the same.
For what it's worth, he'd also bring some size where there isn't much; McBride, Shamet, Clarkson and Alvarado are all shorter and/or stubbier (shorter wingspans) than the 6-foot-6 Bridges and his 7-foot-2 wingspan.
Mitchell Robinson was a Knick for eight years. He grew from a second-round project to a champion and a fan favorite. McBride's entering his seventh season in New York, having developed from a second-round project to a champion and a fan favorite. The Knicks publicized their refusal to re-sign Robinson, while McBride departing one way or another seems like a given .
That's the way the league works today, with the CBA second apron allowing billionaire owners to front and act like briefly entering the second apron to pay fraction of a percentage of their obscene wealth to a loyal worker is somehow pragmatism rather than being cheap. There's no way to know how the rest of the league reacted to James Dolan telling his two longest-tenured and most-underpaid workers, "Thanks for everything! Don't let the door hit you on your way out."
But elevating Shamet, however briefly, would not only be good for the 2027 Knicks, it'd be good for their longer-term vision. Shamet played through non-guaranteed contracts and multiple injuries for years with New York before becoming a playoff fixture on their road to the trophy.
Rewarding him sends the message to future free agents that the New York Knickerbockers recognize the value of. truly dedicated professionals. By extension, if a franchise treats its reserves with such respect, it stands to reason star players could expect to be well taken care of.
The Knicks barely eeked out a win over the Bulls the first time they met, a game where Bridges started and scored three points while Shamet had 14. In Monday's win over the Nets, Shamet was the game's leading scorer with 22. Chaney Johnson and Day'Ron Sharpe were the only starters for either team to score fewer than Bridges' six.
Switching Shamet and Bridges in early November doesn't have to signal anything beyond November's needs. But the defending champs are 3-4 and the schedule is about to take a tough turn. What they need now more than anything is wins.
Shamet starting could mean more wins now while putting the Knicks in a better position to succeed whenever Bridges resumes resembling Bridges. A lotta times when a machine isn't working, you unplug it briefly, hope for the best and plug it back in. Maybe that's what the Knicks need to do with Bridges.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/knicks/onsi as Knicks Have 3 Reasons to Consider Mikal Bridges Change vs. Bulls .
