The plan heading into September was for 6-foot-10 Jeremy Tyler to be a part of this Knicks team from the get-go. But the active big man who excelled at the Las Vegas summer league suffered a stress fracture in his foot in early September, and the rehab took longer than expected.
At the end of training camp, the Knicks organization made the strange decision of waiving Tyler and keeping Chris Smith, J.R. Smith’s brother. They didn’t want to commit to Tyler until he proved his foot wouldn’t become a lingering issue. Their affiliate Erie traded with Golden State for Tyler’s D-League rights, which allowed him to rehab in Tarrytown. Eventually he signed a D-League contract, playing a half-dozen games.
Other than J.R. Smith’s immature tweet about “betrayal” when his brother was cut Jan. 1 to make room on the roster for Tyler, all has worked out. Tyler scored his career-high 17 points in Tuesday night’s victory over the Celtics and has been an active force on both ends ever since he started getting action two weeks ago.
“He brings a spark,” Tyson Chandler said.
With Erie using the Knicks facility Wednesday, Tyler, Cole Aldrich and Toure’ Murry were officially sent down to the D-League in order to be able to practice with them. The Knicks aren’t practicing. The Bayhawks will join the Knicks at shootaround on Thursday, and all three players are expected to be recalled in time for that night’s game against the Cavaliers.
You notice Tyler when he is on the court. Andrea Bargnani’s injury has opened a lot of doors, and one of them is for Tyler to get meaningful rotation minutes — not in just garbage time, where he had been excelling until the Italian went down.
Tyler can hit a 15-footer, he is active on the glass, he can finish strong at the rim. He needs to work on becoming a smarter team defender — he sometimes gets caught out of position.
The question is how much time Tyler will get once Amar’e Stoudemire returns. Woodson has been impressed. Tyler has vaulted ahead of Metta World Peace, another injury risk relegated to garbage time vs. Boston.
He is at least great insurance with Kenyon Martin’s chronic ankle issue and Stoudemire’s always risky knees. Stoudemire (ankle sprain, bone bruise) was expected to return this weekend, but that’s no longer set in stone.
“I learn so much from those guys, every second they get a chance they talk to me,” Tyler said of Chandler and Martin. “It’s definitely helped me on the court.”
Tyler is a good locker room guy, and it was no accident he was chosen to speak to the Garden crowd before the MLK Day matinee and say a few words about the holiday. Tyler, who left high school after his junior year to play professionally in Israel and Japan before an NBA stint with the Warriors and two-week spell with the Hawks, admitted his career has been “a crazy roller coaster.” But perhaps now he has found a niche here.
The Knicks are 3-0 since Andrea Bargnani went down and they returned to a smallball offense. The Knicks have had their good moments with Bargnani, but the ball movement and spirit have increased noticeably in his absence. Despite his decent production, Bargnani became something of a ball-stopper.
Against Boston, the Knicks collected 19 assists by halftime. Chandler is much more involved offensively with Raymond Felton and others looking for him for lobs at the rim — plays that energize the team.
That’s not a play Bargnani is known for. He’s just not athletic enough. Bargnani is strictly a jump-shooter and occasional penetrator who rarely got his mates involved, even though he was the second-leading scorer.
Another foreboding stat regarding Bargnani: His misses resulted in buckets the other way 67 percent of the time, according to an advanced stat looked up by the Wall Street Journal’s Chris Herring.
The Knicks have scored 124 points, 110 and 114 points in the three games using last season’s smallball alignment with Carmelo Anthony at power forward.
“We’re playing like we’re used to playing from last year,” Chandler said.