Bench Check: Who's Earned More Minutes Seven Games Into the Title Defense

Short version: Landry Shamet has earned a bigger role, Jordan Clarkson has earned a real one, and Tyler Kolek has earned the right to stay in the conversation even with Jose Alvarado back. That's what seven games of box scores tell me on this off day, and Mike Brown's fourth quarter against Brooklyn says he's reading them the same way.

Remember, we checked minutes after two games (https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-rotation-watch-minutes-through-two-games), when Deuce McBride had just dropped 20 in Boston and Andre Drummond was getting squeezed. A lot has moved since then. The Knicks are 3-4, they've won three of four after the 0-3 start, and the bench has been a big reason for the turnaround.

Shamet is the sixth man, period

Landry Shamet has played 174 minutes, about 25 a night, more than any Knick who hasn't started a game, per the ESPN box scores. He's earning every one of them. He's 16-of-35 from three, which is 45.7%, and he's a plus-24 over the seven games. Monday he was the best player on the floor: a season-high 22 points in 30 minutes, 4-of-6 from deep, 6-of-6 at the line, per the AP recap and ESPN box score.

Brown basically said it out loud afterward. "Landry played very well tonight, and so we tried to keep him on the floor as long as we could, and Jordan Clarkson too," he said, per EssentiallySports' transcription of the postgame presser.

The flip side is Mikal Bridges, and I don't love what it means for my favorite lineup. Bridges is 16-of-52 from the field and a minus-62, the worst plus-minus on the team, per the ESPN box scores. Brown has pulled him in the third quarter of three of the seven games, per SNY's Ian Begley, and he played just 16 minutes against the Nets. I still want Mikal and OG together on the wings when it matters. That length and size on the perimeter is how you win in May and June. But right now, Shamet's shooting is earning those minutes, and I can't argue with the numbers.

JC and Kolek keep making the case

Jordan Clarkson is the most fun story on this bench. He's played only 53 minutes, and he's been basically out of the rotation in three of the seven games (a DNP against Detroit and single-digit minutes in Boston and against Orlando), per Begley and the ESPN box scores. Yet in those 53 minutes he's scored 33 points on 14-of-25 shooting and is a team-best plus-49. He had 18 in the comeback in Chicago (https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-bulls-recap-brunson-38-comeback-2-3) and was a plus-17 against Brooklyn, where his 3-pointer made it 91-81 during that 25-5 fourth-quarter run, per the AP (https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-nets-recap-25-5-fourth-quarter-15-straight-3-4).

Brown's praise was something else: "He is the definition of ultimate pro," he said, per SNY. Josh Hart told reporters Clarkson "could play 20, 25 minutes every night" on another team. I'm not asking for 25. I'm asking for him to stop disappearing for whole games, because a guy who shoots 56% from the field off the bench should be a nightly option.

Then there's Kolek. After two DNPs to open the year, he filled in during Alvarado's four-game absence with a left ankle sprain and put up 25 assists against two turnovers in 57 minutes, per the New York Post. Across his five games he's a plus-24, per ESPN. Brown told both guards before Monday's game that Alvarado is the backup "because you ended the season as the backup," but added, "both you guys got to be ready because a change can happen at any time," per DAZN. Then he went to Kolek, not Alvarado, to start the fourth quarter against the Nets, per the AP. That's a coach keeping the door open.

Where I'd pump the brakes

Deuce McBride is the tricky one. He's 13-of-31 from three, almost 42%, but he's a minus-20 across 129 minutes, per the ESPN box scores. The shooting is real. The rest of the impact hasn't followed yet, and his minutes have settled between 13 and 24 since that Boston night.

Drummond, meanwhile, has quietly done his job: 53 rebounds in 92 minutes and a plus-8, per ESPN. Through my paint-and-threes lens, that matters. If Shamet and Clarkson are going to soak up wing minutes as guards, we need someone holding the paint and the glass, especially with Cat still at the five in the five-out look I love.

My verdict: keep Shamet at 25-plus, give Clarkson a steady 12 to 15 instead of feast or famine, and let the Kolek-Alvarado thing be decided by matchups. And Bridges? Brown says it's "a matter of time." I believe him. But for now, the bench has earned the minutes. The Bulls are back at the Garden on Wednesday, and I'll be watching that rotation closely. For the bigger picture, check our six-games-in numbers breakdown (https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-six-games-in-numbers-title-defense).