Last season, Josh Hart’s elite rebounding resulted in 34 double-doubles. The team was 23-11 in those games, including 8-1 in games where Hart had a triple-double.
During training camp, Knicks head coach Mike Brown made it known that Hart would be coming off the bench. It was Brown’s attempt to shake things up as he figured out his team. Putting the NBA’s best rebounding guard on your bench is a questionable decision, but it was Brown’s to make.
Fast forward to the end of November, and Hart is back in the starting lineup. “I’ll be the first to say that wasn’t the right thing to do because he just does so many great things for our group and for our coaching staff,” Brown said after a Knicks victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
The Knicks are riding a four-game win streak into tonight’s match-up with the Boston Celtics. That coincides with Hart’s shift into the starting lineup. He’s averaging 11.7 rebounds during that span, seemingly re-energized by the switch.
Josh Hart’s Elite Rebounding Is Historic
A Top 1% Rebounder
Hart led all guards in rebounding a year ago, averaging 9.6 per game. He finished second in offensive rebounding at the position, edged out by Houston Rockets star Amen Thompson. His rebounding numbers placed him in the 99th percentile for all wings. Since the 2019-20 season, Hart has finished at the top of the rebounding charts for his position. He’s consistently at or near the top in defensive rebound percentage, and has improved as an offensive rebounder since joining the Knicks.
He’s eighth in total rebounding percentage this season after finishing fifth last year. He’d rank even higher if we removed the players who didn’t play a minimum number of games. At the guard position, Hart is sixth all-time in rebounds per game. The names ahead of him are Luka Dončić, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Jerry Sloan, and Tom Gola. Hart plays the fewest minutes per game of those players and anyone else in the top ten.
Numbers Translating to Wins
Hart’s different role this season may have contributed to his slow start. For a player who averaged 37 minutes a game last season, coming off the bench for a team that retained essentially the same roster (or worse) could be humbling. Hart didn’t hit the 30-minute mark in a game until game nine of this season. Since then, he’s played 30 minutes or more in all but one game.
“I’ll take the hit on that,” Brown said, referring to Hart’s shorter stints on the court. “For me, I was behind the eight ball trying to figure out how to incorporate him with what we were trying to do. It just took time,” he added.
The Knicks are 126-75 since Hart joined, including 122-51 with him as a starter. That seems a large enough sample size to correlate Hart’s presence in the starting lineup with team success. What’s even more odd is that Hart is precisely the type of player who’d thrive in Brown’s new pace and space system. The first thing he looks to do when he grabs a rebound is push it.
Previously, Hart would be flying down the court often ahead of his teammates. Now, Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, and yes, even Karl-Anthony Towns have committed to running the floor, adding a new dimension to an already potent Knicks offense. With a low usage rate, Hart is the perfect player to slot alongside the ball-dominant Brunson. His willingness to slash, cut, and play on the low block lets Towns float around the perimeter where he’s more comfortable.
He’s a solid playmaker, averaging seven assists during his run as a starter, after averaging 5.9 last season. With Brown’s emphasis on moving the ball, Hart can act as a tertiary creator to Bridges and Brunson. That means less pressure on those two, creating looks for everyone else. It also means they can lean more into being play finishers as opposed to playmaking.
Hart’s Rebounding Is Integral to Playoff Success
Most importantly, Hart’s playstyle translates to wins in the spring. The Knicks went 5-1 in the playoffs last year when he had a double-double. Looking at rebounds alone, the team went 7-2 when Hart was in the double-digits. Rebounding is an effort stat, and no one plays with more effort than Josh Hart.
His fit in Brown’s new system should be a cinch. Hart’s game score, a metric invented by John Hollinger akin to the Player Efficiency Rating, has shot up as his minutes have increased. He was already above league average for his position, but it’s no coincidence his game score has skyrocketed in the four games he’s started.
He crashes the offensive glass, darting into the paint with reckless abandon, a magnet for long rebounds. His mentality is contagious. It embodied the best of the Knicks under Tom Thibodeau. Good on Brown for fixing his mistake before it cost the Knicks.
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