There is leaving a team in a lurch, and then there is what Malcolm Brogdon just did to the New York Knicks.
It feels less like a retirement and more like a catfishing expedition. The veteran guard looked the front office in the eye, agreed to the vision of a championship chase, and then decided at the eleventh hour that his body wasn’t up for the grind. He took his ball and went home before the season really started. While you can respect a player listening to his physical limits, the timing was catastrophic. It left the Knicks standing at the altar without a backup ringleader, and the fallout has been immediate and painful.
We are seeing exactly what happens when a roster loses its safety net.
The Tyler Kolek Experiment is Failing
With Brogdon out of the picture, the coaching staff had no choice but to hand the keys to Tyler Kolek. The narrative around the former second-round pick was promising. We were sold a story about a gritty, high-IQ floor general who could stabilize the second unit.
The reality has been a harsh wake-up call.
Kolek looks overwhelmed. The game is moving too fast for him right now, and the numbers through 12 appearances paint a bleak picture of his impact.
- Scoring: A measly 2.8 points per game
- Facilitating: Just 1.6 assists per game
- Shooting: 25% from three-point range
- Field Goal %: .419 from the field
For a player whose primary calling card is passing, averaging fewer than two assists a night is alarming. He isn’t creating separation. He isn’t finding the open man. Worse yet, he has become a liability on the other end of the floor. In a Mike Brown system, if you cannot facilitate and create, you usually do not play. Kolek is currently one of the worst defenders in the rotation, yet the Knicks are forced to play him because the cupboard is bare.
A Roster Full of Scorers, Not Passers
The issue compounds when you look at who is sitting next to him. Miles McBride is dealing with an illness and personal matters, but even when Deuce is healthy, he isn’t a point guard. He is a bucket-getter. He looks for his shot first, second, and third.
The New York Knicks constructed this roster assuming Brogdon would be the adult in the room to organize the offense when Jalen Brunson sat. Without him, the second unit lacks an identity. They are playing pickup basketball. There is no flow, the ball sticks, and it puts immense pressure on the starters to play heavy minutes just to keep the offense from falling off a cliff.
The Trade Market is the Only Fix
This isn’t something that can be fixed with internal development. Kolek might be a nice player in two years, but this team is trying to win in June. They cannot afford to let an unproven piece learn on the fly while blowing leads in the second quarter.
The front office needs to get aggressive well before the deadline. Names like Jose Alvarado of the New Orleans Pelicans make a ton of sense. “Grand Theft Alvarado” fits the culture perfectly. He defends 94 feet. He brings energy. Most importantly, he is an actual point guard who knows how to run a team.
Whatever the solution is, it has to come from outside the building. The Malcolm Brogdon retirement was a gut punch, but sticking with the status quo would be a knockout blow. The Knicks need a facilitator, and they need one fast.