
The days of the New York Knicks’ younger inexperienced players not seeing the court are over.
With Mike Brown now in the fold, it’s safe to assume the Knicks will be less reluctant to play their younger, unproven talent than they were under Tom Thibodeau. For players such as Pacome Dadiet, this is good news to hear.
Keith Smith of Spotrac spoke with an anonymous Knicks scout at the NBA Summer League. The scout told Smith that the hope is to get Dadiet, and the team’s other young players in the mix in some way, shape, or form.
“This is a tough rotation to crack. We have a lot of NBA veterans who are going to play a lot,” they said, per Smith. “But Pacome (Dadiet) looked a lot more comfortable this year than last year. Tyler (Kolek) got some run last year and we’re comfortable with playing him more this year. Ariel (Hukporti) was forced to play at time last year and he’s more ready if that happens again this year. And Kevin (McCullar Jr.) and MarJon (Beauchamp) both looked awesome out here (Las Vegas). We’re still figuring out the rest of the roster, but we hope all of those guys factor in somehow.”
Dadiet was selected 25th overall by the Knicks in the 2024 NBA Draft, and played sparingly with the big league club, spending most of the year in the G-League. Dadiet appeared in 18 games with the Knicks last season, and averaged 1.7 points per game in 6.2 minutes of action. In the G-League, he averaged 14.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
While barely sniffing the court in his rookie season, the Knicks hope they will see him have more of an impact in year 2. The 19-year-old has shown plenty of potential, but he needs to be on the court in order to showcase it more.
