2 Young players Knicks should continue to develop, 2 to give up on

a star becomes available</a> that New York decides to pursue, that trio still has work to do but doesn&#8217;t need to prove themselves to remain with the organization. Well, at least for now.</p> <p>As for the Knicks&#8217; other young players, their futures aren&#8217;t as sure, starting with Jericho Sims.</p> <h2>2 players the New York Knicks should develop, 2 they shouldn&#8217;t</h2> <h3>Develop: Jericho Sims</h3> <p>After his rookie season, Jericho Sims had his two-way contract converted to a standard, two-year deal. He had a non-guaranteed agreement for 2023-24, but because New York didn&#8217;t waive him by midnight on July 16, his contract is partially guaranteed. He&#8217;ll make at least $1.2 million (out of $1.9 million) next season.</p> <p>Sims underwent shoulder surgery during the playoffs, which definitively ended his season. He had been out of the rotation for a few weeks due to the injury.</p> <p>Before getting hurt, the 24-year-old averaged 3.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per game across 52 contests (16 starts). As a starter in Mitchell Robinson&#8217;s absence, Sims averaged 4.2 points and 6.3 rebounds.</p> <p>Sims is a traditional center, operating as a rim protector and rebounder. He&#8217;s limited on the offensive end, but he posted a true shooting percentage of 78% during the regular season, which is quite efficient. He hasn&#8217;t received much playing time during his first two years in New York, but that was expected.</p> <p>Isaiah Hartenstein solidified himself as the Knicks&#8217; backup center behind Robinson, but that doesn&#8217;t mean the organization should give up on Sims. The more experience that he gets, the better. He may not evolve to be a starter in the NBA, but he could nail down a valuable off-the-bench role.</p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span>&nbsp;The supposed next Obi Toppin </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_146370" class="wp-caption alignnone"> <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-146370" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1706,w_2560/https%3A%2F%2Fdailyknicks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2023%2F07%2F1453928549-scaled.jpeg" alt="New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Isaiah Roby" width="2560" height="1706" srcset="https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2023/07/1453928549-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2023/07/1453928549-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2023/07/1453928549-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2023/07/1453928549-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px"><p class="wp-caption-text">Isaiah Roby, San Antonio Spurs. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images) – New York Knicks</p> </div> <h3>Give up on: Isaiah Roby</h3> <p>Isaiah Roby has yet to play a regular season game for the Knicks. The 25-year-old was at Summer League with New York, where he showed promising flashes, but he didn’t precisely lock in his spot as the next Obi Toppin. To be fair, he had been cleared to play only two weeks before after rehabbing an ankle injury.</p> <p><a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-rumors-paul-george-rj-barrett-immanuel-quickley-obi-toppin-mavericks-bucks-celtics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto reported</a> before the start of Summer League that Roby was “expected” to fill the Knicks’ backup power forward position. It wasn’t long after that when New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy reported that New York was “monitoring” the free agent market for a veteran big.</p> <p>The Knicks have yet to fill that slot, but it’s hard to envision Roby cracking Tom Thibodeau’s rotation. He appeared in 42 games for the Spurs this past season and averaged 4.1 points and 2.6 rebounds before he was waived in February. Before that, Roby spent three seasons with the Thunder, who also waived him.</p> <p>Roby’s seven-foot-three wingspan helps him to stand out on the defensive end as he disrupts passing lanes and protects the rim, but his inconsistency is a problem. He averaged 0.8 blocks per game in 2021-22 with Oklahoma City, but that number dropped to 0.2 this past season.</p> <p>Perhaps the Knicks are waiting to see what Roby will bring to training camp this year, but given that he’s been in the league for four years now, it can be assumed that he won’t be able to carve out a role for himself in New York.</p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #007BC1" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> A young player that fans love </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_146368" class="wp-caption alignnone"> <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"https://dailyknicks.com/wp-content/uploads/imagn-images/2023/07/20400746-scaled.jpeg">from coming over this summer</a>.</p> <div class="embed "> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy 4th everybody. Last thing on Rokas and why he’s not not playing in Summer League, which is most reasonable since World Cup not till late Aug. </p> <p>From his agent:</p> <p>“There is no room for Rokas on the Knicks roster, therefore playing summer league doesn’t make much sense.” <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"https://t.co/PMadUnZmQg">https://t.co/PMadUnZmQg

<p>— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) <a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"https://twitter.com/SBondyNYDN/status/1676367887982788613?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%22>July 4, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p><script async src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></div> <p>Knicks fans have understandably wondered if the 22-year-old guard will ever trek to New York. Jokubaitis recently confirmed that he’s playing another season with FC Barcelona (his third), which didn’t come as a surprise.</p> <p>He helped to lead FC Barcelona to the EuroLeague Final Four this past season, where they lost to Real Madrid, 78-66. Jokubaitis is an exciting young player, hence why he won the EuroLeague Rising Star award in 2022.</p> <p>Jokubaitis hasn’t had a chance to develop within New York’s organization. Although Tom Thibodeau said earlier this year he’d like to see more of the guard, there doesn’t appear to be a clear path for Jokubaitis to join the Knicks finally.</p> <p>Maybe next offseason will come, and Rokas Jokubaitis will decide that he’s willing to commit to New York, but that outcome shouldn’t be counted on.</p> <div class="embed "> <blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="9rApopOgia"><p><a href=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/21/11-player-signings-new-york-knicks-never-made-noah-anthony-stoudemire/">11 Player signings the New York Knicks never should’ve made</a></p></blockquote> <p><iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);" title="“11 Player signings the New York Knicks never should’ve made” — Daily Knicks" src=https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/29/2-young-players-knicks-continue-develop-2-give-up-on-sims-mcbride/2/"https://dailyknicks.com/2023/07/21/11-player-signings-new-york-knicks-never-made-noah-anthony-stoudemire/embed/#?secret=MdTjljNXhg#?secret=9rApopOgia" data-secret="9rApopOgia" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p></div> <p> </p><!—pageview_candidate—>">