The New York Knicks have started the 2019-20 season with a 3-10 record. It’s a tough pill for fans to swallow, as the team has tied its worst start to a year since the 2014-15 campaign in which they won a total of 17 games. All of this comes on the heels of a summer that began with such promise but eventually saw New York miss on Zion Williamson and its major targets in free agency.
However, there are a few bright spots on the roster, including second-year forward Kevin Knox. While the No. 9 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft is averaging fewer points per game this season, he’s taken positive steps forward this year, including shooting 42 percent from deep on 3.8 attempts per game. Knox is still learning and developing his game, but the flashes have been there offensively and at just 20 years old, he still has plenty of room to grow as a basketball player.
Knox recently spoke with Dime to talk about his partnership with Grungy Gentleman, a New York-based men’s lifestyle brand. The brand’s founder and designer, Jace Lipstein, grew up a die-hard Knicks fans and teamed up with Samsung to assemble a new lookbook, which features Knox, for their Spring 2020 collection. The collection drops on Nov. 29., and includes a limited-edition Pendleton jacket, track suits, and hoodies. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 is available now.
Knox also talked to us about his offseason, his ongoing sophomore season with the Knicks, the team’s locker room in the midst of another disappointing start and his own personal style.
With the first month of the regular season in the books, your record isn’t much different than it was around this time last season, but does it feel differently because of the number of veterans in the locker room compared to last season?
For sure. With the veterans, they always keep us up, keep confidence on the team, come into work every day, push us in practice, workouts — that’s something we didn’t really have last year. I think last year when we started losing quite a few games, the team was just down. This year, it feels differently because you have the vets trying to keep us up after every single game, telling us, “Get back and get ready in the gym. It’s still early in the season and we’ve got a lot of time left.” Just hearing that gives you more confidence in yourself to go out there and play harder the next game.
That being said, was there anyone on last year’s roster that took you under their wing during your rookie season?
Yeah, I’d say the two guys that did that for me were Courtney Lee and Lance Thomas. Lance Thomas was a guy that, after every practice, me and him always did some competition shooting, one-on-one drills, just talking to him every now and then. Courtney Lee was good as well. He’s been in the league for a while, so just asking him about different players, different matchups, where I can get better at my game. Those are the two guys that just kept it 100 with me at all times. It’s always good to have some people on the team that keep it 100 with you and tell you what you need to get better at.
Of the players that you guys added in the offseason, a lot of them are forwards. As someone who can play the 3 and 4, how did you tackle your summer knowing there was going to be a ton of competition at both of those positions?
I really just watched a lot of film. Just really looked at the things I need to get better at. I just needed to get stronger. I spent a lot of time in the weight room this summer with my trainer, my pops, and my family. Just getting stronger — upper and lower body — and on the court, getting better in all aspects of my game: Shooting, dribbling, making the right reads out of pick-and-rolls, passing. I mean, really just working on every single part of the game just to get better at. Film really helped me out a lot, being able to watch my mistakes from last year so I can go on the court and really just not make those same ones this year.
It also had to help that you had some idea that you weren’t going to have to move to a different state for the the third time in three years, right?
It’s great. I really just be in the gym most of the time out here and that’s a great feeling. It’s really just going from the gym, back home, back to the arena, and then back home. It’s great having that feeling of just staying in one spot and not having to do much traveling. It’s definitely a great feeling to have.
Despite only being a second-year player, you’re one of the longest tenured players on the team and one of the only players that has spent a full season under David Fizdale. Has there been any difference between how he coached last year’s team and this year’s team?
He’s been great all season long. Really just keeping confidence in every single one of the guys on the team. He lets the veterans really talk to the young guys, handle practice out. He’s very vocal, he’s a great person to talk to one-on-one. He just has a lot to say, he’s been through a lot. He’s won championships, so he kind of knows what it takes to get to the highest level and how to have a lot of young guys on a team and having a mixture of veterans in there. I think he’s a good coach for the young guys. I mean, he’s been around LeBron James Dwyane Wade. He knows the work ethic those guys have, so just kind of instilling that into us young guys.
What has his message been during what’s been another rough start to the season for you guys?
Just to play for each other, not worrying about the outside critics, not worrying about the fans, not worrying about nobody that’s not part of the team. It’s really just focusing on each other and playing hard for each other. That’s kind of been the message he’s really been instilling basically all year. Just going out, playing hard, playing with energy. It’s not going to be a great night every night, but being able to bounce back every day and come into practice, come into work mentally and physically ready to get after it the next game.
And is that something you guys are responding to as a team? What has the energy in the locker room been like to start the season?
Aw man, the locker room is great. Like I said, the vets just make sure that we all stay up. We have a lot of fun in practice, a lot of fun in the locker room. We know it’s not the result that we wanted, but we know it’s still early in the season. We’ve got a lot of basketball left. If you look at the Eastern standings, we’re right there, we’re not too far behind. We really just stay confident in ourselves, play for each other, not worry about the outside critics and have a lot of fun.
The veterans makes sure we don’t get down on ourselves, make sure we come into work every single day, work hard, practice hard, stay mentally focused on the game plan, make sure we’re diving into our film. They really stay on us about that. I give props to our veterans about that. I mean, the overall locker room, the atmosphere is great still. It’s not the result we wanted but we’re not going to get too down too early.
You’ve partnered with Grungy Gentleman to launch their new Spring 2020 collection. Given how important fashion is in today’s NBA, how does Grungy Gentleman fit into not just your style, but the NBA’s high-fashion scene?
Oh yeah, fashion is a big thing that’s really going around now for all sports. They’ve got a lot of pages on Instagram that post outfits. Everyone likes to see what different athletes wear nowadays. For myself, I’m a big sweatsuit guy. I like to wear jumpsuits. That’s kind of my style, I like to be comfy and look good at the same time and Grungy Gentleman, they have a really great collection of sweatsuits that are very different, great styles, different colorway. It stands out and that’s something I’m very interested in.
Did you feel pressure to step up your fashion game when you moved to New York last year?
At Kentucky, in college, fashion isn’t really as big as it in the NBA. But coming to New York, such a big state and big city that’s very fashion-oriented — a lot of fashion shows, a lot of designer stores out here — I knew I would have to step my fashion up a little bit, so basically I did a lot of shopping the offseason, really just got my closet a lot better. I went out and got a lot of different coats, some more jeans, sweatsuits — just stuff that I like that fits my style and in New York, they’ve pretty much got everything here.
Who would you say has the best style on the team, if not yourself?
I think everyone has their own different type of style. That’s all fashion’s about: Just having confidence in the style you have, but a lot of guys like to wear sweatsuits. You’ve got some guys that come in wearing jeans every day, you’ve got some guys that like to be comfy, so I think it varies from each player. But Julius [Randle] is a guy that has some really good fashion. R.J. [Barrett], he stepped his fashion game up. That’s just some of the names, but everyone on the team can really dress. There’s nobody that’s bad at it. Like I said, everyone has their own kind of style and I think that each style it matches each person.
