GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni wants to play his bench more minutes, but what that means for Josh Harrellson remains unclear.
“He can play,” D’Antoni said Friday of the rookie out of Kentucky.
“I’ve got to find the time. It’s got to be right. I’ve got to feel right about it, but the way he plays, anytime is good.”
Harrellson was one of D’Antoni’s favorite bench players when he went down with a fractured right wrist on Jan. 21.
At 6-foot-10, he could space the floor and shoot 3-pointers. He could rebound. And he wasn’t afraid to do the dirty work, like diving for loose balls.
So when he got hurt in a loss to the Denver Nuggets, Harrellson was extremely frustrated.
“It was very frustrating because right when I got hurt, it was when I was making my strides,” Harrellson told SNY.tv exclusively Friday. “I started playing well. I had all the confidence in my world in myself. And to go out right when I was at my peak, it’s tough.”
When Harrellson returned to practice this week, he came back to a much deeper Knicks’ bench.
Baron Davis, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Steve Novak and Jared Jeffries have been beating the starters in practice and thus making D’Antoni’s life more difficult.
“We’ve been blessed with the acquiring of J.R. Smith and getting Baron and Jeremy [Lin] comes out of nowhere and Shump’s healthy now and Jared’s playing excellent and Steve Novak’s knocking down every shot he takes, our bench is probably one of the best in the country, if not the best,” Harrellson said.
“We’re really deep. We got 13 players that can play, 14 players that can play and we can’t even play all of them in one game.”
The coach played 10 players in Wednesday’s 120-103 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, and seven of them scored in double-figures.
Harrellson never got off the bench.
“I just came back,” he said. “It was my first game back in about six weeks. I’m sure [D’Antoni] is kind of hesitant. I only had two practices. Now we’ve had three. I’m getting more confident every day.”
Harrellson said his wrist is “feeling better.”
“Every single day I get a little more motion in it, a little more movement and I think I’m ready to go,” Harrellson said.
Going forward, D’Antoni must make some hard decisions in terms of allocating minutes and deciding who plays at crunch time.
“We do have an abundance [of players],” D’Antoni said. “If we can get guys healthy, and get them to play with a higher intensity hopefully because of shorter minutes.”
Amar’e Stoudemire said he’s “pretty sure” D’Antoni will find time for Harrellson.
“I can’t call the personnel, who plays and who doesn’t play, but I’m sure Josh will get in there,” he said. ‘He’s a solid defensive presence, he’s a great rebounder and he can stretch the floor as well.”
In the meantime, Harrellson says he’s biding his time.
“I’m just staying patient, staying ready,” he said. “That’s all I can do right now, must keep my mind-set right.
“I’m just going to be sitting here waiting for my name to be called.”
