Keep or Cut: Taj Gibson
Taj Gibson was brought to the Knicks last offseason to be a stabilizing presence in the middle for a young Knicks team coming off of a season where they tied their all-time futility mark.
He did exactly that, perhaps the one free agent signing from last offseason that neither underperformed (Julius Randle, Wayne Ellington, etc.) nor overperformed (Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock) relative to the expectations set forth for him by fans, media and the size of his contract (two years, $20 million with a team option for the second season).
After being signed on the same night as Julius Randle and Bobby Portis and coming to a roster with the upstart Mitchell Robinson already in tow, Gibson probably never expected to start 56 of the 62 games he played in this year. However, when Robinson initially regressed to start the season and started fouling everyone with a pulse — a real bugaboo from his rookie season that reared its ugly head again — Gibson was called on to start and provide big minutes a number of nights.
Once Robinson got his fouling issues under control, however, Gibson still held onto the starting gig. The rationale by Mike Miller was that, even if Gibson was only essentially starting ceremonially and playing about 15 minutes a night, Robinson was more comfortable coming off the bench.
That's not to say Gibson was even a huge step down from Robinson at times, crazy as that is to say about a 34-year-old undersized forward/center in relation to a 21-year-old defensive phenom. And it seems like Robinson learned plenty from Gibson as well, and appreciated Gibson taking the honorary nods at starting center for his sake.
“I like coming off the bench," Robinson told the NY Post's Marc Berman in January, after an 11-for-11 shooting performance against the Trail Blazers that tied a franchise record for most field goal attempts without a miss. "I feel comfortable coming off the bench. I can get into the game better. I get right into it. I came off the bench for 11 of 11. It works for me.’’
Gibson also laid the praise for Robinson on thick.
"This guy, a lot of players don’t have a niche," Gibson told Berman in the same article. "A lot of them don’t know where to start. A lot of guys just come in and think it’s all about scoring and not defense. A lot of players are lost in the sauce with that. With Mitch, he already knows what he has to do. He’s a starting center and all he has to do is grow. If he pushes himself like he’s doing, he’ll be an All-Star. He doesn’t know how good he is."
So how does that affect the Knicks' decision of whether to keep Gibson or cut him? Well, it all depends on if you believe that Robinson is ready to start or not. But even if he is ready to start, Gibson could provide a valuable safety valve. Look at Gibson's Per-36 numbers for his career, per Basketball-Reference, which is a completely imperfect metric, but demonstrates that his per-minute impact remained roughly the same this season:
Basketball-Reference
As a matter of fact, Gibson's Per-36 numbers have been the same almost his whole career, proving that, pound-for-pound, he's one of the most consistent players in the entire league on a minute-to-minute basis. What stands out about this year is that, operating as an undersized center almost exclusively, Gibson actually posted his best shooting percentage of his career (58.4%) and averaged more blocks Per-36 than he had in two seasons prior.
If he makes Robinson comfortable and is clearly fitting the valuable mentor role for the soon-to-be third-year big man, why not keep Gibson around for another year, particularly in a year where there aren't any max free agents that make it necessary to free up Gibson's money? Initially my thought here was, "Decline the option and re-sign him to a more cap-friendly deal more in line with his abilities," but... why? Why not just pick up the option and build some overpaid good will for the summer of 2021, the next time the Knicks figure to potentially take a stab at difference-making free agents, and then sign Gibson for a value contract that offseason as a veteran presence on a team that will hopefully be ready to finally start making some noise in the East?
Keep or cut: Honestly, keep, and don't even worry about the hefty price tag of that second-year option. Even with Gibson's $10 million salary for 2020-21, the Knicks would still have enough room to go after a Christian Wood or Brandon Ingram if they so pleased. Keep Mitchell Robinson happy and comfortable.
