00:00As we come to a close in the first week of NBA free agency, the New York Knicks, they just got deeper and they got a whole lot more dangerous. Two new names off the bench, Jordan Clarkson and Gershon Yabaselli. Now, they may not be headliners, but they could be exactly what this Knicks team needs to level up. Let's start with Clarkson. The Knicks bench last season, they were dead last in the NBA scoring. They averaged just 15.8 points in the entire postseason combined. That's per game average.
00:26And Clarkson, even in a down year, he put up 16.2 points per game with a lot of rebound Jazz team. But it's not just the volume. According to Basketball Index, he's in the 92nd percentile in overall shooting talent, 91st in shot creation, 89th in shot making. And look, the man can cook, particularly in the half court, where he ranks among the best in the league in shot making talent and self-created buckets. He's not getting open looks. He's earning them. And he's hitting tough shots at an elite rate.
00:55That kind of shot creation off the bench? Well, the Knicks, they haven't had it since, well, they haven't had it. And then there's Gershon Yabaselli, who quietly brings efficiency and floor spacing to a front court that desperately needs it.
01:09He ranked in the 70th percentile inefficiency, posting 123.6 points per 100 possessions per cleaning the glass. That's legit right there. He shot 40% on above the break threes, 71% at the rim, and nearly half of his shots, they came from deep.
01:26Yabaselli also shows good vision for a stretch big, posting an 11.5% assist rate, which gives New York a short-roll passer when Brunson draws two.
01:37Here's the bottom line. The Knicks started five. They did the heavy lifting last season, but they ran out of gas. These two signings, Clarkson with his instant offense, Yabaselli with his spacing and efficiency, aren't just depth pieces.
01:49They're a direct response to what went wrong deep in the playoffs for the Knicks, and they're built to fix it. Clarkson and Yabaselli, they've got their defensive limitations, for sure.
01:59But Knicks fans, they wanted an offensive upgrade off the bench, and looks like they got it. We're going to dive deeper into these players this week on NewYork.Game, but let me know what you think of these two signings in the comments.
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