Kevin Knox must have heaved a sigh of relief after Gordon Hayward decided to go to the Charlotte Hornets rather than to the New York Knicks.
Knox dodged a bullet there.
With no Hayward, Knox has a clearer path to earning a significant role under new head coach Tom Thibodeau with only veterans Reggie Bullock, Alec Burks, and 2018 second-round pick Ignas Brazdeikis crowding him for minutes in the small forward position.
But Knox has to earn and work for it, according to Tom Thibodeau, whose win-now mentality doesn’t bode well for a young and inconsistent player like the version of Knox we have seen in his first two seasons in the league.