DOING JACK SIT
Jarrett, Lee in no man’s land looking for way out
THE WRITING isn’t on the wall for Courtney Lee and Jarrett Jack; it’s on the bench.
For three-quarters of this season, the pair of veterans were the most reliably present pieces in the lineup — representing two of the three top Knicks in minutes played.
But now they’re outliers to the youth experiment, leaving Jack to consider the possibility of requesting a release by Thursday’s deadline so that he can join a playoff team.
“I’ve never done it before to jump from one team in the middle of the season to a playoff squad. I know that’s what other guys have done. To be honest, I don’t really know,” Jack said. “Maybe I do need to sit down and look at a list of what my best possible options are. But as of today I’m with the Knicks and want to help in any capacity I can.”
It’s an understandable emotion from a 34-yearold who has no future in New York. Jack resurrected his career this season and briefly quarterbacked the Knicks to a 17-14 record after moving into the starting lineup in October. But then they acquired Trey Burke and Emmanuel Mudiay, and Jack’s minutes transformed to nonexistent after the All-Star break with three consecutive DNPs.
Jack, who is on an expiring minimum deal, would have to be waived by March 1 to sign with a playoff team. The same goes for Joakim Noah. The Knicks have already cut two players on guaranteed deals this season — Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Ramon Sessions.
“Obviously I’d like to be on the court but I think they’re allowing some of these younger guys to get some opportunities to show where they’re at amongst the other guys in this league and it’s coach’s decision,” Jack said. “We were in Orlando (for a game last week) and he said we’ll move in that direction. It’s not for me to have an opinion on it.”
Lee’s circumstances are different. He’s still in the starting lineup — although his minutes have been reduced — and is under contract until the summer of 2020.
At 32 years old, though, he doesn’t fit into the front office’s mandate of emphasizing youth and was limited to a season-low 11 minutes in Monday’s loss to the Warriors.
In the three games since the All-Star break, he has averaged just 14 minutes as Jeff Hornacek experimented with his 25-and-under backcourts of Mudiay, Burke, Frank Ntilikina and Tim Hardaway Jr.
Not coincidentally, the Knicks own their draft pick and wouldn’t mind getting more Ping Pong balls in the lottery.
“As a player, as a competitor, it’s definitely tough,” Lee said. “But I’m not the coach, I’m not in the front office, if that’s the decision that they’re making and what they’re going with. All I can do is be professional.”
Like Jack, Lee was warned by Hornacek last week that a reduction in minutes was forthcoming. “He’s been true with his word,” Lee said. Still, Hornacek said Monday that he doesn’t anticipate removing Lee from the starting lineup yet.
The Knicks would like to deal Lee’s contract before the summer of 2019 to clear up cap space for a free agent push.