New York Knicks swingman Josh Hart revealed he was hoping to be selected by the Philadelphia 76ers back in 2017.
In the 2017 NBA draft, the Philadelphia 76ers had the 25th pick. They selected Anzejs Pasecniks and stashed him overseas. He eventually played 28 games in the NBA for the Washington Wizards in the 2019-20 season and the 2020-21 season.
Five picks later, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Villanova standout Josh Hart. Now with the New York Knicks, Hart is making a big impact for the No. 2 seed in the East. He is averaging 21.5 points and 14 rebounds while shooting 8-for-15 from deep.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Hart revealed he was hoping he would be selected by the Sixers in 2017, but it didn’t happen.
The Sixers passed on all the Villanova champions in the draft. Josh Hart said today he was "bummed" they didn't take him with the 25th pick (he went 30th to the Lakers):
"I wanted to go here. They were at 25. They did a draft-and-stash, some European guy that I can’t pronounce…
It makes sense why Philadelphia didn’t select Hart in 2017. The Sixers had a budding Robert Covington who played the same position. One could argue that Hart would have been a nice fit next to Joel Embiid to build around.
After Saturday’s 105-93 loss at the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges received a comparison from Knicks forward Josh Hart.
Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges has been through a lot over the past year as he went from a successful team in the Phoenix Suns to a Nets team that is in transition to put it mildly. Brooklyn is still trying to find its way back to being a contender, but things right now are rough for everyone.
The Nets lost 105-93 at the New York Knicks on Saturday and aside from the fact that the Knicks have won all three matchups between the teams this season, the fashion in which those victories are happening is what is important. Bridges spoke on how disappointing it was to see the crowd at Barclays Center being mostly a Knicks crowd while New York dominated them in their building.
To make matters worse, Bridges could be taking losses against the Knicks harder because of his personal relationships with New York’s Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo that date back to their days at Villanova University. Add to the fact that Brooklyn has not been very good recently and at this moment, it looks like they will be missing the postseason entirely.
One thing that has been evident for those that have watched the Nets and Knicks play this season is Brooklyn looks like they are not having any fun while New York appears to be having all the fun. So much so that Hart gave his take on the situation that Bridges finds himself in right now per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News:
“It’s like that SpongeBob meme when Squidward is looking out the window and he sees SpongeBob and Patrick having fun. [Mikal] is Squidward.”
Josh Hart wants to play a new position…quarterback.
New York Knicks wing Josh Hart made a hilarious mistake while passing the ball during a victory over the Bulls on Wednesday.
Hart took the ball up the court in transition and had a 5-on-4 advantage for a fastbreak. But he got a little carried away and rather than throwing the ball to one of his teammates, he threw the ball way into the stands for a turnover.
It was a hilarious blunder to see the ball travel so far into the stands like a foul ball in baseball. It was funny on its own but even funnier when you saw his reaction to what happened.
After the game, Hart posted a meme on Twitter of this silly possession. Instead of a basketball court, the background of the photo was changed to a football field and suddenly everything made a lot more sense.
Hart looked a lot like a quarterback thinking some variation of the meme: “Screw it, my receiver is down there somewhere.”
It actually wasn’t the worst advice from Josh Hart to Brook Lopez.
During the quarterfinals of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, Knicks wing Josh Hart had a funny message for Bucks big Brook Lopez.
Hart, who is 6-foot-4, approached the 7-foot-1 center to offer him some strategic advice. Hart said that when Lopez gets the ball near the basket, the Milwaukee big shouldn’t feel “scared” to pass it out to his teammate to avoid the mismatch.
According to Hart, despite the obvious height difference that favors the Milwaukee big by several inches, the mismatch favors the shorter player any time that he is guarding Lopez.
“I know when you got the ball in the post against me it’s a mismatch. Don’t be scared if you gotta pass it out!”
Hart was joking, but let’s look into this one! For what it is worth, using the matchup database via NBA.com, Hart has defended Lopez on 31.5 partial possessions since 2018-19.
The big man is shooting 3-of-7 (42.8 percent) on these opportunities and has scored eight points. Lopez has also recorded three assists and three turnovers on these matchups. Not bad!
While the advice from Hart about a mismatch is tongue-in-cheek, it is also actually not the most awful observation. Lopez is averaging just 0.1 passes per game after post-up possessions this season, via NBA.com.
Last season, his pass percentage on post-ups ranked as the second-lowest (minimum: 40 post-ups) in the league. So perhaps, no matter who is assigned to guard Lopez, he should consider Hart’s suggestion.
New York Knicks wing Josh Hart successfully pulled off one of the most creative, ambitious 3-point attempts you’ll ever see in an NBA game.
If you had a hundred guesses for what Hart would do to shake his defender on the perimeter, you probably never would have guessed that he would have thrown the ball off his back.
But in the fourth quarter, as Jrue Holiday closed out on him after a potential catch-and-shoot from the corner, that is exactly what Hart attempted. It was bold, reckless and just crazy enough to work.
NBA fans couldn’t believe what they saw from Hart, who hit the 3-pointer on this wild possession.
Hart went on to play a game-high 43 minutes for the Knicks, who were not able to defeat the Celtics in this competitive match between the two Eastern Conference rivals.
But those who watched the game will probably walk away from it mostly thinking about the unexpected possession from Hart.
After Josh Hart recorded a team-high 11 rebounds in Team USA’s win over Greece, Steve Kerr had high praise for the New York Knicks guard.
On Monday morning, Steve Kerr’s Team USA earned a commanding victory over Greece to move to 2-0 in Group C of the 2023 FIBA World Cup. During Team USA’s 109-81 win over Greece, four Americans scored in double figures, including Anthony Edwards and Austin Reaves.
Josh Hart led the way for Team USA on the glass, recording a game-high 11 rebounds. No other played in the game tallied more than five boards.
After the game, Kerr had high praise for the New York Knicks wing. The Golden State Warriors coach said Hart’s position is “winner.”
Josh is just a winner, you know? People ask ‘What position does he play?’ — He plays winner. I don’t know what position he play. He gets loose balls. He guards anybody. At one point Spo (Erik Spoelstra) turned to me and said: ‘Some people get 50-50 balls; he gets the 30-70 balls. I thought that was really well said. He just makes these plays with his effort and his physicality and his toughness. But, also his skill. He really pushes the ball well in transition and moves it. He gets off the ball and then that’s when the first domino falls defensively and then you see the next two of three passes. Josh is often the first guy to create the advantage. He just has a unique game. What he does translates to winning.
Steve Kerr on Josh Hart: “Josh is just a winner. People ask ‘What position does he play?’ He plays winner. I don’t know what position he plays…At one point Spo turned to me & said ‘Some people get 50-50 balls; he gets the 30-70 balls…’” Hart game-high 11 rebounds vs Greece pic.twitter.com/IpsEsuDuTF
Hart finished the game with six points on 2-of-2 shooting from the field with 11 rebounds and five assists in 20 minutes off the bench. Hart finished with a plus-19 against Greece.
With their ticket already punched to the second round, Kerr, Hart and Team USA will play one more game in Group C on Wednesday against Jordan in Manila.
The NBA offseason is a crazy time for media, teams, and players in their own unique ways. Players have more freedom to move around in free-agency than in previous eras in the league and it has even allowed players to publicly recruit others on social media platforms like Twitter.
On Saturday, New York Knicks forward Josh Hart sent a tweet to Brooklyn Nets wing Mikal Bridges that appeared to be a recruitment of some sort. This is a unique situation given that the Knicks currently have three former Villanova Wildcats in Jalen Brunson, Hart, and the recently-signed Donte DiVincenzo.
The last time that all four players were on the same team was during the 2016-17 college basketball season when they led Villanova to a 32-4 record before losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. While Hart is excited to get the band back together, it appears that Brooklyn is not trading Bridges anytime soon.
Former Laker Josh Hart recently admitted he was unhappy when the team traded him to the Pelicans in the Anthony Davis deal.
Anthony Davis may be a polarizing figure among a large contingent of Los Angeles Lakers fans, but there’s no doubt his time with the franchise has been pretty fruitful.
Upon arriving for the 2019-20 season, he immediately was a major factor in the team going from the lottery to the NBA championship. After the Lakers made some questionable personnel moves over the following two years or so, Davis had arguably the best season of his career while helping them return to the Western Conference finals.
To get him, the Lakers gave up three good players, including Josh Hart, an invaluable role player they drafted in 2017.
When the Davis trade happened in the summer of 2019, Hart posted this photo of himself seemingly looking happy.
“It was smiling through the pain. Because I was sick. I did not want to leave. I posted that as a false front of like, ‘Yeah, I’m excited to go to New Orleans.’ Nah. I got to LA and my biggest thing was I always wanted to be in the league and be with at least one team for a long time. I wanted a place to have as home. It was like, let me post this so people would think, ‘Oh, he’s excited. He’s happy and all that.’ But no, deep down, I’m like, ‘Damn. I don’t wanna leave.’”
Hart is a member of a very good New York Knicks team, and he played a key role in helping it win a playoff series for the first time in 10 years. The 6-foot-4 wing could turn down his player option for next season and become a free agent, and there is no doubt Lakers fans would love to have him back, although it seems very unlikely.
Josh Hart has an ultimate “how it started” versus “how it’s going” story, and social media is there to remind him. “It’s been a process,” Hart told RACER of building his NHRA Top Fuel team. “We started this thing in one of my little garages and we …
Josh Hart has an ultimate “how it started” versus “how it’s going” story, and social media is there to remind him.
“It’s been a process,” Hart told RACER of building his NHRA Top Fuel team. “We started this thing in one of my little garages and we had one trailer. Now we’ve got two trailers and two brand-new cars. It’s just been an evolution that is very awesome to look back on.
“(Expletive) Facebook memories. You scroll those and you see us working in a parking lot in front of a gas station, and you’re like, ‘Wow, we really started there.’”
Hart’s driving career began on the streets of Indianapolis — the public ones. Hart admits he was not a favorite of local law enforcement, and it was a suggestion to check out drag racing that changed his life.
In his Top Fuel debut in 2021 at Gainesville, Hart won. Only running a partial schedule that season, Hart picked up a second win and advanced to four semifinals. It’s been a fast upward climb since, Hart going full-time in 2022 and making the Countdown to the Championship.
But despite his unproven record and limited experience, Hart was able to hire some of the best in the business for his team. Hart understands how lucky he’s been in that regard.
“They are everything,” Hart said. “They are everything and I mean that in the most sincerest way. I’m sure that people say that, but it’s like, they made me, not the other way around, and I’ll never forget that. I hope I can keep all the same people for the duration of my career. That’s the goal. I feel like the grass is never greener on the other side, so if you can work through stuff and build on a solid foundation, we can work through anything as long as we communicate.”
Ron Douglas, Hart’s crew chief, is one of those people. Douglas has spent decades in the sport working with numerous talented drivers at places like Don Schumacher Racing, John Force Racing and Cruz Pedregon.
“I think Ron Douglas took a chance on me, and I’m forever grateful for that,” Hart said. “I’ve tried every single race and every single season we’ve been together so far to prove to him how grateful I am. But there is a lot of risk on both ends — it was a leap of faith for both of us.”
Having his family with him at the track has been a key part of keeping Hart in his comfort zone. NHRA photo
Although success came quickly, and Hart is loving life at the racetrack with his wife Brittanie and two small children (they were eating snow cones together in the pit when RACER arrived, a day after Hart went provisional No. 1 in qualifying), it hasn’t been easy building a Top Fuel team from scratch. Hart remembers 10 years ago when he was thinking about getting into racing and inquired about the cost and he was told that if he was thinking about that, he couldn’t afford it.
“And I looked up to that person until that moment,” Hart said. “Then that was all the fire I needed to say, ‘OK, well, I’m going to do it,’ and here we are. But it is a lot.
“The logistics and the politics and obviously the money, getting the proper people and the proper parts. Owning it is much different than being a paid driver out here.”
Winning isn’t all fun and games, as Hart found with some additional scrutiny from rivals about his staging at Las Vegas. NHRA photo
Something Hart has found is his competition seemingly treats him like a veteran and not the young team his resume would reflect.
“There are no breaks,” Hart said. “But shame on me for thinking that we were going to have a bunch of friends and play nice. The bottom line is everybody wants to win, so everybody that is in this class is willing to rip your throat out on the starting line, and I’ve got to rise to the occasion.
“I guess I should take it as a compliment — they expect more out of me. I ran into some issues in Las Vegas for the first time and I didn’t know. I didn’t think of it the way they were thinking of it, and no one ever told me what I was doing was wrong. So, I guess we’ll just leave it at that.
“We’ve all talked since then and they told me they would appreciate me speeding up (my staging) a bit, and I was like, ‘I can do that. But I just wish someone would have told me before they tried to make a thing out of it on national television.’”
Hart is still drinking from a fire hose as a Top Fuel driver. While he has no concerns about his seasoned team doing their jobs, Hart learns something new about his craft every time he pulls up to make a run.
But in a short amount of time, Hart burst onto the scene and has become a threat in the class. He has two wins and five final-round appearances, most recently at zMAX Dragway. A driver always wants more wins, but Hart is happy with where his R+L Carriers team is early into his second full season.
“We have a very nice car right now; I love it a lot,” Hart said. “It’s comfortable for me. The team again has jelled properly. I think we’re right where we need to be. I think we’ll be just fine.”
Comfort has been key. Over the winter, Hart and his team worked hard to get his dragster better suited to him, and he feels they’ve accomplished doing so.
“I think the best way for me to describe it is I can see better and reach the controls easier,” Hart said. “It’s pretty mindless when it comes to the general operation of it.”
With more laps down the track, more knowledge will come, giving Hart and his team the next little bit to collect another Wally. Although they have a consistent car, Hart said they are still learning something about it every weekend. Soon enough, though, he believes they’ll have the dragster where it should be.
“I would say we are definitely 100% in competition,” he said. “I think we’re a championship contender — we’ve learned a lot together. We’re still young, it’s not even a full two and a half years. But we have just a solid, solid foundation.”
Speaking of his dragster, on the backside of the wing, it reads, “Anything’s Possible.”
It’s not a new addition, Hart put it there at the start of his NHRA career. But the phrase is so deeply ingrained in how Hart lives his life and handles business that Brittanie also has it tattooed on her foot.
“If you look at our track record, where we came from to where we are now, in business, life, racing, our family,” Hart said, “it’s hard not to believe that anything is possible because we’ve had so many crazy hurdles.
“I could bore you to death with all the details. It’s no exaggeration. It’s crazy. Every aspect.”
Hey, Miami Heat fans? You can stop with the conspiracy theories now.
After the New York Knicks’ Game 2 win over the Heat on Tuesday night in their Eastern semifinals series, a clip of Josh Hart went around Twitter a bunch of times.
Per lipreaders, it looked like Hart was yelling, “Scott! Scott! Appreciate you!” That would presumably be Scott Foster, the referee known for officiating games that Chris Paul loses (until recently!).
Does that mean Hart was thanking a referee for making calls that went the Knicks’ way? Is that not OK?
Well, it turns out Hart DID say that … and as he noted on Twitter, it’s something he does after every game with officials:
