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Damyean Dotson will be on the familiar Garden floor Wednesday night but in wine and gold for the first time.
Leon Rose allowed Dotson, an improving “3-and-D’’ shooting guard who was the Knicks’ second-round pick in 2017, to leave via free agency and he joined the Cavaliers on a two-year, $4 million deal.
Dotson, 26, has looked good so far, averaging 10.5 points in 24 minutes in Cleveland’s first two preseason games, even starting Monday. The Knicks will miss Dotson’s 3-point shooting. The Houston native was a 36.2 percent 3-point shooter in 165 games with the Knicks.
“Surprised?’’ Dotson said on Zoom of the Knicks not making an offer. “I know it’s a whole new staff, management, coaches. The guys that drafted me, Phil Jackson, has been gone three years now. It’s a new wave. It wasn’t surprising.’’
Dotson said the Cavaliers were high on his list as his former Knicks head coach, David Fizdale, always raved about J.B. Bickerstaff, who now runs the Cleveland bench.
Asked what intrigued him about Dotson, Bickerstaff said, “We needed scoring for that position. A guy that can be versatile and a guy who can get a bucket. That’s what Damyean can do. He plays with a toughness and grit and has the character we’re looking for organizationally to build this thing.”
Jackson was fired three days after Dotson was drafted in 2017, and Dotson never found a permanent footing in the Knicks’ rotation. Last season, Dotson and Frank Ntilikina were the most-tenured Knicks. Dotson admitted he likes being around some players with winning pedigree for a change after never seeing the playoffs in his three Knicks’ seasons.
“I’m looking forward to playing with the veteran guys like KLove [Kevin Love], [Andre] Drummond, [Larry] Nance [Jr.], [Matthew] Dellavedova,’’ Dotson said. “A lot of those guys got experience in winning and been far in their career.’’
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