At some point this season, Wilbert Gibson, former Brooklyn carpenter and furniture mover, will make his way to the Garden and watch his son Taj play for the Knicks.
It may not be for the Garden’s opener Oct. 26 versus the Celtics. It may not be in November. But it will be sometime this season.
“That’s what he said,’’ new Knicks power forward Taj Gibson told The Post in his first remarks since signing with the Knicks in July. “He says he’s going to try to be front row and center. It’s a long way from the upper deck when we used to go back in the day.’’
It will be a big night for the 34-year-old Gibson whenever his father is healthy enough to get to the Garden.
Just two weeks before agreeing to terms with the Knicks on July 1, Gibson’s father needed a heart transplant.
“In June. I was out there all the time with my dad,’’ said Gibson, the former Bulls defensive stalwart who had been with Minnesota the past two seasons. “We were trying for him to get healthy and recover, waiting for him to find a healthy heart.”
Wilbert got a new heart and Taj got a new team soon thereafter. On Aug. 31, Gibson will host his annual “Back to School Basketball Bash’’ at the Ingersoll Houses on Myrtle Avenue.
As a youngster in Fort Greene, Gibson would sit in the Garden’s cheap seats after his father’s rigorous work day.
“He’s excited — he used to take me to Knicks games all the time after work,’’ said Gibson, who played at Brooklyn School of Art and Technology before spending his final two years at prep schools in California. “We would be in the upper deck. He’s a blue-collar guy. I’m excited for him to be at the games. He’s almost out of the woods. He has to take his time — three-to-six months [recovery].’’
The blue-collar spirit that has marked Gibson’s career prompted Knicks brass to bring him back to New York. The Knicks own a glut of new power forwards, but Gibson is the one being tasked to influence the young players.
“I want to bring a winning attitude that’s positive: don’t take a play off,’’ said Gibson, a late first-round pick in 2009 out of USC. “I’ve been with good teams my whole career. I’ve been to the playoffs throughout my entire career. Winning is all I really know.
Knicks brass hopes Gibson has an influence on defensive-minded center Mitchell Robinson. Gibson, who averaged 10.8 points and 6.5 rebounds last season, said players worked out as a group in Los Angeles three weeks ago. A smaller coterie did so again last week in Miami.
Gibson, though, has yet to see Robinson, who was in Las Vegas with Team USA’s training camp. Even on the night Gibson tore up the Knicks in Minnesota last March (25 points, 11-of-15 shooting), he remembers Robinson.
“That’s the thing I plan on doing. I’ll try to make him better and challenge him in practice. It was tough to get a shot over him. He’s a crazy shotblocker. My job is to be a veteran, go in and challenge the guys every day and make my teammates better, help change the culture and push forward a winning mentality.’’
“Once I signed with New York, one of the first phone calls I got was from Thibs,’’ Gibson said. “That’s all we ever talked about throughout my time with Thibs — we always talked about New York.
“For it to finally happen, being able to say I was finally a New York Knick was a crazy feeling. We laughed for a minute. Then he was serious. He was like, ‘If anyone is capable of playing in New York, you’re a New York-style player.’ He knows me that I will play hard every night.”
Coming off six straight seasons out of the playoffs, including a league-worst 17-65 finish in 2018-19, the Knicks are being largely discounted again. Gibson said a group text message with most
of the players has fostered team camaraderie already.
“I could see right now we got a bunch of hungry guys who want to get out there and compete,’’ Gibson said. “You can tell by the conversations on the text messages and our workouts together. Guys are focused. Guys want to go out and prove people wrong.’
This offseason wasn’t the free-agent splash the Knicks sought but the Brooklyn kid has come home.
“I’m extremely excited,’’ Gibson said. “It’s a great opportunity to go home and play in front of my family, especially my dad. It’s good to be around family and play the game I love.’’
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