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      Knicks Fall to Raptors Amid Flurry of 3-Pointers

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      A devotion to long-distance shots has changed the Knicks’ approach and their results. But is trading 3s for 3s a winning strategy?Near the end of the first quarter on Monday, Julius Randle, the Knicks’ burly All-Star forward, pulled up and banked in a shot from 25 feet. It was the kind of shot that might have sent him to the bench in a previous era of basketball, or even on a previous Tom Thibodeau-coached team. On Monday, it was Randle’s fourth 3-pointer in 12 minutes.It was also a shot emblematic of the new-look Knicks: This year’s version is taking 3-pointers. Lots of them. In the first quarter alone against the Toronto Raptors on Monday, 13 of the Knicks’ 19 shots — and five of Randle’s — were from behind the 3-point line. The approach has been a hallmark of the new Bing Bong-era of the Knicks, and it is part of the reason Thibodeau’s team is off to a 5-2 start, the franchise’s best since the 2012-13 season.In their second game, the Knicks set a team record for most 3-pointers in a game with 24, en route to a 121-96 victory. This year, the Knicks are taking 40.6 deep shots per game; that is good for eighth in the league and is 10 more per game than last season, when the Knicks ranked near the bottom of the league in attempts.“With the 3, you can make up ground quickly,” Thibodeau said. Or not. On Monday, the Knicks tried 36 of them, made less than half and absorbed their second defeat of the season, a 114-103 loss to the Raptors.While the Knicks didn’t try as many 3s last season, they were accurate in the few they shot: 39.2 percent over all, good for third in the N.B.A. This year, they are near the top in accuracy again, only with more volume. At their current rate, the Knicks are on track to have a top-five offense for the first time since that 2012-13 team.The Knicks have also picked up their pace, if only slightly. Last season, the Knicks were dead last in fast break points. This year, they are 22nd.“I think this is the fastest I’ve seen them play for a long time,” Toronto Coach Nick Nurse said before Monday’s game.The early positive returns on the Knicks season are the clearest indication that Thibodeau — a coach known for stubborn adherence to his brand of physical basketball — is capable of adjusting to the new realities of the modern N.B.A. He has reinvented the team’s offensive identity with a simple mantra.“Drive the ball, get your spacing, make your rim read — keep the game simple,” Thibodeau told reporters on Monday, adding, “When we do that, we’re really good.”Still, the transition to a more 3-pointer-heavy offense wasn’t simply a case of telling the team to shoot more of them.Thibodeau received a significant assist — or by some interpretations, had his hand forced — by a shift in personnel. Last season, the Knicks’ starting point guard was Elfrid Payton, a nonshooter whom opposing defenses would often ignore on the perimeter, clogging the paint for Randle and leaving him more susceptible to double teams. This year, Kemba Walker has occupied that spot, and he entered Monday night shooting an almost assuredly unsustainable 57.9 percent on 3-pointers.It is not just having better shooters. Walker and Evan Fournier are superior ballhandlers, and their arrival, along with the improved RJ Barrett, allows the Knicks to more easily break down defenses and create open opportunities on the outside.The Knicks’ ability to stop 3-pointers remains a work in progress. Working inside and outside, Toronto’s OG Anunoby scored 36 points on Monday night.Frank Franklin II/Associated PressHaving a healthy Mitchell Robinson in the starting lineup has been a boost as well. At 7 feet, Robinson draws attention at the rim as one of the Knicks’ best alley-oop threats at the basket. That gives the Knicks more space on the perimeter to create open looks.If there is a worrisome sign, it is on the defensive end, where the Knicks have been below average — something highly unusual for a Thibodeau-coached team. While the Knicks have been taking a lot of 3s, they also give up a lot — more than all but two teams in the N.B.A.Their new acquisitions — Walker and Fournier — aren’t known for their defense. On Tuesday, the Knicks surrendered looks — and points — on the inside and outside to Raptors forward OG Anunoby, who scored 36 points. While Toronto made only 14 of its 42 3-point shots, it was enough to pad a double-digit lead in the second half.Seven games isn’t a huge sample size. Inevitably, some shooting numbers, like Walker’s, will return to earth. But the new-look Knicks, with a sleek, contemporary offense, seem to have the personnel to merit their early optimism. More

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      Knicks Beat Celtics in Opener in Double Overtime

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      A double-overtime thriller against the Boston Celtics in the season opener had 11 lead changes and 10 ties.When the typically gruff Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau took the podium on Wednesday night, he did something out of character. He opened his news conference with a smile.He had just sat — or rather, stood — through a double-overtime thriller to start the season against the Boston Celtics, a game that featured 11 lead changes and 10 ties. It was the first time that a Knicks home opener went into double overtime.“The good thing is, at the end of the day, we got the win,” Thibodeau said of the Knicks’ pulling out the 138-134 victory.It was only a regular-season game, but it felt like the basketball equivalent of the Iliad. There were star performances on both sides, like Jaylen Brown’s career-high 46 points for the Celtics after his recent bout with Covid-19, and Julius Randle’s 35 points, picking up right where he left off from carrying the Knicks last season. Even before halftime of opening night, Randle’s performance had the Garden crowd chanting “M-V-P!” again.There was peak basketball, like Robert Williams III, the Celtics center, scoring 16 points on only five shots, and his Knicks counterpart, Mitchell Robinson, doing virtually the same thing on the other end.And there was absolutely atrocious basketball, like the Knicks’ making a defensive miscue to free Celtics guard Marcus Smart for an improbable (and uncontested) 3-pointer that tied the score at the regulation buzzer and sent the game to overtime.Not to be outdone, the Celtics missed a wide open dunk and layup that could have sealed the game in the second overtime.Both teams were without key players: the Celtics without Josh Richardson and Al Horford, and the Knicks without Taj Gibson and Nerlens Noel. And while there aren’t many conclusions that can be drawn from only one game, especially the first one, Wednesday night made clear that there are some options on the new-look Knicks that they didn’t have last season.Last year, the Knicks had difficulty taking pressure off Randle, particularly with shooting the ball from the perimeter to create space for him late in games. The signing of Evan Fournier, a 28-year-old in his 10th N.B.A. season, appears to have given the Knicks a human release valve.Fournier made six 3-pointers on Wednesday night, including one in the final minute of the second overtime to give the Knicks the lead for good. He finished with 32 points, much to the relief of a grateful Randle. He was another valuable option in crunchtime that had to be accounted for.“He came up super clutch in those overtimes,” Randle said. “Hit some big shots. So I just wanted to keep finding him. But Evan is great, man. He’s really smart. We talked after the game. There’s things that we feel like we can do better and work on. He has an extremely high IQ.”The Knicks also saw good signs from Obi Toppin, who came off the bench with 14 points in 28 minutes, the most he had played in a game so far in his career. The Knicks were 4 points better with Toppin on the floor, and his strong play allowed the team to play small and move Randle to the center position. That gave the Knicks a lineup that was more nimble.“Obi is really learning how to become an N.B.A. player,” Fournier said. “From what I saw from him last year, he’s really getting better and better. He understands how to make himself efficient.”It was how Toppin made his presence felt that is likely to encourage Thibodeau to make him a permanent part of the rotation. He routinely put the Celtics’ defense on its heels through sheer energy and running the floor at full sprint to create opportunities for himself. Toppin, now in his second season, missed all three of his 3-pointers and is not yet a reliable shooter, but on Wednesday he made enough smart cuts to compensate for it.“Juice tells me when I’m on the court with him, if I see that he has the rebound, take off,” Toppin said, referring to Randle. “That’s what I do best. I run the floor. Every chance I get, I’m getting out in the open floor.”That will be useful for the Knicks, who were middle of the road in pace last year. Toppin’s efforts were rewarded.“Man, hearing your name chanted in the Garden is amazing,” Toppin said. “It’s an unbelievable experience I can’t even explain. It’s just something you’ve got to live through.”Jaylen Brown had a career-high 46 points for the Celtics.Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressThis was the kind of regular-season atmosphere that hadn’t been possible during the pandemic, even if it was only one game starting a long slog of a season.But in a competitive Eastern Conference against a division rival, one game could be the difference between having home court advantage and not, as the Knicks themselves found out last year to their benefit. With high aspirations, every victory matters.“I don’t think we escaped,” Randle said. “We made some mental mistakes, errors or whatever. At the end of the day, we found a way to win a game.” More

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      The Knicks Are Ready for a Sequel. The Good Kind.

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      What is this feeling, so sudden and new?A surprisingly successful run last season helped the Knicks recapture the city’s imagination, much like the team had done in 1990s New York. That era of Knicks basketball is so beloved that it has spawned documentaries, books and endless nostalgia, even though it ended without a championship. The heydays of Patrick Ewing, John Starks and Latrell Sprewell re-established the team as a marquee franchise, a luster that has eroded over the last two decades of mostly despair for the tortured fan base.“After so many years of the Knickerbockers being an accident waiting to happen, you didn’t really watch them — you rubbernecked them, like you would a fender bender on the West Side Highway,” said Steve Somers, the popular radio host for WFAN. “Now, the Knickerbockers are generating some new, reborn excitement and enthusiasm.”These Knicks will attempt to build on last year’s success as they begin the season at home against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. They’ll likely be one of two types of follow-ups: ideally, “The Godfather: Part II” — a quality sequel that builds on the original — or “The Godfather: Part III” — a rudderless ship.“It’s certainly not easy to do one year, but the second year is where that work ethic, the culture comes into place,” said Chris Dudley, who was a reserve center for the Knicks from 1997 to 2000. “Because too often you see teams have a great year and then they kind of forget a little bit how hard it was to get there and they slide back.”But if there’s one person intimately familiar with trying to sustain great play in New York, it is the man shepherding this iteration of Knicks basketball and restoring the franchise to the glory days Dudley saw up close.“There’s a strong connection from this Knicks team to when I played there in Tom Thibodeau,” Dudley said, referring to the Knicks head coach. “He fit right into that mentality of: ‘Hey, we’ve got a job to do. Let’s get it done.’ That’s the work ethic, the culture.”Thibodeau was an assistant coach for the Knicks from 1996 to 2003, meaning that as he reveled in the rise of an empire he also felt the embers when it began to crash and burn. In his first season as head coach last year, Thibodeau lifted the Knicks’ defense to fourth in the league from 23rd. The Knicks opted for a more physical style rather than finesse — a Thibodeau staple, and one Knicks fans grew to appreciate both last year and when it came from the sharp elbows of Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley in the 1990s.“Culture” for a team is, as the typically no-nonsense Thibodeau noted to reporters after a preseason practice, an ambiguous buzzword. Whatever the best word is, the Knicks have begun to shift the narrative about themselves in relatively short order after decades of futility.They have a young star in Julius Randle, a budding star in RJ Barrett, and dynamic up-and-comers in Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin. This off-season, the Knicks signed quality veterans in Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier to bolster their stable of experienced role players, like Taj Gibson and Alec Burks.Kemba Walker, left, and Evan Fournier, center, should relieve some of the offensive pressure on Julius Randle, right.Adam Hunger/Associated Press“What is culture? Culture is what you do every day,” Thibodeau said. “It’s not any one particular thing. It’s how you approach everything. Draft. Free agency. Trades. Player development. Practice. Travel. Summer program. It’s not blitzing the pick-and-roll.”Toppin is entering his second season as the rare Knick who has only known playing for a winning version of the team. “Our culture is competing every single day to help the next person,” Toppin said. “White Team is helping Blue Team. Blue Team is helping Green Team. Everybody is helping each other in practice so that, when it comes to the game, everyone is ready.”There is an organizational cohesiveness — at least outwardly — that was lacking before Thibodeau and Leon Rose, the team president since March 2020, took the lead.“It just goes to show you when you put direction in, and then you get a quality coach that stresses defense and unselfishness, those are things that help get wins,” said Rick Brunson, who appeared in 69 games for the Knicks between 1998 and 2001. “And then you put a product out there, it becomes magical.”James L. Dolan, the team’s mercurial owner with a reputation for impulsive and often detrimental meddling, has mostly stayed out of the limelight. Thibodeau said Dolan “has given us everything we’ve asked for.”Among the moves the Knicks made this summer: signing Randle to a long-term extension instead of letting a looming free agency saga play out, and inking Walker to a bargain deal after the Oklahoma City Thunder bought him out. The last time the Knicks had a young All-Star to build around in Kristaps Porzingis, they unexpectedly traded him in 2019 for a return that, even at the time, seemed paltry. None of the players the Knicks acquired in that deal are still with the team.Now the Knicks have a new challenge: to prove they’re not a fluke.“Consistency and sustaining what made you win in the first place is always a challenge,” said Stan Van Gundy, a TNT analyst who has coached four N.B.A. teams. His brother, Jeff, was the coach of the Knicks when they last made the finals, in 1999. “But I think the way it needs to be done, and certainly the way Tom will do it, is you continue to do all of those things that got you there in the first place.”There are plenty of reasons to believe the Knicks’ ceiling is even higher this season: They’ve given Randle more offensive weapons (Walker, Fournier) to take the pressure off him after the team struggled on that end last year. Mitchell Robinson, the 23-year-old center, will, if healthy, add another dimension as a shot blocking rim-runner, which the Knicks missed in the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks. And with two other Eastern Conference contending teams in flux as a result of a possible trade (Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers) or an unvaccinated player (the Nets’ Kyrie Irving), there is a real opportunity for the Knicks to level up.Still, as Ernie Grunfeld, the architect of the Knicks throughout most of the 1990s, can attest, “You need to win.”“New York is about winning. And they’re doing that,” he added, “New York wants a team that plays hard and leaves everything out on the floor and plays together and plays basketball the right way.”That’s what his Dot Com Bubble-era Knicks teams gave the crowds at Madison Square Garden, he said.“It was electric. It was a great place to be,” Grunfeld said. “We were competitive every night. We were a team that other teams feared playing against. They were celebrities everywhere. It was a happening place in New York at the time.”As much as many N.B.A. observers pay tribute to the blue-collar persona of Thibodeau’s teams, his coaching record is more complicated. He’s had a history of quickly wearing out his welcome and not being able to build off success.Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau had success in his first season, but he quickly wore out his welcome in past coaching forays.Frank Franklin II/Associated PressThibodeau led a resurrection in 2010-11 in his first year as a head coach of the Chicago Bulls. They had the best record in the N.B.A. (62-20) but lost to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals in five games. It ended up being the only time the team advanced past the second round in five seasons under Thibodeau. While it was the second most successful stretch in Bulls history, it was marred by injuries and Thibodeau’s clashes with the front office.Then came a roller-coaster tenure in Minnesota, during which Jimmy Butler, then the team’s best player, became alienated and demanded to be traded. Thibodeau was sent packing in the middle of his third season. A common criticism in both locations was that Thibodeau’s gruff style grated on players and management alike and that he tended to overplay his stars, leaving them tired down the stretch. Last year, Randle was No. 1 in the league in minutes played. Old habits die hard.So do old reputations.The burst of optimism surrounding this team echoes that of the 2012-13 Knicks led by Carmelo Anthony, who finished the regular season with a 54-28 record and won a playoff series. In the off-season afterward, their biggest move was trading for Andrea Bargnani, who played poorly, and the Knicks missed the playoffs. Phil Jackson took over the team the next year, ushering in a new period of inefficacy for the team.The current Knicks seem different. There is, for now, front office and roster continuity. The off-season didn’t feature any impulsive trades or long-term contracts for past-their-prime players that would limit cap flexibility. Players like Toppin are showing real development, as was indicated in the Knicks’ preseason opener when he showed off his ball handling. The Knicks should be better.But if they’re not? If last season was a flash in the pan — a Penn Station-size tease — the path forward for the Knicks becomes much murkier. More

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      N.B.A. Eastern Conference Preview: The Bucks Aren't Finished Yet

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      The Bucks might be better, while the Sixers and Nets are playing wait-and-see with key stars. The Eastern Conference could play out in several ways.Here lie the N.B.A.’s most compelling story lines.Potential contenders in the Eastern Conference scrambled during the off-season to assemble teams fit to knock off Giannis Antetokounmpo — now with a new, improved jump shot? — and the reigning N.B.A. champion Milwaukee Bucks. Even the conference’s perennial bottom feeders built rosters that will demand attention from basketball devotees. Some teams are just hoping that distractions don’t derail their seasons before they start.Many wonder how the Ben Simmons situation in Philadelphia will end. The 76ers seemed locked in a stalemate with Simmons, a three-time All-Star, who has wanted to be traded for months. Simmons ended his holdout midway through the preseason and reported to the team but has not played. The 76ers have said they want him on their roster, but if they persuade him to stay, can they really go forward with business as usual?Meanwhile, the Nets have a bona fide championship roster. They know this, and even with the distraction of Kyrie Irving’s murky status because he’s not vaccinated, they expect to hoist the Larry O’Brien championship trophy at season’s end.Could the N.B.A.’s balance of power, which has long rested in the West, be shifting to the East? Here’s a look at how the Eastern Conference shapes up this season.Miami HeatIn some ways, it seems so long ago. But little more than a year has passed since the Heat plowed their way to the 2020 finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. Was it a fluke, aided by playing under the unusual conditions of a bubble environment, with no fans? The Heat were up and down last season before the Milwaukee Bucks ejected them from the 2021 playoffs in a lopsided first-round series.Jimmy Butler needs to be efficient. Duncan Robinson needs to be consistent. Tyler Herro needs to recapture his assertiveness. And Bam Adebayo needs to keep making the sort of strides that have pushed him toward becoming a perennial All-Star.The team should benefit from two additions: Kyle Lowry, who at 35 left the Raptors after nine seasons, and P.J. Tucker, who helped the Bucks win the championship last season.Philadelphia 76ersThe Sixers don’t need Ben Simmons to be competitive (they do have Joel Embiid, pictured), but they are better with him.Matt Slocum/Associated PressBen Simmons is, for now, back in the City of Brotherly Love.Simmons, who reportedly demanded a trade in late August and missed training camp, reported to the 76ers ahead of their third preseason game but did not play. Simmons’s future in Philadelphia remains unclear, though. He still has four years left on his maximum contract.With or without him, Philadelphia is antsy to win now. Joel Embiid is coming off the best season of his career, when he finished second in the voting for the Most Valuable Player Award. The 76ers were the No. 1 seed in last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs but collapsed in the semifinals, continuing their inability to turn regular-season wins into deep postseason success.Philadelphia is a better team with Simmons, 25, despite his offensive shortcomings. But even if he doesn’t play anytime soon, Embiid, Seth Curry, Danny Green and Tobias Harris should be experienced enough to keep the Sixers in contention.New York KnicksThe Knicks doubled down on last season’s roster, which unexpectedly made the playoffs then flamed out — albeit after a brilliant flare — in the first round. The veterans Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson are back, but Elfrid Payton, who triggered an influx of gray hairs for fans, is not. The additions of Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker are significant, and should help take the offensive load off RJ Barrett and Julius Randle, who signed a four-year contract extension in the off-season.This feels like a make-or-break year for the 23-year-old Mitchell Robinson, the center who is up for an extension and can jump through the roof. At his best, he protects the rim and is an excellent roll man. But he has had difficulty staying healthy. Look for bigger roles for Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin, who each showed promise off the bench as rookies last season.The Knicks should easily make the playoffs, but their bench depth is a question mark.Milwaukee BucksThe Bucks kept the band together. Same coach. Same star. Same core — mostly. And why not? Fresh off their first championship since 1971, the Bucks seem poised for a title defense.The challenge could be fatigue. Because of the pandemic, their postseason run stretched into July, and two starters — Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday — helped the U.S. Olympic team win gold in August. The Bucks also lost P.J. Tucker, invaluable in the late stages of last season, to the Heat in free agency.But Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time M.V.P., is still the face of the franchise and the proud owner of a newly minted championship ring. And he may be better than ever, showing off an improved jump shot in the preseason. With a contract that runs through the 2025-26 season, he is not going anywhere anytime soon.Atlanta HawksAtlanta guard Trae Young led the Hawks on a surprising run through the first two rounds of the playoffs last season.Brett Davis/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAfter a surprising run to the Eastern Conference finals last year, the Hawks enter the season with the burden of expectations and the benefit of continuity. This team is deep and should compete to be one of the best in the East.Most of the key players are back. The Hawks locked in their two best players, Trae Young and John Collins, with long-term extensions. Coach Nate McMillan will be running the team from opening night, as opposed to being thrust into the job midseason as he was during the last campaign after Lloyd Pierce was fired.Atlanta almost pulled off a miracle run to the N.B.A. finals last season, after taking down the Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers, but were bedeviled by injuries against the eventual champions, the Milwaukee Bucks. Players who were unavailable or not 100 percent, like De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Bogdan Bogdanovic, are expected to start the season with clean bills of health. The Hawks also added some quality veteran bench pieces in Gorgui Dieng and Delon Wright, and an intriguing rookie they drafted late in this year’s first round, Jalen Johnson.Charlotte HornetsLaMelo Ball, last season’s rookie of the year, highlights Charlotte’s promising young core. He’ll likely be the Hornets’ primary facilitator and already has great court vision and playmaking ability, and he is continuing to improve his jump shot.Ball and forward Miles Bridges in the pick-and-roll were elite last season, with Bridges’s power at the basket and Ball’s precise lob placement on display. That pairing should only be better this season.The Hornets already had solid veterans in Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward, and they added Kelly Oubre Jr. and Mason Plumlee. Oubre is an inconsistent shooter, but could be impactful in transition. Plumlee is a versatile big man.This group won’t be knocking at the door of the N.B.A. finals this season, but the Hornets will be a fun team to watch, and have a real chance at a playoff berth.Brooklyn NetsWith the addition of Patty Mills and Paul Millsap, as well as the return of Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Nets, on paper, are one of the best teams in N.B.A. history. In normal circumstances, they would be title favorites, given their Big Three of Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant. But that was the case last year too, and the Nets bowed out in the second round of the playoffs.Health will be the principle factor for determining how far the Nets go. All of the Nets’ top players have significant miles on their legs and have missed substantial time in recent years.If there is a potentially weak point for other teams to exploit, it is defensively, where the Nets struggled last season, and their off-season additions didn’t seriously address that. This could come back to bite them in the postseason, particularly in the frontcourt against players like Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored at will during last year’s playoffs, or Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.But the offensive firepower is top notch. It’s hard to see the Nets being beaten in a seven-game series if they’re healthy.Chicago BullsDeMar DeRozan gives the new-look Chicago Bulls a threat from the mid-range.Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports, via ReutersChicago could be a sneaky-good team this season.Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations, voiced displeasure with the team’s 31-41 record shortly after last season. Since then, he’s added DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Tony Bradley to a roster with Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, whom Chicago acquired from Orlando at the March trade deadline.DeRozan is lethal in the midrange, but some have questioned how he’ll fit with LaVine, as both players are most effective with the ball in their hands. Chicago will have an upgrade at point guard with Ball, who is a deft passer. And Caruso will add a rugged spark off the bench. Coach Billy Donovan will have to figure out how they all fit on the court.In any event, Michael Jordan said that with the changes the Bulls made, they could compete in the East. How long has it been since those words were last spoken?Toronto RaptorsIt’s a new era in Toronto basketball. Kyle Lowry, perhaps the most lauded Raptor in franchise history, has gone to Miami. Without him, the Raptors are likely stuck between being too talented to get a top draft pick and not being so good that they’ll contend for a top seed in the conference.But there may be an opening for Toronto in the turbulent East: Scottie Barnes, whom the team surprisingly drafted at No. 4 this year, showed potential in the preseason. And the Raptors’ frontcourt, helmed by Chris Boucher and the newly acquired Precious Achiuwa, will be a force.There are lots of questions for the Raptors entering the season: Is Pascal Siakam, who is expected to miss the start of the season as he recovers from shoulder surgery, a true franchise cornerstone? Will Lowry’s replacement at guard, the 35-year-old Goran Dragic, last the season in Toronto? Or will Masai Ujiri, the Raptors head of basketball operations, flip Dragic’s expiring contract?Detroit PistonsYou’d be hard pressed to find any Pistons fans who haven’t already crowned the rookie guard Cade Cunningham as their Magic Johnson. Johnson, of course, won an N.B.A. title as a rookie after the Lakers drafted him No. 1 overall in 1979.Detroit drafted Cunningham, a savvy scorer and shot creator, No. 1 overall earlier this year to hopefully lift itself out of years of irrelevancy. An ankle injury sidelined him in the preseason, and the team is being cautious.Detroit’s young group showed promise last season, despite finishing with the worst record in the East, but the Pistons are another team in rebuilding mode. Coach Dwane Casey has said that this season’s goal is to earn a spot in the postseason play-in tournament.Cleveland CavaliersOnly someone like LeBron James could render an entire franchise into an afterthought. But that was what he effectively did when he departed the Cavaliers for the glamour of Hollywood in 2018, leaving them to rummage through the wilderness without him. The Cavaliers instantly went from title contender to lightweight, though the team has some up-and-comers — highlighted by Collin Sexton and Darius Garland in the backcourt — who are cause for cautious optimism.None of this is to suggest that the Cavaliers will come anywhere close to sniffing the playoffs. But a slow, steady rebuild — augmented by smart draft picks — is the way back to respectability. And there is more good news: Kevin Love (remember him?) has just two seasons remaining on his gargantuan deal, which could make him a more appealing target on the trade market.Boston CelticsJayson Tatum has shown promise with Boston, but postseason success has so far eluded him.Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFrom the start of training camp, Ime Udoka, the Celtics’ first-year coach, has had a particular emphasis: ball movement. He does not want the ball to stick. He wants his players to work together to generate the best shots.This must have been welcome news to fans who got tired of watching the Celtics’ offense devolve into isolation sets last season. Jayson Tatum, 23, and Jaylen Brown, who will turn 25 this month, form one of the most talented young tandems in the league, but fulfilling their promise in the postseason has so far eluded them.Perhaps Udoka can help them deliver. He replaced Brad Stevens, who moved to the front office after a posting .500 record and losing in the first round of the playoffs in his eighth season as the team’s coach.Washington WizardsWes Unseld Jr., Washington’s new head coach, has a tall task ahead of him.The Wizards are not a championship-caliber team, even after adding solid veterans like Spencer Dinwiddie, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell. So this season will be mostly about persuading Bradley Beal, who can become a free agent next summer, to make a long-term commitment to the franchise.It’s hard to win without multiple elite playmakers, and the Wizards have just one in Beal after trading Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers. But even in a yet another bridge year, the Wizards should, at the very least, have a playoff team. They’ll have the promising center Thomas Bryant back from injury, and the team can hope for some growth from its last two lottery picks, Deni Avdija (2020) and Rui Hachimura (2019).Orlando MagicThe Magic have a young team with a first-year head coach in Jamahl Mosley. They’ve made just two playoff appearances in the past nine seasons, and traded away their best players, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic, in the middle of last season. Then they landed Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs at No. 5 in this year’s draft.Suggs joined a roster that is crowded at guard, with Markelle Fultz, who will return from a knee injury, RJ Hampton, Terrence Ross, Cole Anthony and Gary Harris. Suggs probably has the highest ceiling of those players, though, and he was solid in the summer league before injuring his thumb.The Magic will not be legitimate contenders for a while, so they have plenty of time to sort out their roster.Indiana PacersRick Carlisle, back for his second stint with the Pacers, is the team’s third coach in three seasons. Indiana could use some stability to help develop a young core that includes Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, already a two-time All-Star at 25.But the Pacers, who have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2014, are coming off a 34-38 season, and Caris LeVert is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his back.Carlisle coached the Pacers for four seasons, from 2003 to 2007, while guiding them to three postseason appearances. It will take some hard work to get them there again. More

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      NBA Vaccine Skeptics Speak Out

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      More than 90 percent of players have received at least one dose of the vaccine, but some, like Nets guard Kyrie Irving, won’t say if they have been or plan to be vaccinated.More than 90 percent of N.B.A. players have been vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the league, and all referees and key team personnel without exemptions will be, too, by the season’s start in three weeks. But a few high-profile players, including the Nets star guard Kyrie Irving, have expressed skepticism about vaccines or been evasive about their vaccination status.Because the Nets are projected to be a top championship contender, and the team is one of just three whose players must be vaccinated to play in their home arenas, Irving’s vaccination status could be as much of a factor in the N.B.A. rankings as his team’s play.“I would like to keep all that private,” Irving told reporters on Monday in response to a question about whether he expected to play home games this season. “Please just respect my privacy. All the questions leading into what’s happening, just please. Everything will be released at a due date once we get this cleared up.”While the Nets held their media day at Barclays Center on Monday, Irving answered questions from reporters by video conference instead of in person. Multiple reports said that Irving was not present because of the league’s health protocols. In Rolling Stone magazine over the weekend, Irving’s aunt Tyki Irving was quoted as saying that Irving was unvaccinated for reasons “not religious-based, it’s moral-based.” It’s not clear when the interview took place.Since Sept. 13, Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks play, have required all employees and guests ages 12 and up without a religious or medical exemption to show proof of having received at least one vaccine dose, to comply with a mandate from Mayor Bill de Blasio regarding sports arenas.A similar requirement in San Francisco applies to Chase Center, where the Golden State Warriors play. These mandates mean that the players from the Knicks, Nets and Golden State cannot play in their teams’ 41 home games without being vaccinated, which the N.B.A. and the New York arenas are defining as having received at least one dose. At Chase Center, players must be fully vaccinated. The N.B.A. has said that teams do not have to pay players for missing those games because they are not vaccinated. For Irving, who is in the third year of a four-year, $136 million contract, that could mean a substantial loss.The N.B.A. players’ union has not agreed to a vaccine mandate for its members, but the referees’ union did agree to one. All league and team personnel who come within 15 feet of players must be fully vaccinated unless they have religious or medical exemptions. In the W.N.B.A., 99 percent of players were fully vaccinated by June. The women’s league does not have a vaccination mandate.At least one N.B.A. player has tried to obtain a religious exemption to forgo the vaccine: Golden State guard Andrew Wiggins. The league said Friday that it had rejected his request. Like Irving, Wiggins would not discuss his vaccination status on Monday, during Golden State’s media day.“Who are you guys where I have to explain what I believe?” Wiggins said. “Or what’s right or what’s wrong in my mind?”In Washington at the Wizards’ media day, however, guard Bradley Beal explained why he is unvaccinated. The three-time All-Star missed the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for the coronavirus. Beal told reporters of the experience: “I didn’t get sick at all. I lost my smell, but that was it for me. Everybody is going to react differently.“Some people have bad reactions to the vaccine. Nobody likes to talk about that. What happens if one of our players gets the vaccine and can’t play after that? Or they have complications after that? Because there are cases like that.”There are no publicly known cases of professional basketball players missing time because of side effects related to the vaccine, and severe side effects are rare for anyone. However, some athletes have spoken about lingering respiratory and muscle issues after having Covid-19. The N.B.A. and the players’ union reported more than 75 positive coronavirus tests among players during the 2020-21 season, most of them before vaccines were widely available.Another vocal vaccine skeptic is the Orlando Magic’s Jonathan Isaac, a 23-year-old forward, who told Rolling Stone he was unvaccinated, and confirmed it on Monday to reporters.“At the end of the day, it’s people,” Isaac told the magazine, referring to the scientists who developed the vaccines. “And you can’t always put your trust completely in people.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-16ed7iq{width:100%;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;padding:10px 0;background-color:white;}.css-pmm6ed{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-pmm6ed > :not(:first-child){margin-left:5px;}.css-5gimkt{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.8125rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.03em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.03em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.03em;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#333;}.css-5gimkt:after{content:’Collapse’;}.css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;-webkit-transform:rotate(180deg);-ms-transform:rotate(180deg);transform:rotate(180deg);}.css-eb027h{max-height:5000px;-webkit-transition:max-height 0.5s ease;transition:max-height 0.5s ease;}.css-6mllg9{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;position:relative;opacity:0;}.css-6mllg9:before{content:”;background-image:linear-gradient(180deg,transparent,#ffffff);background-image:-webkit-linear-gradient(270deg,rgba(255,255,255,0),#ffffff);height:80px;width:100%;position:absolute;bottom:0px;pointer-events:none;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}According to Rolling Stone, Isaac was “studying Black history and watching Donald Trump’s press conferences” to inform his vaccine stance. (Former President Donald J. Trump was vaccinated in January, but states that he won in the 2020 election have much lower vaccination rates than those that favored President Biden.)On Monday, Isaac disputed the magazine’s characterization of him.“I’m not anti-vax. I’m not anti-medicine. I’m not anti-science. I didn’t come to my current vaccination status by studying Black history or watching Donald Trump press conferences,” Isaac said. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for every health care worker and person in Orlando and all across the world that have worked tirelessly to keep us safe.”Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, who helped lead his team to the finals last season, announced on a Twitch livestream over the weekend that he had Covid-19 and had lost his senses of taste and smell. He is expected to miss at least part of training camp, which begins this week, as a result.“I’m not going to tell you guys if I have the vaccine or not, but you can still get Covid with the vaccine,” Booker said on the stream, adding, “Educate yourself.”Several players have participated in campaigns encouraging people to get vaccinated, including Jrue Holiday of the Milwaukee Bucks and Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose mother died of Covid-19. Commissioner Adam Silver said in the spring that he expected most players to get vaccinated.Several of Irving’s teammates said on Monday that they were not worried about his vaccination status.“That’s on Kyrie, and that’s his personal decision,” Nets forward Kevin Durant said. “What he does is not on us to speculate what may be happening, but we trust in Kyrie. I expect us to have our whole team at some point.” More

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      The Knicks May Not Be Dreaming Big Enough

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      The Knicks had a good season — but good enough to just run it back? It doesn’t seem like it, and yet that appears to be their strategy.Imagine you own a brand-name company with a beloved product. For decades, because of poor design decisions, the company has released versions of the product that have gone over poorly with customers — think Coca-Cola Bacon. But you put a new leadership team in place. More

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      The Knicks Enter a Summer of Tough Calls

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      Their transformation into a playoff team was one of the more remarkable stories of the season. But keeping the momentum going will require some more good calls.As the dejected Knicks wound down the closing minute of their season on Wednesday night, the near-capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden rained cheers on them.It didn’t seem to matter that the Knicks had been thumped once again by the Atlanta Hawks, or that they had lost their first playoff series since 2013 in a surprisingly noncompetitive fashion, four games to one. It didn’t seem to matter to the fans that one of the best defenses in the league was carved up by Trae Young, or that much of this team is unlikely to be back next season, since many are set to be free agents.Asked what the biggest difference was between this season and last, RJ Barrett, the Knicks guard, put it succinctly: “A lot more winning. Winning was fun.”This team’s overnight turnaround from 21-45 to 41-31 was one of the more remarkable stories of a turbulent N.B.A. season. And even though the Knicks collapsed in the playoffs, raising some new questions entering the off-season, this iteration was one that their fans could enjoy watching again. In the 21st century, that was something Knicks aficionados could only rarely say.The Knicks team that made the playoffs could be headed for a makeover.Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“I’m proud of what our team accomplished this year,” Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Obviously, disappointed with the result tonight, and hopefully we can learn and get better from it. But I thought our guys gave us everything they had all year long.”The Knicks confounded preseason expectations by earning the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference after many observers wrote them off even before the season began. But it wasn’t just that they won more games this season. It was the way they did it.The Knicks were rarely the most talented team on the floor. They won on the back of a tough defense and cast of scrappy players who reflected their coach, Thibodeau. Their best player, Julius Randle, had been underwhelming a year ago, renewing questions about whether the three-year, $63 million contract he had received in 2019 was just the latest in a long line of ill-fated Knicks signings.Instead, the 6-foot-8, 250-pound Randle reinvented his game under Thibodeau and adapted to the modern N.B.A.: He developed his 3-point shot while also improving his passing and defense. Doubts about Randle faded as he morphed into an All Star.“We’re bringing a brand of basketball back that the city can be proud of,” Randle said, adding, “We have something to build on for the future.”That is the most important takeaway from this season. The Knicks are a coveted ticket again, which means they may be more successful at attracting top free agents, a task at which the team has struggled for most of the last two decades. That change in perception alone could make this season a success, regardless of how the series against the Hawks ended.The Knicks finally have something they have craved for years: They have built the ground floor of something. Under the team president Leon Rose and the coaching of Thibodeau, there appears to be an organizational direction and a sincere — at least, for now — commitment to long-term development over short-term thinking. There are promising young players like Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin. There are building blocks like Barrett and Randle. The Knicks also have multiple first-round picks in this year’s draft.And, because of a handful of expiring contracts, the Knicks will have a great deal of cap flexibility. Several of this year’s Knicks, including Derrick Rose, Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, Reggie Bullock and Elfrid Payton, will be free agents this summer — the result of a strategy in recent years to stack their rosters with short-term contracts.To be sure, the Knicks have some important decisions to make. In many ways, the season that just ended was supposed to have been a bridge year. Instead, the team overachieved by making the playoffs, and then underachieved once it got there.One of the first big calls will be deciding what to do about Randle, who turns 27 in November. As strong as he was in the regular season, Randle was abysmal against the Hawks in his first postseason, shooting 29.7 percent. This was his seventh N.B.A. season, but which is the real Randle: the one who grew into an All-Star during the season, or the one who vanished against the Hawks? And what now?The Knicks must decide whether to tie up a large portion of their salary budget with a long-term extension for Randle and build the team around him, or to sell high as they did with Kristaps Porzingis, the last Knicks All-Star who excited the fan base.It was a promising season for Knicks fans.Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“I told him I still do believe in him,” guard Derrick Rose said. “I’m going to ride with him to the end just like everybody on the team. Like, he got us here.”The calculations only get more complicated from there. Should the Knicks give Mitchell Robinson, their shot-blocking center, an enormous extension, or go shopping in a thin free-agent year? DeMar DeRozan, who just finished a successful run with the San Antonio Spurs, and Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors are two players who do seem to fit the Thibodeau mold. Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers could opt for free agency if the Clippers lose to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.Committing lots of money to the wrong players, though, is the surest way for a team to keep itself in N.B.A. purgatory, a fact that Knicks fans know as well as anyone. Draft picks can be squandered. Signings can go wrong. Injuries might derail a run.But those worries can wait a day or two. For the moment, this season can be viewed as a refreshing change in direction for the Knicks. For most franchises, making the playoffs would be a small step. For the Knicks, it was a giant leap. They are back in the discussion.“Who wouldn’t want to play for the Knicks or be in New York?” Rose said Wednesday night.When was the last time the Knicks, or their fans, could say that and mean it? More

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      Knicks’ Resurgent Season Ends With Game 5 Loss to the Hawks

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      Julius Randle had 23 points for the Knicks, but it wasn’t enough. The Hawks’ star guard Trae Young dominated again down the stretch.The Knicks were eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday in a 103-89 Game 5 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden, a deflating end to a promising season.It was a feisty, defensive battle, with both teams getting off to a slow start. But the Hawks, once again, methodically took control in the second half, led by their star guard Trae Young. He finished with 36 points.Julius Randle, the Knicks star, struggled again. He scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, but was only 8 for 21 from the field and had 8 turnovers.The Knicks’ Taj Gibson and Atlanta’s John Collins grappling for the ball.Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThis season marked an unexpected return to relevance for the Knicks, who surpassed even some of the most optimistic preseason expectations by obtaining the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It was the team’s first trip to the postseason since the 2012-13 season, bringing fresh optimism for a beleaguered New York City fan base.Randle emerged as a legitimate franchise player, making his first All-Star Game and winning the N.B.A.’s Most Improved Player award. RJ Barrett, in his second season, made significant strides as a shooter and playmaker. The rookies Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin provided sparks off the bench.There was much hope for the playoffs after the Knicks went 16-4 over the final 20 games of the regular season. The fifth-seeded Hawks were seen as a beatable opponent, especially because the Knicks defeated them in all three of their regular-season matchups.Instead, even with home-court advantage, the Knicks collapsed in the playoffs, in large part because of the poor play of the starters. With several players, including Randle and Barrett, making their playoff debuts, the team looked rattled at points by the spotlight. The Knicks were also without one of their key weapons: the springy starting center Mitchell Robinson, an effective rebounder and rim protector, who had foot surgery in late March.In the series opener, the Knicks lost at the last second on a Young floater, a shot Atlanta’s top player used to punish the Knicks all series. The Knicks won Game 2, bolstered by a deafening home crowd and a stirring second-half comeback. But they fell apart on the road in Games 3 and 4, as Young scored and created opportunities for his teammates.Julius Randle shot 28 for 94 in the series, a 29.8 percent clip.Pool photo by Wendell CruzRandle shot 20 for 73 through the first four games — a dismal 27.4 percent. He had almost as many turnovers (15) as he did assists (17). His performance was even more confounding considering Randle’s thorough domination of the Hawks during the regular season: He averaged 37.3 points in three matchups — his most against any team. But the Hawks flummoxed Randle throughout the series, sending double and triple teams to him on almost every touch.Barrett was mostly ineffective as well. Through Game 4, he was shooting just 39.6 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from deep. In Game 2, the Knicks’ only win of the series, he was benched in the fourth quarter. Several of his misses in the series came on passes from Randle, which made it easier for the Hawks to continue to pressure Randle.With Randle and Barrett struggling, the Knicks relied on a surprisingly productive bench. Derrick Rose, who only started three of the 35 games he played for the Knicks during the regular season after coming over from Detroit, was their best offensive player in the first four games. He averaged 22.8 points and 5 assists per game on 50.7 percent shooting. Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau moved Rose and the veteran center Taj Gibson into the starting lineup for Game 3. More