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    The Knicks Stumbled Last Season. Here’s How They Can Recover.

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    With free agency beginning, the Knicks have several options to build on what’s working and to move on from what is not.Good news for Knicks fans: The franchise has lured one of the best free agents, a rare occurrence for the team this century.The bad news: It’s a weak free-agent class, and this top free agent — the 25-year-old point guard Jalen Brunson — has never made an All-Star team. He has agreed to sign with the Knicks for $104 million over four seasons, his agents Aaron Mintz and Sam Rose told ESPN. Rose is the son of the team’s president, Leon Rose.That’s a hefty investment to make in a player who, in his best of four seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, averaged 16.3 points and 4.8 assists per game. He has been a full-time starter for just one season. But Brunson represents a significant upgrade at point guard, a position where the Knicks have long struggled to find playmakers. In the last two decades, Knicks starting point guards have included Chris Duhon, Toney Douglas, Trey Burke and Pablo Prigioni. Brunson has an excellent floater game in the paint, he’s a reliable shooter and he can break down a defense and put pressure at the rim.Brunson’s father, Rick, who briefly played for the team in the late-1990s, also is expected to be an assistant coach on the team next season. The Knicks have not announced his hiring, but in early June multiple reports said they were nearing a deal. The team did not respond to a request for comment.With the younger Brunson running the floor, the Knicks could be a dangerous playoff team, like they were in 2020-21, or one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, like they were last season. That’s how much variance there is with the roster as free agency signings begin Wednesday.Jalen Brunson started 61 games for the Dallas Mavericks last season, averaging 16.3 points per game for the season, the most in his career.Jed Jacobsohn/Associated PressThe conundrum facing the Knicks is that their rotation players are talented but flawed. Brunson, in essence, embodies this. He can score in bunches, but he isn’t a quality defender. He’s almost assuredly not good enough to be the best player on a contending team, and it’s not certain that his ceiling is much higher than what he showed last season.The 22-year-old RJ Barrett, who is entering his fourth season, has not shown enough consistency to be a cornerstone. He’s good at getting to the rim but not at finishing, and his jumper needs work. The other young hopes, including power forward Obi Toppin, 24, and point guard Immanuel Quickley, 23, have alternated between being solid contributors and being liabilities. Toppin cuts and runs the floor well, but he is a below-average shooter and struggles defensively. Quickley was better at running the offense during his second season in 2021-22, but he is an inefficient scorer and his size makes him an easy target on defense.Last season was — charitably — a step back for the Knicks. They seemed to be finally finding their way out of the darkness with their 2021 postseason run. They signed Julius Randle to a pricey contract extension and gave new deals to the veterans Derrick Rose, Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel. Then, they missed the playoffs last season, and the weight of those new deals felt heavier. Randle struggled last season, and the veterans didn’t play well enough to merit being part of the team long term.Mitchell Robinson, the 24-year-old center, is another good example of the team’s talented-but-flawed issue. He is an excellent rim protector and lob threat around the rim, but he has no offensive range to speak of and hasn’t improved much in four seasons. Still, the Knicks have agreed to bring him back on a four-year, $60 million deal, his agents Thad Foucher and Joe Smith told ESPN.The Knicks will need to make salary-cap space to sign Brunson, and that likely means moving on from some of the ill-fitting veterans. But beyond that, the Knicks need to add players who can help them rise out of mediocrity — the worst place to be in the N.B.A. They aren’t bad enough to receive high draft picks but aren’t not good enough to justify their biggest contracts.Quality veterans looking to chase a ring most likely would not take a pay cut to join them because the Knicks don’t have a roster that can realistically contend for a championship at the moment. If a star becomes available, say a Kevin Durant or a Kyrie Irving, the Knicks probably won’t have the best package to offer: not the best young prospects, not the highest draft picks, just a mishmash of middling pieces. It’s hard to see the ceiling for this team as anything higher than a low seed in the playoffs.But the N.B.A. is an increasingly fluid league, and there is a real reason to believe the Knicks can overcome their deficiencies and surpass expectations.The Knicks likely will start the season with Brunson, Randle and Barrett as the primary ballhandlers. Even with their weaknesses, that’s a better-than-average group of playmakers in today’s N.B.A. Brunson’s ability to penetrate will take pressure off Randle, who could use more time not being the primary attack point on the offense. Brunson’s shooting will create more space for him and Randle to operate around the basket. If Randle has some of that pressure relieved, he can put more energy toward his other strengths, such as rebounding and passing. Maybe the Knicks will get the All-Star version of Randle back.And Brunson’s arrival should also make life easier for Barrett. He had a bigger role in the offense after the All-Star break last season and averaged 24.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. He shot only 40.1 percent from the field in those games — talented but flawed! — but he showed potential as the No. 1 option. If Barrett can bring a passable efficiency to the game, he becomes a borderline All-Star alongside Randle.To complement that core, the Knicks need consistent shooting around them. They already have someone who can help with that in Evan Fournier, who shot 38.9 percent from deep last year. Quickley didn’t shoot well last year, but in his rookie year, he also shot 38.9 percent from 3.Rose, who was injured for much of last season, also should be able to help. With the Knicks, Rose has been a surprisingly good shooter and another body to help break down defenses. At 33, and with a lengthy injury history, he likely can’t be the sixth man off the bench, but his return will be a welcome sight for the team. There is a world in which a closing lineup of Randle, Barrett, Brunson, Fournier and Rose is extremely difficult to defend.There is some light beyond this year — some being the operative word. The Knicks have a pile of first-round draft picks in coming years, including picks from Dallas, Washington and Detroit. Next year, the Knicks could have four first-round picks. Several of the picks have conditions, which lowers their value. And if the Knicks keep being OK but not great, their own draft picks most likely would fall in the mid-to-late first round, which also reduces their value.But having a stockpile of picks is better than having none, and the Knicks could use some of them in a trade instead of holding them to select intriguing prospects. The agreement to sign Brunson to a major deal suggests the Knicks are trying to win now. Leon Rose rarely speaks publicly, so the Knicks’ broader strategy is unclear.The Knicks were one of the worst teams in the league for years, but they still have the core pieces that helped them secure home-court advantage in the playoffs just two seasons ago. The Knicks are not a superteam, but in today’s N.B.A., that might be OK. More

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      The Knicks’ Struggles Go Deeper Than Kemba Walker

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      A surprising reconsideration of the lineup that pushed Walker out of the rotation could help with some of the team’s issues, but not all of them.Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau has long been known as resistant to change, particularly in the way he uses his starters. He’s often been criticized for playing them for too many minutes, rain or shine, whether or not they are performing well.So it was surprising this week, a quarter of a way through the season, when Thibodeau said that he was pulling the plug on Kemba Walker as the starting point guard in favor of Alec Burks, a reserve for most of his career and not a traditional point guard. And it wasn’t just that Walker, a four-time All-Star who signed with the Knicks in the summer, was being yanked from the lineup. Thibodeau told reporters that Walker would be out of the rotation entirely.Changing a starter this early in the season is significant, particularly when it’s one with Walker’s résumé. At 31, Walker, in theory, should still be in his athletic prime.But Thibodeau was trying to correct for an urgent, and frequent, problem: Knicks starters putting the team in a hole that the bench has to dig it out of. If playoff teams are consistently hurt by any part of their roster, it’s usually a thin bench. But for the Knicks, the starters — even beyond Walker — are the reason they are a fringe playoff team instead of near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.Tuesday night’s game against the Nets was illustrative. Down 1 point at halftime, the Nets came out of the break with a blistering 14-0 run against the Knicks’ starters minus guard RJ Barrett, who missed the second half with an unspecified illness. The starters climbed back into the game and briefly took the lead. But the Knicks lost the 112-110 thriller in Brooklyn — in part because coming out of halftime flat left the team playing the Nets (15-6) from behind for most of the second half.Julius Randle regularly draws multiple defenders.Michelle Farsi/Getty ImagesThis wasn’t an exception. In a Nov. 10 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the reigning champions, the Knicks went down double digits in the first quarter. Even against the Houston Rockets, one of the worst teams in the N.B.A., the Knicks fell behind 18-11 in the first quarter before tying the game by halftime and winning. The next night, Nov. 21, against Chicago, the Bulls raced out to a 20-8 start en route to victory.The starting lineup the Knicks (11-10) have played for much of the season — Walker, Barrett, Evan Fournier, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson — hasn’t just struggled. Its net rating — a measure of how much better or worse a team or group is than their opponents — is negative 15.7, according to the league’s tracking numbers. That places this unit among the worst starting or bench lineups in the N.B.A.The evidence was becoming undeniable. Thibodeau needed to try something else.Walker wasn’t the sole issue, but he was a big part of the problem. He’s averaging 11.7 points per game on 42.9 percent shooting from the field, and an excellent 41.3 percent from 3-point range. But Walker’s play took a nosedive in November after a hot start. In 12 games last month, Walker shot only 29.6 percent from deep. If his 3s aren’t falling, there isn’t much else he’s doing on the court.Because of chronic knee issues in recent years, Walker has lost his explosive first step, so he’s not able to get to the rim as effectively. And because of his height — Walker is listed at 6 feet tall — and slower foot speed, Walker was targeted on defense. The only way to justify keeping him on the court would be if he spread the floor with his shooting, and he is no longer doing that.Inserting Burks into the starting lineup for Walker makes some things easier for the Knicks. He’s bigger — listed at 6-foot-6 — which makes him a more versatile defender. On Tuesday night, he was just as likely to guard the 6-foot-5 James Harden as the quick rookie guard Cameron Thomas, who is 6-foot-3. Early in the third quarter, Burks blocked a Patty Mills 3-pointer — easier for him than for Walker.“You’re able to switch 1 through 4,” Derrick Rose, the Knicks reserve guard, said of Burks’s insertion into the lineup. “You’re more versatile. I mean, A.B. is a hell of a player. A playmaker. A great shooter.”But Burks doesn’t fully solve a starting lineup problem that led Thibodeau to increasingly rely on the bench late in games. The Knicks don’t have much of a fast-break offense and often depend on isolations to get their points — which would be fine if their shooters did more work on their own to get open rather than just standing still. The team is near the top of the league in contested shots and toward the bottom in wide-open ones.Fournier’s stats dipped in November like Walker’s did, causing Thibodeau to barely use him in key moments late in games. Thibodeau did call his number on Tuesday night against the Nets, and Fournier rewarded him by hitting a game-tying 3-pointer with 18 seconds left. But overall, Fournier shot 5 for 12 for 13 points in 22 minutes, with no rebounds or assists. Like with Walker, if Fournier isn’t consistently a 3-point threat, there’s little reason for him to be on the floor.Randle, the team’s best player, has faced an onslaught of double teams without reliable shooting around him, and he has struggled. Randle is shooting only 41.7 percent from the field and 32.5 percent from 3 — all below his career averages. All of Barrett’s numbers have declined from last year as well. Barrett has improved his finishing around the rim, but his shooting has always been his biggest question mark, one he appeared to answer last year when he shot 40.1 percent from deep. Now he’s at 32.1 percent. (For his part, Barrett also started slowly last year, only to pick it up in the second half of the season.)Thibodeau was not in the mood to discuss the lineup change after Tuesday’s loss. Asked about it, Thibodeau expressed anger at the game’s officiating and then left the news conference after just one question.The saving grace for the Knicks has been their bench trio of Rose, Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley. The team is third in the N.B.A. in bench scoring. Toppin is a sorely needed threat at the rim and in transition and does something the Knicks generally don’t do well: cut. Quickley and Rose have provided quality shooting, especially late in games, and Rose has been one of the few Knicks effective at getting to the rim.Swapping Walker for Burks swap has already paid dividends. He scored 25 and 23 points in the last two games, his only two starts of the season. And the Knicks may need to make more adjustments. More lineup changes mean the increased potential for hurt feelings among veteran players, but as Thibodeau said before the game on Tuesday: “You have to put winning first.” 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 Are Off to a Decent Start. Is This a Drill?

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThis Is for Stephen Curry’s CriticsAre the Knicks Back?A Year of Kobe and LeBronMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Knicks Are Off to a Decent Start. Is This a Drill?A more aggressive Knicks team has excited fans early, racking up big wins over Milwaukee and Utah. But they’ve lost three in a row, a worrisome sign for fans who’ve been let down before.Reggie Bullock celebrated with Austin Rivers as the Knicks beat the Utah Jazz at Madison Square Garden last week.Credit…Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 13, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETThe last time the Knicks won at least half of their first 10 games was during the 2017-18 season, when they were 6-4. They finished the campaign 29-53.This season, the Knicks started 5-5, and some fans are daring to hope that maybe this Knicks team is different. Maybe this one can break the playoff-less streak that began in 2013-14. The bad news is that the season is headed in the wrong direction. The Knicks have dropped three in a row to put them at 5-6, with multiple blowout defeats.Coach Tom Thibodeau has this team playing hard, and the Knicks have beaten good opponents, including the Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks. Entering the Charlotte Hornets game on Monday, the Knicks had the eighth best defense in the league. They are now down to 13th after losing to Charlotte, 109-88.The Knicks haven’t fielded a top-10 defensive team since the 2011-12 season, when their fifth-ranked defense took them to the playoffs. The unfortunate flip side: This year’s team has one of the league’s worst offenses.The Knicks have also struggled with injuries: Alec Burks, Austin Rivers and Obi Toppin have all missed time — three offensive-minded players.Something the Knicks have in their favor is that this season has produced lots of strange results, and not just for them. Night after night, in part because of the shortened season, no crowds, the pandemic and minimal time in training camp, lots of teams are losing big or to opponents who did not seem like threats. Some teams, like the Toronto Raptors (2-8), who are based in Florida because of the virus, are underperforming. Several top players, like Boston’s Jayson Tatum and the Nets’ Kevin Durant, have missed multiple games because they tested positive for, or were potentially exposed to, the coronavirus.The shortened season helps the Knicks in another way. Banking wins early on gives them cushion against the losses that are almost unavoidable as the season grinds on. But it is still early, as Knicks fans learned in 2018.Here is a look at what’s gone right and wrong for the Knicks so far.The New and Improved Julius RandleThe biggest reason the Knicks have been competitive this year is Julius Randle, who has started off strong. Randle is averaging 22.1 points, 11.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game — all on pace to be career highs — on 49.4 percent shooting. He is averaging more assists this year than his last two years combined. If he keeps this up, Randle should deservedly make his first All-Star team.He looks more comfortable on the floor, and Thibodeau has been adept at taking advantage of Randle’s versatility — for example, making sure he’s getting the ball on different parts of the court, rather than simply trying to bulldoze opponents in the post. Randle is skilled at creating for his teammates. The issue is that the Knicks don’t have many playmakers or shooters around him to ease his burden.The Curious Case of RJ BarrettRJ Barrett, 20, is playing a lot of minutes this year — 37.9 minutes per game, vs. 30.4 his rookie year. Barrett is, however, shooting a dismal 36.5 percent from the field and 18 percent from deep, both down from his rookie year, when he also struggled. RJ Barrett is averaging more shots than points.Credit…Adam Hunger/Associated PressWatching the games, you can see Barrett’s improvement in other areas. He plays more aggressively, has developed into a strong rebounder (7.6 rebounds per game for a guard is impressive) and has improved his passing. He is a solid defender.The consistency is not there, though, and the inefficiency is problematic: Barrett is averaging more shots than points. On opening night, Barrett shot 11-of-15 from the field for 26 points against the Indiana Pacers. The next game, against the Philadelphia 76ers, Barrett shot 2-of-15 from the field for 10 points. And then he shot poorly again for the next three games.His inability to shoot puts more pressure on Randle. Barrett is making only 26.5 percent of his shots when there isn’t a defender within six feet of him. He’s also hitting only 17.4 percent when he catches the ball and shoots it.But Barrett is still impactful for the Knicks, despite his scoring woes. His net rating (essentially a measure of how much better or worse a team is with a player on the floor) is minus 2.8. This isn’t ideal, but it is among the best on the team among those who receive serious minutes. When Barrett isn’t on the floor, the Knicks’ net rating is minus 13.8. That’s a bigger gap than the one for Randle, who is their best player.Mitchell Robinson, the EnigmaIt’s almost time for the Knicks to commit to an extension with Mitchell Robinson, who is now in his third year. It is difficult to gauge his true value. He’s a more traditional center who can’t spread the floor and mostly gets his points on dunks.And like Barrett, Robinson is a mixed bag.Through 11 games, Robinson’s production in several categories has decreased even as he has played more minutes (30.1) than usual, though the extra time seems to have given him room to grab more rebounds than before (8.1 per game). He is also below his per-game career averages in blocks (1.9) and field-goal percentage (68.2 percent; still very efficient).The biggest improvement for Robinson is that he’s been able to stay on the floor. Before this year, he struggled with foul trouble, but now he doesn’t jump for up-fakes as often, making it harder for defenders to draw fouls. That was his biggest weakness. Now, not so much.Elfrid Payton’s PlaymakingThe Knicks don’t have many players who can break down defenses, which is what makes Elfrid Payton essential for Thibodeau. The Knicks cut him in the off-season and re-signed him to a cheap one-year deal. He is probably not a part of the Knicks’ future plans. But he has been a steady, veteran presence on the floor, which they have needed.He is not much of a shooter, but he is skilled at getting into the paint. This year, he’s scoring above his career average with 14.5 points a game, and is tallying 4.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.Payton, 26, now in his seventh season, also does not make many mistakes on the floor. For the most part, he stays within himself and takes care of the ball. (His turnover percentage is an below-average 14 percent this season.) He’ll most likely never be a starter on a championship team, but he’s been a nice pickup for the Knicks.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More