Coming off of their best season and first postseason appearance since 2012-13, little has gone according to plan for the New York Knicks this season.
While I was a proponent of New York’s offseason moves at the time, they haven’t fully clicked.
Evan Fournier has slotted in as a capable starter, but he’s struggled to add any sizable playmaking dynamic in the halfcourt.
Nerlens Noel has missed over half the season with injury, and when he does play, his offensive shortcomings have been more damaging than last year, while his defense hasn’t been at the same level.
Kemba Walker isn’t even playing with the team anymore after an extremely up and down season. Winning Eastern Conference Player of the Week to mutually agreeing with the front office to sit out the remainder of the year… just doesn’t happen.
Most notably and impactful, Julius Randle hasn’t been the same player. His jumper has fallen off both from the mid-range and three (37 and 30% after 42% and 41% last season). He’s not drawing two to the ball with the same authority that he did last season in large part due to his efficiency drop-off.
Randle is a good passer, but he needs to scan the floor and react to the defense bending. He’s not going to pick apart the floor with manipulative reads. Without the same gravity as last season, he’s struggled to buoy a floundering offense (23rd, per Cleaning the Glass).
His process offensively this season has also muddled the flow, as he has a tendency to hold the ball and isolate, which runs counter to more efficient offense. Yet, he’s not alone in that, as much of the Knicks’ roster isn’t built upon quick actions and lacks proactive playmaking. The team ranks in the top half of the league in location effective field goal percentage, essentially stating what your offense’s efficiency would look like if you hit from league average on each shot. The Knicks are 28th in pace after a dead-last finish last season.
The defense has fallen apart. One of the most consistent units in basketball last year has been lackluster in execution all season. Shooting luck has played a part, but this team just didn’t used to mess up tagging the low man last season. That happens routinely. The close-outs don’t have the same freneticism. Stopping the ball at the first level has been a chore at times for this group.
However, the players have caught too much flak for the Knicks’ failure to live up to expectations this season. The front office traded for Cam Reddish a few weeks prior to the trade deadline, sending out this year’s first round pick in the deal. Reddish has played 137 minutes across 11 games, and Tom Thibodeau uncorked a rather pointed quote about earning minutes and potential.
Thibodeau was reportedly disappointed at the front office for not bringing back wing Reggie Bullock, a two-way staple on last year’s playoff squad.
Immanuel Quickley is the closest player this team has to a point guard, and plays with the pacing that the offense needs, but has started two games, both due to injury replacement. Changing up the starting lineup maybe wouldn’t impact the record heavily, but by god the process would be markedly better. There’s a reason why the Knicks have one of the better bench units in the NBA, a continuation of last season.
The same front office drafted Obi Toppin with the eighth overall pick, and despite bright flashes, he continues to struggle to elevate himself to a higher place in Thibodeau’s rotation.
This is just a string of continuous blips that showcase the seismic disconnect between management and coaching. Players undoubtedly need to earn their minutes, I can’t disagree with that. The purpose of those minutes is where I find fault with Thibodeau.
I love Taj Gibson. That he’s able to do this at 36 is absurd.
He still has some utility and can be an impactful third big in the right situations, but he’s been overtaxed this season. That’s an overwhelming sentiment of this roster: overtaxed. Alec Burks is overtaxed when asked to be a lead guard, a regularity. Julius Randle was overtaxed last season and his All-NBA play was in spite of that burden, while his struggles this year are in part because of it.
The Knicks passed the “are we good or are we bad?” Rubicon some time ago (before the new year in my opinion). They are 25-36 on the season and 4.5 games out of the No. 10 seed in the East.
So what exactly are these minutes for?
What’s so frustrating about this team is that they ARE different from past iterations in the Dolan era. There is potential and intrigue throughout the roster. It’s not a listless core without a purpose.
RJ Barrett just had a career-high 46 points!
Barrett has made significant strides this year, continuing to develop his power drive game, toying with pacing and manipulation in the half-court. In 21 games since the calendar flipped to 2022, he’s averaging 23.7 points on 53.6% true-shooting while getting to the line just over seven times per game and canning 39.8% of his triples (six attempts per game). There’s an extremely alluring foundation that’s budding.
Quentin Grimes has enticed with his defense, shooting, and flashes as a driver.
With Walker sidelined for the remainder of the year and Derrick Rose out for the coming weeks, this is an important test. What do the Knicks look like with Thibodeau forced to go in a youth movement? More importantly, will he?
If the past two games after the All-Star Break are an indicator, I’m hopeful. Rookie Jericho Sims has played nearly a quarter of his NBA minutes across the past two games. Deuce McBride probably isn’t ready for a full-time NBA rotation slot, but the remainder of this season should be about player development and prioritizing the future.
An organization can still be competitive and try to win while developing! It’s not that Alec Burks and Evan Fournier don’t need to play, maybe just not 36 minutes and McBride, Quickley, and Grimes (once he returns from injury) receive higher playing time.
I’m not in the locker room, but based on the play on-court, the young players have ‘earned’ their playing time just as much as anyone else on the team (if not more).
This team doesn’t have the identity they did last season, and it’s hard to pinpoint what their identity is right now due to the disconnect between coaching and management. Thibodeau hasn’t coached well this season by any stretch of the imagination, but the front office deserves heaps of blame as well.
If you’re not going in the same direction as your coach, either come together and figure it out, or find a new coach. They knew what it was when they hired Thibodeau. He’s a more-than-capable coach, but he’s going to coach his way, and that hasn’t worked this season with the given roster. There’s a chance to salvage this season to a degree in the remaining months by committing to a new direction; let’s see if it happens.
