Just a few weeks ago, the biggest question facing the New York Knicks was, “How good can they be without a center?”
They got their center. Now the questions became:
Are the Knicks better with Karl-Anthony Towns?
Can they win a title with him?
that of New York business for Cities shocked the NBA — including Towns himself, who said he was “stunned” — when other general managers vote the Towns trade the most surprising move of the offseason in the annual GM poll.
This is a trade that New York’s front office has been eyeing for years — Towns was once the client of former agent turned Knicks president Leon Rose — but they gave up a lot to get him, and there are appropriate concerns, which leads to the questions above. . Let’s break them down.
Are the Knicks better with Cities?
Yes.
For the simple reason that the Knicks entered the season without a noteworthy center (at least until around Christmas when Mitchell Robinson returns from ankle surgery). Now they have an elite offensive line that is one of the best centers in the game. That’s a win.
How much better the Knicks got is the harder question to answer.
The Knicks’ offense has improved, but their defense and depth have taken hits. Then there’s the question of cultural fit – how well will Towns mesh with the gritty Villanova crew (minus one)/Tom Thibodeau culture in New York? Thibodeau coached Towns in Minnesota and has had his frustrations with the big man from Kentucky, but he’s also said several times in recent years that he’d love to coach him again. Let’s take a wait-and-see attitude with the cultural fit, this might work better than some predict.
The only truth of this trade is that New York’s offense – already seventh in the NBA last season – has improved.
We’ve seen in Towns’ limited preseason run what he can do for the Knicks offense – New York can play five-out now because of Towns’ ability to shoot the 3 (41.6% on five-plus attempts a game last season) and that will open driving lanes for Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges.
There are two key overlooked parts of this trade: Towns can take most bigs off the dribble and get to the rim on a spread floor, and he’s also a good passer who will find cuts as the defense charges to stop him. Towns can be a facilitator out of the high post the way Isaiah Hartenstein was so successful for the Knicks last season — and we’ve seen some of that already in the preseason.
Expect the Knicks to have a top five, maybe third offense this season. That will propel them to the top of the East – they should push Boston for the #1 seed.
The challenge for Towns is on defense, where he’ll be asked to play more drop coverage, which has never been his strength — Utah brought in Rudy Gobert as a rim protector next to him for a reason. The Knicks have quality wing defenders in Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby who can stay in front of guys and limit the attacks in the lane, but this is the NBA, no one can stay in front of everyone, and rim protection is at a premium.
Towns is an improved defender and has had impressive moments – his defense, especially incorporating Nikola Jokic, was critical to Minnesota advancing to the Western Conference Finals. On the other hand, Towns hasn’t matched up well with Joel Embiid in the past — the 76ers will be an obstacle on the Knicks’ playoff path — and has had his rough playoff moments, all of which lead to the next question.
Can the Knicks win a title with Towns?
If all goes well, sure. But when was the last time everything went well for a team? Boston will raise championship banner number 18 in front of the Knicks on opening night mainly because they had the depth to withstand Kristaps Porzingis missing a chunk of the Finals with a foot/ankle injury that ultimately required surgery.
Do the Knicks have that kind of margin for error?
New York enters the season with three legitimate concerns — and Towns can help address one of them. At best.
First, New York needs more interior defense and that is not a Towns strength, as noted above. He is not a rim protector in the classic sense. The relief filling this hole in the lineup will hopefully re-enter the rotation around Christmas when Mitchell Robinson returns from ankle surgery. If he can stay healthy, Robinson can be the rim protector the Knicks need (although whether he can play the five next to Towns at the four remains to be seen, Thibodeau needs time to experiment with that).
The second is depth – New York’s bench got thin with this trade when they had to send Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota to get the deal done. This leaves Miles “Duece” McBride and guys on minimum contracts like Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne as the bench stars, at least until Robinson returns.
This roster is set up for Thibodeau to run his starters into the ground and not have enough for the postseason. It’s a legitimate concern. I predict they will finish the season as the #1 seed in the East, but will that come at too high a cost? Team president Leon Rose should not end treatment, specifically looking for depth, although with the apron limitations there is only so much he can do.
Finally, who is the secondary playmaker on this team after Brunson? Towns helps a bit with that, as noted, his passing is underrated and he can make it easy out of the post, but historically he’s more of a big that creates for himself. The Knicks are betting on Bridges and McBride to fill that role on the perimeter – it’s a big ask but certainly possible. Bridges was only asked to be a primary shot creator in Brooklyn and held up well, but that was on a team without the pressure to win. The atmosphere will be different in New York.
Secondary shot creation may be the least of these three concerns, but if watching the last two NBA champions has taught us anything, it should be that you can’t have too many shot creators on the court at once, and the Knicks could be lacking in that. department
Whatever their flaws, the Knicks must be mentioned as title contenders, even if it is in the second division (one can argue that everyone should be in the second division after Boston).
Leon Rose has been right far more than he has been wrong as the architect of these New York Knicks, but now he’s put all his chips in the middle with Towns and Bridges. Now he — and Knicks fans — need the Cards to break their way.
