It was no secret Knicks would be a work in progress out of the gates this season after they spent the offseason rooting out the starting five with major acquisitions. At 4-4 with some disheartening losses, it’s obvious they haven’t found their new identity yet.
Last season, New York boasted a fifth-ranked defense backed by elite rim protection, AND Anunoby on the wing and multiple options of effective schemes below Tom Thibodeau. They played a bruising offense in the back Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle’s creation, then embodied Isaiah Hartensteins most important playmaking, nor the most efficient but helped by consistently winning the possession games on the boards and by limiting turnovers.
That deep central rotation is gone. Thibodeau’s usual schemes draw a 17th-ranked defense, and without Randle, the offense often sputtered. While it’s too early to think New York won’t figure that out, it’s worth exploring what this team’s winning formula looks like once it’s implemented.
If the ultimate goal is a championship, the Knicks need to play at that level on both sides of the ball. And while their offense – currently third in the league – isn’t perfect, the defense looks like the much bigger concern at the moment.
The rough start was a top-down setback. Towns’ edge protection and drop coverage can be invisible to tight ends, and teams have noticed attacking him in clutch situations.
Mikal Bridges only looks like his Phoenix Suns self in spurts, which is a consistent problem across the roster. Josh Hart and Brunson looks locked in one shift and completely disengaged the next.
Miscommunication plagued the team, an inevitable part of radically remodeling your roster. The silver lining is that these are early season issues that can be corrected in time.
One plus was the defensive cup, where the Knicks rank tenth in the league and their starting unit collects 74.2 percent of available defensive rebounds – which would rank fifth. While they aren’t bully teams on the offensive boards like in past seasons, they at least hold their own here.
Given that we’ve seen this team and the starting lineup defend well at times in the early season, it’s safe to assume that the talent and schemes for a superior defense are there – the rest comes down to effort and comfort. If not, there may be some adjustments coming – playing Towns at the four for shifts once Mitchell Robinson comes back and pull him out of a drop more when he’s at five – to name a couple.
Ultimately, defense may never be the core piece of this team’s identity again. Combining Brunson and Towns leaves a lot of holes to fill when they’re targeted, and the absence of their rim-protecting fives and general lack of depth doesn’t help.
While they’ll have to tighten it up to compete, it’s not fair to expect the same style of hitting teams with metal bats with this new roster. These Knicks will have to overwhelm teams with their offense.
Among the various reasons they had to trade for Cities, pairing the league’s best-shooting big man with Brunson’s MVP-level creation was primary. Surround them with dynamic plug-and-play options and you have the recipe for a leadership offense, efficient and lethal enough to leave behind the possession game played in past seasons.
We already see the bones of it. Even while looking awkward at times, the Knicks are third in the NBA with a 119.1 points per 100 possession offensive rating.
This, despite ranking: 21st in two-point field goal percentage, 19th in assist rate, 27th in percentage of points from the free throw line and dead last in speed.
Anyone who has watched New York this season can see that they have left a lot on the table offensively. That they managed to keep the fifth out despite this should be a strong positive signal.
They are currently second in the league with 11.9 percent of their attempts coming in the final four seconds of the shot clock. If the Knicks can get more shots by increasing their speed overall and urgently in the halfcourt, it will open up easier opportunities and give them a greater advantage over opponents.
It is clear that this team will try to push opponents away from deep behind penetration by Brunson, Towns and their wings. They have a solid amount of 40 percent shooters, so supporting this area of their game is a natural evolution.
Their two-point percentage and free throw rates should jump. Much of this rests on the head of Brunson as the captain and leading scorer, and he had a slow start to the season.
Brunson is averaging 24 points and 6.1 assists on 45.8 percent shooting from the field and a Knicks career-low 5.1 free throw attempts a game. While these aren’t terrible numbers, he’s had some shaky games and certainly doesn’t look like his MVP self.
He seems to be overthinking in a similar vein to the first two games of last year’s playoffs, not taking easy looks and easy plays as they come. Part of that is developing familiarity with his new teammates, but it may just be a seasonal slump as well, as Brunson has struggled to start previous seasons.
The floor and ceiling of the offense starts with him. The insertion of Towns has opened up a lot for him, Bridges is averaging an efficient 16 a night, and Hart has quickly found his role after a quiet preseason.
Some changes will be needed, some individual and some schematic. Brunson needs to be a little more selective with his isolation attacks and more focused on his passing game.
Thibodeau will need to emphasize a faster pace and increased ball and player movement in order for the offense to fail instead of standing around. They will need an attack against switching defenses that are not mismatched chasing into repeated isolations.
Cities are off to a hot start, but should be used more as an offensive hub. Based on his passing ability, more sets reminiscent of Hartenstein’s high-post package with Cities in his place could help.
This new Knicks team is still forging a winning identity, but we can begin to understand the pieces despite a rocky first few weeks to the season. It won’t look like last year, but if New York can start clicking on both ends, they can find their championship formula.
