The Knicks are just over 20 percent of the way through their season. Here's what we've seen so far:
1. The Coach
After a promising start to the season, Fizdale's mad experimentation with his lineups has gotten him into trouble. After finding a starting lineup with an 8.1 net rating (points-per-100-possessions differential) that played elite-level defense and featured Frank Ntilikina, Tim Hardaway Jr., Damyean Dotson, Noah Vonleh and Mitchell Robinson, Fizdale has struggled to find another group that works well together. Spare one good opening quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans with Emmanuel Mudiay, Allonzo Trier, Hardaway, Kevin Knox and Robinson on the floor, the new combinations have not worked.
Fizdale has continued to preach that development is the top priority this season, yet against the Magic on Sunday night, Trey Burke and Enes Kanter combined to take 36 of the team's 87 shots and played 67 minutes. Ntilikina and Dotson combined to play 35 minutes and took four combined shots. Burke played really well offensively, but it is fair to ask how his dominating the ball and jacking up shots helps the team's long-term future.
2. Defense
The Knicks defense has fallen off a cliff. They now have the third-worst defensive rating in the NBA at 112.1 (points allowed per 100 possessions). The Knicks had found a lineup that combined all their best defenders with Hardaway (Ntilikina, Dotson, Vonleh and Robinson) and was one of the NBA's top defensive lineups (98.5 defensive rating). Everyone was a good enough athlete to switch screens and survive resulting mismatches without too much damage.
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Fizdale has now spread those defenders out into lineups featuring poor defenders such as Kanter, Mudiay and Knox. Now, no unit he plays together can defend for any amount of time at a high level. The results have been disastrous. In their last five games, the Knicks have allowed 131, 129, 128, 115 and 128 points.
3. Development
After a fast start, the Knicks' young players have plateaued a bit. Ntilikina's shooting has been awful of late, sitting at .344/.263/.920 on the season. Knox looks a lot more like the player at Kentucky who was not a shot creator for himself or his teammates than the Summer League star who looked like was born in Las Vegas. Trier has levelled off after teams began to focus on him more. Robinson is still much further along defensively than anyone could have expected, but the warts of inexperience are showing with his constant foul trouble. Player development is rarely a straight, ascending line, but there are certainly reasons for concern for a lot of the team's young players right now.
4. The Ball Movement
Fizdale wanted to build his team around pace and ball movement. The Knicks still sit in the middle of the league in terms of the speed of their play, but their assist numbers are putrid. The Knicks' assist percentage of 46 is worst in the NBA. They have no starting-caliber NBA point guard and a bunch of guys who have never seen a shot they don't like.
Hardaway is a launch master who averages over 18 shots per game with passing as his third or fourth option. Burke shoots first as the primary ballhandler when he plays. Youngsters Knox and Trier are all about putting up shots. Mario Hezonja has an itchy trigger finger. All Kanter wants to do is score in the post. The team doesn't have any above-average passers, and it shows with their lack of ball movement.
5. The Tank
It is far too early to break out the "#knickstank" hashtag on Twitter, but the season is getting ugly fast for the Knicks. They sit at 4-13, tied for the fourth-worst record in the NBA. Their next nine games feature matchups against the Trail Blazers, Celtics, Pelicans, Grizzlies, Pistons, 76ers, Bucks, Wizards and Celtics. The record is only going to get worse, and it looks like the team might have a realistic chance of being in the mix for a top-three draft selection, and perhaps RJ Barrett or his Duke teammate, Zion Williamson.
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