The Knicks are at the quarter-mark of the season and here are the 10 most important things fans need to know about the Knicks and their 8-10 record.
1. All About The D: We know the Knicks defense is much-improved from past seasons, but we don’t know how good it is. We wrote about some of the unsustainable parts of the Knicks success so far this season, which is bound to normalize as the schedule progresses, but there are some things that should continue. The Knicks play hard defensively and communicate well. Mitchell Robinson and Nerlens Noel are strong rim protectors. The team might not be a Top 8 defensive team, but there’s no reason they shouldn’t end the year around the middle of the league, which would be a huge improvement.
2. Brick-Layers: As good as the Knicks’ defense has been, their offense has been just as poor, ranking in the bottom three of the league for most of the year. The team does not have enough shooters, especially in the starting lineup. The Blazers played zone defense virtually the entire game on Sunday night and the Knicks had few answers. It is unlikely the Knicks wind up in the playoffs if they continue to score at the level they are now.
3. Will Thibs be Mr. Fix-it? The simple way for the Knicks to ease their offensive woes is to remove Elfrid Payton from the starting lineup and insert Immanuel Quickley. The starting lineup has two non-shooters in Payton and Robinson, a poor shooter in RJ Barrett, an average shooter in Randle, and an above average shooter in Alec Burks. In the modern NBA that is not enough. Inserting Quickley into the starting lineup is more about Barrett and Randle than it is about Quickley. Opposing defenses can leave Payton whenever they want to crowd the paint to prevent Randle and Barrett drives. Randle has been forced into becoming more of a mid-range jump shooter, which also hurts his ability to be a playmaker off his drives. Inserting Quickley into the starting lineup would help those two players immensely by providing better spacing.
4. Quickley was a steal: Despite it being so early in his career, I feel confident about calling the Quickley pick an unbelievable value. He can play as a pure point guard, has an excellent stroke, is adept at drawing fouls, and knows how to run an offense. There’s no way to know how good he is going to be, but he already looks like a NBA starter at the very least.
5. Which RJ Barrett is the real deal? Barrett started the season building the foundation of his own personal brick-front apartment building. In his last seven games, though, he has shot .500/.409/.879 and is averaging just under 20 points per game. If Barrett’s recent shooting is a sign of things to come, it could open up the rest of his game and make a future All-Star appearance a realistic possibility. Or, it could just be a positive swing after an atrocious shooting start to the season. He still only sits at .413/.250/.762 for the season.
6. Mitch on the rise: Mitchell Robinson’s block rate (5.7 percent) is the lowest of his career, but that is a sign of improved discipline as an interior defender. His foul rate is also at an all-time low (3.5 percent), and he is not abandoning his responsibilities to chase blocked shots. It is clear Tom Thibodeau has made a positive impact, making Robinson a more disciplined, dependable, and solid player. He has a legitimate case to start being considered for All-Defensive team conversation.
7. Thibs is the right man for the job: If anyone wondered the type of impact a high-level coach could have on a team, look no further than how Thibodeau has helped transform the Knicks. He has helped turn Julius Randle into an All-Star, and has the team playing a sound, consistent, and fearless brand of basketball. His staff is also showing the ability to develop and improve the younger players on the roster. Thibodeau is still playing into some of the bad aspects of his reputation – Randle and Barrett are near the top of the league in minutes played, and the Knicks are at the bottom of the league in three-point attempts – but even so, his team is playing well-above expectation to start the season.
8. It’s time to view Julius Randle differently: Before the season started, Randle was viewed as a potential trade piece and a salary to get off the books after the season. Under Thibodeau, Randle is playing at an All-Star level, with a much different unselfish approach that is making his teammates better. He would have a real chance to make the All-Star team this year if the game was being played in a more typical season. With the way Randle is playing, his nearly $20 million contract option for next season is a bargain. The Knicks may decide it is time to build around Randle rather than use him as an asset in a trade or a way to create more salary cap space. Randle may be the team’s first real All-Star caliber player.
9. Obi Toppin still an unknown: After suffering an injury just one game into the the season, Toppin has returned to find himself trapped behind Randle, playing limited minutes. He has shown the ability to be a vertical threat around the rim, and a big that can stretch the floor beyond the three-point line, but he has struggled moving fluidly and hasn’t flashed any go-to moves to create his own shot. As an older prospect, there were expectations of a more polished NBA game that hasn’t yet materialized in an extremely small sample size.
10. Will the Knicks be chasing ping pong balls or the play-in tournament? After Sunday’s loss to the Blazers, the Knicks sit as the eighth seed in Eastern Conference, but they would only be percentage points ahead of the 7-9 Raptors, Bulls, and Hornets. They would also hold a half-game lead on the 12th seeded Magic and a one game lead on the 13th seeded Heat. In other words, the Knicks are right on a fulcrum point that can lead to playoff contention or lottery ball counting. Just a small losing streak could send the Knicks closer to a top six spot in the lottery drawing rather than trying to make the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference. We just don’t know which way the season is going to go. It will be interesting to see how the teams at the bottom of the Western Conference fair once they being playing more Eastern Conference teams. It could shuffle the bottom of the NBA standings substantially.
Follow John Schmeelk on Twitter: @Schmeelk
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