Getty Evan Fournier, New York Knicks
For the second straight season, the New York Knicks are struggling to produce performances that mirror the talent level of their roster.
During a November 29 episode of Heavy on Sports Postin’ Up with Keith Smith and Adam Taylor podcast, I explained the Knicks’ most prominent issue when it comes to scoring the ball.
“You went for too many ball-handling scorers, rather than guys that can play off the ball. Like, Kemba’s ball-dominant, Evan Fournier, in my opinion, needs the ball in his hands as a secondary pick-and-roll guy. There’s not a three-and-d guy. And (there’s) no Sam Hauser, Duncan Robinson type guy out there that can just be a catch-and-shoot threat for you. So now it’s like, hey, we’re going to keep firing passes to guys to shoot threes, but they’re not in the rhythm because they’re taking threes outside of their skill set,” I said.
The Knicks currently rank 28th in the NBA for three-point percentage, converting on just 32.3% of their attempts despite ranking 11th in the league for three-point attempts per game, with the team averaging 34.6 shots from the perimeter on a nightly basis.
Unfortunately for New York, their lack of any spot-up scorers who can simply space the floor, curl over screens, and hit their shots off the catch, is severely limiting their ability to be a consistent perimeter threat, which is positioning the roster to keep taking shots that don’t mesh with their current player personnel.
Tom Thibodeau Lacks Offensive Creativity
During the same podcast episode, Smith discussed whether New York’s struggles are a byproduct of their roster construction, or whether head coach Tom Thibodeau is to blame for the Knicks’ disjointed offensive approach.
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“I mean, they take the tenth most three-pointers per game in the league, and they are dead last in three-point shooting. So cool, I guess that you’re generating those looks, but are the right guys taking them? I mean, they have Barrett, Brunson, and Randle…you’ve got, let’s see those three guys – I’m just trying to do a little bit of math here on the fly – They’re taking sixteen three-pointers a game, and Randle is the best. And I’m putting that in air quotes.
Now, Brunson, that’ll (his shooting) pick up. I think we’ve got enough history to believe that’ll (his shooting percentage) come up some. But Barrett? He’s not generally a pretty good shooter. And I’m a big RJ Barrett guy. So that’s what’s softened. I don’t know that Thibs has the offensive creativity to create a better offense than what they’re running with,” Smith said.
Perhaps the Knicks should look to acquire an offensive-minded assistant coach to help re-design their offensive gameplan and maximize the offensive talent New York has at their disposal, because right now, what they’re doing isn’t working.
The Knicks are Stuck in The Middle
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the Knicks are in the worst position an NBA team can find themselves in – stuck in the middle of the pack with few options to improve their roster outside of a trade.
“There’s also a hard truth about this Knicks team after 20 games. Even in the best-case scenario, they’re stuck in a place no NBA team wants to be: the middle of the pack…They don’t have the cap space to improve the roster in free agency. They probably won’t lose enough to end up with a top pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The most realistic path to improvement is still via trade. Leon Rose’s Knicks have – and will continue to – hunt out opportunities to trade for top-end talent. They have a surplus of draft picks and some young players to offer teams. The Knicks have has also taken calls from teams about trades involving Immanuel Quickley and Derrick Rose, evidence that they’re open to more incremental deals,” Begley wrote on November 28.
From earlier: If you’re looking for reasons to be optimistic about this NYK team, you found some Sunday night. But after 20 games, NYK still seems destined to finish in undesired NBA real estate: middle of the pack. Logical path forward is still via trade:
The Knicks are coming off the back of a 140-110 victory over the Detroit Piston on November 29 and will be hoping to carry that winning mentality into their upcoming game against the fearsome Milwaukee Bucks on November 30, if for no other reason than to continue improving some of their rosters trade value, as the front office continues to wait for a star player to become available on the trade market.