The New York Knicks are coming off their most successful season in more than 25 years, but there is still room for improvement in hopes of winning their first title since 1973.
Most notably, the Knicks can better take advantage of their star players’ best abilities by speeding up their pace and making better decisions on the offensive side of the floor.
Tom Rende of Forbes wrote that New York ranked in the bottom five in the league in terms of pace, and their slow style heavily contributed to their season ending in the Eastern Conference Finals. While the Knicks have the quality of players who can lead them to the Finals, they need to do a better job of maximizing what they do best.
“One of the main components of how pacing would work effectively for the Knicks is with getting into their offense more quickly,” Rende wrote. “That’s partially a product of Jalen Brunson, who obviously is the driver of the Knicks’ offense, but the failure to move slowly has had consequences.”
New York finished the 2024-25 regular season in the bottom five in time of possession and pace, while during the playoffs, they ranked third to last, only ahead of the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic, two teams knocked out in the first round.
Knicks Going Faster Could Benefit Everybody
New York’s superstar in Brunson can change the pace of the game on his own, with teams designing their defensive schemes around the 26-point-per-game scorer. This year, the Knicks had five players averaging more than ten points a night, and a quicker pace might better capitalize on their offensive skill sets.
“Forcing players like Brunson to speed up the game should help out the team in getting players more involved and out of disadvantaged situations,” Rende predicted. “Last season the Knicks took the 4th most shots in the NBA with four seconds or less on the shot clock, which has a lower percent chance of success compared to earlier in the clock. That philosophical change could be transformative for the team.”
This type of change could benefit Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. Both saw a drop in scoring and true shooting percentage in the playoffs compared to the regular season, something that could have been due to the slow postseason pace.
“Mikal Bridges could benefit from more of an opportunity to have a hand in the offense,” Rende added. “Karl-Anthony Towns was notably a no-show when teams used smaller players to guard him. It could be easier to neutralize that tactic if the Knicks are able to run more sets to make sure that the cross matchups create confusion among the defense and leads to more open shots.”
Brunson ranked near the top of the league in isolation percentage during the regular season and playoffs. While he was more efficient compared to many of his other superstar counterparts across the league, Rende believes New York changing its tendency of relying on him in the closing minutes “could be a successful strategy that translates better to the playoffs.”
Change Could Be Coming
In perhaps the biggest reason why change could be coming, the Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau and replaced him with Mike Brown. Thibodeau ran a star-heavy and slow-paced offense, which Rende credits for New York’s playoff exit.
“The tendency of the team to leisurely get into the first action of the offense hurt them deeply in the playoffs,” Rende wrote. “It reduced the shot quality and led to an issue during the Tom Thibodeau era: limited offensive sets.”
However, Brown has been a part of some of the most prolific NBA offenses in recent history, and looks to implement a quicker style of play, forcing players to make faster decisions with the ball.
“Mike Brown is seemingly going to be bringing that same kind of overhaul to the Knicks this upcoming season,” Rende wrote. “The style that was played during summer league seems to be an indication of what Brown will be trying to institute to the club this year. The ‘.5 rule’ will certainly be in effect, which means that players will have that amount of time to make a decision to pass, shoot or dribble the ball.”
The front office also made a push to sign scorers, specifically Jordan Clarkson, who scored 16.2 points last season for the Utah Jazz. A change won’t come easily for a team led by Thibodeau for the past five seasons, but they are on the right track, and expect to be a title favorite out of the East next season.
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