Blue and orange tinted glasses aren’t necessary to imagine an NBA championship in progress for the New York Knicks.
Even though they won’t enter the playoffs as favorites in the title race, they should be on the short list of teams capable of winning it all.
Of course, a lot should work out in their favor, but it would be difficult to find many former champions who haven’t enjoyed more than their fair share of good fortune.
So what would it take for this team to end a championship drought that dates back to the 1970s? Well, it’s funny you should ask, since the only reason we’re here is to build a plan for the Bockers to enjoy the kind of extended playoff run that has eluded them for so long.
If you’ll allow us to grab a piece of that low-hanging fruit, let’s start with the obvious: The Knicks don’t win anything substantial without having their best players available.
Their absences have at least decreased in quantity, but the quality of players stuck on the bench is a major concern. As of this writing, this team remains without three-time All-Star Julius Randle; Mitchell Robinson, a 7’0″ athletic presence on both ends; and OG Anunoby, whose debut in January almost immediately propelled this group into championship contention.
Anunoby only recently returned from an absence of more than a month that included elbow surgery, but he lasted only three games before a “post-surgical pushing” to the elbow put him back on the injury report.
Hopefully these injury issues go away sooner rather than later, because otherwise a deep playoff run would likely be impossible.
Like most modern offenses, the Knicks are quite reliant on their perimeter shooting.
Almost 35 percent of their points are generated on three-point shots, according to NBA.com. This is a top 10 of the season.
For a team so reliant on the long ball (12th in most attempts), you’d like to see more efficiency (17th in percentage). When the Knicks are called away, they’re awfully tough to beat, but that’s not always the case. In their 41 wins, they shot 39.1 percent from three. Over their 27 losses, that connect rate is just 31.9 percent.
Beyond the mathematical boost of outside shots, they also keep defenses away from the basket and widen the attacking lanes for players like Randle and Jalen Brunson. If the spacing is optimal, this is an offense that can sustain a deep playoff run.
Despite Brunson’s rise and the overstuffed stat sheets so often provided by Randle, the Knicks aren’t going to overwhelm their playoff opponents with high-end talent. Star power isn’t necessarily a weakness, but it’s not a strength like it is with, say, the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, or even the Philadelphia 76ers with a healthy Joel Embiid.
While New York obviously needs Brunson and Randle at their best, that wouldn’t be enough to put championship contention on the table. What the Knicks really need to do is make their depth advantage — it’s perhaps the deepest roster in the Association — significant.
It won’t be easy, since turnovers generally decrease in the playoffs. Frankly, this won’t be possible if deadline additions Bojan Bogdanović and Alec Burks can’t produce at expected levels, or if Josh Hart, their 2023 deadline pickup, can’t increase his shooting rates .
If this roster clicks at the right time, coach Tom Thibodeau has the chance to utilize everything it offers. Brunson, Randle and Anunoby will all play a lot if healthy, but Thibodeau can mix and match his spots beyond them and ideally do it in a way that gives New York more energy and activity than his heaviest opponents.
