The New York Knicks had a resurgent season last year, going 47-35 and getting to the second round of the playoffs before being eliminated by the Miami Heat in six games.
The team added Donte DiVincenzo in free agency to pair with Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle.
The Knicks are looking to capitalize off their exceptional season last year but is the addition of DiVincenzo and the big three of Brunson, RJ Barrett, and Randle enough to consider the Knicks contenders? One ESPN Insider thinks so.
ESPN Insider Had This Scorching Hot Take on the Knicks
“I think we should be talking about [the Knicks] like we talk about Milwaukee, Boston, and Miami.”
(h/t @KnicksMuse ) pic.twitter.com/ULNSDvk6e3
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 19, 2023
Since Leon Rose took over in 2020, the New York Knicks have gotten out of being a dysfunctional franchise and have turned into a solid Eastern Conference team. The signings of Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson brought the Knicks back to a level of respectability.
However, the Knicks are nowhere close to the level of the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, and Miami Heat. They are considered a good team that could get to the playoffs as a fifth or sixth seed. They could again get to the second round of the playoffs, but that’s their ceiling.
As currently constructed, the Knicks roster doesn’t have a star player. They have built a roster full of complimentary B players, but they don’t have the players who can get them over the hump.
They also don’t have that championship coach who can take them over the top. Tom Thibodeau has been a high-level coach in the NBA for a long time and changed his offensive schemes last season from slow and methodical to more up-tempo. Thibodeau still plays his starters’ heavy minutes. That narrative won’t change because, since the Derrick Rose injury, there is an idea that Thibodeau overuses his starters in the regular season, which makes them less effective in the postseason.
Thibodeau has tweaked his coaching philosophy slightly with better personnel, but he’s not the coach to lead the Knicks to a championship. He’s a solid regular-season coach, but in the postseason, he gets exposed as a coach who is slow to adjust. The Miami series was proof of that, as Erik Spoelstra coached circles around Thibodeau, and he had no answer for how to stop the Heat’s offensive attack.
So, while the New York Knicks have built a solid foundation of good players and stockpiling draft picks, until they get that one superstar talent, they are not contenders like Bobby Marks believes.
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