New York Knicks: Five Areas NYK Must Improve

Honorable Mention: Joakim Noah

With all due respect to Joakim Noah, he hasn’t played very well—and he knows it. He’s shooting atrociously from the free throw line, has been far too hesitant to score—see: passing out of an uncontested layup to set up a corner 3—and has struggled to box out down low.

The good news for the New York Knicks is that Noah himself acknowledged the need to improve and promised he will. Per Marc Berman of The New York Post:

"“All I can control is my progress. I need to play better and I will. I just got stay working.” “I need to play better and I will.”"

That’s a promising sign that Noah is going to put the work in to turn things around.

Noah’s issues can be summarized in one surprising area: free throw shooting. A career 70.6 percent free throw shooter, Noah has converted at a clip of just 28.6 percent during the 2016-17 NBA regular season.

Noah is admittedly attempting just 1.4 free throws per game—down from his career average of 3.1 and limited enough to prevent the development of a rhythm—but that massive decline is a sign that something isn’t right with the 31-year-old big man.

The worst case scenario is that Tom Thibodeau wore Noah down and he simply isn’t confident enough in his health to turn things around. The best case scenario is that Noah will get back into game shape after his two-game absence and regain that confidence as the season progresses.

Noah’s track record suggests the latter is more likely than the former.