Knicks: A Way Too Early Love Song to the Second Unit

The addition of Derrick Rose seems to be the remedy for the Knicks’ bench-scoring woes

I fall in love fast, and the current apple of my eye and flitter in my heart is the Knicks second unit.

I’ve never written a love song. On a few embarrassing and ill-fated instances, I’ve tried to publicly sing a diddy to a crush, but I’ve never once composed a tune for a sweetheart. This will be my first attempt.

I wish I could tell you that I waited until the end of the game to fall in love. Or even that I waited until halftime, but neither of those things is true. No, I was madly in love the first time Immanuel Quickley and Derrick Rose checked in together. This backcourt was the head-turner for me. This was the beautiful human (pair of humans?) that walked into my life and changed it entirely.

At one point, League Pass cut to the Knicks bench during a commercial break and showed Rose doing what looked like Tai Chi during the timeout huddle. Quickley watched intently. But it wasn’t Tai Chi at all; it was Rose demonstrating a few defensive stances. Defensive stances Quickley used later in the game.

Then there was Rose setting up Obi Toppin for a nice finish. Or Nerlens Noel posting a +12 with seven rebounds and three blocked shots per ESPN’s box score. Or Alec Burks scoring 11 points while shooting 50% from three-point range per that same box score.

The final count of the Heat game didn’t matter to me. I went to bed with a new love in my heart. I texted all my friends, “Fellas, I think I found the one. I think I found the Knicks bench rotation that I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

I fall in love fast.

Then I woke up the next morning, head still foggy but smiling, and started to ask myself all the logical questions.

Was this just a one-game fluke?  Surely IQ/Rose/Burks/Toppin/Noel isn’t the best possible Knicks Second Unit? Won’t they have deficiencies on both sides of the ball? If all these are true, wouldn’t this be true love and not some half-hearted crush?

Per NBA Math the answers to those questions are: 1) Probably not; 2) Not only is this Knicks Second Unit the best combo on the team it might be the best in the conference; 3) Data tells us they won’t; 4) Get all your heartbreak songs ready, big fella, because this one is going to hurt when it ends.

(BTW, here is a great read from NBA Math on their Total Points Added (TPA) Model which is something I swear by. They do great work that really takes the whole picture into account as you analyze players and rotations.)

The Knicks’ Second Unit that debuted against the Miami Heat has a total Offensive Points Added (OPA) of 6.73, a total Defensive Points Saved (DPS) of 24.47, and a TPA of 31.2.  The Knicks starting five does not boast similar numbers.

Here is the part where you will really fall in love with the Knicks’ Second Unit: when adjusted to an average figure to account for teams who have a different number of players in their rotation, no bench in the Eastern Conference Playoff race comes close to the combo of IQ/Rose/Burks/Toppin/Noel.

Of the teams currently ranked 1-10 in the Eastern Conference, only the Bucks had a higher bench OPA. No team has a higher bench DPS. Only one bench unit has a positive TPA: IQ/Rose/Burks/Toppin/Noel.

If the franchise does end up pushing for a playoff spot without making any other major roster changes, you can give a ton of credit to the Knicks Second Unit.

When you do, I’ll make sure you know I loved them first.