NY Knicks: Three Bold Predictions for Next Season

NY Knicks: Even considering predictions 1 and 2, the Knicks will have homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Call me crazy, but I believe in this team.

The Knicks were 10th in the league in net rating last season according to Basketball-Reference, and they got better and deeper during the offseason.

They are better on paper without RJ Barrett or Julius Randle continuing their upward trajectory. If you factor that assumption in, this team has some serious upside.

On top of that, if prediction two comes true, you could be adding a superstar player to that mix.

Some of this third prediction is also about the other teams in the Eastern Conference.

There are only two teams I would definitively pick to beat the Knicks in a seven-game playoff series next year: Brooklyn and Milwaukee. Philly has too many variables right now for me to have complete confidence in them, but let’s say they continue their run of strong regular season play and finish in the top three.

That leaves Atlanta, Boston, Miami, and New York as the teams with a realistic shot at the final homecourt advantage spot for the first round. I think Boston and Miami are both overrated and feel as likely to finish 6th or 7th as they are to finish 4th. The Hawks are a well-constructed team, but the purpose of this article was to make bold predictions.

So let’s get bold: The Knicks will finish with the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference and host a first-round playoff series again this year, silencing the “It was a fluke” crowd.