New York Knicks: Can Tom Thibodeau build on his success?

New York Knicks: Expectations for next season

It’s been said over and over this offseason, but it’s hard to not have a sour taste left in your mouth after how last season ended.

If you had told New York Knicks fans in the preseason that they were going to finish as the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference… I’m not even sure they could envision how it could have been plausible. They would probably ask you, does RJ Barrett become a superstar? Randle gets traded and Toppin is a superstar?

Even with last year’s preseason expectations shattered, this team wants to raise the bar. It seems like everyone is expecting the season to be a “bust” if they can’t make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

The way in which Thibodeau was able to instill his brand of basketball and get the roster to buy in so quickly was nothing short of remarkable. Now we have to see where things can improve.

With Derrick Rose in the lineup, the Knicks’ offense wasn’t abysmal. It was enough to secure wins in the regular season but it wasn’t enough to make any noise in the playoffs.

Tom Thibodeau doesn’t need to change his entire offensive philosophy. This is a team who wants to play slow — the Knicks had the slowest pace of any team in the league last season.

The room for improvement lies in creativity. The ability to keep opposing defenses on their toes. Too many times last season did we see the Knicks get stuck in isolation-heavy basketball.

Running isolation plays for your best player is fine but you have to be able to pivot. Once the Atlanta Hawks took that away in the playoffs, Tom Thibodeau really didn’t have an answer.

Now he has added ball-handlers and shot-creators at his disposal with Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier.

Fans should expect the Knicks to be a playoff team. Whether or not they can make noise in the playoffs remains to be seen, but with improvement on offense and another season playing together with increased chemistry, this team wants to show that they’ve taken another step forward in the Tom Thibodeau era.

Thibs has the foundation set. Now, he needs to keep the ball rolling.