3 Reasons The NY Knicks Can Return to Being a Top Defense

Was Kemba Walker really the NY Knicks’ Achilles Heel?

This hurts to say as someone who’s been a huge fan of Walker since he came to the NBA.

However, the Knicks are certainly better defensively without Walker…much better.

The Knicks have the best defensive rating in the NBA when Walker is off the court and the worst defensive rating in the league when he is on the court. Ouch.

Walker has never been a great defender, and usually, his offensive ability would make up for that.

He has not been bad on offense, averaging 12 points on 41% from three.

This is not the same amount of production he used to give, and it does not make up for the horrid defense.

It hurts to say that Walker is a liability to this team built in a defensive system like the one Thibs uses.

Thibs likes his point guards to play defense and not be arguably the worst defensive liability in the entire NBA.

This year, Alec Burks has been a very solid defender averaging a steal per game, having been tied for the best defensive rating on the Knicks with Mitchell Robinson and Taj Gibson at 107.

Burks replaced Kemba Walker as the starting point guard for New York, and it looks as if that is here to stay. It’s hard to imagine Walker returning to this role, especially since teams have already come calling about Walker’s trade availability.

As much as I love Walker and thought this signing would work out, it has not.

The Knicks are a defense-first team, and in the first game without Walker, the Knicks played great defense again.

This could be a sign of things to come. Also, it’ll be interesting to see if the Knicks can land any decent defenders in a trade for Walker, though most likely it would be a trade for a second-round pick or two.