New York Knicks Wrapped: Looking Back on Calendar Year 2021

Player of the Year: Julius Randle

This one is the opposite of recency bias. A large segment of the fan base has soured on Julius Randle faster than a carton of milk left in your car in July.

While I am still strongly in Randle’s camp, their complaints are understandable.

Still, Madison Square Garden crowds were chanting MVP at him as recently as preseason games in October. (I was in the building. It happened.)

It’s not hard to see why. When he is playing at his best, he is an unstoppable fulcrum for the New York Knicks offense. He is the sun at the center of their offensive universe.

A pretty bright one, I’d add.

When things are clicking offensively, Randle engages more defensively, and the Knicks become a pretty scary ball club.

Things may have trailed off some for him in the final couple of months of 2021, but I have not given up hope that he will turn things around in 2022.

Honorable Mention: Derrick Rose

The case for Derrick Rose has been laid out throughout these slides.

He came to the Knicks for the cheap.

He has been a rock off the bench.

He mentors young players.

Some will say he should get the nod over Randle, and while I love their love for Rose, I just can’t get there myself. He has been great and earned this honorable mention.