This might be the New York Knicks most alarming issue
By Adam Kester
New York Knicks: Questions constructing the 2022 roster
The New York Knicks are an organization with well-documented problems in the 21st century. It seems like the goal of hiring Tom Thibodeau was to bring in an established coach who brings their own brand of basketball and culture with them.
It worked beautifully in year one. No one knew what to make of the roster, but it quickly became a Tom Thibodeau team — hardnosed, and physically grueling.
Thibs and his staff squeezed out a ton of output from that 2020-21 roster, and then the playoffs came and the New York Knicks were overmatched.
I think the idea heading into the offseason was almost unanimous. The Knicks need more shot creators.
Julius Randle and Derrick Rose were the only players able to generate their own shot in that playoff series, and the idea was simple: Add more offensive talent, and the defense will stay the same because it’s a Tom Thibodeau team.
This is where the disconnect seems to start to happen.
This is what we know:
Tom Thibodeau wanted to bring Reggie Bullock back and he “lobbied hard” for the veteran enforcer, but was overruled by the front office.
Although the main decision makers at the top stayed the same, we know the Knicks beefed up their analytics team even more in the offseason.
I don’t want to say that Thibodeau is “anti-analytics” because that’s simply not true.
However, after watching this Knicks team closely in every game this year, it does feel like there’s an even stronger emphasis on shot selection. And a lot of the time, it’s to a fault.
New York’s shooters had a much quicker trigger last season, and it was working. For whatever reason, it feels as though players are passing up wide-open catch and shoot 3s and taking extra dribbles in search of other shots.
The Knicks 3-point attempts are up, and even in today’s NBA, it feels like a Tom Thibodeau team should be more aggressive going to the rim, with 3-pointers being a product of rim penetration instead of being forced.
Bringing in Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker made sense from that standpoint of bringing in more “shot creators”. I was onboard with signings.
However, we have the power of hindsight now. Maybe these weren’t the right decisions?