The New York Knicks have a Jalen Brunson problem. It’s not a secret issue so much as an accepted dilemma, something for which you sign on when making him your franchise cornerstone: His defense is always going to be a major weak link.
Covering up for it is difficult, and in the Knicks’ case, essential, non-negotiable, paramount. Right now, they’re not doing a good enough job of it.
Fortunately, they have a potential solution staring them right in the face: starting Deuce McBride.
Deuce McBride can help insulate Jalen Brunson
It doesn’t matter how much Brunson tries on the less-glamorous end. He can move his feet better, and stand firmer ground when getting backed down. But he is always going to be a generously listed 6’2”.
His shortcomings are rearing their head as much as ever. You can see teams abandon usual offensive modes of operation just to go at him, and also Karl-Anthony Towns. The Knicks are 12.3 points worse per 100 possessions on defense with Brunson in the game. That is by far and away the largest swing of any rotation player.
As Jonathan Macri noted over at the Knicks Film School Substack, Brunson’s limitations (and penchant for constantly defending off his back feet) complicates the job of everyone else on the floor. Few players in-house are equipped to reverse the impact. Given that OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges aren’t point-of-attack defenders by craft, McBride may be the only one.
Despite standing just 6’2” himself, the 25-year-old plays much bigger and tougher. A 6-foot-9-inch wingspan certainly helps, but the way he uses peripheral vision and tight angles to navigate screens and keep opponents in front of him is its own art form.
Tethering McBride to Brunson’s minutes as much as possible makes all the sense in the world. It’s basically what the Knicks do with Anunoby and Towns.
Granted, the starters-plus-Deuce lineup ranks in the 13th percentile of points allowed per possession (outside garbage time). But the sample size is small, at just 115 possessions. We also have close to proof of concept during the Brunson-McBride minutes. The Knicks have roughly a league-average defense during these stretches. That’s waaaaay better than anything they’re doing right now.
The Knicks need to try out this look more often
Other benefits come with inserting Deuce into the starting lineup, too. Most notably, it gives the Knicks true five-out spacing. They can’t say the same when rolling with Josh Hart, no matter how well he’s shooting, or Mitchell Robinson.
Towns stands to benefit more than anyone. He operates like a completely different player when surrounded by four shooters. The dual-big minutes with Robinson, specifically, seem debilitating for his usage. Even if the Deuce-plus-starters defensive ceiling isn’t actually that high, the team’s margin for error increases by rendering the offense more dangerous.
This invariably puts Hart’s role in the crosshairs. That’s not ideal given the energy New York has distinctly lacked in his absence. Still, Mike Brown can carve out plenty of minutes for him as the sixth man. He’s doing the same right now, for the most, with McBride.
In the event the Knicks don’t want to make Deuce-with-the-starters their opening lineup, it needs to become a higher-volume staple. When looking at their most-used duos, the defense with Brunson has performed best with him alongside McBride.
Failing a trade for someone (literally) bigger and better, the best way to optimize New York’s superstar, along with its hopes at overall title contention, are crystal clear—and capable of being summed up in two syllables: More Deuce.