The New York Knicks’ ability to baffle has officially gone national!
Speaking on The Zach Lowe Show, The Ringer’s Rob Mahoney and Zach Lowe nominated New York for the “NBA’s Most Confusing Team” throne. And the former went a step further than just nominating them.
“For me, it’s absolutely the Knicks.” Mahoney explains at around the 37:45 mark. “I don’t know what to make of the stretches where they’ve been fine, the stretches where they seem to hate playing together, and the stretch where they just won 10-of-12 as, literally, the best offense and best defense in the league. Should we believe the most recent sample, and think that they have turned a corner, and this is the team they are now, that they’re going to be…elite the rest of the way? I don’t think there is a track record to suggest that we should buy into that wholeheartedly.”
Mahoney is not alone in being confused by these Knicks. Lowe is right there with him, noting that he’s “unconfident” in their bandwidth to win the East despite picking them to do so.
The same goes for Knicks fans themselves. Even the biggest optimistis have spent some portion of this season wondering whether these guys #haveit. The answer has pinballed between “yes,” “no,” “maybe so,” and “the hell if I know” depending on the day.
The Knicks are clearly split on this group internally
Complicated still, it isn’t just national and local media/podcasters/blogpeople and fans attempting to wrap their heads around this team. The organization itself is viewing this group with a variable mix of concern, hesitance, and of course, befuddlement.
Although the Knicks did little more than expertly work around the margins at the trade deadline, their tetherment to some spicy rumors says all we need to know about how the front office feels: They’re not sold.
New York’s pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo would not have been as widely known or telegraphed if it truly believed in this core. And even if you want to play the “Dude, it’s Giannis” card, this hardly provides cover for the Knicks seemingly gauging the market of Karl-Anthony Towns independent of talks for a two-time MVP.
Opting against anything nuclear could suggest New York’s self-conviction started rising once it escaped its post-NBA-Cup hangover. It could also signal resignation to a lack of plausibly helpful options.
New York just might be the NBA’s most confusing team
It’s fitting that the Knicks are gaining mainstream recognition as a disconcerting mix of promising and perplexing. Their performance on the court backs it up.
We can point to any number of features and bugs. Perhaps the most salient sign of New York’s eye-of-the-beholder performance is how it has struggled to make mincemeat out of supposedly inferior teams.
Sure, on the one hand, the Knicks have a top-two net rating against top-10 squads—not to mention a top-six defense. (Yes, you’re reading that correctly). On the other hand, they have a lower winning percentage versus opponents who rank 11th through 20th in point differential per 100 possessions. Their defense is statistically worse in those matchups, too.
The issues go deeper than any singular general or cherry-picked data point. You can find evidence that proves the Knicks are elite. You can also suss out numbers and anecdotes that show they have a long way to go, or that they verge on contenders.
That’s all sort of the point: Everything these Knicks do, good or bad or in-between, can be interpreted a kajillion different ways. It doesn’t get more confusing than that.