Knicks latest trade will be a disaster if this worrying trend doesn't change

The New York Knicks took a big risk.

Last season was the best one for the franchise in a very long time, perhaps since the halcyon days of Patrick Ewing in the 1990s. Jalen Brunson was a legitimate MVP candidate, the team had an identity and incredible chemistry, and they were on track to make the Eastern Conference Finals before the vast majority of their rotation went down to injury.

Instead of standing pat, however, the Knicks continued to reshape the roster. They cashed in the bulk of their trade assets in a summer deal for Mikal Bridges, while watching Isaiah Hartenstein walk in free agency because he could make elsewhere more than the maximum amount the Knicks could offer him.

The coup de grace for this offseason makeover, however, came on the very eve of Training Camp, when Leon Rose and the front office traded away Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns. The move increased New York's offensive firepower and gave them a top-tier starting center to replace Isaiah Hartenstein.

At least, that was the idea. Thus far, however, the reality of Towns has been far below the dream.

Karl-Anthony Towns has struggled with New York

Historically, head coach Tom Thibodeau has loved his traditional centers - not that they weren't skilled, but Thibs wants anchors who can protect the paint, rebound and finish inside. Karl-Anthony Towns doesn't exactly fit that criteria, and he was always going to be an outlier. He is a shaky interior defender at best, and if deployed as the primary rim protector he was going to be stretched.

It's possible Towns will improve defensively as he becomes familiar with the system and learns to trust his teammates, but he would be miraculously developing as a defender if he was to become a true lockdown presence inside. His strength has never been on defense.

Instead, it has been as a shooter and scorer on offense that Towns has made a difference. He is worth it as a star player because of how dominant he has been as an offensive engine. Yet thus far in New York, that shooting has gone by the wayside.

The Knicks have played three games thus far, and Towns has taken a grand total of six 3-pointers, or just two long-range shots per game. That ranks just seventh on the roster, which would seem reasonable for a center if Towns wasn't the self-proclaimed "greatest shooting big man in NBA history."

Basketball Reference lists 15 centers with as many or more 3-point attempts per game as Karl-Anthony Towns, including players not considered to be stretch bigs such as Evan Mobley, Bam Adebayo and Domantas Sabonis. Jay Huff was on a two-way and racked up 4.3 attempts per game. Jusuf Nurkic has averaged 2.8. Nikola Jokic leads the league at 6.7 attempts per contest.

Towns needs to be shooting more

Towns should be leading the league in 3-point attempts, or at least be right near the top. That's the value he brings; he isn't a rim protector but he can stretch out the defense and hit long-range shots before bigs, not used to defending on the perimeter, lumber out to give a proper contest. He is hitting a strong 66.7 percent of those shots; it's just that he has barely taken any. Last season he attempted 5.3 3-pointers per game, and he has averaged as many as 7.9 attempts per game before in 2019-20. Just two long bombs per game is unacceptable for the type of player that Towns is.

Perimeter shooting is not the only way that Towns can boost the Knicks' offense; he can punish smaller players in the post to force opposing teams to defend him with a center, or he can handle the ball from the elbow and hit cutting teammates for assists. Yet his 2-point attempts are down from 10.1 to 7.3 attempts per game, and he is moving some of his 3-pointers into long mid-rangers. He is also averaging just two assists per game, down from three last season and 4.8 the year before.

It's possible that this is merely a small sample, although it's still a concerning one. Only one other time in the last five seasons has Towns hit just six 3-point attempts or fewer in a three-game span, in March of 2022. His shot accuracy will fluctuate from game to game, but his volume should have a controllable baseline, and it should be higher than two per game.

The Knicks may make some adjustments to the offensive scheme to get Towns more touches. Defenses may begin to defend him differently, opening up more opportunities to get up 3-pointers. Most likely, however, Towns is going to have to commit to taking more shots from outside when he catches the ball on the perimeter.

If not, his offense won't be enough to justify the defensive limitations he brings to the game. What's more, as Julius Randle finds his groove in Minnesota and Donte DiVincenzo continues to bomb away (25 3-point attempts in his three games) the trade that the Knicks made to finish their roster looks worse and worse. If this is the version of Towns they are getting, this trade will go down as a disaster for the New York Knickerbockers.