As much as the New York Knicks' starting lineup is being packaged as a Rubik's cube head coach Mike Brown must solve, the truth is that there's nothing to untangle at all. Deuce McBride deserves the final nod.
Credit to The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III for pointing out what should be painfully obvious. “With that said, I believe that the goal with the starting lineup should be to maximize the offense,” he writes. “Between [Jalen] Brunson and [Karl-Anthony] Towns, specifically being the foundation of this team, finding a way to get the starting group to consistently be a top-five offense should be the goal.”
This is the way. The Knicks finished fifth in points scored per possession last year, but they ranked just 14th after January 1. They clearly have plenty of juice left to squeeze out of the personnel. That’s the entire theory of why they replaced Tom Thibodeau with Mike Brown: The latter is considered more of an inventive offensive mind.
Deuce McBride is the best offensive fit for the starting 5
Acquiring Towns was supposed to unlock a vaunted five-out look. It never did—at least not to the intended degree.
Starting Hart had a lot to do with that. Defenses do not care about guarding him beyond the three-point line, and he’s hesitant to fire those shots in the first place. By the end of the year, teams were stashing their bigs on him, and having wings to defend Towns, who has struggled mightily in those situations.
That issue isn’t going away. And it definitely isn’t going away if the Knicks start Robinson alongside KAT, as many believe they are going to do. Leaning dual-big should help the defense, but again, these Knicks are built in the image of an offensive juggernaut.
McBride is more suited to spacing out—and elevating—the scoring attack. His offense can wax and wane, but that’s true of any role player. His 7.1 three-point attempts per 36 minutes are more important than the inconsistency. Cameron Payne was the only Knicks player last season to uncork triples at a more frequent clip while logging at least 1,000 minutes. This says nothing of adding McBride’s point-of-attack defense, which will make life easier on Mikal Bridges.
Granted, New York will to some extent be venturing into the unknown. The McBride-plus-starters lineup tallied just 49 total minutes last year, across both the regular season and playoffs. That is arguably one of Thibs’ biggest failings as head coach. Especially when that group posted a 132.04 offensive rating, while outsourcing opponents by 9.18 points per 100 possessions.
Starting McBride is the clear answer for New York
If we are being brutally honest, the starting five should be etched in stone if the Knicks are serious about maximizing their offense. They can figure out any potential downsides later. And make no mistake, there will be downsides.
Having Hart and Robinson in the second unit creates all sorts of spacing issues. Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele open the floor only so much. Starting McBride almost necessitates using the final veteran’s minimum slot on Landry Shamet (unless they are able to steal Malik Beasley). Good! New York can use his three-point volume anyway.
Possible warts in mind, inserting McBride into the starting five is the clear call. Fans better hope the Knicks’ coaching staff feels the same way.