Over the last calendar year and a half, the Knicks overhauled their roster to build a contender. They shipped RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby at the deadline last year, traded Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle for Karl-Anthony Towns in the offseason, then a king's ransom of first-round picks for Mikal Bridges. On paper, they have as much talent as anyone, but on the court, they look flawed. However, the reason they look flawed extends beyond just the players.
At this point, it feels like beating a dead horse when talking about how the Knicks' traditional starters don't play well together. Tom Thibodeau finally made a lineup change for Games 3 and 4, inserting Mitchell Robinson into the starting lineup in place of Josh Hart. In those two games, that group is a collective -7.
Even more concerning is the synergy between the Knicks' two best players, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. Inherently, those two players seem incompatible for one simple reason: they are both poor defenders. In the Eastern Conference Finals, they have both been relentlessly hunted by the Pacers, to the point that it has been hard to have them both on the court at the same time.
The way I see it, there are two possible reasons this Knicks lineup has never seemed to mesh: an inherently flawed combination of players or a coach unwilling to figure out how to maximize them.
Two bad defenders and nowhere to hide
The first possibility is a logical place to start. Towns and Brunson are bad defenders; that is a simple fact. The Knicks front office tried to make the necessary moves to insulate them, acquiring two great wing defenders in Towns and Bridges, along with a plus defender in Hart, who could take some of the pressure off of them.
That hasn't worked out the way they thought it would. In the playoffs, the Knicks have a -4.63 net rating when Towns and Brunson are on the floor together, and a -12.86 with them both off the floor, according to pbpstats.com. However, when it is just Brunson on the floor, they have a 5.73 net rating, and when it is just Towns, they have a 10.76 net rating.
A lineup where the two best players can't share the floor is a failure, clearly. But there is also the possibility that they can play together; they just haven't been put in a situation to do so.
Thibodeau isn't the right man for the job
Tom Thibodeau's time in New York has been a wild success, he has ushered in a new era in New York. He re-established a winning culture in New York, where a playoff appearance has become the norm and brought them to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years.
But there is a possibility he was the perfect coach to turn things around, but not the perfect coach to win them a title. Thibodeau has refused to try leaning into an offensive-minded five-out lineup. He has a fascination with defense and rebounding, which are two great and extremely important parts of the game, undisputedly. But, Towns and Brunson are bad defenders. You can't have a defensive-minded team built with bad defenders.
This team might just be flawed, it really might. It also could just be a lineup tweak away, but with Thibodeau, we will likely never know.