Every once in a while, highlights titled something like "Spurs ball movement 2013" go viral on the internet, with fans lauding the beauty of the offenses that Gregg Popovich drew up. And they were beautiful — the ball zipping from player to player, a mix of science and art mashing together to find the best shot on the court. And now, the question everyone's asking is... Can this season's New York Knicks emulate those Spurs' offenses of the early 2010s?
I'm being informed that no one is asking that question. But they might want to start! According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Knicks — who haven't been a top-tier passing team the past few seasons — look more willing to share the rock in training camp:
"What the Knicks are doing, and practicing, looks very very different from the way that they've played in recent years... Do I believe that they're going to break the old habits and that the ball will leave Jalen Brunson's hand like I'm seeing it... Really, I'm, kind of watching a Spurs 2010s-style offense from the Knicks, where, the old Gregg Popovich .5 rule, which is you get the ball and you have half a second to decide to pass or shoot. That's what the Knicks are doing in practice right now."
This comes with plenty of caviats, a big one being that Windhorst also made sure to say, "I am not gonna evaluate the Knicks on what they're doing in the first day of October." And he's right — this is the time of year to experiment with stuff and see what works in practice before the regular season starts. Everything you see in social media videos in October must be taken with a grain of salt.
Still, Mike Brown prioritizing passing at all would be a big change of pace. The Knicks were No. 18 in the league in total passes per game last season, and No. 24 in potential assists. The ball didn't move a ton, and although that didn't stifle the overall offensive production (the Knicks were No. 6 in offensive rating) it seldom hurts to pass the ball more.
Can more ball movement benefit the Knicks?
I don't think a lack of passing caused the Knicks to lose to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. That happened for a lot of other reasons that I won't regale you all with... You all remember that series vividly.
So while ball movement will not hold the Knicks back next season, because even when the ball gets "stuck" on this team, it often does so in the hands of Jalen Brunson, who is one of the best isolation scorers in basketball.
Nevertheless, if a team has the facilities to become the 2012 Spurs, they should probably take advantage of that. The ball whipping around and finding an open shooter or cutter would electrify MSG, that's for dang sure.