Mike Brown is determined to get Jalen Brunson more easy scoring opportunities this season by playing him away from the ball. OG Anunoby is among the New York Knicks' players best suited to make that happen.
During his Media Day press conference, Brown stressed the importance of touching the paint, and spraying the ball out for easy triples. There are a variety
Still, drives remain the easiest and most effective way to generate the looks Brown wants for Brunson. Getting into the teeth of defenses forces them to collapse, and often opens up unguarded corner threes. Make no bones about it, Brunson could use some of those.
Only 4 percent of his shots last season came from the corners—a career low. And just 29.4 percent of his overall threes qualified as wide-open, a share that ranked in the 11th percentile according to BBall Index.
OG Anunoby’s drives are officially an event defenses fear
All of New York’s wings need to get downhill more often. Not one of Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, or Josh Hart ranked in the 60th percentile of drives per 75 possessions last season.
Of the three, Anunoby now profiles as the biggest attention-grabber. Defenses sag off Hart in the half-court, so his drives top out as a value proposition in transition. Bridges, meanwhile, is not hard-wired to take paint touches all the way to the basket.
Anunoby has been touch-and-go in this area himself, but he evolved over the course of last year. His most appreciable change, oddly enough, came during the time Brunson missed with an ankle injury.
Prior to his absence, Anunoby was averaging around five drives per 36 minutes. Through 15 games without JB, Anunoby finished just over 8.7 drives per 36 minutes—a roughly 74 percent increase in volume. The degree to which his foul rate on these plays jumped (from 9.5 percent to 13.6 percent) is proof of just how deep into the defense he was getting.
The Knicks don’t just need more drives from Anunoby…
Bumping up Anunoby’s driving volume shouldn’t be too hard. It can be accomplished by throwing him additional ball screens above the top of the key, and prioritizing lineups with at least three additional shooters on the floor.
Coaxing more playmaking out of him is the taller task. His passout rate on drives last season was unspectacular. When he did spray out, it was often as a last resort, and didn’t turn into a high-quality shot opportunity for someone else.
Getting off the ball sooner will be critical. So, too, is keeping his head up. Anunoby has shown he can spot where help is coming from with reasonable urgency, but it’s not a consistent enough part of his package.
Better court awareness may be even more important than quicker decision-making. Defenses will probably do their darnedest not to help off Brunson. Despite his reputation, he’s a lethal off-ball player. Helping off him will frequently be an 11th-hour decision.
It’s on Anunoby to recognize what’s happening. And for what it’s worth, he did pass to Brunson while using a live dribble more often than anyone else. These moments didn’t often culminate in scoring opportunities, but the potential is there for that to change. If it does, Brunson’s life will be much easier—and the Knicks offense will be far more dynamic.