2023-24 NBA Season Preview: New York Knicks
We are one week away from the start of the 2023-24 NBA season! Up until opening night on Oct. 24, we will be previewing all 30 NBA teams! To continue our series, we will be previewing the New York Knicks, who had a revolutionary 2022-23 season!
What happened last year?
By practically any measure, the 2023 season was a success for the Knicks. Their 47 wins were the most the team had achieved in a decade and it marked just the 4th time that the Knicks had finished above .500 since the turn of the century.
Julius Randle hit the 25-point, 10-rebound threshold on his way to a 2nd All-Star appearance, though given his maddening habit of swinging between excellent and poor campaigns, he’s due for a downer this upcoming season.
Jalen Brunson’s first tour of duty as a Knick was a resounding success as he posted career highs across the board, though raw numbers only scratch the surface as to the impact he had on his team. The young trio of RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley all showed solid improvement, as well. Josh Hart proved a quietly important addition after coming over from Portland in a mid-season trade.
New York backed up their regular season campaign with an opening-round playoff win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Whilst a No. 5 seed winning their 1st round matchup might not seem like an upset, it was how they curb-stomped the Cavs that was most impressive. Their season wrapped up with a 4-2 loss to the Miami Heat Cinderella tale.
Offseason recap:
The Knicks, quite rightfully, are staying patient for the time being.
Whilst their roster is good – a definite positive amongst a near quarter century of general ineptitude – it’s clearly not championship material. That said, the front office has assembled a collection of enticing young players and very tradable contracts that should see them become a player when the next superstar vents their frustrations.
Don’t bet against seeing Joel Embiid in a Knicks uniform should the Sixers continue to aim both barrels directly at their own feet. Donovan Mitchell could also become available and at a lesser price than the Cavs paid.
New York did make some important rotation changes, shipping off the criminally underused Obi Toppin for a song and finally cutting the Tom Thibodeau-Derrick Rose apron strings. They continued their Villanovafication of the team by bringing in versatile wing Donte DiVincenzo.
Projected Starting Five?
Jalen Brunson, PG – There were many in the basketball world – this writer included – who believed that whilst Brunson was a fine player and would definitely help the Knicks, his contract was an overpay. It’s fair to say we were proven well and truly wrong.
The former Maverick made his Broadway debut to the tune of 24 points on 49/42/83 shooting splits along with 6.2 assists, providing the offensive direction and defensive toughness that this team had been sorely lacking.
Quentin Grimes, SG – If you want another reason for optimism, Knicks fans, Grimes reminds this writer an awful lot of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Grimes is exactly the sort of low-maintenance, do-it-all wing that you see on championship-contending sides. He’ll never be anything approaching a star but he’s well on his way to being a Star In His Role.
RJ Barrett, SF – Barrett is clearly a prodigious talent. Can he put it all together, though? More on him below…
Julius Randle, PF – There might not be a player with a larger gap between production and the Eye Test in the entire association than Julius Randle. The Kentucky product, who turns 29-years-old shortly after the new season begins, is a maddening player. Good enough to get you a consistent 20 and 10 every night. Yet he rarely produces anything approaching league-average efficiency. He generally works hard on defense but is limited at that end, whilst his decision-making can, at times, give his coaches a coronary.
As good a player as Randle is, your team has a definite ceiling if he’s your main man.
Mitchell Robinson, C – The biggest improvement in Robinson’s game over the years has been his ability to be on the floor. Not in an availability sense – he’s very injury-prone – but rather in that he no longer fouls at league-leading rates.
He reduced his foul rate to a career-best 3.5 per 36 minutes in 2023 and that matters. Robinson’s outlandish athleticism covers for Randle defensively whilst giving his star teammate an always viable lob pass when Randle inevitably dribbles himself into trouble. Getting 70 games – a plateau he’s only reached once in his career – out of Robinson would be huge for the Knicks.
Notable Reserves:
Immanuel Quickley, G – Quickley looks like quickly (sorry, not sorry) becoming a perennial 6th Man of the Year candidate. The speedster is exactly the sort of tempo-changing lightning bolt that a team headlined by Randle, Brunson and Barrett requires.
Josh Hart, G/F – If you could design a perfect Tom Thibodeau role-playing wing in a lab, you just might come away with Josh Hart. The Villanova man can guard competently up and down the positional spectrum whilst providing just enough shooting and playmaking to keep defences honest. He’s also sneakily one of the best rebounding guards in the league; not quite Russell Westbrook or Bonzi Wells levels, but pretty close.
Donte DiVincenzo, G/F – Another ex-Villanova product, DiVincenzo is exactly the sort of hard-working, intelligent and versatile wing that Thibodeau loves to utilise. The five-year veteran averaged 9.4 points a game for the Warriors last season in a key reserve role. Expect him to produce similar numbers as a Knick.
Biggest X-Factor?
RJ Barrett
Still just 23-years-old, the 3rd overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft posted 19.6 points per game last season, along with a healthy five boards and 2.8 assists. His efficiency – 43/31/74 splits – remains as mediocre as ever and his defensive contributions wax and wane. He’s still not exactly a winning player, yet was considered by some – not Danny Ainge, tellingly – to be a worthy centrepiece in a potential Mitchell trade.
This is a pivotal year for Barrett. One where he’ll either start to demonstrate that he’s more than just an inefficient stats accumulator and become a key building block or he’ll plateau into the type of player that gets moved on, toils in relative obscurity before inexplicably turning up in 10 years’ time as the beloved eighth man on a contender, just to remind us of all that lost potential. Think Jeff Green.
Season projection?
Last season was no flash in the pan; these Knicks are legitimately good. Whilst it’s no secret that they’re in the market for a superstar to headline their roster, they’ll likely continue to play the long game, playing winning basketball along the way. Look for a repeat of last season’s 47-win effort.
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