Knicks · Fire Thibs (page 43)

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:The 2 prediction threads for this year. No one predicted that Knicks would be a contending team and the most optimistic is around 56 wins?

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

I knew it was going to take time. The question is how does the team improve with no picks of value and the second apron looming in the horizon?

Cleveland probably were asking the same questions after they traded for Donovan and got iced by NY?

We don't have a young core of Allen, Garland and Mobley. I think their upside was always factored in when the Cavs made that trade. Also, that trade was made before this new CBA kicked in.

So they do and did get a couple of years to get it right.

The difference is that the Cavs had a visible plan for improvement. I don't think anyone can a strategy for improving the team as it stands. I'm more than open for ideas. Maybe the cap increases enough to add another vet bench piece? Maybe a Mitch and Deuce trade package? That's a tough one due their relatively low combined salary. And plus, that would mean diminishing an already weak bench. Brock has his job cut out for him.

I dont see a method to this madness, and putting Towns back in was clearly madness. Thibs does things like this because he can. About time Leon told Thibs to stop grinding his players down.

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:The 2 prediction threads for this year. No one predicted that Knicks would be a contending team and the most optimistic is around 56 wins?

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

I knew it was going to take time. The question is how does the team improve with no picks of value and the second apron looming in the horizon?

Cleveland probably were asking the same questions after they traded for Donovan and got iced by NY?

We don't have a young core of Allen, Garland and Mobley. I think their upside was always factored in when the Cavs made that trade. Also, that trade was made before this new CBA kicked in.

So they do and did get a couple of years to get it right.

The difference is that the Cavs had a visible plan for improvement. I don't think anyone can a strategy for improving the team as it stands. I'm more than open for ideas. Maybe the cap increases enough to add another vet bench piece? Maybe a Mitch OG and Deuce Bridges trade package? That's a tough one due their relatively low combined salary. And plus, that would mean diminishing an already weak bench. Brock has his job cut out for him.

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fishmike wrote:lol we keep losing to the champs... must be the coach. Feels like I have heard this song before.

Better hope Cleveland doesn't win it this year.

fishmike wrote:lol we keep losing to the champs... must be the coach. Feels like I have heard this song before.

Unfortunately, as you know, success is based on expectations.
Thibs, my pick for Coach, did a great job redirecting the franchise.
That said, Knicks just went all in, expectations are real high.
If you think the Coach will not be the first to go, you have not been watching pro sports.

Pop quiz: what do the Celtics, Bucks, Warriors and Raptors all have in common? Each won a title at some point in the past six years, each after moving on from a coach who’d led them out of the wilderness into competence, if not contention. Brad Stevens couldn’t get past LeBron and Ime Udoka couldn’t honor his vows to his wife nor handle the woman he had an affair with losing interest in him; twas Joe Mazzulla who got to enter the Promised Land with Tatum, Brown and Company. Giannis Antetokounmpo had more to do with the Bucks getting back on their own two feet than Jason Kidd did, but it was under Kidd that Milwaukee first bared its teeth, taking the older and more experienced Raptors to six games, until Kidd pulled the same failed putsch shit he does everywhere, leading to Mike Budenholzer’s arrival and eventual coronation.

After posting one lone winning season out of nine, Toronto turned to Dwane Casey and took off, posting five straight winning seasons, three of them 50-win campaigns. No titles? No thank you: Nick Nurse was brought in, more importantly Kawhi Leonard was, too, and voila! a Canadian championship. When Golden State hired Mark Jackson, the 11 seasons prior under anybody not named Don Nelson were all losing seasons. In Jackson’s last two years in charge, the Warriors won their first playoff series in six years and followed that up with their first 50-win campaign in 20. The players adored Jackson. The front office didn’t care. In came Steve Kerr, followed by only the second dynasty of this scared and shrieking century.

fishmike wrote:lol we keep losing to the champs... must be the coach. Feels like I have heard this song before.

Don't care about losing to the Champs. But I do love me a coach that runs his players into the ground! That's the sure way to win a Championship! Make their window even shorter! Derrick Rose says "Hi" Oh and who needs a strategy to defend 3 point land? Forget that, ain't got no time for that!

Yeah, Thibs is GrEaT!!

GustavBahler wrote:https://www.thestrick.land/strick/celtic...

Pop quiz: what do the Celtics, Bucks, Warriors and Raptors all have in common? Each won a title at some point in the past six years, each after moving on from a coach who’d led them out of the wilderness into competence, if not contention. Brad Stevens couldn’t get past LeBron and Ime Udoka couldn’t honor his vows to his wife nor handle the woman he had an affair with losing interest in him; twas Joe Mazzulla who got to enter the Promised Land with Tatum, Brown and Company. Giannis Antetokounmpo had more to do with the Bucks getting back on their own two feet than Jason Kidd did, but it was under Kidd that Milwaukee first bared its teeth, taking the older and more experienced Raptors to six games, until Kidd pulled the same failed putsch shit he does everywhere, leading to Mike Budenholzer’s arrival and eventual coronation.

After posting one lone winning season out of nine, Toronto turned to Dwane Casey and took off, posting five straight winning seasons, three of them 50-win campaigns. No titles? No thank you: Nick Nurse was brought in, more importantly Kawhi Leonard was, too, and voila! a Canadian championship. When Golden State hired Mark Jackson, the 11 seasons prior under anybody not named Don Nelson were all losing seasons. In Jackson’s last two years in charge, the Warriors won their first playoff series in six years and followed that up with their first 50-win campaign in 20. The players adored Jackson. The front office didn’t care. In came Steve Kerr, followed by only the second dynasty of this scared and shrieking century.

That makes too much sence. Too much

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:The 2 prediction threads for this year. No one predicted that Knicks would be a contending team and the most optimistic is around 56 wins?

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

I knew it was going to take time. The question is how does the team improve with no picks of value and the second apron looming in the horizon?

Cleveland probably were asking the same questions after they traded for Donovan and got iced by NY?

We don't have a young core of Allen, Garland and Mobley. I think their upside was always factored in when the Cavs made that trade. Also, that trade was made before this new CBA kicked in.

So they do and did get a couple of years to get it right.

The difference is that the Cavs had a visible plan for improvement. I don't think anyone can a strategy for improving the team as it stands. I'm more than open for ideas. Maybe the cap increases enough to add another vet bench piece? Maybe a Mitch and Deuce trade package? That's a tough one due their relatively low combined salary. And plus, that would mean diminishing an already weak bench. Brock has his job cut out for him.

Feel like this is the response every year. How can the Knicks get better?

Before last year, iHart and Donte were not foreseen at their level of play. Before those 2, Josh Hart was not at the level he played either. Before that, Jalen was not seen at his current MVP level of play and the year before he arrived, he was not really a target. Who thought we could trade Randle for anything, right? We collectively had imaginary trades involving Randle to INCLUDE picks going out, or in the very least he was a net negative via trade.

It’s the challenge of every team. If we can say Cavs had a plan that included Mobley taking 2 years to finally get better, we can’t do the same for the Knicks players? Am I missing something?

If the Knicks don’t care for KAT and how flawed he and Brunson combine to be defensively, they move KAT to a team that needs a 1A type offensively.

Every year the Knicks seem to not have a visible plan. And then something happens. Pretty much every year.

Fournier, Kemba was the bottom, 2021-22.

- Next year 22-23 they add Josh, iHart, Brunson. Josh shines in his half season, iHart was meh to solid because he couldn’t shoot 3s and had the Achilles thing (and 2 years later he is the key to fully unlocking OKC). Brunson, very good.

- 2023-24 1A Brunson starts to emerge, they added Donte, trade for OG, and iHart shines. Deuce shows up out of nowhere. OG was considered an impossible trade?

- Summer 2024, immovable Randle turns into KAT. Josh is playing insane ball. Mikal added (another highly unlikely trade with Brooklyn). The Knicks completely flip from defensive strengths to offensive. Wild transformation.

Every year the Knicks have upgraded. Somehow. Knicks have the toughest pieces in place, the hard parts are done. This team is closer not further from the last level IMHO.

I look at the prediction threads and none us expected the Knicks to complete for a title. Seemed right, still seems right. And yet, that is exactly our only complaint left and exactly what we expect to happen? We can’t compete against 3 teams in the league right now. That’s not unexpected? Shouldn’t it be? The effort and execution are not good against those teams. For me disappointing but not end of world for a newly formed team.

Knicks biggest setback came in the form of exactly our biggest flaw, losing iHart and the rim protection as well as toughness. I can wait on a year for Huk to get somewhere and for Mitch to start playing again and then for Kolek to get integrated. I can wait 2 years on Dadiet. Cleveland could have blow it up or folded after getting trounced by NY 2 years ago and Boston last year?

Cleveland is still in the same loss column for the last 2 playoffs as the Knicks. They did their all in stuff 2 years ago with Donovan.

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:The 2 prediction threads for this year. No one predicted that Knicks would be a contending team and the most optimistic is around 56 wins?

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

I knew it was going to take time. The question is how does the team improve with no picks of value and the second apron looming in the horizon?

Cleveland probably were asking the same questions after they traded for Donovan and got iced by NY?

We don't have a young core of Allen, Garland and Mobley. I think their upside was always factored in when the Cavs made that trade. Also, that trade was made before this new CBA kicked in.

So they do and did get a couple of years to get it right.

The difference is that the Cavs had a visible plan for improvement. I don't think anyone can a strategy for improving the team as it stands. I'm more than open for ideas. Maybe the cap increases enough to add another vet bench piece? Maybe a Mitch and Deuce trade package? That's a tough one due their relatively low combined salary. And plus, that would mean diminishing an already weak bench. Brock has his job cut out for him.

Feel like this is the response every year. How can the Knicks get better?

Before last year, iHart and Donte were not foreseen at their level of play. Before those 2, Josh Hart was not at the level he played either. Before that, Jalen was not seen at his current MVP level of play and the year before he arrived, he was not really a target. Who thought we could trade Randle for anything, right? We collectively had imaginary trades involving Randle to INCLUDE picks going out, or in the very least he was a net negative via trade.

It’s the challenge of every team. If we can say Cavs had a plan that included Mobley taking 2 years to finally get better, we can’t do the same for the Knicks players? Am I missing something?

If the Knicks don’t care for KAT and how flawed he and Brunson combine to be defensively, they move KAT to a team that needs a 1A type offensively.

Every year the Knicks seem to not have a visible plan. And then something happens. Pretty much every year.

Fournier, Kemba was the bottom, 2021-22.

- Next year 22-23 they add Josh, iHart, Brunson. Josh shines in his half season, iHart was meh to solid because he couldn’t shoot 3s and had the Achilles thing (and 2 years later he is the key to fully unlocking OKC). Brunson, very good.

- 2023-24 1A Brunson starts to emerge, they added Donte, trade for OG, and iHart shines. Deuce shows up out of nowhere. OG was considered an impossible trade?

- Summer 2024, immovable Randle turns into KAT. Josh is playing insane ball. Mikal added (another highly unlikely trade with Brooklyn). The Knicks completely flip from defensive strengths to offensive. Wild transformation.

Every year the Knicks have upgraded. Somehow. Knicks have the toughest pieces in place, the hard parts are done. This team is closer not further from the last level IMHO.

I look at the prediction threads and none us expected the Knicks to complete for a title. Seemed right, still seems right. And yet, that is exactly our only complaint left and exactly what we expect to happen? We can’t compete against 3 teams in the league right now. That’s not unexpected? Shouldn’t it be? The effort and execution are not good against those teams. For me disappointing but not end of world for a newly formed team.

Knicks biggest setback came in the form of exactly our biggest flaw, losing iHart and the rim protection as well as toughness. I can wait on a year for Huk to get somewhere and for Mitch to start playing again and then for Kolek to get integrated. I can wait 2 years on Dadiet. Cleveland could have blow it up or folded after getting trounced by NY 2 years ago and Boston last year?

Cleveland is still in the same loss column for the last 2 playoffs as the Knicks. They did their all in stuff 2 years ago with Donovan.

Voice of reason! Good job.

Issue as it stands KAT on defense sucks. Stats are bad.
We can't stop the best of the best but we running the rest of the league rather well with our offense.
Denver did this two years ago and won.
At this stage OG is a better defender than Jimmy Butler. Jimmy makes over 50mil.
Can Thibs fix KAT enough to make it work? I don't know. Can another coach?
KAT was traded here as the season started. There was no time to acclimate him and we lost 2 to Celts and Cavs in the first week.

We are not elite. Never was expected.

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martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:The 2 prediction threads for this year. No one predicted that Knicks would be a contending team and the most optimistic is around 56 wins?

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

I knew it was going to take time. The question is how does the team improve with no picks of value and the second apron looming in the horizon?

Cleveland probably were asking the same questions after they traded for Donovan and got iced by NY?

We don't have a young core of Allen, Garland and Mobley. I think their upside was always factored in when the Cavs made that trade. Also, that trade was made before this new CBA kicked in.

So they do and did get a couple of years to get it right.

The difference is that the Cavs had a visible plan for improvement. I don't think anyone can a strategy for improving the team as it stands. I'm more than open for ideas. Maybe the cap increases enough to add another vet bench piece? Maybe a Mitch and Deuce trade package? That's a tough one due their relatively low combined salary. And plus, that would mean diminishing an already weak bench. Brock has his job cut out for him.

Feel like this is the response every year. How can the Knicks get better?

Before last year, iHart and Donte were not foreseen at their level of play. Before those 2, Josh Hart was not at the level he played either. Before that, Jalen was not seen at his current MVP level of play and the year before he arrived, he was not really a target. Who thought we could trade Randle for anything, right? We collectively had imaginary trades involving Randle to INCLUDE picks going out, or in the very least he was a net negative via trade.

It’s the challenge of every team. If we can say Cavs had a plan that included Mobley taking 2 years to finally get better, we can’t do the same for the Knicks players? Am I missing something?

If the Knicks don’t care for KAT and how flawed he and Brunson combine to be defensively, they move KAT to a team that needs a 1A type offensively.

Every year the Knicks seem to not have a visible plan. And then something happens. Pretty much every year.

Fournier, Kemba was the bottom, 2021-22.

- Next year 22-23 they add Josh, iHart, Brunson. Josh shines in his half season, iHart was meh to solid because he couldn’t shoot 3s and had the Achilles thing (and 2 years later he is the key to fully unlocking OKC). Brunson, very good.

- 2023-24 1A Brunson starts to emerge, they added Donte, trade for OG, and iHart shines. Deuce shows up out of nowhere. OG was considered an impossible trade?

- Summer 2024, immovable Randle turns into KAT. Josh is playing insane ball. Mikal added (another highly unlikely trade with Brooklyn). The Knicks completely flip from defensive strengths to offensive. Wild transformation.

Every year the Knicks have upgraded. Somehow. Knicks have the toughest pieces in place, the hard parts are done. This team is closer not further from the last level IMHO.

I look at the prediction threads and none us expected the Knicks to complete for a title. Seemed right, still seems right. And yet, that is exactly our only complaint left and exactly what we expect to happen? We can’t compete against 3 teams in the league right now. That’s not unexpected? Shouldn’t it be? The effort and execution are not good against those teams. For me disappointing but not end of world for a newly formed team.

Knicks biggest setback came in the form of exactly our biggest flaw, losing iHart and the rim protection as well as toughness. I can wait on a year for Huk to get somewhere and for Mitch to start playing again and then for Kolek to get integrated. I can wait 2 years on Dadiet. Cleveland could have blow it up or folded after getting trounced by NY 2 years ago and Boston last year?

Cleveland is still in the same loss column for the last 2 playoffs as the Knicks. They did their all in stuff 2 years ago with Donovan.

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:The 2 prediction threads for this year. No one predicted that Knicks would be a contending team and the most optimistic is around 56 wins?

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

https://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/top...

I knew it was going to take time. The question is how does the team improve with no picks of value and the second apron looming in the horizon?

Cleveland probably were asking the same questions after they traded for Donovan and got iced by NY?

We don't have a young core of Allen, Garland and Mobley. I think their upside was always factored in when the Cavs made that trade. Also, that trade was made before this new CBA kicked in.

So they do and did get a couple of years to get it right.

The difference is that the Cavs had a visible plan for improvement. I don't think anyone can a strategy for improving the team as it stands. I'm more than open for ideas. Maybe the cap increases enough to add another vet bench piece? Maybe a Mitch and Deuce trade package? That's a tough one due their relatively low combined salary. And plus, that would mean diminishing an already weak bench. Brock has his job cut out for him.

Feel like this is the response every year. How can the Knicks get better?

Before last year, iHart and Donte were not foreseen at their level of play. Before those 2, Josh Hart was not at the level he played either. Before that, Jalen was not seen at his current MVP level of play and the year before he arrived, he was not really a target. Who thought we could trade Randle for anything, right? We collectively had imaginary trades involving Randle to INCLUDE picks going out, or in the very least he was a net negative via trade.

It’s the challenge of every team. If we can say Cavs had a plan that included Mobley taking 2 years to finally get better, we can’t do the same for the Knicks players? Am I missing something?

If the Knicks don’t care for KAT and how flawed he and Brunson combine to be defensively, they move KAT to a team that needs a 1A type offensively.

Every year the Knicks seem to not have a visible plan. And then something happens. Pretty much every year.

Fournier, Kemba was the bottom, 2021-22.

- Next year 22-23 they add Josh, iHart, Brunson. Josh shines in his half season, iHart was meh to solid because he couldn’t shoot 3s and had the Achilles thing (and 2 years later he is the key to fully unlocking OKC). Brunson, very good.

- 2023-24 1A Brunson starts to emerge, they added Donte, trade for OG, and iHart shines. Deuce shows up out of nowhere. OG was considered an impossible trade?

- Summer 2024, immovable Randle turns into KAT. Josh is playing insane ball. Mikal added (another highly unlikely trade with Brooklyn). The Knicks completely flip from defensive strengths to offensive. Wild transformation.

Every year the Knicks have upgraded. Somehow. Knicks have the toughest pieces in place, the hard parts are done. This team is closer not further from the last level IMHO.

I look at the prediction threads and none us expected the Knicks to complete for a title. Seemed right, still seems right. And yet, that is exactly our only complaint left and exactly what we expect to happen? We can’t compete against 3 teams in the league right now. That’s not unexpected? Shouldn’t it be? The effort and execution are not good against those teams. For me disappointing but not end of world for a newly formed team.

Knicks biggest setback came in the form of exactly our biggest flaw, losing iHart and the rim protection as well as toughness. I can wait on a year for Huk to get somewhere and for Mitch to start playing again and then for Kolek to get integrated. I can wait 2 years on Dadiet. Cleveland could have blow it up or folded after getting trounced by NY 2 years ago and Boston last year?

Cleveland is still in the same loss column for the last 2 playoffs as the Knicks. They did their all in stuff 2 years ago with Donovan.

Those years were before the league instituted a punitive CBA with cap prohibitions that exceed tax penalties. They also still had a decent stockpile of draft picks. The past is the past. The present sees this team struggling to get a decent bench player. Sure it's still early in the grand scheme of things. But as of now, the team looks kind of stuck.

2 years ago we complain that we don’t have any 1A type players. Now we complain about a flawed second tier team with a depleted bench.

That, in a nutshell, is another way of describing the essence of progress and with a side of impatience? We call that being a Knicks fan to the core

Did no one watch last year and the January Knicks- who absolutely looked like world champions. And then injuries took us out of contention.

It’s not just the top teams we struggle against. I mean, we needed overtime to eke out a victory against the Chicago Bulls who sit 10th at 386. Sorry. Don’t give me any BS about we were short handed or a win is a win.

franco12 wrote:I don’t understand why anyone didn’t expect them to compete this year? They are not getting any younger- they are in their peak athletic years- 28, 29.

Did no one watch last year and the January Knicks- who absolutely looked like world champions. And then injuries took us out of contention.

It’s not just the top teams we struggle against. I mean, we needed overtime to eke out a victory against the Chicago Bulls who sit 10th at 386. Sorry. Don’t give me any BS about we were short handed or a win is a win.

Anyone that actually pays attention to the rest of the league understood why the Knicks weren't ready to compete for a chip. The Celts won the chip last year....isnt their core in the peak athletic years too? Tatem is 26 and Brown is 28. They have played together for 8 seaons. Towns and Bridges have played with their teamates for 57 games!

OKC is a better team than we are and that was obvious coming into the season, if you watched them last year. If you watched the Cavs, you knew that they were Mobley leveling up on the offensive end and a more innovative coach away from beng one of the top 4 teams in the east. Mobley, took a bigger jumop than most expected, and Atkinson, has that team playing lights out on the offensive end with two really good run and jump athletes that can switch on PNR's and protect the rim.

Today, the Cavs, Celts and OKC have more balanced rosters than we do....Anyone thats not hyper-focused on the Knicks can see that.

Uptown wrote:

franco12 wrote:I don’t understand why anyone didn’t expect them to compete this year? They are not getting any younger- they are in their peak athletic years- 28, 29.

Did no one watch last year and the January Knicks- who absolutely looked like world champions. And then injuries took us out of contention.

It’s not just the top teams we struggle against. I mean, we needed overtime to eke out a victory against the Chicago Bulls who sit 10th at 386. Sorry. Don’t give me any BS about we were short handed or a win is a win.

Anyone that actually pays attention to the rest of the league understood why the Knicks weren't ready to compete for a chip. The Celts won the chip last year....isnt their core in the peak athletic years too? Tatem is 26 and Brown is 28. They have played together for 8 seaons. Towns and Bridges have played with their teamates for 57 games!

OKC is a better team than we are and that was obvious coming into the season, if you watched them last year. If you watched the Cavs, you knew that they were Mobley leveling up on the offensive end and a more innovative coach away from beng one of the top 4 teams in the east. Mobley, took a bigger jumop than most expected, and Atkinson, has that team playing lights out on the offensive end with two really good run and jump athletes that can switch on PNR's and protect the rim.

Today, the Cavs, Celts and OKC have more balanced rosters than we do....Anyone thats not hyper-focused on the Knicks can see that.

Maybe you don’t have to expect them to win it all, but to be competitive with the top teams? We aren’t even that and that is the problem.

And again- after the stretch this group put together in January last year- if you had run that group back, healthy, and for a full year- yes, I think not insane to expect that they would have had as much chance as any of those other teams.

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Why Knicks look poised to follow Cavs' model of success

The Cavs assembled one of the most promising cores in the NBA and two years later, they have the league's best record. Are the Knicks on the same path?

Kris PursiainenJan 30, 2025 at 10:11 AM ET

After the New York Knicks' 122-112 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, Jalen Brunson gave reporters reasons for optimism.

“I think we're understanding each other a lot more,” Brunson said of the group assembled this past offseason. “It's just, uh, we're clicking. And we're going to continue to click.”

The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak. Over the past ten days, they have the NBA's best net rating and are only one game behind the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the standings. But despite having made runs to the second round of the NBA Playoffs in each of the last two seasons, these Knicks are missing something that no amount of offensive firepower can supplant.

While the Knicks' starting lineup might be the most talented in the NBA, they'll need more than a few months to gel and consistently show it. The synergy that helped teams like the Celtics and Nuggets win championships has not fully developed yet.

Karl-Anthony Towns has experience playing on teams that needed to entirely adjust their style of play because of new personnel. The former Timberwolves star told the media after a 25-point loss to the Thunder on January 10 that games like that would be part of the process.

“All 82 [games] ain't going to go perfect,” said Towns. “I can tell you there's going to be a lot of times we don't look like the team that we were four weeks ago and we're going to remind everyone a week later and then we're going to be a whole other version three weeks from then.”

Why this Knicks core deserves time to truly make its mark

Not even three weeks after Towns made his comments, the Knicks hosted De'Aaron Fox's Sacramento Kings, Ja Morant's Memphis Grizzlies, and scored 143 points against each team. Their Wednesday night defeat of the Denver Nuggets was the team's fifth straight win.

These Knicks aren't just playing their best basketball yet, but it looks like they're having more fun than ever. And the group is just beginning to scratch the surface in the team's third full month together.

Yes, it was Brunson who led New York to the second round in both the 2023 and 2024 NBA Playoffs. But he and Josh Hart are the only two Knicks who started a game in the 2023 Cavs playoff series and have played for the team this season. Center Mitchell Robinson is still on the roster but has yet to contribute due to injury.

The talent around Brunson has changed both in its level and style of impact. The Dallas Mavericks did not often task him with being a “floor general.” But as the talent around him has changed on the Knicks, what the team needs most from Brunson has too. He continues to show development as a playmaker and, as a result, has slightly changed his role with the team.

The additional talent allows Brunson's scoring to go from a necessity to a luxury. He's already averaging 0.8 more assists than last season while scoring 2.8 fewer points per game. And his playmaking talent grades out as the fourth-best in the NBA thus far this season, according to BBall Index.

Brunson was the scorer the Knicks needed against the Nuggets on Wednesday night. His 18-point third quarter serves as irrefutable proof of that. But the end of Wednesday night's win over the Nuggets was highlighted by his passing.

The guard put on a show, tallying four assists in just a two-minute and thirty-second stretch of play that put the game away, per Ian Begley of SNY. His 30-point, 15-assist performance in the win was one of his most impressive this season. But perhaps the most impressive statistic regarding Brunson's passing came in a text from my Knicks Film School co-host Mensa Smith after the Knicks' win over Denver.

“Fun fact: Jalen Brunson’s career-high games in assists are 17 and 15,” Smith wrote. “They both came this season against the Denver Nuggets.”

The Knicks are on an upward trajectory. Brunson figuring out he can dominate games in different ways is part of that. But what's next for this team? And what mindset is necessary to accomplish it?

What the Knicks can learn from the Cavaliers' growing pains

But the NBA landscape at large took a more hesitant approach to judging Cleveland's aggression. Acknowledgments of the team's talent, youth, and potential were often accompanied by doubt that anything would come of it.

The skeptics were partially proven right in 2023. Funnily enough, fans were not as confident in the team after the Cavaliers were physically dominated by the Knicks in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs. Jarrett Allen's infamous post-series remark about the “lights being too bright” for the team did not help.

But the Cavaliers still pushed forward. That offseason, they added both Max Strus and Georges Niang and extended Caris LeVert's contract. In January 2025, the team has the best record in the NBA at 38-9. Acknowledgments of the group's upside ended up being more clairvoyant than any of the doubts regarding a potential extension for Mitchell.

None of this magically fell into place for the Cavaliers. The team knew its core was not a typical assembly of NBA stars, incepted by friends deciding at a 30th birthday party to solve their mid-career crises by teaming up. The Cavs trusted that they had the “right group of people” in the building and stayed the course.

In the time since the team's acquisition of Mitchell, the roster around him has not drastically changed. But players like Mobley, Garland, and Mitchell himself have developed. This season, Mobley is on track to record both the highest usage rate of his career and a new best offensive EPM, per Dunks & Threes. Garland has found the best balance between scoring and playmaking of his career. And the leap Mitchell took as a playmaker in the 2024 season helped pave the way for both of those developments.

The Cavaliers were designed to be good with plenty of room for improvement. In 2025, the Knicks are the team making its first true foray into the stratosphere of contention that needs the patience the NBA landscape didn't give the Cavaliers.

Why the Knicks' best option is staying the course

The Knicks' core is mostly under contract through the 2025-26 NBA season, including key bench players and the team's recent draft picks. And Towns, Brunson, Hart, McBride, and OG Anunoby are signed through 2027. Bridges' contract expires after the 2026 season but reports indicate he'll extend with the Knicks after this season.

The team is tied with the Grizzlies for the league's fifth-best record at 31-16. This is just the start for this Knick group. The players seem to understand that it will take time for them to develop championship-level synergy.

And if the fanbase, front office, and ownership are willing to stay patient and allow the team time to both make mistakes and learn from them? There's no telling what this team's ceiling could be.

Brunson and Towns were just named All-Star starters, giving the Knickerbockers their first duo of starters since 1975. The team has a head coach in Tom Thibodeau whom its players love playing for. And the only player on the roster older than 29 is veteran guard Cam Payne.

The Knicks' front office built this team to be great now. But it truly built it to be a dynasty going forward. Not even five years after the team hired Leon Rose to run basketball operations, he has the main pieces to the puzzle in the building. Now it's time to figure out how they fit together best.

Following Rose's plan has served the Knicks well thus far. The team has no reason to panic and deviate from it. Brunson, the team's captain, understands this. He told the media as much after beating Denver in their annual game at Madison Square Garden for the third straight season.

“Uh, we've played,” Brunson started, but then paused, “–what's our record? 32-16? What is that, 48 games together? Just knowing each other, talking to each other, having better communication, making sure we're on the same page – that just comes with time.”