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<\/p>\nThrough 16 games, the 2025-26 New York Knicks and the 2024-25 Knicks have some similarities.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s group is 10-6. Last year\u2019s group was 9-7. This year\u2019s team ranks third in offense and 17th in defense. The squad from a season ago had the second-ranked offense and the 21st-ranked defense after 16 games.<\/p>\n
Under new head coach Mike Brown, New York is still working through some kinks, just as last year\u2019s team was when Karl-Anthony Towns dropped into its lap right before training camp started. There\u2019s a lot of season left to be played, but the Knicks, once again, are carrying some of the same traits they did this time last year: They\u2019re a good team with legitimate flaws.<\/p>\n
To discuss the good and bad of New York at this point in the season, The Athletic\u2019s Knicks beat writer James L. Edwards III answers subscribers\u2019 questions about the team\u2019s depth, Towns\u2019 up-and-down start and more.<\/p>\n
Questions have been edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n
Our front-court depth is a cause for concern. What can we do to strengthen it? \u2014 Tommy M.<\/p>\n
I agree with you that, after the need for a traditional backup point guard, the front-court depth is where the team might need to consider making a change.<\/p>\n
This issue is magnified because Mitchell Robinson is on a \u201cload management\u201d plan and has played in only nine of the Knicks\u2019 16 games. Also, summer signing Guerschon Yabusele has really struggled, whether he\u2019s playing the power forward or center spot.<\/p>\n
New York, in theory, needs to get to the playoffs with Robinson and Towns healthy. Those two can eat up the center minutes with a shortened rotation in the postseason. However, simultaneously getting to the postseason with those two standing upright and trying to be one of the two or three best teams in the East could be a problem. Brown doesn\u2019t play third-string center Ariel Hukporti unless he has to \u2014 usually when Robinson is out.<\/p>\n
The only way to strengthen it now is to hope Yabusele turns a corner sooner rather than later or make a trade. If I\u2019m the Knicks, though, I\u2019m addressing backup point guard before adding another big man to the fold. New York needs another ballhandler who can get into the paint and create shots for teammates, as well as someone who can be a solid point-of-attack defender.<\/p>\n
Any medium-sized Knicks trade likely has to involve Yabusele, Miles McBride, one or two of the young guys, a pick or a combination of all of those things.<\/p>\n
There was a lot of talk about how hurt Josh Hart\u2019s hand is but he\u2019s been shooting the ball well lately. Is it better? \u2014 Mike P.<\/p>\n
You are correct in that Hart has been shooting the 3-ball better lately. In the month of November so far, the veteran is shooting 41 percent from 3 and taking 3.5 per game. Hart is still having issues with his hand, but he\u2019s also learned to better play with the injury.<\/p>\n
The other night, Hart gave a shoutout to Knicks shooting coach Peter Patton after a good shooting performance. I followed up with Hart about that Monday night in Brooklyn, and he said the first conversation he had with Brown was about his staff and the possibility of getting a shooting coach on staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted a shooting coach on staff that could be here every single day,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n
Patton does work with Hart every day. Also, from what I\u2019ve been able to observe before games (we don\u2019t get to watch practice), Patton works a lot with the young players on the roster.<\/p>\n
Hart said that he and Patton have \u201cmade small tweaks here and there but we\u2019re just smoothing everything out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just about the 20-game mark and ready for a bit of early reflection. As currently constructed, can we get to the NBA Finals out of the East? And, if not, what must we do to get there? \u2014 Tc T.<\/p>\n
This is a loaded question because if you had asked me this at this time last season, when the Knicks were 9-7, had an elite offense but were poor defensively (basically identical to this season), I\u2019d have said there is no way they make the Eastern Conference finals.<\/p>\n
Then, what happened? The team won a dogfight playoff series against the Pistons and overcame multiple huge deficits to beat the Celtics and advance to the ECF. So, yeah, I\u2019m a bit flustered answering that one because of what happened last season.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll say this: The Knicks don\u2019t currently have a defense that feels championship worthy and the high-powered offense can be neutralized somewhat against physical, athletic defensive teams that have a wing\/forward able to bother Towns. Also, this version of the Knicks is far more 3-point dependent than last year\u2019s team, which brings about its own randomness.<\/p>\n
Essentially, this is similar to how I felt at this stage last year.<\/p>\n
Can the Knicks make it to the NBA Finals? Yes. The offense is already really good and can get better. Jalen Brunson is still one of the best players in the world. Jordan Clarkson has been a great addition off the bench. Robinson, as of now, is healthy. OG Anunoby was playing at an all-star level before his injury. Hart is still Hart. Bridges looks more comfortable. New York has the horses to get there.<\/p>\n
Yet, I\u2019m still hesitant because the defense isn\u2019t good enough yet and a bad shooting spell at the wrong time could be a problem.<\/p>\n
Adding another on-ball defender to the fold, one that can be an average-to-good 3-point shooter, would make me feel better about New York\u2019s chances.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Mohamed Diawara has raw talent and size, but still needs more time to develop. (Francois Nel \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the story with Mohamed Diawara? He\u2019s looked lost at times. Also, Hukporti and Pac\u00f4me Dadiet are getting little time. What are the futures for them with the Knicks? \u2014 anonymous<\/p>\n
It should be remembered that most of the Knicks\u2019 young players\/recent draft picks were second-round selections, some late ones at that. Those players don\u2019t often turn into something, especially right away. Dadiet, yes, was a first-round pick, but that had more to do with him being willing to take less money than most in his draft position do. He had a second-round grade by many draft experts and executives I\u2019ve talked to.<\/p>\n
Diawara was taken with the No. 51 pick. There were talks before the season about him potentially being stashed overseas. He\u2019s raw. The kid has great size, length and motor, but he\u2019s got a ways to go in regard to basketball skills and feel. Now, I do think he\u2019s worth hanging on to for a few years. The physical tools are really intriguing to me.<\/p>\n
The Knicks have not drafted well over the last few years. They\u2019ve had limited, blah draft positioning as of late due to all the trades they\u2019ve made, but some good players were selected after New York was on the board, particularly in the 2024 draft.<\/p>\n
Because of the big money the Knicks have tied up to their main players, they\u2019re going to need the contracts like the ones of Hukporti, Diawara and Dadiet on the books to round out the roster. That\u2019s part of why you saw them pick up Dadiet\u2019s team option for next season despite him still not sniffing the rotation.<\/p>\n
Could I see one or two of these guys being moved, along with another player or draft capital, to address some of the issues with the roster? Of course. But New York does have to field a legal roster size while also staying under the second apron.<\/p>\n
The Knicks just need one of Diawara, Dadiet, Hukporti or Tyler Kolek to hit or turn into legit rotation players. If that happened sooner rather than later, one of the team\u2019s current roster flaws would be resolved. Until then, though, New York has to strongly consider making a move to address the defense and\/or front-court depth and\/or backup point guard.<\/p>\n
If Landry Shamet is out for a while, what will the Knicks do? \u2014 Roger R.<\/p>\n
As of Monday morning, Brown had no further update on Shamet\u2019s injured right shoulder. \u201cHe\u2019s still getting evaluated,\u201d the head coach said.<\/p>\n
Shamet was having a tremendous start to the season after making the team in training camp. He even has some starts under his belt. It\u2019s hard not to feel for Shamet after all he\u2019s been through the past year with the shoulder.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s say that Shamet is hypothetically out for two months or more. I don\u2019t think the Knicks can afford to have him sitting on ice and not have another rotation player to replace him. So (again, this is hypothetical), I could see New York cutting Shamet \u2014 whose deal isn\u2019t guaranteed until after the New Year but he can be traded after Dec. 15 \u2014 and signing, let\u2019s say, Garrison Matthews, another shooter who was in line to make the Knicks\u2019 roster out of training camp.<\/p>\n
Matthews won\u2019t provide the defense that Shamet does, but he can make up for the shooting. Matthews is currently finishing up a 10-day contract with the Pacers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Through 16 games, the 2025-26 New York Knicks and the 2024-25 Knicks have some similarities. This year\u2019s group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,2901,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-308035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york-knicks","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}