The Knicks singular aim is to win the NBA championship. No ifs, ands or buts. No qualifiers.

The following four months, between now and the conclusion of the Finals, will determine the next iteration of the team. It’s now on the shoulders of their two All-NBA and All-Star players, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, to drive the Knicks’ success.

Will franchise owner James Dolan and team president Leon Rose overhaul the roster if the Knicks don’t reach the Finals? They fired former head coach Tom Thibodeau last June after his squad made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, the first time the team had been there since 2000. However, a 4-2 series loss to the Indiana Pacers was unacceptable to Dolan and Rose, and Thibodeau was held accountable.

Enter Mike Brown, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year (2009, 2023). Brown has capably guided this year’s team to a 35-20 mark at the All-Star break with 27 games remaining in the regular season when they host the East’s No. 1 seed Detroit Pistons (40-13) tonight at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are the third seed in the Eastern Conference, just a half game behind the No. 2 Boston Celtics (35-19).

With the trade deadline and All Star break now history, Brown and the Knicks’ current group of players charge is to continue the progress which began under Thibodeau when he was hired by Dolan and Rose in July 2020. The franchise’s previous playoff appearance prior to Thibodeau leading them there in his first season at the helm was 2013.

“Our goal is to build a sustainable winning culture that produces championships,” Brown has said this season, the last three words of his quote the most meaningful.

If the Knicks fall short of the Finals this season, the facts will likely show that the head coach is not the reason and that a roster restructuring is necessary. The only move the Knicks made immediately following the trade deadline was acquiring point guard Jose Alvarado, a Brooklyn native, from the New Orleans Pelicans for guard Dalen Terry, whom they had received from the Chicago Bulls in a trade for little-used forward Guerschon Yabusele, and two second-round picks.

The Knicks also signed 22-year-old, 6-8 forward Jeremy Sochan, a defensive specialist who was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round in 2023 (9th overall), a former starter who was plastered to the bench due to the Spurs’ talented trove of players. Sochan and the Spurs mutually agreed to the team waiving him so that he could seek a better opportunity elsewhere.  

With rumors of the Knicks possibly adding Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo in a trade before the deadline passed, and with many Knicks fans eager to have one of the top five players in the world in the fold, the acquisition of Alvarado and Sochan was anticlimactic.

So now the Knicks forge forward with the resounding and prevailing question, and the only one that matters: Are they good enough to win an NBA championship?

The Knicks will play the Houston Rockets at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, then go on the road to face the Bulls on Sunday and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.

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