Here’s another edition of our Round(Ball) Table, where the Posting & Toasting crew convene to share our speculations, worries, and frustrations. With the All-Star weekend now behind us, it’s time to speculate about the remainder of the season.
With the New York Knicks sitting third behind the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics, what seed should they realistically target, and how hard should they push for No. 2?
Antonio Losada: No. 2, and not much. It’s going to be rather hard to overtake Detroit in the standings, and I don’t think it’s worth entering a war for the regular-season Eastern Conference crown. Let the Pistons win it, sit second, beat them in the playoffs. The Celtics, I don’t believe, will hold onto that No. 2 seed, and I think there’s nothing left to add about the Cavs’ chances at anything, because they’ve lowkey turned into Clippers East—now even with James Harden in town!
Michael Zeno: No. 2. The Pistons are out of reach, barring an unforeseen collapse by them, so the Knicks will have to strive for the 2-seed and their first Atlantic Division (is that still a thing?) title in 12 years. I believe they should prioritize getting as high a seed as possible, as we’ve seen the team go from dominant at home to average on the road. Average doesn’t cut it in the playoffs, so they’ll need to secure home-court against a potential second-round matchup against Cleveland or Boston.
Andrew Polaniecki: Maintaining their position is more important than anything right now. Securing the No. 2 seed would certainly be ideal, but slipping from the No. 3 spot could prove far more damaging for the New York Knicks. They are currently just one game ahead of the fourth seed, and the Cleveland Cavaliers look like a very different team than they did two weeks ago following the addition of James Harden. The Knicks cannot afford to surrender home-court advantage, especially with only 1.5 games separating Cleveland and the Boston Celtics in the standings, particularly given the uncertain timetable surrounding Jayson Tatum’s return.
Miranda: I don’t think it matters. The Knicks won three times in Detroit and twice in Boston in last year’s playoffs, and those Celtics didn’t feature Jayson Tatum working his way back after nearly a year away. Adding Nikola Vučević gussies up their ability to play 5-out, but when he’s on the floor the defense that’s eighth in defensive rating and top-five the past four years has a soft underbelly. The last time the Cavaliers got past the second round without LeBron James was 1992. These Knicks don’t need to duck anyone.
Kento Kato: The two seed, but not at all costs. The Knicks should want to secure home-court advantage through the first two rounds, but at the end of the day, health is all that matters. This team, when healthy, and not coming off of an ugly NBA Cup hangover, have shown that they can beat anyone. Teams like that shouldn’t, and don’t need to, lay everything on the line during the regular season. Outside of last season, when Jalen Brunson missed 15 games after going down with an ankle injury, the Knicks have fared well after the All-Star break in recent years. In 2023, thanks in large part to the Josh Hart trade, the Knicks went 14-8 after the festivities, and a year later, they went 17-10, despite both Julius Randle, and OG Anunoby missing significant time. New York will be sans Deuce McBride for a few weeks, and that’ll sting. But I don’t see why a team that seems to have put their lowest lows behind them, and has historically saved some of it’s best for February, March, and April, can’t do so again.
What players deserve high marks for the season so far, and who has underwhelmed you?
Losada: Brunson gets into the high-mark category by default, so I’m picking Josh Hart for proving Coach Brown wrong early in the season, putting on never-ending Engerzier Bunny efforts, and simply being invaluable for this team (honorable mention for Deuce, whose injury hella bugged me). On the other end, I have KAT. He’s sublime at his absolute best, but he does so many maddening things on a nightly basis that I just can’t deal with him more often than not, let alone his awful shooting this season.
Zeno: Brunson, Hart, Shamet, Deuce (when healthy), and Mitch get the high marks. Hart’s recovered well from his early-season struggles and has become a sniper from deep, as has Shamet. Mitch is as healthy as he’s been in several years thanks to load management. KAT and Clarkson are the more underwhelming ones, but you see flashes from the Big Bodega. Clarkson just seems completely lost right now. I’m in the middle when it comes to Wingstop, as they’ve both excelled defensively but have had extremely inconsistent offense.
Polaniecki: I have to go with Josh Hart. He struggled in the first four games and has missed 11 due to injury, but his impact when he’s on the court is undeniable. The Knicks are more than +75 in plus/minus with Hart on the floor this season. During the 11 games he missed, the Knicks lost six of them, roughly a third of their total losses this year
Miranda: If John Starks, Pablo Prigioni and Jeremy Lin had a baby, that baby would be Jose Alvarado. That’s impressive! Also impressive: Mo Diawara going from a bright future to a bright present. The biggest disappointment has been how many national games Mike Breen’s done this year, because Tyler Murray and Walt Frazier go together like Ewing and Cartwright. Frazier’s been funnier than ever this year, something Murray never, ever runs with. Sometimes he sounds like he has no sense of who Frazier was, like the time he told him he’d been underrated defensively; Clyde couldn’t hide his surprise before gently explaining the seven All-Defensive honors. If Breen and Frazier are the Frazier and Monroe of MSG broadcasters, Murray & Clyde are more Marbury/Francis.
Kato: Brunson is the by far the best player on the team, and as ungrateful as it may sound, his production at this point is almost a given. We all take it for granted at times, but that’s also what star players make you do. When I think of players that deserve high marks, I think of players who have overperformed expectations. And to me, that has been Deuce McBride, and Mo Diawara. We’ve all known what McBride can do, and what he is capable of. But somehow, he continues to surprise us, and defy what an undersized combo guard can really do for a team. He’s followed up a somewhat disappointing season with career-highs in PPG, RPG, and 3P%, and has certified himself as one of the best role players in the league with one of, if not the, best contracts in the league. As for Diawara, not many had him being this good, let alone this quick when he was drafted. But after a surprising Summer League, and some very intriguing minutes over the last few weeks, he has leapfrogged every other recent draftee as the most promising and exciting prospect on the roster due to his unique combination of size, defense, passing, and an unexpected level of shooting.
Will the deadline addition of Jose Alvarado stabilize the bench?
Losada: It should, even more with Deuce McBride out for the regular season and due to his defensive chops. We have yet to see if Jordan Clarkson ever returns to a playable dude, but on the other hand, we’ve enjoyed some blossoming from Mohamed Diawara, and we’ve yet to see how the Jeremy Sochan addition works, and if it provides a little boost up front while helping keep bodies (looking at you, Mitch) fresh for the playoffs.
Zeno: Absolutely. Tyler Kolek has had his moments this season, but he still hasn’t solidified himself as the team’s backup point guard who can run the offense when Brunson sits. Alvarado not only brings the ability to do that, but his intensity on defense makes it so that you can feasibly play him with Brunson in certain lineups, giving him a more diverse role. The bench will really be turbocharged when McBride returns from his hernia.
Polaniecki: 100%. He’s already made an immediate impact and plays with the kind of energy you can’t fake. You can tell he’s genuinely thrilled to be wearing a New York Knicks jersey and representing New York, you could just tell how he wears his heart on his sleeve every night.
Miranda: Stabilize? Stabilize? The past two playoffs, McBride led all Knick reserve guards in minutes; Alec Burks was second in 2024, Cameron Payne last year. Assuming Deuce is back for the postseason, Alvarado, Shamet, Clarkson and Kolek are an entirely different class of bench backcourt.
Kato: We’ve had a small sample size thus far, but we’ve already seen Alvarado impact the game in multiple ways, in a way, akin to McBride. Alvarado may not be the shooter that McBride is, but he provides some much needed ball-handling, passing, and connectivity that the roster, both starters, and bench players, lacked. McBride will be sorely missed, but being able to replace Clarkson, and Kolek’s minutes with Alvarado cannot be anything besides a big win for New York. We’ve already seen him go off 26-points against the Sixers, and dish out five assists in 18 minutes against the Pacers, so in a way, we’re getting the best out of both Clarkson, and Kolek, while getting much, much, much more defense. Alvarado, along with Shamet, Diawara/Sochan, and Robinson should prove to be one of the better benches in the league.
Has Mike Brown met expectations in Year One, and what adjustments would you like to see?
Losada: The expectations were gaudy from the onset, and James Dolan only made it tougher for Brown with his mid-season, championship-or-bust, comments. That said, Brown took over a team nearly fully built and already on its way to making a Finals run, so he’s doing what he was supposed to, even amid ups and downs. There is still time to address a few pending issues and perfect the machine, but we’ve already seen how the Knicks can perform when everything clicks. I have to approve Brown’s work, solid A grade.
Zeno: There were three main reasons the Knicks moved on from Tom Thibodeau after last year’s Eastern Conference Finals run. They wanted to lean more on the team’s depth to minimize regular-season workload, get the most out of this offensive juggernaut, and get a coach who would adjust and not be so “my way or the highway”. Mike Brown has met all three, lowering the starters’ minutes while leaning on rejuvenated depth, augmenting the offense to make it one of the best in basketball, and making a big defensive adjustment to stop the early January nosedive. We’ll see how the playoffs go, but I’m a fan through the All-Star break.
Polaniecki: In some ways yes, and in some ways no. Would they be sitting in third place if Thibs were still the coach? Maybe. But his stubbornness and reluctance to expand the rotation ultimately cost him his job. It’s been great to see the New York Knicks actually use their depth this season. The bench has a role. The minutes are more balanced.
But are they truly better than they were a year ago? That’s still up for debate. If Brown doesn’t take them to the Finals, then for me, the answer is no.
Miranda: They’ve gone from 11th in corner 3s to third. The defense has been best in the league since they shifted from pushing ballhandlers to the middle of the floor to pushing them toward the sidelines. I don’t know if Towns is “struggling” so much as having his role changed, and I don’t hate it; even when his shot’s off, he’s impactful on the glass and as a spacer. All that said, if Brown is still coaching in June, his hiring was a success. If not . . .
Kato: This largely depends on what your expectations were. For me, his regular season was always going to be graded on his, and the team’s process. Sure, winning 55+ regular season games would be nice. But if he did that by running the same heliocentric, stagnant offense, limiting on-court experimentation, and forgoing playing time of the younger players, then keeping Thibodeau would have been the move as it would’ve lead to a higher floor. Thus far, Brown has done a good enough job of, simply put, not being Thibodeau. His offense, while still over reliant on Brunson at times, sees more movement, more threes, and more sets, and actions, and his rotations aren’t perfect, but still better than Thibodeau’s. So far, so good, but ultimately, he’ll be graded on how the Knicks fare in the playoffs.
What’s the biggest obstacle for a Finals run?
Losada: It’s going to be a grueling playoffs, as “weakened” as the Eastern Conference is said to be. See, the Pistons are young, tough, strong, and will probably have homecourt advantage through the postseason. The Celtics might bring back Jayson Tatum, and I fear that if they know he’s coming the might take it easy later in the season to enter the playoffs healthier, thus dropping to a lower seed and making it tougher for a top-4 seed. The Cavaliers, I don’t care about. But the Raptors, the Sixers, and mostly the Magic and Heat have underperformed and/or can give you fits and steal a couple of postseason games, so it’s going to take more than a Fo’ fo’ fo’ to get to the Finals. Will the Knicks stay healthy through it all? Will they get the No. 2 seed and actually benefit from starting (and finishing) series at MSG, or will it turn against them? Not an obstacle this year: another 1-in-100000-odds shot made by Hali.
Zeno: Inconsistency. One day, they look like they’ll win the Finals, the next day, they might be a first-round exit. There are certain first-round matchups that make you wince, but those mostly depend on health (looking at you, Philly). If Jayson Tatum returns, Boston could be extremely tough. The Cavs can’t be counted out, and then, of course, there’s Detroit. The Knicks will need to play their best basketball come playoff time and can’t rely on Brunson’s hero-ball for the fourth year in a row. We need KAT to get back to what made him a perennial all-star, Bridges to get more confident on-ball, OG to be making his shots, and the bench to be healthy and able to hold their own. I’m confident in the team, but there’s a lot that can go wrong.
Polaniecki: The Cup curse. Just kidding! But all jokes aside, the Knicks eliminated the Detroit Pistons in last year’s playoffs, but now sit five games behind them in the standings. They beat the Boston Celtics with Jayson Tatum available for most of that series, yet currently trail Boston as well.
Cleveland added James Harden. The conference landscape has shifted, and the path to the Finals is going to be much harder than people thought at the beginning of the season, especially if Tatum comes back for the Celtics.
Miranda: The likelihood that at some point in the playoffs, KAT’s gonna be in foul trouble, Mitch is gonna be injured and Ariel Hukporti’s playing 30+ minutes.
Kato: I’m stuck between saying “themselves”, and “roster construction”. I think talent-wise, they are, and should be, the favorites. But there’s still a part of me that fears KAT’s ability to hold up defensively more times than not through three or hopefully, four playoff series. And offensively, the Knicks still lack reliant ball handlers, and playmakers over the height of whatever Brunson, and Alvarado are listed as. But even with those roster limitations-the same ones they dealt with last season, they found themselves a couple games, and a historical choke job away from making the NBA Finals, even while being coached sub-optimally. That leads me to lean towards the former. If they are healthy, get their minds right, and show up, they’re still good enough to win four out of seven times against most teams in the league.
