by Ryan Mercier
It took years. Years. To climb out of the depths of Hell caused by Isiah Thomas, James Dolan, and a seemingly endless cast of chaos characters and become a healthy perennial playoff team. The New York Knicks finally did things the right way. Their prize for doing so is third place in the Eastern Conference in a 1-1 tie with the 44-win Detroit Pistons.
All of the moves are well known by now: A pickup of Jalen Brunson turned into magic, a trade for OG Anunoby here, a trade for Josh Hart there, a whopper of a haul for Mikal Bridges, and a swap for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Getting Bridges, at the time, felt like adding to the beautiful chemistry of the 2023-24 squad. Acquiring KAT was a much different type of move. So Towns must be the problem, right?
Well, he’s about to be named an All-NBA player in a season which was an obvious success. It certainly feels as though the Knicks “won” the trade with the Timberwolves for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. Having two elite scorers, Brunson and Towns, seems like a pretty damn good idea.
What’s an even better idea? How about flanking those two scorers with a demon in OG, plus Bridges and Hart.
Not to mention, there should be innate chemistry flowing through the Knicks every single game. On one hand, the Nova Knicks (Brunson, Hart, Bridges). In another hand, teammates from 23-24 (Brunson, Hart, Anunoby).
Elite scorers. Defense surrounding them. The ultimate connector in Josh Hart. What’s not adding up here?
The additions of Bridges and Towns, in a vacuum, are great. It’s as if, though, the universe decided only one or the other would truly enhance the team, not both. Maybe Towns messes with the chemistry. Maybe Bridges is a clunkier offensive and defensive player on this exact construction of players. Head Coach Tom Thibodeau is certainly getting a ton of heat for what he is doing, or not doing, on offense.
New York achieved 51 wins, its highest total in over a decade. They could still turn things around in the postseason and make a run; it’s sports. This isn’t doom and gloom at all. The Knicks just felt like a bonafide NBA Championship contender last season before injuries and seemed to improve their team coming into this season.
It’s all just a matter of: Why aren’t they better?
Struggling Actor Sports 