The New York Knicks look like one of the best teams in the NBA this upcoming season. It is no wonder that many have them in contention for the title, as they added Mikal Bridges to a roster that was already deep and full of high-level talent.
However, they are not a flawless team, and they will have to navigate through issues throughout the season to finally snap the championship drought that has lasted for over 50 years. Here are two challenges that the Knicks may face in this upcoming season.
1. The Knicks lack center depth
It has been talked about all summer, but the Knicks have a real depth issue in their center room. The only seven-footer they have in the current rotation is Mitchell Robinson, who missed a large chunk of last season due to two ankle surgeries. Precious Achiuwa, who is listed at 6’8″, is currently slated to be the team’s backup big in the second unit.
While Achiuwa has shown that he is capable of containing taller matchups, the Knicks would probably prefer a taller guy to handle that role off the bench, but there are not many options available that they can realistically pursue. They reportedly tried to sign free agent big man Omer Yurtseven to round out their depth, but no sort of deal has come to fruition.
Therefore, they will need Robinson to stay healthy throughout the season and be the impactful player he is when he is on the court. If he were to go down with a serious injury again, the Knicks would have no insurance to replace the size and rim protection he provides, which could hurt them significantly against bigger teams. It is unclear if New York is still pursuing a center that is on the market or if they are simply going to stick with their options internally, but the team’s center depth is solely hinging on the health of Robinson this upcoming season.
2. Key rotation pieces from last year will have to sacrifice some of their workload this season
Last season, the Knicks got major contributions from guys who were expected to be role players off the bench, such as Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. Both players became starters for most of the second half of the season as injuries continued to mount on the roster, and they were highly impactful in their run to the second round of the playoffs last season.
However, with OG Anunoby and Julius Randle returning from their respective injuries and Bridges now in the fold, those two players will have to resort to being bench players once again, and the number of available shots for them to take will certainly decrease. It is unclear what their workload will look like this upcoming season, but the luxury for head coach Tom Thibodeau is that he will have the flexibility to use Hart and DiVincenzo in many different lineups thanks to their versatility.
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In particular, DiVincenzo has an outside chance to compete for the league’s Sixth Man of The Year award. Last season, he averaged 15 points in 81 games and made the third-most threes in the NBA with 283, trailing only Luka Donic and Stephen Curry. Having one of the game’s best perimeter shooters at their disposal off the bench will only make the Knicks deeper.
Jalen Brunson had previously said that he doesn’t think the team will have an issue sacrificing shot attempts for the greater good of the team, and as long as that mentality holds, the Knicks will be set up to have one of the deepest and most balanced attacks in the league.
However, that will require everyone to be bought into the strategy they want to adopt moving forward, and there could be moments when guys want to see the court more. How Thibodeau gets everyone heavily involved in the game plan remains to be seen, but he has a lot of flexibility to mix and match his rotations which will hopefully lead to a lot of winning.
