The New York Knicks are poised to make a serious final run this upcoming season, led by their captain Jalen Brunson and fellow All-Star Julius Randle. The team stacked up on wing depth by acquiring Mikal Bridges in a trade and bringing back defensive stalwart OG Anunoby, and have now composed one of the deepest teams in the NBA.
However, despite that, they are not a perfectly constructed team as there are some weaknesses that they will need to navigate through. While they are certainly manageable weaknesses, they are ones that other teams may exploit if the Knicks do not properly address them.
1. The Knicks lack center depth
Following the departure of Isaiah Hartenstein to the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency, the Knicks have struggled to truly replace him in the rotation. As of now, Mitchell Robinson is projected to reclaim his starting spot while Precious Achiuwa will be the backup. After that, Jericho Sims and the recently drafted Ariel Hukporti round out the depth at the center position.
There’s not much of a concern regarding Robinson’s talent level, as he has proven to be an imposing threat on both ends of the floor near the basket. The main worry surrounds his health, as he missed a large chunk of the regular season last year with an ankle injury and missed most of the second round of the playoffs after re-injuring it. In addition, he has played more than 60 games just one time since the 2020-21 season.
Achiuwa is the only real insurance the Knicks have in the event Robinson were to go down again, would could create a problem for matchups. Achiuwa has shown to be a solid defensive player, but he is undersized at 6’8” to be manning the five. It would also be tougher to create offense inside the paint as Achiuwa tends to struggle with scoring against bigger players. They could try to utilize Sims given his size and vertical, but then they would have valuable rim protection.
There is still time for New York to address the center position through the open market, but their options are really limited. They have been rumored to pursue trades for guys like Walker Kessler and Alperen Sengun, but nothing has materialized on that front at this time. Odds are that Robinson and Achiuwa will be the Knicks’ main centers at the start of the regular season.
2. The Knicks have loads of guards, but who will be the secondary creator?
One of the things that hurt the Knicks last season was their lack of creation out of the second unit. It became very difficult for them to generate offense during the times Jalen Brunson was off the floor. In an attempt to address that, they drafted Tyler Kolek in the second round and signed Cam Payne, though Payne appears to be merely a depth signing rather than anything significant.
Kolek impressed many with his performance in this year’s Summer League, and is now on track to be the Knicks’ backup point guard next season. However, they still have Miles McBride under contract, and while he has shown that he is more effective in the catch-and-shoot game, it is unclear how he will fit in a second unit that will also include Donte DiVincenzo.
New York now has an abundance of guards, but how they will fit next to one another is what’s in question. In addition, head coach Tom Thibodeau would have to be willing to expand the rotation to 10 players if he wants to include Kolek without dropping someone, which would be something he hasn’t done in nearly two seasons.
Kolek is also an unproven second-round draft pick, meaning that using him in big minutes runs the risk of finding themselves in a similar situation as last season. He excels in the playmaking department, but he still needs to develop at the NBA level. Ultimately, the Knicks have some options available as to who will run the second unit, but they would like to have a concrete rotation in place before the start of the season.
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3. The team must stay healthy to compete
Last season, the Knicks were severely decimated by injuries which was a large part of why their quest for a title came up well short. On top of Robinson’s aforementioned injury problems, Julius Randle missed the final 36 games and all of the playoffs with a dislocated shoulder that later required surgery, OG Anunoby missed most of the second half and most of the second round in the playoffs, Josh Hart suffered an abdominal strain in the second round and Jalen Brunson broke his hand in Game 7 of the second round.
The Knicks can’t afford to deal with another grocery list of injuries next season if they want a serious chance to compete. There will be some concerns about players’ health heading into next season, most notably how Randle will bounce back from shoulder surgery and how Robinson will maintain his body to avoid another serious injury. It may take some time for the injured Knicks to get back into a groove on the court, especially given the long layoff between games for some.
However, health is not a factor that can be predicted, so if they are able to maintain good health throughout the course of the regular season, they will be in good shape. Mikal Bridges, who the Knicks acquired at the start of the offseason, is one of the more durable players in the league, having not missed a single game in his entire six-year NBA career, so they now have a key piece that is not prone to missing time with injuries.
If the team doesn’t suffer any major losses due to injuries, their chances to compete for a title will increase more, as they will able to perfectly develop on-court chemistry while also having their best players on the floor at all times.
