The New York Knicks suffered their fourth loss in five games with a 127-123 loss at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies at home. Now 9-11 on the season, the Knicks continue to find themselves in holes they can’t seem to escape.
With the sea of talent that’s on the roster, one would think the Knicks would be better than two games under .500 nearly one-fourth of the way through the season, as they now have a legitimate All-Star caliber point guard in Jalen Brunson and have been for the most part a healthy team.
But alas, they are not playing good basketball right now, and now New York has many problems that signal the need for some immediate changes.
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The Knicks have logjams all around the roster:
The most obvious issue was most apparent on Sunday night against Memphis. The Knicks have too many players worthy of getting minutes. On the surface, that doesn’t sound like an inconvenience. However, in actuality, it is not an ideal situation for an organization to be in.
The Knicks started the season with three point guards (Brunson, Quickley, Rose) and now also have three centers (Robinson, Hartenstein, Sims), all worthy of receiving serious playing time.
Important pieces such as Quentin Grimes, Derrick Rose, Cam Reddish, and Jericho Sims have all struggled to earn significant minutes this season thanks to this logjam, with Reddish being the lone of the four averaging more than 17 MPG and Sims recording a DNP on Sunday after a solid stretch of games.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau stated that he was going to stick with a 10-man rotation after trying out an 11-man rotation on Sunday.
The Knicks are already tied to practically their entire starting five, as four of the five usual starters (Brunson, Barrett, Randle, Robinson) are under contract until at least 2025.
Therefore, it is unlikely anybody out of the starting lineup gets moved anytime soon, but with the plethora of draft picks the Knicks own, along with the logjam of players on the roster, the Knicks’ front office needs to start making some phone calls to clear up the logjam fast.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau’s seat is warming up each game:
With New York struggling to find some consistency, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has faced a lot of scrutiny for his handling of his players in-game.
Thibodeau’s most heavily scrutinized moment came after Friday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, as he played a struggling RJ Barrett for 44 minutes in the overtime loss that had Knicks fans questioning his tactics.
On the defensive side, Thibodeau has a reputation for being a defensive-minded coach, so it is inexplicable that the Knicks have a 114.8 defensive rating, which is 5th worse in the NBA.
Thibodeau’s Knicks have also continued to struggle guarding the perimeter, allowing 276 3PM to their opponents this season, the most given up among Eastern Conference teams. These struggles have been a glaring issue for weeks, yet nothing has changed in spite of that, which is unacceptable.
As previously mentioned, the Knicks have a talented roster. They have three All-Star caliber players and one of the deeper bench units in the entire NBA.
A roster with as much depth as they have would suggest that they’d be a solid Eastern Conference team, but they are not due to poor roster construction by the front office and odd coaching patterns by Tom Thibodeau.
Changes must be made by the Knicks pronto if they wish to make a deep playoff run this season, otherwise, they will be knocking on the doorstep of mediocrity, which in today’s NBA is a very tough place to escape.
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