The New York Knicks May Have The Nucleus of a Very Good Defensive Team

The New York Knicks assembled a group of tough hard-nosed young players. Scott Perry always kept the defense in mind when signing players to contracts. In the year 2000, Perry was hired by Joe Dumars for the Detroit Pistons front office executive position. Perry helped in assembling a roster for Detroit that went to six Eastern Conference Finals appearances, two Eastern Conference Championships, and most importantly, one NBA Championship. Defense definitely played a role in the winning ways of the Detroit Pistons during that Era. Will defense played a crucial role in the current Knick era under Scott Perry? The answer is yes, and the New York Knicks seem to have the nucleus of a very good defensive team.

The acquisition of Julius Randle, Marcus Morris, RJ Barrett, Bobby Portis, Elfrid Payton, Wayne Ellington, Reggie Bullock, Taj Gibson, and second-round gem Ignas Brazdeikis will have defensive potential under David Fizdale’s guidance. Even the young former Oregon Duck and shot-blocking extraordinaire Kenny Wooten are relishing his opportunity to possibly play for the Westchester Knicks. The newly acquired personnel is competitive. In addition to a Knick squad that already features Mitchell Robinson as the defensive terrorizer in the middle and Frank Ntilikina who’s pretty disruptive defensively for an entire 94-feet against opposing point guards, there are other young players on the roster with defensive potential like Kevin Knox and Allonzo Trier who completed an entire NBA season for the first time. Also, add Dennis Smith Jr. who might have the biggest chip on his shoulder going into next season. DSJ is also tough and shows aggression defensively. Experience defensively is extremely important for young players. This team will become dangerous once everybody gets acclimated to Fizdale and each other.