New York Knicks: Fan perspective on the big talking points

Knicks devotee Martin Haisley assesses the 2021-22 season for the team and then casts an eye ahead to the 2022-23 campaign for New York.

Where my love for the NBA and the Knicks came from…

I am Martin Haisley and I run the @uk_knicks Twitter account which covers all things New York Knicks. I am also one third of the Across the Pond podcast, a dedicated UK Knicks podcast.

Sky Sports to remain the home of the NBA in UK and Ireland for 2022-2023 season
NBA announces 2022-23 regular season schedule

I have been a fan of basketball as long as I can remember, watching the Chester Jets and Manchester Giants as well as watching the NBA as a casual fan. I fell in love with the Knicks the moment my wife and I stepped foot into Madison Square Garden in January 2013. The Knicks were playing the Toronto Raptors and were very much in the hunt to win the Eastern Conference title. The Knicks lost the game, which is sadly a feeling I’ve become accustomed to for the most part since, but I was hooked.

My favourite player

RJ Barrett is my favourite current Knick. RJ is criminally underrated by every other fanbase in the NBA but Knicks fans realise we have a special young star on the roster who is ready for an all-star season. The Knicks have not been known for developing players who they take in the draft, usually because in the past they have consistently taken the wrong guy! The fact RJ wanted to be here, has embraced the New York City and developed from year to year is why he’s a heavy favourite with Knicks fans.

The Knicks also have a group of young exciting players taken in the draft in Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes who have all shown exciting flashes and will certainly be fan favourites this season.

Papers: Arsenal to swap Lokonga for Locatelli?
CL hits and misses: Everything but the goal for Nunez
CL round-up: Napoli thrash Ajax | Barca, Atleti defeats
Transfer Centre LIVE! Saliba to be offered new Arsenal deal?
EFL goals, round-up: QPR beat Sheff Utd; Norwich held
Brundle dissects wild Singapore GP, angry Max and Merc
Ten Hag: Ronaldo didn’t play ‘out of respect’ | Keane: Nothing but disrespect
World Cup 2022 schedule, teams and draw
Wilder has three years left in boxing: ‘Nine or six fights, then I’m done’
What now for F1’s driver market? The stars in running for last seats

Video
Latest News

Grade for last season: D

The 2021-22 season was a disaster for the Knicks. They found themselves missing out on the playoffs despite relying heavily on veteran players on the roster. Julius Randle did not live up to the standards he had set in his All-NBA season the season before and the calculated gamble signing of Kemba Walker was not a success (despite some fun on Christmas Day vs the Atlanta Hawks).

The Knicks’ struggles were ultimately compounded by the fact the Eastern Conference became incredibly competitive and the Knicks are likely to face a similar struggle to make the playoffs this season.

Image: Jalen Brunson in action for the Dallas Mavericks against the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals – a lot of the Knicks hopes for next season are pinned on their new lead point guard

Much of our problems can be traced to the problems we have at the point guard position. Since 2013, the Knicks have needed a competent starting point guard (sorry Frank Ntilikina fans, I have now sold my property on Frank Island). While Jalen Brunson is not your typical point guard, he will be a huge upgrade for the Knicks. Brunson is a winning player and enjoyed lots of success at Villanova before entering the NBA. Since being in the NBA, he has developed into a solid isolation scorer with nasty handles and a great finisher at the rim. His performances in the NBA Playoffs this past season for the Dallas Mavericks certainly improved his stock when he torched a certain ex-Utah Jazz guard… (I’m not bitter). The Knicks’ offense often became stagnant last year and Brunson should help bring some scoring from the point guard spot or at least open up opportunities for the team’s other offensive weapons. Do not be surprised if Brunson is an All-Star this season.

Overall, last season for the Knicks was a real disappointment, particularly off the back of our return to the playoffs in 2020-21. The offseason acquisition of Walker did not pay off and while Evan Fournier hit the most threes a Knick has ever hit in a season, his fit in the team was not perfect.

Image: New York Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley dribbles past Toronto Raptors forward Precious Achiuwa during a clash played in April 2022

The only reason this grade was not lower is because we saw RJ Barrett continue to develop into a primary scoring option, Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley showed promising flashes throughout the season with Quentin Grimes and Jericho Sims looking like steals with the 25th and 58th picks in the draft, respectively.

Assessing the offseason for the Knicks

Image: The New York Knicks were in the Donovan Mitchell sweepstakes before he moved from the Utah Jazz to join the Cleveland Cavaliers

The main talking point going into the offseason was what the Knicks would do with Julius Randle. The Knicks signing Jalen Brunson was the worst-kept secret in the NBA but adding him to the roster gave the Knicks another mouth to feed offensively. It will be intriguing to see if Randle’s usage drops as a result of Brunson’s signing and whether we see Randle return to his 2020-21 form. Randle had a really tough season last year and it was difficult to watch at times. A lead guard in Brunson, might relieve some of the burden on Randle’s shoulders and allow him to flourish in a less onerous role. The alternative is that the front office could look to move Randle to open up even more minutes for Obi Toppin, the rationale being he is a much better complementary player to Brunson and RJ.

Nothing is ever straightforward with the Knicks and I would not be surprised if we see some further moves involving the veteran players and/or Cam Reddish.

Image: Isaiah Hartenstein enjoyed a breakout season for the Los Angeles Clippers last season and has now joined the Knicks

Overall though, the Knicks’ offseason has been really positive. In terms of new signings, they landed a legitimate lead guard in Brunson on a four-year $104m descending deal. The Knicks also landed Isaiah Hartenstein who was recently with the Los Angeles Clippers on a two-year deal worth in the region of $16m. Hartenstein has an intriguing skillset and while he’s not necessarily a stretch-five, per se, he offers good playmaking skills and good rim protection. He is very much an advanced stats darling and certainly a different option to Mitchell Robinson who re-signed with the Knicks for four more years.

I am, however, burying the lead…the Knicks FINALLY broke the Charlie Ward curse with the $120m four-year extension which was handed to RJ Barrett – Ward was the last first-rounder selected by the Knicks to sign a multi-year rookie contract extension 23 years before Barrett. RJ has his doubters and the extension definitely increases expectations. But this is a solid move for a young two-way wing who has continuously demonstrated a willingness to improve and bring the Knicks back to the top.

Follow Sky Sports NBA on Twitter

See the NBA's best plays and stay up to date with the latest news

The Knicks traded away Kemba Walker, Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks to create sufficient cap space to sign Jalen Brunson. ‘Big Money AB’ will be missed, he was a 40 per cent-plus three-point shooter who regularly closed out games for the Knicks. Burks was miscast by head coach Tom Thibodeau as the starting point guard for much of last season, which was not an experiment that was particularly successful. But Burks was definitely a positive contributor during his time in New York often taking over late in games.

Noel also had moments and played big minutes in the Knicks’ run to the playoffs the season before last. He was injured for much of last year which allowed us to see Jericho Sims who will no doubt see minutes this season as well.

Image: Taj Gibson was dialled-in during his time playing for the New York Knicks and won the hearts and minds of fans at Madison Square Garden

Finally, a special mention to Taj Gibson. I do not know a single Knicks fan who has a negative thing to say about him and he was the Knicks’ second-best player in the playoffs in 2020-21. Taj is coming to the end of his playing career and he was not going to get many minutes this year for the Knicks and so a move to the Washington Wizards made sense. It would not surprise me if we saw Taj return to New York in a coaching capacity in the future.

Oh, and it would be remiss of me not to mention Donovan Mitchell who was heavily linked with a move to New York this offseason. Mitchell was ultimately traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers following a breakdown in negotiations between the Jazz and the Knicks. Do I think Mitchell is really good? No doubt. Did I want him on the Knicks? For sure, the Knicks need more talent. But, did I want the Knicks hierarchy to pull the trigger on a trade for Mitchell which included three unprotected first-round picks AND RJ Barrett or a combination of the young players? No way. The deal makes perfect sense for the Cavaliers. They made the playoffs last year and they can add Mitchell to an exciting young group including Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Whereas with the Knicks, there was a significant risk that even with Mitchell, the Knicks could have been giving up a lottery pick and it was not the right time to make that type of move.

Points of note from the 2022 NBA Draft

As detailed above, the Knicks sought to use the draft this season to move off Kemba Walker, Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks, while continuing to stockpile assets for a future star trade. The Knicks then used the cap space they had opened up to acquire Brunson.

The Knicks’ sole pick in the draft was Trevor Keels from Duke. He failed to set the Summer League alight but he was picked very much as a project as opposed to a player who was going to step in and get minutes straight away.

The Knicks’ aims for next season

Image: Julius Randle in action for the New York Knicks – writer Martin Haisley is hoping he can recapture his form from the previous season where he won the NBA Most Improved Player Award

The objectives for the season should be to make the playoffs which is not an easy task given how competitive the Eastern Conference is. But the Knicks now have a legitimate lead guard in Jalen Brunson and I think we see RJ Barrett have an All-Star season. If the Knicks can get Julius Randle going again and some of the younger players can develop into reliable contributors, they could be a surprise package.

There is certainly optimism in the Knicks fanbase as we look forward to the 2022-23 season. The Knicks have the best point guard they have had for some time on their roster and a number of intriguing young players who have shown flashes of what they are capable of. There’s no guarantee that it all comes together – and let’s face facts, it hasn’t for much of the last 20 years – however, there are certainly things to be optimistic about.

Hopefully that translates into more postseason in New York.