In February of 2022, I was experimenting with the NBA Wardley Maps, and I wrote about various concepts I was experimenting while reviewing their team (organization, culture, team…).
All can be found here: https://joapen.com/blog/2022/02/01/new-york-knicks-building-to-play-off-2021-2022/
New York Knicks 24-25
This past season they reached the conference semifinals with three key players injured but without a scratch on the character that Thibodeau wants.
The Knicks 30 years later are exciting.
This was the map I drew then:
In my honest opinion, two factors did affect negatively the Knicks:
- Injuries, for many reasons (demand, competition, redundant injuries…) this has been key.
- Julius Randle, emerged as a great player for the construction of the team the Knicks have today, but not to go to the next level. In fact this last season Jalen Brunson has emerged as the real leader of this roster. Don’t get me wrong, Randle is a great player, he will continue providing value in a place where he fits well.
What are the Knicks doing for 24-25?
Moving quick
Leon Rose is their General Manager or President of Operations, a man behind the scene for the common supporter whose first objective is to keep the owner (James Dolan) away from the court.
At the very beginning of the summer the Knicks signed Mikal Bridges, a Villanova player, like DiVincenzo, Brunson and Hart. He also moved Hartenstein, who came out of the playoffs with a higher value.
The big move
The big move has been bringing in Karl-Anthony Towns (KAT to his friends), trading Randle and Di Vincenzo, and making moves with 3 other NBA teams and with the loan of 1 player in the combo from Partizan Belgrade.
From here on out, everything looks very fancy (as all that is on paper) , but there are still many questions to be resolved, and that will be seen on the court:
- How will KAT adapt to the “continuous hell proposed in defense dictated by Thibs”?
- How will Mikal perform in attack? in defense there are no doubts.
- Will injuries be enough?
As I see it, on paper, they are contenders:
- Their main players are around 30,
- Their identity is clear and defined
- Their owner is letting them do their thing.
What is this “minimum salary + 1$”?
The Knicks are over the salary cap and paying the bonus, but way over. Leon Rose has pulled out of his hat giving several players the “minimum salary + 1$” to be in line with league rules, in fact he still has 2 holes that he must fill in a similar way.
Their current roster (middle of October/24) is:
More things to come, as the season has still not started.
I continue experimenting on concepts around these “NBA Maps”. As usual, any constructive feedback is welcome.
WordPress
Google + 
Facebook