{"id":123157,"date":"2025-02-11T13:01:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T18:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=123157"},"modified":"2025-02-11T13:01:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T18:01:40","slug":"knicks-lack-of-depth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/11\/knicks-lack-of-depth\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Lack of Depth Unlikely to be Solved By Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time to have the conversation. The New York Knicks’ <\/a>blowout loss at home to the Boston Celtics<\/a> made it crystal clear that they aren’t close to the Celtics. The reigning champs are the benchmark, and as good as this Knicks team is, they still seem like a country mile away from championship contention. It’s overwhelmingly likely that the Knicks’ lack of depth is unlikely to be solved by the playoffs. They look at least another offseason away before they can realistically contend to win it all. MSG insider Alan Hahn<\/a> rightly points out that the common thought around the league is that the Knicks are just too small to compete against elite teams.<\/p>\n

The Knicks chose to do their heavy lifting in the offseason, dipping heavily into their depth and draft resources to add All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> and Nets star Mikal Bridges<\/a>. Thus, making any deadline moves highly unlikely for financial reasons. Now that the deadline has passed and the Knicks have chosen to ride with what they have, their lack of depth is unlikely to be solved by the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Knicks Lack of Depth Unlikely to be Solved By Playoffs<\/h2>\n

Look at the Knicks’ staggering lack of competitiveness against the top teams. So far, against Boston, they’ve suffered identical defeats. 131-104 this weekend, and their opening night loss was 132-109. They can’t use chemistry as an excuse when they lose by nearly the same margin four months apart. Furthermore, they lost to the Cavaliers, then OKC Thunder twice by a combined 35 points, and lost badly to the Lakers, even before they acquired Luka Doncic<\/a>, 128-112. Overall, the Knicks have an underwhelming record against quality teams. Sure, against the majority of the league, the Knicks steamroll teams, but against the elites, it’s the other way around.<\/p>\n

They are just too small and are brutal defending the rim. They rank 29th in blocks<\/a>\u00a0and 18th in opposition points in the paint<\/a>. Certainly, Mitchell Robinson<\/a> will address that post-All-Star break. He’ll need time to get up to game speed, though, plus his durability is an enormous concern. On the outside, the Knicks’ perimeter defense is woeful; they rank last<\/a> in defending the three. Regarding their depth, the Knicks<\/a> rank last in bench points and minutes.<\/p>\n

Celtics Expose Knicks Weaknesses<\/h3>\n

These heavy losses, by a combined 50 points against the Boston Celtics, highlight key roster problems that seem unlikely to be solved by the playoffs. For instance, the Knicks are incredibly easy to switch against. The Celtics focused on targeting Towns all night; all too often, Towns gets exposed on the defensive end against elite teams. This has to be a worry.<\/p>\n

It’s getting to the point where the Knicks against larger teams cannot afford for him to start at the five because he’s that much of a liability. KAT’s pick-and-roll defense is a particular problem. Often, he doesn’t even contest at the rim. Let’s not forget that the Timberwolves had to acquire Rudy Gobert<\/a> to partner him and shore up their paint defense. It’s not just Towns’ deficiencies; the Knicks’ size and depth are their Achilles heel. Tom Thibodeau may get criticized this year for his reluctance to trust his depth, but can you blame him? Who on this bench is changing a game?<\/p>\n

Thibs hoped to address the size mismatch in the paint by starting Precious Achiuwa<\/a>, but the Celtics also targeted him. In the second half, Thibs attempted to address this by starting Miles McBride<\/a>. Although he’s a good perimeter defender, he’s too small to play on the wings for too long against quality teams. Frankly, the chasm between the Knicks and the Celtics is huge. Boston playing without Jrue Holiday<\/a> and Kristaps Porzingis<\/a> destroyed the Knicks, missing OG Anunoby<\/a>. OG is the Knicks’ most important defensive player, they are a disaster when he isn’t on the court.<\/p>\n

Did JJ Redick Mastermind the Knicks’ Flaws?<\/h3>\n

After the Knicks’ blowout loss to the Lakers, Redick may have provided the league with a blueprint<\/a> to beat the Knicks. He double-teamed Towns and Jalen Brunson<\/a> out of the game. Therefore forcing their tertiary shooter Josh Hart<\/a> to take all the shots by stifling their two elite scorers. They did a terrific job breaking up their pick-and-roll partnership and switching to put big-framed wings on Brunson.<\/p>\n

This proved to not be a one-off, as the Celtics followed a similar script. Perhaps this is a blueprint, as the Knicks lack consistent ball-handlers outside of Brunson. If you can force the ball out of his hands, it’s easy to defend the rest of the lineup one-on-one due to the opposition’s size advantage.<\/p>\n

Overall, the Knicks’ offense has been excellent, ranking<\/a> second in the league. However, failing to secure quality wins is a massive concern ahead of the playoffs, and the Knicks lack the attention to detail necessary to win at the highest level.<\/p>\n

The Impact of Offseason Moves<\/h3>\n

To be clear, the Karl-Anthony Towns trade is still a significant win for the Knicks. They haven’t missed Julius Randle<\/a>; Towns has been significantly better, and he’s now an All-Star starter. He’s having a career year offensively, although his production has been subdued since his thumb injury. They’ve missed Donte DiVincenzo<\/a>, especially his ferocity on both ends and his three-point volume. The loss of DiVincenzo certainly hurt the Knicks’ bench. However, his role was due to diminish, they will argue.<\/p>\n

Plenty of questions can be asked about the Mikal Bridges<\/a> trade, but despite overpaying massively for a role player, he’s largely played well in his role. Not well enough to mortgage five first-round picks on, however. Considering the direction the Knicks took this summer, realistically, they probably knew they were still an offseason away from making this team complete.<\/p>\n

Current Outlook Has A Moderate Ceiling<\/h3>\n

These losses are useful benchmarks to show the levels required and what’s needed to address the differences. In the Knicks’ case, it’s fairly simple: address the depth and the team’s lack of size. Now that the deadline passed without a move and they surprisingly allowed Torrey Craig<\/a> to go to Boston in the buy-out market, the Knicks’ lack of depth is unlikely to be solved by playoffs. At the moment, it’s hard to picture them making it to the Conference Finals. The Cavs and the Celtics look like the class of the East, and the Knicks a distant third. The De’Andre Hunter<\/a> trade to Cleveland has only further put them ahead of the Knicks as it stands.<\/p>\n

It’s jarring to see as many blowouts against the Knicks this year, far more than has happened in Thibs’ tenure in New York to date. 11 of their 18 losses<\/a> have been by double digits. Speaking to an inconsistent effort – again, unusual for a Thibodeau team. It may sound overly negative for a quality team sitting comfortably third in their conference, but the Knicks didn’t make those big summer moves to have a similar ceiling to last year’s team.<\/p>\n

It just feels like something is missing. Undoubtedly, they were a deeper team and a more fundamentally sound team last year with better chemistry. Leon Rose chose to break up the nucleus to go all out for a title; therefore, we must hold them to that high standard. To reach that standard, they’re likely a solid offseason away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time to have the conversation. The New York Knicks’ blowout loss at home to the Boston Celtics made it crystal clear that they aren’t close to the Celtics. The reigning champs are the benchmark, and as good as this Knicks team is, they still seem like a country mile away from championship contention. It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3708,"featured_media":123292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,12],"tags":[1417,1004,213,1616],"class_list":["post-123157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-knicks","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-mitchell-robinson"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3708"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123157"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123293,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123157\/revisions\/123293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}