Editorial
Knicks’ Current Season: The Knicks’ Defense
Yusuf Hamid
Volume 5 Issue 3
January 14, 2025
Image Provided by Max Ching
The New York Knicks are the fourth seed in the East. Overall, the Knicks have been doing decent so far. As of the time of this writing, they are fifth in the league for points scored per game and ninth in the league in assists per game, which is terrific. On the other hand, the Knicks are twenty-fifth in the league in rebounds per game and seventeenth in the league in points scored against them, which is not terrific (via NBA).
The dilemma with the Knicks is not with their offense, but rather with their defense. The Knicks have the third-best rating in offense in the league, scoring an average of 122 points per game. Nevertheless, they have the seventh-worst rating in defense in the league, receiving an average of 116.9 points per game scored against them. There are many factors that could contribute to such poor defense. One factor could be how their exceptional rim protector, Mitchell Robbinson, is out due to injury. Last season, Mitchell Robbinson averaged 8.5 rebounds per game, 1.2 steals per game, and 1.1 blocks per game. The solution to this problem is simple: wait until he fully recovers. To lose a remarkable interior defender would obviously hinder a team's defensive success, but not to the point that they are the seventh-worst rated team in the league in defense, which leads to a second factor contributing to the Knicks’ poor defense.
Although the Knicks have OG Anunoby, a defensive mastermind on their starting lineup, a chain is as strong as its weakest link, and the Knicks have two huge weak links. These weak links are Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns. Sam Quinn, a CBS sportswriter, believes that “Town’s and Brunson are average at best on defense.” To have one poor defender in your starting lineup is acceptable, but to have two is definitely not, especially when it is your center. It is common knowledge that the easiest place to score a basketball is closest to the hoop. To have a player on defense who is poor at their primary objective, to make sure getting close to the hoop is impossible for the opponent, is unacceptable. I believe a solution to this problem is to move Karl Anthony Towns from the center position to the power forward position (a position that focuses less on interior defense) and bring up a backup center with better interior defense into the starting lineup like Ariel Hukporti or Jericho Sims.
All in all, the main focus for the Knicks is to fix their defense. They already have one part of the game mastered (their offense) and to fulfill their defensive standards will make the Knicks a juggernaut of a team they are expected to be. Football coach, Bear Bryant once said, “Offense wins games…defensive wins championships,” and I truly believe that.
Sources:
New York Knicks Team Info and News | NBA.com
Mitchell Robinson - New York Knicks Center - ESPN
ch NBA teams will be best (and worst) on defense this season? Projecting where all 30 squads will finish - CBSSports.com