With the arrival of first-year coach and triangle offense-extraordinaire Derek Fisher, the New York Knicks‘ offense is in for a complete overhaul.
Nevertheless, the Knicks struggles don’t start nor end with their offense. Regardless, as a team that has missed the playoffs seven out of the last 10 seasons, there’s no way to go but up.
More from New York Knicks
- NBA Trades: This swing-for-the-fences deal is a must for the Knicks
- Ranking Leon Rose’s three best and worst moves as Knicks President
- New York Knicks: Why Julius Randle is essential for the Knicks
- Should the Knicks trade up into the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft?
- Knicks 2023 offseason primer: free agents, trades, draft needs and more
The Knicks offense scored 98.6 points per game ranking 20th in the league in points per game. On the other side, their defense allowed
only
99.4 points per game which propels them to the ninth spot in the league.
Clearly, their defense (somehow) is not the problem. Regardless, the Knicks were outscored, during the 2013-14 season, almost by a full point every game.
The Knicks’ offensive ranking does not show the magnitude of the team’s struggles, so we’ll try to put them into perspective by comparing them to the most efficient basketball team of the 2013-14 season, the San Antonio Spurs:
Scoring
- The Knicks scored 8,084 points during the 2013-14 season. Carmelo Anthony (the team’s superstar and undoubted leader) scored 2,112 points (26 percent of the Knicks’ total points for the season).
- The San Antonio Spurs scored 8,643 points during the 2013-14 season. Tony Parker scored 1,134 points (13 percent of the Spurs’ total points for the season).
What does this have to do with anything? Well, you’re clearly facing some issues when one player on your team scores 26% percent of the points.
Assists
The game is won by points so why are we looking at assists? You get assists by moving the ball, moving the ball spreads the defense, as opponents try to make moves on the ball the defense spreads and (1) the lanes open up, or (2) you and/or a teammate gets an open look.
- The Knicks ranked 28th in the league in assists per game with 20.
- The Spurs ranked first in the league in assists per game with 25.1.
So what? How much of a difference can five assists per game make?
The San Antonio Spurs’ ball moving abilities and assists brought them a 14.5-point margin of victory during the NBA Finals. This is the highest victory margin in NBA Finals history. (Note: The Miami Heat had the 11th best assist average in the league with 22.1 assists per game.)
The Outcome
- The Knicks failed to make the playoffs for the seventh time in the last decade.
- The Knicks went through their seventh coach in the last decade.
- The Knicks failed to win more than 40 games for the 10th time in the last 13 seasons.
- The Spurs won their fifth title in franchise history, their fifth since the 1998-99 season.
Conclusion
Assists is not the only stat where the Knicks are far from matching the Spurs’ dominance (points per game, opponents points per game, offensive rating, defensive rating, etc) but its most definitely the one they lack the most.
The Knicks are bound to make a comeback (they better) once they take on the triangle offense. Playing in the Eastern Conference and having Jose Calderon take over “the rock” are huge upsides.
Nevertheless, getting rid of their “shoot-first” mentality should be the first thing on Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher’s minds.