New York Knicks: Where they stand in the Atlantic Division, Part 3

As the 2017-18 regular season approaches, the New York Knicks can begin to assess the competition within the Atlantic Division. Today we look at how they match up against the Toronto Raptors.

The New York Knicks may be without Carmelo Anthony sooner rather than later according to most recent news. Surely the Knicks’ chances of winning games rest solely on Carmelo being on the team. However, it would seem the Knicks have been planning for this day for the past couple years, and as a result have plenty of depth when Carmelo skips town.

With Willy Hernangomez and Kristaps Porzingis being the core of the frontcourt, the New York Knicks have also turned a new leaf in signing their rookie Frank Ntilikina and bringing back Tim Hardaway Jr. The biggest hole will be left at the 3/4 whenever Carmelo does end up leaving, but Michael Beasley, Mindaugas Kuzminskas, and Lance Thomas are at least decent options to rotate and see who works best.

The Toronto Raptors may have become the top contender in the Atlantic Division due to some of the Boston Celtics’ most recent moves. The Raptors were able to retain a core of Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka to give DeMar DeRozan his primary options back. Lowry and DeRozan are an absolute problem for just about any backcourt that finds itself playing the Raptors. While the Knicks are starting fresh, the Raptors have seasoned and All-Star veterans in their lineup.

Here is how the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors match up in 2017-18, and in case you missed the first two entries of this four-part series, you can find them in Part 1 and Part 2.

How they match up

It should not be hard to tell that the New York Knicks are certainly overmatched compared to the Raptors, who finished third in the Eastern Conference during 2016-17. It would be overly optimistic to say the Knicks are built to be a true playoff contender within the next 2-3 seasons. But over that horizon and it seems possible we could see a consistent 40+ win team a few years from now.

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With that being said, the Knicks will have no answer for Kyle Lowry anytime soon. New York has a plethora of veteran guards to help develop Ntilikina, who is a defensive specialist and a lanky guard. But Ntilikina would have to vastly exceed expectations to guard Lowry for a full game.

The same can be said for DeMar DeRozan, as the best guard the Knicks have is potentially THJ. DeRozan and Lowry combined for 49.7 points per game last season, while Lowry shot 41.2 percent from the perimeter and both players shot for 46.0 percent from the field.

As for the 3-spot, the Raptors have rookie OG Anunoby (currently recovering) and the newly acquired C.J. Miles to fill the bulk of the minutes at forward. While he is not exactly regarded as a starter throughout his 12-year career, he’s more than capable.

The Raptors have three rookies listed at the forward position and this is where they hold the least amount of depth on their roster. Miles is coming off an impressive season shooting 41.3 percent from beyond the arc, scoring 10.7 points in 23.4 minutes per game.

Final thoughts and the big matchups

The Knicks certainly have their most promising talent in Kristaps Porzingis and Willy Hernangomez, but it will be a tough matchup any night they have to face Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas. It is likely that in this matchup we will see Hernangomez guarding Valanciunas while Porzingis hopefully shows off all that bulk he has added during the offseason.

Ibaka has improved his 3-pointers over his career and last year shot for 39.1 percent from beyond the arc, compared to Porzingis hitting 35.7 percent from the perimeter. Both players are capable of scoring from anywhere on the court and should be considered close to equals when comparing their defensive ability.

The interesting part comes when comparing per 36 minutes with Hernangomez and Valanciunas. On paper they are nearly identical, both posting 16 points per game and grabbing 13 rebounds per game. This should speak volumes on the potential of Hernangomez going forward, considering he averaged only 18.4 minutes per game compared to Valanciunas averaging 26.1 minutes over his career.

All in all, the Knicks will likely have trouble keeping up with the Raptors in each of the four games they meet during the regular season. Barring injury or a seriously underwhelming performance from the Raptors stars, it seems reasonable that the Knicks will win only one game in their series of four, going 1-3 during 2017-18.

Next: Complete 2017 NBA offseason grades for all 30 teams

The Knicks will have to continue building through the NBA Draft and free agency for another couple seasons to become a top contender in the growing Atlantic Division.