Make New York Post a Preferred Source Last year’s playoffs might have only been an appetizer.
The postseason brought out a new version of the Knicks offense — one that fueled a historically dominant championship run. But it was born out of desperation, a change made on the fly after they fell to a 2-1 series deficit in the first round against the Hawks. Now, the Knicks have a full training camp and preseason to practice and experiment with it.
“I feel like we can do a lot more, do a lot of different things,” Jalen Brunson said after the first Knicks practice of the season Tuesday. “I think we unlocked something last year in the playoffs at a time of need and it worked. It’s gonna be fun to kind of integrate it from the beginning of the season, too.”
The most important change was the well-documented decision to alter how they used Karl-Anthony Towns in the offense — having him serve as a “hub” at the elbows and facilitate with the ball in his hands. It allowed Brunson to play a bit more off the ball and took some of the playmaking burden off his shoulders. It amplified Towns’ prowess as a passer — in turn dragging opposing centers out of the paint — and also allowed OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges to thrive as cutters and screen setters around Towns. The Knicks’ offensive efficiency exploded as a result.
That role for Towns will continue to be a focal point going into this year, with a few potential new twists.
“Obviously playing with KAT at the elbow a little bit more than what we did [in the regular season last year],” coach Mike Brown said Tuesday. “Being with this group for a year now, you get a better feel of what players can do what. Like I didn’t know if OG could be as effective as he was in the pick-and-roll game. Same with Mikal. So to try to continue to find ways to get those guys involved at the top of the floor is something that we’ll take a look at.
“We have great cutters that have tremendous size. We’ll continue to mix that in, and we all know that KAT is a really good facilitator at the elbow. Maybe Andre [Drummond] is too? I don’t know. Maybe we move OG to the five a little bit more than what we did last year. So there are a lot of different ways we can go with the team on both ends of the floor. The biggest thing is knowing that nothing’s set in stone.”
Those potential new roles for Anunoby and Bridges are particularly interesting. Brown’s system for most of last year emphasized Anunoby and Bridges staying in the corners for kick-out 3-pointers — or as Brown calls them, “sprays.” Bridges and Anunoby led the NBA in corner 3-point attempts during the regular season last year, taking 199 and 198, respectively, per the league’s official tracking stats. It was a core tenet of the Knicks offense.
But both grew as ball handlers and slashers — creating their own shots — during the playoffs. Anunoby, in particular, at times carried the offense, showing an ability to score off the dribble and delivering some of the best production of his career.
Maybe letting him spend time away from the corners and in the middle of the floor can help bring out the best version of him — an All-Star-caliber version. The idea of increasingly using Anunoby as a small-ball center is also notable given Drummond is the only backup center behind Towns that is a lock to make the roster.
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“There’s a lot that will carry over for this year. We’ll also experiment with some new things here and there, but the stuff that we had in the playoffs may not work during the regular season. So we have to be ready to evolve or pivot as the year goes along and hopefully come close to playoff time, we’re trending upwards so that we feel we’re in a pretty good spot with the confidence needed to take off from there.”
That ability to adapt is critical. It only happened because a veteran-heavy group was willing to come together and adjust their own roles for the greater good. It hinged on a close-knit team’s ability to communicate honestly and openly.
“I think as a group, we figured out that we need each other to win, obviously, and we need each other to be on the same page,” Brunson said. “You never know when things are going to turn for you, when things are gonna click for you. But as long as you keep putting the work in every single day, you keep tapping the rock, tapping the rock, eventually it’s going to break.”
