The Knicks just completed their most successful season in over two decades, but that doesn’t guarantee the core of the team will stay together, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. After winning 51 games and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, the season ended in disappointment Saturday night with a 17-point loss at Indiana in Game 6.
New York was favored heading into the series and appeared to be good position to reach its first NBA Finals since 1999 after dispatching the Celtics in the second round and seeing the top-seeded Cavaliers lose to Indiana. However, the Knicks let a big lead slip away in the opener against the Pacers and weren’t able to recover from a 2-0 series deficit.
Reflecting on the season, Josh Hart told reporters that changes often follow when teams fall short of their goals.
“You’re always going to hear me say, ‘Run it back,’” Hart said. “I think you heard me say the same thing last year with the guys we had. I’d like to do it. I feel like this team is good enough to make the next step. But it’s a business. And when you don’t get to where you feel like you could’ve or should’ve, changes are made.”
With Hart, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride all under contract for next season, the Knicks have the option to attempt another run at the Finals with the same group intact. But they were in a similar position a year ago and opted for two major offseason trades that brought in Bridges and Towns.
“This is my eighth year. This is my fourth organization. I’ve had six or seven coaches,” Hart said. “It’s tough, we’re going to have to see. Don’t think you can ever be too comfortable. I’ll open [the X app] one day and I’m somewhere else. That’s what’s disappointing the most, knowing there’s a good chance this team might not be back in totality.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- The path to the conference finals wasn’t smooth, as players held several team meetings to help them refocus after losses, league sources tell James L. Edwards and Fred Katz of The Athletic. They note that the team had to deal with disputes on the bench, criticism that coach Tom Thibodeau was leaning too heavily on his starters, and player comments regarding “sacrifice,” “egos” and “agendas.” A players-only meeting following the Game 5 loss at Boston was called by P.J. Tucker, whom the authors say was signed as a free agent to help bring order to the team. The front office believed there was a need for better locker room leadership, so the 40-year-old Tucker, who only appeared in three regular season games, was added in April instead of someone who could provide more help on the court.
- Teammates and coaches were frustrated throughout the season by Towns’ poor defensive habits, Edwards and Katz add. Sources tell them that Towns would often fail to execute the correct coverage without explaining why, leading some players to believe he “didn’t grasp the importance of the matter.”
- Bridges will become eligible for a four-year, $156MM extension this summer, which will be the next step in seeing if management plans a long-term commitment to the current roster. Edwards and Katz report that Bridges’ fit wasn’t as smooth as expected, as he “shied away from physicality,” missed too many jump shots and didn’t provide the consistent defensive presence that he displayed earlier in his career. He also talked to the press in March about the starters playing too many minutes, which the authors state is a taboo subject to discuss publicly on Thibodeau teams.
- Thibodeau’s job appears to be safe, as he has strong support from team president Leon Rose and Brunson, according to Edwards and Katz, although they point out that owner James Dolan has the final decision. Brunson bristled at speculation about his coach’s future after Saturday’s game, relays Jared Schwartz of The New York Post, responding, “Is that a real question right now? You just asked me if I believe he’s the right guy. Yes. Come on.”
Fire Thibs, and get a true PG, and add a few bench pieces. That should be Knicks priority in off season.
And do what with Brunson?
Or, do you mean a true pg as a backup that can play minutes WITH Brunson?
Do what with Brunson?
Towns need to be traded
As long as the Knicks are coached by a warthog they won’t win a chip.
I mean, what is Brunson going to say? “Dolan should fire my dad’s boss?” I don’t think it means anything that Brunson is supporting Thibs.
The way he answered the question made it clear he sincerely supports Thibs
Best shooting (his team in the foot) big man.
Bridges is the third option on the team no way he is even close to a $156 million extension.
Bridges is so bad dude. All that playing time and his numbers are so mid. He’s a grifter.
He is a OK player that will give you points but doesn’t deserve star power pay. They already have 3 players with star pay so there is no way you have a 4th without losing all your bench players.
Brunson does need to play more off the ball. I would love to see him be less ball dominant and involve his teammates more in the offense. That will probably take having another pg play alongside him.
This Knicks team had no business being in the ECF. They should tear it down tbh. You are never winning with KAT and Bridges, those two are never going to win a title in this league, they are too soft and inconsistent. The Pacers let them have 2 wins because of gambling, they were always going to win this series.
They just went to the ECF because of those two – the first time in 25 years.
Tear it down!? Lol your takes are getting more outrageous by the day. Easy tweak with maybe coaching and they are right back in the ecf again.
Josh Hart got benched for Mitchell Robinson vs a team that was pressuring full court and running a fast break off every miss. He is ass.
Josh Hart was the one who suggested that lineup change to adapt to what Indiana was doing. Hart had a couple of disappointing games, but the dude is a dawg that pretty much every team would love to have.
He can’t shoot, dribble or create and he is undersized. He’s PJ Tucker with a side of fries.
He’s pj Tucker with a side of fries, large drink and toy
The fries are his rebounding skills. If the large drink and toy are the many incredulous facial expressions when he commits blatantly obvious fouls… then sure.
The closest Josh Hart will get to an NBA championship is being a footnote in the trade for Anthony Davis to go to LA.
The people here bashing Bridges while Hart goes unscathed are improperly weighting expectations and actual performance. Bridges won entire quarters in the playoffs for the Knicks and rose to the occasion multiple times in the clutch both offensively and defensively. Josh Hart got benched for a slow footed, unskilled center who cannot make a free throw.
This narrative that Hart is a “dawg” but also asked to be benched is contradictory. “Dawgs” don’t want to come off the court. If the team is better without you playing… you’re not a “dawg”
It is possible Hart has elevated self-awareness and realized he was hurting his team by being on the court, but his coach realizing it and sticking him on the bench is probably more of a favorite.
No need for change, other than maybe at the coaching level. This is not like last year as the NYP described -IH was a free agent and a key piece to the team rotation.
The acquisition of two new starters is huge. Especially if they are two of the top three scoring options on the team. Takes time. KAT can do a better job in not taking stupid fouls. He gets an A in offense, but his stupid fouls and terrible switches is a concern and something that is going to need to be addressed – accountability.
Extend Bridges. His defense is solid, never injured, and can give you 20+ if needed. Much of what he does goes unnoticed. Robinson and McBride deserve the same. They are key and I’d like to see Hart go back to the bench – he’s more effective there and I feel that was something missing this season – the attitude of ‘here come the cavalry’ when he comes off the bench.
Thibs. Good organizer. The Torts of basketball – can get quick results but often finds himself coming up short and burning out the stars he loves. He was out coached by RC. His player management is nonexistent. Never seems to inspire but rather focus on the defects as one can tell just by the look on his face.
If there’s a change, I think it needs to be the coach. They’re there. They can do it as they demonstrated against a Boston team with a healthy Tatum on the road going up 2-0 and 3-1 when he did get injured (dropped over 40 in that game, so beating them up then as well).
Jay Wright. Bored?
KAT has never understood the importance of defence…
The bench has been the issue all year long. So you wonder why Thibs and management. Waited till gm5 of the ECF to go 10 deep……. signing TJ Warren ??
Makes you wonder…. just why they didn’t do it. It wouldn’t have hurt anything or anyone ….
Too soon for me. I have to think about it. See what our real options are. This team was built this year.
Pacers only exposed what we already knew …..
Bench could maybe perform, but how would we know if Thibs doesn’t utilize it.
The Timberpuppies dumped KAT because he never got or executed DEFENSE. Also, no matter which player(s) the team drafted or signed as free agents to surround KAT, “IT” never worked. The NBA is littered with players who the Timberpuppies acquired to complement KAT but failed and so they now play elsewhere. The team FINALLY realized that the problem was not the play of those former players, it was KAT. You’re welcome. Knicks !!
That’s why they are the puppies everyone had Known about KAT since he was drafted lol …. Jimmy even told the world about it. And Thibs witnessed it up front. When you catch up come back ……
The Knicks bench was an issue all year long because they gave away Grimes and OB1 for nothing!!!! I can understand getting Bridges and Kat, but this team would have won keeping Grimes and OB1 on the bench
REMEMBER = This is the organization that drafted Jonny Flynn and passed on drafting Stephon Curry. TWICE.
The problem is the lack of depth.
That’s been there issue the whole season.
You run 8 deep max with McBride Precious and Robinson as guys off the bench.
Shamet, Payne, Kolek, Dadiet, Tucker, Beauchamp, Wright and Hukporti make us the rest of the guys on standard deals. These guys just don’t get any minutes. Doesn’t help that they overlap in position with 4 point guards in that group behind Brunson and McBride.
Makes you wonder why did they get a TJ Warren, Justice Winslow, Justin Jackson or Jalen McDaniels who have all had good seasons in the G
TJ Warren definitely should have been given a much needed chance on the team. It was handled very poorly.
NYK lost this series in Game 1 when they choked away a sure win. The rest of the series was pretty as expected.
This team is Rose’s baby, so I’m interested to see what his approach is. But I strongly suspect that Hart has little to nothing to worry about. The decision to “run it back” for next year was made last offseason, in advance. They pretty much locked in their core for 3-4 years, and depleted their trade assets. It was never an expectation that this year would be their best chance. Just going by the W/L record and the length of the playoff run, things are on schedule. But there were disappointing elements to the team that I doubt were expected.
How the FO deals with Bridges will be telling. He’s a big part of what has fallen short of expectations, and is the only core guy (other than Mitch) that’s not signed beyond next season. He probably has to be extended this off season to remain with the team. The extension seemed like a formality since the trade, and may still be so. But, on the other hand, he may have played his way into it being an issue.
There is no indication that Rose plays 2k. So, Thibs is safe.
FACT: this is not a Championship contender in 2025-26 as constituted.
Good news for Knicks fans is that ownership believes it’s spending too much money on this roster to patiently stand pat this off-season.
The East will be extremely weak next season, but
nobody who saw the Pacers or Pistons series would say the Knicks will be better than those teams next season, nor the Cavs.
Thibodeau was badly outcoached against Indy. He’s not the biggest problem, but it’s the easiest change to make
The Knicks roster is better than it showed these playoffs.