Knicks Notes: Towns, McBride, Diawara, Contender Status

While the Knicks have had a relatively successful season to this point, one thing has stood out on the negative side, according to the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy: Karl-Anthony Towns‘ role in coach Mike Brown‘s offensive scheme.

The responsibilities allocated to Towns have, at times, appeared the least stratified, and have been partially to blame for Towns putting up the lowest scoring total of his career since his rookie season, though his poor shooting also falls on his shoulders.

Bondy believes that both Towns and Brown must shoulder the burden of fixing Towns’ offensive output, especially in regard to his number of field goal attempts, which are the lowest of his career. For the Knicks to be as effective as they can be, Towns needs to be a consistently major part of the offensive attack, and Bondy writes that there are too many games where that’s not the case.

Towns had the added distraction of being in and out of trade rumors, especially surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo, since last summer, but he’s trying his best to block out the noise, Steve Popper writes for Newsday.

“I continue to worry about what’s the task at hand,” Towns said. “That’s being the best player I can be for my brothers and my teammates here in New York, continue to go out there and impact winning. I keep saying that all the time. I know you guys think it’s redundant, but it’s true. It’s how I approach the year, the season. Every game is about can I impact winning the most.”

We have more from the Knicks:

• There’s still no timeline for return for Miles McBride, who has been out since late January and underwent surgery for a sports hernia in early February, Bondy writes. “It’s going to be a process coming back,” McBride said. “I’m feeling the love from the whole organization. They want me back but they want me back right. So that’s the main thing.” McBride is having the best season of his career and is a key part of the Knicks’ improved depth this season, so his healthy return will be very important for the team come playoffs. But that likely won’t be coming soon. “It’s really a slow process,” he said. “So I’m starting to do some form shooting (shooting without jumping). And I’m starting to do a few strengthening exercises for the area I was injured.”
• Mohamed Diawara has been a breakout depth player for the Knicks, but he got his first taste of how tough the league is when he was momentarily bumped from his usual spot in the rotation as Brown looked to see what newcomer Jeremy Sochan could bring off the bench. While that was a humbling moment, the rookie didn’t let it change his approach, Bondy writes. Brown is aware of how such a change could impact a young player, and has tried to mitigate its effects. “Yes, it can [hurt his confidence],” Brown said. “But that’s my job more than anybody else’s is to make sure I communicate with him and anybody else when that happens. There’s a part of me — and I could be wrong about this — but there’s a part of me that doesn’t think so because I started him. And I thought it would rattle him. It doesn’t rattle him.” Diawara responded well against the Bucks as he was once again back in his customary spot in the rotation, Bondy notes in a separate piece. He had 10 points and led the team in plus-minus. Against the Spurs today, he put up 14 points in a blowout win.
• While there has been some consternation as to the ceiling of the team, especially as it lost game after game to the Pistons, in today’s win over the Spurs, the Knicks looked like contenders, Jared Schwartz writes for the Post. New York was able to snap San Antonio’s 11-game winning streak thanks to a strong outing from Mikal Bridges and smart defense from OG Anunoby and Towns on Victor Wembanyama, forcing him into seven turnovers and limiting him to just two points in the fourth quarter. “We started taking the right shots,” Brown said. “I told our guys ‘let that thing fly.’ Once we started letting it fly, good things started to happen.”