Grading the Knicks at the halfway point of the season

41 down, 41 to go.

Following last night’s defeat at the hands of the up-and-coming Detroit Pistons, the Knicks are officially at the halfway point of the 2024-25 season. Doesn’t feel like it, right? We’re as close to the playoffs as we were to Opening Night.

There have been ups (9-game winning streak), downs (the last two weeks), and maddening meh-ness (first 12 games). Overall, the Knicks are 26-15, third in the Eastern Conference, and on pace for 52 wins, the most since 2012-13.

Overall? I’d give the team a B+.

Some will complain about being only 11 games over .500, but I won’t. What some need to understand is that all-in does not necessarily mean win-now. Sure, the Knicks are good enough to compete for a championship if everything is cohesive. That said, the weaknesses in defense and depth will likely stop them from hoisting their first Larry O’Brien trophy since Richard Nixon was in office. However, remember again that the front office built this team to have a four-year window and that they consolidated depth and assets for star power. Teams in their spots have been able to add depth gradually through the Taxpayer MLE and draft picks.

Now, the real grades.

Jacob Toppin, Kevin McCullar Jr., Mitchell Robinson, Matt Ryan, Ariel Hukporti, Pacome Dadiet, Tyler Kolek: Incomplete

In the midseason edition, the three healthy rooks had grades, but their sample size is now beyond statistically insignificant to grade. The same goes for the two who haven’t played, Jacob Toppin and Matt Ryan. The bench mob will continue to mop up blowouts, but for any of them to crack the rotation, they’ll need to stop getting snowed in at the end of games.

Landry Shamet: C- (Q1 grade: N/A)

You may ask, how come Landry Shamet gets a grade but Tyler Kolek doesn’t? Shamet’s played only one more minute.

Kolek’s minutes have predominantly been garbage time, while Shamet has gotten a bunch of run as an 8th/9th man.

Shamet’s offense has been very disappointing, just 39.5% from the field and a ghastly 4-for-20 from three. This holds him back a lot, but he’s saved from a D because of a pleasant surprise: his defense.

He has a team-best 107.3 defensive rating, and despite the fact his shot hasn’t been falling, he’s occasionally been trusted to play deeper than Payne, although not recently.

Precious Achiuwa: C- (Q1: Incomplete)

Another guy who started the season on the shelf, Achiuwa has had his moments but his weaknesses have been shown. Achiuwa has a net rating of 0.0 and, bafflingly, has the worst defensive rating on the team. The two-big lineup was experimented with, but hasn’t been used much of a late despite some success (+8.1 net rating in 130 minutes).

We do have to remember is that Achiuwa is the test dummy for what Mitchell Robinson (who should begin practicing by the end of the month) will look like in this lineup. Achiuwa is Temu Mitch in terms of defense and rebounding, although he’s capable of taking a shot outside two feet (he’s 5-for-14 on threes this year? Wow).

Jericho Sims: B- (Q1: B-)

At the quarter-season update, I said Sims had the second lowest per-36 points average in NBA at 5.2. It is still second worst at 5.2, but now Maxi Kleber is closer to him.

Nothing has changed with Sims. He still never shoots the ball, never scores, grabs a bunch of rebounds, and is unusually good at the rim. Opponents are still shooting under 42% at the rim against Sims, over 20 percentage points lower than league average.

As such, teams are interested in acquiring the now-part timer. Sims has been pushed out of the normal rotation since Achiuwa’s return and recently, he’s lost garbage time minutes to Ariel Hukporti. Will the third longest tenured Knick make it to the playoffs? I’d guess no.

Cameron Payne: B (Q1: A)

Payne is… interesting. He’s First-Team All-Vibes and overall, the numbers aren’t bad. That said, the lows are low.

When Payne is off, his erratic offense is maddening. Terry Johnson has incredible shooting confidence which sometimes leads to horrific misses.

His minutes are also inconsistent. Thibodeau essentially iced him out of the second half of games for a week until his spot start against the Jazz on New Year’s Day. Since then, he’s played better, scoring 13 PPG in his last three games as a bench sparkplug with Deuce McBride still finding his rhythm after his hamstring injury.

Deuce McBride: B+ (Q1: A-)

Deuce is in a bit of a slump, really the first since he became a bench fixture a year ago. In his last nine games since December 21, he’s shooting just 27.3% from 3. Add in a hamstring injury and you have the answer to the age-old question of “Why is our bench so bad?”

McBride is still shooting 39% from 3 on the season, has the second-best net rating on the squad (+9.0), pairs extremely well with Brunson (+10.1 net rating), and remains a pest defensively. Can’t knock him too much, but the Knicks need the best out of him to snap out of his slide.

OG Anunoby: B+ (Q1: A+)

This recent stretch has been rough for Anunoby. His shot has been off for over a month. Since December 7th, he’s shooting 28.7% from 3. He’s shooting just 34.3% from 3 this season (lowest since 2018-19). After shooting well over 40% from the corners for several years, he’s at 34.8% this year. Really not sure what’s going on with him, although some theorize that fatigue is hitting him the hardest.

OG has played 70 games once in his career. He’s played 41 straight games, which is the longest streak of his since he played 59 in a row from November 2019 to… August 2020, prime bubble szn.

Bridges and Hart are used to the minutes. Overall, Brunson and KAT are still under 35 a game. OG might be getting hit hard by this. Overall, he’s paid for defense and remains an effective defender, but he hasn’t been the same since his 40-piece in Denver.

Josh Hart: A+ (Q1: A+)

The Hart of the Knicks maintains perfect marks. Josh is endlessly durable, having only missed one game due to unspecified personal reasons. He’s averaging 14.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 5.5 assists on 57% from the field and 38% from 3. He remains the only guard in the NBA shooting better than 65% from 2 and, again, averages 9.4 RPG at 6’4”.

On a team that moves as slow as anyone, he pushes the pace and leads fastbreaks by himself. He’s enjoying a career year and is as much of a fan favorite as a role player can be.

Mikal Bridges: B+ (Q1: C-)

Our most improved student is Mikal Bridges, who has completely rebounded from an early season shooting slide (if you ignore this ugly stretch).

Bridges, since November 27, is shooting 37.3% from downtown and if you cut it off before his harrowing four game stretch linked earlier, he shot 41.7% over eighteen games. He’s still at 34.4% for the season, but his marksmanship in the mid-range has been great.

You know how Josh Hart shoots a ridicilous percentage at the rim? Bridges is even better, shooting an unreal 80.2% in the restricted area, the best in the NBA (min. 100 FGA). Josh is fifth at 75.4%.

His defense has been inconsistent. Some games, you see why he used to be a DPOY finalist. Others not so much. The tracking numbers paint him as a positive:

Jalen Brunson: A (Q1: A)

Despite the recent slump that conclusively ended with his masterpiece on Sunday, Brunson has been as steady as ever, averaging 25.7 points and 7.6 assists on 48/39/83 splits.

Very few players can turn it on and carry a team on their backs in close games, which is what Brunson has done many times. He should be an all-star starter, but could be relegated to the bench with LaMelo Ball running away with the fan vote.

Karl-Anthony Towns: A+ (Q1: A)

Screw the defense. Give him the plus.

BasketballForever recently moved Towns into third in their MVP ladder and it makes sense. He’s been in the top 5-6 in the NBA.com ladder and is third on Basketball-Reference. He’s been unreal this season, averaging 25.4 points, 14 rebounds, and shooting 45% from 3 at seven feet tall. He has the highest net rating on the team at +9.7 and has been a hub of offense all season. He is the second-most efficient big in P&Rs behind Nikola Jokic at 1.34 PPP, while his most common ballhandler (Brunson) is one of the most efficient ballhandlers.

He’s played through some nagging injuries, including jumper’s knee and whatever happened with his hand last night. Persistence personified, as Clyde would say.

Tom Thibodeau: B- (Q1: B-)

Same old, same old.

When I published the quarter-season grades, the comments did not take kindly to my grade of Thibs. However, there seem to be two camps forming in the Knicks fanverse about the coach.

One camp views the high minutes as being out of necessity due to lack of depth and how Thibs is bringing the best out of everyone (KAT, Sims, previously DiVincenzo and Hartenstein).

The other views him as a hinderance with outdated defensive schemes, an inability to trust the bench, and some are even throwing out the “Mark Jackson” term, signifying how they believe Thibs isn’t the right coach and the Knicks need a Steve Kerr to win a championship, similar to the dynasty Warriors.

I’m not taking a side. The grade is a mixture of both. There’s room for improvement, as is with almost everyone.

Offense: A- (previously A+, but the 3pt cold spells are bad!)
Defense: C- (prev. C-, lot of room to improve)

Self-explanatory.