A few great seasons, a lot of solid ones, and one really bad one
Fresh off the heels of a thrilling, and nearly disastrous, win against the Hawks, the Knicks head into the All-Star break with a record of 36-18. Despite dropping a few games they should’ve won and being 0-5 against the Thunder, Cavaliers, and Celtics, that’s still a damn good record. Specifics aside, if you told fans before the season that the Knicks would have two wins for every loss at this point, most would have probably taken that. But what about the individual players? How have they fared when compared to expectations?
Jalen Brunson: A-
The fact that Brunson can average 26.1 PPG, and 7.5 APG, and be named an All-Star starter and still get just an A- speaks volumes about just how much fans expect from him. And despite having a very good first half of the season, Brunson himself would likely be the first one to tell you that he could be better. Whether it’s the few uncharacteristically bad games he’s had, the improving but still not perfect balancing on when to score and when to defer, or the worst free-throw shooting season he’s had since 2021, Brunson still has room to improve. But as a whole, he’s still had an incredible season, hence the grade.
He’s improved as a playmaker and, as a team defender and has become one of the best, if not the best, clutch players in the league this season. This team goes as he goes, and as evident by the team’s record, Brunson has gone more often than not.
Karl-Anthony Towns: A
Towns came into a very difficult situation. Many fans had fallen in love with last season’s team, and the Towns trade meant losing two pivotal players from said team. As for Towns goes, he seemed pretty emotional about leaving the only team he had ever played for throughout his NBA career. But through 54 games, Towns has been everything we could have asked for and so, so much more.
His defense is still painful to watch, he commits unnecessary fouls pretty much every game, and he has passes and turnovers that make you want to pull your hair out. But he’s been considered a top-five MVP candidate for much of the season and joined Brunson as the first pair of Knicks teammates to be named All-Star starters in 50 years. His shooting and spacing have taken the Knicks’ offense to another level, his rebounding has been crucial, and his ability to be both a good passer and willing connector has made him indispensable.
OG Anunoby: B
Anunoby has had a very interesting season, to say the least. He started the season looking like a potential All-Star, averaging 19.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 1.5 SPG over his first 17 games, which was highlighted by a career-high 40-point game against the Nuggets. In the following 15 games, though, he managed to average just 13.2 PPG, while shooting just 41.5% from the field and 26.7% from three. And even more concerning was the fact that his defense seemed to take a bit of an uncharacteristic hit as well.
But just as fans started to panic, Anunoby turned it around again as he averaged 16.5 PPG, while shooting 49.5% from the field and 39.4% from three in the next 17 games. He’s still a very good player who, outside of that tough 15-game stretch, has had a nice season. But he’s recently found himself on the injury report again with a foot injury, and given he’s the second-highest-paid player on the team, the Knicks likely need a bit more from him a bit more consistently.
Josh Hart: A-
Hart, like some other Knicks, has his share of frustration-inducing moments. He still passes up wide-open threes at times, gets caught up in arguing with refs too often, and is prone to throwing ridiculous passes that lead to transition opportunities for opponents. But Hart has been incredible this season.
He’s been one of the most consistent players on this team this year and is having the best season of his career, averaging 14.7PPG, 9.6RPG, and 5.7APG while shooting a career-high 55.6% from the field. Hart isn’t the best player on this team, but he’s among the most important, and relative to expectations, he may be having the best season on the team.
Mikal Bridges: B
Bridges’ season has been similar to Anunoby’s but even more extreme. At his worst, which happened to come right at the beginning of the season, Bridges looked lost. In the 19 games before December, Bridges averaged 15.5 PPG, while shooting just 30.6% from three and was defending at a surprisingly subpar level as well. Then December came around, and Bridges looked like a totally different player. In the 32 games between December 1 and February 4, Bridges averaged 19.8PPG while shooting 51.6% from the field and 39.1% from three. He’s second on the team in plus/minus, leads the league in minutes, and the defense, outside of a few games recently, has looked better as well.
Some of this grading is due to recency bias, as he is averaging just 9.3 PPG over his last three games, but his incredibly slow start makes it hard to give him a higher grade, even if his good stretch was very good. We’ve now seen a big enough sample size to believe that Bridges can, and should, continue to be a good player for the Knicks, but with how much the Knicks gave up to get him, you wish he would just do a tiny bit more of everything.
Deuce McBride: B
McBride’s offensive numbers have not taken the leap that fans expected. In fact, they’ve regressed quite a bit. His field goal percentage is down from 45.2% to 41.7%, his three-point percentage is down from 41% to 37.6%, and his lack of improvement as a finisher around the rim and as a ball handler has left a lot to be desired. But somehow, many of the metrics still show that McBride has been a winning player who brings a tremendous amount of value when he is out there.
He’s still an incredible defender, especially at the point of attack, and even in his down year, he remains a good enough shooter to help space the floor. McBride may not have become the Sixth Man of the Year candidate that fans had hoped he would evolve into, but he’s nonetheless been a good player, whose name appears in a lot of the Knicks’ best statistical lineups and is second on the team in net rating. Add on the fact that he’s on one of the most team-friendly contracts in the league, and it’s hard to be too down on McBride, regardless of the down shooting numbers.
Cam Payne: B+
Payne is what he is. He’s a streaky, shoot-first ball of energy who isn’t a great defender but gives it his all and is pesky enough to earn playing time. On most nights, he’s nothing more and nothing less. But in that specific role, he’s been very good. When the Knicks signed Payne, most fans were against the signing as they thought it would cut into McBride’s minutes. But the pair have played together quite a bit, and truth be told, the Knicks have benefitted greatly from the signing. Dare I say, they might’ve needed him more than any fan or even they knew.
Through his first 48 games, Payne has averaged 7.4 PPG, and 2.6 APG, which seems rather mediocre. But he’s had 16 double-digit scoring games, and on multiple occasions, he’s completely changed the trajectory and momentum of the game with his energy. And while numbers aren’t everything, it’s also important to note that Payne leads the team in net rating.
Precious Achiuwa: B-
Achiuwa started the season with a hamstring, which was a bummer, given how good he looked during the preseason. And even when he did come back, the big man looked a bit slow and hesitant. But over his last 10 games, five of which he has started, Achiuwa is averaging 11.4 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 1.2 SPG, and 1.5 BPG. Unfortunately, much of the conversation surrounding Achiuwa has unfairly been around why he shouldn’t be starting—something he cannot control. Now, a lot of that argument are fair, as his added size doesn’t statistically improve their rebounding much, while his inclusion in the starting lineup clogs up the paint and gives the Knicks much less spacing.
But for the most part, Achiuwa has done everything in his control to be a solid defender, rebounder, and finisher, which is exactly what he was brought in to be. Unfortunately for Achiuwa, he just remains an awkward fit against most teams, and with Mitchell Robinson returning, there is a chance he becomes less important for this team.
Landry Shamet: C
Shamet’s counting stats (3.3 PPG, 0.8 RPG, 0.6 APG), look bad, and the eye test is no better. He is an undersized guard who tries on defense but isn’t always big or athletic enough to be a consistent wing-stopper, and offensively, his shot has looked completely off for the overwhelming majority of the 22 games he’s played. He has had a few nice games as of late, averaging 7 PPG over his last three games, but as a whole, he’s been pretty disappointing, and whenever he comes in, it feels like minutes the team has to survive—something you’d rather not have to think about in a rotation player for a team looking to contend. Fans likely didn’t expect much from Shamet coming into the season, but whatever those expectations were, he’s managed to underperform them.
Everybody else (Ariel Hukporti, Tyler Kolek, Jacob Toppin, Pacome Dadiet, Matt Ryan): Incomplete
Hukporti and Kolek have both played over 145 minutes each, but as a whole, the non-top nine in the rotation have been more or less irrelevant this season. That obviously comes as no surprise, as Tom Thibodeau has historically been very hesitant to play his young players. Both of the aforementioned rookies have shown some really nice things, with Hukporti showcasing a high level of activity on the defensive end, while Kolek, in the limited minutes he’s gotten, has displayed the ability to be a good passer and reader of defenses. But with how few minutes they’ve had and how little impact, good or bad, they’ve had on the season as a whole, it’s hard to give any of these guys a real and fair grade.