The New York Knicks front office has full clarity of their championship window.
They understand little bitty Jalen Brunson won’t be a Top 5 playoff performer forever.
I trust they will make the correct moves this offseason to keep the Knicks in the title picture.
But after watching the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers have a 7-game battle—I have some ideas on where the Knicks may improve.
Here are 3 lesson the Knicks can learning from watching 2025 NBA Finals
1. You don’t need more scoring off the bench, you need defense.
The Indiana Pacers stole Game 1 and then dragged the Knicks in Game—stealing the first two games at Madison Square Garden.
And then the Knicks adjusted.
Delon Wright and Landry Shamat were dusted off to run around and pressure Pacers ballhandlers.
It was so impactful, Tyrese Haliburton even talked about it post-game:
“All four of the guys that played off the bench are really defensive guys and they come in and wreak havoc.”
Tyrese Haliburton talks about how the Knicks’ bench changed tonight’s game: pic.twitter.com/WLoYdBOwT6
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2025
“All four of the guys that played off the bench are defensive guys, and they come in and wreak havoc. I thought we just didn’t do a good job of continuing to play fast. I feel like I did a poor job of keeping pace in the game. Especially in the fourth there. I felt like I was walking the ball up every play.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t have scorers coming off the bench.
Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins and Alex Caruso came off their bench with zip ties and hammers.
For 48 straight minutes, the Thunder put fresh defenders out there to strangle opposing offenses.
Constant pressure on ball-handlers all game long.
You do not need Cam Payne to come out and spam 3’s.
This is especially true for a Knicks team with 4 players in their starting five all capable of scoring 20+ points on any night.
Get Mitchell Robinson, Josh Hart. Miles McBridge and one more wing defender off the bench (someone better than Precious Achiuwa, preferably) and send them out in shiesty masks, fresh off the bench to come clobber guys.
And for the rest of the night, you stagger the minutes of Brunson/KAT/Bridges/OG so you always have to primary scorers surrounded by dogs. At all times.
2. Pass the ball
The Knicks clearly prioritized inside scoring last season.
And it makes sense.
You put pressure on the rim and you’re likely force the refs to blow the whistle, leading to easy points at the free throw line and potentially getting your opponents in foul trouble.
Makes sense.
Except that’s not how the playoffs work.
We saw it in the first round against the Detroit Pistons.
The Knicks were getting jumped at the rim and the refs weren’t calling a thing, so they were just chucking up garbage directly into Jalen Duren’s chest and then crying to the refs about it.
The “drive and kick” made Gregg Popovich the greatest coach of all time.
That shit still works.
Collapsing the defense into the paint and throwing it back out to the perimeter for open 3’s will always work.
The Knicks will drive and cut and swarm the paint all playoff series and then are flabbergasted by a no-call as the Pacers are already on the other side of the court watching Obi Toppin tomahawk dunk on an empty net.
I love Jalen Brunson. He may have restored my passion for basketball after Emmanuel Mudiay robbed me of it. But he’s one of the best off-ball scorers and 3-point shooters in the NBA, never allowed to exercise those muscles because he holds the ball the entire shot clock, head faking and jap-stepping his way into a crowded paint, hoping the refs bail him out.
Shai Gilgeous Alexander had 10 assists in Game 5.
The Thunder won.
He had 2 assists in Game 6.
The Thunder lost.
He had 12 assists in Game 7.
The Thunder won.
Passing the ball is good but the lack of passing leads to my final point…
3. Trust each other
The Indiana Pacers started off slow but had the third-best record in the NBA from January til the end.
It’s like they got better every day—until Tyrese Haliburton’s leg exploded.
Tom Thibodeau coached the team to win, but didn’t prioritize exploring different ways to win.
In early March, Jalen Brunson turned his ankle in an overtime loss to the Lakers.
Dope game.
LeBron almost chokeslammed Stephen A. Smith after. Good times. Minus the ankle thing.
Brunson missed 15 games.
A whole month, Brunson was gone, right before the playoffs.
A perfect opportunity to see what this offense looks like with KAT as the primary intiator or Mikal Bridges at the top of the key operating pick and rolls or finding out how to make OG Anunoby comfortable in the offense, hey, maybe a chance to see if the rookie Tyler Kolek or Pacome Dadiet can ball with the big fellas.
Instead, they fumbled and stumbled around, winning some games, losing some.
- No new plays were installed.
- A scoring hierarchy wasn’t developed.
- No new rotation players were tested.
A golden opportunity to develop on-court chemistry with the other 11 guys and all that came from that window was Mikal Bridges telling reporters that Thibs plays the starters too many minutes.
A player reached out to the media to help him get across to his head coach that he and his very respectful teammates—guys who would never create a confrontation with their head coach—just wanted more time to rest on the bench.
Thibs ignored it.
Tony Bradley showed up to the Pacers a few weeks before the season and he was a crucial backup center through Game 7 of the Finals.
Thibs would have rather played Josh Hart at center for 48 minutes than develop trust with a new guy.
At the end of the day, it felt like the Knicks didn’t trust the coach, the coach didn’t trust all the players and the players who don’t have podcasts together didn’t trust each other.
Trust allows risk and variety and unpredictability—potential advantages in a playoff series.
But when there isn’t trust, well, then a team and a coaching staff just watch Jalen Brunson go out there and figure shit out.
The Knicks need a head coach who trusts his players and that trust will trickle down to the court.
Trickle down trust.
Lester 4 GM.
Thanks for reading.
Let me know how you think the Knicks can improve this offseason, leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.
User Comments3