thelesterlee
Last season, the Knicks gained homecourt advantage in the playoffs after finishing the year with the 3rd ranked defense in the NBA. 11 games into this year and the Knicks defense is ranked 26th and allowing random players to have the best games of their careers against them.
So why does the Knicks defense suck?
The obvious answer is the replacing of Elfrid Payton and Reggie Bullock in the starting 5 with Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier. Both Walker and Fournier are astronomically better offensive players than the guys they took over for but are food defensively.
The Knicks starting lineup is getting killed by 13 points per 100 possessions which is the 6th worst in the NBA among lineups who have played 100+ possessions together.
Their weak guards get crushed on screens forcing either Nerlens Noel or Mitch Robinson to come up and hedge pick and rolls thus leading to the roll man to get met at the rim by Julius Randle instead of the aforementioned shot-blockers who have to cover up for the poor perimeter defense.
And Julius Randle is in no way a rim protector.
Opponents are shooting 67.7% at the rim and 41.1% from 3 against this Knicks defense. I mean, that’s not good. The only team that allows more wide-open 3-point attempts are the Houston Rockets and everyone on the Rockets is like, 18-years old.
It is wild that going into the season we all believed that Kemba Walker would be able to play more minutes and give Derrick Rose rest so that Rose can come off the bench and do what he does best without having to exert too much energy over the course of a long 82-game season.
We’re two weeks in and it appears as though Kemba will be getting the same minutes that Elfrid Payton did the year prior because he might as well not even be on the court defensively.
However, the biggest problem this team faces is their transition defense. The Knicks are 6th right now in turnovers per game which means other teams are getting steals and getting easy fast break points.
At the end of the day, the Knicks are 7-4. They’re fine. None of this really matters yet. But I can’t watch Ricky Rubio score 37 points against this team again. I’ll h*rt myself.
