The window may be open for the New York Knicks to win their first NBA championship since 1973 this season. For them to do so, they will need to make the most of a talented but imperfect roster.
New head coach Mike Brown has a sensational big-game player in Jalen Brunson and strong two-way players in OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart to work with. In the middle, he has Karl-Anthony Towns, a five-time All-Star who has plenty of talent and skill but has perhaps not maximized his gifts.
Brown’s predecessor, Tom Thibodeau, wasn’t able to maximize what the Knicks have on their roster offensively. Brown says that he wants to diversify how Towns is used and open up not only the big man’s game but also the team’s overall offense.
“The biggest thing is we want to move KAT around,” Brown said, via The Athletic. “We don’t want to keep him in the trail spot or at the top of the floor all the time. We want to move him around to the weak corner, strong corner, weak wing and sometimes as the push man offensively.”
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According to James L. Edwards III, Towns will be playing both the 4 and 5 spots after playing almost exclusively at center last season under Thibodeau. The big man is expected to shoot more 3-pointers from the corners while playing at the 4, and when he’s at the 5, he will play a role he hasn’t really had in the past.
“When Towns is playing center, Brown envisions a world in which Towns is used as more of a hub for the offense,” Edwards wrote. “Brown, while in Sacramento, utilized Domantas Sabonis similarly. Towns might not be the passer Sabonis is, but he is a good one and has more gravity as a shooter and scorer to put pressure on a defense.”
At times during May’s Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers, Towns operated from the top of the floor and put the ball on the court and looked to wheel his way to the basket. He averaged 3.1 assists a game during the 2024-25 regular season, but in his first nine seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he was at 4.4 assists a game or above three times.
Brown elaborated on how Towns will operate as a facilitator.
“When he is at the 5, we feel he’s a really good passer,” Brown said of Towns. “Sometimes he’ll be at the rim. Sometimes he’ll be at the elbow. When he’s at the elbow, that’s when he’s going to be in a big decision-making role, and we feel he’s more than capable of making good decisions with the basketball, whether it’s a (dribble hand off), pass to the cutter. We also feel when we do pass to him on the elbow and have movement and floor spacing around him that he’s a huge threat. He’s one dribble away from laying it up or doing what he does best, which is realize where the contact is and draw a foul.”
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This all means Brunson will operate without the ball, looking to get open and perhaps working off screens, a la Stephen Curry. It should be an interesting new wrinkle to an offense that was ninth in points per game and fifth in offensive rating last season.
Perhaps New York’s biggest weakness offensively under Thibodeau was the slow pace at which it played. One should expect the team to play at a faster pace under Brown and possibly even become a true up-tempo team. The Knicks may not have a super-athletic roster, but in Bridges, Anunoby and Hart, they do have players who can finish on the fast break, and Brunson, Hart, Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson and Malcolm Brogdon can all advance the basketball in transition.
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