{"id":554035,"date":"2026-01-22T21:51:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/554035\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T21:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:51:14","slug":"knicks-have-a-rotation-advantage-thats-finally-back-in-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/554035\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks have a rotation advantage that\u2019s finally back in play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something good has happened for the New York Knicks that\u2019s flying under the radar amid their rampant struggles. It isn\u2019t even receiving enough attention following their butt-kicking of the Brooklyn Nets. This needs to change, because it\u2019s a huge deal\u2014a modest development, to be sure, but one with massive implications.<\/p>\n

Now that the Knicks are finally, mercifully, at full strength again, Mike Brown has the ability to lean on one of his most effective lineup combinations: the trio of Mitchell Robinson, Deuce McBride, and Landry Shamet.<\/p>\n

These three logged just over six minutes together during New York\u2019s Wednesday night shellacking of Brooklyn. The Knicks were a plus-12 in that time<\/a>, and dominated at both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n

Beating the Nets, of course, isn\u2019t worth throwing a parade. Not even for a Knicks squad in desperate need of a win<\/a>, any type of win, over any type of team.<\/p>\n

Still, this isn\u2019t just about a one-game sample size. The Deuce-Shamet-Robinson minutes have been a silent superhero virtually every time they\u2019re available. And the trickle-down effects of having this group together again cannot be understated.<\/p>\n

The Knicks just unlocked a cheat-code lineup\u2026and depth<\/p>\n

Absences from all three players have limited the McBride-Shamet-Robinson trio to just 10 appearances on the season<\/a>. That\u2019s a bummer. But New York is outsourcing opponents by roughly 17.2 points per 100 possessions when they do play together, while posting top-tier offensive and defensive ratings.<\/p>\n

Minor doses of small-sample theater are at play here. Opponents are shooting under 31 percent from three during the Deuce-Landry-Mitch minutes. That won\u2019t hold forever. But this trio still won their reps when the Knicks were blown out of the building by the Dallas Mavericks for crying out loud.<\/p>\n

If their success is not yet backed by enough volume, it\u2019s at least supported by logic. After a somewhat turbulent start on the less-glamorous end this year, Robinson\u2019s defense is back to being transformative, both around the basket and away from it. Yet, when he\u2019s on the floor with McBride and Shamet, he doesn\u2019t have to rely as much on his perimeter mobility. Deuce and Landry have probably been New York\u2019s two best point-of-attack defenders this season. For real.<\/p>\n

The degree to which they complement one another on defense isn\u2019t even the biggest benefit. This entire trio can be mixed and matched with any of the Knicks\u2019 primary names. Most notably, they can be used to insulate one or both of Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson on the defensive end, without torpedoing the half-court floor balance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the McBride-Shamet-Robinson trio promises a safety net independent of OG Anunoby, who is both overtaxed, and predominantly tethered to KAT\u2019s minutes. If the Knicks can buy time for Towns on defense without OG, it allows them to use him alongside Brunson, and unlock different combinations that way, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York has seen this trio work before<\/p>\n

Oh, and as for not having enough preexisting evidence, that isn\u2019t necessarily true. In the limited sample McBride, Shamet, and Robinson logged last year, across both the playoffs and regular season, the Knicks outpaced opponents by over 28.7 points per 100 possessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Having these three available at the same time is this team\u2019s secret weapon. Their effectiveness is not ephemeral. Granted, it doesn\u2019t preclude the front office from making a move at the trade deadline. Availability for Shamet and Robinson is always finicky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the Knicks do have these three, though, they are equal parts deep enough, flexible enough, and most critically of all, good enough to paper over their biggest concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Something good has happened for the New York Knicks that\u2019s flying under the radar amid their rampant struggles.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806],"class_list":{"0":"post-554035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-knicks","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkknicks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115940968664652391","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}