Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls by 40<\/a> on Friday. \u201cI can say that with a straight face because he\u2019s a great defender, and he does a lot of different things that people don\u2019t see on that end of the floor for us and for other teams [the Raptors] that he played for.\u201d<\/p>\nIt\u2019s not the only piece of BS at play.<\/p>\n
Because the NBA has implemented a policy requiring players to reach a specific workload threshold to qualify for end-of-season awards.<\/p>\n
And Anunoby, the Daily News has learned, has not yet reached that benchmark \u2014 even though he\u2019s played the minimum 65 games in an NBA season.<\/p>\n
The star Knicks wing suffered a hamstring injury five minutes into a Nov. 14 matchup against the Miami Heat. As a result, the game does not count toward the 65 needed to qualify for awards like MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA or All-Defensive Teams.<\/p>\n
The NBA\u2019s games-played policy requires a player to log 20 or more minutes in 65 games, with an exception allowing two games between 15 and 20 minutes. Anunoby has appeared in 65 games when you include the NBA Cup Final victory over the San Antonio Spurs, but he must play one more game for at least 15 minutes to officially qualify for All-Defensive Team consideration.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s just to qualify. Then, he\u2019ll have to earn the votes.<\/p>\n
And even though his defensive impact has spoken for itself over the course of his career, Anunoby has just one All-Defensive nod in nine seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cSheesh. That\u2019s surprising,\u201d said teammate Miles McBride, who watched in real time as the Knicks won 20 of the first 23 games Anunoby played after his arrival in the December 2023 trade with the Toronto Raptors. The Knicks are 107-54 in games Anunoby has played since the deal. They are 27-23 in games he\u2019s missed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like a roamer. He\u2019s like a [NFL] nickel[back] for us, honestly,\u201d McBride continued. \u201cHe can guard down. He can guard up. I mean, I think that speaks to his motor and his work ethic. But he\u2019s super important for us. The things he can do, his versatility is just huge for us and it takes us to another level when he\u2019s locked in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Raptor believes his time in Toronto kept his defensive impact under the radar. Yet he did not make either First or Second Team when traded to the Knicks in the middle of the 2023-24 season. He didn\u2019t make it last year, and quite frankly, he won\u2019t be surprised if he doesn\u2019t make it this year \u2014 even though it\u2019s one of his top priorities coming into every NBA season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I should have got [All-Defense] more, for sure. I think I should have got it last year. I think I should get it this year,\u201d he said after scoring 31 points in Friday\u2019s win over the Bulls. \u201cThat\u2019s definitely a goal of mine coming into the year, especially defensively, being on the First Team or Second Team.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully First.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anunoby isn\u2019t convinced the New York spotlight will be enough to sway voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully. We\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anunoby is averaging 16.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. He ranks 12th in defensive rating among players averaging 30 or more minutes and ninth in net rating among that group. His 1.6 steals per game rank ninth among players who\u2019ve appeared in at least 64 games and fourth among players averaging 30 or more minutes in that group.<\/p>\n
Last season, Anunoby played a career-high 74 games but did not make an All-Defensive Team. Instead, Atlanta\u2019s Dyson Daniels, OKC\u2019s Lu Dort, Golden State\u2019s Draymond Green, Cleveland\u2019s Evan Mobley and Houston\u2019s Amen Thompson earned First Team honors, while Ivica Zubac (Clippers), Rudy Gobert (Minnesota), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Memphis\/Utah), Toumani Camara (Portland) and Jalen Williams (OKC) made Second Team.<\/p>\n
That means voters believed there were 10 better defenders than No. 8 in orange and blue. It\u2019s hard enough to name five, especially five who qualify given the league\u2019s over-restrictive participation policy.<\/p>\n
\u201c[OG\u2019s] versatility is off the charts, and you can do a lot of things with your defense because of him,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd he deserves First Team All-Defense this year, and hopefully the powers that be will see it that way, too. Sorry about that to all the kids out there, but it is [bulls\u2013t].\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks already know what they have in their star wing. The question is whether the league will recognize it \u2014 before another All-Defensive team comes and goes without him. Anunoby\u2019s reputation as a dominant defender long preceded his arrival at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about time he gets recognized as such.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s half the game: 50 percent offense. 50 percent defense. I just take pride in [defense]. It\u2019s important, especially for winning games. It\u2019s very important,\u201d Anunoby said. \u201c[I think we\u2019re playing good defense as a team], but I think we can get even better. I think we\u2019ll continue to get better and better and be our best when we get into the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Brown apologizes for his French, ladies and gentlemen \u2014 particularly the children watching the MSG Networks\u2019 Knicks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[69841,7,304,3357,6,1136,191,3810,3806,741],"class_list":{"0":"post-698279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-all-defense","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-mike-brown","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-knicks","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkknicks","17":"tag-og-anunoby"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116347986905264864","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698279","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=698279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}