It’s finally that time of year again—the NBA is back! After an offseason full of twists, turns and even a Summer Olympics, the regular season is upon us — and with it much to discuss. After winning their 18th championship in franchise history, the Boston Celtics made moves this offseason to maintain their core of championship players. Derrick White and Jayson Tatum both signed multi-year extensions to stay in Beantown. Not to mention Jaylen Brown is under contract for the next five seasons. These moves from the Celtics front office show that Boston is all in on this team, and they believe a dynasty is brewing. But they aren’t the only team who thinks it’s their turn. About four hours down the road, the New York Knicks have been making some noise for themselves. Like a scene out of “Rounders,” Leon Rose and the New York front office have pushed all their chips in, unloading the roster for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns in a pair of trades that could change the trajectory of this franchise forever. The team is as close to winning a championship as they’ve been since the 1990s, and in this week’s edition of Sargeant’s Orders, we will preview what basketball fans should expect from New York.
Unloading the roster isn’t an understatement. The Knicks have completely turned it upside down and are betting everything on it. Looking back at the Knicks roster before they traded for O.G. Anunoby, only Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Miles McBride still wear the blue and orange. This shows the lengths the team has taken to build a championship roster around Brunson, whose contract they refuse to waste. With Towns in town — no pun intended — not only is the seven-foot big man expected to feast, but the potential for Brunson to take his game to an entirely new level has never been greater. With Towns’ ability to shoot the three-ball, there is a strong possibility that the paint will be much more open for Brunson to go to work, and this is where he feasts. Despite being 6-foot-2, Brunson excels down low with head fakes, step backs and other shifty moves. This allows him to either draw a foul, score or find an open teammate. Centers will have a more challenging time playing help defense, thanks to the New York starter’s ability to shoot it from virtually anywhere. Fans should also expect this squad to hit the ground running, as Bridges was teammates with Brunson and Hart at Villanova, meaning the chemistry will be there from day one.
Bridges and Anunoby will be the perfect defensive tandem for Head Coach Tom Thibodeau. Not only are both wings essentially positionless on defense, but they both have complementary strengths to shut down scorers. Anunoby is better against taller small forwards and fours, while Bridges can shut down most threes. These athletes possess exceptional quickness and length to shut down offense inside and beyond the arc. The Big Apple duo is also great off the ball and, as a result, can use their size and quickness to shut down passing lanes quickly or anticipate offensive sequences before they happen better than most. Both Bridges and Anunoby are favorites to make the NBA All-Defensive team, and with a coach as defensively minded as Thibodeau, this will take the New York defense to a whole different level. Not only can the forwards get it done defensively, but their offense is just as good and will be a significant factor in how this year shakes out.
A season ago, Anunoby put up a respectable 15 points per night on nearly 50% from the field. If need be, the former Raptor can also get it done from three-point land, shooting at nearly a 40% clip. Bridges averaged 20 points a game on slightly less efficient shooting, 44% from the field and 37% from downtown, although he and Anunoby have demonstrated positive offensive growth each season in the Association. The leaps the duo takes this year will be something to monitor, and even if they do have an off night offensively, the three other starters for New York possess enough scoring talent to ride the ship.
The newest Knick, Towns, will be the second scoring option for this squad behind Brunson and will be pivotal in this team’s success. A season ago, the 28-year-old racked up 22 points a night on an efficient 50/42% slash, and he isn’t as poor of a rebounder as one might think. While he averaged eight rebounds per night a season ago, he was also competing on the glass with 7-foot-1 big man Rudy Gobert every night, and the pair essentially split rebounds for Minnesota.
Of course, how could anyone forget about Brunson, who has played at an MVP level since his 2022 arrival to the City That Never Sleeps. The former Villanova guard is the nucleus of this squad, and fans should expect yet another All-Star-level performance from Brunson.
Hart will also play a crucial role for this squad. While the guard does not score as much as his other teammates, his role in New York is extraordinary. Hart is arguably the best undersized rebounder in the Association. All season long, he left games with double-digit rebounding totals and played with an unmatched defensive intensity. While he isn’t known for it, Hart isn’t afraid to take the big shots, as his game one performance against the 76ers proved, hitting massive threes down the stretch to seal the deal for the Knicks and having a fourth quarter to remember. Performances like Hart’s in game one are well within the guard’s range; the issue is that the Knicks are so talented that Hart does not take that role on. It is likely he will hold the same role as last season for this campaign, although that doesn’t make his contributions any less important, as it’s hard to imagine New York would have had the success they did without his grit and hustle.
The Celtics are still the team to beat coming off a championship, although New York has closed the gap by a massive amount. The bane of New York’s existence this past season was the injury bug. While it has infected Mitchell Robinson, the rest of the squad enters the 2024-2025 campaign healthy and ready to go. If the Knicks can stay healthy and play up to their potential, the team has a good chance at planning a championship parade route down Fifth Avenue.