Reflecting on 11 preseason questions heading into the Knicks’ 2023 offseason
Funny how much things have changed in six months for the Knicks.
On the morning of Oct. 17, 2022, just hours before the New York Knicks tipped off their regular season in Memphis, I sat down on Twitter and fired off 11 questions that I hoped the Knicks would answer over the awaiting 82-plus games. It’s now six months removed from opening night, and the Knicks just wrapped up an eventful 2022-23 campaign. I thought it’d be fun to revisit my 11 questions and reflect on how far this team has come, so here we go:
What is Quentin Grimes ceiling as a creator? Will Thibs enable his development by giving him creation reps? Or is he getting frozen to the perimeter like last year?
I find it funny that the first question on my mind that morning centered on Quentin Grimes, who scored fewer points in the 2023 playoffs than all but two of the Knicks’ rotation players (Isaiah Hartenstein and Deuce McBride). Perhaps I was still riding the high of Grimes’ Summer League run, where he emerged as a well-rounded offensive dynamo who fell to the Knicks at pick 25 out of pure luck.
I believe the answer to this question is still to be determined. Grimes battled an injury at the beginning of the season and Tom Thibodeau did him no favors by starting Evan Fournier during his rehab process. When Grimes was finally inserted into the starting lineup on Dec. 4 — which is now a holiday on my calendar — everything seemed to change. It’s a story told thousands of times on this site: the Knicks, behind Grimes, became one of the most dangerous teams in the league, and there are plenty of numbers to prove it.
For a large portion of the season, including the period directly after he was inserted into the starting lineup, Grimes played a similar offensive role to last year. In this complementary position, Grimes didn’t get to showcase the shot-creation chops that had scouts drooling during his high school career (or had me drooling during Summer League). The Houston product excelled as a catch-and-shoot weapon that could lock up your favorite player at the point of attack, exactly what the Knicks needed.
As the weather got warmer, so did Quentin Grimes. From March 1 to the end of the regular season, Grimes averaged a stellar 15 points per game on 52/45/79 splits — his trademark perimeter defense the cherry on top. It was during this stretch that Grimes began to exhibit more of the shot-creation prowess that Knick fans had longed to see. With Jalen Brunson missing time due to injury, Grimes shouldered more offensive responsibility and demonstrated the ability we saw in Summer League.
Grimes was a nonfactor in the Knicks’ Round 1 series against Cleveland, but his defense on Jimmy Butler and ability to space the floor was what helped New York extend their series against Miami. We’ve spent plenty of time talking about this on Twitter, but who knows how that series would’ve looked if Thibs hadn’t started Josh Hart for Games 1-3?
Can Evan Fournier stay out of the way of RJ and Brunson on offense and not be a complete liability on defense?
How about this one for a laugh? To the surprise of few, Fournier was a complete nightmare in nearly every minute he played for the orange and blue this season. While plenty of folks on the internet knew it’d be best to play Grimes over Fournier well before the leaves changed colors, I was actually surprised Thibs didn’t wait until later than Dec. 4 to finally pull the plug on the Frenchman. After all, this is the same coach who started Elfrid Payton at point guard for an entire season not long ago.
Evan Fournier is a great dude, and he handled this whole season like a pro’s pro. He’s even provided some good laughs along the way! I wish him the best in the future.
Is RJ going to assert himself and make sure he's first in the pecking order every night? Or will there be nights where he is forced to defer to Randle and Brunson? Also, what will RJ's shot diet look like? Are we going to see multiple pull-up/off-the-dribble threes per game?
There are a lot of things in life I’d prefer to spend my time writing about more than I would RJ Barrett’s 2022-23 regular season. Fortunately for a day-one RJ truther like me, the third-overall pick showed us what we’ve been waiting for when the Knicks arrived back in the postseason, averaging 19.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 11 games.
Looking back at my question, I think my expectations for RJ may have been too lofty. I was anticipating some sort of magical leap from Barrett where he’d be attempting a healthy dose of Zach LaVine-esque pull-up threes, while also being the left-handed freight train and defensive stopper we know and love. I even thought RJ would act as the No. 1 option on some nights, with Brunson and Randle leading his supporting cast. That didn’t happen.
What did happen, however, was RJ figuring out how to contribute in a high-efficiency playoff offense while being a multi-positional threat on defense. That’s pretty good for a guy who doesn’t turn 23 for another month.
Is Julius Randle going to act like a professional basketball player again?
This was certainly a good question. Had I written this piece after the Knicks closed out their regular season on April 9, my answer here would look a lot different than it does today. Randle was fucking awesome for practically the entire regular season. As an outspoken Randle disbeliever, I had to eat my words and issue apologies multiple times this past winter.
I retracted those apologies and regurgitated those words following Randle’s dreadful postseason display. There are certain players in the NBA who are 82-game guys, and certain players who are 16-game guys. After a nightmare display against Atlanta in 2021, and a repeat in both Miami and Cleveland, it might be time to call Julius Randle an 82-game guy. The Knicks’ roster was strong enough to survive even the worst of Randle’s antics and get themselves two wins away from the Eastern Conference Finals, but it’s clear that it's going to be difficult for this team to elevate themselves to the next level with Randle still on the roster.
Is Mitchell Robinson locked in enough (mentally and physically) where New York can rely on him for 65-plus games of elite rim protection? We've seen his focus level fluctuate in the past and that can't happen with the team’s lack of bench rim protection.
Robinson had a career year in 2022-23. He may have averaged a career-low in points per game, and he didn’t shatter any of Wilt Chamberlain’s efficiency records, but this was the best version of Robinson we’ve seen since he came into the league in 2018. Perhaps I was shooting too high with my 65-plus games bet, because I’m more than satisfied with the 59 regular season games he followed up with a solid playoff performance. Not all of his games were perfect, but that’s not a standard I’d hold him to. Isaiah Hartentein was a terrific understudy when needed.
In regard to Robinson’s focus level, I learned a valuable lesson this year. I entered this season fearful of Robinson’s social media activity, as he had spent a large portion of the summer talking in Twitter Spaces and posting his Fortnite wins on Snapchat. For some players, that could be an indication of a lack of focus, lack of care, or lack of awareness. Not Mitchell Robinson, though. That’s just who he is.
Mitch had his fair share of social media “incidents” this season. Remember the time he went back and forth with Nic Claxton stans on Twitter after the Knicks wiped the floor with the Nets? Or what about the time he complained about his lack of touches on Snapchat? We also can’t forget his potential Julius Randle subtweet after the Knicks’ Game 3 loss in Miami.
The point I’m trying to make here is that we now have five years’ worth of Mitch acting silly online. How many times has his online activity actually affected his on-court play? Very few.
Will Immanuel Quickley play his way into an expanded role? If not, how will Quickley and his representation react to a limited role? Playing behind Rose and Brunson in a potential contract year could get ugly.
I’m giving myself a pat on the back for this one, because Immanuel Quickley sure did play himself into an expanded role this season. I’m also laughing at myself while patting my back, because I was seriously concerned about how many touches Derrick Rose would take from IQ this year. Thibodeau (and the powers that be) saved me from that experience, as Rose only appeared in 338 minutes for the Knicks this season.
Quickley’s individual growth over the regular season was possibly the most personally vindicating storyline of the year. This season began with Quickley getting his name floated in trade rumors while stuck in one of the more brutal shooting slumps I’ve ever witnessed. Quickley responded how many of us thought he would, putting his head down and emerging as a 6-foot-2 defensive leader who could put constant pressure on the rim and space the floor with his shooting. Quickley was a driving factor in both the Knicks’ eight- and nine-game winning streaks this year, capping off the latter with an instant-classic performance in a road win over the Celtics.
IQ’s junior year with the Knicks came to a sour end, as he struggled to find a rhythm against both Cleveland and Miami before suffering a brutal ankle injury at the hands (knees?) of Bam Adebayo. After the regular season, I believed Quickley had locked in a serious payday on an extension this summer, but his uncharacteristic playoff display could push things down the line if he decides to bet on himself. There’s still one more year on Quickley’s rookie deal and he’d enter restricted free agency in 2024 if the Knicks don’t come to terms on an extension this summer. I’m not a finance guru and don’t own a crystal ball, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens during negotiations this July.
How long will it take the bench unit to adjust to playing with Isaiah Hartenstein? We saw in preseason how different the offense looks without a paint-roaming center like Robinson/Nerlens Noel, and there is clearly going to be an adjustment period for guys like IQ/Obi Toppin.
A better version of this question would be “How long will it take Hartenstein to adjust to the bench unit,” not the other way around. Silly me for expecting Thibodeau to initially deploy Hartenstein in a fashion that was at all mindful of his strengths.
Hartenstein put himself on the map with the Clippers as an offensive hub who could orchestrate an offense from the top of the key, often setting high screens and finding cutters off the short roll. Hartenstein posted a 19.3% assist rate in 2021-22, which was tied for sixth among the league’s bigs. I expected Thibodeau to utilize Hartenstein similarly to Tyronn Lue, and that was not the case. For a large portion of the season, Hartenstein was forced into the same role that Noel, Taj Gibson, and Jericho Sims had played before him: stand under the rim, grab rebounds, finish plays, and don’t expect any offense to be run through you.
Combine that with the Achilles injury he'd brought in from the offseason, and it's easy to see why Hartenstein struggled to fit in immediately. As the February trade deadline approached, many fans (including myself) hoped the Knicks would replace Hartenstein with a stronger backup center. Thank god that was not the case, because Hartenstein finally found his footing in the second half of the season. As his injury healed, and Thibodeau began to place him in more opportune positions for success, Hartenstein emerged as one of the best backup big men in the entire Association.
Will Coach Thibs mix Jericho Sims into the rotation against certain center matchups? Against teams with more athletic rim protectors/rebounders, Sims might be a better option than Hartenstein.
As I entered this season, I thought there was a real path for the 58th pick in 2021 to become the Knicks’ full-time backup center. This question feels like another case of me being too high on a player’s summer league campaign, because Sims still isn’t ready to be thrown in the fire as a permanent backup big. Although Sims showed us some great flashes in the games Robinson missed with injury, there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
I don’t want to spend too much ink on the 11th man in the Knicks’ nine-man rotation, so I’ll let this thread from our good friend Prezidente do the talking:
Will the Knicks be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? Does this terminology even apply to them? Would moving off of Rose/Fournier/Randle be considered a "tanking"/"selling" move, or is that really addition by subtraction?
We’re nine questions in and this is the first one that has an easy answer. The Knicks were BUYERS at the deadline, simply because they were way better than anyone expected! Although they weren’t traded at the deadline, pivoting off of Rose and Fournier (and not Randle!) was indeed addition by subtraction.
The Knicks shipped Cam Reddish and their lightly protected 2023 first-round pick to Portland for Josh Hart, a deal I’d make again seven days a week and twice on Sunday. The Knicks went 17-8 to close out the season after striking the deal and, according to PBP Stats, posted a +12.44 net rating in the minutes Hart played.
Hart followed up his regular season campaign with a heroic performance against Cleveland in Round 1, which likely cemented him as a long-term rotation piece in orange and blue. We’ll see what his new contract looks like in July (provided he re-signs with the Knicks), but it’s safe to say that Hart stole the hearts of Knick fans far and wide this season.
In the case a star player is made available for trade midseason (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Bradley Beal, etc.), will the Knicks be a suitor?
Neither of these names were made remotely available during the regular season, but it’d be foolish to say that the Knicks wouldn’t be mentioned in discussions if they were. Personally, I think the Knicks need to hold their chips until a surefire top-10 player is made available for trade. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may be that guy, but Bradley Beal sure isn’t. The names I have circled are Devin Booker and Giannis Antetokoumpo, but I’ll leave the trade fantasies for my next NBA2K MyLeague session.
