https://theathletic.com/4700709/2023/07/20/nba-power-rankings-nuggets-bucks-warriors/

Tier 4: Play-In Battleground
13. New York Knicks (10)

Key additions (including re-signs):

Donte DiVincenzo (Golden State)

Key subtractions:

Derrick Rose (Memphis)
Obi Toppin (Indiana)

Pressing question: What’s the next evolution for this Knicks team?

The Knicks went into this offseason and decided they’re pretty much good where they are. They had a fun first-round destruction of the Cavs before they got smacked by Miami. They believe Jalen Brunson is their star and Julius Randle can be his No. 2. I’m just not certain their ceiling actually goes beyond what we saw last season. They have depth and an identity, which is more than you can say for most teams. I just wonder if this squad is capable of evolving further or if they’re just waiting for a disgruntled star to become available. We don’t hear a lot about the Knicks pursuing the big guns. Maybe we should again.

franco12 wrote:How is this fair? We were playing at a 50 win pace after we added Josh H? As much as I loved Toppin, did he actually help us win games? And we added DiVincenzo who could impact the team in the same way as Josh.

Fair that we arent ranked as contenders. That the FO has yet to make a move that would have the Knicks ranked higher. DiVincenzo might turn out to be a valuable role player, wouldnt surprise me.

What would surprise me, is if it was enough to take us to the next level, a higher round in the playoffs. We still have too many guards. Not enough scoring bigs.

The article suggests that we need another "big gun" to get to the next level. Agree with that. The FO likely does as well. Its about how they get there and when

nycericanguy wrote:

franco12 wrote:How is this fair? We were playing at a 50 win pace after we added Josh H? As much as I loved Toppin, did he actually help us win games? And we added DiVincenzo who could impact the team in the same way as Josh.

i think its fair, we need one of our big young 3 (grimes, RJ, IQ) to reach their CEILING if we are going to be true contenders with this roster. as it stands we cant expect to play as well as we did with Hart all year. I think within 2 wins of the ECF is indeed more or less our ceiling... unless like i said someone steps up big time. Which I do think is possible.

and thats fine with me, to go from where we were a few years ago to now having a young, borderline contending roster with a true superstar and being 1 piece (either internal or external) from being a legit contender is all you can ask for.

So I think the fairness remark was against the backdrop of the author tagging the Knicks as a "Play-In Battleground" versus contender type team.

I'd venture to say that the Knicks are more on the cusp of pushing towards EC finals more than Play-in type team all things being equal. Definitely in the 4-6 range than 6-10 range.

gradyandrew wrote:This will be Thibs's 4th year with relatively little roster turnover. Should be good enough to squeak out a few extra wins. Nothing to really say until the games begin.

Feel like this is the first year where that will really help too. Guys are on the brink of something good IMHO

EwingPSD wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

franco12 wrote:How is this fair? We were playing at a 50 win pace after we added Josh H? As much as I loved Toppin, did he actually help us win games? And we added DiVincenzo who could impact the team in the same way as Josh.

i think its fair, we need one of our big young 3 (grimes, RJ, IQ) to reach their CEILING if we are going to be true contenders with this roster. as it stands we cant expect to play as well as we did with Hart all year. I think within 2 wins of the ECF is indeed more or less our ceiling... unless like i said someone steps up big time. Which I do think is possible.

and thats fine with me, to go from where we were a few years ago to now having a young, borderline contending roster with a true superstar and being 1 piece (either internal or external) from being a legit contender is all you can ask for.

I agree with this. I didn't see a wins prediction and didn't see the whole article. I saw we were 10th but I don't know who was in front or behind. The team was pretty healthy last year and Josh Hart played out of his mind after the trade deadline. I agree unless we get a big jump from one of the players you mentioned or Randle returns to being a high 30s or 40% shooter from 3 I think its fair

that site is paywalled. Can someone post the teams that are ahead of us? Philly could be a mess if Harden does the same routine he did in Houston when he wanted to get traded and they have a new coach. Miami had depth issues and lost 2 rotation players. Milwaukee has a new coach. Boston lost Smart and added a player who runs out of gas come playoff time if he's not injured. Toronto didn't get better, same with Chicago. Atlanta and Brooklyn still don't scare me. Maybe Charlotte and Orlando surprise. Detroit and Washington still suck

DLeethal wrote:Yea our ceiling is pretty similar to where we overachieved to last year I think. The thing about standing pat with this roster is that our floor is still a playin team. Hard to play to your ceiling every year. Sometimes you will only play to your floor. A star trade raises the floor. So does an organic star emerging from our young crop.

im ok running it back though because we have tons of room for internal growth.

Grimes and RJ particularly I think will be improved next year significantly.

martin wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Yea our ceiling is pretty similar to where we overachieved to last year I think. The thing about standing pat with this roster is that our floor is still a playin team. Hard to play to your ceiling every year. Sometimes you will only play to your floor. A star trade raises the floor. So does an organic star emerging from our young crop.

Not for me but I’m also not sure it’s firmly at the next level.

Brunson had an enormous adjustment year last year. Playoff RJ. Third year bump Grimes. Full on 6MOY for IQ. Healthy iHart. Spacer DDV running with Josh off bench for full year. Randle not constantly looking over his shoulder at a looming-for-minutes Obi. Another year of continuity.

Those all won’t happen but there is a ton of room for a lot of them to play out.

I think there is some room for them to win more games, I'm not sure there's room for them to go deeper in the playoffs but that all depends on matchups.

Rookie wrote:

EwingPSD wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

franco12 wrote:How is this fair? We were playing at a 50 win pace after we added Josh H? As much as I loved Toppin, did he actually help us win games? And we added DiVincenzo who could impact the team in the same way as Josh.

i think its fair, we need one of our big young 3 (grimes, RJ, IQ) to reach their CEILING if we are going to be true contenders with this roster. as it stands we cant expect to play as well as we did with Hart all year. I think within 2 wins of the ECF is indeed more or less our ceiling... unless like i said someone steps up big time. Which I do think is possible.

and thats fine with me, to go from where we were a few years ago to now having a young, borderline contending roster with a true superstar and being 1 piece (either internal or external) from being a legit contender is all you can ask for.

I agree with this. I didn't see a wins prediction and didn't see the whole article. I saw we were 10th but I don't know who was in front or behind. The team was pretty healthy last year and Josh Hart played out of his mind after the trade deadline. I agree unless we get a big jump from one of the players you mentioned or Randle returns to being a high 30s or 40% shooter from 3 I think its fair

that site is paywalled. Can someone post the teams that are ahead of us? Philly could be a mess if Harden does the same routine he did in Houston when he wanted to get traded and they have a new coach. Miami had depth issues and lost 2 rotation players. Milwaukee has a new coach. Boston lost Smart and added a player who runs out of gas come playoff time if he's not injured. Toronto didn't get better, same with Chicago. Atlanta and Brooklyn still don't scare me. Maybe Charlotte and Orlando surprise. Detroit and Washington still suck

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