BOSTON — After the dust settled on the NBA summer, the paper crown for the East title became a two-team race between the Celtics and Bucks.
So how can the Knicks, who advanced to the second round last season and stood pat with their roster, define success in 2023-24?
“The Knicks have to say, ‘We’ve got to be the third-best team,’” Reggie Miller, the former Knicks tormentor and current TNT analyst, said Tuesday. “That’s no slight to Miami who was in the NBA Finals, and the Cavaliers who [the Knicks] beat in the first round a year ago.
“We’ve got to say, we’re scratching on the door.”
That would be a tough task considering the competition Miller mentioned, plus Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and Toronto.
But Miller is bullish on continuity, which the Knicks can tout better than any team with the same starting five and just one alteration to last season’s rotation.
“I know what Jalen Brunson is going to give me on a night-in, night-out basis,” Miller said. “The growth of [RJ] Barrett and [Julius] Randle, who is a former All-Star and a straight up double-double machine. You stand pat and you’ve got a defensive-minded coach in [Tom Thibodeau]. A full training camp with Josh Hart.
“They’ve got to be saying to themselves, ‘Why not us?’”
Jamal Crawford, also a TNT analyst, added that his former team “has to absolutely” advance to the conference finals for a successful season.
But then Crawford, who also played under Thibodeau in Chicago, seemed to talk himself out of it.
“I’m not sure they can win another round, if I’m being honest with you. I’m not sure they can go further as constructed,” Crawford, who played for the Knicks from 2004-08, said. “But at least they’re in the mix right now. They’re in it.”
Assuming the Knicks advance to the postseason again, the big question is whether Randle can redeem his playoff busts.
His efficiency fell off a cliff in Randle’s few postseason appearances, including the combined 37 percent shooting in the series against the Cavs and Heat.
After being the Knicks’ lone All-Star in the regular season, Randle took a backseat to Brunson in the playoffs while sporadically losing his defensive effort.
Randle was also dealing with an ankle injury that required minor surgery in the summer.
“I’m not really concerned about it because it was a combination of the ankle injury and then Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart were playing out of their minds, so you can’t disrupt what they’re doing, either,” Crawford said. “So I think it was a combination of those two things. I’m almost willing to bet or guarantee that in the next playoffs, [Randle] will be better.”
“I think him having the playoffs that he had wasn’t great for the Knicks, but could be better for him in the long run knowing the adjustments that need to be made. He’s healthy. And I think he’ll have a great playoff run.”
