Why the Knicks’ top-10 offensive rating is so unorthodox and unique

The Knicks have established themselves as a very solid, if not great, team this season by spending much of the year swapping between the third and fourth seed in the East and being a mainstay among the top 10 teams in offensive rating for much of the season. And the best part of it isn’t just that they’ve had a relatively good offense, it’s that they’ve done so in a very unconventional way. Now, passionate and avid Knicks fans who watch the games likely know what I’m talking about here but for the more casual fan or for people who may not know as much about basketball, it may be shocking just how unorthodox the Knicks’ way of maintaining a high offensive rating may be.

Let’s start with pace. We live in an age where pace matters a lot in basketball. It’s not the end all be all, because shooting, ball movement, tough shot-making, and spacing all matter a lot too but how fast a team plays can often be a major contributor to a good offensive rating. Currently, the Knicks are 10th in the league in offensive rating at 117 but are dead last in pace. To put that into context, six of the top 10 teams in terms of offensive rating are 15th or higher in the league in pace.

New York has also managed to be a top-10 offense despite ranking low in assist percentage, which is a bit of a rare sight given its tendency to not be very sustainable. But the Knicks have relied a lot on a high level of individual shot creation and shot-making from the likes of Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle this season and it led to them having the second-worst assist percentage in the league and being only one of two top 10 offenses in the league with an assist percentage under 60%.

The Knicks also have the worst true shooting percentage among teams ranking top 10 in offensive rating, have the worst effective shooting percentage among teams that are in the top 13 in offensive rating, and are also one of just two teams in the league that rank both top 10 in offensive rating and bottom 10 in turnover percentage. Not to mention they also struggle mightily late in the shot clock, evidenced by the stat shown below.

So how does this team, one that doesn’t get a lot of assists, plays at a slow pace, doesn’t shoot the ball efficiently, and turns the ball over a decent amount, have one of the top offensive ratings in the league? It mostly comes down to offensive rebounding and second-chance points.

Now, the aforementioned incredible individual performances of Brunson and Randle have a lot to do with it as well but it can be very difficult for two players, no matter how good they are, to elevate a team’s offense that much by themselves. They usually need help. And that help has come in the form of their bigs, who have, both offensively, and defensively, been the unsung heroes of this team.

This season, the Knicks have four players that rank in the top 27 in offensive rebounds chances with Mitchell Robinson leading the league, and Isaiah Hartenstein, Precious Achiuwa, and Randle all making the cut, with the first three players all ranking top 20 in offensive rebounds per game this season. Heck, even Jericho Sims ranks 36th in the league in rebounds per 36 minutes among players who have played 550 or more minutes. And it’s very noticeable too. If you tune in to almost any Knicks game this season, chances are their relentless offensive rebounding effort allows them to erase some of their shooting woes and buys them enough possessions and opportunities for their tough shot-making to help them get by.

This allows them to play a brand of basketball where they slow the game down, and use their physicality and size to wear opponents down, something we saw them do successfully, not just this year, but also last season against the Cavaliers in the playoffs. Is it the most pretty or entertaining brand of basketball? Nope. Is it always sustainable and proven to work against every team in the playoffs? Also no. As long as Anunoby and Randle remain out and the offense looks iffy, it’ll be an area of concern that will likely determine how far, or not far, this team goes in the playoffs. But it’s given them an identity, one that’s worked now for two seasons, and they’ve been able to hold on to one of the better offensive ratings in the league for a while now and that’s something.