The New York Knicks have seen their most success in recent history since Jalen Brunson joined the team three years ago. But even after making their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years, the Knicks are still on the hunt for their first championship since 1973.
Now looking forward to their second full season with Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns, there is more pressure on the New York point guard to turn the team into a true title contender.
Writing for NBA.com, John Schuhmann gave three ways the Knicks need to improve next year to reach the top of the NBA landscape. His first was on ball movement, singling out Brunson as the main way the team can fix that aspect of their offense.
“The Knicks ranked in the bottom eight in ball movement (passes per 24 minutes of possession) and in the bottom 11 in player movement (miles traveled per 24 minutes of possession) in each of Thibodeau’s five seasons,” Schuhmann wrote. “That includes two seasons before they acquired star guard Jalen Brunson, who’s led the league in time of possession (8.6 minutes per game over three years) since his arrival.”
Brunson ranked near the top of the league in isolation percentage during the regular season and playoffs. The Knicks were also in the bottom five in pace, as their identity as one of the slowest teams in the NBA was a big factor in their conference finals loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Using Brunson Correctly Is The Key To Success
Though many of New York’s shortcomings could be attributed to other aspects of the team, Brunson and his isolation-heavy play often take the brunt. As Schuhmann writes, the former Dallas Mavericks point guard has led the NBA ‘in average seconds and dribbles per touch in each of the last two seasons.’
Regardless, these Brunson numbers were under head coach Tom Thibodeau, who has a history of relying on his star point guard down the stretch. Now with new head coach Mike Brown, the team could look a lot different, with perhaps Brunson taking a smaller on-ball role in games.
As Schuhmann writes, Brown could implement an offense with more ball movement, which could, in turn, benefit Brunson as well.
“More ball movement could make the Knicks tougher to defend, while also benefiting Brunson himself,” Schuhmann wrote. “He has shot 44.3% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers over the last three seasons (including playoffs), compared to 36.1% on off-the-dribble 3-pointers, with 67% of his total 3-point attempts coming off the dribble.”
Even if he might get fewer touches in the first three quarters of the game, Brunson is still the reigning Clutch Player of the Year, and his fourth-quarter scoring numbers were near the top of the NBA all season. Brunson remains one of the premier closers in the league, and he’ll likely still be the one taking the last shot for the Knicks.
“Brunson is a terrific isolation scorer and over the last three seasons, the Knicks have scored 1.05 points per chance when a Brunson isolation has led directly to a shot, turnover, or trip to the line for him or his teammates.”
Other Knicks Fixes For 2025-26
Along with the ball movement, Schuhmann also highlighted two other ways the Knicks can improve with Brown next season.
The first was avoiding late clock situations. This issue could also be tied to Brunson, but Schuhmann highlights that it was a team-wide problem that caused the Knicks to take the fourth-most shots with four seconds or less on the shot clock.
“The Knicks have been relatively good in late-clock situations, but league-wide, efficiency is lowest in the last six seconds of the clock,” he wrote. “Over Brown’s tenure, the Kings took a league-low average of 3.99 seconds to cross into the frontcourt. It helped to have had De’Aaron Fox as his point guard, but playing with pace is also a team-wide mentality that Brown hopes to bring to New York.”
Their late shock clock struggled weren’t helped by the fact that New York was bottom five in time of possession and pace last season, but as Schuhmann wrote, Brown’s resume with explosive, high-paced offenses could fix that issue.
Schuhmann’s last opportunity for adjustment for the Knicks and Brown was to look into playing more zone defense with two big men, specifically Towns and Mitchell Robinson.
“With Mitchell Robinson healthy to start the season, we’ll certainly see Towns playing the four more,” he wrote. “They allowed just 105.2 per 100 and absolutely dominated the glass (in playoff minutes with Towns and Robinson). The Knicks also allowed far fewer points per chance when Robinson was the screener’s defender on a ball-screen (0.89) than when Towns was (1.03).”
Over the summer, New York added Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele to come off the bench. They, along with new head coach Brown, expect to help the Knicks reach their first Finals appearance since 1999.
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