The Knicks’ made things interesting by winning nine out of 13 games during one stretch this month, but by then it was too little, too late. The Knicks can now finish no higher than 11th in the East, while the Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, and Cavaliers appear most likely to compete in the Play-In Tournament for the last two playoff spots.
Coming off last season’s playoff appearance, the Knicks added two starting caliber players this offseason in Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier. But Walker’s defensive woes ultimately saw him out of Thibodeau’s rotation all together, as he played in just 37 games, averaging 11.6 points and 3.5 assists. Fournier, meanwhile, had a streaky season, though he did set a franchise mark for most three-pointers made in a season.
Another huge blow for the Knicks was the loss of Derrick Rose. The veteran point guard was one of the biggest reasons the Knicks made the playoffs last season, but injury problems derailed his 2021-22 campaign. Rose, who had surgery to remove a bone spur form his ankle in December before having a second procedure done as well, played in just 26 games. He’s currently the fourth-leading scorer on the team (12.0 points per game), and his scoring and leadership off the bench have sorely been missed.
And while RJ Barrett has taken another leap forward, averaging a career-best 20.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while establishing himself as a rising star in the league, it’s been an enigmatic season for Julius Randle. Last year’s Most Improved Player, Randle has strong averages of 20.1 points and 9.9 rebounds, but his shooting percentage took a huge dip (30.8 percent from three, compared to 41.1 percent last season). Randle also made some headlines for giving a thumbs-down to the Madison Square Garden crowd earlier this season, which didn’t exactly put him in the fan’s good graces.
The question now is what comes next for this team. Some younger players like Obi Toppin, Jericho Sims, Immanuel Quickley, and Quentin Grimes has started to see some more minutes as the team fell in the standings, and now the youngsters may even get more playing time the rest of the way, though Thibodeau has said every player needs to earn his minutes.
