Hopefully a lot of people and teams around the league are asking themselves what they can learn and take from the success of the New York Knicks after their dominant playoff run and Championship title win this year.
Because what the Knicks did on the court – and off – through the last few years has been so consistent, so insisting on trusting the process and players, and so team-oriented that it is bound to warm the hearts of basketball fans all over the world.
It turns out that team basketball is
back. As a European, I feel a personal sense of joy and pride, and perhaps something you could call excitement for what’s to come. Whether you come from the continent of team-oriented basketball like me or not, the direction which basketball seems to be headed with the Knicks blazing the trail, should excite each and every one of us.
Team basketball has never really been the strongpoint of the NBA, but once in a while a team comes along, whose players and leadership all understand the upside, strength and value of this kind of approach. To the benefit and collective gain of us all.
Sure, Jalen Brunson often plays a heliocentric type of basketball, and sure there’s some iso’ing especially in big moments, but I’d argue that that is a needed aspect of basketball at the highest level. All in all, in how they built the team, in their star playing not being a superstar – when he arrived, anyway – and their insistence on the value of cohesion, it’s more team basketball oriented consistently than most teams in the recent past.
Here’s why.
When the Villanova brothers Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart were reunited in New York, a culture of trust was reestablished. A culture that seems to push away the ego, instead highlighting the importance of every single player and what they do for the team emerged.
A culture of winning taught at Villanova no doubt. And as the three amigos had gone through winning a Championship together in college they knew what it took. They knew how to set the tone, and they knew how everyone matters in getting there.
Not everyone who enters the NBA or plays basketball at the highest level understands this. It’s a common misunderstanding that just because you’re a great basketball player, you also know what it takes to win. Most players, even the best in the world, have not been in a situation where they had to lead a team to win.
The Villanova brothers are not the best basketball players in the league. The Knicks are not the best team, talent-wise and on paper. But what this Knicks team proved to everyone watching is that it takes more than that to win.
From Jalen Brunson taking a huge pay cut, to the team and leadership understanding and appreciating what Josh Hart does to secure a win outside the stat sheet, and how much connection and cohesion matters when creating a winning team.
What team basketball teaches and reminds us is that no one can win alone. We all have a role in the success of this thing that is bigger than us, and playing together is better and more efficient than taking on a challenge alone. Playing for something bigger than yourself is more powerful than playing just for yourself.
No, when you play for others, meaning arrives – and that’s where things start to become interesting. If we ever needed a reminder of that, it’s right now in today’s world.
The New York Knicks remind us of what is good and meaningful about basketball, about being a fan, about belonging somewhere and being part of something bigger.
Often, teams try to make a star player fit into a roster. They assume they can move people around and they will just play the same anywhere they go and with whomever they play.
But once again we see evidence that human beings don’t work like that. A multitude of things affect if they are able to play up to their best. The personnel around them. The coaching approach and chemistry. The trust and energy of the whole franchise.
The Knicks got Brunson what he needed to succeed. They took their time and trusted the players and the process. And that all paid off.
Brunson was never a superstar like others in his generation. Still, he managed to lead his team to an incredibly dominant NBA Championship, because he had the right people around him. Imagine if other stars had that same kind of advantage.
It’s about people. Hopefully, Dallas will take notes on how to develop and build the Mavs around their young superstar in a similar way.
