When Mike Brown accepted the job as the Knicks’ head coach, it was evident from the jump that the Knicks were looking to maximize their offense and go all-in on overwhelming teams on that end of the floor.
One thing that most fans would agree on entering the season is that the Knicks had too much shooting talent to be in the bottom five in 3-point volume. In the modern NBA, where teams like the Celtics and Cavaliers look to bludgeon you with a high volume of threes and make it hard to keep up, it’s just not tenable to be towards the bottom in attempts unless you were extremely dominant in the paint and defensively.
This season will prove to be the ultimate battle between coaching philosophy and roster construction. While Brown is very likely to lose the battle in regards to making the Knicks play fast (despite the games feeling dizzying at times, they remain 21st in pace), he’s determined to make the Knicks one of the league’s most prolific shooting teams.
Already through three games, the Knicks lead the NBA in three-point attempts, but have shot a disappointing mark of 33.1% on them. Further, the team is dead last in FG% at 40% on the dot. Despite a focus on pace, space, and putting up threes, the Knicks have had a flat-out bad offense through three games, aided only by their aptitude on the boards, being top-five in offensive and total rebounding even with Mitchell Robinson sidelined.
Looking closer, the Knicks only have two players (Bridges, McBride) shooting above their career averages behind the arc. Karl-Anthony Towns is at 38.9%, which is good but sub-standard. Both Brunson and Anunoby are below their norms, and let’s not even talk about the bench. The quintet of Kolek, Yabusele, Hart, Clarkson, and Shamet are a ghastly 8-for-39 through three games (20.5%).
It’s concerning, but despite how it looks on the surface, Mike Brown’s plan to supercharge the Knicks’ offense is working; it just hasn’t clicked yet.
The biggest goals of this new pace-and-space offense should be generating more catch-and-shoot looks for both Brunson and Towns, who are great shooters but whose on-ball frequency prevented them from getting the best looks. So far, it’s worked.
Brunson went 5-for-11 from deep against the Heat, an improvement from a rough start, but his shot diet from behind the arc is noticeable. Last year, 30.9% of Brunson’s threes were catch-and-shoot. So far this year, that share is up to 44.4%. It’s not just percentage-wise, as his volume has increased (1.9/game to 4.0/game). It’s not just a small sample size; it’s a feature.
The Knicks, as a whole, are prioritizing generating open looks in the flow of the offense. While, at times, it feels like they’re forcing shots up (see: Jordan Clarkson), they’re taking shots in rhythm, they’re just not falling. Take a look at some of these open misses in the Heat game:
Landry Shamet is a good movement shooter, and although the three is taken very early in the shot clock, it’s a good look in rhythm.
The pick-and-pop between Brunson and Towns will be deadly all season, but when KAT is missing shots en masse like he did on Sunday, it’ll look ugly. Any time Towns has his feet set with space within 35 feet, it’s a good shot. He missed a number of those.
Bridges nailed a number of these corner threes on Sunday as one of the team’s two efficient shooters, but he isn’t perfect. Still, with the team shooting a horrendous percentage all night, you’d love to see these go in.
There are some questionable shots being taken, though. While some of these pull-up threes by Kolek or semi-contested looks from Anunoby look odd, they are shots that teams like the Celtics are able to make night in and night out.
This is where we run into a conundrum that could disrupt this identity.
The Knicks have a lot of guys who can shoot. In the team’s top 11 players when healthy, only Josh Hart and (of course) Mitchell Robinson are not threats from the perimeter. Everyone else is more than capable of knocking down shots, but the argument becomes if they can handle the volume.
Deuce McBride and Landry Shamet are two of the purest shooters on the roster, but they’re not at the level of a Sam Merrill, Derrick White, or Payton Pritchard. Anunoby is a good shooter, but is he capable of maintaining efficiency with the sheer volume he figures to have this year?
Those are going to be the questions going forward for the Knicks. They tied a franchise record with 54 3PA on Sunday and figure to challenge that mark all season. It’s abundantly clear that they’re going to heavily rely on the 3-ball, but the question is going to be if the lack of volume last year was because of the coaching or the personnel.
