There are still multiple questions surrounding this team. How successful will Mike Brown be in his first season as the Knicks’ coach? Can Mikal Bridges look more like the best version of himself? What will the starting lineup be? Can Mitchell Robinson stay healthy? How will Karl-Anthony Towns fare defensively in his second season in New York? And to be fair, all of those questions are valid ones to have. But the Knicks, who were just a couple of wins away from a finals appearance, addressed most
of their needs and weaknesses during the offseason, and it has fans feeling optimistic even if the team is still an imperfect one.
But the same cannot be said about everyone outside of the Knicks fanbase. While there are plenty of pundits, reporters, and analysts who believe in the Knicks and their ability to be a potential finals team, there are also plenty of doubters. Now, the Knicks aren’t, and shouldn’t be, favorites to win it all, and the concerns surrounding this team are fair for the most part. That being said, there seems to be some disrespect surrounding this team still.
Last week, Bleacher Report ranked this team seventh in their latest NBA power rankings and eighth in their starting lineup power rankings. And that feels too low, even when factoring in the aforementioned question marks. The Thunder are coming off a championship and should only get better with another season of experience, so they should be a lock for the number one spot. But after that, it’s a complete toss-up.
I understand putting the Nuggets in at number two because they added Cam Johnson, and still have the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic. Putting the Rockets at number three feels a bit impulsive, but adding Kevin Durant, who is still one of the best offensive talents in the game, to one of the best defenses in the league is admittedly a hard case to argue against. And putting the Cavaliers at number five is more than reasonable since they are coming off of an incredibly dominant regular season that was followed up by a playoff run that was cut short mainly due to injuries.
But I have the Knicks in the same tier as the Nuggets, Rockets, and Cavaliers. At the very worst, they should be right behind them. But Bleacher Report put both Los Angeles teams ahead of them, and I think that’s just too low. Don’t get it twisted. The Clippers and the Lakers are both good teams with a lot going for them. The former added Chris Paul, Bradley Beal, and Brook Lopez to a team that won 50 games last season despite only having Kawhi Leonard for 37 of those games. They had multiple contributors on many a night, and were often led by a rejuvenated James Harden and Ivica Zubac, who continues to improve, and has thrust himself into the “best non-star big-man” conversations. That being said, it’s hard to place a team in the top five when their best player has averaged just 44 games in his last six seasons, and they also lost Norman Powell, who was an underrated part of that team, especially when Leonard was out.
The Lakers have a potent lineup as well, led by Luka Doncic and LeBron James. They were 18-10 with Doncic in the lineup, and looked unstoppable at times. And the addition of Deandre Ayton, along with Doncic’s reportedly healthier and leaner look, should be reasons to be optimistic. But James is yet another year older, and we’ve yet to see the two get the most out of each other. Ayton could end up putting up career-high numbers playing next to Doncic, James, and Austin Reaves, but he’s also just as likely to leave you scratching your head, as he’s been notorious for letting teams and fanbases down with subpar play and disappointing efforts. There is only one ball to go around, and this team is filled with three players who need the ball in their hands to thrive. And the rest of the team is made up of solid, but not great, role players that leave me asking who will be the defensive stopper and knockdown shooter. Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt are key pieces, but both have their limitations and have often left Lakers fans wanting more.
At the end of the day, power rankings mean very little. And offseason power rankings? Well, they don’t matter whatsoever. And truth to be told, there is a world where the Knicks’ new coaching staff doesn’t get this team to the heights it is capable of, while the Leonard-led Clippers and the big three of the Lakers, cruise past the Knicks. But I just have a hard time seeing the Knicks as anything but a top-five team both on paper and off of the fact that they just won more games than both the Lakers and Clippers, despite having a worse team with a coach that did very little to optimize the offensive talent of the roster.
