The New York Knicks are under the .500 mark for the first time this NBA season following their loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday afternoon. Their effort level defensively has been non-existent in recent games but they have had trouble on that end of the court the entire season.
The 2020-21 season, the first with Tom Thibodeau as head coach, was predicated on the team’s defense. They brought high energy every night and that defensive effort kept them in games. This season, that has not been the case and Thibodeau was looking to shake things up last week when he made his first lineup change of the season.
After 20 games, he had seen enough. Thibodeau decided to remove starting point guard Kemba Walker not only from the starting lineup but from the rotation altogether. He was replaced by Alec Burks, who would provide the starters with some much-needed size, something the team was missing from last season’s starting group.
Walker, Evan Fournier, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson played the most minutes of any five-man group in the NBA, yet ranked last in Net Rating. A change was necessary, and Walker was the sacrificial lamb.
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Defense was never a strong suit for Walker, but this season it had become a major deterrent in the team’s success. Despite shooting a career-high 41.3 percent from the 3-point line, New York was better in every facet of the game with Walker off the floor than on it.
But, his removal from the rotation has not changed much for the team, at least not yet. The Knicks went 0-3 last week, losing to the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls and Nuggets. In each game an extended period of lapses on the defensive end doomed them.
Usually not one to make too many changes, Thibodeau may have another one in store. According to Ian Begley, there is a chance that another lineup adjustment is made for the game on Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs.
What other changes could be made? Inserting someone such as Quentin Grimes into the lineup is one possibility. When Walker was removed, many assumed the rookie would get his first chance at minutes, but that has not been the case. Thibodeau has instead used a nine-man rotation for the most part.
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Even with Barrett hampered last week with an illness and Taj Gibson’s early ejection against the Bulls, Thibodeau kept a tight rotation. Shaking things up can only do so much, as the New York Knicks, in large part, are just not executing.
Their rotations defensively are not as crisp, as they allow wide-open 3-pointers at an alarming rate. Adjusting the schematics to compensate for the different players on the roster should also be considered. New York isn’t built the same this season as last season and the schemes need to reflect that as much, if not more, than changing the lineup once again.
