Getting into the 2025-26 season, many New York Knicks followers had been curious to see the modifications made through the offseason. One of many largest modifications the Knicks made was to interchange former coach Tom Thibodeau with Mike Brown and to bolster their bench.
Underneath Brown, the Knicks had been anticipated to play a lot sooner than they did final season, however the reverse has occurred to date. In the course of the preseason, the Knicks had the slowest tempo within the NBA, worse than even their Twenty sixth-ranked tempo from final season.
Preseason however. …after Mike Brown pushed enjoying quick as his most necessary pillar, the Knicks are thirty first in tempo in preseason, forward of just one NBA workforce and behind two groups from Australia.
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) October 19, 2025
Clearly, it is solely the preseason, however that may not be signal for New York’s offense this season.
The New York Knicks’ offense is already struggling
Via 5 preseason video games, the Knicks ranked twenty seventh in offensive score, resulting in considerations about whether or not they are going to wrestle this season. Preseason is not all the time predictive, with groups typically enjoying uncommon lineups, however the early returns of a Brown-led offense have not been encouraging.
In response to Brown, he plans to have a nine- or 10-man rotation, which is able to embrace a number of new gamers. That may result in some rising pains as they work to include these gamers in addition to the workforce learns a brand new offense.
In the long term, they might be higher off with New York beforehand having a smaller than common rotation. Taking part in extra gamers places much less put on and tear on their starters, one thing that was an enormous concern through the Thibodeau period.
They will even have Mitchell Robinson to start out the season after he missed the primary three months of final season. That may be a enormous deal, contemplating it offers them extra choices.
A deeper New York Knicks workforce will probably be higher off in the long term
They might begin Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Cities, and Robinson, giving them an enormous entrance courtroom. Final season, that lineup was higher defensively than the lineup that includes Josh Hart, whereas the Hart lineup was higher offensively.
With loads of guard depth and the addition of Guerschon Yabusele, who can play alongside Cities or Robinson, depth will not be an issue. Brown can combine and match as wanted with out sacrificing manufacturing.
The offense is unquestionably a piece in progress, with the Knicks hoping to grow to be much less Brunson-centric. That might repay within the playoffs with them hitting a wall. Tweaking their offense to ultimately play sooner and focusing much less on one participant might be simply what they should do.
With the Jap Convention broad open, they’ve an actual likelihood of creating the NBA Finals for the primary time in additional than 25 years, however provided that their offense kicks into excessive gear.
