From Quentin Grimes’ reduced role on offense to issues with depth and ball movement, the New York Knicks are facing growing frustration with building their roster and executing their game plan as the season reaches a turning point. crucial step.
According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post, Grimes isn’t happy with the amount of stares he gets on the floor, which makes him look sincere:“It’s just tough when you go the whole quarter without touching the ball, the whole second quarter without touching the ball, and then you get a shot and you have to make it,” Grimes, 23, said. “So it’s tough to go out there and stick around for the whole game.”Grimes hasn’t seen the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ last seven games, but the problem now extends to every game. Grimes didn’t get used to too many half-court games, as off-ball screens and misdirection were created so he could get catch-and-shoot looks off the court. The third-year pro was expected to take another step up from his 11.3 points per game and 38.6 percent shooting percentage from three a year ago, but instead From this, he continually fell out of favor with backup Donte DiVincenzo and other guards on the Knicks depth chart. But that’s not the only problem the Knicks face. TNT analyst Kenny Smith doesn’t think the Knicks have enough talent at the top to compete with the best teams and players in the Eastern Conference. He insinuated this about Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson, as Fan Nation’s Max Gamarra shared:“Every game they play, they always have the second-best player,” Smith said on the TNT pregame show. “When you play Boston, you have the second or third best player. You play in Orlando, with (Paolo) Banchero, they don’t have a better player than Banchero. Milwaukee, we know that’s not the case. Philadelphia is not. Tyrese Haliburton is the best player on the Indiana Pacers. When you play the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler is the best player on the court. When you play the Cleveland Cavaliers, you have Donovan Mitchell.It may be a stretch for Smith to tout rising second-year star Paolo Banchero as being better than Randle and Brunson, even if there is some truth to his assessment. While Julius Randle was named to the All-NBA third team in 2022-2023 and Brunson was a fringe All-Star selection, the 76ers, Celtics and Bucks all have former MVP or MVP-caliber players at the helm and Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton continues to establish himself as perhaps the best distributor in the NBA.Entering the playoffs, the Knicks as a unit had their share of struggles with consistency. They will need more, especially from Randle if they want to subdue any of the aforementioned teams and make a deeper run this postseason.The Knicks are tied in trade talks with reigning MVP Joel Embiid, as well as Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell. Both would give the Knicks a home court advantage. So far, the Knicks have shown they can beat Mitchell and the Cavaliers in the first round last season, but a long-awaited selection may be needed to get them closer to winning their first Larry O’Brien Trophy since 1973.The Knicks continue to monitor the trade market for superstar playersRead also:The Knicks continue to monitor the trade market for superstar playersPart.
Leave a Reply