This year they addressed the lack of shooting by adding Donte DiVincenzo in free agency over the summer, as well as Anunoby, Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic in separate midseason trades. The one caveat: The Knicks have yet to play with a fully healthy roster since January, as Anunoby has missed multiple games and Julius Randle still hasn’t played since Jan. 27.
As a result, the Knicks have had to improvise with lineups they didn’t imagine they would need this season. Many games have featured a frontcourt of Josh Hart, Precious Achiuwa and Isaiah Hartenstein, three players who are not considered a threat to score from the perimeter.
These lineup changes paid dividends on defense, but came at a huge cost on offense, as teams simply hounded Jalen Brunson until he passed the ball and then walled off the box to force others to shoot from long range. As a team, New York averaged just 104.7 points per game in an 18-game stretch between Jan. 29 and March 10, the fifth-lowest mark in the NBA over that span.
The scoring struggle forced coach Tom Thibodeau to make another change, inserting Miles McBride at shooting guard and Josh Hart at power forward, which has led to better offensive results recently.