New York Knicks 2024-25 preview: Are the Knicks better with Karl-Anthony Towns?

Just a couple of weeks ago, the biggest question the New York Knicks faced was, “How good can they be without a center?”

They got their center. Now the questions have become:

Are the Knicks better with Karl-Anthony Towns?

Can they win a title with him?

New York’s trade for Towns shocked the NBA — including Towns himself, who said he was “stunned” — with other general managers voting the Towns trade the most surprising move of the offseason in the annual GM survey.

This is a trade the New York’s front office had eyed for years — Towns was once the client of former agent turned Knicks president Leon Rose — but they gave up a lot to get him, and there are fit concerns, which leads to the above questions. Let’s break them down.

Are the Knicks better with Towns?

Yes.

For the simple reason that the Knicks were heading into the season without a center worth mentioning (at least until around Christmas when Mitchell Robinson is set to return from ankle surgery). Now they have an elite offensive big who is one of the better centers in the game. That’s a win.

How much better the Knicks got is the harder question to answer.

The Knicks’ offense got better, but their defense and depth took hits. Then there is the question of cultural fit — how well will Towns mesh with the gritty Villanova crew (minus one)/Tom Thibodeau culture in New York? Thibodeau coached Towns in Minnesota and had his frustrations with the big man out of Kentucky, but he also said several times in recent years that he would love to coach him again. Let’s take a wait-and-see attitude with the culture fit, this might work out better than some predict.

The one truth of this trade is that New York’s offense — already seventh in the NBA last season — improved.

We’ve seen in Towns’ limited preseason run what he can do for the Knicks offense — New York can play five-out now because of Towns’ ability to shoot the 3 (41.6% on more than five attempts a game last season) and that will open up driving lanes for Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges.

There are two key overlooked parts of this trade: Towns can take most bigs off the dribble and get to the rim on a…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/york-knicks-2024-25-preview-182513286.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-08 18:25:13

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