The New York Knicks are off to a 2-2 start, and already, fans have begun drawing narratives about the direction of this year’s team. Most of it is early-season overreactions, which are normal from a fanbase, but drawing a definitive conclusion this early would be premature.
Knicks’ Mike Brown knows it will take time for them to get going
Head coach Mike Brown also acknowledged that more time is needed for him to get a true evaluation of the team he is working with.
“It’ll take some time,” Brown said, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “It’s hard to get a true evaluation in the first five to 10 games. I think y’all have been in this league long enough, the first month or month and a half, everybody feels like they have a chance and guys are playing hard and engaged and sometimes you have teams that are on top, they’re not going to finish on top.”
The Knicks are currently experiencing growing pains under the new system. They have generated a lot of clean looks offensively with the fast-paced offense, but they have struggled to convert on a lot of those clean looks.
Growing pains were expected to occur, as Brown’s system is vastly different than Tom Thibodeau’s. Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the players who has struggled to adapt to the system the most, best demonstrated by his rough eight-point performance against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
Reinforcements are on the way for the Knicks
It is also worth noting that the Knicks have not been at full strength this season. Mitchell Robinson has missed the first four games with left ankle injury management, Josh Hart missed most of the preseason as well as the season opener, and they have been without Miles McBride for the last two games for personal reasons.
Friday against the Chicago Bulls could be the first time in the new season that they are at full strength. Even then, they will still have some things to iron out to build chemistry and continuity, which will take some time.
Eventually, this Knicks team will get going, and once they do, they’re going to be an absolute force to be reckoned with.