The 2022 New York Knicks: Kemba Comes Home

[ehh]

We were the biggest surprise in the NBA last season. There was a buzz back in The Garden. Thanks, Thibs. Thanks, Randle. Unfortunately, our campaign ended on a sour note: the Hawks outclassed us in the opening round of the playoffs. We've retooled and improved the roster by adding Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier. Hopefully our youth will improve.

PG: Kemba/Rose/Quickley/McBride
SG: Barrett/Bacon/Grimes
SF: Fournier/Burks/Knox
PF: Randle/Toppin/Sims
C: Mitch/Noel

That's the best lineup we've had on paper since the 2013 season, and I feel comfortable saying it's superior to that team (after all, JR Smith was our second-leading scorer that season). Whether or not they'll win the Atlantic or win 52 games is another conversation.

• Randle: last year wasn't a fluke, but will Thibs' style start to wear down Randle? His playoff performance left a bad taste in many fans' mouths. At least he will have more help and more creators this year.
• Barrett: Made nice strides in his sophomore year, especially in terms of his efficiency. Feels like it's been an eternity since we had a young player make a leap.
• Kemba: As a long-time UConn fan, it's a dream to see Kemba donning the blue-and-orange. He will be our best PG in ages. Still, he has his worts as a player, he'll turn 32 this year, and his durability is a concern.
• Fournier: A fair contract for a solid player. Shooting and tertiary playmaking were major needs for this team.
• Young returning players: IQ flashed, Toppin showed some stuff in the playoffs, and it's a big year for Mitch. I hope all three guys take steps forward but I have a hunch that this may be Mitch's last season in NYC, unless we can bring him back on a bargain deal. The ship has sailed for Knox IMO. He'll soon be out of the league.
• We'll see how the season shakes out with injuries and such, but I don't see our rookies spending much time in the rotation. Who knows though, Kemba and Rose may each miss extended periods given their injury history.

I don't know where we'll finish in the regular season, but I think we need another Top 4 finish if we want to win a playoff series.

Thoughts? Predictions?

[bigeastbumrush]

Curious to see how/if the offense changes due to having a legit PG starting for us. Kemba can still Iso with the best of them so I wonder what that does to both Randle and RJ.

I've seen recent videos of Randle making quicker decisions like just receiving the ball and going up right away but I seriously doubt that happens.

I also want to see if RJ makes an actual leap. He had a good year last year but he needs to raise his FG%. He has a huge frame and I'd like to see him use it more going to the basket and getting to the line.

Fournier is kind of an X-factor IMO. I'm keeping my expectations for him very low as to not get disappointed.

Nothing from Mitch shows me that he'll be able to stay healthy.

I think the way things have shaken out over the offseason that this team as constructed is a 6 seed, 5 if they luck up (major injury to another team).

I don't think they have what it takes to get out of the 1st round.

I hope McBride gets some spot minutes and Obi plays with confidence. I don't expect to see much of Grimes.

[DieHardYankee26]

I think the team is better but the result will likely be worse because other teams are also better, at least for the regular season. I love RJ and think he’s the future, but he needs to work on his finishing big time. So often it seems like he’s just throwing up a prayer at the rim. If he can develop a little more touch and his off hand while keeping up the shooting improvements, I’ll be very happy.

Y’all see this? https://reddit.com/r/NYKnicks/commen...s_from_game_1/

[bigeastbumrush]

It was spot on but I’m pretty sure every team has the same thing for opponents.

Atlanta should be pissed that they have a leaker in their organization.

[bigeastbumrush]

This is what I was envisioning when we drafted him and why I was so high on him.

https://twitter.com/nyknicks/status/...063005706?s=21

[NYJets]

Only watched a little of the preseason game before the Yankees started but we looked good. Watching Kemba was awesome definitely caused a lot of UConn flashbacks.

Looks like we should be pretty deep. Nice to be worried about how our rookies are going to get onto the court instead of desperately hoping they can turn this thing around.

We need Kemba to be healthy and back to form and RJ to take another big leap and then I think we can compete for the 4 or 5 seed. If that doesn't happen, probably more like 6 or a playin team.

What's the deal with Mitch? It seemed like during the playoffs the talk was he was very close and maybe a few games away if we advanced. Was that bs or did he have a setback or another injury?

[bigeastbumrush]

Saw a lot of beat writers pissed that Thibs played his starters 30 minutes against the Pistons and didn’t give the rookies much minutes.

1. This is who he is. He’s not some new coach and you’ve had a year of him. Don’t be so shocked that he does these kinds of things.

2. The Pistons were beating us with marginal players. Yes most teams would pull their starters but what kind of coach would Thibs be if he says Yeah let’s take an L against some scrubs simply because it’s preseason and it doesn’t count when he and everybody else knows that this team is not good enough to be ok with a losing mentality. I think it was less about the win and more about the principle.

3. I think this was a lesson to the rookies like Look we’re not that kind of team where you’re gonna get minutes “just because”. You better work harder and earn your way into the court.

I think he’ll rest a lot of the starters and play the rookies in the last game win or lose. What he did was more of a statement IMO.

4. I love the fact that he chewed out IQ. Also love that Randle was diving out of bounds and so passionate about a review in a meaningless game. It just speaks volumes to me after so many years of having a whatever attitude that this team starts to show how much they actually care.

[DieHardYankee26]

I feel like with all of the depth, we’ve kinda Thibs-proofed the roster. I’m interested to see how he staggers minutes, especially if Obi can handle 10-12+ minutes per game. We can run some teams off the floor maintaining his style but with 2 legit units.