07-07-2026, 08:51 PM
One team's top decision-maker's reasoning for picking the Knicks is the way he files players: those who drive winning and those who influence winning.
"Jalen Brunson drives winning," he told ESPN recently. "Now, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart, they influence winning. Mitchell Robinson, in his role, influenced winning."
Robinson is the one defection from the Knicks' top rotation players, being replaced by Andre Drummond in free agency. Otherwise, the Knicks return 95.7% of their playoff scoring production from their top nine players and 87.2% of their playoff rebounding. Currently, New York presents the conference's most complete roster -- especially after Miami depleted its roster in the pursuit of Antetokounmpo, lacking dynamism on the perimeter and probably in need of a transaction cycle to identify the best fit around Antetokounmpo and Adebayo.
The Heat are widely respected, so the questions about their personnel aren't rooted from a place of distrust. The questions about the Heat, though, are similar to questions about every other team nipping at the Knicks' heels. Philadelphia, embarrassed at the hands of the Knicks in the second round, responded by trading for Brown after the Celtics, initially, couldn't get a deal done for Antetokounmpo and, later, didn't find much traction around the league the past couple of weeks.
"Jalen Brunson drives winning," he told ESPN recently. "Now, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart, they influence winning. Mitchell Robinson, in his role, influenced winning."
Robinson is the one defection from the Knicks' top rotation players, being replaced by Andre Drummond in free agency. Otherwise, the Knicks return 95.7% of their playoff scoring production from their top nine players and 87.2% of their playoff rebounding. Currently, New York presents the conference's most complete roster -- especially after Miami depleted its roster in the pursuit of Antetokounmpo, lacking dynamism on the perimeter and probably in need of a transaction cycle to identify the best fit around Antetokounmpo and Adebayo.
The Heat are widely respected, so the questions about their personnel aren't rooted from a place of distrust. The questions about the Heat, though, are similar to questions about every other team nipping at the Knicks' heels. Philadelphia, embarrassed at the hands of the Knicks in the second round, responded by trading for Brown after the Celtics, initially, couldn't get a deal done for Antetokounmpo and, later, didn't find much traction around the league the past couple of weeks.