5 Knicks questions heading into the 2024 NBA preseason

A summer of franchise-altering trades later, the 2024-2025 Knicks will be playing basketball in just a few days, and fans are eagerly awaiting a first look at this newly configured roster.

After trading most of their starting five for Karl-Anthony Cities And Mikal BridgesThis incoming rotation is nothing like previous years and offers a new range of new opportunities and challenges.

With that in mind, here are the five biggest questions about this Knicks team entering the preseason…

How will the Knicks defend with Towns under center?

Perhaps the biggest question on this team’s mind from the preseason through the playoffs is whether they will be able to maintain a competitive defense around Towns in the middle. For all his positive aspects and as a head coach Tom ThibodeauTowns’ magic and surrounding help, rim protection and defensive instincts have been poor throughout his career.

Can a Knicks defense that thrived on its strong personnel, schemes and buy-in remain elite in a lineup? Jalen Brunson and now Towns as internal anchor?

It will be a work in progress and we won’t get a definitive answer until the postseason, but New York is betting the answer will be “yes.”

Thibodeau will need to draw creative looks and maximize his defensive wings – Bridges and OG Anunoby. He will also need a career performance from Towns in that area, but he will put in a great performance Nikola Jokic in the play-offs there is some justified optimism.

Where will the depth come from?

One of the positives of preseason basketball is that you get to see players who normally wouldn’t get a chance to play in the regular season unless injuries ruin the roster. The Knicks can use this handful of games to experiment with their deep bench options, looking for a diamond in the rough that can help fill out the rotation.

After last year was completely derailed by injuries, New York reloaded in the draft and picked up a bunch of reliable veterans in free agency in hopes of avoiding a similar fate. They have since lost an additional piece in the Towns trade, further emphasizing the need for someone deep in the rotation to be a reliable option.

Could it be a rookie – a la 2020-21 Immanuel Quickley — in Tyler Kolek or Pacome Dadite? Maybe TJ Warren or Landry Shamet emerge. Whoever it is, making themselves known in the preseason will inspire more confidence in New York’s depth.

Will Bridges return to form?

This could be the question that answers all the other questions for New York. The Knicks shipped almost all of their own draft capital to acquire Bridges, who in many ways is coming off a career offseason.

The evidence seems to indicate that 2023-2024 was the exception, and the rest of Bridges’ oeuvre is more representative of what New York can expect. He was invaluable in Phoenix, great the year they sent him to Brooklyn, reliable in the FIBA ​​World Cup and only drew ire last year playing for the directionless and poorly coached Nets.

If he continues to be the iron man he has been, it will help solve the Knicks’ health and depth issues. If he continues to develop his creation that will end their problem and over-reliance on Brunson, and if he is still that 3-and-D stud he ends up in Donte DiVincenzo‘s spot smoothly and help cover Towns defensively.

What will non-Brunson violations and non-Brunson minutes look like?

Even after a year in which Brunson seemingly dragged a hodgepodge, half-broken roster to within one game of the Conference Finals, Brunson appears to be carrying more responsibility than ever before this season. Julius Randle was in itself an attacking engine, Isaiah Hartenstein was a key hub for Brunson to work with off the ball, and DiVincenzo was their second leading playoff scorer – now they’re all gone.

Even with their replacements, this offseason marked a clear step up in Brunson’s heliocentric ball. How will the new pieces do to pick up that slack?

Towns will have to lean more on his screening and playmaking in Hartenstein’s place, while also putting up enough of his own numbers to give Brunson a break and carry bench units. Bridges and Anunoby will also see more opportunities to enhance their attacking skills, and they will need to maximize their individual potential.

Even Jos Hart May be required to occasionally act as primary screener and playmaker. The eyes should also be turned on Miles McBride to make another leap, especially with his ability to handle the ball and create for others.

Can they stay healthy enough?

The most important and least predictable question facing the Knicks this season: Will they have enough of their powerful starting seven healthy in the playoffs to maintain a run?

It’s arguable that New York would have gone to the Conference Finals or beyond with a full roster last season, but we’ll never know.

Now we look to the upcoming season and whatever happiness it brings them. Perhaps some factors can be controlled, but don’t expect Thibodeau to start managing the load in his 13th year as an NBA head coach.