The Knicks will wake up on Monday with the No. 2 offense in the NBA. But they’ll also have the league’s ninth lowest field goal percentage.
So where does the efficiency come from?
For one, the Knicks average nine more field goals per game than their opponent. That’s thanks in part to strong offensive rebounding (Knicks are No. 1 in offensive rebounds per 100 possessions). Head coach Mike Brown’s club also keeps teams off the line (No. 2 in opponent free-throw attempts).
And then there’s the three-point shooting.
The Knicks lead the league in made three-pointers per 100 possessions. They are third in attempts per 100 possessions and have the best three-point field goal percentage among teams with at least 40 attempts per game. The returns in the first nine games are good, but players and coaches believe there is plenty of room for improvement.
“I truly believe we can still play better, we can still mix it up. What we have to get cautious of is not settling,” Brown explained after the Knicks’ dominant win over Brooklyn. “We’re moving a lot of bodies around and we want to keep moving bodies around and make it hard on the defense. And if we do, and it becomes just second nature to us, then we’ll have a chance to be a pretty good offensive team.”
What are some of those areas of improvement?
“Our recognition… out on the floor and our pace, getting the ball in bounds on a make, not walking the ball up, getting right to our stuff. If they take (a certain action) away, bam, we’ve got counters. Go to the counter.”
Jalen Brunson and the starters seem to be adjusted well to Brown’s offense. When Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns share the floor with Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks are plus-30.
Brunson, as you’d expect, sees much that the Knicks can improve on offense.
“It’s about not being complacent and being more fluent in the stuff we run where everything is an instinct and we’re not thinking about what we’re doing. Everything’s a reaction and it comes seamless like that,” he said Sunday. “So we’re working towards that… So yeah the ball’s going through the hoop but we can be a lot better.”
Something else you should know about the Knick offense: there are very few plays installed at this point.
“We still like to play out of concepts, read and react. I think our guys are getting a little more comfortable with that,” Brown said before Sunday’s game.
The lack of set plays is somewhat intentional but it’s also circumstantial. The Knicks had injuries to key players in the preseason/early regular season. Those injuries have limited the amount of plays Brown and his staff can put in.
“Trying not to put in too much too quick has been the challenge of us as a coaching staff because we don’t want to overwhelm them and we want to try to catch everybody up before we add too much more,” the coach says.
But also, the read-and-react approach is "mainly by design," Brown says.
“I think at the end of the day, it would be great if they can just play without play calls. So now it’s harder for the defense. Because if I sit there and (call a play from the sideline), well, the other team with the way scouting is and all that, they’re for sure going to have a coach standing up, (calling out how to defend the play.)… If you can play fast but can get to your stuff quickly — knowing that getting into your stuff you have three or four different options — that (makes it) hard (for the defense to get settled in). We want to be able to play that way throughout the whole year.”
As you’d expect, Brunson and Towns have the freedom to deviate from Brown’s principles. Anunoby also has the green light to make plays outside of the framework.
“I’m a quick decision guy. Catch it, pass it, shoot it, or snap drive. If Jalen catches it, he dances with it a little bit, he’s got that leeway, that freedom,” Brown says. “If he dances with it two or three times in a row and it’s not working, it’s my job to say, ‘Hey, let’s go quick decision and we’re moving on.’ But those types of guys have the freedom.”
Brown feels Towns has gotten more comfortable in the offense "each time he steps on the floor". The key for the coaching staff is to help Towns operate from different areas of the floor.
“We want to keep trying to move him around so teams can’t just sit at the top of the floor. If we can do that, then I think eventually the game’s going to be a lot easier for him,” Brown said. “He’s going to be in places where teams aren’t used to doubling. One time he’s here, now he’s (in a different location), now he’s (in a different location). So that’s what we plan on doing with him.”
So far, all of Brown’s plans have yielded a strong offense. It’s early and plenty can change between now and mid April, but the Knicks offense is on pace to score a lot of points.
“I think everything we're doing is still a work in progress and we're trying to — all of us are trying to figure out how we can impact in the system most efficiently,” Towns said Sunday. “I'm glad we're learning through wins.”
DEFENSIVE FREEDOM
Brunson, Towns and Anunoby have freedom on offense to break away from Brown’s principles. On the other side of the ball, several Knicks have the green light to improvise outside of Brown’s defensive plan.
“OG is a special player, Mitch is a special player. Mikal is a special player. Josh (Hart) is a special player. Deuce (McBride). So these guys have the freedom to do some things defensively that you kind of let it go,” Brown said. “And if it happens too much and it’s not working, then you have to correct it. Even same thing on the glass. Josh is a special rebounder. And if we have crash zones where we want our guys to crash the glass from; the reality of it is, as special as Josh is, when it comes to second opportunities, he’s going to have a lot of freedom, no matter where he is on the floor.”
TRACKING THREE-POINT DEFENSE
The Knicks track several elements in each game. One of those elements? Contested three-pointers.
“We want to be 100 percent but I’m OK at 75 percent or higher. And we had a lot of guys that were below 75 percent when it came to contesting (in recent games),” Brown said before Sunday’s game. “We want them to do the best they can and no more. We want them to be the second jumper, do the best they can and no more.
"We believe that you can shift — or make that floor look smaller — because we’re long… But sometimes we have a knack of shifting and then when it comes to closing out, sometimes we don’t even put a hand up so we can do a little bit better job in that area.”