With 24 games in the books and a trip to the NBA Cup semifinals in play on Wednesday, it’s fair to say the New York Knicks are sitting pretty considering the monster roster overhaul they experienced in a span of a few months.
Things haven't stopped getting better for New York each passing week, going from a mediocre 6-6 record on Nov. 15 (the last time they were fluctuating between one game above/below .500) to a much better 15-9 entering Wednesday’s slate and having won five of their last six games in the past 10 days of play.
Not saying things will stay the same for the remainder of the season, but the Knicks’ 10-3 record from Nov. 15 on has them on pace to go 45-13 the rest of the way (that’s a .775 winning percentage). Reasonable to find them climbing up the ranks.
Here’s a roundup of all the power rankings posted at different places through Tuesday’s matchups, capturing the national perception of the Knicks among the basketball elite.
Note: I have included a +/- next to each rank, with a minus sign (-) meaning dropping down and a plus sign (+) meaning climbing up X spots compared to last week’s position on that outlet.
NBA — No. 8 — New York Knicks (+2)
John Schuhmann of NBA.com moved New York two places up his ranks, and that’s without accounting for Monday’s win over Toronto.
It’s now been a full month and four consecutive weeks for the Knicks climbing up the NBA rankings, at least one position at a time.
“The Knicks have climbed out of the bottom 10 on defense, with the winning streak (101.6 points allowed per 100 possessions) being their best stretch on that end of the floor by a wide margin. Of course, all four games (plus their loss to the Pistons) were against teams that rank in the bottom 10 on offense, and much of the improvement was about how poorly those opponents shot from the perimeter.
“While they’ve seen a huge drop in offensive rebounding percentage, the Knicks remain strong (fifth) on the defensive glass. Towns has grabbed 31% of available defensive boards when he’s been on the floor, the second-highest rate among 329 players who’ve averaged at least 10 minutes per game and the highest rate of his career by a huge margin. His previous high (27.2%) was in the last full season (2017-18) that Tom Thibodeau was Towns’ coach in Minnesota.
“Despite the loss to the Pistons over the weekend, the Knicks have been 11.3 points per 100 possessions better at home (plus-12.9, second best) than they’ve been on the road (plus-1.6, 10th). That’s the league’s third biggest home-road differential, with the much bigger difference on the defensive end of the floor.” — John Schuhmann
It’s reasonable to find no teams overtaking the Knicks in these power rankings, but the opposite happened to other squads—Orlando and the LA Clippers—that saw New York move them down the leaderboard.
The Athletic — No. 9 — New York Knicks (-1)
Law Murray of The Athletic did the same to the Knicks as the NBA did, moving New York up two spots from last week’s ninth place to the current seventh entering NBA Cup week.
Murray handed the Knicks a B-minus grade for their first quarter of the season with 24 games in the books and a 15-9 record at the time of publication.
“Just when you think it’s safe to consider the Knicks contenders, they throw in their weekly letdown to teams like the Pistons or the Jazz or the Bulls.
“There’s no doubt the Knicks are a good team. Their defense just isn’t good enough not to get shocked regularly. Offensively, New York is powerful, though. The Knicks are making 50.1 percent of their field goals and 39.9 percent of their 3s, both marks that trail only Cleveland.
“Karl-Anthony Towns is having arguably his best season, making a seven-year best 53.1 percent from the field and a career-best 44.7 percent from 3 on his way to 25.1 points per game.” — Law Murray
Someone had to move down so the Knicks could move up, and the casualties in The Athletic’s power rankings were the Golden State Warriors and the Orlando Magic.
ESPN — No. 7 — New York Knicks (+2)
The ESPN panel released their rankings on Wednesday so they were able to take the first matchups of the NBA Cup quarterfinals into consideration but not the outcome of the games pending play—including New York’s against Atlanta.
The flavor of the week was about highlighting each team’s biggest issue to date, on offense on defense, which in the eyes of Chris Herring is “Karl-Anthony Towns’ slow defensive start.”
“Towns’s advanced defensive metrics have improved in recent weeks, however he’s still allowing opponents to shoot 6.5 percentage points better than their seasonlong averages near the basket. That’s the worst rate among NBA centers who have played 15 games and defended at least four rim attempts per outing.
“Because of that, it will be worth watching how often coach Tom Thibodeau plays Towns with Precious Achiuwa, the backup big and rim protector who recently made his season debut after returning from an injured hamstring.” — Chris Herring
With the Knicks moving up two places, the two teams moving down their prior rank and now trailing New York are Golden State and Orlando, both still inside the top 10 of ESPN’s power leaderboard.
Yahoo — No. 5 — New York Knicks (*)
This week, with the NBA turning all of our attention to their manufactured In-Season Tournament, Ben Rohrbach limited his Yahoo bi-monthly ranking to just the eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals of the tourney.
Among those eight teams—New York, Orlando, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Golden State, and Oklahoma City—the Knicks were placed just below the Mediocrity Cut and in fifth place.
“Tom Thibodeau reminds us at every turn that his Knicks cannot compete for a championship if their defense does not improve, even as they have won 10 of 13 games. In that span their 123.1 points per 100 possessions lead the league, but their defensive rating remains below average.
“The porous defense is a feature, not a bug, since the Knicks employ Karl-Anthony Towns as their starting center, and they do not have an elite rim-protecting reserve to mask his shortfall. Towns has been an offensive juggernaut, and New York has followed suit, but in the back of our minds we have to wonder if the Knicks can get stops when they need to. And they will need to.
“Can you win the NBA Cup with a subpar defense? And if you cannot, what must New York’s front office think of its chances in the playoffs? This tournament could be the impetus for another call to Portland, where the lottery-bound Blazers’ frontcourt is overcrowded with capable bigs.” — Ben Rohrbach
The four teams clocking in above the Knicks, from worst (4th) to best (1st) seed were Houston, Golden State, Dallas, and Oklahoma City. If you’re paying attention, that’s the four Western Conference teams ranking on the upper half of the board with all Eastern Conference teams on the lower half—with the Knicks leading them all. A win’s a win, I guess.
What are your thoughts on the ranks above? Where do you have the Knicks ranked after they split their first six games of the season? Drop your hot takes in the comments section below!