The Knicks parted ways with Tom Thibodeau for a few reasons, in my opinion. Chief among them seemed to be his inability, or unwillingness, to maximize the talent on his roster. For the Knicks' next head coach, whoever that may be, his most important task will be figuring out how to make the pieces fit together. To do that, he must figure out how to better utilize the pick and roll between Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson.
Let me start off by saying that this is a pick-and-roll league. During the regular season, teams set 65 picks per 100 possessions, per league tracking data. While that number was actually higher over the previous 11 seasons, it is still high.
The Knicks' two best offensive players are a point guard who has arguably the best footwork in the league and a big who is arguably the best 3-point shooting big of all time. That seems like a recipe for the best pick and pop game in the league. Yet, for the Knicks, it wasn't.
For whatever reason, whether it was Thibodeau, Brunson, Towns, or some combination of all three of them, it didn't work out that way. Whoever is given the franchise wheel next absolutely needs to figure out why it didn't work and how to make it work. That is, of course, assuming that Towns is even still on the roster come this fall.
It started out working
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From November through January, Brunson and Towns paired up on 612 picks. Over those three months, they generated an average of 1.04 points per direct pick. Then, from February through April, they teamed up on a mere 153 picks. Even more concerning, those picks generated only 0.89 points per direct.
The reasons for the drop-off are likely a combination of things. On one hand, teams started guarding Towns with wings instead of centers. As has been well documented at this point, that caused a ton of problems for Towns. Problems that he, Brunson, and to a degree Thibodeau were unable or unwilling to try to overcome.
Towns struggling with smaller defenders is now common knowledge. Teams will likely use the same strategy next season, and Brunson and Towns, as well as their new coach, need to find a way to figure it out.
Your best two offensive players, when they seem to be as perfectly paired as Brunson and Towns, need to be able to be used in actions together. It is the key to making this whole entire thing run smoothly.