Knicks Offensive Rank (by OE 5th last year, 7th the year before)
- 5-7 (53%, 26 Votes)
- 1-4 (45%, 22 Votes)
- 11+ (2%, 1 Votes)
- 8-10 (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 49
Loading ...Which Offensive Four Factor will increase the most?
- eFG% (16th) (54%, 25 Votes)
- FT/FG (15th) (24%, 11 Votes)
- TO% (15th) (22%, 10 Votes)
Total Voters: 46
Loading ...Which Offensive Four Factor will decrease the most?
- OREB% (1st) (48%, 22 Votes)
- TO% (15th) (30%, 14 Votes)
- FT/FG (15th) (13%, 6 Votes)
- eFG% (16th) (9%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 46
Loading ...
71 replies on “Knicks 2026 Preseason Poll: Team Offense”
Man, Hollinger continues to disrespect the Knicks, he has the Knicks finishing with a 49-33 record and tied for 3rd in the East with the Hawks.
d-mar, we had a president on our local team (FCPorto), that used to say “i love when they are disrespecting us, because when i’m getting taps in the back it means we’re no good” 😉
I like that Cyber!
president of what? or from where? taps in the back? im sorry i dont get it
very dense of me im sure
i guess i dont understand soccer very well 🙁
looking like
pg brunson deuce clarkson kolek
sg mikal clarkson deuce shamet dadiet
sf og hart dadiet yabu mikal
pf kat hart og yabu bridges
c mitch kat huk jemison
I’m guessing he’s saying if you’re doing good, people just accept or expect it. When you’re doing bad, they’ll feel bad for you and come over and pat you on the back and try to uplift your spirits.
Mike K you are a kind and patient soul.
yes indeed thanks much mike
Offensive ranking 5-7, eFG increasing most, TOs becoming more of a problem.
* Rank 1-4 (It’s a problem if we’re not)
* Efg% rank up (Threes)
* TOV rank down (passing more = more TOs)
Uhhhh… I think you accidentally listed the factor ranks from 2 years ago
Hollinger disrespects us, but Bill Simmons expects us to hit the over, meaning 52 wins or more. So who knows. Of course, Hollinger is probably better than Simmons at predicting wins, but I’m glad someone’s on our side.
Law Murray likes us (in the Athletic), but a lot his picks are nuts, so… The Cavs 9th? Indiana 11th?? And like everyone else, he had the Hawks very high – 5th, right behind us. I just don’t see it. KP will miss 30 games, Trae will be exploited, they won’t win 50. Most Improved doesn’t mean Great.
https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1980006790373703900
Kobe and Ron subbed themselves in & out…hillarious but very concerning
That is concerning. But I also don’t think you can take too much from Brown’s Lakers days. Following phil jackson and a team that won 2 titles and went to finals 3 times is an impossible act to follow. And those teams were not designed well. That was the peak of the “big three” era but the lakers big three was supposed to be aging/inefficient kobe, aging/injured steve nash and injured/diva era dwight howard. That team was destined to fail and had unrealistic expectations.
I’m more concerned about the idea that he lost the locker room in Sacramento.
The Hoops Collective podcast earlier in the summer all predicted the Knicks to go over 53 wins.
Director, if we had a different locker room I might find it concerning. Way down on my list of worries.
51 feels ok to me…
Hollinger’s analysis is mostly reasonable, but his W-L predictions should be ignored. There are so many “if’s” and “if not’s” built in that it just becomes silly.
Barring catastrophe, the Knicks can win anywhere from 48-60 games, most likely somewhere in the middle of that range. I think over 53.5 is a good bet. There’s some worry about a) Brown being less concerned with winning every game at the expense of load management a la Thibs, and b) regression to the mean re: injury luck. However, I think there are several positives that together outweigh those concerns.
First, there is no doubt that the East is diminished overall. Sure, Orlando, Atlanta, and Detroit are on the rise and will supplant some of the decline of Boston, Indiana, and to a lesser degree, Milwaukee and Miami. But those up-and-comers have their issues as well. So overall, I see this as a net plus from last year. We were 0-8 vs. BOS and CLE, and 0-16 vs. those two plus OKC, GSW, LAC, LAL. That means we were 51-15 vs. the rest of the league. Obviously that will balance out a bit…we were 23-1 vs. DEN, MEM, MIA, MIL, ORL, PHI, POR, SAC, and TOR…but it should allow for a few net wins.
Second, the core has had a full year together and a long playoff run under its belt. It’s veteran team with 8 of 9 rotation players in their prime and Clarkson TBD but looking healthy and spry thus far. That should help offset whatever growing pains they have in adapting to Brown’s systemic changes on both ends. In fact, his tendencies may actually unlock things that were buried under Thibs’ rigidity.
Third, their roster is both better and deeper than it was going into last year. Mitch is available and if he can play 50+ games, lots of would-be losses from last year should convert to wins. Deuce continues to improve. Clarkson and Yabu should be net plusses over Payne and Precious. Shamet is available on day 1. (beyond Mitch, remember that both Precious and Shamet were out for the start of last season). Huk seems more serviceable than Sims was as a 3rd string big. Kolek and Dadiet are a year older and should be at least marginally more NBA-ready.
So 49 wins seems harsh, and on the cusp of unreasonable.
Matt Barnes is a buffoon.
I go back and forth on how I feel this team will do. But I’m going to say, conservatively, that we will win 54 games. I think Brown will improve things if for no other reason that he’ll focus on things thibs refused to focus on and the core guys will be able to keep the foundation that Thibs put in place while adding these new wrinkles.
But I also think we’re going to have more injuries this year. Hart being diminished should not be dismissed because he was HUGE for us last year. Does more Mitch plus Yabu and Clarkson make up for Hart being diminished? I don’t know.
Healthy Mitch playing 50 to 60 games this year, though, is potentially a game changer. The defense was much better in the playoffs with Mitch and KAT starting and they didn’t even really try that line up out until the playoffs.
“But I also think we’re going to have more injuries this year. Hart being diminished should not be dismissed because he was HUGE for us last year. Does more Mitch plus Yabu and Clarkson make up for Hart being diminished? I don’t know.”
Honestly, I think the plan is for Hart’s role to be significantly diminished. It was ridiculous that Hart led the entire league in MPG last year. Ideally, he should play somewhere between 24-28 mpg. It sucks that he’s nicked up to start the season, but I don’t think the finger will affect his shot all that much once he gets used to it. The back is more concerning, but hopefully just spasms and he’s back healthy sooner than later.
100% agree and project we win 57 games and #1 seed.
Hart has also had nagging knee issues on and off for the last two seasons. I think it was that injury that contributed to some of his inconsistency with shooting and/or finsihing at the rim.
The biggest swing factors (beyond unpredictable injury luck) between 48-60 wins are a) Mitch’s health, b) who is the real Mikal Bridges? and c) the bench, meaning the Clarkson/Yabu combo. If all of those are answered in the affirmative and we have decent injury luck across the roster (meaning nothing more than a 4-6 week ding or two for any of our top 6) we should be at the top of that range.
Pelton was even more skeptical than Hollinger.
It’s reasonable for anyone with data blinders on to think we’ll win less games than last year. Data rarely predicts a coalescence of factors leading to a radical jump. Literally no one using data would have projected the Cavs winning 64 games last year, for instance. Even folks who were high on them predicted something in the range of 50.
I’m extremely over on the Knicks this year but the case is more about vibes than data. I think Mikal Bridges is going to have a major jump this year, for instance, based largely on history like Julius Randle being much better in his second year here with different coach.
Can’t intuit KAT’s tone from this. But this could certainly be read as concern, especially since so many of the other soundbytes from the team in preseason have been clearly excited.
Also:
Agree with the takes that Mikal is a big x factor and likely to be a major positive one. Less worried about Clarkson/Yabu in that worse case they won’t be less effective than Cam/Precious, simply because we have Yabu and Shamet to start the season. But if Huk makes a leap, watch out–injury-free Mitch is not an expected outcome even with load management–but it gives Brown way more flexibility for KAT to play the 4 or 5, and when Mitch is available, even more intriguing flexibility based on match ups. Analogous to when Mitch went down 2 seasons ago as arguably a crucial component, but iHart stepped in.
news on hart and mitch is just a tiny little bit of a vibe killer especially considering its probably not how we envisioned embarking upon our season of championship aspirations hope all is well with both of them
I’m guessing we will hear a lot of things like that for Mitch this season. They’re going to be as careful as they can be with him. I wouldn’t read too much into it.
It’s funny…last season our guys played so many minutes and it felt like a miracle we didn’t have any major injuries. But wondering if that culmulative toll on the minutes for Hart caught up with him by the end of the playoffs.
Not saying is for sure on the decline now but Thibs put a lot of miles on those tires last season. Kind of like how when you work crazy hours at your job for a few weeks or months because of a major project, staying up late, not eating well, etc…and then when you finally get a real break, that’s when you get sick.
What bugs me is that all indicators point to Mitch tweaking something in the MIN preseason game and the injury being hidden from the media. Purposeful obfuscation of his health status is unnerving for me. Maybe they’re trying to dupe CLE in some way, which seems pretty lame.
What I’m worried about is that his foot/ankle was not remedied to the point where there won’t be persistent lingering issues…soreness, swelling, etc….and that the load management goes beyond prevention and into the realm of, well, management.
We know that our chances of a title are very much enhanced by a healthy Mitch being available in the playoffs. But the inverse is also true…a compromised or unavailable Mitch is a significant detriment to those chances.
The thing is, CLE will be without Garland, who killed us last year. So not sure how much we will be able to take away from tomorrow’s game no matter what. If Mitch and Hart are out (or limited) maybe Brown goes with Huk/Jemison and Shamet in their exact roles, with perhaps some other wrinkles involving either more minutes for starters or some cameos from the kids.
A couple games ago, Brown in the NY Post explicitly referenced the Knicks “head of performance management” (or something like that) as making the sole decision on Mitch, even going so far as to say something like, in reference to what’s going on with Mitch: “that’s Clint’s (*) area, above my pay grade.”
While there absolutely is room for “performance managers” to have decent sway on nutrition, sleep, maybe even minutes, etc., in terms of strictly injuries and whether guys are injured and how badly, it seems to just add yet another layer of bullshit to what Thibs tended to just refer to as, “medical.”
It is indeed, as Z-Man noted, worrisome that Mitch really hasn’t done anything in two weeks and the coach is simply deflecting all inquiries.
In terms of the season: 55-27, second seed in the East behind Cleveland.
(*) Maybe not the actual name in the story. Think it started with C — Clint, Clyde, something. Whatever.
The organization gains nothing by being transparent. The team cares zero about you as a customer nor if you are unnerved. They know you will pony up the obscene prices they charge. If they can get a scintilla of advantage by getting Cleveland to prepare for something that won’t happen at no expense to themselves, that’s a win.
If there is a trade in the making that could be effected by MR’s relative health, another reason for silence.
Nothing is gained by the team by being specific about MR’s health. They only are obliged to follow the letter of the NBA law. I’m surprised they don’t follow the NHL teams: upper body injury/lower body injury.
FWIW my case for the Knicks winning 57-60 is based on the top 4 guys being awesome. I think a lot of folks are looking at Mitch, Clarkson, Yabu etc and thinking we have guys we didn’t have last year. I don’t think that’s going to matter nearly as much as KAT, OG, Mikal, and Brunson all being better. Each one of those guys (even Brunson) had down years last year. (Technically OG had the best year of his career, but I still think he can be better.)
Further I believe this idea that Thibs maximized regular season wins is lazy journalism and categorically false. His minutes thing maximized the amount of wins within his strategies. But I don’t think he ever employed the optimal strategies to begin with.
Less minutes + better strategies on both sides of the ball > maximum minutes + suboptimal strategies on both sides.
But what is the “NBA law?” Can a team willfully hide a known injury? Or lie about it?
If it’s just minor soreness or a tweak, that’s one thing. But if there is a question about a player’s availability, especially for Game 1 after two weeks of not practicing, seems like the expectation from the league office is that a reason other than “load management” would be required.
oh great, now I’m worried mitch is laid up somewhere – barely able to move…
anyone check his feed for proof of life…any truck shows lately?
been watching a lot of SWAT and FBI shows lately…wild stuff going on outside the door…hope mitch is okay…
mitch was getting the chance to touch the ball at the top of the key:
has anyone noticed if huk or jemison the 3rd can dribble or pass?
geo, maybe there’s a modicum of passing with Huk, not as much with Jemison III. Neither guy can dribble.
100%
When he didn’t play in the 2nd half I immediately made a comment here. Then I saw him walking fine after the game so I was less sure there was an issue.
“Load management” is a reasonable strategy for the season, but when you aren’t even sure he’s playing game 1, that means you already have a problem now.
this aws outage is killer
My understanding of NBA rules is a team MUST disclose any injury by 5 PM the day of a game and by 1 PM if it is a back to back. That’s it.
So tomorrow by 5 PM the Knicks must report everyone’s injury status for Wednesday’s game.
They must be listed (if on the injury report) as probable, questionable, doubtful or out and a term like finger, ankle or knee must be used. Leg is unacceptable.
If it isn’t after 5PM gameday you have no right to know.
Shams: “The New York Knicks and No. 51 overall pick Mohamed Diawara have agreed on a standard, one-year rookie NBA deal, sources tell ESPN.”
Apparently, because we signed Diawara to an Exhibit 10 contract, he was ineligible for the multi-year second round rookie contract. So he’ll be an RFA at the end of this season.
injuries must be disclosed by 500 pm but not whether or not a particular player is going to play in that nights game there are many game time decisions that are decided 15-20 minutes before opening tip
…or as we think of him now, Giannis Diawara…
now you guys love him but when we drafted him you were purposely misppelling his last name as diarrhea such disrespect to the young man as i said at the time
I was actually wondering about that. Sucks, but he’ll be restricted at least.
Btw, thanks for posting all the updates to the blog that you do
https://x.com/JustinmTurpin/status/1980328695371034879
What the hell?? I like Thibs a little less after this!
They must include either probable, questionable, doubtful or out which carry a 75%, 50%, 25% and zero percent probability of playing that night.
yes but bettors have become attuned to the belief that for the most part probable means playing and doubtful means not playing leaving probable as the only designation that they think requires monitoring
boo thibs turning green so quickly!!!
I guess the Knicks (Leon) wanted to maintain full flexibility with Diawara…meaning that if they were able to trade Dadiet, they might have wanted only vet’s minimum guys in all remaining roster spots rather than someone on a rookie deal. That seems pretty reasonable.
What the hell?? I like Thibs a little less after this!
I actually like him a little more for this, as it’s a small indication as to how he regarded the FO. Time to move on he was told, and he gave ( a small) finger as he did.
thibs was green before he ever showed up in new york boston is where he made his reputation as a defensive guru
He’s from the part of Connecticut that doesn’t consider itself an extension of New York and went to college in Massachusetts. Pretty sure he’s always been a Celts fan.
Very weird Top 100 in The Ringer, but at least they have six Knicks in the Top 81. That’s a nice thing.
Yeah, Thibs did this same exact tours after he was fired from previous jobs. Prefessional development, he keeps learning and sharing nuggets with peers, continues to build relationship and its a perfect tax write off for someone who loves being in the gym. I dont blame him one bit. Jalen Brown is trolling. Mikal rendered him useless, not Thibs.
jaylen
Former KB member Vertsberger about how our season can go.
https://sny.tv/articles/knicks-2025-26-season-preview-prediction
wow
It’s kinda cool that there’s one last baseball game we don’t know the outcome of.
no doubt good looking out by the mariners and jays on bringing us a game 7…
don’t care who wins but fun game so far…
of course the dodgers will probably sweep whoever wins, but…
Come on, Mariners!
This bugs me, why would Yabusele do this?
15 in his butt. 😉
Jokes aside, the guy looks obese, and he was slow as shit during the preseason. Is this another Eddy Curry/Mike Sweetney situation? I mean yeah, he got paid a bit, but it’s not like a max contract or anything…
The irony is that the guy actually played in meaningful games this summer!
I wish we had the depth for Brown (no physical specimen himself, but I digress) to tell him, take a month and get yourself in shape or else…
Maybe he plays himself back into shape once the games start?
yeah dont love it 265 was already too much for a 6 foot 8 guy hes almost a lock to get hurt unless he sheds some of that
Well unlike Zion he doen’t get off the ground so maybe he can handle the weight healthwise, but who cares if he can’t move?
I also am not very impressed with Mike Brown’s answer: “…that’s something our performance people talk to him about…” WTF? You’re the freakin’ head coach! You mean you don’t coordinate a meeting with the players and performance people, or sit with the player and go over their analysis and recommendations? That’s bullshit.
its official:
Jordan Clarkson
G
6’5″ 194 lbs 33 USA – – – –
Miles McBride
G
6’2″ 195 lbs 25 USA – – – –
Josh Hart
G
6’5″ 215 lbs 30 USA – – – –
Pacôme Dadiet
F
6’9″ 210 lbs 20 France – – – –
OG Anunoby
FG
6’7″ 240 lbs 28 United Kingdom – – – –
Kevin McCullar Jr.
G
6’6″ 210 lbs 24 USA – – – –
Jalen Brunson
G
6’2″ 190 lbs 29 USA – – – –
Tyler Kolek
G
6’2″ 195 lbs 24 USA – – – –
Tosan Evbuomwan
F
6’8″ 217 lbs 24 United Kingdom – – – –
Mitchell Robinson
CF
7’0″ 240 lbs 27 USA – – – –
Mikal Bridges
GF
6’6″ 209 lbs 29 USA – – – –
Guerschon Yabusele
F
6’7″ 265 lbs 29 France – – – –
Karl-Anthony Towns
CF
7’0″ 248 lbs 29 USA – – – –
Landry Shamet
G
6’5″ 190 lbs 28 USA – – – –
Trey Jemison III
C
6’10” 270 lbs 25 USA – – – –
Mohamed Diawara
F
6’9″ 225 lbs 20 France – – – –
Ariel Hukporti
C
7’0″ 246 lbs 23 Germany – – –