The New York Knicks were 7-5 when Tom Thibodeau used colorful language to express his displeasure with their starters. They were 11-9, coming off a win over the Atlanta Hawks without Kemba Walker, when Thibodeau announced that Walker's DNP-rest would be followed by a DNP-coach's decision.
Since that announcement, the Knicks have gone 1-7, and they've fallen to 12th in the East. Their defense -- the lifeblood of last season's overachieving team, the reason for Walker's demotion -- ranks 22nd (111.3 points per 100 possessions), per Cleaning The Glass. It has been even worse (118.7 per 100) in the last eight games.
This past Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks, with R.J. Barrett in health and safety protocols and Walker's replacement, Alec Burks, unavailable because of the birth of his child, Thibodeau started Derrick Rose and rookie Quentin Grimes. Two days later against the Golden State Warriors, with Grimes in health and safety protocols, Thibodeau played rookie guard Miles McBride 20 minutes, including the entire fourth quarter. Forward Kevin Knox II played the whole fourth quarter in both losses. Before that, McBride and Knox had logged a combined 34 minutes all season.
Some other Knicks notes:
- Since being officially named a starter, Burks has averaged 14.3 points on 49.8 percent true shooting and has shot 12-for-42 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range.
- Their starters have remained terrible without Walker, and so has their defense. With the foursome of Burks, Evan Fournier, Barrett and Julius Randle on the court, New York has allowed 121.4 points per 100 possessions in 110 minutes this season, an even more dismal mark than the 117.5 per 100 it gave up in 408 minutes with Walker, Fournier, Barrett and Randle sharing the floor.
- Randle is shooting 26-for-83 (31 percent) on long 2s this season, down from 44 percent last season, per Cleaning The Glass.
- People who criticized the Knicks for banishing Walker on Tuesday: Chuck D ("totally unfair"), Jamal Crawford ("low key disrespectful").
- Adjectives used in The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov's column, published Wednesday morning, to describe the team and its season: listless, static, stale, bad, disappointing.
It's not clear that bringing Walker back will solve New York's problems, and it's possible that Thibodeau sees it as more respectful to keep him out of the rotation entirely than to throw him out there in an emergency and leave his night-to-night role murky. (Thibodeau has repeatedly said he views Walker as a starter.) As bad as the numbers have been, Burks is a stronger and more versatile perimeter defender. If the Knicks are committed to reestablishing their defensive identity, going back to a Walker-Fournier backcourt makes little sense.
Does Fournier have to start, though? If they put Walker in his place, would it be much worse than what's been happening? Isn't it fair to expect that he'd play over McBride? What horrors must befall this team for Thibodeau to call Walker's number?
Walker has persistent knee problems, which is why he got that DNP-rest in the first place. In his 18 games, he didn't finish at the rim or get to the free throw line the way that he used to. He shot 41.3 percent from deep, though, and remains a real pull-up threat running pick-and-roll. The Knicks could use someone like that, particularly with four players -- Barrett, Grimes, Obi Toppin and, as of Thursday, Knox -- in health and safety protocols. Their halfcourt offense ranks 21st in the league, per Cleaning The Glass.
If New York manages to flip the script in the next two weeks, it might have more to do with its opponents than anything Thibodeau does with the rotation. Before the end of the calendar year, the Knicks will face Houston, Boston, Detroit, Washington, Atlanta, Minnnesota, Detroit (again!) and Oklahoma City. Maybe they'll win a bunch of these winnable games and show that they're at least the decent team they appeared to be before this slide. If the slide continues, however, it will get harder to justify sticking the hometown hero at the end of the bench.
