- Karl-Anthony Towns
75 games into the season and the Knicks number two scorer still doesn't know what his role on the team is. I don't want to sound like an alarmist here, but we're way past the point where this should be an issue. Typically, this late in the season, teams are fine tuning their systems, not redesigning them. If someone as valuable as KAT is saying something like this publicly, I can assure you Leon Rose cannot be happy. And if Rose isn't happy, you can bet the ranch James Dolan isn't either.
I have given Mike Brown the benefit of the doubt on more than one occasion. In my opinion, he has been an improvement over his predecessor Tom Thibodeau. He has cut down on the minutes the starters were playing, has increased the number of players in his rotation and, most notably, gotten a team that was fourteenth in defensive rating last season to seventh this season. Indeed, since January 21, the Knicks are first in the NBA in defensive rating.
He has also managed to do something Thibs couldn't do: get Towns and Jalen Brunson to defend. Since January 21, KAT's defensive rating is 104.5 and Brunson's is 111.9; last season, it was 110.3 and 118.2 respectively. It was no secret that in last year's Eastern Conference finals, the Pacers took advantage of both players whenever they were on the court. So bad was it that Thibs was forced to move KAT to the 4 and start Mitchell Robinson at the 5 once the series shifted to Indiana.
But while Brown deserves accolades for the defensive turnaround, there's no excuse for one of his players not knowing what his role is. We're not talking about a bench player here. We're talking about a 7-0 center who, last season, averaged 24.4 points per game and shot 42 percent from three-point range. Only Nikola Jokic averaged more points per game at that position.
There's also no excuse for Brown pulling that player out of a game in which his team was trailing by two late in the 4th quarter. Sunday night in OKC, the Thunder were leading 95-93 with 5:41 left in regulation. The Knicks were on a 12-3 run with Towns accounting for nine of their points. Thanks to a turnover by SGA, New York had the ball. That's when Brown inexplicably pulled his star center and inserted Mitchell Robinson in his place. Though the substitution was short-lived, the momentum had ostensibly been killed. KAT never scored another point. OKC would go on a 16-7 run to close out the game.
It is incumbent upon a head coach to communicate to his players what his expectations are and what their roles will be. For most of the season, Towns has looked lost out on the court. He passes up shots that are there while forcing shots that aren't. Against the Thunder, he took only nine shots. To put that in perspective, Jose Alvarado took ten off the bench.
This was not some blow out; this was a close game that was winnable. The first rule in sports is you always go with your best lineup when the game is on the line. KAT was on a roll; no way he should've been substituted. While Robinson has many talents, offense isn't one of them. He had no business being on the court in that situation. His turnover two possessions later opened up the flood gates for OKC.
This isn't the first time Brown's tinkering with the rotation has been questioned. You could say it's been a season-long preoccupation of his. There's just one problem: this isn't November or December, it's March, about to become April. The tinkering should be over. The way this team is playing, they'd have a hard time making it out of the first round, let alone getting to the finals. And if they end up facing the Pistons in the conference finals, they might very well get swept.
Mike Brown was hired to get the Knicks over the hump. They entered the season as the prohibitive favorites to win the East. As of now, they're more likely to finish fourth than first. Not all of what's wrong is his fault; but the part that is he must fix, and fix soon. Otherwise, this season of high expectations will go up in smoke.
Just like all the others.
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