Author: Daniel Latto

MADISON- Thus far, there have been many surprises throughout the 2020-21 NBA season. The Utah Jazz are dominating the entire NBA, sitting atop the standings at 27-7, while winning eight-straight games and 23 of their last 26 games. While they have had success in recent years, this appearance at the top of the NBA is one that the league has not seen since the days of Karl Malone and John Stockton. The Phoenix Suns are 22-11 and are on pace to make their first playoff appearance since 2010. In the Eastern Conference, there are six teams all within 1.5 games of each other spanning from the fourth spot all the way down to the tenth. However, most would consider the true anomaly of this NBA season to be the team who is leading the pack out of those six teams.

The New York Knicks are 18-17 and are above .500, 35 games into the season for the first time since their Melo-Woodson led the team in 2012-13. What makes it even more remarkable is the turnaround they have had, as, over the last six years, they have been a bottom four team in the Eastern Conference and considered by most the laughing stock of the NBA. So, what happened in a shortened COVID off-season that led to such a surprising turnaround? Well, we can for sure start with the coaching. Over the off-season, newly appointed President of Basketball Operations for the Knicks, Leon Rose, went and hired head coach Tom Thibodeau. After getting fired in 2019 by the Timberwolves and spending a year being an analyst, Thibodeau returned back to the coaching ring in the NBA. What makes this hire so interesting is that the New York Knicks have one of the younger teams in the league. For a coach like Thibodeau, who is known to ride his players for extended periods of time during the games, and loves guys who play hard and hustle on both sides of the court, this is a match made in heaven. The Knicks are full of young players with a real desire to learn who are all looking to make their name in the NBA. This means that a coach who plays players based on performance can truly get the best out of each and every player on the team. As players like Austin Rivers have said before, “It's Thibs way or the highway”. If you want to get on the court right now in a Knicks uniform, you better be ready to give it your all in every offensive and defensive possession. Right now, the Knicks rank second in the NBA in defensive efficiency, first in points allowed per game and third in rebounds per game. All these stats are representative of the new defensive-oriented team Thibs is developing.

However, it's not just a head coaching change that has had this Knicks team playing the best basketball in nearly a decade. Julius Randle was acquired in the off-season after the 2018-19 season. His first season on the Knicks was, to say the least, a disaster. He was out of shape, was extremely inefficient with the ball, and turned it over more than anyone on the team. Fast forward a year and a half, and he is over 10 pounds lighter, just landed the first All-Star appearance in his career, and is on pace to finish with numbers accomplished only by Larry Bird. He is averaging over 20 points per game, 10 rebounds, five assists, and shooting over 40% from three-point land, as I said before, only done by Larry Bird. He has admitted that he was not ready to be the number one guy his first season on the Knicks. However, now he looks ready to be a top gun on a championship team.

The last thing that can be attributed to the Knicks' success would be their second pick in the first round, Immanuel Quickley. After making some noise in the shortened preseason, Quickly quickly (no pun intended) proved himself to be NBA-ready. After getting injured in his first career game, he came back a little shaky, nothing surprising from a rookie who misses games with an injury. And then he got it going. After an impressive 19-point performance against the Nets, he would go on to score 23 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Just over a week later, he had the first 30-point game of his career against the Trail Blazers. But the stats do not do his impact on the Knicks justice. The energy he provides to the team, along with his impressive outside shooting has made him an absolute asset for New York. He is the first player in over 20 years to make his first 94 out of 100 free throws, and his ability to force the refs to make calls to get him to the line has the qualities of a ten-year veteran. After countless games, wins, or losses, you will find Quickley working on his game hours after the final buzzer has sounded. While he has games where he shows the attributes of a 20-year-old, his impressive game has put the league on notice and has been responsible for many Knicks victories so far in this short season.

The Knicks have an extremely bright future, with many other players not named in this article also contributing to the team. If you follow them closely, you realize their success is actually no surprise at all, just a byproduct of Leon Rose doing a fantastic job of putting a well-rounded and hard-working team together.