Power rankings system devised and compiled weekly by Stemshul. “Expert” analysis by paradroid.
We’re back and looking at the New York Knickerbockers this week. The Knicks have moved up three spots, which is good, but are still only #20, which is not. The move was aided by three wins in a row to close out the week, but was preceded by seven straight losses. Back on January 15th, N.Y. was at 22-21. This was considered a bit disappointing, but it was actually a game better than they were at the previous year. However, that team went 16-7 in its next 23, whereas this year’s version has gone 6-17. There was plenty of expectation of success in ’21-’22 thanks to that strong finish, but things have obviously not gone as planned.
It’s beginning to look like last year was an aberration. Julius Randle had such an absurdly good season last year (24.1 PPG, 10.2 RPG, and 6.0 APG on 45.6/41.1/81.1 shooting) that you can forgive some regression. Those were career highs on the counting stats and his three point and free throw percentages were also his best. He has had higher field goal percentages in the past, but never as a number one option or with such a high usage rate. The Knicks’ offense ran almost completely through Randle last year and he rose to the occasion in a way few expected. This year, however, he has fallen back to earth. His line is currently 20.1 PPG, 10.0 RPG, and 5.2 APG on 41.9/31.2/76.4 shooting. Not terrible, but not very efficient either. He doesn’t have a ton of help, to be fair. RJ Barrett is getting better in his third year, but is at this point more of a third best player on a championship team that a second star. Kemba Walker, the big off-season gamble, has been a bust. It looks like all his injuries have left him unable to be a lead point guard anymore (he’s only 31, but the fall has been precipitous since his Charlotte days: from 25.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 5.9 APG just three years ago to 11.6 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 3.5 APG this year). The rest of the roster is mostly solid veterans without much upside (Evan Fournier, Taj Gibson, Derrick Rose, Alec Burks) or promising young players who have yet to fulfill much of their promise (Mitchell Robinson, Obi Toppin, Cam Reddish). Reigning coach of the year Tom Thibodeau has his work cut out for him. The Knicks are 3.5 games out of the final play-in spot in a surprisingly deep Eastern Conference and will need to figure something out if they want to salvage their season.
Another good week in Detroit, as the Pistons won two and then had the #10 Bulls on the ropes before succumbing in the 4th quarter. Still, the team seems to have figured something out and they’ve looked competitive in pretty much every game since they were demolished 141-119 by Charlotte February 11th. There was a players only meeting a few weeks back, and it seems to have spurred the Pistons into some degree of success. You love to see the players taking responsibility and although I don’t know who called or led the meeting, somebody is showing good leadership in the locker room. Another good sign for the franchise in a year with quite a few of them despite the poor record.
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