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Greetings, Knickerbocker fans. As the 81st NBA season draws near, the Posting and Toasting crew has assembled to answer questions and offer predictions as the defending champions pursue a repeat under sophomore skipper Mike Brown.
Commence the speculation!
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1) Where will the Knicks finish in offensive and defensive rating, and what will drive the biggest change?
Antonio Losada: Let’s do something not-so-fun and revisit last year’s takes, carrying 53 years (well, not so many in my personal case) of suffering with them. I had the Knicks finishing with both a top-six offense and defense last season, and I nearly got it right, as they posted the third-best ORtg and seventh-best DRtg. Nothing other than losing Mitchell Robinson has changed, I don’t expect anything to deviate a lot from what we saw last postseason, and everybody — including Mike Brown — has been together for a full season, so I’ll ramp up my prediction for a top-three finish in both cats this campaign.
Michael Zeno: As Antonio said, the Knicks gave us a good baseline with third and seventh in offensive and defensive rating, respectively, so my answers will be pretty similar. I’m not sure if they can achieve Celtics-esque offensive harmony from behind the arc, but this offense will reach a new level with their new playmaking hub in the middle. On defense, I wonder if Andre Drummond will be a steep drop-off from Mitchell Robinson, but also if the strides Karl-Anthony Towns made in the postseason will carry over. Whaddya know, the man angling for a max extension is the X-factor for both. I’ll say third and ninth.
Moritz Wollert: If they really wanted to I could see them finishing top three in both categories. The people in Atlanta, Philly, Cleveland and down there in Texas surely remember how dominant this Knicks group can be, even if they lost Mitchell Robinson over the summer. For a veteran championship team like our Bockers (damn, it feels good to type that) though of course there are many things a lot more important than statistical milestones. So I could see them pacing themselves, trying out some things over the course of the year and…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/p-t-round-ball-table-130000751.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-19 13:00:00
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