And the Award Goes To...

The results from the latest NBA GM survey are in. How did the Knicks do? That, plus Part I of my NBA predictions for the '24-25 season.

Good morning! More Knicks basketball awaits us tonight, and full coverage of the game will follow tomorrow. In the meantime, a bunch of NBA execs weighed in on the upcoming season. I’ll cover that below, plus make a few predictions of my own.

News & Notes

🏀 The votes are in.

30 NBA general managers (or front office equivalents) answered 50 different questions about the best teams, players, coaches and offseason moves throughout the league, and the results were compiled for NBA.com. Here are all the Knick mentions:

• 43 percent of GM’s picked the Knicks to finish 2nd in the East. 37 percent picked them to finish 3rd, and 14 percent had them 4th.

• 10 percent of GM’s ranked Jalen Brunson as the best point guard in the league. He also finished second to Steph Curry as the best leader in the game, and got votes for the best future head coach.

• 20 percent of GM’s said the Knicks had the best offseason in the league.

• Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns were tied for second place at 13 percent apiece in “Which one player acquisition will make the biggest impact?” Paul George led the voting at 60 percent. The Towns acquisition was also named as the most surprising offseason move at 27 percent, with the Bridges trade coming in fourth at 10 percent.

• OG Anunoby finished a close second to Giannis in “most versatile defender.” He also got votes for best perimeter defender in the league.

• Mikal Bridges finished sixth in the “most versatile player” voting and also got votes for moving the best without the ball.

• Thibs finished just behind Spo as the best defensive coach in the league, with 20 percent of the total vote. He also got votes as the best motivator.

• The Knicks as a team got votes for the most efficient offense.

• A few GM’s thought New York’s level of success this season was the most difficult to predict.

• Finally, MSG was tied for third with Boston in “best home court advantage,” just behind OKC and a ways behind Denver, which got nearly half the vote.

As for categories in which neither the Knicks nor their players were mentioned: