Assessing the '24-25 Knicks, Part III

Plus, an update on Jason Kidd

Good morning! No, the Knicks still don’t have a head coach, nor have they officially requested permission from the Mavs to speak to Jason Kidd about their vacancy, but multiple reports confirm that there is mutual interest between New York and the Hall of Fame point guard. On the trade front, Ian Begley stated on the radio that he’s be surprised if Kevin Durant ended up with the Knicks this summer.

Assessing the '24-25 Knicks, Part III

I’m planning on doing a Part IV of this series to go through a few non-starters on the team, but we’ll see how the rest of the week goes before I commit to that. For now, let’s go through the three remaining key cogs from this year’s group.

Karl-Anthony Towns

In some ways, assessing Karl-Anthony Towns’ 2024-25 season is like assessing a Big Mac.

You go into it knowing pretty much what you’re going to get. It’s damn enjoyable, not very good for you, and you come out of it wondering if it was really worth it, but hey…it was a tasty burger.

To that end, if anyone went into KAT’s first (only?) Knicks season expecting anything other than what we got, well…that’s on you. On the plus side, he had one of the most brilliant offensive seasons in franchise history, making All-NBA 3rd Team and becoming the second Knick ever to average 24, 12 & 3 in a single season. It was exactly what you’d expect from one of the uniquely gifted basketball players the sport has ever seen.

The company he joins is also incredibly fitting. The other Knick to average that particular stat line was perhaps the most gifted player on the planet at one point in his NBA career.

When Bob McAdoo got traded to a New York team looking to recapture its championship glory, he had been named the league’s Most Valuable Player just a year and a half earlier and was less than six months removed from finishing runner up to Kareem for the 1976 MVP award. In parts of three seasons as a Knick, McAdoo’s numbers were incredible, and he still holds the franchise record for career scoring average. He even got an MVP vote in 1978 despite playing for a team that barely finished over .500.

But when we talk about the greatest players in franchise history, McAdoo’s name rarely comes up, mostly because the team wasn’t very good during his tenure. If anything, he’s the symbol of a period defined by the absence of what made them great: defense, togetherness, and teamwork.

This is where the comps to Towns get interesting.