Knicks Year in Review

What a 2024 it has been.

Good morning, and one more time, HAPPY NEW YEAR! The Knicks and Jazz tip off at 7:30 pm tonight. John Collins is doubtful for Utah, while Jalen Brunson is listed as questionable for the third game in a row. I’ll be on halftime, so come say hi.

Knicks Year in Review

Forgive me for double dipping with the same opening line twice in the same week, but what a difference a year can make.

Consider that one year ago:

• Jalen Brunson had made zero All-Star teams, zero All-NBA teams, and had received a single token fifth place MVP vote the year prior

• OG Anunoby had yet to play a game for the Knicks

• Karl-Anthony Towns was averaging just 21 points but on his way to a fourth All-Star Game for the first place Minnesota Timberwolves

• Julius Randle was polishing off his own All-Star case, putting up 26, 9 & 5 a night over the previous 26 games following a dreadful six-game start

• Donte DiVincenzo was acclimating nicely to the starting role he acquired three weeks earlier, coming off a career high 38 against the Pacers

• Evan Fournier was still a Knick

• Quentin Grimes was still…untouchable

• Ditto for Mikal Bridges

• Josh Hart had zero career triple doubles

• Precious Achiuwa was an afterthought

• Cam Payne was a Buck, and would be traded to the Sixers in about six weeks

• The Wizards were hoping to snag a sweet draft asset for Landry Shamet

• New York had all of its future picks

• Deuce McBride was still out of the rotation in year three of his career, thus raising eyebrows when landed a three-year, $12 million extension

• Isaiah Hartenstein was still getting acclimated as a full time starter, and was barely a risk to receive someone’s full midlevel, let alone get more than the Knicks were able to pay him

• The Knicks were 17-15 and in 8th place, barely ahead of the Brooklyn Nets, and perhaps most jarringly…

• This guy was still wearing orange and blue.

About the only thing January 1, 2025 has in common with January 1, 2024 is that Mitchell Robinson is injured and the Knicks are patiently waiting his return.

For as much as Leon Rose’s tenure as POBO has been defined by relative homeostasis, the Knicks under his watch have rarely been a static enterprise.

Even so, there’s been an especially significant amount of turnover over the last 12 months as the organization continues to try and thread a needle that has never been navigated in the 78-year history of the NBA: winning a title with a primary core of players who were drafted by other teams.