Jalen Brunson has been quite a revelation for the New York Knicks during the early part of the season. His playmaking abilities have been integral in their two wins so far this year, and it goes without saying that he's been worth every penny of his $104 million deal.
Brunson does have his downside, though. Despite everything he brings to the table on the offensive end, he isn't exactly a gem when it comes to defense. Brunson's defensive shortcomings have had an impact on the Knicks, and in particular, RJ Barrett could be the one who gets the short end of the stick here (h/t Steve Bulpett of heavy.com)
“His offense is suffering because he has to chase people around so much at the other end to make up for (Jalen) Brunson’s defensive deficiencies,” said an anonymous source who is close to the situation in New York. “It’ll be interesting to see how that gets handled going forward. That’s up to the coaches to decide how they want to work around that — you know, more help, switching the right way, how to bring the double-teams. But it can all change with matchups.
“Against Memphis, they were playing drop defense and letting Ja (Morant) get a full head of steam without a shot-blocker back there. That’s tough.”
Sooner or later, something's gotta give. This could come in the form of Barrett suffering some sort of injury because of the heavy workload he's being asked to carry night in and night out — on both ends of the floor. Hopefully, the Knicks are able to figure something out before it comes to this.
For now, however, head coach Tom Thibodeau is just making his tactical adjustments based on personnel:
“The second group runs more,” said the source. “Derrick Rose, Obi (Toppin), (Immanuel) Quickley — those guys play fast. They can do that because they have a point guard that plays fast. Brunson doesn’t do that, and that’s fine. They know what he does and what he’s good at.”
The Knicks will be in action on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets, before facing a tough test in Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
Follow Us
Subscribe