August 03, 2024
Wendell Cruz/USA TODAY Sports
College teammates turned crosstown rivals turned professional teammates, can Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges help lead the New York Knicks to a championship?
With much of the Sixers' 2024-25 roster locked in more than a month removed from the start of a franchise-altering free agency, the time has come to evaluate their opposition in the Eastern Conference: of last season's playoff teams in the East, which ones pose the biggest threats to the Sixers, and how do the teams match up with this new-look team?
Up second is the team who eliminated the Sixers from last year's playoffs: the New York Knicks.
Sixers Eastern Conference preview: The Celtics aren't going anywhere
The Knicks fell to the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the playoffs last year after being absolutely devastated by injuries. Julius Randle missed the last multiple months of the regular season and the entire playoffs while OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson missed plenty of time in both the regular season and the playoffs and Bojan Bogdanovic went down during the first round. By the time the team was eliminated, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart were both hurt as well.
Committing to their brand of collecting former Villanova Wildcats, the Knicks traded Bogdanovic along with five first-round picks, one first-round pick swap and more — an absolutely gigantic collection of assets — to the Brooklyn Nets to acquire Mikal Bridges.
Despite Bridges being in the fold, the team prioritized Anunoby over starting center Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency. Anunoby returned on a massive five-year deal, but Hartenstein departed for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But the most significant move the Knicks made for their long-term health might have been convincing Brunson to sign a four-year extension at a rate considerably below his market value, which should enable them to eventually ink Bridges to a long-term deal along with Brunson and Anunoby, with the potential for Randle to stick around as well if he and the team can find a reasonable number to compromise at.
How exactly will the Knicks look different next year, aside from Randle regaining full health? Here is what Knicks President Leon Rose was up to in a busy offseason:
Added: Mikal Bridges (trade), Keita Bates-Diop (trade), Pacome Dadiet (No. 25 overall pick in NBA Draft), Tyler Kolek (No. 34 overall pick in NBA Draft), Cam Payne (free agency)
Retained: OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa
Extended: Jalen Brunson (four years, $156.5 million)
Lost: Isaiah Hartenstein, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Shake Milton, Mamadi Diakite
Perhaps the biggest question surrounding the Knicks at this point is how a returning Randle will fit alongside not just Bridges, but the full-fledged superstar version of Brunson that has taken the league by storm. Randle is an extremely ball-dominant player — and, to be fair, he has become a formidable offensive force — but he is not nearly the scorer or creator that Brunson is. In the era of the NBA's punitive second apron, would the Knicks be better off simply not paying Randle when they already have multiple high-level offensive players?
The most concerning departure, clearly, is that of Hartenstein, who established himself as a quality starting center thanks to excellent rebounding and rim protection, pristine touch around the rim and some impressive passing chops. Not only did the Knicks lose a terrific player who was integral to their success last year, but they now find their center depth to be shaky. Robinson is a good player when healthy, but is constantly battling injuries and is not quite as good as Hartenstein. The team was able to bring Achiuwa back to be the team's backup center.
The Knicks have seven players on their roster who are without question starting-caliber players. Bringing Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart off the bench is an unbelievable luxury, blossoming youngster Miles "Deuce" McBride is well on his way to reaching that status, and Achiuwa is a viable backup center. Former Sixer Cam Payne is a perfectly reasonable 10th man for any team, and gives the Knicks some additional ball-handling that they may need as McBride continues to grow as a creator.
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
| Jalen Brunson | Mikal Bridges | OG Anunoby | Julius Randle | Mitchell Robinson |
| Miles McBride | Donte DiVincenzo | Keita Bates-Diop | Josh Hart | Precious Achiuwa |
| Cam Payne | Jericho Sims |
On a team full of quality rotation players, though, the center rotation sticks out like a sore thumb. Robinson has only played at least 70 games once in his career and has played fewer than 60 games in half of his professional seasons. Achiuwa has enough athleticism and defensive versatility to be an acceptable backup center in the regular season, but might be optimized as a change-of-pace sort of player like he was against the Sixers in the first round last year. Jericho Sims has continually failed to leave his mark and prove he is a rotation-caliber center.
The Sixers and Knicks meeting in the playoffs again feels very realistic, perhaps in a second-round matchup where the winner goes on to face the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. It is surely a series that everybody would love to see again, particularly with Bridges and Paul George now added to the mix.
But when teams prepare for a playoff series, their primary objective is often limiting the other team's best player. So to me, the most intriguing storylines here are Brunson and Embiid, two superstars separated by nearly a foot and almost 100 pounds who each find ways to torment opposing defenses.
The Knicks could be particularly vulnerable against Embiid moving forward, as Hartenstein was a major part of their schemes against the former NBA MVP. Robinson can do a stellar job against Embiid for moments at a time because of his incredible length, but he is far too foul-happy to be trusted in a big-minute role against someone as adept at inciting whistles as Embiid. They do have the requisite perimeter defenders to at least contain George and Tyrese Maxey, which is not something most teams can say.
Meanwhile, the Sixers have added more pieces capable of being thrown at Brunson this summer. Kelly Oubre Jr. was outstanding while defending the Knicks' All-Star point guard for the first two games of last season's playoff series, but Brunson got the better of him later on (though at times Oubre stood his ground and Brunson simply made difficult shots). Caleb Martin is a tenable option against Brunson, and George might even be for moments at a time if his legs are fresh. If Randle does resume in his role with some sort of significant offensive workload, though, his bruising nature at the power forward position could also cause issues for a Sixers team lacking muscle at the four.
The Knicks seem like a much safer bet to win a ton of regular season games than the Sixers, in part because of their continuity and in part because they are less reliant on players with overly extensive injury histories. But if these two teams were to meet in a playoff series while at full strength... get your popcorn ready.
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