Pros and cons of the Knicks’ up-and-down start to the NBA season

The New York Knicks’ most anticipated season in recent history has been lackluster to start, to say the least.

They are 3-4 after back-to-back losses to the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks, two teams that were .500 or worse at the time of the matchups. You’d have to go back a few seasons to find the last time New York lost two games in a row to teams of that nature.

While this hasn’t been the start Knicks fans were hoping for, remember that New York was 5-5 last season before pumping excitement into a fan base desperately needing something to believe in.

The season is still young, and no sweeping conclusions about this particular team should be made yet. However, three weeks into the new campaign, there are things worth monitoring.

Here are some of the pros and cons of the Knicks’ season so far.

The cons

Lack of possessions

This team plays really slow. Per NBA.com, the Knicks are last in pace in the NBA at 95.86. Furthermore, the Knicks shoot a league-leading 11.0 shots per game with seven-to-four seconds on the shot clock and are second in the league with 10.3 shot attempts per game with four seconds or fewer on the shot clock. The Knicks are shooting at 50 percent or close to it in these late-clock scenarios, but the efficiency, in a mathematical sense, hasn’t always been beneficial to a team that is often losing the possession battle and not shooting a ton of 3s.

A couple of things play into New York’s slow pace. The makeup of the roster is part of it. Jalen Brunson is one of the best guards in the NBA, but he’s not trying to beat you to the rim every possession like prime Russell Westbrook. Another thing (more on this below) is the team’s issues against switch-heavy opponents. The Knicks have spent far too many possessions isolating this season, and it’s led to late-clock shot attempts.

New York is often turning down OK-to-good shots — and sometimes great — to try and get a better shot, leading to more rushed attempts in the end. This is a perfect example:

Given the talent the Knicks have on offense, it would behoove them to play at a much faster pace.

Struggles against switch-heavy teams

Three of the Knicks’ four losses have come against teams that have switched heavily. This has really given New York’s offense problems. The Knicks have taken too long trying to hunt mismatches and spent too much time playing isolation against those teams, which is leading to a slower pace.

New York tends to get stagnant against switch-heavy teams, often standing around and watching as a player tries to take his man one-on-one. The offense isn’t getting the ball moving side to side. A lot of the things that have made this offense look magical against drop-heavy teams is sometimes nonexistent against teams switching heavily.

“When teams play that kind of way, I think we’re too eager to find a mismatch,” Josh Hart said after the loss to the Rockets. “Like I said, when we’re doing that, we’re stagnant, and it’s creating tougher shots than we’d like. Games like this, we have to move the ball, move the defense and make them have to deal with our cutting and shooting and then capitalize on the mismatch. We have to learn from it. It’s not going to get any easier.”

This play perfectly depicts what Hart is talking about. The entire team stands around watching Karl-Anthony Towns try to score over Dillon Brooks in the post. Hart is the only one who ends up cutting, but Towns is putting the shot up by the time he starts to take off.

Lack of free-throw attempts

The Knicks rank 30th in the NBA in free-throw attempts per game. That’s surprising. Have officials been swallowing their whistles a bit more to start the year? Perhaps. More physical play was a point of emphasis this season, and it’s showing early.

However, the Knicks do deserve some blame. They rank sixth in the NBA in midrange attempts per game, per NBA.com, and rank 25th in restricted-area attempts. That’s not a recipe to get more visits to the charity stripe.

The pros

Ability for different guys to take over on offense

New York’s offense has been funky through seven games, but the Knicks have so much top-heavy talent that they’ll tend to be in games in which they’re outplayed or give themselves a chance to steal games they don’t deserve to win.

Brunson and Towns can get 30-plus points any night. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby walk into 15-plus points nearly every game. Hart is finding ways to put the ball in the hoop regularly after a non-eventful preseason scoring. Miles McBride, aside from one game in Houston, has come off the bench and altered the trajectory of games for the better.

Based on process alone, the Knicks had no reason to have a chance to win Wednesday in Atlanta, but because they have several players who know how to put the ball in the basket at a high level, they shot efficiently and had a shot. Having several very good players can help negate the issues with the offensive process.

3-point shooting is good but … weird?

The Knicks are the most efficient 3-point shooting team at 42.4 percent. That’s good! This team set out to be an elite 3-point shooting team with its moves over the last year and, in a way, it’s accomplished that.

Now to some concerning stuff. New York is generating only 34 3s per game, which ranks 22nd in the NBA. That has slowly been trending upward, but a lot of the Knicks’ 3-point volume has been dependent upon whether or not a team is switching heavily. This team shouldn’t have as many issues as it has getting up 3s. There are too many good 3-point shooters and a guard with the potential to collapse the defense. There are a lot of kinks to iron out.

Another trend worth monitoring — and not for the good — is Bridges’ 3-point shooting. Bridges has shot 37 percent from 3 on about six attempts per game. However, when you look a bit deeper, not all is as well as it appears to be. The bulk of Bridges’ efficiency from 3 is coming from the corners, where he is shooting 59 percent on those 3.1 attempts per game. On above-the-break 3s, Bridges is converting just 16.7 percent of his 3.4 attempts per game. That’s a bit concerning given all the Knicks invested in the talented wing.

It’s too soon to make any ink-drawn conclusions there, but Bridges’ changed shot is still worth keeping an eye on as the season goes on.

Hart’s rebounding has popped

With injuries to Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa, the loss of Isaiah Hartenstein to free agency and a change in the physical makeup of the roster, the Knicks were going to need someone undersized to step up and help on the glass. Hart, one of the best guard/wing rebounders in the NBA, has done that.

As a team, New York isn’t rebounding well, but Hart is averaging a career-high 8.9 rebounds and has three double-digit rebounding performances to his name so far. Along with Towns, who leads the NBA in contested defensive rebounds with 3.9 per game, Hart is one of the best contested defensive rebounders in the NBA, averaging 2.1 per game.

Every player above the 6-foot-4 Hart on that list, aside from Zion Williamson, stands at 6-9 or taller.

(Photo of Josh Hart: Elsa / Getty Images)