Knicks discussion: What’s up with Mikal Bridges? How will KAT and Mitchell Robinson play together?

New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said he evaluates his team 20 games into the season, so that is our cue to do the same.

New York added to the No. 2 offense in basketball with a 118-85 thumping of the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night. The performance continued what has been an up-and-down start for the 12-8 Knicks, who have looked like the best team in the NBA at points and then a bunch of strangers at others.

To break it all down, The Athletic’s Knicks beat writer James L. Edwards III and senior NBA writer (and former Knicks beat writer) Fred Katz have a back-and-forth discussion about New York centered around several key talking points from the start of the season.

Edwards: Hey, Fred. I’ll start the conversation with the elephant in the room: For this team to get to where it wants to go, Mikal Bridges, who bounced back with 31 points against the Pelicans on Sunday night, has to improve as an on-ball defender. It starts and stops with him. Not taking dribble-drive layups, not getting to the free-throw line and shooting poorly on above-the-break 3s all need to change, too, but the defense has to get better.

Bridges has been getting blown past a lot this season. In defending pick-and-rolls, he often takes the long way around the screener instead of trying to get skinny and slither through. Therefore, he’s not getting good rearview contests.

The Knicks can’t afford to have three iffy-to-bad defenders in the starting group, and they have had that most of the season.

What are your thoughts on Bridges’ season to date?

Katz: Bridges is not the Knicks’ worst defender, but he does have the largest chasm between what he could be and what he has been. New York was supposed to make up for the offensive-slanted duo of Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson with a trio of wings that would engulf offenses. OG Anunoby has done his part. Josh Hart, for the most part, has, too. But Bridges isn’t staying in front of dribblers as often as expected.

The question that keeps bugging me, as if I’m Socrates, is: Why?

Bridges’ defense dipped after going from the Phoenix Suns to the Brooklyn Nets, where his offensive role grew but that seemed fitting. He couldn’t carry such a large scoring load every night and also suffocate All-Stars on the perimeter. So, now that he plays alongside so many weapons, why is a former Defensive Player of the Year runner-up looking so little like the elite version of himself through 20 games?

I don’t know the answer nor do I believe anyone on the outside does. The question is bothering people outside of New York. When I talk hoops with people around the league, the most common topic they bring up is Bridges. People associated with other teams are asking the same question as us.

Why?

But even amid uncertainty can be level-headed hope.

The Knicks are 22nd in points allowed per possession, even after Sunday’s 33-point beatdown of the Pelicans, in which they held New Orleans to just 28 first-half points, but a reasonable person could argue they aren’t bound to end up so low. This even-keeled individual could insist the most likely scenario is that Bridges’ defense improves at least to the point that he can hound ballhandlers a little more; that Precious Achiuwa’s return (which should come soon) will help them defensively; that Mitchell Robinson’s return, even if Robinson isn’t at his best after a second ankle surgery within the past year, will help.

But that said, the Knicks’ starting lineup was allowing a disappointing 117.3 points per 100 possessions leading into Sunday’s win over the Pelicans, according to Cleaning the Glass. The rim protection hasn’t been there, nor has the point-of-attack defense. Unless they play the injury-ravaged Pels every night, the Knicks have a lot to clean up.

They haven’t been stubborn in their coverages. Thibodeau has tried various types with Towns guarding the back ends of screen-and-rolls, ones that drop Towns close to the basket as well as ones that send him up to the level of the pick.

Thibodeau is still in his experimental stage. He’s played around with lineups, too. Don’t overlook Bridges sitting down the stretch of the Charlotte game Friday. On one hand, it was an obvious move. Bridges was in the midst of arguably his worst performance this season and the Knicks didn’t have much breathing room, squeezing out a one-point victory to end their five-game road trip. On the other, closing with sixth man Miles “Deuce” McBride was the most difficult decision Thibodeau could have made, considering what Bridges’ presence means for this organization. The Knicks just traded four unprotected first-round picks for him, plus another protected one, plus an unprotected first-round swap.

The Knicks are still figuring out what makes them best, so for now, I’m reserving sweeping judgments.

James, this is too normal of a basketball conversation for me. You’re a weirdo. Give me the most interesting Towns storyline you’re following right now.

Edwards: Thank you for the compliment, fellow weirdo.

Hm…

To show you how not weird I am, the most interesting Towns storyline right now is also the most obvious: Can Towns cement himself as the best-shooting big man of all time? Our editor, Glenn Yoder, just read this line and balled his fists. I saw your fist ball up, too.

But the guy came into Sunday’s game shooting 46.8 percent from 3 on more than five attempts per game. That’s absurd. It won’t hold … I don’t think. The fact I’m not sure, though, proves my point.

I could have gone with his passing, but that has ebbed and flowed. I could have gone with his defensive struggles, but I think most assumed that would be a thing when the trade happened. The 3-ball, though, has been so good that I can’t ignore it.

As for an unconventional storyline … Can Towns get to a point defensively this season where he’s passable, or can Thibs find a way to make him passable without having to start another center next to him? As things stand now, it feels like we’re heading toward Towns playing significant minutes with Mitchell Robinson, whenever he returns. Defensively, I think that makes sense. My question comes offensively and if replacing Robinson with, let’s say, Hart in the starting lineup takes away some of what makes this offense special.

Katz: I am fascinated to see how often Robinson and Towns play together once Robinson is healthy, though it will depend on how well Robinson moves upon his return.

One tiny surprise I’ve noticed this season is that Thibodeau hasn’t tried any Towns-Jericho Sims lineups, even as Sims has upped his production over the past couple of weeks. Sims is defending well. The advanced metrics, though it’s still early, paint him as a dominant rim-protector — and Thibodeau has bought into those numbers. He’s better than ever at rising straight into the air to meet drivers at their highest point, staying away from silly fouls more, too.

And yet, Thibodeau has used Towns exclusively as a center. Does that have to do more with Sims being a bench player or with a belief in Towns as a five, not a four, where his shooting doesn’t open up the floor as much?

We might have to wait for Achiuwa’s return to get more into Thibodeau’s head. The Knicks trust Achiuwa guarding the paint. He can switch onto perimeter players. When the situation calls for it, do they try him next to Towns, which would most likely mean Hart coming off the court so New York could still place four 3-point shooters around Achiuwa?

Ultimately, whether they view Towns as a four or five will affect their future. If he’s a five, then they will trek forward with three wings hoping to insulate him and Brunson. If he’s a four, then even if it’s not Robinson playing next to him, they could try to pry a center away from someone else before the deadline or next summer.

I have one more item for you.

Hart just said after the loss in Dallas that the Knicks are giving other teams the game plan, referencing their struggles against switch-heavy defenses. The Knicks have looked human against the Mavericks, Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets. All three deploy that strategy. But all three also boast top-notch defenses, independent of style.

But the Knicks’ troubles against switching are also a mole on Cindy Crawford. They now lead the NBA in points per possession and can score from all over the court. The Brunson-Towns two-man game is as dynamic as expected. Hart is untamable. Anunoby is relentless. McBride is a firecracker. This complication is a hiccup, at least during the regular season. The fear would be that these are the types of high-level teams that could give the Knicks trouble deeper in the playoffs.

You’ve been around these guys all season. So you tell me, what do you make of the switching issues, and how worried would you be about them?

Edwards: It’s been weird, for sure. I’ve noticed the biggest issue comes against teams who switch one through five. The three teams you mentioned had no issues guarding Towns with a smaller player – Dillon Brooks and Jrue Holiday did very well. Teams, like the Charlotte Hornets, have put their center on Hart. Some really tough opponents have not been afraid to give up size and quickness advantages against New York.

Why is this happening? It’s a good question. I do think the team tries to isolate too much when teams switch that heavily, which forces other guys to stand around and not cut. I also think it has to do with personnel. Other than Brunson, New York doesn’t have any guys in the starting lineup who are deemed good dribble-drive creators. And while Brunson is one of the game’s best guards, he’s not a blur. A lot of his shots come in the midrange and are a bit awkward. They go in, but you could understand why other teams live with that shot if it takes away the potential for better shots on the perimeter — the Knicks also don’t attempt a lot of shots at the rim, which I think has to do with personnel, as well. Towns doesn’t always punish the smaller defender on him, and it feels like his teammates, at times, stand around as he tries to do so.

While the Knicks take their time trying to hunt the mismatches, the clock winds down, they get a tough contested shot — they make a lot of them — and, in turn, are taking far more 2s than 3s.

I’m not overly concerned about it yet because Thibs is a really good coach and they have really good players, but it is something we have to continue to monitor, especially against the defensive-minded, physical teams in the league, like the Rockets and Celtics. Those are the types of teams New York will be competing with in the playoffs.

Last thing before we get out of here, what has surprised you about New York through 20 games?

Katz: Does Hart just not miss shots anymore?

He was making 73 percent of his 2-pointers coming into Sunday’s shellacking of New Orleans, second in the NBA and just a hair behind the Mavericks’ paint-dwelling center Daniel Gafford. Wings or guards (or whatever position Hart plays) aren’t supposed to be this efficient.

Hart’s rebounding is no surprise. We’ve seen him get hot from 3 for stretches. He’ll make every hustle play. But the concern with him has always been his scoring and the effects that stem from his lack of a consistent jumper. And yet, that just hasn’t shown. He’s knocked down his 3s when they’ve been available. He is a fiend in transition. Only a handful of NBA players grab a defensive board more effectively and race in the other direction for a bucket. He injects a pace into the Knicks they don’t get from anyone else.

I can’t imagine Hart continuing to score as efficiently as a rim-diving big man does for the rest of the season. But doing this for 20 games is more than just a hot streak.

(Top photo of Bridges: Luke Hales / Getty Images)