After six hard battles, the New York Knicks finally failed to break into the East decision further, but when the season was over, no one would be disappointed with this team at all.
Compared with their own talents, the courage and unity shown by this team are unprecedented. Such a civilian Legion has won the respect of all fans.
Pulling the timeline back to last summer, the Knicks were almost at the bottom of the chain of contempt. There are no stars in their array, and there is no potential. A glance at the paper lineup is enough to judge that their future is not bright. Moreover, it is not only fans, experts and journalists, but also their peers who look down on them.
During the off-season, at the negotiating table with the Jazz, when the opposite Anji was extremely arrogant, New York retreated step by step and was forced to take out the fourth first round, but was still stood up, when playing in the palm of the stock, it seems that it has become a big injustice for the annual catharsis of emotion to sign the new york enemy with the efforts of the whole summer.
In fact, the Knicks were indeed thirsty for Mitchell, which led to the plot of continuously making concessions and increasing chips. Of course, in the outside world repeatedly questioned that the Knicks were indifferent to Owen Durant, but now they forgot a very important reason when they were so attentive to a Mitchell: sense of belonging.
Indeed, the Knicks, like jazz and Knights, had never expected that the highlight of Mitchell this season would be so dazzling at first, but the reason why Knicks wanted Mitchell was his identity as “son of New York, they urgently want a star who is really willing to play for this city, and they also believe that only such players can lead the team forward.
But in fact, this role is already in the lineup.
Looking back another two years, it was when sibodu just took over, and it was also the year when Randle was reborn. In the 2020-21 season, Randal played the longest 37.6 minutes in the league, scored 24.1 points 10.2 rebounds and 6 assists, and was selected into the All-Star and the second match, winning the fastest player trophy of the year and ranking among the first-tier players. But Randle’s idea at that time was not to continue to draw beautiful data, but to ask a question seriously, “coach, how can I become the core master who leads the team to win?”
Sibodu said that he was deeply moved by this problem. When a player began to think about how to win and how to carry his team forward, he truly became a real star. Therefore, after tasting the playoff taste for the first time, Randle began to sweat like rain in the non-match day and practice crazily. Sometimes he would practice the ball alone in the stadium. In addition to this training ground, only one light was on in the whole building. That was sibodu studying the video.
Rose, Ty Gibson, and Jimmy Butler, who stood opposite him in 2023. They call themselves the “Xijia Army”, and their aim is to practice hard to the extreme and practice hard to exhaustion. Once Gibson saw the tired Randal on the training ground, he only said to him, “Welcome to join the tin army!”
So Randle chose to cut his salary by 50 million and stayed in New York. But in the following year, his reputation fell to the bottom. In the 2021-22 season, Randle, whose personal data declined in all aspects, was once named “the worst contract in the league” and “The example of New York with no future”.
Fans and critics must only look at the results, but insiders can see the crux more: “A team’s tactics are only a team that Randle casually finds someone to shoot after seven times of fengshui ball” is even mean, but it is irrefutable. The main point guards of this team last season were kenba Walker, quikley and Alec Burks, except rose, this team really can’t find anyone smoother than Randle.
Therefore, Randle’s problem was exposed heartily: he was not a qualified starting point for holding the ball; His singles at the critical moment were not reliable, he did not have a qualified standard after he worked on physical energy consumption; He was not a qualified voice leader either.
We have to find someone to fill in all these short boards.
Jay Brunson, this is exactly the role.
The price Knicks spent on Brunson was not small. It was not just the 4-year 0.104 billion contract that they paid-in order to free up enough salary space, they made two consecutive transactions: sending off kenba Walker posted a Lotto sign (the piston chose center Durham), in exchange for a low-ranking first round in the future; Sending off Burks and Noelle also took two rounds. In fact, if Dallas decides to participate in the bidding, Knicks will only choose to cut funier in advance to expand the space. In any case, Brunson will get it.
They got what they wanted. The 26-year-old point guard of “ernimeng” finally became the best candidate to change Knicks’s fighting capacity and team temperament.
In high school and college, Brunson won almost all the honors. He is not a traditional body-shaped player, but has top leadership skills. In the words of his teammate Josh Hart, Brunson was born with a personality charm. When he made the pre-war declaration generously, you would be moved by his words involuntarily, walk onto the court with endless fighting spirit and energy.
In the Lone Ranger’s battle, Brunson only needs to serve as the auxiliary + body double of Dong Qiqi. He does not need to shout to motivate his teammates. He and his teammates seldom intersect, but his agent, sam Ross, the son of Leon Ross, who is also the general manager of Knicks, knows very well that Brunson’s leadership temperament is exactly what Knicks need. The Knicks can also provide what Brunson needs most-the role of home control guard.
But is Brunson really the son of New York?
The original view of the outside world was generally that Brunson was not, but Knicks needed this role. It seems that choosing Brunson is just an act of buying horse bones with thousands of dollars, which is essentially to show kindness to other players. But soon, Brunson proved that he was not Guo Yun, and he was the Leyi that Knicks were looking.
The average game is 24 points 6.2 assists, and the key moment data ranks top ten in the alliance. In the playoffs, his data came to 27.8+4.9+5.6. In the fifth game against the Heat, he played 48 minutes and cut 38+9+7; And in the last game, he also rested for only 3 minutes and scored 41 points.
After the game, spoolstra said, I only have one question. Why didn’t this person enter the All-Star and the best team?
Probably because they are a civilian team.
Yes, this team in Madison Square Garden, the basketball Holy Land in the United States, has no shining superstars. However, they had the best record in ten years-the team ten years ago had the scoring king Anthony and the best defensive player Chandler, and at present this team is mostly the leftover material of other teams and abandoned players. A year ago, they didn’t even get even one player in the first round. Each of them is under doubt and pressure.
But gradually, this team began to have vitality. Randle said: I didn’t have to think about responsibility and mentality at first. In such a well-functioning machine, as long as I did my own thing well, we could start.
What lubricated this machine was Josh Hart who was exchanged with reddish in the medium term.
If the Knicks in the first half of the season were almost mean, then this meaning should include aggressiveness, barbarism, fighting spirit and determination. Hart summed it up in one word himself-Hustle, he said, “Let’s Make Some Noise.”
In the history of Knicks, there has never been a lack of tough guys, and Hart is the best ornament of this inheritance spirit. He is willing to fight for every 1/2 goals and frantically fight for the rebound in the front court. He protects his teammates on any occasion and is always ready to tell the fans on the scene that this is new york, it’s our territory!
From a 37-win team to a 47-win team, it has changed more than half a star. But happily, their mental outlook has changed completely. Grimes already has the prototype of the league’s top 3D and can also score 36 points in a single game. In the transaction negotiation of Mitchell, Anji insisted on Grimes, but afterwards he said he didn’t care so much, just trying to force the Knicks to squeeze more chips. The Knicks management told grammes directly that you were the irreplaceable role.
Similarly, there is RJ-Barrett, a flower show with 20 points in the previous year but never really taken seriously, which was rejected by the Jazz, the 22-year-old young man who signed the 4-year-old 0.107 billion-year-old contract and was called bad by the whole alliance has begun to learn to shoulder the heavy burden.
After finishing the season in a fight against iron, he took the initiative to take responsibility and said: “I know I should play a better level, but I haven’t yet. I didn’t think so much before, but now I have the belief that to fight for something, my team needs me and I have to be stronger.”
There are also haltenstein who is fighting for backboards all the time. Mitchell Robinson, who wants to pin every game of his opponent on the backboard, and of course, the one who has been hanging on the shelves last year, quikley, who could not be exchanged for two rounds, grew up to be the top bench gangster in the league and the best hot candidate for the sixth person in this year.
He knew the reason. His elder brother rose always encouraged him on the court.
After Durant’s transaction was completed, there were many rumors that Rose might propose to buy out and join the Sun. However, Rose’s response was completely different from others. He gave a sincere answer:
I don’t know where the rumor came from, but I know the fans here have given me too much love, and they make me feel I am surrounded by love. There is another thing, I certainly can’t go:
My little brother quikley, he still needs me.
The story of breaking money happened in this ordinary team. The real beneficiary is 28-year-old Randal. After Brunson arrived, his doubts were solved. He finally understood that the struggle last season was that he thought too much. He said that he thought he could become the core of the field. The leader on the field could lead by example to solve all problems, but facts proved that, he was not an omniscient and omnipotent super-class player, but the burden and shackles he put on himself made him begin to shake his doubts and immerse himself in disappointment and regret.
What Brunson told him was that you are the most indispensable person in this team, but you must be full of confidence in yourself first.
Randal, who regained his confidence, became an All-Star again and was selected into three rounds. At the end of the season, he said in his heart: “This season is obviously disappointed. As the season goes on, we begin to want more. I think this is our growth and progress, we will come back next year.”
Are you really disappointed? It depends on how you evaluate and who you choose for reference. There is only one winner every year, so the remaining 29 teams will be disappointed for a while. However, for a team whose core rotation is only 28 years old and has just pieced together its core lineup, this year, as the starting point of the new era, cannot be better.
They didn’t sign Durant and Owen, but compared with the team next door that has been broken up, they are obviously more united, more powerful, and more let the fans have a sense of belonging.
In the first round, Brunson killed Mitchell’s team for two consecutive years.
They still have enough space and chips to wait for the next deal, while Randle, Brunson, Barrett, queckley and grammes have completely reversed their previous impressions, he has become a truly respectable excellent player.
Steven-A-Smith is still picky about the final battle of the team, but for real Knicks fans, his performance may also be part of his boasting, they did not go far, but even so, they had taken a very steady step forward.
At the end of the season, Brunson accepted the final interview, which was also the most appropriate summary for Knicks:
How to evaluate us, you can use different ways, just depends on the initial prediction. For me, we have done a lot of great things this season. It is very sad to lose. We all have to accumulate learning experience for this.
But if you don’t want to win, you have already lost.
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