Knicks Preview: Towns - the key to breaking out of the East, the road to championship

How far the Knicks can go in 2026 will ultimately depend on Karl-Anthony Towns.

This statement may seem exaggerated, and I understand that, but Jalen Brunson, who has become one of the most assured players in the league, is already a top player, and the team relies heavily on him. OG-Anunoby is a top 3D, and it will be difficult for him to go further. Other role players such as Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson, Gershon Yabusele and others are not the kind of players who can make a difference for Towns.

On the offensive side, Towns is a superstar, but his defense is a bit hard to describe, but he has a top-notch offense. Now, his defense probably won't improve much, if at all. Robinson's move into the starting lineup will relieve him of rim protection and defensive safety responsibilities, but his individual defensive level is expected to remain roughly the same. But as far as the offense is concerned, there could be something special going on with new coach Mike Brown.

Pairing Brunson, a player who is good at scoring in isolation, who can start a 1-on-1 duel with anyone in the league, with a projectile insider like Towns, should have produced better offensive results last year. But Tom Thibodeau, as he has done so often throughout his career, took too long to adjust. Having Hart in the starting lineup greatly hinders Towns' ability to stretch the defense with his shooting, which in turn makes it more difficult for Brunson and, to a lesser extent, Anunoby and Bridges to score. But it’s not just the starting lineup. As the season went on, the team returned to more and more isolation, less running, less passing, and less spacing, all factors that hindered the Knicks' two best players.

With Brown as a more offensive-minded coach, the Knicks will inevitably seek to play a style of play centered around pushing the tempo, moving the ball more and stretching the floor. If Brown can do that, Towns' defensive deficiencies shouldn't matter as much. Of course, it’s still maddening to watch. He'll still leave shooters open, be terrible at blocking shots, fail to disrupt pick-and-rolls, be sluggish on defensive rotations, and he'll certainly continue to commit some baffling fouls that make you question what the hell he's doing and why you should expect anything better from him.

But if the Knicks were able to finish ninth in scoring last season at 115.8 points despite being plagued by a poor lineup for much of the second half of the season, then we should expect a team that just happened to add offensive firepower in the offseason to finish in the top three in scoring and average closer to, or even exceed, 120 points per game. Towns will be as indispensable as anyone else on the roster, including Brunson.

If you look back at Brown's offensive scheme and setup with the Kings, the Kings will rank first in points per game and offensive rating in the 2022-23 season, but the roster is not as talented as the current Knicks, largely based on the use of Domantas Sabonis. You do have a more talented big man in Towns, and while Towns is a better shooting big man and a better overall scorer than Sabonis, it won't be as easy as plug-and-play.

Knicks fans saw Towns' talented knack last season, with Towns making no-look passes, behind-the-back passes, and even more fancy passes on many nights. But Sabonis is just a better passer. Whatever passes Towns can throw, Sabonis can pass them more consistently and accurately. He can also pass a lot of passes that Towns can't. It's not even just about the physical passing action. Sabonis has the ability to read the game at a higher and faster level than Towns. The Kings' big men clearly see the game differently, and the only big man who is better at passing and reading the game than Sabonis happens to be Nikola Jokic, who is still the consensus best player. At the same time, we often see Towns struggle against late double teams, which often results in missed passes or offensive fouls.

Another thing is that Towns is not as good as Sabonis in the pick-and-roll. Towns is not a bad pick-and-roller, but he is not a pick-and-roll master like Jokic, Sabonis and former Knicks player Harten. Sometimes Towns appears lazy in pick-and-rolls, and occasionally his angle or strength is not enough in pick-and-rolls.

The good news for Towns and the Knicks, though, is that they don't need him to be Sabonis, and they don't necessarily need Towns to reach Sabonis' level at these things. It would be nice if he could do that, but given Towns' superior shooting, incredible post skills and mid-range shooting, he only needs to make slight improvements and tweaks in those areas to turn last year's solid offense into a top-notch one.

Towns' ability to set better and harder screens will allow Brunson, Anunoby, Bridges and Hart to create more space. That, coupled with slight improvements in reading defenses and making quicker decisions, also allows him to be a secondary and sometimes primary offensive hub. Just like Brown has done with Sabonis, the Knicks can run more offense through Towns without having to rely solely on him to run pick-and-rolls or pick-and-roll runs, which Thibodeau relies too much on. If this is done, Towns may usher in a career breakout period, and may even surpass his career-high scoring average of 26.5 points per game set in the 2019-2020 season.