Panic or Patience? Analyzing New York Knicks' Early Problems

Are the New York Knicks' early struggles simply a case of opening week jitters or a sign of bigger, lasting issues?

Opening with a 2-4 mark in the fall is all about perspective in New York sports. For the area's football teams, it's doomsday. For the basketball squads, it's hardly worth mentioning.

But no such luxury is afforded to a metropolitan icon like the New York Knicks, widely viewed as the roundball-obsessed city's top viewing option, especially with the team trying to build upon its most successful season in a decade. 

The Knicks' prestige notwithstanding, the early returns on the 2023-24 slate have left much to be desired: six games in, the Knicks are the only team in the Association shooting less than 40 percent and have already posted two sub-90-point showings after only one all of last season. The team is 0-2 at Madison Square Garden for the first time since 2015 and the road gets no easier: this week heralds visits from the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG) before Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs come over two nights later. 

Unless there's a devastating injury, no one is going to realistically panic about a team six steps into an 82-game marathon, but there are problems on the Knicks that certainly won't be solved in one 48-minute hardwood session. Below, All Knicks takes a look at the glaring issues and determines whether patience or panic is necessary at this point in time.

Randle (30) has had a rough early go of it after earning All-Star honors last season / USA TODAY SPORTS

A Handle on Randle

THE ISSUE: Julius Randle is on pace to set a new career-best in rebounding (10.5 a game so far) and is averaging more than five assists a game. Knicks fans, however, will gladly trade that in for some shooting consistency: entering Saturday action, Randle's success rate from the field (27.1 percent) was dead last among NBAers with at least five starts. 

PANIC OR PATIENCE? Any early Randle developments need to be taken with even a bit of a grain of salt, considering the fact he's coming off offseason ankle surgery. But there's no denying that where Randle goes, the offense follows: Jalen Brunson has made valiant efforts to takeover (i.e. a 45-point showing in Friday's 110-105 loss in Milwaukee) but it's clear that Randle needs to play a part. 

As previously suggested by Kendrick Perkins, Randle might need to make plays away from the ball and go on a bit of a shooting diet: despite his early struggles, Randle is still putting up 16 tries per game. In another other scenario, one could easily chalk the early woes to his previous procedure. Alas, the Knicks have seen this movie before: Randle followed up his original breakout season in 2020-21 with a brutal drama that nadired with a thumbs-down to the MSG faithful in a nationally-televised win. 

How ... or if ... head coach Tom Thibodeau, shown to inch toward a preference for isolation sets, goes about getting Randle back on track could wind up determining the path forward for his New York tenure. Randle has proven himself capable of recovering from adversity before, but the fact that he's staging a remake on this hopeful, if not dangerous, period on the New York timeline makes things a tad more desperate. PANIC

Robinson (23) has been far from a problem but questions are being raised about his offensive impact / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Ditch Mitch?

THE ISSUE: Mitchell Robinson's camp, namely his trainer Marcell Stone, is expressing concern about his usage. Stone was particularly perplexed about Robinson failing to get any potential lobs his way, as there's been no easier recipe for two points in recent memory than the Knicks' primary center hovering within five feet of the basket. 

PANIC OR PATIENCE? Robinson has never, and likely never will be, relied upon as a team's top-scoring option, and that's perfectly fine. 

The Knicks' primary center has made a strong professional living as one of the few traditional big men left in the league and has kept the Knicks in games with his propensity for defense and creating second-chance points. As it stands, Robinson is the Association leader with 42 offensive rebounds through his starting six. 

No matter what happens, the Robinson story feels destined to have a happy ending, at least from a Knicks franchise perspective. If he stays in New York, he will continue to go down as an undeniable difference-maker thanks to his defense and rebounding, at least until the shooting woes even themselves out. If he wants to try and force his way elsewhere, Robinson's M.O. to date paints him as a proverbial "missing piece" that could serve as a victorious difference. Either way, the Knicks are in relatively decent standing. PATIENCE

Josh Hart was envisioned to be the top spell option for Randle early on / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

View From the Toppin In Hindsight

THE ISSUE: Randle's early struggles are partly amplified by the fact that his top spell option, Obi Toppin, was traded for spare draft picks from Indianapolis. While it'd be a stretch to say that Toppin is torching statsheets in the Indiana Pacers' starting five (7.6 points, 4.4 rebounds in just over 21 minutes a game), there's enough discontent to realistically wonder if Toppin could've helped off the Knicks bench, especially one that did little, if anything, to replace his 6-9, 220-lb. frame in their depth picture.

PANIC OR PATIENCE? Knicks fans, particularly the cult of Toppin, don't want to hear it, but trading the eighth overall pick of the 2020 draft was a necessary evil: for better or worse, the steadfast Thibodeau made up his mind on Toppin and the Knicks didn't need that drama being stretched out to yet another season. Whether they could've gotten more than two second-rounders is another, fair conversation to be had at a later date.

Part of the reason why the early post-Toppin returns look so grim is that the Knicks have used their preferred depth option, Josh Hart, to fill in for the injured RJ Barrett over the past two games. While Hart has likewise fallen into the team's offensive cesspool (25 percent from three-point range), he has fulfilled the rebounding promise originally shown during his FIBA Basketball World Cup tour with Team USA. 

Together with Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein, he's given the Knicks one of the best rebounding groups in both traditional (fourth in second chance points) and advanced (fourth in contested rebounds) measures.

There's a time and place to discuss the broader scope of the Toppin trade's aftershocks. The basketball world, however, has yet to reach that point. PATIENCE