It’s the day for thankfulness, and Knicks fans should have plenty of options to cite at their dinner tables, especially in the context of the previous 20-plus inglorious years.
When asked to disclose the reasons for gratitude, you don’t have to induce eye-rolling from Aunt Shelly like in 2018 when you said “Kevin Knox,” or in 2014 with “Phil Jackson,” or in 2003 with “Michael Sweetney,” or in 2009 with “cap space.”
That’s not to say everything these days is peaches and cream, or Clyde and Willis. But your list can be very respectable this year.
And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we’ll ignore the negatives and refrain from airing dirty laundry at the dinner table with our “5 Reasons to be Thankful” for Knicks fans:
The record
We understand an 8-6 mark is hardly something worthy of a parade. But it does represent the franchise’s best winning percentage at Thanksgiving since 2017, when the Knicks were riding the final stretch of Kristaps Porzingis pre-ACL tear. Before that, they hadn’t been better than 8-6 since 2012.
So the record is something to mutter before appetizers.
The Knicks got here by pummeling the bad teams (including blowout victories over the Hornets (twice), Spurs and Clippers) and struggling against the top of the NBA (Celtics (twice), Bucks, Timberwolves).
Health
This is a standard answer at Thanksgiving, and this year it also applies to the Knicks.
They’ve endured a few issues (mostly with RJ Barrett), but haven’t had a player miss more than two games in a row. Going back to last season, seven of the eight players in the rotation managed at least 67 games apiece.
Tom Thibodeau, despite his reputation for wearing down players, has guided a relatively healthy roster since taking over in 2020.
According to Spotrac, Knicks players missed a combined 104 games due to injury last season. Only the Hawks and Kings had fewer. Several teams logged more than 200 or 300 missed games due to injuries.
Tom Thibodeau
Sure, you can throw critiques at his stubbornly simplistic offense. But there are good reasons Thibs has lasted longer under James Dolan than any coach not named Mike D’Antoni. And in a couple months, he’ll have surpassed D’Antoni in longevity.
Thibodeau has brought an identity to the team and an expectation of winning, which has translated to the most victories since Jeff Van Gundy. It’s a refreshing situation after New York’s coaching carousel since the turn of the millennium.
The next step is giving a contract extension to Thibodeau, who is signed through next season. Coaches typically don’t operate on expiring deals, but, according to what we heard recently from a person in touch with the Knicks front office, there’s an expectation on Thibodeau to improve this team from last season.
That’ll be very difficult after a quiet free agency — and improving upon a second-round playoff appearance means conference finals, which feels like an unrealistic goal with Boston and Milwaukee in the East — but Thibodeau has demonstrated he can squeeze enough out of one lemon for a carton of Minute Maid.
The assets
Yes, the potential pieces sound more impressive than they are in reality because half the picks are protected. But eight first-round picks in the next four drafts is still something to tout.
The Knicks are in prime position to trade for a star and are biding their time until the opportunity arises. Perhaps more encouraging is that Leon Rose doesn’t have a bad contract currently on the books. Not one. Even Evan Fournier’s $19 million can be an asset because it’s expiring.
We’re worried about the long-term outlook of Josh Hart’s deal, in particular, and soon Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson will be eligible for massive extensions. But as of today, the books are in good shape.
It’s a long way from just 2022, when the Knicks had several players — most notably Fournier, Kemba Walker and Nerlens Noel — on negative deals.
Jalen Brunson
We wanted to keep this to one player and contemplated Mitchell Robinson or Barrett and even Randle.
But let’s face it: Brunson was the key to last season’s resurgence — especially last season’s playoff success — and has been New York’s top player through Thanksgiving. He’s also an early candidate for a first All-Star appearance (which we’ll get into later).
Now enjoy the turkey.
James Dolan vs. the NBA
There are few real rivalries left in the NBA. Everybody seems to like each other nowadays, or respect each other, or have nothing but nice things to say about one another (we’re excluding Draymond Green from this point).
So on some level, I appreciate the utter disdain between the Knicks and Raptors on display in court documents that The Post reported earlier this week has James Dolan’s team seeking $10 million from Toronto.
No punches pulled.
But the more this unfolds, the more I wonder: What is James Dolan’s endgame here?
What’s his goal? Is it the monetary damages he’s trying to recoup? Is it a warning to any future employees who might try to take proprietary information to their next job? Is it a roundabout way to compel change at the highest levels of the NBA? Is it to drag the Raptors and Adam Silver through the mud? Is it a way to alienate himself from the NBA as part of an exit strategy?
I can neither pick one nor rule out any. There’s certainly evidence suggesting Dolan is unhappy with the NBA, beyond just a Raptors video coordinator allegedly stealing scouting information. According to ESPN, Dolan resigned from multiple NBA committees because, as he wrote in a memo to Silver over the summer, “Given all that has occurred lately, I have come to the conclusion that the NBA neither needs nor wants my opinion.”
Among Dolan’s issues is the league’s revenue-sharing program, which takes money from his pocket and essentially distributes it to owners of smaller-market teams.
Dolan’s Knicks, as a major-market moneymaker, were among a group of 10 teams in the 2021-22 season to pay out a combined $163.6 million, according to ESPN.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Dolan was the sole dissenting vote in two Board of Governors votes recently — to approve the sale of the Hornets and the expansion of the WNBA to San Francisco. The Hornets, now owned by businessmen Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin, received $31.6 million in revenue sharing for the 2022-23 season. It’s easy to follow the logic, and Dolan has never been afraid to go rogue.
So we’ll see where this unpredictable path goes. As far as the lawsuit against the Raptors, an attorney said the strongest arguments in the Knicks’ filing this week were that the NBA’s arbitration provision is too broad and that there are individual claims against employees to consider (the Raptors are trying to move this dispute to NBA arbitration, while the Knicks want to keep it in court).
“The stronger [argument] is going to be that just having a provision that everything under the sun is subject to arbitration may not necessarily be enforceable, especially when you have specific claims that are routinely resolved by courts,” Kevin Paule, a Tampa-based attorney who prosecutes and defends trade-secret litigation but is unaffiliated with this case, told The Post.
Paule was less moved by the juicier Knicks arguments that Silver is too biased toward the Raptors to arbitrate the dispute and the Knicks seeking more money in damages (over $10 million) than the NBA can legally reward.
Want to catch a game? The Knicks schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Campaign season
After what he pulled off last season — and as he continued to demonstrate through the early portion of this campaign — Brunson will be a real consideration for his first All-Star appearance.
But he’s hardly a lock. The Eastern Conference only had four guard representatives in 2023 (not including wings such as DeMar DeRozan and Jaylen Brown). Assuming that stays the same, there will be a lot of competition.
We look at how that race is stacking up thus far:
Jalen Brunson, Knicks
Averages: 24.2 points, 5.1 assists, 43.8% shooting (14 games)
Star power: Not a very exciting player, but helps that he plays for a big-market team that should be in the playoff picture.
Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers
Averages: 29.2 points, 5.3 assists, 48.6% shooting (10 games)
Star power: A lock for the All-Star game assuming he’s healthy, especially if he continues this kind of production.
Damian Lillard, Bucks
Averages: 24.8 points, 6.2 assists, 40.2% shooting (13 games)
Star power: Not a great start to his Bucks career, but Lillard is a future Hall of Famer on a title contender and is a favorite to get a nod.
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers
Averages: 25.3 points, 12.3 assists, 52.1% shooting (13 games)
Star power: Unreal offense to start this season and should continue with that production in Indiana’s fast-paced system. Can’t leave Haliburton off the All-Star squad if Pacers are still a winning team by February.
Trae Young, Hawks
Averages: 26 points, 10.7 assists, 38.8% shooting (13 games)
Star power: Will put up All-Star-worthy numbers offensively, but big questions are how much do the voters take defense into account and where the Hawks sit in the standings.
Jrue Holiday, Celtics
Averages: 12.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 42.0% shooting (15 games)
Star power: Won’t have the offensive stats of the competition, but is an All-Defense candidate on probably the best team in the East. Holiday’s candidacy is a numbers vs. winning debate.
Tyrese Maxey, Sixers
Averages: 26.3 points, 7.1 assists, 46.0% shooting (15 games)
Star power: If he keeps up this production, it’ll be impossible to leave off Maxey, who is making up for James Harden’s departure and then some.