Knicks believe they know what it takes to deliver rare NBA championship repeat
· New York PostThe overwhelming trajectory of the NBA is working against the Knicks.
They’re out to buck an era-defining trend.
None of the past eight champions have repeated the following season; the Warriors in 2017 and ’18 were the last teams to do it, having lost in the 2019 Finals. Almost a decade of parity followed in a league that previously was ruled mainly by dynasties.
Why should these defending champion Knicks be any different?
“We write,” Josh Hart said during the team’s Media Day on Monday, “our own history.”
It’s more than just that none of those teams repeated. It’s how much — and how quickly — most fell off.
“Obviously, it probably shows the significance of the [collective bargaining agreement], the second apron, all those kinds of things,” Hart said. “At the end of the day, that’s the past. It has no precedent on what the future is going to hold. For us, we’re not really worried about it. We’re worried about etching our own stories and our own legacies.”
The current CBA, particularly with that second apron, makes it difficult for champions to keep their roster together without facing harsh penalties. It’s the main reason the Knicks had to let Mitchell Robinson walk in free agency.
Talent has become increasingly spread out across the league rather than condensed on a select few teams.
But the Knicks return the rest of their core beyond Robinson, and all still are in their respective primes.
“I think we have the confidence knowing that we did do it,” Jalen Brunson said. “That’s going to help us, but that can also hurt us. So it’s all about how we go into training camp and how we go into these first few weeks to see where we are as a team, and then we’ll be able to adjust or continue to grow.”
There is some experience with the situation among the core. The trio of Brunson, Hart and Mikal Bridges won an NCAA championship together at Villanova. Brunson and Bridges, in particular, experienced the thrill of that championship and won it again two years later.
They will lean on the knowledge gained from that experience.
“Just about not being satisfied, I think, is the biggest takeaway moving forward,” Brunson said. “You still wanna figure out how you can grow as a person, as a player. So I’ll use that experience.
“You just have to find a way to turn the page and move on, and I think it starts with the people who surround you. How quickly can they move on to the next thing?”
The Eastern Conference was shaken up around the Knicks over the offseason. A looming rivalry with the 76ers — now with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown — will be something they will have to hear about all year. The Pacers welcome back a healthy Tyrese Haliburton — the Knicks’ nemesis. The Heat added Giannis Antetokounmpo, while the Raptors brought back their 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.
And, as the defending champions, the Knicks — particularly with 34 prime-time games (tied for most in the league) — will be the matchup opponents have circled on their calendars.
“We’ll be hunted,” OG Anunoby said, “but we’re going to be hunting other teams as well.”
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“To repeat is gonna take an even higher sense of discipline and execution,” added Karl-Anthony Towns. “And we’re gonna have to be even better than what we showed in the playoffs. All of us are aware that we’re gonna have to bring a whole other level to the table if we expect to have a chance to repeat.”
There are also potential off-the-court pitfalls — what coach Mike Brown called “elephants in the room.” The futures of Towns, Hart and Miles McBride are all uncertain, with each yet to sign a contract extension for which they are eligible. Towns and Hart on Monday didn’t shy away from letting it be known that they’re not exactly thrilled with the situation.
It has the potential to be a distraction that hovers over their effort to repeat.
“We can’t afford to have any slippage in our process,” Brown said. “We can’t afford to decline with our focus and our energy and our daily habits, to what our standard is.”
Added Brunson: “The first couple of weeks or whatever of the season is going to show us who we are and where we are.”
This group undid 53 years of Knicks history. Undoing eight years of NBA history — and etching their place in that special echelon of champions — is the new mountain to climb.
“I think we’re all excited for the opportunity to do it again,” Hart said. “I think you guys will see that with how we conduct ourselves, with how we play, that we’re not satisfied with getting one and that hungriness that we’re gonna have.”