New York Knicks Takeaways From Preseason

Chemistry Issues

Training camp and preseason were an important time for the Knicks. There are a lot of new faces in place and a new head coach running the show, implementing a new system. But the Knicks missed out on imperative practice time to gel and develop chemistry as injuries and off-court issues arose.

Derrick Rose played in only the first preseason game with the Knicks before heading to Los Angeles for his civil suit on rape allegations. Rose was cleared of any wrongdoing but missed five preseason games and multiple practices. It will now be up to the coaching staff to get Rose up to speed in the coming days at practice to get him ready for opening night.

In addition to Rose being away, Joakim Noah also dealt with an injury. He missed the first three games of the preseason but returned to play in the final three. He looked to have shaken off a lot of rust by the last preseason game, which was encouraging to see.

Discouraging though is the fact that the Knicks projected starting five played zero minutes together during training camp or preseason. That is never a good sign, as practices become far and few between once the regular season begins.

It is something that the Knicks will have to work through in the early going. It would have helped to have him in camp, but it was important for him to get his off-court issues figured out. One positive is that the Knicks have a lot of veterans in the lineup, so they should be able to figure things out until the chemistry is built up.