New York Knicks: Biggest takeaways from the preseason so far

Defense, Defense, Defense

One of the first notes that David Fizdale made during his media tour in New York, was the emphasis on the defensive side of the ball. A mental attitude needed by the young Knicks roster.

Here a couple mind-boggling stats from the Knicks’ defense last season:

1. Porzingis was the only player on the team in the top 100 NBA players in Defensive Win Shares
2. Outside of Joakim Noah , who played seven games, Damyean Dotson was the leader of Defensive Rating for the Knicks, ranking 116th of NBA players with a rating of 102.9

Last night the team looked better, but certainly didn’t turn any heads with their defensive prowess. The main concern comes from the guard defense.

Easily the most overlooked part of basketball is guard defense.

People tend to think this doesn’t matter, as the last true guard to win the defensive player of the year, is Gary Payton in 1995-1996. The Knicks last night were just unable to stay in front of the guards they were man-marking.

John Wall, Bradley Beal, and every other guard for the Wizards, got constant penetration into the paint, leaving the Knicks scrambling.

Lastly, the team defense on fast breaks needs to improve. This is one of the quickest fixes as it’s simply about caring enough to get back. With about eight minutes left in the third quarter, Knox tossed an errant bounce pass to the Wizard’s defender.

Knox, frustrated, lunged for the ball, immediately leaving the Knicks with a man out of the play. No one else hustled back from the opposite end, leaving Emmanuel Mudiay on an island with four people.

The eventual bucket is not Mudiay’s fault, but picking up a man at the three-point line, instead of tracking into the paint, is his fault.

Knicks have a lot to improve on the less glamorous side of the ball.