The Denver Nuggets have defeated the Miami Heat to win the 2023 NBA Finals. What can the Knicks learn from watching this year’s championship round?
The 2022-23 NBA season—the funniest season we’ve had in a while, without question—has officially ended. In a year filled with drama (both on and off the court) and new, league-shifting legislation looming in the near distance, it was, ironically, the most nonchalant superstar ever that came out victorious. Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets are your 2023 NBA champions.
Congrats to the Miami Heat on a successful year. Calling it a ‘Cinderella story’ doesn’t do justice to how apt the franchise is at maximizing its players and opportunities. While battling injuries and endless doubt from media and fans, they clawed out victory after victory until hard work was no longer enough to beat talent.
Were the NBA Finals exciting? For the casual NBA fan, ignorant of what these teams were capable of, maybe—a ‘Nuggets Fan TV’ would never benefit from the algorithm. But for basketball enjoyers, the coaching chess matches, supreme team defense, clutch shot-making, competitive ugliness, and otherworldly quarterbacking by Jokic made the series worth watching. Hopefully, Denver gets the respect of the media as a dramaless-but-interesting team capable of competing for years to come.
I also hope New York’s players, coaches, and higher-ups were glued to their TV screens because there was much to learn from this year’s NBA Finals. From culture to roster construction to on-court execution, this year’s Finals provided a myriad of lessons for what it takes to compete for a title.
An obvious lesson: you need a top-tier player to win a championship, regardless of the rest of the roster. The Nuggets have one, and he probably secured a top-20-of-all-time slot with this run, too. The Heat have one. The Knicks are still searching for theirs, but that’s just ‘Step One’ for building a team that’ll hoist the big Larry-O.
Here are the other four lessons the New York Knicks can learn from this year’s NBA Finals.
Your best players should be your least selfish
The 7.2 assists per game number don’t paint the full picture of how willing of a passer Jokic is. Honestly, neither does Jamal Murray’s 10.0 mark. Both join the list of recent greats who have demonstrated ultimate selflessness in playmaking or ego, alongside Steph Curry, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan, and Dirk Nowitzki.
Jalen Brunson is a championship-caliber leader. Winning two titles at Villanova confirmed that theory years ago. The 2.95 assist/turnover ratio and 27 charges drawn this season were helpful reminders. Even still, the Knicks’ offense was stagnant all season. I don’t know how much to attribute that to Brunson, teammates’ inefficiencies, and the structural monotony of the read-and-react system.
Per NBA Court Optix, the Knicks excelled in the regular season on possessions when Brunson was double-teamed (1.19 points per possession). But in the playoffs, opponent pressure made them uncomfortable. It’s a miracle that at barely 6’1, Brunson could even get passes off over and between Cleveland and Miami’s towers. Being a short score-first guard limits Brunson’s playmaking ceiling, but his willingness to facilitate should not be questioned.
Julius Randle has the height and, in spurts, reliable court vision on his rim attacks. In the same double-team statistic, he ranked third with 1.22 PPP on those possessions while being doubled almost 3 percent more often than Brunson. And yet, memories of his poor shot selection and bad passes haunt like nightmares. Bad ankle or not, a .374 field-goal percentage and 1.03 assist/turnover ratio don’t scream good decision-making, though I give him credit for returning so soon from injury.
I won’t comment on the ongoing body language saga with Randle, but the difference in public self-accountability between him and Brunson is apparent, too. Though I’m sure he expects a lot from himself, given how hard he works, which also matters in leadership.
Regardless, a team’s success begins at the top with its leaders, and one way or another, Brunson and Randle will have to continue to set the tone and create consistent opportunities for others to succeed. Reaching Jokic’s level is unrealistic, but there’s a ceiling right below that they can hit collectively.
Versatility is an asset
Denver deployed serious size in their starting frontcourt with Michael Porter Jr (6’10”), Aaron Gordon (6’8”), and Nikola Jokic (6’11”). When Jokic hit the bench, they trusted Gordon and Jeff Green (6′8″) to run small ball (with a Game 5 special guest appearance by DeAndre Jordan). Bruce Brown (6’4”), who ran point when Jamal Murray sat and played off-ball with the starters, also aided this flexibility.
Although they lost, Miami also had lineup options and a willingness to try them. They ran smaller with Caleb Martin at the 4 in Game 1, then tried the more traditional approach with Kevin Love in that slot the rest of the way.
Brown and Gordon, specifically, are two prototypical supporting pieces every team could use. While not great shooters, they guard above and below their positions, attack the rim, crash the glass, and know when to step up and defer. Their stardom in the roles should never get lost in the wave of Jokic and Murray hype.
The Knicks are still looking for their version of Brown and Gordon who can enable a different style of play. Josh Hart can serve that purpose. Quentin Grimes, perhaps as soon as next year, could elevate to that role. However, both are relatively small. Immanuel Quickley’s even smaller. Obi Toppin doesn’t fit the description.
There’s also RJ Barrett, who’s still figuring out who he is for this team. Perhaps watching Gordon in this year’s NBA Finals provided closure for the ego death. A former #4 pick himself, Gordon transitioned from disappointing-lead-guy on a mediocre Orlando team to one of the best non-All-Stars in the league and a champion. Andrew Wiggins traveled a similar path, settling for less to do more. Maybe it’s RJ’s turn.
Barrett’s not a strong shooter, either. But he can defend—the playoffs proved it—and his shot selection grew wiser when it mattered most. RJ lacks the size to defend bigs like Gordon, but timely shooting, dirty work, and commitment to consistently guarding the 2-4 would make him the versatile wing the Knicks need. But something tells me expectations to be more than that will never wane until he’s on a new team.
Unlocking lineup versatility that Tom Thibodeau trusts would allow New York to win games in styles other than new-aged grit-and-grind. The Knicks scored less than 105 points in all but three playoff games this season. Denver, meanwhile, could torch teams with their shooting like they did when they scored 132 points to beat the Lakers. They could also claw out an ugly win like when they shot 5-of-28 from three in the Finals clincher. That’s what happens when on-court leaders in Jokic and Murray read the defense and dictate ways to attack.
Versatility also shows up on defense. The success of Miami’s man and zone defense balance makes you wonder why other teams haven’t tried it more often. Personnel is one reason, but Spoelstra wasn’t afraid of running it with guys like Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson on the floor. Expect more teams, including the Knicks, to at least experiment with ways to hide their poor defenders by hitting opponents with different schemes from time to time.
Even your bad defenders can be good ones
After surviving an unprecedented comeback by Boston, Erik Spoelstra sat at the podium and confidently said this when Jimmy Butler walked into the room:
How ironic is it that the Heat failed to score over 100 points four times against a team anchored by the ‘Fat Boy’? Add that to the funny list.
During Denver’s 9-10 slump in March and April, users devoted Reddit and Twitter threads to exposing Jokic’s matador defense in the paint. Many used that as evidence when they doubted Denver’s chances in each round, screaming the same phrase repeatedly: Just make him guard a pick and roll!
That didn’t work out so well for KD and Book, huh?
Say what you want about Jokic’s rim protection and foot speed on the perimeter, but the Heat shot .526 from the paint in the NBA Finals against him and Jeff Green. Give credit to players like Brown, Gordon, and Caldwell-Pope for limiting Miami drives. But Jokic also used his size to contest shots relatively well, along with his quick hands and smart decision-making.
Jamal Murray doesn’t quite have a defensive reputation above just okay. Michael Porter Jr.’s is worse, and Coach Michael Malone favored Bruce Brown down the stretch in a few games this series. But both were gritty when they needed to be, and it helped get the job done.
In some situations, the best players don’t have to be reputable defenders, but they must be willing to make plays and compete on that end. Considering Brunson’s height and Randle’s unpredictable effort, that should make the Knicks feel good. After all, Grimes, Barrett, Hart, and Robinson were enough to hold the White Hot Miami Heat to 104.3 points per game.
But don’t let that make you fall in love with Karl-Anthony Towns.
The league is wide open
For better or worse, this year’s NBA Finals proved that culture, continuity, coaching, and chemistry could be more reliable than sheer talent. In that sense, any team can compete so long as they invest time into building a foundation and gaining valuable experience. Few franchises are actually that patient, but it’s an essential part of the long journey.
When New York goes big-fish hunting at some point in the near future, it should consider what else must be done to reach the promised land. Draft capital and young talent can’t buy chemistry or experience, and other franchises are ahead of them in those categories. The Heat won’t go away, and neither will the Nuggets. Young teams like Oklahoma City are on the cusp of greatness, too.
But the Heat’s run proved that the East is wide open, and the window of opportunity the Knicks find themselves within can be optimized to reach the conference finals and beyond year after year. This summer, we’ll see if the Knicks learned their lesson from a championship round filled with wisdom.
Stay tuned to KnicksFanTV.com for the latest Knicks news, rumors, and recaps throughout the NBA season. And in case you missed it, check out CP’s interview with hip-hop mogul and die-hard Knicks fan Bill Stephney.
