Re-Grading the Knicks 2023 Offseason Moves Ahead of the Playoffs

At a time when the team is entering the postseason as good as they’ve ever been in the last two decades, it’s become a common trend in the halls of Knicks Twitter to jokingly reminisce on the old and somewhat painful days of the organization and its penchant for woeful roster building.

For years, that’s really what the loyal Knicks fan was subjected to. The front office struggled to put a competitive lineup out on the Madison Square Garden parquet, forcing fans to consume tragic season-long performances from a string of underachieving players. It left many wondering if the illustrious teams of the ’90s were still possible or simply a fantasy to never be seen again at the Mecca.

That was until Leon Rose stepped into the helm as team president and general manager, beginning a slow and steady rebuild of the Knicks roster from the ground up. Rose added underrated players to make the team better and assets that set up bigger moves down the line, and soon the Knicks were an enticing playoff team again with their third appearance in four years starting on Saturday.

It wasn’t always an easy process, one that saw the Knicks have to part ways with homegrown talent that longed to be a part of the successful future. New York was able to land contending pieces like Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby who will be here for seasons to come, but it came at the cost of seeing young bucks like RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley move to new cities to continue their own stories in the NBA.

Nonetheless, the Knicks have finally worked themselves back into a trajectory of being relevant in the league and earning serious respect from the competition. They are doing all of the important aspects of winning basketball well and it started with making the correct moves in the 2023 offseason to get them to this point. Let’s take a look and grade these moves.

Signing Donte DiVincenzo

New York Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) dribbles up court | Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

When the New York Knicks landed Donte DiVincenzo in free agency last summer, it originally felt like a lesser acquisition in light of the fact the team was expected to be hunting for a superstar player to run alongside Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle that upcoming season.

Instead, Leon Rose’s first splash of the offseason was to sign DiVincenzo, a mid-level player with an underwhelming resume, for another developing piece that could bring shooting depth to the Knicks roster. In his first six seasons, DiVincenzo was stuck behind different star pieces in Milwaukee, Sacramento, and Golden State that didn’t allow him to get up many shots and he only had two years with over 10 points per game.

Coming over to New York, the Knicks had the key to unlock his potential and release the three-point shooting prowess they craved. Tagging up with former teammates in Brunson and Josh Hart, who know each other’s games well, the 27-year-old earned a spot in the starting lineup and instantly became one of the best downtown marksmen in the entire league.

Playing in a career-high 81 games this season, DiVincenzo scored 15.5 points per contest (also a career-high) on 44.3% shooting with 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He was an absolute lightning rod from behind the arc, shooting 40% on 3.5 makes in 8.7 three-point attempts per game to hang with company the likes of three-point masters Steph Curry and Luca Doncic for most of the year.

DiVincenzo’s inferno from deep helped place the Knicks in the top 10 of the NBA in three-pointers made at a rate of 13.2 per game and a 4.4% growth from the 2022 season. It also gave a hand in the 14th-best three-pointing percentage, 7th-ranked offensive rating, and 19th in points per game at 119.2 that blew half of their opponents out of the water.

It wasn’t just the shooting from DiVincenzo that stands out, but his relentless energy and leadership at the two-guard spot. In the minutes where Brunson and Hart were benched, DiVincenzo was more than comfortable taking over control of the offense. He can attack the rim and put pressure on the defense to not foul or dish the rock to his open teammates for the quality shots that will become critical in the playoffs.

At any point in the game, you’ll likely see DiVincenzo diving on the floor for the loose balls or intercepting an errant pass across the court and taking it the other direction for transition points. He can bring that defensive energy that Tom Thibodeau desires of his players in his system and it’s only grown for DiVincenzo in his time in New York with his collegiate teammates.

With playoffs starting Saturday, DiVincenzo will be a player that opposing teams prepare for outside of Jalen Brunson. Taking away the point guard alone won’t be enough of a strategy to slow down the Knicks at large, as they now have a handful of perimeter men who can knock it down and silence a team with dagger threes.

Leon Rose foresaw this coming after a difficult series in Miami last postseason and he knew he had to add a guy like DiVincenzo to grow the game of chess a little more this time around.

Grade: A

Extending Josh Hart

New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) drives for a shot against | Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Coming off an impressive half season with the team, including a playoff appearance where he was critical in the rebounding category, the Knicks handed Josh Hart a new contract extension worth four years and $81 million to keep him in the Big Apple through the 2026-27 NBA season.

For some, the number might have seemed a little high, but not for the aforementioned value Hart has brought to the Knicks down low. The 29-year-old  guard may only be 6’4” in stature, but he has had no problems fighting amongst big men for loose balls off the glass and winning them at a record pace.

In 2022, Hart averaged 10.2 points on 58.6% shooting in 25 games with the Knicks and still managed to secure seven rebounds per game, one of the best totals on the team. The rebounding stepped up a notch in the playoff series against Miami when second chance opportunities were at a premium and scoring was cut significantly by two solid defensive teams.

This season, Hart trounced his efforts with a career-high 8.3 rebounds per game in 81 contests, including a record 675 on the defensive side of the ball. That number ranked 21st in the NBA for the regular season, tied second on the Knicks leaderboard with Isaiah Hartenstein’s average and put the Knicks into the top half of the league in most rebounding metrics.

The scoring has never fallen much as a result of the emphasis on being an undersized rebounder,  as Hart still posted 9.4 points per game for the Knicks which beat out his averages from three other professional seasons. He can get his share of the points in a variety of ways, whether turning midrange spacing into quality baskets, trying his hand behind the arc or drawing contact in the paint and earning free throws.

Yet, what’s been the most impressive thing about Hart and his statistics is the tireless motor he plays with. Even as the Knicks counted on him to play upwards of 40-50 minutes when injuries started to pile up, Hart never shied from the moment and displayed the stamina and grit needed to carry the workload to the final buzzer.

The expectations will remain hefty once the playoffs start, but the Knicks know they have a dog in the lineup that can handle it and perform under the brightest lights when the weak legs start to factor into it. At his peak, Hart is a double-double machine that can wreck opposing team’s gameplans and that is what the Knicks need to make it deeper into the tournament.

Grade: A+

Trading Away Obi Toppin

Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) celebrates a made | Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

It came to a point last season when the Knicks knew they had to make a decision regarding Obi Toppin and his role within the team’s rotation. Would the former first-round selection find his way into more minutes behind Julius Randle or was it time to let his wings soar to a new destination amid frustrations with the demand on Randle’s numbers growing?

The Knicks chose the latter route, trading away their homegrown selection to the Indiana Pacers who held a slew of players from the 2020 class that Toppin could grow his game alongside. It wasn’t an easy decision given the Knicks were thin at the power forward position behind Randle, but one that helped them secure draft assets that they could use to strengthen the periphery of the roster for playoff contention in 2024 and beyond.

While he was a threat in transition and above the rim, the Knicks didn’t receive enough scoring production from Toppin to justify keeping him in their rotation for limited minutes. Even with the position being barren, he only averaged between 4.1 and 9.0 points in his first three seasons with New York and was hurting them with poor efficiency the further away he stepped from the basket.

The Knicks also expected to receive more rebounding output from the 6’9” forward, but it only panned into the highest average of 3.7 boards per game in his sophomore year with the team. Toppin boasts a 220-pound frame but had a hard time winning the glass against the biggest premier forwards and centers in the NBA and that was becoming a liability for the Knicks.

To sum it up, Toppin had all the charisma and heart to draw the liking of the fans in Madison Square Garden. He just couldn’t produce at a rate large enough to earn increased minutes in a stiff rotation and was losing that opportunity behind an established veteran in Randle that the team elected to send him off to a better locale where both things could become reality.

Since getting moved, Toppin has averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in 21.1 minutes per night meaning his stats have not changed dramatically to give the Knicks any serious remorse. His overall shooting metrics have improved to their career-best, but the 26-year-old is still overshadowed by Pascal Siakam and Aaron Nesmith in the Pacers leaderboards.

Meanwhile, the Knicks have established themselves a stronger frontcourt with pieces like OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Bojan Bogdanovic, each bringing stronger elements of the overall player New York wanted to establish out of Toppin when they first drafted him.

Grade: B+

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This article was originally published on empirewritesback.com as Re-Grading the Knicks 2023 Offseason Moves Ahead of the Playoffs.