2021/22 New York Knicks Player Power Rankings – Week 7

A 2-1 week with the loss going to the Suns who were on a 14 game win streak at the time. 11-9 25% into the season, how are we feeling?
Rank Player Comments Last Weeks Rank
1 Burks, Alec Burks has been the most consisten player for weeks now. Shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, he was very dependable last season as well. He got his first start of the season with Walker and Rose out and looked good in the starting unit. 2
2 Fournier, Evan Look who decided to catch fire the day after I dropped him from my fantasy team! 7
3  Immanuel, Quickley Two straight solid weeks from IQ, maybe we can ease off the panic button…just a little. 4
4 Toppin, Obi Other than the Suns game Toppin continues to play well, however his 3 point percentage is down to 18%. 3
5 Randle, Julius How good can the Knicks be when their best player has 1 good game a week? 5
6 Robinson, Mitchell Mitch came back from his 37th injury of the season and looked OK, still can’t do anything on offense except dunk though. 6
7 Rose, Derrick Last week I said you can count on Rose to show up every night. I should have added (when he’s not inured). Hopefully he’s back soon, he’s been the Knicks best player for most of the season. 1
8 Barrett, RJ A mediocre week from RJ. Sadly that’s good enough for his 2nd best week. 8
9  Grimes, Quentin Grimes got to play the last 3 games. Didn’t really move the needle in either direction, but the next few guys below him moved the needle in the wrong direction so he moves up by default. 13
10  Noel, Nerlens HE’S INJURED AGAIN?!?!?!?! 10
11  Gibson, Taj How many games has there been where all 3 of the Knicks centers have been healthy? 11
12 McBride, Miles I thought with Walker and Rose out we’d see more Grimes and McBride. I was wrong. 14
13 Sims, Jericho If the 4th string center still didn’t get much run with 2 of the 3 guys below him out, the Knicks should send him to the G league to get some run. 12
14 Walker, Kemba I feel bad. Kemba was so excited to play in NY. He just doesn’t have it anymore though. The stats speak for themselves, the Knicks are #1 in the league on defense when Kemba sits and dead last when he plays. 9
15 Knox, Kevin We had a Knox sighting! On the actual basketball court! During a game! 15
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2021/22 New York Knicks Player Power Rankings – Week 6

The Knicks are 9-8 but it feels like they’re 4-13. They barely beat the 1-14 Rockets. Lately when they win it feels like an absolute struggle. They better get it together soon because it feels like this could get ugly fast.
Rank Player Comments Last Weeks Rank
1 Rose, Derrick You can count on Rose to show up every night. He hasn’t been great every night but hasn’t had a terrible game all season and he’s been healthy. It’s great that he’s playing like this but not a good sign that he’s in the #1 spot. 3
2 Burks, Alec Burks snapped out of his shooting slump and led the bench mob in a number of games, including a podcast saving win over the Rockets this weekend. 10
3 Toppin, Obi Toppin outplayed Randle for a few times over the last two weeks. Great to see him improved so much since last season where he looked unplayable a lot of the time. 7
4  Immanuel, Quickley Quickley also came out of his shooting slump. The bench was the only reason the Knicks won any games over the last two weeks and IQ was a huge part of that. 8
5 Randle, Julius Randle was downright bad a number of times recently. The Bulls game being the first time we’ve seen the Randle of last season in what feels like a very long time. Is it in his head? I have a hard time believing all of last season was a fluke. 1
6 Robinson, Mitchell Somehow Mitch has been injured 37 times in only 17 games. 5
7 Fournier, Evan Fourniers only good game this week was the day after I dropped him from my fantasy team. He went back to his disappearing act against the Bulls. 4
8 Barrett, RJ Holy crap what’s going on with Barrett? He looks completely lost and his shot is nowhere to be found. 2
9 Walker, Kemba Even when Kemba puts up good numbers you look at the plus minus and he’s a minus. 6
10  Noel, Nerlens Noel came back from his 12th injury this season and…..let’s say there’s some rust to work off. 11
11  Gibson, Taj Considering the Knicks centers are made of glass and teflon I’m glad Taj is always there for insurance. 9
12 Sims, Jericho I have a feeling there’s going to be a game this season where he’s the only healthy center. 12
13  Grimes, Quentin If Kemba keeps playing like this we might see Grimes sooner than later 13
14 McBride, Miles McBride tore up the G league last week 14
15 Knox, Kevin Hi Kevin. 15

2021/22 New York Knicks Player Power Rankings – Week 4

The Knicks went 2-3 since last ranking and are 7-5 this season. Very inconsistent so far, but have a good record and haven’t played to their pottential yet.
Rank Player Comments Last Weeks Rank
1 Randle, Julius The Knicks needed Randle to deliver against Philly and boy did he. When he’s hot he’s one of the best. 2
2 Barrett, RJ Barrett came back down to earth a bit this week but he’s established himself as the clear number two on this team. 1
3 Rose, Derrick Right now Rose is the only dependable guy off the bench. He’s been outplaying Kemba, but the Knicks need to keep Rose with the 2nd unit, they need his presence more than the starters. 6
4 Fournier, Evan Fournier does his thing every night. He hasn’t gone off but as a 3rd or 4th option he doesn’t really have to. 5
5 Robinson, Mitchell We saw what a difference maker Robinson can be when he’s on the court. Staying on the court is a problem though. He’s already back from his latest injury so that’s a good sign. 4
6 Walker, Kemba Kemba shows flashes of the Kemba of old, but he’s also getting torched on the defensive end. Hopefully that improves as the season moves along. 3
7 Toppin, Obi I’ve seen people wanting to see more of an Obi/Randle frantcourt. With Noel out again they might get their wish. 9
8  Immanuel, Quickley Had a few flashes of breaking out of his very shaky start. Hopefully he continues to improve as the season progresses. 10
9  Gibson, Taj I thought we’d be seeing a lot more of Taj this week but Robinson recovered quickly. Still nice to have a guy of Taj’s talent as a 3rd option. 7
10 Burks, Alec Burks has been a disappointment so far. He isn’t hitting the shots he did last season. I’m sure he’ll snap out of it. Hopefully very soon, that 2nd unit needs it. 8
11  Noel, Nerlens It was so good seeing Noel back on the court. Too bad it lasted less than a weekend. 14
12 Sims, Jericho Sims needs a bit of development but has potential. 12
13  Grimes, Quentin 11th man in a 10 man rotation. 11
14 McBride, Miles Right now McBride is the backup to the backups backup. 13
15 Knox, Kevin Hi Kevin. 15

2021/22 New York Knicks Player Power Rankings – Week 3

The Knicks went 3-0 this week and are tied for the best record in the league at 5-1. The best part about that is I feel like the Knicks aren’t even playing up to their potential so there’s room to get even better as the season progresses.
Rank Player Comments Last Weeks Rank
1 Barrett, RJ Barrett had his best game of the season against the Pelicans, maybe even his career, netting 35 points. He’s playing defense at an extremely high level and now his shots are falling. 2
2 Randle, Julius Randle has forced some shots lately and has made a few bad decisions but seems very willing to distribute (almost 7apg ghis week) and sacrifice for the greater good. 1
3 Walker, Kemba Kemba’s knee looks fine so far, and he’s balling, averaging 20ppg this week and looking very confident (and happy). 8
4 Robinson, Mitchell Robinson still isn’t scoring a lot but he doesn’t need to with all the options the Knicks now how. The shots he does take are money. He hit ever single shot he took this week. A perfect 10-10. His defense has been huge as well. 4
5 Fournier, Evan Evan was a little off against the Bulls but looked great against the 76ers and Pelicans 5
6 Rose, Derrick With Kemba playing as well as he has it was inevitable Rose would take a step back. It’s nice having someone like Rose as a backup. 3
7  Gibson, Taj Taj has found the fountain of youth, looking real good in the backup role. Probably won’t see as much of him going forward with Noel due to come back very soon. 10
8 Burks, Alec A quiet week like this from Burks last season would have been a disaster for the Knicks, this season Burks is more of a luxury than a necessity. I’m confident he’ll still have big moments, just not as many. 6
9 Toppin, Obi Last season Obi looked overwhelmed. This year he looks like he belongs, it’s just that there are a lot of guys playing really well ahead of him. He’s shown flashes of being really good, excited about his potential. 7
10  Immanuel, Quickley Quickley is looking like a 2nd round pick this year. It’s still early, the Knicks have depth but would like to see him turn it around. 9
11  Grimes, Quentin Looks like Thibs has settled on a 10 man rotation so not much to comment about from here on. 11
12 Sims, Jericho Once Noel is back I can probably safely tuck Sims away at the bottom of the list. 12
13 McBride, Miles I think McBride was in for one play last game. 13
14  Noel, Nerlens Almost back, maybe this week. Or not. Who knows? 14
15 Knox, Kevin Will Knox join all the other ex Knicks in Dallas next season? 15

2021/22 New York Knicks Player Power Rankings – Week 2

The Knicks went 2-1 the first week of the season, which normally I’d be excited about but they really should have beaten the Magic on Sunday. Still this is a fun team that is going to give most teams in the league a fight, they just have to work out a few kinks.
Rank Player Comments Last Weeks Rank
1 Randle, Julius By far the best player on the team and playing at an all-star level. Tried to do a little too much hero ball on Sunday. The Knicks have a ton of capable shooters now, he doesn’t have to do it all. 1
2 Barrett, RJ Barrett is doing that thing he did last season where he disappears in the first half and goes off in the second. Needs to be more consistent on offense, but his defense seems much improved. 2
3 Rose, Derrick I can’t believe it’s 2021 and Rose is playing at this level. His shot looks better than ever. 5
4 Robinson, Mitchell After not playing for almost 7 months and bulking up in the gym his conditioning seems to be much better than expected. Only took him 3 games to foul out, but he’s been a huge presense under the basket. 8
5 Fournier, Evan Fournier was huge in the first two games. Was a bit off in game 3, but so was just about everyone not named Rose. 4
6 Burks, Alec Burks isn’t getting as many minutes as last season and isn’t shooting as well but it’s early and I think he’ll bounch back. 7
7 Toppin, Obi Toppin is much improved from last season and has had a few stretches where he looked legit good. 9
8 Walker, Kemba A little concerning that Walker has posted a negative plus minus in every game, even one that the Knicks won by 25. Not really distributing or scoring very much. Shows flashes but very underwhelming so far. 3
9  Immanuel, Quickley Quickley looked pretty decent until game 3 where he looked like a disaster. 6
10  Gibson, Taj It’s so nice having a guy like Taj as a 3rd option at center. 2nd lately due to Noel being out. 10
11  Grimes, Quentin Looks OK in the limited time we’ve seen him. We’ll be seeing more due to all the games the Knicks will be blowing out their opponents, right? RIGHT? 12
12 Sims, Jericho Got to see Sims way earlier in the season than I expected, and by that I mean at all.
13 McBride, Miles Another garbage time standout. 13
14  Noel, Nerlens Coming back any time soon? Could use 48 minutes of elite defense under the basket. 11
15 Knox, Kevin Looks like the Charlie Ward curse won’t come to an end this season. 14

2021/22 New York Knicks Player Power Rankings – Week 1

Let’s take a look at what the Knicks roster looks like going into the first game of the season. This one was hard for the opposite of past years; the Knicks actually have a lot of good players. I usually have trouble after number 3 because the rest of the roster stinks, but now I have trouble because I think so many players are going to contribute.
Rank Player Comments Last Weeks Rank
1 Randle, Julius Randle was the best player on this team last season and I don’t see that changing this season. After his poor playoff performance I see him getting motivated and playing even better.
2 Barrett, RJ Nice year two jump for Barrett, I’m expecting a year three jump as well, the question is how big will it be.
3 Walker, Kemba The ceiling of this season rests on Kemba’s questionable knees. Let’s hope he has a couple more season left in them.
4 Fournier, Evan Going to lose a bit on defense, but Fournier can spread the floor and even handle the ball a bit.
5 Rose, Derrick Really nice having someone like Rose as insurance if Kemba goes down. Also great to have someone this talented to run the second unit. Also an injury concern but looked pretty sturdy last season.
6  Immanuel, Quickley If IQ takes a leap in year two the Knicks are all of a sudden pretty deep in the backcourt.
7 Burks, Alec This is a guy who can drop 20 on any given night and I have him ranked 7th. Wow things have changed.
8 Robinson, Mitchell What a pleasant surprise having Robinson ready to go for the season opener. Everyone in NY is hoping for a healthy season from the big man.
9 Toppin, Obi Obi looked pretty good in the preseason, and rumor is he’s been putting in a lot of work in the offseason. Hopefully his flashes in pre-season carries into the regular season.
10  Gibson, Taj Taj showed in preseason that there’s still gas left in the tank. Great to have a 3rd option at center that can hold his own when needed.
11  Noel, Nerlens Noel has been injured all preseason and will miss game 1, I’m not too worried but if he’s not playing by next week that’ll change.
12  Grimes, Quentin At first I thought McBride would get playing time over Grimes but Grimes played in crunch time in the last preseason game against the Wizards and looked pretty good.
13 McBride, Miles Probably won’t see much of McBride unless there are a few injuries, might be a good idea to give him some G-League run.
14 Knox, Kevin Knox looks like he puts in effort, unfortunately for him he’s at best the 3rd option in every position he can play.
15 Selden Jr. Wayne Looks like Wayne got the last roster spot. He’ll probably get even less run than Knox.

2019/20 New York Knicks Player Power Rankings – Week 3

Three games, three different starting lineups, three losses. The Knicks are now 1-6. Lets see who is playing well and who isn’t.
Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Barrett, RJ Barrett is the only player on this roster that hasn’t been a disappointment so far. I guess Fizdale feels the same way, he’s played JR 39 and 41 minutes the last two games. 1
2 Morris, Marcus Slow start to the season but had very good games against the Celtics and Kings. Maybe this’ll be the start of a nice run for him. 3
3 Robinson, Mitchell Robinson only had one foul against the Magic, but for some reason only played 19 minutes. Fizdale is making some weird decisions. 4
4 Portis, Bobby Portis looked decent the two games he came off the bench. When he started against the Kings he looked terrible. 6
5 Knox, Kevin Every time I get excited about Knox he has a game like he did against the Kings. At least he’s showing some signs of improvement. 5
6 Randle, Julius Randle has been a big disappointment so far. He’s been getting a lot of assist, but has a ton of turnovers and surprisingly has had two straight games in which he scored 8 points. I think he’ll be much better when Payton comes back as playing point forward is clearly not working. 2 Continue reading

Episode 448: Updated Player Rankings

Marc and Jay talk about this weeks games, updated player power rankings, top 5 free agents, strategies for rebuilding the team, and more

2016/17 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 17

The Knicks might not be good at basketball, but they’re tops in the league in embarrassment. Since last week we had Oakley get arrested and banned and then unbanned after a meeting with Silver and Jordan. Oh and they played 3 games, losing 2 but somehow beating the Spurs to avoid their first 5 game home losing streak in franchise history.
Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Anthony, Carmelo Melo bounced back from his off week, even had a decent game against Kawhi. If Melo’s days are numbered, he’s making the most of it. 2
2 Porzingis, Kristaps It looks like Porzingis is back. And a collective sigh of relief is heard from the entirety of Knicks Nation. 5
3 Lee, Courtney I hear some people bash Lee. Not sure what that’s about. He’s doing what he’s done his whole career, and that’s not a bad thing. 3
4 Hernangomez, Willy Was worried how Willy would look against starting lineups. The answer? Pretty pretty pretty good. Knicks are undefeated when Willy starts. 1
5 O’Quinn, Kyle Really good week for KOQ. I’m pretty comfortable with a Willy/KOQ center rotation going forward. Continue reading

2015/16 Knicks Roster Power Rankings – Week 16

The Knicks lost every game this week, no one is playing particularly well, and now coach Fisher has been fired.  Greek Salad hasn’t been resigned yet so we’re back down to 14 players on the roster.
Rank Player Comments Last weeks Rank
1 Lopez, Robin Lopez started off the week with a great game agains the Celtics and a Monster game against the Pistons.  He also played 30 minutes or more in every game this week.  He didn’t do anything against the Nuggets, but no one strung together 4 good games this week and that 26 and 16 game against Detroit was most impressive.  Good enough for Lopez first #1 ranking of the season. 3
2 Porzingis, Kristaps Porzingis did the opposite of Lopez, played poorly against Boston and Detroit and then looked amazing against Memphis and Denver.  Imagine one day all our guys played well at the same time? 4
3 Afflalo, Arron This is representative of how bad the Knicks have been.  Afflalo didn’t have a very good week and moved up 2 spots. 5
4 Anthony, Carmelo Oh my lord did Melo shoot bad this week.  He said it’s because his knee is hurting which is just great.  Years 1 and 2 of his max contract have been disasters.  Good thing Melo got to the line, rebounded, and passed to make up for his shooting, but now he’s starting to miss a bunch of games so I’m getting pretty nervos. 1
5 Galloway, Langston Galloway had a nice showing against Detroit, but was absolute trash in the games he started this week. Continue reading