NBA Monthly Roundup: Knicks and Stephen Curry have risen; Lakers are back

NBA April Takeaway: The New York Knicks are more than just a fun story

There is a clear-cut top three teams in the Eastern Conference right now, and barring significant injuries, the Nets, 76ers, and Bucks will be the only teams with a chance to make it to the NBA Finals from that side of the bracket. But after that, are we sure anyone is actually better than the Knicks?

The oddsmakers seem to think so.  The Knicks are coming off of a recent 9-game winning streak and the NBA’s 3rd best record during April, and yet they still find themselves behind the Heat, Celtics, and Hawks in the odds to win the Eastern Conference despite being higher than each of them in the standings.

And look, I know odds aren’t based on the standings, but what’s the holdup with buying in on the Knicks? Most will probably say their offense. And while I’ll agree that it’s not pretty to watch, the analytics don’t hate it as much as the viewer. Right now the Knicks rank 18th in offensive rating – not great, but ahead of teams like the Lakers, Warriors, and Heat.

I think the problem is that they don’t look the part of being one of the top 5 teams in a conference. They have the slowest pace in the league and their offense largely runs through one player, Julius Randle, who has never been considered to be someone who can lead a team in the playoffs as their best player.

This is a different Julius Randle though. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about his development and how it’s reshaped the way we need to think of him as an offensive player. The cliffs notes version of it is that Randle is a lethal scorer and reliable playmaker who has opened up the offense for the whole team – he’s a legitimate star in this league right now.

I won’t sit here and guarantee that they make a playoff run, but here we are in the home stretch of the regular season and the Knicks have the 4th best record in the East. It’s time to start thinking of them as more than just a fun story and consider that they might be as big of a threat to that top 3 as any team in the conference.