When his beloved Pacers eliminated the Knicks in May, Reggie Miller posted a message to Jalen Brunson on social media that ended, “You and your boys can all heal up together on some beautiful beaches in Cancun, please enjoy!!”
But a lot has changed in five months — specifically and, most importantly, to New York’s roster.
Despite Indiana’s having advanced to the conference finals last season, Miller believes the revamped Knicks are the top threat to knock off the defending champion Celtics.
“To me, the Knicks and Boston are the two clear-cut top teams in the East,” said Miller, a Hall of Fame player and analyst on TNT.
It’s certainly not a controversial opinion.
In the annual NBA GM poll released last week, the Knicks were picked to finish second in the East by 43 percent of the executives — with 97 percent voting the Celtics as the winners.
No GMs picked the Pacers, who basically stood pat with their roster, to finish in the top three.
Miller agreed Boston remains the favorite but clearly loves New York’s offseason moves.
“To go out and get Mikal Bridges, who hasn’t missed a game since he was in the AAU in the sixth grade, who is a 3-and-D type of player — and to get [Karl-Anthony Towns,] who is going to create even more space [for Brunson],” Miller said. “Think about this: because of his shooting and his ability to draw bigs away from the rim, the space he’s going to create for Jalen Brunson. Think about the space he had with Mitchell Robinson and he was still giving you 29 [points] a game. Think about the space he gets to operate now with that high and side screen-and-roll with KAT?”
Miller’s excitement over Brunson’s space has been justified in the preseason, with the point guard shooting 53 percent in three appearances and averaging 20 points in just 21 minutes.
Towns, meanwhile, has struggled with his 3-pointer (just 22 percent in three preseason games) and the defensive concerns weren’t alleviated, but the opposition understands it can’t leave him open on the perimeter.
Unclogging the paint for Brunson was a big factor in acquiring Towns, per sources, and Robinson’s health uncertainty prompted more urgency.
It’s a similar configuration to Boston’s when long-range sniper Kristaps Porzingis is at center.
The Knicks also have top-shelf wing defenders in Bridges and OG Anunoby to counter Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“We don’t really worry about the expectations, that part of it,” Brunson said. “It is different. It is a totally different [team], but I think it’s good for us, because we’re relearning, we’re reteaching, we’re understanding more and more what we have to do every single day. Once the season starts, you’re back at square one, no matter what team you’re on, no matter how much chemistry you had the prior year, you’re starting over again.”
Not coincidentally, the Knicks’ season opener is at Boston on Tuesday, with Miller a part of the TNT broadcast.
The Celtics are scheduled to receive their championship rings before the 7:30 p.m. tip-off, a ceremony that Knicks players will be forced to witness or try to ignore — depending on how the individual is wired.
Either way, the hope is that the feeling is motivating.
“If you’re the Knicks, you’ve got to watch them get their rings. You’ve got to hear the celebration,” Miller said. “And just you’ve re-tooled. And you said you’re coming for them. And it’s opening night. … It is going to be a fun journey to watch in the East, these two teams battle it out.”