Former GM Reveals Knicks' Problem

If anyone is well-versed in the New York Knicks' roster problems, it's former general manager Scott Perry.

Perry held that front office role with the Knicks from 2017 through 2023 and now serves as a hardwood analyst. Some of Perry's final days in the role saw the Knicks land current franchise face Jalen Brunson, who has undoubtedly flipped the team's fortunes for the better, albeit to a point.

Behind Brunson and newcomer Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks (37-20) firmly sit in third place in the Eastern Conference and among the top teams on the overall NBA leaderboard. But a brutal weekend — one that saw the Knicks drop consecutive games to conference-leading Cleveland and Boston by handy margins — has many wondering about the team's true championship potential, and Perry is willing to call out the Manhattan headliners.

"They are excellent offensive players, and that's why they're one of the top offensive teams in the league. However, the game is played on both sides of the ball," Perry said on his Hoop Genius web series, labeling Brunson and Towns at "bottom-five" defenders at their respective positions. "If [that's] your point of the attack defensively, meaning your point guard position is one of your weaker spots on your defensive personnel grouping, and you have a bottom-five guy protecting the rim, it's going to be difficult to beat the very good teams in this league."

Why the Knicks aren’t an elite team 😬

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— Hoop Genius (@HoopGenius) February 24, 2025

Following this weekend's dreary events, the Knicks are winless in seven tries against the league's top three squads from Boston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City. Host Mo Mooncey took things a step forward and remarked that the Knicks are a mere 11-14 against teams with active winning marks.

Entering this week, the Knicks rank third in the league in offensive rating and No. 21 on the defensive end, which is highly unusual for a Tom Thibodeau-led group.

Perry notes that the stars' shortcomings when they don't have the ball make things harder for fellow starters OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, as well as the group's united offensive abilities.

Perry remarked that the return of defensive stalwart Mitchell Robinson could help but that the Knicks can't fully rely on him to complete a championship puzzle because of the build-up in his return to play and his prior health issues.

"I strongly believe that's not a recipe to win four seven-game series, when you're talking about winning the championship, where you have to rely on your offense being exceptional every single night to win," Perry theorized. "There are going to be some games and nights that they are and they can overcome those shortcomings defensively and win a few games. But against the good teams, when you get locked into seven games here and everybody knows what everyone's doing, you're going to need consistent defensive presence."

The Knicks have a chance to improve their record against winning teams this week: they face the reeling Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night (7 p.m. ET, MSG/ESPN) before they face the current Western Conference runners-up from Memphis on Friday.

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