One Lesson the Jets Can Learn from the Knicks' NBA Finals Run

New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn speaks at a press conference during training camp at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. | John Jones-Imagn Images

It can happen, Jets fans.

Going 15 years without playoff football, the Jets have become the laughingstock of the NFL, with 10 straight seasons of below .500 ball to boot. Mistakes in the front office, bad draft picks and bizarre coaching hires have left the team looking for hope anywhere they can find it.

Eventually, though, the drought will end. The team will get back to being a respectable organization, one that other teams around the league may very well fear.

New York fans only need to turn to the Knicks' NBA Finals berth as proof of that very reality.

Key lesson Jets should learn from Knicks

There are a number of things the Jets could learn from the likes of the Knicks after the basketball team's dominant Game 4 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. The Knickerbockers' run of putrid basketball (including a seven-year playoff drought), ended the moment President of basketball operations Leon Rose was hired in March 2020.

From there, the team signed All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson and fit him with quality role players across the board to become the championship contender they have eventually become.

Brunson and Rose specifically aren't key lessons for the Jets to learn from. They are, after all, dominant in their own respective sport and it's difficult to find a similar counterpart in football.

No, the lesson is actually within their supporting cast that New York must learn from.

The Knicks understood that while building through the NBA Draft is important, it's not the only way to build a championship team. In fact, only Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson are key cogs to the team that were actually drafted over the last eight years.

New York's starting five either came via free-agent signings (like Brunson) or through trades (OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges).

For the Jets, there is no substitute for good players. Gang Green needs great players on their roster in order to turn everything around. Their focus should not simply be drafting young talent. It's finding quality talent that is good enough to compete with the elite teams.

They are helped, of course, by a quality general manager in Darren Mougey. Since being hired in 2025, the former Denver Broncos executive has understood acquiring top talent is extremely important, even if that talent indeed comes from the draft.

To turn a common phrase from Hall of Fame college coach Darrell Royal, "It's not the X's and the O's but the Jimmys and the Joes."

New York has never had the talent at quarterback or other key positions to be able to compete with the elite teams in the sport. While coaching certainly matters, especially in the modern game, if the talent isn't on the roster, it doesn't matter who is controlling the sidelines.

The Jets will continue to lose.

That's why the Knicks' run is so important to learn from for the Jets. The Knickerbockers have been to the playoffs over the last few years with two different coaches. After seven years of mediocre play, the minute the talent level was improved, the wins began to stack up.

Gang Green needs the kind of quality stars that the Knicks have. It's their only way to finally turn their misfortune around.

And again, the Knicks showed it's still very possible.