New York Knicks
Karl-Anthony Towns is going to be a monster playing off Jalen Brunson. He’s one of the best pick-and-pop guys in the league. Brunson’s going to try to get downhill if your big’s in drop, and in the corner of his eye, he sees Towns popping and then he’s got Brunson coming down hill, it’s a pretty tough spot to be in for a big. So teams will have to scheme for that. Whether it’s rotating or late switching or just regular switching. But then you got your big on Brunson and that’s going to be trouble.
The early transition will be a lot smoother with Mitchell Robinson out. He’ll be the five with all the small wings New York throws out there. But when Robinson gets back, what do you do? You start Robinson and go big with KAT? That’s when I think Towns could be a little bit more exposed. Kind of like he was in Minnesota where you could attack him at the four and switch. He had Rudy Gobert in Minnesota; Robinson’s a good shot blocker, but he’s not quite Gobert on defense.
I have a lot of trust in Tom Thibodeau to figure out defensively how to make sure that he doesn’t hurt him. I think teams are definitely going to go at him and Brunson. They’ll try probably to put those two in pick-and-rolls and reverse ISOs. I think they can figure it out with Towns at the five. The question becomes what does [Thibodeau] do with them at the four? Is he switching or does he have two bigs that can drop? Offensively, I don’t know how much better they’ll be. Towns has been known to take a few wild shots, too, like Julius Randle. Is that the trade-off? Maybe. But he is a post-up option that they can go to if they want to.
I was pretty surprised that they traded Donte DiVincenzo because I thought he had a really good year last year. And they had all those Villanova guys together, which, people will laugh and say is corny, but that team stuff does matter. In a league where team stuff doesn't matter, I feel like when a team has that cohesion, it really stands out. They overachieve a little bit when you have that cohesiveness and toughness and belief. From the outsider’s point of view when we were scouting them, I feel like he was a perfect fit with those guys. Now it’s on Miles McBride to fill in that role and I don’t look at him as the same kind of impact player.
Boston Celtics
Boston is as equipped as anyone since the Warriors to repeat. They have no weaknesses. They can put huge runs on you offensively and lock you down defensively. The chemistry they play with is excellent. You just have to hope they fall off. You have to hope Kristaps Porzingis isn’t healthy. That Father Time catches up with Al Horford. That would leave them weak in the middle. Maybe hope that Jrue Holiday’s shooting falls off. They didn’t play many close games, maybe if you play them close, you have a shot. If you are physical with them, you have a shot. But they are ridiculously good.
I wasn’t surprised Porzingis fit in the way he did. When he’s healthy, he can fit with anyone. There are only a handful of bigs that can shoot threes and defend the rim like him. Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid—two MVPs. Then you have Myles Turner and Brook Lopez. And Porzingis. His shooting opened up the floor for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown last season. Both those guys are great drivers and he made it so much easier.
If you want to beat them, you can’t beat yourself. You have to execute the game plan over and over again. Don’t get discouraged when they make shots. They’re going to make shots; you just got to keep following the game plan. Just say that. It’s the same thing as when you had to play Golden State at its peak. Like Steph Curry’s going to make crazy shots; don’t overreact. Tatum and Brown are going to go off, Porzingis is going to make threes. Stay in the game, try to keep it close.
The whole “Olympics as motivation” stuff for Tatum and Brown is dumb. I think winning and being a champion and tasting it is motivation enough. Once you taste that, you want it again. That’s the key to it all, being motivated to have this feeling again, and I think they’re young enough, and they’ll have it. Repeating is incredibly hard. You have to have a lot of stuff go your way. I don’t know if they’ll do it next year, but they’ll do it again.
Philadelphia 76ers
Paul George is a good fit in Philly. That’s obvious. You got another guy that can play on the ball or off the ball, and that’s what they need. The last couple of years of that contract could be a little messy, but they don’t care. They are trying to win now and George will help with that.
But Philly will go as far as Joel Embiid. He doesn’t elevate his play enough in the playoffs. I don’t think he plays hard enough. All the limping he does, I think it’s just an excuse to blame injuries. Embiid’s got to play harder for them to win the playoffs. Period. George is great, Tyrese Maxey’s great, but I need Embiid to be a hard-playing guy in the playoffs for them to win. It’s hard to think that you can win with him in the playoffs. He gets you to the playoffs. But he’s got to play harder to win there.
I love Maxey. He’s exceeded all my expectations. I thought he was going to be able to shoot but he’s been even better than I thought. He can fly off screens and shoot, fly off hand backs, shoot, fly off pick-and-roll, and shoot, gets to the rim with ease. He plays hard, has a great spirit about him. Anyone would want Maxey on their team.
Caleb Martin was a nice pickup. He’ll get you some offensive rebounds, guard a few positions. Eric Gordon can still make an open shot. He should get some clean looks in their offense. I think Kyle Lowry is kind of cooked. He’s a lot like Chris Paul, where he just can’t move anymore. He’s still crafty and gets a lot of respect from officials, so he’ll get away with using his hands a lot. But the movement isn’t there. I liked Kelly Oubre but how is he going to be in a lesser role? Without the ball in his hands? I think Martin gets a lot of his minutes. He’s better.
Toronto Raptors
Toronto has some good pieces. They’re just not good enough. Scottie Barnes is a good player. Hell of a defender. But it’s hard to see him as a franchise guy when he can’t really score. I see him as a Mikal Bridges type. There’s nothing wrong with that. Great player. But Bridges couldn’t be the guy in Brooklyn. I don’t think Barnes is the guy in Toronto.
All the guys they have are fine. RJ Barrett is a good starter. He gets to the rim, he shoots free throws, he works hard. He just has not been a consistent shooter. And I don’t know if he will ever be. Immanuel Quickley is another solid starter. He can shoot it, he can defend. The only problem with him is he’s not like a switch guy in today’s NBA. He can guard ones and twos, but that’s it. He’s good defensively. He can shoot, shoot off the dribble, good kid. They just don’t have anyone you’d consider special. They need someone to pull all of this together. And they don’t have anyone like that on the roster.
Brooklyn Nets
Brooklyn is tanking. It’s obvious they don’t want to win. Look at this roster. I like Nic Claxton. He can switch, he can rebound offensively. He has a little bit of an offensive game. But is he a top-10 big? I don’t think so. He doesn’t pass, can’t really shoot. Dennis Schroder is O.K., but is he a top-20 point guard? Dorian Finney-Smith was a three-and-D guy for years but he’s older now. Not what he used to be.
Cam Thomas will put up numbers, but I have no idea if he can do it in winning situations. He’s a volume guy. When he gets rolling, he can be tough to stop, but he has not had an impact on winning. This is a team that needs a guy setting up shots for them. Schroder’s not that guy. He’s a scorer first. In theory, Ben Simmons could be that guy, but who is counting on Ben Simmons? If he comes back, gives them 60–70 games, they might surprise a few people. But if he’s the same injured Simmons, this is one of the worst teams in the league.
How They’ll Finish
SI predicts how each division will play out in the 2024–25 season.
New York Knicks
The ’Nova Knicks added another former Wildcat this season in Mikal Bridges. With Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart, New York now has a perimeter defense that matches up with the Celtics’ offense.
Boston Celtics
While Kristaps Porzingis’s foot injury may slow down the defending champs over the first half of the schedule, these Celts should be as formidable as the team that went 16–3 in last season’s playoffs.
Philadelphia 76ers
Paul George brings scoring, playmaking and defense on the wing. But will the former Clipper be enough to get the Sixers past the second round of the postseason for the first time in the Joel Embiid era?
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors are rebuilding—or are they? Toronto’s collection of 20-somethings appears to be not good enough to make the playoffs but not bad enough to put Toronto in the mix for the draft’s top pick.
Brooklyn Nets
Will Ben Simmons bounce back? Doesn’t matter. Even a revived Simmons, who has played only 57 games the last three seasons, won’t be enough to lift the Nets from the bottom of the standings.
—Chris Mannix
This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2024–25 NBA Scouting Report: Atlantic Division.
