Drew Steele examines intriguing plays from the Knicks 2022-23 preseason slate, including Obi dunks, IQ passes, and blunders aplenty.

Welcome to the first edition of How They Drew It Up for the 2022–23 NBA Season. The award-winning series is back and better than ever! Okay, fine, it’s back and probably the same as it always has been? Anywell, this series dating back to the Posting and Toasting days is just me clipping out plays that happened on the court during a Knicks game that piqued my interest. Some things are good, many of them bad, and ideally they are pretty funny.

Let’s kick off the newest NBA season by reviewing the New York Knicks’ preseason. The team went 3–1 with each win being by 16 points or more. Jalen Brunson appears to be as good as advertised, RJ Barrett appears to be more efficient, and Julius Randle’s alter ego of Grundle only appears when Jalen Brunson for whatever reason gives Randle the basketball. For the fans who are giving Randle his flowers this early — just because he’s not getting the ball as much does not mean he’s “improved,” rather he’s getting less opportunities to make bad decisions. 

Enough Randle slander and let us enjoy some basketball again!

Here are the plays.

Time to call the plumber, because Toppin is leakin

I just absolutely love this angle when it comes on the broadcast. We really need more of these alternative angles. This one shows just how uninterested the Pistons were at getting back and completely unaware that it’s Obi Toppin about to leak in transition. You HAVE to guard Obi Toppin in the open court. Why? Because he’s going to do dunks like this.

The Knicks need to start Toppin already. How can you not get hyped for this guy starting at Madison Square Garden and doing windmill dunks in the first few minutes of a game? And that could be us every night. But instead, we are lucky to even get 18 minutes. Why? Tom Thibodeau.

Does Fournier know where his man is?

No, seriously. Does Evan Fournier know where Bojan Bogdanovic is?

The more I watch the clip, the more I don’t really understand what Fournier is trying to accomplish here. Where does he think the pass is going or where does he think Bogdanovic is going? Does he even know he’s guarding Bogi?! The path he took makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I don’t think he was paying attention to what was going on.  

The Cameron Reddish experience

#CamFam, baby! LETS GOOOOOOOO!!

The IQ vibe

If you’re a believer in Immanuel Quickley, you can relate to this video really, really well. See, this was executed perfectly. It’s the right read and great pass in the shooter’s pocket. Problem is that the shooter is Deuce McBride. I really don’t want to slander my sweet baby Deuce, but you can’t have Deuce in the corner. 

This is pretty much textbook high screen-and-roll. You have two shooters in the corner with one of the bigs setting the screen. Hartenstein sets the screen and his man (Myles Turner if I’m not mistaken) switches onto Obi Toppin. The Pacers’ defender who was guarding Toppin is rather up on Quickley, meaning McBride’s defender has to help on the roll man. Indana takes away the roll to the rim and the kick out to Toppin, leaving McBride as the guy Quickley needs to pass to. Quickley does, and, well, Deuce tosses up a brick.

Just imagine this play where you replace Hartenstein with Mitchell Robinson, replace #CamFam with Jalen Brunson, and replace Deuce McBride with RJ Barrett. It makes way too much sense. Just let Quickley play with the starters, man. 

Big Zeke’s perfect play

It’s just a perfect play. True perfection, really. If you’re a believer in the “Hartenstein is the next Jokic” agenda, then this video is just for you, baby! Quickley brings it up with Big Zeke right by him. Obi Toppin is to the right of Hartenstein with #CamFam and Deuce McBride running the corners. Right when Big Zeke gets the ball, Quickley and Toppin go to set “screens” for #CamFam and McBride to spring them out from the corners. But that’s the play at all. See, this play is for Toppin. The Knicks’ big men knew from the start this was going to be a highlight play. NO ONE is protecting the rim. The “screen” is actually a dive to the rim for an ally-oop. Big Zeke puts the pass on the money.

More from the Cameron Reddish experience

The purest representation of the #CamFam Experience.

Something out of nothing: The Thibs special

If you happen to be a non-Knicks fan checking out the state of the team before the season, this is something Knick fans are all too familiar with. The only difference is that the team now has a legitimate starting point guard in Jalen Brunson. Take a look at the shot clock in the beginning of the video. It’s 18 seconds, meaning this is the beginning of the possession once the Knicks crossed half court. 

We have basic high screen-and-roll again, but this time, it starts on the top right side of the court with RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson. The rest of the Knicks do what they’re supposed to do and clear out to their respective spots. OAKAAK Taj Gibson snuffs out the play immediately and Barret picks up his dribble in no-man’s land as he’s trapped along the sideline. 

Brunson flashes out from his spot to bail Barrett out, which is the right thing to do. So what do the Knicks do to counter Washington’s defense? Nothing. It’s the Tom Thibodeau special of “go make something out of nothing.” In the past two seasons, those players flashing out for the bailout pass were Alec Burks and Elfrid Payton. You can see where I’m going with this, right?

I do not have any problems with team running simple and basic offensive basketball actions. Most of the time, a well-executed play is going to create an open shot whether it’s simple high screen-and-roll or whatever Nick Nurse cooks up for the Toronto Raptors. My problem is that the Knicks under Thibodeau do not think beyond the first action if it gets snuffed out. And this is the NBA, not every first action or option is going to be available. You have to be ready for secondary or tertiary options. That’s not the Knicks. The secondary action is “Brunson, make shit happen” or “Quickley, make shit happen” or “RJ, make something happen” or, the worst of them all, “Julius, go make shit happen.”

Jalen Brunson is such an upgrade over Burks and Payton that the lack of creativity will more than likely not matter the majority of the time in the regular season. But that type of stuff catches up to a team, so all you can do as a fan is hope that Brunson is the goods and Barrett takes an efficiency leap, because I know for a fact Thibbie Dibbie isn’t drawing up anything new.