In the dog days of August, a ray of light emerges when the good folks in Las Vegas release NBA season win totals. If nothing else, the over/under numbers provide something of a baseline in terms of expectations for all 30 teams and, well, it is an easy way to discuss various squads with two months to kill before opening night arrives in mid-October.
This time around, the New York Knicks were not treated with an overwhelming level of optimism, with the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook pegging the team for an over/under of 29.5 wins. While the Knicks are almost certainly better than that at full strength, there is real uncertainty with regard to Kristaps Porzingis and his return timetable from a serious knee injury. Throw in the fact that New York would then have (very) little incentive to push for victories in March and April and, at least for some, the win total may even seem too high.
Knicks rookie Kevin Knox is not among the skeptics, though, and he believes that the public (and Vegas) is too low on his new team. The NBA held its annual photo shoot for first-year players over the weekend and Knox made his feelings known to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
“I saw that,” Knox said when asked about the 29.5-win benchmark. “People are sleeping on us with the 29 wins. I think we definitely can win at least 35 and get in that playoff talk. That’s my personal opinion. Everyone has their own opinion. But the whole team, I’m pretty confident we’re really good this year, that we have a chance to make the playoffs.”
Obviously Knox isn’t going to express anything but optimism, especially when entering his first professional season. Still, it is a bit of an eyebrow raise to see him pointing to a specific win total (35) and New York potentially reaching the playoffs feels like a major stretch unless Porzingis greatly exceeds the expected timetable for his on-court return.
Knox was very impressive in Summer League and, at the moment, it doesn’t seem far-fetched to think that the Knicks may have unearthed a gem in the late lottery. For this year, however, there isn’t a lot to get excited about on New York’s roster and optimism for Knox and fellow youngster Frank Ntilikina should probably be tempered a bit in the short term when compared to the more distant future.
There is nothing inherently wrong with Knox’s frustration of some “sleeping on” the Knicks but, to put it plainly, there is a reason the buildings are so tall in Las Vegas.
