The best time to break through the East! What is the key to the Knicks?

For the Knicks, their offseason this year is much quieter than the previous year, but the team's main rotation last season is almost completely retained, with only losing the backcourt substitute Deron Wright, while Payne Jr. and Achouva are still on the free market shelves and are not expected to return to the Knicks.

In addition, the team signed Abuselle, who played for 76ers last season for 12 million yuan in two years, while Clarkson joined after buying out with the Jazz. The two can basically fill the above-mentioned lack of front and backcourts.

Combined with the Eastern environment, the Knicks are the team with the most stable division lineup.

Judging from the player changes, this wave of operations is still in an advantage for the Knicks. The main wing Bridges completed a four-year, 150 million contract renewal with the Knicks in advance. Considering that this renewal figure may not even be even the starting salary of 25% after the rookie contract in the next salary cap, it can basically be regarded as a high-quality contract in New York after Brunson last year.

The Knicks renewed their contracts at a price lower than the market for two consecutive years, allowing the team to maintain a relatively healthy salary structure. Even if the team's salary this season and next season will exceed 200 million, it has not exceeded the second-level hard upper limit, and some operation space has been retained, allowing the team to avoid facing the problem of possible core disintegration in the short term.

Among the five main players in the team, Hart and Towns will become the earliest contract expiration in 2028, but this is not a problem. It can be confirmed that the Knicks will have a stable core five in the next three years.

So, after the overall situation has been decided, for the next new season, the Knicks suddenly came to an extremely favorable but critical position. The team's main core renewed the contract and stayed in the team, which also strengthened the character puzzle. At the same time, the two strong teams, Celtics and Pacers, will also face the problem of serious injury to the main player, and the Cavaliers have also lost their main rotation. The Knicks in the new season are about to usher in the best opportunity to break through the East.

For the team's core Towns, as a previously frustrated player in Minnesota, he may soon usher in a moment of success.

Time returns to the 2024 playoffs, and the Timberwolves looks about to rise. Although they unexpectedly leave the game in the West Degree, thanks to their defeat of the champion popular Nuggets in the second round, it makes people look forward to this new Wolves team, which is mainly young core and senior veterans. But unexpectedly, just as the Timberwolves are waiting for the start of the new season, an unexpected big deal happened.

It is not difficult to understand the Timberwolves' idea. In order to trade longer, judging from the lineup at that time, the inside line is indeed a step that can be rectified. Judging from the results of the 2024-25 season, for the transaction, Divinchenzo was able to fill the aging of Conley. However, for Towns and Wolves fans, the departure of this many years of main player is an emotional difficulty that is not easy to overcome.

For Towns, since joining Minnesota as the No. 1 pick in 2015, even though his performance was mediocre, he had bet on enough feelings for the team. While the outside world was still questioning how he and Gobert coexisted in a two-tower formation, Towns gradually found a way to move from a full-time center to the fourth position.

As a candidate for the Wolf King trained by the Wolves, he was eventually abandoned by the team. After coming to the Knicks, what awaited him was the magnifying glass of all parties. Although the Knicks knew that they would make changes, and they basically confirmed that Randle would not be the cornerstone of leading New York to glory, they sent away Divinchenzo, who had just made a highlight in the deal. Even though New York fans clearly knew that Towns was a player who beat Randle, the deal still inevitably caused doubts.

Why is New York not looking forward to joining a real top star, but a star who was questioned in the playoffs in the past? Why does a player so important to the Timberwolves eventually become a dealer on the shelves?

Although these doubts may seem like nothing more than worrying, they are always present in the hearts of New York fans even when they are attached to Towns.

Recalling the report card that Towns handed in his first season in New York, averaging 24.4 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, and a shooting percentage of 52.6%, which is still the first-tier level of the league. Although assists have declined, 42% of the three-point shooting percentage has broken through a career high, which is also the fourth time in his career that it has reached the 170 club scorer standard of 50%+40%+80%.

For New York, Towns is still at the All-Star level, and the defensive end also maintained his stability during the Wolves. Especially in the absence of Mitchell Robinson, Towns gradually became the only pillar of the Knicks' inside line.

Judging from the data, Towns did conquer the Knicks fans, but in the playoffs, Towns still had a significant decline in personal data compared to the regular season as before. First, Brunson is the first choice to dominate the team's offense, and second, Towns has been in foul trouble many times in the playoffs, causing him to frequently struggle on the court.

But from the perspective of team value, Towns' contribution is still unquestionable. It is precisely because Randall was replaced by Towns that the Knicks were able to form a small ball lineup or target the double tower formation when facing the Pacers. With the help of Towns, the Knicks achieved their best record in the past 12 years, reaching the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since the 21st century.

Looking back at the last time the Knicks won 51 wins and it was already in the 2012-13 season. The main player at that time was still Anthony, and Towns had not even entered the league at that time; the last time the Knicks entered the Eastern Conference Final was already 2,000, when the main players such as Towns, Brunson, Anunobi, Bridges, and Hart were less than five years old.

is equivalent to the results that the Knicks played last season, which is already a peak that the Knicks have not reached in an entire era. The biggest change in such a performance improvement is the joining of Towns and Bridges..

The previous beautiful memories of Towns and the Timberwolves ended in just one year, and the story between him and the Knicks still has a chance to continue in the future, and next season is undoubtedly their best chance to reach the top.

Although the Western Conference team finally won the championship last season, the Eastern Conference team unexpectedly played a lot of retro flavor. Especially the Knicks and Pacers who were in the Eastern Conference Finals dialogue, the two teams were once the old rival teams in the 1990s and have challenged the Eastern Conference Finals many times in team history. The difference is that the two teams have vigorously renovated their lineups in recent years, and the reconstruction progress has far exceeded fans' expectations.

But after the 2024-25 season, the situation in the East has changed a little again.

Look at the top six teams in the division last season:

The main four cores of the Cavaliers are still there, but the sixth man Jerome leaves the team to join the Grizzlies, and the trade is exchanged for Ball; Celtics main player Tatum is absent due to a serious injury to the Achilles tendon, Holiday and Posses leave the team in the trade, and it is basically difficult to return to the championship ranks in the new season; the Pacers are also facing the serious injury of the main controller Halliburton, and center Turner leaves the team. Perhaps based on the resilience of last season, it will not fall directly to the bottom, but it seems that they cannot reach the championship level; the Bucks poached the Pacers to buy Turner, but Lillard's vacancies have not made up for the backcourt after being cut; the Pistons roughly maintain their original formation, but at present, they do not have the strength to become an immediate contender for the Eastern Conference championship.

Putting aside this group of old teams, the possible new forces in the East may come from the Magic. The team already has a good core team and traded to Bain in the offseason. As long as the core lineup remains healthy and does not fall into an injury crisis like last season, it is very likely to become a competitor to the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference in the new season and wait for an opportunity to compete for the championship.

And the 76ers who unexpectedly fell to the bottom last season, the draft received the Tanhua show Edgecom. If everything can develop in the best direction, the healthy lineup of all members will have a great chance to jump to the ranks of competitors. The Hawks in the second half also improved slightly in the buyer's market, but overall, the Cavaliers and the Knicks should be the first choice teams in the top two in the Eastern Conference in the new season, and the Eastern Conference Finals should be regarded as the basic goal of the new season.

Therefore, this is also another test for the Knicks and Towns. Although he had the star level last season and had a playoff result, he still failed to help the Knicks to the end. In the next new season, the Knicks are the only team among the Eastern Conference powers last season that all core members are retained and have new signings. According to common sense, fans will naturally not accept that they will achieve any final results that are worse than last season's performance.

For the past, Towns can indeed be called a star, but he can only be called a star, and he still cannot reach the level of a superstar. The key reason is that he has not been able to truly lead the team based on the regular season and the playoffs. Of course, this part is also related to the team's plan. The Wolves got the new young master Edwards during the reconstruction process, and also formed a new system after the transaction was obtained by Gobert, which directly led to the glory of Towns and Wolves, which became an old memory in the blink of an eye.

Downs and the Timberwolves were never optimistic before the season, but in the next 2025-26 season, the Knicks stood in a position where "if they failed to play in the top two in the division, it would be a failure." Even though he has been regarded as the core for many years in the past, he has not yet shown his true superstar temperament on the court.

Now that the Knicks are in a favorable environment, Towns seems to have to learn to share leadership responsibilities with Brunson at least. As a senior who already receives a higher salary, he will definitely need to face the test of the outside world again in the new season, and he should indeed achieve something.

This will also be the first topic around Towns throughout the new season.