What each returning Knick should work on ahead of 2023-24 season

The offseason is a crucial time of improvement for NBA athletes, with a full summer for most to hone their crafts and diminish their weaknesses. Player development has been and will be a core tenant for the Knicks, so expect these months to set up the year-over-year leaps many fans are hoping for from their players.

Here are the skills each returning Knick should focus on improving before next season begins.

Jalen Brunson - Defensive positioning

Even the Knicks’ savior and postseason hero has his faults, namely being a weak point in the team’s otherwise stout defense. Brunson is willing to sacrifice his body and draw charges but also gets beat off-ball and in one-on-one situations a fair amount.

If Brunson can make strides as a defender, it would make New York’s starting lineup all the more potent, and elevate him to superstar status.

Julius Randle - Catch-and-shoot threes

Randle’s deep ball was one of the biggest keys to his jump from starter to stardom, but even in his best outlier years from three, he favored looks off one or more dribbles instead of spot-up attempts. Last year he was only one percentage point better on standstill threes (34.5 percent), and he shot better pulling up in previous seasons.

This may be more of a feature than a bug in Randle’s game, as the bulldozing creator likes to feel the ball and make his reads before making a move. However, with the improving options around him and terrific catch-and-shoot looks available to him, his efficiency could make another jump with improvement here.

RJ Barrett - Foul drawing

Another scorer that can benefit from some of the easier points in the game, Barrett has the chance to take full advantage of his physicality on a nightly basis by getting to the free throw line more. His attempt rate is a fraction of his similar peers’, though he bumped that number up this postseason, suggesting its ceiling has yet to be reached.

Mitchell Robinson - Free-throw shooting

Despite a career year everywhere else, Robinson hit a new low from the charity stripe, making only 48.4 percent of his tries, among the worst in the league. He could easily average a double-double and generally be a stronger force if he can even bump that back to his rookie-year clip of 60 percent.

Quentin Grimes - Pull-up three-point shooting

It’s rare to find second-year players that have already proven themselves high-quality 3-and-D starters, but Grimes has managed to do that and more, taking a leap with his driving, finishing and playmaking last season too. The next step in his evolution should be improving his 29.1 percent clip on pull-up threes given the additional ball-handling he’ll likely get to do and the hard closeouts he’ll face in the coming season.

Josh Hart - Outside shooting confidence

Hart is not a bad three-point shooter. He’s had down years, hitting at worst 32.6 percent of his treys over a full season, but is 35 percent on his career with long stretches of above-average marksmanship.

The problem is he’ll also go crucial stretches where he won’t look at the rim from behind the arc, leading to teams -- like Miami in the playoffs -- all but ignoring him when he’s parked there. He can shoot 33 percent, but if he’s firing confidently and not actively playing to that defensive strategy, it would be a major boost to his minutes.

Isaiah Hartenstein - At-rim finishing

Hartenstein was one of the best backup centers in the league last season, but fell near the bottom in finishing around the rim, shooting 61.5 percent in the restricted area. Even a small improvement there would turn more of his offensive rebounds into scores and make him even more valuable.

Immanuel Quickley - Contact finishing

Quickley is one of the best Knicks at breaking down defenses to get to the rim, and has improved his playmaking to generate stronger looks out of those drives. The next step in his development should be getting more free throws and strong finishes from there after he struggled to do so in the postseason.

Miles McBride - Pull-up shooting

McBride had a big sophomore season, but fans are still waiting for his Westchester exploits to fully translate to the big leagues. Defenses aren’t respecting his pull-ups on pick-and-rolls, so if he can start making them pay more consistently, he could find himself with a bigger role this season.