Could Matt Ryan Help Save Knicks' Season?

Needless to say, if anyone's going to save the Knicks' season — it just might be Matt Ryan.

No one needs a reminder of where the Knicks' season stands, especially on the dreary defensive end. This is a team, after all, that's less than two weeks removed from a game where they put up the fourth-best single-game scoring tally in franchise history and still needed overtime to secure a one-point win.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: no one's coming to save them. Mitchell Robinson's supposedly imminent return will certainly help but it's not fair to place the heavy burden of metropolitan problems entirely on his back. The buyout market is still fairly packed but no one available is making a championship difference. Even if the Knicks wanted to make a move, they can't prudently do so until next month so as to stay out of the restrictive second apron.

With all that in mind and barring a rediscovery of their defensive game, the Knicks might as well lean into their shootout nature, which is more or less how most of the NBA plays as is.

Top-heavy in talent, there's more than enough to win casual shootouts but for early deficits (such as the 19-point disadvantage they faced after the opening dozen on Sunday in Boston), the Knicks need to adapt more to the triple-happy nature that has taken over Association hardwood. To that end, they're 27th in three-point attempts after placing 13th in the same department last year, a tumble no doubt at least partly invoked by trading Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota.

If Ryan is one thing, he's hardly hesitant to shoot the three: he has thrown up at least two three-pointers in seven of his 19 appearances to date. In two G League appearances, he threw up 16 triples alone. His most famous NBA moment to date, in fact, was a three, unexpectedly coming through for the Los Angeles Lakers during a November 2022 tilt against New Orleans.

When he was ironically sent to the Big Easy last season, Ryan certainly took advantage of his time, firing up over three threes a game in just under an average of 14 minutes — sinking over 45 percent of such attempts in the process (which would lead the current crop of Knicks, just under three full points ahead of Karl-Anthony Towns).

That kind of firing is what the Knicks need if they're not going to play defense, especially at the top of the key and in the corner.

Of course, any question about newcomers in the New York rotation come with a discussion over whether head coach Tom Thibodeau would be willing to sacrifice his devotion to an eight/nine man set. Robinson's return will likely muddle things as is — Landry Shamet is rumored to be the odd man out if and when the moment comes. If the Knicks were interested in expanding, especially with a backcourt man, one could argue that it'd make more sense to give the defensive-minded Delon Wright an audition rather than the wholly expected outputs of Ryan.

But the Knicks have a special weapon that allows them to compete in the shootout box they've forced themselves into — it'd hardly hurt to at least consider availing themselves of his services.