All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg · Monday, June 29, 2026
Nate Silver attributes the New York Knicks' defensive success in the latter half of the season and playoffs to coaching system improvements and a potential 'revelation' from Karl-Anthony Towns. He notes that while Jaylen Brunson is a great player, his individual defense is a weak point, but the overall team defense has improved significantly.
“On defense, a couple of things. Number one, you have, I love Jaylen Brunson. Might be my favorite player. Um, he's not a terrific one-on-one defender, he gets a few steals, but like he's undersized. The low center of gravity somehow doesn't work on defense as well. But like every other defender on the Knicks, including Towns, which is a descent, dissenting point of view, are at least average if not better.”
“So that part on defense and then, and look, he became like a much better defensive team in the second half, right?”
“And then Cat presenting like, again, like I love Jaylen Brunson. The offense can be a little bit predictable. Maybe in crucial possessions, yeah, terrible ball. And it's amazing that Brunson said he shot like 53% between 16 and 22 feet, which is kind of insane, given that you know it's coming.”