Yayikong is lost! The annual salary of tens of millions has plummeted! Is the New York bet wrong?

This game is really impressive. In just one preseason game, Brunson actually had to fight for 34 minutes. A warm-up match that originally didn't have much value turned into a life-and-death battle.

What is even more embarrassing is that the super sixth man-level second-string point guard Jordan Clarkson, who was once the main scorer of the Jazz, has become a stand-up shooter in this team.

Looking back at the final game of the preseason, both teams did not put out their full lineups. The Hornets' LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Josh Green all rested, while the Knicks rested their four main players Towns, Anunoby, Hart, and Milo.

From a common sense point of view, it doesn't matter who wins or loses in this game, but for new coach Mike Brown, he obviously does not want his first year of coaching to start with a failure. In order to win a preseason game, he directly put the main point Brunson on the court for nearly 34 minutes, and Bridges also played 33 minutes.

And if you look at it from preseason standards, Mike Brown's rotation intensity is even far greater than that of his predecessor, Thibodeau.

Of course, as the representative of the New York Ironman, Brunson, who played with high intensity, was still strong. He made 12 of 25 shots and scored 31 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. The personal data is quite outstanding, but it is indeed achieved point by point. Without Towns and Hart, Brunson and Bridges almost carried the entire game.

Borrowing from the fans’ ridicule after the game:

“With the Knicks’ high intensity, those who didn’t know would have thought it was the Eastern Conference Finals tiebreaker.”

Compared to Brunson’s high-intensity performance, new aid Clarkson’s presence in the game was quite embarrassing. Due to the absence of many main players, Clarkson was able to enter the team's starting lineup. Mike Brown's starting five were Brunson, Bridges, Clarkson, Jamieson, and Diawara.

On the surface, this lineup does have certain offensive power, but upon closer analysis, it is quite strange.

In this starting five, Bridges, who is 198cm tall, was placed at shooting guard, while Clarkson, who is 196cm tall, was forced to move to the small forward position. The two men, who were of similar stature, were forced to swap positions on the court, which is a bit difficult to understand.

The bigger problem is that Clarkson is not an excellent scorer without the ball. His main way of scoring is to attack with the ball. However, when he plays, there is Brunson next to him most of the time, and the ball is basically in the latter's hands. As a super sixth man on the bench, Clarkson is actually used as a weak-side shooter.

In inappropriate positions, you will only get inappropriate data results.

In the Knicks' last preseason game, Clarkson played 23 minutes, making 5 of 13 shots from the field and 2 of 6 three-pointers. He only scored 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. His shooting percentage was only 38.5%. His personal plus-minus value plummeted to -13, ranking second from the bottom on the team. In short, when he is on the court, the Knicks are almost completely overwhelmed by their opponents.

Not only in the last game, but throughout the preseason, Clarkson's offensive status was horribly sluggish:

First game: 4 of 9 shots, 0 of 3 three-pointers, 9 points;

Second game: 2 of 5 shots, 1 of 3 three-pointers , scored 7 points;

The third game: 4 of 11 shots, 0 of 6 three-pointers, 10 points;

The fourth game: 4 of 11 shots, 2 of 5 three-pointers, 12 points;

The fifth game: 5 of 13 shots, 2 of 6 three-pointers, 13 points.

Throughout the preseason, he averaged 18.4 minutes per game, scoring only 10.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists, shooting 38.8% from the field and 21.7% from the three-point range; perhaps many people don't know what such data is.

But don't forget, this is the best sixth man player. He averaged 20+ points per game when he played for the Jazz. He was one of the few glimmers of hope in the team's bad years. But now that he has moved to New York and only delivered such results, it is definitely a cliff-edge dive.

However, this situation is not too surprising. As early as the moment he joined the Knicks, there were different opinions from the outside world. He won the Best Sixth Man Award in the 2020-21 season. This offseason, his 14.97 million contract was bought out by the Jazz and he joined the Knicks with a one-year minimum salary contract of 3.6 million. From the perspective of annual salary, this is already a big dive, which is enough to show the declining trend of his ability.

It is not ruled out that Clarkson wanted to use the big city of New York to regain his reputation, but he did not expect that in such a team full of ball carriers, his offensive ability is too limited.

As the team's top ace, the Knicks system mainly revolves around Brunson, and most of the ball rights are also in his hands. There is also an All-Star wing forward Bridges beside him, who is also a scorer who needs to hold the ball. There are even candidates on the bench to organize and connect. Clarkson really doesn't have much left if he wants to get the remaining ball rights.

Of course, judging from the results of the game, the Knicks eventually won, and Brunson's performance was still as solid as the core. The only question is, how much reference value can such a game victory have?

In the preseason, they chose to let the core point guard play for 34 minutes, only beating the Hornets by five points. If it were the regular season, it could be explained, but this was just a preseason game for training.

The former coach Thibodeau has always been known for his strong tactics and unconditional trust in core players. This coaching philosophy is indeed correct. After all, the Knicks achieved a rising record under him. However, in today's fast-paced new era, this style of play is still a little too extreme..

Thibodeau was fired by the management because of his stubborn rotation and crazy squeezing of the main players. It was originally expected that new coach Brown would get better after taking office, but the result seemed to be worse. He had already started a high-intensity mode in the preseason. The direct consequence of this strict rotation is that the value of some qualified players is gradually marginalized. Now it seems that Clarkson is the first victim.

But returning to the above, this is just a preseason game after all, and after the conclusion, they will officially welcome the regular season. The Knicks' direction for the new season is basically clear. Brunson is still the core, while Bridges, Anunoby, Hart and others are deputies. But outside of the original core team, how Clarkson should be arranged is a new question.

From a player's perspective, Clarkson's character is likely not to accept a too low rotation position, and he needs some bright games to reshape his worth. What's more, considering that he is already 33 years old, it is difficult to accept transformation at this stage. The most suitable thing is to let him return to the same role as in the Jazz era, which can give him a certain amount of ball rights and free play of offensive value. However, the record requirements of the new season are strict, and how much space the team can give him is still open to question.

If he cannot perform stably in the regular season, it is not even ruled out that the team will choose to put him on the trade shelf in the middle of the season in exchange for other immediate combat capabilities. After all, for the current Knicks, they really can't afford to wait for anything besides winning immediately.