𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐜𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞

Abhay Pancharathi

When one thinks of the New York Knicks, Deuce Mcbride isn't the first, second, or third player fans think of. That list would go: Brunson, Randle, Anunoby, Hartenstein, DiVincenzo, Robinson, Bogdanovic, Hart, and then maybe Deuce Mcbride. But often overlooked under the bright lights of the Big Apple, is the play of the second-round pick from 2021.

Deuce was the 56th pick in the 2021 Draft out of West Virginia, a player who was known, in college, as a hard-nosed and attentive defender. These traits carried into the NBA, where Mcbride has made his name as an energetic defender and a spark plug scorer in his 3rd year in the NBA.

Deuce Mcbride plays defense like a Velociraptor would attack its prey. The 23-year-old combo guard out of West Virginia is one of the most engaged defenders on a team that prides itself on engaged defense. Take the Knicks' recent game vs the Warriors, where Tom Thibodeau felt comfortable tasking Deuce with the Steph Curry assignment, a hard task for anyone but especially for a player averaging 16 minutes per game this year. Tasked with guarding the greatest shooter the league has ever seen, Mcbride made it impossible for Curry to get into any sort of rhythm. For long stretches of the first half, the Warriors were unable to get Curry the ball, even with illegal screens. 

Mcbride is an aggressive defender, using his hands and stocky frame to throw Steph off his spot and force him towards the sideline. Off the ball he's a menace, flying around the court to contest threes, pick up loose balls, and draw charges. 

On offense, Mcbride is a fearless shooter and off-ball cutter. He is in the 60th percentile in offensive EPM according to dunksandthrees.com, an all-in-one offensive metric that tracks a player's estimated offensive impact per 100 possessions. His leap at the 3-point arc this year has been the catalyst for his production, and his college stats indicate that this leap is not a fluke, and is here to stay. Deuce shot 81.3% from the charity stripe in college, a strong indicator of NBA 3-point success. His recent game vs the Warriors highlighted his strengths as an off-ball cutter. He is proficient at noticing the empty space and attacking it hard, either drawing a foul or getting the easy layup.

He also shows some on-ball juice as a playmaker and creator, a willing and capable passer who can generate space on step-backs.

His defensive tenacity and blossoming offensive game will be invaluable assets for a Knicks team looking to make noise in this year's playoffs. The find of a young gem like Deuce McBride provides New York with an x-factor off the bench. The Knicks, smartly, signed him for 3 years and 4 million dollars last summer, a bargain for the production Deuce has given them over their recent injury-riddled stretch. Having a bench guard who can come in and play quality defense against the league's top guards will be big, especially on a team without many other defensive-minded guards, and especially in the playoffs against an Eastern Conference that has very strong guard play. Depending on how these last couple of weeks affect the standings, the Knicks will have to go through a gauntlet of All-Star caliber guards that could include any of Haliburton, Maxey, Garland, Mitchell, and Lillard.