The reigning NBA champion New York Knicks are trying to do something no previous Knicks team has ever managed, not even during the franchise’s glory days in the early 1970s when it won the NBA title in 1970 and 1973. Back-to-back titles have never happened in this organization’s history, and that is the new bar that this battle-tested group is trying to clear.

The foundation for this attempt is their continuity. Reigning Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart all return as the starting five that won it all, which means the group largely responsible for the title is intact. While there were some changes around the margins, this New York team is quite similar to the one that won it all last June.

The one notable departure was center Mitchell Robinson, who left for Boston on a three-year, $47 million deal after the Knicks chose not to match. Matching would have pushed the roster over the second apron, a threshold that comes with a set of penalties owner James Dolan is not willing to pay, so the front office let go of Robinson, who has played all eight seasons of his NBA career so far with the Knicks.

His replacement will be Andre Drummond, a 14-year veteran and two-time All-Star who is now 33 years old and nearly a decade removed from his last All-Star nod. He is not the player he once was, but he still rebounds at a high level, having averaged 8.4 boards in just 19 minutes a night across 152 appearances the last two seasons backing up Joel Embiid in Philadelphia. New York added further center depth in Drew Eubanks and James Wiseman, while Ochai Agbaji and Bruce Brown were brought in to round out the wing rotation.

None of these additions go against or reshape the team’s identity in a major way. New York is essentially still betting that the group that already won can do it again. The challenge, though, is that the rest of the East did not stand still.

Philadelphia and Boston both retooled after trading with one another, the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat brought in new superstars, the Cleveland Cavaliers addressed weaknesses, the Indiana Pacers will finally get Tyrese Haliburton back after he missed last season to injury, and the Detroit Pistons return as the conference’s top seed from a year ago. The race for even just a playoff spot in the East will not be easy.

However, this New York team has already shown that it can handle difficulties with grace, and this will be tested along similar lines again in the upcoming season. What the Knicks may lack in top-end star power compared to some of those rivals, they offset with a title-winning starting five that has a real case as the best in the league at the moment and a level of chemistry that is tough to match.